D&D: The New Sorcerer – Magic, Mayhem, and Metamagic Mastery
Come take a closer look at the new Sorcerer, the one slated for release in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Magic and more magic await.
Sorcerers are fonts of limitless power. Except for all the limits placed on them by the spellcasting system of D&D 5th Edition and whatever it’s evolving into. But Sorcerers, traditionally, were all about having more magic power, even if they had less magical flexibility.
And while that’s still kind of true, they don’t actually fit into that category as neatly as they once did. Especially since Wizards and Sorcerers now have exactly the same number of “prepared spells” per day once they hit 3rd level. The only difference is Wizards can switch out their spells every long rest, and that Sorcerers can, in theory, create more spell slots on the fly. But what else is different? Let’s dive in!
New Sorcerer Playtest Rules – 2024 Edition
Sorcerers in the new playest are largely about what you’d expect. They are magic incarnate and are masters of innate power, rather than learning magic through lots of practice and study. They’re the epitome of “feeling magic” and are still going to focus on Charisma.
There are a few big-picture changes for the new Sorcerer that bear mentioning. For one, they have more spells than previously. They get a total of 22 “spells prepared” which is the new way of saying “spells known.” You pick them from the list of Arcane Spells and at every level up you can swap them out, in addition to gaining new spells. But they actually have more spells than that “always prepared” because Sorcerers also gain a few “Sorcerer-exclusive” spells, which start off pretty good and then get of steadily more questionable use.
But that’s okay. Because you’ll still have full access to the Arcane Spell list, and that’s plenty to play with. Besides the real Sorcery tool is Metamagic. Which has been tweaked slightly. All the options from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything are here. And a few Metamagic options have been refined: Careful Spell might ever be worth taking. Twinned Spell got nerfed into the ground for no discernible reason. Heightened Spell is cheap enough that you can actually use it when you can pick it up. And Quickened Spell will stop causing so many debates about what spells you can cast on a turn.
Draconic Sorcery
The subclass included along with the new Sorcerer playtest is Draconic Sorcery. And it’s pretty good. It’s basically the same as it was in 5th Edition, though now you get some extra fun benefits. Like Dragon Speech, which replaces Draconic Ancestor and lets your speech be understood by all Dragon-type creatures instead of just setting you up for later subclass features.
At 6th level, you pick an energy type, Acid, Cold, Fire, Poison, or Lightning, and then gain the usual resistance/bonus damage to those spells. And Draconic Exhalation is a new feature, replacing the oft-neglected Draconic Presence. Draconic Exhalation lets you turn the Sorcerous Burst cantrip into a 15-foot cone instead of a cantrip that targets one target 120 feet away, which is okay. It’s not the best, it’s weird to see a 10th-level feature improving a cantrip, but it’s better than Fighters get.
Finally, the capstones are Dragon Wings that sprout now only when you cast a specific spell, Sorcery Incarnate. And when you have them, not only do you gain a flying speed, but you can automatically deal magical damage to creatures of your choice within 15 feet at the end of each of your turns.
All in all, the new Sorcerer gets a lot to play with. What do you think?
