One of the original subclasses from the Dungeons and Dragons™ 5E Player’s Handbook is the Wild Magic Sorcerer. The flavor of this class presents the possibility that random magical effects could occur with the casting of leveled spells. We call this a Wild Magic surge.
For those that like to roll on charts, the intrigue of this class is easy to see. Roll a percentile die and see what random event occurs. But, let’s kick that up a notch and include a wide array of different charts for our character, shall we?
This Wild Magic Sorcerer build is ideal for you if:
- You enjoy rolling on random tables
- You want a D&D character that in unpredictable
- You don’t mind multiclassing to build a unique character
PDF Character Sheets for Wild Magic Sorcerer
Here is my personal build for my Eladrin Elf Chaos Mage, Fizzix. or “Q” for short. Take a look at my PDF Character Sheets for levels 9. Be sure to continue reading this article and watch the video for a full understanding of the Chaos Mage character build using random tables
Level 9 Wild Magic Sorcerer 5E Character Build
Wild Magic Sorcerer Guide – Random Table Character Build
Wild Magic Sorcerer Abilities
Does your Dungeon Master use the Rule of Cool?
The Wild Magic Sorcerer can be a lot of fun to play if we are able to trigger our Wild Magic Surges. As you can see by the bold text below, it is up to our DM if they will allow us to roll for that 5% chance of a surge.
Wild Magic. Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, your spellcasting can unleash surges of untamed magic. Once per turn, the DM can have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a magical effect. If that effect is a spell, it is too wild to be affected by your Metamagic, and if it normally requires concentration, it doesn’t require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration.
If, at the very least, your DM doesn’t give you the automatic go-ahead to roll for the 5% chance to wild surge (result of 1 on a d20 roll) every time you cast a leveled spell, then I recommend playing a different character. Wild surges are what makes this build fun and it would lose flavor if the opportunities were diminished for cool things to happen. Quite frankly, I believe there is little harm that could come from this so I would think that most DMs would agree that you should always get this opportunity.
The Dungeon Master also has a say in our other 1st level ability, the Tides of Chaos which reads:
Tides of Chaos. Starting at 1st level, you can manipulate the forces of chance and chaos to gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. Once you do so, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.
Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.
The Tides of Chaos, can be as amazing or disappointing as our DM wants it to be. If we have already expended our daily use of this feature, it is up to our DM on whether or not it can recharge. After we cast a spell of level 1 or higher, we should ask our DM if we get a Wild Surge effect. If we do, we roll a percentile on the Wild Surge Table and we regain our Tides of Chaos ability.
At the very least, I would expect a Dungeon Master to allow this to happen 25% of the time, but all-in-all, a coin-flip or die roll for a 50% chance would be ideal. We want our character to be unpredictable and 50% puts us right in the middle of things happening or not-happening. Be sure to leave a comment below on what percent of the time you think the Tides of Chaos should have a chance to recharge.
Wrapping things up, always remember that cantrips do not trigger wild magic surges and for quick reference, I have included the Wild Surge Table from the Player’s Handbook at the bottom of this article.
Our Wild Magic Surge table is only one of several tables we will be using with our character. Be sure to bookmark this article because we have a lot more random tables to apply to our character build!
Race
If you truly want to have your character’s everyday life be one of random, then this begins when you wake up every morning as an Eladrin Elf. An Eladrin’s appearance and mood can change from day-to-day and is divided into four seasons: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.
Autumn represents peace and goodwill. Winter contemplation and sorrow. Spring is cheerfulness and celebration and Summer is a season of boldness, aggression and energy. The appearance of an Eladrin will change depending on their current season. In winter their skin and hair will be represented by blues and whites. Spring tends to shift to green. Summer gives them a golden appearance and Autumn usually devolves into orange or red skin and hair.
Eladrin can remain in one season for an extended period of time or change from day-to-day. They may change with the actual seasons or alter their appearance with regards to their mood or emotional state. The key fact to remember for our build is that Eladrin can change their season after a long rest.
As an Eladrin, we choose when our character changes their season and the reason for it. To fit in our randomness theme and to get as many die rolls in a day as we can, we should do this every day after our long rest. The ruleset for Eladrin then provides us with two random table charts. a 1d4 for Personality Trait and a 1d4 for Flaw.
