Sorcerer Guide

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#1

Sorxores

Aug 31, 2014 23:34:51

Guide for optimized Sorcerer

 

This is a guide I’m writing to make the most optimized sorcerer possible following the rule in the PHB. This sorcerer will be optimizing for:

- a general campaign in which you are going to face all kind of creature and challenge. 
- a party of 4 containing one protector type character, one support type character one skill master and yourself as the arcane caster.
- Using the Adventure league rules
- A conventional spell caster who deals damage, control the battlefield and support his allies from behind, protected by the protector of the group, and maybe even by the cleric.

If you want to help me please provide me with CONSTRUCTIVE arguments, and keep it to a generalize setting where you could face any kind of monster and any kind of challenge. If I do a mistake or you disagree with my interpretation, please put your reference in your comment and I’ll edit the OP.

 

The sorcerer uses 2 resources in combat: spell slot (SS) and sorcerer point (SP). He learn a very limited amount of spell when he level up and can change one of them only when he’s gain a new level. When you exchange a spell you can choose a spell of any level, as long as you can cast it (so at level 5, if you can forget burning hand and learn fireball instead)

 

The sorcerer specialize within the very limited amount of spell he know, transforming those spell making them more powerful than any other spell caster could even dream of doing. The sorcerer if build for certain purpose can nova easily doing a lot of damage in a single round, but a very limited amount of time per long rest.

The sorcerer does not benefit from short rest (until level 20) other than to recover HP with Hit Dice.

 

Sorcerer subclass:

Dragon bloodline – Best subclass by default since wild is too random for optimization.

 

Dragonic ancestor: (level1) choose a dragon type. (see below for more detail on the different dragon type), you learn the dragonic language, and you double your proficiency bonus using Cha when using it against a dragon.

 

Draconic Resilience: (level 1) 1hp/level, AC=13+dex (do NOT stack with mage armor nor with unarmored defense from barbarian nor monk), stack with magical item giving +X to AC (like ring of protection or bracer of armor or the staff of defense). Always useful to survive attack able to bypass the protector (AoE spell, range etc…) or when the protector fall in battle or is too far away from you. Specially usefull at low level, letting you have protection without using a feat/multiclass for armor or a spell slot for mage armor.

 

Elemental Affinity or even Gold if your DM let you use +CHA on every ray from scorching ray:  (level 6) This is the bread and butter of the dragon sorcerer, your damage boost, the reason whey you choose a dragon type earlier. You can add you Charisma modifier on the spell with the same elements as your dragon ancestry type. Untill we see an official response from WotC, this ability is dependent on the interpretation of your DM. For spell with multiple attack (like Scorching ray) some people say that you can add the +Cha only on the first ray, other interpreted it as you can add the +Cha on EVERY ray, and other says that you can add it once per monster per round.I believe that the correct interpretation is that EVERY rays receive the +Cha and I’ll do this guide according to this interpretation, if you play with a different variation, then you might have to revise some of my decision. You can also spend 1 Sorcerer point to gain resistance to your dragon element for 1 hour.
NOTE: resistance feature: I would say that since most spell in the PHB are fire spell, most enemy spell caster will cast fire spell including everyone favorite: Fireball. I don’t have access to the Monster manual from 5e but IIRC based on previous edition there is slightly more fire type creature then other type of creature, making fire resistance the most useful resistance.  Even if you want to be a tiefling or a dragon born (fire) you already have fire resistance, I would still choose a fire dragon for reason that I’ll explain shortly. According to the dragon ask in HotDQ if you have resistance to the same thing from 2 differents sources,, you gain immunity to it, then you get healed if you get resistance a 3rd time.

 

Dragon wing: (level 14) you can fly at your current speed.  This is a free concentration spell lvl 3 that you can activate at will without using your concentration. Very useful to get out of reach of most attack but still able to rain down your magical wrath on the battlefield.  Depending on your DM interpretation of: equipment made to accommodate your wing, this power could be very difficult of limiting to use. With regular clothing, it’s not very important; it’s fairly easy to cut two holes in the back. But with armor, do those 2 holes will reduce the AC of your armor? If you have a magical chest piece (Magi robe or a magical leather armor) does cutting 2 holes ruined the magical enchantment?

