D&D 5.5E: One Change Makes The Wild Magic Sorcerer A Rising Tide of Chaos
D&D Beyond shows off even more about the Wild Magic Sorcerer, including one change that fixes their biggest problem.
Wild Magic Sorcerers are an amazing concept. Infused with the stuff of magic itself, a Wild Magic Sorcerer is a font of magical power. Sometimes uncontrollable. Often good, ever whimsical. But in 5E, the Wild Magic Sorcerer is a little bit harder to play into the fantasy of.
Because more often than not, what happens is your Wild Magic, which is supposed to surge at random, doesn’t ever really happen unless the DM remembers and says, “Hey, make a wild magic check”. So what should be a fun playstyle defining subclass choice instead ends up just being “you’re a slightly different generic Sorcerer.”
D&D 5.5E hopes to fix that. From a new preview on D&D Beyond, it looks like they have. All it took was one really easy change, and suddenly, the class feels much more chaotic in the best of ways.
How D&D 5.5E Fixes the Wild Magic Sorcerer
D&D Beyond has a more in-depth preview of the Wild Magic Sorcerer up right now. And in it, we get a look at some of the more specific ways that the subclass will function. In the Sorcerer preview video, Jeremy Crawford hinted that you’d have more reliable access to your Wild Magic Surge; now we know how that will actually happen.
And honestly, I’m here for it. It all comes down to a minor change in the Tides of Chaos feature, which you gain at level 3. Here’s how the new rule works:
Tides of Chaos allows you to grant yourself Advantage on one D20 Test of your choice. This feature is now less dependenton your DM’s memory and discretion. In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, casting a spell after spending Tides of Chaos automatically triggers a Wild Magic Surge and rechargesy our use of this ability.
So right away, that’s a HUGE change. Now you can give yourself Advantage on an attack roll, skill check, saving throw, you name it, and then the next time you cast a spell, you guarantee yourself a Wild Magic Surge. And having a Wild Magic Surge is where it’s at. D&D Beyond didn’t reveal the Wild Magic Table, which is fair enough, but it does sound like there will be the same general brand of chaos. Regaining hit points, unexpectedly casting mirror image on yourself. Good times.
After Tides of Chaos, at level 6, Wild Magic Sorcerers gain Bend luck, which is now cheaper than before, costing only 1 Sorcery Point to roll 1d4 to add or subtract from the roll of a d20. And at level 14, you get Controlled Chaos, which gives you “advantage” on Wild Magic Surges, and then at level 18, a new feature, Tamed Surge, grants you a Wild Magic Surge effect of your choice once per day.
What do you think of the new Wild Magic Sorcerer?