While I think its best to select one of the other three seasons manually so that we ensure we get something different everyday, you could do this randomly by assigning Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter to a 1d4 and begin with a die roll. Then, a second 1d4 for Personality in the Eladrin’s season and finally the third 1d4 for the Flaw.
Autumn
| d4 | Autumn Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | If someone is in need, you never withhold aid. |
| 2 | You share what you have, with little regard for your own needs. |
| 3 | There are no simple meals, only lavish feasts. |
| 4 | You stock up on fine food and drink. You hate going without such comforts. |
| d4 | Autumn Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | You trust others without a second thought. |
| 2 | You give to others, to the point that you leave yourself without necessary supplies. |
| 3 | Everyone is your friend, or a potential friend. |
| 4 | You spend excessively on creature comforts. |
Winter
| d4 | Winter Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | The worst case is the most likely to occur. |
| 2 | You preserve what you have. Better to be hungry today and have food for tomorrow. |
| 3 | Life is full of dangers, but you are ready for them. |
| 4 | A penny spent is a penny lost forever. |
| d4 | Winter Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | Everything dies eventually. Why bother building anything that is supposedly meant to last? |
| 2 | Nothing matters to you, and you allow others to guide your actions. |
| 3 | Your needs come first. In winter, all must watch out for themselves. |
| 4 | You speak only to point out the flaws in others’ plans. |
Spring
| d4 | Spring Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | Every day is the greatest day of your life. |
| 2 | You approach everything with enthusiasm, even the most mundane chores. |
| 3 | You love music and song. You supply a tune yourself if no one else can. |
| 4 | You can’t stay still. |
| d4 | Spring Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | You overdrink. |
| 2 | Toil is for drudges. Yours should be a life of leisure. |
| 3 | A pretty face infatuates you in an instant, but your fancy passes with equal speed. |
| 4 | Anything worth doing is worth doing again and again. |
Summer
| d4 | Summer Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | You believe that direct confrontation is the best way to solve problems. |
| 2 | Overwhelming force can accomplish almost anything. The tougher the problem, the more force you apply. |
| 3 | You stand tall and strong so that others can lean on you. |
| 4 | You maintain an intimidating front. It’s better to prevent fights with a show of force than to harm others. |
| d4 | Summer Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | You are stubborn. Let others change. |
| 2 | The best option is one that is swift, unexpected, and overwhelming. |
| 3 | Punch first. Talk later. |
| 4 | Your fury can carry you through anything. |
Ability Score generation
Using the Point Buy method, our ideal lineup of scores should be as follows:
STR: 8
DEX: 16 (15 + 1 from Racial Ability Score Improvement)
CON: 14
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 17 (15 + 2 from Racial Ability Score Improvement)
We will want a 15 in Charisma, our spell casting modifier and a 15 in Dexterity to help with our Armor Class. Using the optional rule in Tasha’s Cauldron of everything we can put our +2 modifier into Charisma to give us a 17 and set us up for a half feat at level 4 and the +1 modifier into Dexterity to help increase our Armor Class to 16.
We have low hit points as a Sorcerer, so a 14 is vital for this ability score. Unfortunately, there is nothing left in the tank for WIS, INT, and STR, so those scores will be 10, 8, and 8 respectively.
Level 4 Feat Selection – Elven Accuracy
Digging into Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, we are able to select the Elven Accuracy feat because our Eladrin character meets the prerequisite of needing to be an elf or half-elf. Elven Accuracy is a sweet combo with our Tides of Chaos ability, especially if we have a generous DM that helps us recharge it with an accompanying Wild Magic Surge. Elven Accuracy acts as follows:
The accuracy of elves is legendary, especially that of elf archers and spellcasters. You have uncanny aim with attacks that rely on precision rather than brute force. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20
Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once.
Elven Accuracy is a half feat and helps us move our Charisma up to an 18 with the +1 bonus. We can also reroll an attack roll if we have advantage and the attack roll is using our Charisma score. Both our Firebolt cantrip and our Chaos Bolt are adjusted by our Charisma modifier and are eligible. So, if we use our Tides of Chaos we can gain advantage on our spell attack and can reroll one of the two d20s. It’s like having triple advantage on an attack when we need to make sure we hit our target.