 

Draconic Presence: (level 18) by spending 5 SP the draconic Sorcerer can charmed or frightened every HOSTILE CREATURE within 60ft of the sorcerer (your party is immune to this effect but everyone else will be affected, unlike charm person who charm only humanoid) for 1 minutes if they fail a Wisdom save. This can be a very powerful power, ideal to crowd control or win a popularity contest, but the cost of 5SP will prevent you from using it too often. This feature is very situational

 

Now what type of Draconic sorcerer should you be - Optimization wise, the important factor is the element of your dragon, there is no difference between a red/gold or Brass dragon since all 3 are fire. The only real choice here is a FIRE dragon type, the sorcerer spell list contain 10 fire spell (to synergize with your elemental affinity. Compare to only 2 acid spells, 3.5 poison spell (one does no damage), 4 cold spell and 6 lightning spell (3 are level 1). If your DM let you change the element of a

 

Fire: The BEST CHOICE: the sorcerer PHB spell list got mainly fire spell. Fire bolt. Burning hand/chromatic orb, scorching ray, fireball, wall of fire, delayed fireball, Firestorm 7d10 (39.2), incendiary cloud, meteor swarm (only half is fire). And for this reason I believe that even if you want to be a tiefling of a dragonborn (fire) it’s still better to be a fire dragon and that way you will save your precious SP since you won’t have to activate your fire resistance when you need it.

 

Acid: VERY BAD CHOICE: Acid splash and chromatic orb and there is no other acid spell in the player hand book accessible to the sorcerer at my knowledge. Only 2 acid spell Acid splash is a good cantrip able to affect up to 3 targets. Chromatic orb is very weak (1d8+1d8/spell level). Scorching ray is far more superior. Even if you really want to RP an acid dragon, you going to be able to cast only 2 acid spell, no real RP value here, if you want to play an Acid sorcerer, buy some vinegar and shoot it in the face of your opponent lol^^. Or try house rule something with your DM where you can change some fire spell into acid spell and the fire spell that burn stuff, would melt that stuff instead.

 

Cold:  Decent choice: Ray of frost is a good cantrip ideal for kiting a monster. Chromatic orb, Ice storm, only part of it is ice and cone of cold is very good spell. If you really want to play a cold dragon you still have a good variation of spell and you can upgrade cone of cold to do decent damage at higher level. I would still avoid taking chromatic orb since even with your elemental affinity and elemental adept (cold), a unbuff scorching ray still deals more damage than a fully buffed Chromatic Orb.

 

Lightning: Decent choice: shocking grasp, need to be in melee range or need to use a familiar to deliver the touch). Chromatic orb, Thunderwave do a lot of noise so can be very dangerous, alerting the entire dungeon. Witch bolt is a great spell; with a single casting you can do 1d12+1d12/spell level automatically every round. Shatter is thunder not lightning so doesn’t count. Lightning bolt and chain lightning are both great spell to target multiple creature without touching your allies.

 

Poison: VERY BAD CHOICE: limited with only 3 damaging spell. Poison spray (very close range, 10 feet cannot be cast by the familiar) then chromatic orb, stinking cloud (no damage) and cloudkill.

 

For people who say that they can upgrade chromatic orb all the way to level 9 to keep it competitive let’s compare chromatic orb buffed with elemental affinity and elemental adept (feat). Buffed chromatic orb as a spell lvl 9 would deal 11d8+5 (55.875), compare to a regular scorching ray without any bonus that would deal: 10x(2d6) (70). Both spell are a ranged touch spell and if you miss you do 0damage, for scorching ray each ray are roll separately but each ray that miss deal 0. Chromatic orb got 2 advantages over scorching ray, you can adapt it, if you face a creature immune to fire, Scorching ray is useless, but you can change the elemental type of Chromatic orb (but Chromatic orb will also lose the benefit of elemental affinity and elemental adept). The other advantage will depend on your DM interpretation of the metamagic Twinned spell; under certain interpretation Scorching ray cannot be twinned, while Chromatic Orb can always be twinned, but even twinned, that would give Chromatic sphere an average potential of 56 damages on 2 creature, compare to Scorching ray average potential of 35 damage on 2 creatures, but to twinned Chromatic orb lvl 9 will cost you 9 SP and I believe there is more efficient way to use 9 SP.

