Sorcerer Subclasses - PHB

 The Sorcerer is distinct from the Wizard in a way that makes perfect sense, but it's always seemed funny to me that different works of fiction use Wizard and Sorcerer as interchangeable concepts. Marvel's Doctor Strange is referred to as "Sorcerer Supreme," though in D&D terms he'd 100% be considered a wizard. (I like the definition of the difference in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: "A sorcerer is just a wizard without a hat.") But we're talking about a pure spellcaster with a very large overlap of spells with the Wizard (though there are a handful the Sorcerer gets that the Wizard doesn't - more vice versa) who doesn't wear armor and is also one of the squishiest classes with a d6 hit die.

Sorcerers are improvisational spellcasters, though, and their use of metamagic allows them to do somewhat different things with the relatively few spells they learn. In fact, among pure casters, they have the fewest known spells (Warlocks also "learn" 15 spells by level 20, but they also get their four Mystic Arcanum spells.)

But we're not here to talk about the class in general. We're here to examine subclasses. That being said, the idiosyncrasies of the class do play a part in evaluating the subclasses. How much power does the class itself contain? For the Sorcerer, nearly all of it is simply the addition of Metamagic and the use of Sorcery Points to fuel that and get spell slots back.

That being said, they have a pretty powerful spell list - with most of what the Wizard gets along with a handful of spells that Wizards don't. However, the Sorcerer only has a single spell that is purely its own (as long as there aren't any members of the Izzet League in the party,) which is Chaos Bolt. But you'll get things like fireball and lightning bolt, and counterspell and lots of useful stuff.

So let's move on to the subclasses, of which there are only 7 in 5th Edition. The PHB only has two subclasses for Sorcerers - Draconic Bloodline and Wild Magic.

Draconic Bloodline is a subclass I don't know that I've ever seen (maybe Tiberius Stormwind from early Critical Role?) I think because people tend to be drawn to its flashier alternate option in the PHB. Given the importance of dragons to the world (and I'm very much looking to elaborations on them in the upcoming Fizban's Treasury of Dragons,) it makes sense for a connection to a draconic bloodline would imbue you with magic.

At 1st level, you first have to pick a Draconic Ancestor - linking you to one of the ten types of dragons (metallic and chromatic.) In fact, once Fizban's comes out, I'd expand this to include also the five types of Gem dragons and their associated elements.

Picking an ancestry will determine which damage type your features refer to - so, for example, a Red bloodline would involve fire damage, while a Silver bloodline would involve cold.

You also get Draconic Resilience. Your hit point maximum increases by 1 and you add 1 whenever you level up. In practice, this actually makes your hit die a d8, minus one HP at first level (and you don't get to use a d8 for short rest healing.) You also get draconic scales on part of your skin, so that you calculate AC as 13 + your Dexterity modifier. This effectively gives you a permanent Mage Armor, which will probably be nice to be able to leave out when picking spells, given how few spells a Sorcerer can learn.

At level 6, you get Elemental Affinity. If you cast a spell that deals damage type from your ancestry, you can add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell, and you can also at the same time spend 1 sorcery point to gain resistance to that type of damage for an hour. I do find it odd that you do have to cast a spell in order to gain the resistance. It seems like it would be easier to just give them that resistance for free at all times.

At 14, you get Dragon Wings. You can sprout draconic wings as a bonus action and can fly at your current walking speed. They last until you dismiss them as a bonus action. You have to have clothes that accommodate the wings, meaning it might be hard to use these if you're multiclassed as a paladin or something and need to wear armor. Still, there's no limit on this, so you really effectively have a permanent 30 (or whatever your normal speed is) foot fly speed.

Finally, at 18, you can, as an action, spend 5 sorcery points to radiate awe or fear for 1 minute and as long as you concentrate on it. Creatures that start their turn within 60 feet of you have to make a wisdom saving throw or become charmed (if you chose awe) or frightened (if you chose fear) until the aura ends. If a creature succeeds, they become immune to it for 24 hours. One thing of note here is that damaging the creatures does not break them out of it. You can charm that charging monster and pelt it with magic and it'll still be charmed. Or you can stop it in its tracks with fear.

There are some cool features here, but I do think I see why the Wild Magic sorcerer is more popular out of the PHB options. Nothing here is really mindblowingly cool, though none of it is totally useless (though the fact that you have to spend a resource and also cast a spell to get resistance to your damage is silly - just give it to them.)

Next, we go on to the Sorcerer subclass I seem to see more than any other - Wild Magic.

The most chaotic subclass, Wild Magic is all about that big table. Let's get into it.

At 1, you get Wild Magic Surge. When you case a spell of 1st or higher level, the DM "can" have you roll a d20. If you roll a 1, you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, which can only happen once a turn. If you cast a spell through it, you can't control it with Metamagic, and it doesn't require concentration, lasting the full duration.

I won't go through the list here, but the point is that some of it is a minor benefit, some of it is a minor inconvenience. Some is a great benefit. Some of it is dropping a fireball on yourself. (7-8 on the d100). And some is totally innocuous, like getting a beard of feathers that all explode out when you next sneeze.

This is dangerous at first level - if your very first spell gets you hit with a fireball, that's likely an instant death for you and probably everyone near you. But that's part of the fun of the class (and admittedly unlikely.)

Additionally at 1, you get Tides of Chaos. You can choose to gain advantage on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, and regain the ability on a long rest. However, any time before then, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table when you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher (no d20 roll required). If you do, you regain the feature.

Here, again, we have to consider that it's technically possible for a fun-hating DM to shut down the central conceit of the subclass. Now, I understand how someone might not want to let the insane Wild Magic table control their campaign, but I also think that if you hate it that much, just say that the subclass is banned. If you let someone roll one of these in your game, you roll that d100.

At 6th level, you get Bend Luck. When another creature makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can use your reaction and spend 2 sorcery points to roll 1d4 and either add or subtract that number from the creature's roll, after they roll but before the effects of the roll occur. So you can kind of bane/bless for one roll at the cost of 2 sorcery points, which is... a bit underpowered, wouldn't you think? Also, I think there's a whole post to be made on the timing of rolls and declarations of success. With my Eldritch Knight, I've played it so that I hear what the attack against me was before I declare if I cast shield, though my DM seems to have changed her mind on that rule, instead saying that I have to declare without knowing the number. Given the pacing of the game, sometimes getting in "hey, subtract a d4" before the DM says "and they hit!" can be a little weird. My general advice for DMs is to give players the information they need. There are so many other ways you can make things difficult for them.

At 14, you get Controlled Chaos. Now, whenever you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, you roll twice and can choose which number to use. This makes the feature far, far safer to use, and makes it much more likely that you're going to get something good.

Finally, at level 18, you get Spell Bombardment. When you roll damage for a spell and roll the highest number on any of the dice, you can roll it again and add that roll to the damage. You can do this once per turn. This is kind of interesting, though I also feel like the damage bonus would probably be pretty low, depending on the spell. On a standard fireball, you're rolling 8d6. If any of those is a 6, you're adding at most 6 damage to a spell that normally does about 28 (and on average adding 3.5).

Naturally, the Wild Magic surge table is the main event for this subclass. And there are some extremely powerful effects you can get, such as 1 minute of resistance to all damage, or an auto-reincarnate if you die, or you regain all expended sorcery points. In terms of power, I think it's very hard to evaluate, but I suspect it's a little underpowered. But I don't think you play a Wild Magic sorcerer for the power.