Multiclass into Bard
Our multiclass into the Bard class should occur after we become a 6th level Wild Magic Sorcerer. It is not important to multiclass, but since we are attempting to achieve a character build that rolls on a number of random tables, the payoff at 3rd level bard puts us right where we want to be. In the meantime, we get access to Bardic Inspiration (perhaps we give this out randomly with a die roll), Jack of all Trades, Song of Rest and Expertise.
When we multiclass into bard, we can select another skill and Intimidation seems to be the optimal choice from a role-playing perspective. Since our Eladrin has a variety of different emotions, flaws, and personality swings, we can match our role play with our current season. A bit hot-headed in summer we could use Intimidation and a bit more laid back in winter we could opt to use persuasion. We will also get Expertise as a bard at level 3 and I highly suggest using this for both Persuasion and Intimidation to keep us excellent at both tactics.
College of Spirits Bard
Access to Guidance, Bardic Inspiration and Tales from Beyond
When you are a wielder of random effects and chaos magic, our bardic inspiration is going to be random as well. When we use bardic inspiration, we can roll a die to randomly determine which of our allies within 60 feet will be the beneficiary of this ability.
Guidance is arguably the best cantrip in the game. Float down to spell selection for more info.
Tales from Beyond is our final piece of this chaotic build. Once per day we can now roll for our seasonal state, trait, and flaws of being an Eladrin Elf and now we can listen to the spirits and randomly determine which tale is told. This effect can be used once per short or long rest, so essentially we can do this a few times per day by expending a Bardic Inspiration die.
Bard Spirit Table
| Bardic Insp. Die | Tale Told Through You |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tale of the Clever Animal. For the next 10 minutes, whenever the target makes an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma check, the target can roll an extra die immediately after rolling the d20 and add the extra die’s number to the check. The extra die is the same type as your Bardic Inspiration die. |
| 2 | Tale of the Renowned Duelist. You make a melee spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes force damage equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier. |
| 3 | Tale of the Beloved Friends. The target and another creature of its choice it can see within 5 feet of it gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier. |
| 4 | Tale of the Runaway. The target can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. When the target teleports, it can choose a number of creatures it can see within 30 feet of it up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 0) to immediately use the same reaction. |
| 5 | Tale of the Avenger. For 1 minute, any creature that hits the target with a melee attack takes force damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die. |
| 6 | Tale of the Traveler. The target gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your bard level. While it has these temporary hit points, the target’s walking speed increases by 10 feet and it gains a +1 bonus to its AC. |
| 7 | Tale of the Beguiler. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take psychic damage equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die, and the target is incapacitated until the end of its next turn. |
| 8 | Tale of the Phantom. The target becomes invisible until the end of its next turn or until it hits a creature with an attack. If the target hits a creature with an attack during this invisibility, the creature it hits takes necrotic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die and is frightened of the target until the end of the frightened creature’s next turn. |
| 9 | Tale of the Brute. Each creature of the target’s choice it can see within 30 feet of it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes thunder damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die and is knocked prone. A creature that succeeds on its saving throw takes half as much damage and isn’t knocked prone. |
| 10 | Tale of the Dragon. The target spews fire from the mouth in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking fire damage equal to four rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. |
| 11 | Tale of the Angel. The target regains hit points equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and you end one condition from the following list affecting the target: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, or poisoned. |
| 12 | Tale of the Mind-Bender. You evoke an incomprehensible fable from an otherworldly being. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take psychic damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die and be stunned until the end of its next turn. |
Spell Selection
Spell selection is going to be a key component of the theme and flavor of our Wild Magic Sorcerer. Below are the choices I have selected and how I would describe them as chaos or random effects. Of course, there are not enough to take the plunge into full randomness, so you will still want to pick up some off-theme utility spells.
Cantrips
Infestation: Random movement and random bugs. This cantrip is perfect for what we are trying to accomplish. It is also the perfect spell to cast if we are trapped in melee combat because it demands the target to make a saving throw. On a failed CON save, the target takes 1d6 poison and is moved 5 feet in a random direction. Rolling the 1d4 for a cardinal direction (North, South, East, West) is only one portion of our randomness. We could homebrew this just a tad and create a d6 chart of what type of insects are summoned by our spell. Off the top of my head, here are six that you can use to roll:
- Ants
- Fleas
- Gnats
- Mosquitoes
- Ticks
- Tiny Spiders
Fire Bolt: Is fire random or chaotic? Could be, I guess. If not, no worries. Not all of our spells can have random elements to them. But, we need a good damage dealing cantrip and this is one of the best.