 

Wild Magic- Wild magic is as the name say, wild, chaotic, random, you never know what will happen and there for is very hard to optimize. Just imagine, your first day as an adventurer, sorcerer level1, you are with your party ready to go on an adventure. You cast Mage armor, to be ready for the long day ahead, random roll, you also cast fireball centered on you doing 8d6 damage to yourself and all your party around, GG TPK. On the other hand, your team is down on the ground surrounded by goblins who ambushed you you cast your last magic missile, hoping to kill the leader of the goblin hoping that they might retreat if you succeed, wild magic kick in and you drain everyone around you for 1d10 HP killing all the goblin and getting fully healed back to max HP. Wild magic sorcerer can be very fun to play, but because of the nature of their randomness, cannot be the optimized choice, since you never know when you’ll roll on the wild magic surge table and you never know which of the 50 choices you’ll get. Yes Wild magic can be very powerfull, you can play with the chance of your opponent and ally and I'm sure that someone could create a powerfull wild magic sorcerer.

 

Metamagic:


Careful Spell: make your friend take just half damage, instead try to avoid your friend from the start, and hope they succeed their own dex save.

 

Distant spell: double the range of spell or transform a touch spell into a 30ft spell. This can be very useful especially with touch spell like vampiric touch, but I don’t really see the point of a 300ft fireball range.

 

Empowered spell: can be cast after you roll damage, when you saw that you roll 5 1’s for example. Can also be use on top of other metamagic. This is VERY powerful IMO, should be taken at level 10.

 

Extended spell: double spell with a duration of 1minutes+. Can be good with certain spell especially delayed fireball if you are able to wait without losing concentration to create a massive 32d6 damage.

 

Heightened spell: might cost 3 SP but giving disadvantage to the target can be very good when you want to make sure your spell will land, like a spell level 9 disintegrate ray. Should be taken at level 17 because of the cost of being so high.

 

Quickened spell: casting an extra cantrip, you can read this as add an extra Xd10+5 if you are a fire dragon casting firebolts, or Xd8+5 slow the target by 10ft if you’re a cold dragon etc… some spell have continuous effect costing you an action to activate (like witch bolt) and you can quicken a non cantrip spell and keep that spell activated, so while you keep restraining 2 targets using twinned telekenisi, you can cast a quicken fireball to take care of weaker monster. should be taken at level 1

 

Subtle spell: can be very useful when you need to be stealthy or to escape being tie up.

 

Twinned Spell: doubling the potential of single target spell (like disintegrate) double the number of person you can control using single target control spell (like hold person, telekenisis) double the number of person dying from power word kill etc… Or even double the amount of buff people you can target (casting polymorph or haste on both the fighter and the rogue for example.  This should be taken at level 1

#2

Sorxores

Oct 12, 2014 15:10:18

Stats:

Strenght: Unless you are going for a gish (which is not the objectif of this build) strength is your dump stats and should stay at 8. The only reason to increase this stat is if you are stuck with only 1 point left to distribute and everything is already an even number, then increasing Strenght to 9 will let you carry more weight.

 

Dexterity: Good for your AC, help you to have a higher initiave, since you want to cast your fireball before the fighter run in the middle of the group or cast Haste on the barbarian before he attacks. Also good against most AoE effect (fireball, chain of lightning, burning hand, dragon breaths) that can deal a lot of damage. Also improve Stealth, since you shouldn’t have an armor, you might be viable to stealth around to back up the scout if need be, or just for general movement within a dungeon without alerting the enemies. Also useful for acrobatics helping you pass obstacle without expending spells.

 

Constitution: Very good stats, give you more HP which help you survive against all damage source (Dex save spell, sword, arrow etc…). The higher HP also help you resist HP based spell like sleep, power word stun/Kill. High Contitution also help you keep concentration on your spell, and improved your constitution save which when you fail them can be very dangerous (finger of death, contagion, Max HP drain, nauseated, poison etc…)

 

Intellect: Intellect will protect you against a very dangerous spell: Feeblemind which reduce your intellect AND Charisma to 1 and you prevent you from casting any spell. It will also improve your investigation skill and knowledge skills (arcana, religion, history, nature etc…) If you have extra point to spare this can be a good place to drop them.

