When a sorcerer casts a spell, after the spell is cast, roll d20. This alone mitigates the risk so that more players might be willing to accept it. Serious, or extreme effects, are less likely to occur than nuisance effects. It retains the chaotic randomness, but it tempers the serious results with adjusted probabilities. A common curse is that whenever a caster of any type casts, they must roll on this table.ĭespite my opinion about the inherent weakness of the Wild Magic sorcery origin, when compared to Draconic origins, this replacement of the surge table may make the Wild Magic choice more palatable to some players. Not only are there wild-magic sorcerers, but many magic items the adventurers find generate rolls on this table when used.

Thus, the Wild Magic Surge table plays a prominent role in my campaign.

An untrained or unskilled caster who taps into these forces risks a wide variety of random or chaotic side effects. But more than just the forces of chaos as described in the Players Handbook, magic also comes from nature, from life, and even from death. Most of the casting classes have learned to control magic through rigid rituals and precise incantations. In my setting, all magic is wild magic, even though the players don’t realize it. However, what it does do is expand the usability and opportunity to use Wild Magic in your campaign setting. This homebrew does not modify the Wild Magic Sorcerer origin. My immediate response to this was the table needed to be rebuilt almost from scratch. It has fifty possible outcomes, and while they are chaotic, some of them represent too great a risk for any player to accept. I ran the scenario twice, and in the second session, the player who picked that character wanted the randomness and we ended up having a lot of fun with it.Īll this said, part of the problem with the way Wild Magic is presented in the handbook is that the Wild Magic Surge table is too small. The one exception was at a convention session where one of the characters I provided was a wild-magic sorcerer. I created a couple NPC wild-magic sorcerers, and even in these cases, the players don’t want to be around these characters. Unless a player just likes randomness, wild magic will rarely, if ever, be selected.

When looking at the Sorcerer class as written, the dragon-blood origin far outweighs the wild-magic origin in abilities and benefits.

Even though that random occurrence may be beneficial. It’s enough to know that a to-hit roll might miss or they might fail a saving roll, but even a remote chance (5%) of something completely random happening is something they avoid.

Most players don’t like unpredictability.

With two active groups and several one-off sessions, I’ve only had one player at a convention that embraced the concept of wild magic. I’ve been running 5e for a little over a year. Revised Wild Magic Surge Table Introduction

Do a barrel roll 100