Prestidigitation: While I don’t have d6 charts to give you, I highly recommend brewing up your own charts of smells, tastes, colors, and the sort. Changing someone’s coffee to a random taste, color, or smell is all in the fun of our desire to inflict random effects and chaos in the world and your imagination is the limit with this utility spell. Think Bertie Bott’s Beans from Harry Potter for random flavors and scents.
Guidance (Bard): Once we multiclass into our 3rd level of College of Spirits Bard, the Guiding Whispers ability grants us the Guidance spell as a free cantrip. While normally Guidance has a range of touch, the Spirit bard can cast it with a range of 60 feet. Let’s add some randomness to Guidance by randomly determining which ally within 60 feet gets the ability boost.
You can reach out to spirits to guide you and others. You learn the guidance cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know. For you, it has a range of 60 feet when you cast it.
Level 1 Spells
Chaos Bolt: Heart and soul of a Chaos Mage. This is us, right here. On a hit, we deal 2d8 + 1d6 of a random damage type (Acid, Fire, Cold, Lightning, Psychic, Force, Poison, or Thunder). If we roll the same number on our d8s we get to make another attack roll. Chaos at its best.
Magic Missle: When we absolutely need to hit something, Magic Missle is our spell. Of course, as a chaos mage that focuses on random results, we could roll a percentile die to see if the targets are random or land where we intend. Three darts at 1st level, there is definitely a chance that a few may go astray and hit random opponents. This spell is as chaotic as you want it to be. Using Magic Missle in this way reminds me a bit of Presto from the 1980s D&D Cartoon.
Silvery Barbs: Use our action to force an enemy to reroll. Then, give an extra die to an ally of our choice. Well, maybe not for us. Instead, I think I would rather randomly determine which of my allies gets the extra die.
Level 2 Spells
Enlarge/Reduce (Sorcerer): You can choose to make something or someone bigger or smaller. But, if you lean into letting fate decide, then perhaps you flip a coin? Heads for Enlarge, Tails for Reduce. Ah, see how this works? Brilliant, let’s look at some more spells.
Mirror Image: This spell gives us mirror images of ourselves and has the built in mechanic of rolling to see which one is hit. Random goodness built right in.
Nathair’s Mischief: Ah yes, coming in right behind Chaos Bolt is our second most chaotic, randomy-good spell. When cast, a 20ft cube area is either charmed with the smell of Apple Pie, Blinded by bouquets of flowers, incapacitated by the giggles, or slowed by molasses. Is this a real spell? Yep.
Scorching Ray: Like Magic Missle, but with hit rolls and fire.
Level 3 Spells
Blink: A random die roll during combat decides if we stay on the Material Plane where we are vulnerable or if we are whisked away to the Ethereal Plane until its our turn again. It’s a random surprise every turn!
Level 4 Spells
Confusion: This spell affects creatures in a 10ft radius with random behavior. Exactly what we want for the randomness that surrounds us.
| d10 | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 1 | The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature doesn’t take an action this turn. |
| 2-6 | The creature doesn’t move or take actions this turn. |
| 7-8 | The creature uses its action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does nothing this turn. |
| 9-10 | The creature can act and move normally. |
Polymorph: We can transform ourselves or an ally into a menacing beast to take on a challenge or we could attempt to transform an enemy into something harmless. Either way, this one will take a bit of work on our part to make this a spell that embraces the random side of things. Easy enough. There are not a lot of beasts in the 6-10 CR level for us to polymorph into, but the short list does include Giant Apes, Dinosaurs, Giant Crocodiles, and a Giant Eagle if we need flying.