 

Wisdom: will boost your wisdom save which usually can make you turn against your group, which could be very dangerous if while being dominated you decide to cast fireball centered on yourself with the archer, and the healer at your side. Wisdom also help you with perception, insight, if you are going to be voice of the group, speaking with people because of your high Charisma, might as well have a chance to detect if they are lying to you (insight). Perception will help you see the rogue type monster hiding so you can aim your fireball to affect him as well (and denying there advantage they would have from attacking you being hidden)

 

Charisma: This is your main stats, no question about it, you boost it to 20 ASAP. Your Charisma will increase the DC of your spell making them harder to resist. It’s also increase chance to hit with your ranged/melee attack spell, and it also increase the damage of your elemental affinity spells. Plus from the playtest, it allows you to become attune to more powerful magical item, it give you better social skills (deception, persuasion, Intimidation etc…)

 

The distribution of the stats is dependent on your race choice. If you take a race that give you +2 Charisma then 14 in Charisma is enough (letting you save 2 point that can go elsewhere) if your race only give you +1 then 15 is a must. If you take a race giving you +0 Charisma (I would avoid that) then take 14 Charisma to save 2 point that you can put elsewhere. Why doing it this way? Very simple: there is only 2 feats giving you +1 Cha: Actor: which help you become impersonate someone, but if you want to do that disguise or alter self can do a great job and won’t cost you a feat. Resilience give you +1 in the stats of your choice and proficiency with the same stat save, but you are already proficient with Charisma save, so useless, Other people are telling me that if you get 17 you can then spend 1 point on Cha and one point elsewhere and get 1 +1 bonus. Well I prefer to get 16 in Charisma, and with the 2 points I saved I can go get my other +1 right now instead of at level 4 (unless you are a mountain dwarf with 17 Strength and Constitution, but then you are not playing a conventional sorcerer, you are playing a gish)

You should go for 14/15Cha (+2/+1racial to reach 16), 14Con, 14Dex, 10Int, 8Str. Try to keep even number (so if you get +1 Constitution, you could increase the 14 to a 15 to end up with 16, or decrease 14dex to13dex to end up back to 14dex. I put 10 in Intellect just to avoid penalty on Intellect save because of the Feeblemind spells.

#3

Sorxores

Oct 12, 2014 15:12:00

Race:

Dwarf:  doesn't give Cha so a bad choice from the start:
Pros: +2 Con, Darkvision, Dwarven resilience, +1HP per level. +1 Wis
Cons: slow speed make it harder to kite/ stay away from enemies, combat training; you are not using weapon so who cares about weapon profiencies? Tool profiencies, if you really want it, you can take a background giving them. If you really want armor badly,  Stunecunnig, you have a low Intellect, leave this to the wizard with a higher intellect. +2 Strength (dumb stats) armor proficiency; as a draconic sorcer you get a free 13 AC so the equivalent of a chain shirt without restriction and without weight. If you are a wild magic sorcerer, you can cast mage armor giving you the same chain shirt (13) then you have your chest piece available to wear a magi robe later on.

 

Elf: The Drow can be a good choice because of +1 Cha, the drow magic give you 1 cantrip and 2 spell that you can cast 1 per day EACH. They are spell, so you can affect them with metamagic and twin faerie fire for example. If the sun bother you too much, cast spells without ranged attack so you cannot have disadvantage on a spell without an attack roll.
Pros: +2Dex,  Speed 30 (35), Darkvision (60/120), Keen sense, Fey ancestry, Trance, Free cantrip (high), +1Wis (Wood), Mask of the wild (wood) or if you are proficient in stealth, +1 Cha (drow), Drow magic,
Con:Elf/Drow weapon training, you are not using weapon, +1 Int(high), sunlight Sensitivity (Drow)

 

Halfling: Lightfoot would be the best subrace because of the +1 Cha. Stout doesn’t give Cha. Lightfoot can be really good if you want to go for a stealthy sorcerer
Pros: +2Dex, Lucky, Brave, Halfling nimbleness, +1Cha (lightfoor), Naturally stealthy (light foot), +1Con (Stout) Stout resilience.
Cons: slow speed, Halfing nimbleness, you are a range spellcaster, why do you want to run between the leg of the big enemy?

 

Human: Variant is the best option for human since the regular human only offer +1 Cha, +1Dex and +1 Con and maybe +1 Wis that is interesting. Variant offer a free feat (elemental adept which is a must have for any draconic sorcerer since we specialize in a single element or war caster for a wild sorcerer). You still get +1 cha and +1 Con and an extra skill.

 

Dragonborn: the +2 strenght is a waste, +1Cha, the draconic ancestry do not have to be the same as your dragonic ancestry from sorcerer (you can be a bastard gold/blue dragon if you wish lol) The breath weapon is nice if you take a line shape, the cone shape force you to go very close to target. Damage resistance is interesting, but situational and can be replace by a spell.

