Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Sorcerers: Favored Souls, Phoenix Sorcery, Sea Sorcery, & Stone Sorcery

Favored Soul (again), Phoenix Sorcery, Sea Sorcery, Earth Sorcery.

Could this be the start of Elementalists?

 

[gyor]

Maybe you can easily ignore fluff and replace it with what you want without dropping a sweat. A lot of us are apprehensive about certain things that might be cosmetic to you, but for us are important. To me, freely rewriting fluff is akin to freely rewriting your own character rules. One thing is easier to do than the other, but both are cheating (IMO).


Spears are cool, and shortbows are equally cool -and shortbows are not a bad weapon-. Losing the one weapon that is universal across all cultures known is a downer.


Under the two-book rule, Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade won't work with Favored soul either. They have no bearing on balance because the class pught to work without them.


Try to fit all that and still do something useful, good luck with only two spells per level.

It does work without them, it's just that Favoured Soul isn't a pretend melee character anymore, both Favoured Souls were horrible in melee combat without a dip into Fighter or Paladin for some real armour and weapons. If spear is that important you, there are other ways to get it.

Honestly it would be okay if they split the difference between the two versions and replaced Supernatural resilience with Holy Symbol, Simple Weapon and Light armour Prof, and Divine Purity with your wings back.

 

[gyor]

Ultimate Expertise build, Changeling Rogue Entertainer College of Lore 3, Scout 11, Favoured Soul 6. Expertise in Thieves tools, Nature, Survival, Performance, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, 4 instruments, Disguise Kit, Acrobatics, Religion, Stealth, Perception, Arcana, Jack of all Trades, and Reliable Talent. By spending down time you can add more instruments and gaming sets like cards (which with bluffing would be a charisma check).

On top of that you can have green flame blade, a rapier, light armour, sneak attack at 6d6, inspiration dice, 5th level spell slots, Favour of the Gods, Supernatural Resilience for 6 levels, a mixture of divine and, arcane spells, dash/hide/disengage as a bonus action, thieves can, skirmisher, Superior mobility, cutting words, song of rest (d6), font of magic with 6 sorcery points, metamagic Quicken and Twin Spell, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, spells known 13, cantrips 7 picked from the Bard, Cleric, and Sorceror spell lists. Total spell slots 14. The spells are mostly gravy. 4 Ability Increases/feats.

You are literally good at everything and great at most stuff. Make one of your cantrips guidance.

 

[Lord Twig]

I have actually played a Favored Soul in 3.5 from level 1 to 20 (Shackled City Campaign) and this new version does't work for me. Here is what I would do instead...

Favored Soul
1st level:
- Supernatural Resilience is unchanged.
- Lose "Favored by the Gods".
- Move Blessed Countenance to 1st level.
- Add light and medium armor proficiency, shield proficiency and proficiency with one weapon of the player's choice.
- Instead of adding access to the Cleric list the Cleric list replaces the Sorcerer list. The original Favored Soul used Cleric spells.
- Holy symbol is used as a spell casting focus, obviously.

6th level:
- Extra Attack

14th level*:
- Gain wings. Feathered or Bat-like depending on alignment.
- Divine Purity is unchanged.

18th level*:
- Damage Resistance vs. bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical attacks.
- Unearthly Recovery is unchanged.

* The loss of Sorcerer spells is a big hit in my opinion, so this allows for extra power to be added to the subclass at 14th and 18th level.

Edit: Forgot to add shield proficiency.

 

[MoonSong]

I have actually played a Favored Soul in 3.5 from level 1 to 20 (Shackled City Campaign) and this new version does't work for me. Here is what I would do instead...

Favored Soul
1st level:
- Supernatural Resilience is unchanged.
- Lose "Favored by the Gods".
- Move Blessed Countenance to 1st level.
- Add light and medium armor proficiency and proficiency with one weapon of the player's choice.
- Instead of adding access to the Cleric list the Cleric list replaces the Sorcerer list. The original Favored Soul used Cleric spells.
- Holy symbol is used as a spell casting focus, obviously.

6th level:
- Extra Attack

14th level*:
- Gain wings. Feathered or Bat-like depending on alignment.
- Divine Purity is unchanged.

18th level*:
- Damage Resistance vs. bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical attacks.
- Unearthly Recovery is unchanged.

* The loss of Sorcerer spells is a big hit in my opinion, so this allows for extra power to be added to the subclass at 14th and 18th level.

Problem is, subclasses cannot remove or replace, only add.

 

[cbwjm]

Problem is, subclasses cannot remove or replace, only add.

So far, I see no reason why you couldn't remove the sorcerer spell list and replace it completely with the cleric list, gaining the subclass at level 1 makes it one of the perfect classes to do this with.

 

[Lord Twig]

Problem is, subclasses cannot remove or replace, only add.

I think I just showed that you can.

Any limit on what can or can not be done is self inflicted. They can do whatever they want. The only real limit is, "Would this be good for the game?" and "Would our players enjoy this?".

 

[MoonSong]

So far, I see no reason why you couldn't remove the sorcerer spell list and replace it completely with the cleric list, gaining the subclass at level 1 makes it one of the perfect classes to do this with.

It would open a brand new can of worms. I'm not sure the designers would want to do that, taking into account they refuse to give additional spells to sorcerer subclasses because it would create a bad precedent

 

[cbwjm]

Maybe, however I think it might easily be something that they will consider. After all, up until Volo's guide, they never had races with ability penalties so it shows that they will consider options that are against the currently established system. Perhaps the results of the sorcerer survey will see them replace the spell list with the cleric list when they complete and publish it as an official option.

Having said that, I suspect you may be right. Only time will tell.

 

[DaviMMS]

It would open a brand new can of worms. I'm not sure the designers would want to do that, taking into account they refuse to give additional spells to sorcerer subclasses because it would create a bad precedent

The problem of the bonus spells were that people were complaining that it made the subclass so good that it invalidated the PHB ones. Changing the spell list woul make the subclass to stop competing with the existing ones, as it would have a different function and playstyle.

 

[Lord Twig]

I don't have much to add on the Phoenix Sorcerer. I like it and think it would be just fine as long as they increase the Mantle to once per short rest.

I think the Sea Sorcerer is great as well. There is just a few weird quirks.

Curse of the Sea
First, it seems odd that I can infuse my Fire Bolt with a "watery curse", but it apparently works with any cantrip. Then the wording is a little strange: "then the curse ends if the spell isn’t a cantrip". It seems it would be clearer if it just said, "If the spell is a cantrip the curse lasts for an additional round." Or something like that.

Watery Defense
So I can turn into water, but only if somebody hits me with something. Why? Why can't I just turn into water whenever I want? If I want to use my one use per short rest to move 30' without opportunity attacks, why not let me?

Shifting Form
Well now I can do it at will, but I take half damage from opportunity attacks. What? It is "at will" now, which is cool, and is great for exploring and just RP, as well as in combat, but they should make the water form more consistent between the 6th and 14th level abilities.

Water Soul
This is all good. Don't see a problem with any of these.