Wild Magic Surge Table
| Wild Magic Surge | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| d100 | Effect | d100 | Effect |
| 01-02 | Roll on this table at the start of each of your turns for the next minute, ignoring this result on subsequent rolls. | 51-52 | A spectral shield hovers near you for the next minute, granting you a +2 bonus to AC and immunity to Magic Missile. |
| 03-04 | For the next minute, you can see any invisible creature if you have line of sight to it. | 53-54 | You are immune to being intoxicated by alcohol for the next 5d6 days. |
| 05-06 | A modron chosen and controlled by the DM appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you, then disappears I minute later. | 55-56 | Your hair falls out but grows back within 24 hours. |
| 07-08 | You cast Fireball as a 3rd-level spell centered on yourself. | 57-58 | For the next minute, any flammable object you touch that isn’t being worn or carried by another creature bursts into flame. |
| 09-10 | You cast Magic Missile as a 5th-level spell. | 59-60 | You regain your lowest-level expended spell slot. |
| 11-12 | Roll a d10. Your height changes by a number of inches equal to the roll. If the roll is odd, you shrink. If the roll is even, you grow. | 61-62 | For the next minute, you must shout when you speak. |
| 13-14 | You cast Confusion centered on yourself. | 63-64 | You cast Fog Cloud centered on yourself. |
| 15-16 | For the next minute, you regain 5 hit points at the start of each of your turns. | 65-66 | Up to three creatures you choose within 30 feet of you take 4d10 lightning damage. |
| 17-18 | You grow a long beard made of feathers that remains until you sneeze, at which point the feathers explode out from your face. | 67-68 | You are frightened by the nearest creature until the end of your next turn. |
| 19-20 | You cast Grease centered on yourself. | 69-70 | Each creature within 30 feet of you becomes invisible for the next minute. The invisibility ends on a creature when it attacks or casts a spell. |
| 21-22 | Creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against the next spell you cast in the next minute that involves a saving throw. | 71-72 | You gain resistance to all damage for the next minute. |
| 23-24 | Your skin turns a vibrant shade of blue. A Remove Curse spell can end this effect. | 73-74 | A random creature within 60 feet of you becomes poisoned for 1d4 hours. |
| 25-26 | An eye appears on your forehead for the next minute. During that time, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. | 75-76 | You glow with bright light in a 30-foot radius for the next minute. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of you is blinded until the end of its next turn. |
| 27-28 | For the next minute, all your spells with a casting time of 1 action have a casting time of 1 bonus action. | 77-78 | You cast Polymorph on yourself. If you fail the saving throw, you turn into a sheep for the spell’s duration. |
| 29-30 | You teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see. | 79-80 | Illusory butterflies and flower petals flutter in the air within 10 feet of you for the next minute. |
| 31-32 | You are transported to the Astral Plane until the end of your next turn, after which time you return to the space you previously occupied or the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. | 81-82 | You can take one additional action immediately. |
| 33-34 | Maximize the damage of the next damaging spell you cast within the next minute. | 83-84 | Each creature within 30 feet of you takes 1d10 necrotic damage. You regain hit points equal to the sum of the necrotic damage dealt. |
| 35-36 | Roll a d10. Your age changes by a number of years equal to the roll. If the roll is odd, you get younger (minimum 1 year old). If the roll is even, you get older. | 85-86 | You cast Mirror Image. |
| 37-38 | 1d6 flumphs controlled by the DM appear in unoccupied spaces within 60 feet of you and are frightened of you. They vanish after 1 minute. | 87-88 | You cast Fly on a random creature within 60 feet of you. |
| 39-40 | You regain 2d10 hit points. | 89-90 | You become invisible for the next minute. During that time, other creatures can’t hear you. The invisibility ends if you attack or cast a spell. |
| 41-42 | You turn into a potted plant until the start of your next turn. While a plant, you are incapacitated and have vulnerability to all damage. If you drop to 0 hit points, your pot breaks, and your form reverts. | 91-92 | If you die within the next minute, you immediately come back to life as if by the Reincarnate spell. |
| 43-44 | For the next minute, you can teleport up to 20 feet as a bonus action on each of your turns. | 93-94 | Your size increases by one size category for the next minute. |
| 45-46 | You cast Levitate on yourself. | 95-96 | You and all creatures within 30 feet of you gain vulnerability to piercing damage for the next minute. |
| 47-48 | A unicorn controlled by the DM appears in a space within 5 feet of you, then disappears 1 minute later. | 97-98 | You are surrounded by faint, ethereal music for the next minute. |
| 49-50 | You can’t speak for the next minute. Whenever you try, pink bubbles float out of your mouth. | 99-00 | You regain all expended sorcery points. |
Related Posts
D&D Fathomless Warlock 5E Build – Manipulate Enemy Movement
Lunar Sorcerer 5E Character Build – Twinned Metamagic