 

Gnome:
Pros: Darkvision, Gnome Cunning, +1dex/Con, minor illusion as a cantrip, speak with small beasts,
Cons: +2 Int is a waste,  speed 25ft, artificer Lore, Tinker the town can be mimic with a minor illusion, fire starter with prestidigitation and the music box with minor illusion.

 

Half elf: Imo the best sorcerer race available. +2 Cha, +1 to 2 other stat of your choice (Dex and Con), darkvision, Fey ancestry, 2 extra skills, what else do you want? An extra feat lol?

 

Half Orc:
Pros: +1 con, DArkvision, Relentless Endurance and Intimidation
Cons: +2 Strenght useless, Savage attack only work with weapon, so useless,

 

Tiefling: Very good choice, giving you access to a cantrip reserve to divine caster, a fire spell (specially for fire dragon) and darkness to control the battlefield.
Pros:+2 Cha, Darkvision, Fire resistance (save you 1 SP) thaumaturgy, hellish rebuke and darkness. They are spell that can be affected by metamagic. Hellish rebuke is also a fire spell, so ig you are a fire dragon you add your Cha on the damage, and with elemental adept 1=2
Cons: +1 Intellect,

#4

Sorxores

Nov 25, 2014 11:29:31

Feat and stat boost:

Unless you know you are going to face a lot of creature with resistance to your elemental type, bring your Cha to 20 ASAP (lvl 4 and 8) since this will increase you damage (especially if you’re a fire dragon with scorching ray) your chance to hit with your ranged spell, and increase the DC of your other spells.

Then at level 12 take elemental adept.

At level 16 take spell sniper (you can choose eldritch blast for the free cantrip giving you a force spell to deal with creature immune to fire)

At level 19 lucky.

 

Why do I not take Warcaster? Because Sorcerer have proficiency with Con save and Constitution should be your 2nd best stat. and with the support of your group, you should not get attack very often, so should be able to succeed the few save you’ll get, and if you are about to fail it, you got lucky to reroll it. Doing somatic with weapon/shield in both hands, you don’t have proficiency with shield and you don’t need 2 weapons. Using spell when monster move out of your threaten zone, monster shouldn’t get close to you, so it won’t happen often.

 

Spell:

as a sorcerer you will know a maximum of 15 known spells and 6 cantrips. So you must choose those 15 spell carefully . Remember a low level spell can usually be cast at a higher level slot, spell like Scorching ray is a great single target spell even at higher level so this is a scallable spell that will satisfy your need for a single target spell from level 3 to level 20 for example. You also should only have 1 spell known fullfilling a purpose specially if they both require concentration, take the one with the most utility. For example, between haste and polymoprh just take one. I got a good imagination, so I can usually think of great imaginative way to use spell like minor illusion or creation to have multiple useful purposes out of them.

 

Here are my favorite 6 cantrip:

-Firebolt (if you are a Fire dragon, otherwise, take the offensive cantrip of your elemental type)
-Acid Splash (unless you already took as your first cantrip if you are an acid dragon, then I would suggest a single target spell like Firebolt of Ray of frost

-Minor illusion is a great multiporpuse spell able to create distraction, created hidding place (create a wall with murder arrow slit, then cast firbolt with advantage for being hidden) mimic a voice,  create illusion light that still illuminate the room, create a black box target on the head of your ennemies to make them blind, even if they know it's an illusion, it's still darken there views (from 100% concealment you go down to 3/4concealment), etc... if you got a good DM and you use your imagination Minor illusion can be VERY powerful.

-Prestidigitation an other multipurpose spell, that can do a lot. from lighting up a torch to making you win a cooking contest lol^^

-True strike: Quicken this before a ranged attack spell like high level scorchign ray or disintegrate to reduce your chance of a miss. If your DM let you hide behind the minor illusion wall, then you don't need true stike

-Mage Hand: Very useful spell to manipulate small item from a distance

If you don't need True strike (or if you don't my other choices) Mending can be good to repair your equipment mid quest, Message to transfer short distance messages, light so your team doesn't need a torch. Friends can be very usefull but your Charisma should be high enought, if you want to have "friends", you can simply do a deception, intimidation or persuassion check which ever you took as a skill. Blade ward offer resistance to damage to self only for 1 round, if you are disparate enought to use blade ward, it's because your team is in real trouble. I do not suggest to take a 3rd offensive cantrip, those offensive cantrip are very narrow in there use, damage and slow down or damage and remove reaction or damage and cannot be healed.

