Dungeons and Dragons‘ major 2024 update to 5th edition has done a lot to put more power in the hands of players. Just about every class has gained new features or polished versions of familiar abilities that make them stronger overall. For instance, Sorcerers in 5e were arguably weaker than some other casters since they didn’t get extra spell options from their subclasses like clerics and warlocks did, and they couldn’t easily prepare new spells. In Dungeons and Dragons 2024e, sorcerers got a real glow-up; aside from other improved features, the updated Aberrant, Clockwork, and Draconic Sorcerers all get a stack of thematically appropriate bonus spells. Notably, the classic Wild Magic Sorcerer didn’t get free spells — but on closer inspection, it’s clear why.
There’s no questioning that the Wild Magic Sorcerer was one of D&D 5e’s most unique subclasses, thanks to its massive d100 table of Wild Magic Surge effects. Every leveled spell this Sorcerer would cast had the chance of triggering a sudden surge of magic, with no way of knowing if it would be good or bad. This is where 5e and 2024e’s Wild Magic Sorcerers diverge, however: while 5e’s Wild Sorc would gamble with all kinds of helpful or harmful effects, the new Sorcerer has a much more consistently useful Wild Magic Surge table that makes them more powerful than they might look at a glance.
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D&D’s Wild Magic Sorcerer is More Reliable Than Ever
Comparing 2014 and 2024’s Wild Magic Surge Tables
The biggest difference between these two subclasses is the contents and structure of their Wild Magic Surge tables. In the 5e edition, Wild Magic Sorcerers had to be wary of a lot of bad effects alongside good ones. A lucky player might get a free spell slot, a blast of lightning damage, a bit of healing, or even all their expended Sorcery Points from a Wild Magic Surge roll. However, they also risked getting useless gag effects like a beard of feathers, or actively disadvantageous effects like turning into a potted plant or sheep, or casting Grease on themselves. Perhaps most infamously, a really unlucky Sorcerer might cast Fireball on themselves, which could outright kill a low-level character.
In contrast, the 2024 Wild Magic Surge Table seems rather intent on empowering the Sorcerer. Most of the possible results are direct parallels of effects from the 2014 table, but just about all of them have been tweaked to benefit the player:
- Many of the useless results have been consolidated into one sub-table that only appears 4% of the time, which makes them all far less likely to trigger
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Another sub-table contains all the free spell-casts that the old Wild Magic table could trigger, but Grease, Fog Cloud, Confusion, and Fireball are no longer centered on the player when cast with Wild Magic, so they’re essentially just free damage and crowd control
- This result can still turn players into a goat, but Polymorph being sequestered in a sub-table means it’s far less likely
- Because the useless results and free spells have been consolidated, players are now twice as likely to get great non-spell results like healing, maximum spell damage, an extra action, or Resistance to all damage
The 2024 Wild Magic Sorcerer still risks some negative results, like Vulnerability to Piercing damage, being Frightened of something, or becoming a potted plant, but overall, the odds are far more stacked in their favor. These Sorcerers are also twice as likely to be forced to roll on the Wild Magic table every turn for a minute, but given how good the table is these days, they should like those odds, especially once Controlled Chaos allows them to manipulate their results on the table.
2024 Wild Magic Sorcerers Better Control Their Destinies
It’s also worth noting that the 2024 Wild Magic Sorc has much more control over when they interact with the table at all. 2014’s edition stated that Sorcerers wouldn’t check for a Surge or roll on the table until the DM told them to. While this added to the unpredictability of the subclass, it also meant more work for DMs, and a forgetful DM might let the feature slip altogether, essentially resulting in a Sorcerer without a subclass.
In 2024e, the Sorcerer always rolls for a Surge after casting a leveled spell, or triggers one after getting Advantage with Tides of Chaos, so players are guaranteed to deal with Wild Magic Surges frequently. What’s more, the subclass’ capstone feature lets players activate a result of their choice on the table once per day, granting them reliable access to all kinds of powerful abilities (and appropriately replacing the decent but fairly dull bonus spell damage from 2014’s Spell Bombardment).
Interestingly, 2014 Sorcerers trigger a Wild Magic Surge when they roll a 1 on a d20, while 2024 Sorcerers look for a 20 when they roll for a Surge. This seems to reflect the more inherently positive nature of the 2024 Wild Magic Surge table, and at the very least conditions the player to think of a Wild Magic Surge as a good thing.
Although these changes are ultimately for the best — given that they make Wild Magic Sorcerers significantly more useful as party members — there’s something to be said for the loss of the more purely chaotic experience of the 2014 version. Wizards of the Coast has cut a lot of risk from the subclass, which arguably makes it less truly “wild”. Nevertheless, the 2024 version still offers plenty of chaos for Dungeons and Dragons players; given how often this version encounters its Wild Magic Surge table, it may even prove to be more chaotic in the long run, even if it does so in a more orderly way.
Dungeons and Dragons
- Franchise
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Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
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1974
- Designer
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E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson