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The book Fizban's Treasury of Dragons has been released. While it does contain some player-oriented material (2 new subclasses), something it doesn't do is update the Draconic Sorcerer to have additional Draconic Ancestry options for the new types of dragons introduced in the book.

If a player wanted to play a Draconic Sorcerer descended from one of these new dragons, would it be overpowered to let them draw their Draconic Ancestry damage type from that dragon's abilities? It should be noted that these types include types not otherwise available to the Draconic Sorcerer, such as Psychic, Thunder, Radiant, Force, and Necrotic.

Would being able to apply their Draconic Ancestry to these damage types break anything? I could potentially see issues if a multiclass Amethyst Draconic Sorcerer/Warlock could apply their Charisma bonus to the damage of their Eldritch Blasts twice, for instance.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Related: What are the most and least-resisted damage types? \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 11:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ As you are doubtless aware, the Xanathar Ranger upgrades were not retroactive (domain spells for PHB rangers), and the Sorcerer 'domain' spells in Tasha's were not retroactive (in terms of PHB and Xanathar's origins getting bonus spells) - which leaves one with "WoTC cares not one whit about balance" as they add new material, nor do they seem to care about backwards compatibility. (A nod to that is in Tasha's, with a variety of spell list changes for other classes and new fighting styles ..). Which leaves my question to you as "who at your table is concerned about balance in this regard?" \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 12:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ThomasMarkov Yes, but you also have to consider the list of sorceror spells that deal the relevant type of damage, as well as the value of being resistant to it, as well as any unusual interactions that getting a bonus to damage might cause. \$\endgroup\$
    – nick012000
    Oct 28, 2021 at 12:14

1 Answer 1

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Overall, this is probably fine as a "patch problems if they arise" implementation.

I've been through the sorcerer spell list for all of the spells of the relevant damage types (see this DDB filter), and besides the magic missile example cited below, nothing jumps out as a source of power imbalance.

The other obvious line of inquiry here is the interaction with these damage types and the damage resistance portion of the 6th level Elemental Affinity feature:

At the same time, you can spend 1 sorcery point to gain resistance to that damage type for 1 hour.

None of the new damage types introduced are any more abundantly common than the official ones. If anything, they are going to be less common than the ubiquitous fire and cold damage types.

The overall effectiveness of being able to gain resistance to these damage types is going to be situational and adventure dependent. If you find yourself in an adventure arc where one of them is abundantly common, then obviously being able to resist that damage type at will is going to be a huge boon, but this is a problem with the official damage types offered, so it doesn't really present a new concern, in my estimation.

Given these things, I think this will work just fine, patching any issues that arise (as I propose for magic missile). What I have not considered is multiclassing, and the question cites one such example where it could be a problem:

I could potentially see issues if a multiclass Amethyst Draconic Sorcerer/Warlock could apply their Charisma bonus to the damage of their Eldritch Blasts twice, for instance.

Sure, this makes the best cantrip even better, but this is not as egregious as magic missile since each beam of eldritch blast gets its own damage roll.

As a DM, just approach the implementation by having this conversation with the player:

This will probably be just fine, but I reserve the right to fix broken things if they come up.

And more importantly, we want to be sure that the player isn't going to be making character advancement choices based on something you might veto as the DM:

When it comes time to level up and make character decisions, if you find a powerful interaction here, run it by me first so we can talk about it. If I'm going to veto something, I would rather do it after having a conversation with you about it before you have made any character decisions, rather than after you have made those decisions.

Magic Missile becomes wildly powerful for an Amethyst Draconic Sorcerer.

Magic missile deals force damage, and as explained in this answer, magic missile only uses one damage roll. Now, the Draconic Bloodline sorcerer's 6th level feature Elemental Affinity states:

Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that deals damage of the type associated with your draconic ancestry, you can add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell.

Magic missile has one damage roll. So a 20 Charisma sorcerer casting magic missile at 1st level would deal 3*(1d4+6) (average 25.5) force damage automatically, no attack roll or saving throw required. Upcasting, this free damage scales all the way up to 11*(1d4+6) (average 93.5) when cast at 9th level. Averaging 25.5 damage from a 1st level spell, that hits automatically, of the least resisted damage type (force) is completely broken.

Combine this the sorcerer's metamagic, and things just get more unbalanced. The sorcerer can use Empowered Spell to reroll 1s and 2s on the damage die for magic missile, or with Distant Spell, they can extend the range of their free damage to 240 feet.

Obviously, this can be patched by just ruling that the darts of magic missile require separate damage rolls.

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    \$\begingroup\$ how did you arrive at +18 if it's one damage roll. That would be three damage rolls each adding +5 to the dice. You kinda lost me there in the summing of damage. My interpretation of the added force damage (where you point out that MM has one damage roll) is (3d4+3)(one roll) +5 (added to the one roll) which gives me 7.5 +3 +5 = 15.5. Where is our disconnect? In other words, I get 3d4+8, not 3d4+18. Were you adding the +5 to each die as it is rolled? \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 13:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast You roll the damage once, and then each dart does that damage. I did misrepresent the damage, however. It is not 3d4+18, it is 3*(1d4+6). \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 13:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast This answer explains the single damage roll ruling. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 13:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ Which is still unclear, and FWIW JTRStarlight's answer is the better approach, but I now get what your base reference is. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 28, 2021 at 13:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ You could also rule that the bonus applies to only one missile even if they technically share a damage roll, rather than forcing the caster to roll for each missile individually. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 29, 2021 at 15:42

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