From the Player's Handbook, regarding Wild Magic and sorcerers:
Wild Magic Surge
Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, your spellcasting can unleash surges of untamed magic. Immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, the DM can have you roll a d20. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a random magical effect.
Rolling a 1 is rare enough that I would just always have the sorcerer roll it.
Tides of Chaos is the more important feature and more difficult question.
iserith wrote:
The language suggests otherwise, but all DMs I've played with, and myself, have wild sorcerers roll it every time. I'm not sure why you wouldn't. Its not a powerful mechanic as any added randomness always works against the players, and the player obviously wants it otherwise why did he play a wild sorcerer? So everyone wins. Roll every time.
As one of the class features is directly related to this roll coming up, the DM is pretty much obligated to have the roll be made all the time or they're gimping the class. The only time I might not have the roll would be if the sorcerer is intentionally trying to trigger something, because that just isn't wild at all.
Stormborn20 wrote:
At our table we roll a d20 with every spell cast.
If the roll is equal to or less than the level of the spell being cast - a surge occurs.
Wild magic has a well-deserved reputation for behing unpredictable and dangerous. More powerful spells incur more risk.
Our houserule:
Roll a d6 every time you cast a spell of level one or higher. If the result is equal to or lower than the level of the spell cast, roll on the Wild Surge table. (Note: I originally intended for a d10, but the player wanted a d6 instead.)
EDIT: Forgot about Tides of Chaos:
When you use Tides of Chaos, roll on the Wild Surge table at the end of your turn. This feature refreshes after a short rest.
If the character was deliberately concentrating on some desired outcome, I would NOT roll for random chaos to happen at that point. (Think of this as 'taking 10' for control.) But the wildness should be a memorable feature of the character / class.
With that said, I personally am more towards the Lawful / orderly end of the axis and do not find Wild Sorcerers to my taste.
I want more Sorcerer alternatives before I decide to play one. YMMV.
Shirebrok wrote:
Is there a reason you've house-ruled it and not gone by the RAW? I'm just curious. Was it not happening enough and not adding enough flavor to the class, so you wanted better odds of the Wild Magic surge?
Shirebrok wrote:
All right, now I have some time to write down my thoughts on the matter, so here goes:
1. This is the Wild Sorcerer's level one feature. Basically, you choose it for this reason. RAW, it happens 5% of the time if the DM calls for a roll with every spell cast. IMO, as a defining class feature, it doesn't happen often enough to be relevant in play.
2. I don't like that this is something which requires explicit DM intervention. I understand that the game is built around rulings and adjudication, but AFAIK, this is the only class feature which requires a DM for it to come into play, and that rubs me the wrong way.
3. Speaking of things which rub me the wrong way, it feels like the RAW doesn't know what it wants to do. On the one hand, it says the DM should call for a roll, which implies that it is up to him or her to decide if the situation calls for it or if it is dramatically appropriate to do so. On the other hand, there is a mechanic in place which more or less takes it out of the hands of the player and DM; a roll is required to confirm whether or not there is a Wild Magic surge. So that even if the DM/player thinks that it would be very interesting/dramatic for a Wild Magic surge to happen, the die roll is very likely to tell them that no surge occurs, which, IMO, ruins the tension. Either it should be a narrative tool (DM declares a surges happens) or a mechanical one (roll without requiring DM intervention), but by trying to be both, it fails to be either.
For these reasons, I feel there is a disconnect between the flavour and the mechanics, as well as the intent and the execution.
FFSAA: Good call on the Controlled Chaos; I had forgotten about it.
MurdochMan: Thanks for the math. It'll be something to keep in mind. Also, I've already thought of using bigger dice at higher levels.
The player and I are clear that this is indeed a houserule, and that it is subject to change still (we're playing through LMoP specifically to get used to the new system and test a few houserules), so I'm sure that if any issues arise, we'll be able to sort them out. One thing's for sure: I disliked these rules ever since they were previewed, and I pretty much refuse to use them as-is based on the points listed above.
Shirebrok wrote:
Shirebrok wrote:
It seems like the language of the DM choosing whether or not to check for a chance of wild surge is a dial to increase or decrease the occurence as appropriate for the tone of the game being played. If you can just say it happens because that iconic class feature isn't coming up enough for the group's tastes, then you don't have to fudge that die. You don't have to roll at all.
MurdochMan wrote:
Shirebrok wrote:
grendel111111 wrote:
MurdochMan wrote:
I've got a wild mage in my Legacy of the Crystal Shard game. I've told the player he can roll every time he casts a spell of 1st level or higher, no questions asked. Whenever he uses Tides of Chaos, I usually have him roll on the wild surge table to recharge it right away. Sometimes I even get him to roll on the wild surge table at random times, like when his PC dropped to 0 hit points after being electrocuted by a glyph of warding.
Also, I'm using a house rule where the chance of triggering a wild surge increases with each spell slot level. So if it's a 1st level spell slot, you only trigger it on a roll of 1 as usual, but if it's a 2nd level spell slot, then you can trigger the surge on a roll of 1 or 2. By the time you get to using 9th level spell slots, you'll be triggering wild surges on a roll of 1-9. The idea is that the more powerful the magic, the harder it is to control.
pukunui wrote:
ittyan wrote:
ittyan wrote:
ChrisCarlson wrote:
ChrisCarlson wrote:
Mmmm. Tasty! Maybe they'll help soak up some of this alcohol... 