Legimus
2018-05-01, 02:32 PM
I'm currently writing a minor re-work of the Wild Magic sorcerer to make it a little more fun and competitive with the other origins. My goal is to only make a more fun version of the Wild Magic origin, not to seriously redesign it thematically or mechanically. I think that the mid-level features—Tides of Chaos, Bend Luck, and Controlled Chaos—don't need much tweaking, so I'm leaving them largely untouched. I've changed Wild Magic to be less at the DM's discretion, but am also keeping the core of it intact. So what's left is Spell Bombardment.
Spell Bombardment is, in my opinion, one of the weakest features in the whole game. All of the other level 18 features that sorcerers can get are very strong, potentially game-changing. By contrast, Spell Bombardment adds a minuscule amount of damage. Its fundamental flaw rests in relying on rolling a specific number on the damage die. This means that no matter what level you cast the spell at, the chance of rolling maximum damage with a single die remains the same. If you cast Magic Missile, you have a 1-in-4 chance of getting max damage. If you cast it at the 5th level, rolling 5d4, there are 20 different combinations that can be rolled (5 x 4 = 20). Of those 20 combinations, 5 will contain at least one die that rolled 4. You thus have a 5-in-20, or 1-in-4, chance of rolling the highest possible number (4) when you cast the spell. No matter what level you cast a spell at, the probability of triggering Spell Bombardment stays the same. And the average damage for each damage die is roughly the same, too. Although average damage goes up for each damage die, the chance of hitting the max number goes down. So no matter what damage die you're using, the average damage increase is between 0.5 and 0.6. You'd get more mileage out of a feature that just said "The damage of all your spells increases by 1."
So already it doesn't trigger often, and when it does the extra damage is middling at best (since you get it so late in the game). Suffice to say, I'm looking to make this feature a little more illustrious. In line with my goal, I want to keep true to the mechanics and theme of the Wild Magic origin, and I want the new version to fulfill the same role (increasing damage output). But I'm having trouble coming up with a good feature that raises spell damage in a way that's rewarding, somewhat random, and fun. My first thought was to let Spell Bombardment be used multiple times in one turn, but that just doesn't feel like the fix this feature needs. Any ideas?
Spell Bombardment is, in my opinion, one of the weakest features in the whole game. All of the other level 18 features that sorcerers can get are very strong, potentially game-changing. By contrast, Spell Bombardment adds a minuscule amount of damage. Its fundamental flaw rests in relying on rolling a specific number on the damage die. This means that no matter what level you cast the spell at, the chance of rolling maximum damage with a single die remains the same. If you cast Magic Missile, you have a 1-in-4 chance of getting max damage. If you cast it at the 5th level, rolling 5d4, there are 20 different combinations that can be rolled (5 x 4 = 20). Of those 20 combinations, 5 will contain at least one die that rolled 4. You thus have a 5-in-20, or 1-in-4, chance of rolling the highest possible number (4) when you cast the spell. No matter what level you cast a spell at, the probability of triggering Spell Bombardment stays the same. And the average damage for each damage die is roughly the same, too. Although average damage goes up for each damage die, the chance of hitting the max number goes down. So no matter what damage die you're using, the average damage increase is between 0.5 and 0.6. You'd get more mileage out of a feature that just said "The damage of all your spells increases by 1."
So already it doesn't trigger often, and when it does the extra damage is middling at best (since you get it so late in the game). Suffice to say, I'm looking to make this feature a little more illustrious. In line with my goal, I want to keep true to the mechanics and theme of the Wild Magic origin, and I want the new version to fulfill the same role (increasing damage output). But I'm having trouble coming up with a good feature that raises spell damage in a way that's rewarding, somewhat random, and fun. My first thought was to let Spell Bombardment be used multiple times in one turn, but that just doesn't feel like the fix this feature needs. Any ideas?