 

Now for the spell lvl 1+: I am doing the list for a fire dragon sorcerer. If you decided to take a different elemental dragon type, you can change some of the fire spell for spell of your dragon elements.

 

1 - Magic missile and Sleep: your spell DC is still very low (13) so it is a big gamble to use DC spell at this level. Magic missile is a sure thing that will hit every time and can hit multiple target if need be.  Sleep is a good spell that doesn't require a DC effectively controlling between 5 and 40Hp worth of monster, on average 2 or 3 goblin/cultist. that will stay on the ground untill the fighter everyone ready an action to kill it with simultaneous attack.

2 - Shield offer you some protection if for some reason you don't need shield (you got a staff of defense for example) Charm Person can be a good alternative but you have high Charisma, so you can emulate the purpose of charmed person with

3 - Invisibility you can only cast spell lvl 2 twice so taking invisibility give you some utilities and if you need more damage magic missile upgrade to level 2 still fair pretty well

4 - Enlarge/Reduce great buffing spell for your fighter/barbarian or you can make the ennemy weaker. Particularly good on a monk who got multiple attacks and the extra 1d4 apply on each one of them

5 - Fireball. Also your spell DC should be 15 by now so you can drop sleep (even powered up at level 3 it only affect 9d8 so on average 40HP) Fireball will kill minion with low enough HP to be mass affected by sleep. Instead of Sleep, you can take Mage armor if you are not a dragon sorcerer or Misty step can be quite usefull to reach hard to reach places.

6 - Counterspell or Dispel magic, one will prevent that fireball to kill the party, the other will remove those buff on the ennemy making him near unkillable. Also forget Magic missile and replace it with Scorching ray. At this point you might only have 1 spell lvl 1 left, even if you reach 0 spell lvl 1 know, you can alway transfer those spell slot into sorcerer point. If your expect a lot of Fire resistant/immune creature keep magic missile instead of Scorching ray, but in most campaign, if you face a fire resistant/immune monster you can still spend your action doing haste, dispel magic, attack the other non fire resistant monster or use Acid Splash to kill the little minions.

7 - Haste, great buff spell to support a party member...  Since Haste serve the same purpose as enlarge/reduce you should replace E/R with Greater invisibility which will give you advantage on all your attack spell or give advantage/to a party member.(like the rogue). Invisibility is still usefull for when you need invisibility for a long period of time,

8 - Dispel magic or coutnerspell (depending which one you took at level 6)

9 - Telekinesis, Strenght check or restrained a target, bring a target 60 ft in the air, let it drop prone on the ground and take 6d6 falling damage or keep it restraint. This spell can be used with a quicken cast of an other spell high level spell or be twinned to control 2 targets. The spell can also be used as a power up version of Mage hand.

10 - Creation: even if it's just 5 foot cube, do you know how much rope you can filled in a 5 foot cube? so here a long solide rope to cross the Chasm, you need to trick the merchant by giving him a gems or precious metal, you'll be good for 10 minutes. You need a tool for a job, here you go,

11 -  Disintegrate: very powerfull single target spell (especially if you dm rules that your Cha bonus apply only on 1 ray from Scorhing ray) also can be used to create door dispel wall of force. The spell also do Force damage so you can deal damage to monster resistant

12 - 

13 -  Reverse gravity: This spell has no save to control the enemy. the dex save is to grab something as they fall up. cannot attack back since they need to hold to the thing they grabed. Indoor this is enought to send everyone take falling damage to the roof, then falling damage back on the ground. Since Greater invisibility and Haste serve the same purpose (buff the team) and both require concentration, choose one of the 2, then replace it with Plane shift, a spell that can be use for both utility (moving around across planes) and for offensive ability: melee spell attack roll(easy to achieve with greater invisibility) and a charisma save without concentration.

14 -

15 - Dominate Monster to make your opponent part of the team.

16 -

17 - Meteor Swarm: Power word kill is great, but you need to know that your target is under 150hp, Meteor swarm do on average 140 damage no matter what and it's a AoE spell instead of a single target. I used to love time stop in 3rd edition casting 5 delayed fireball and watching all 5 exploding at the same time fo insane damage, but now that delayed fireball is concentration you can only cast it once with a regular spell to have 2 spell cast in the "same turn" Wish can be a good choice as well basically giving you access to all the lower leve sorcerer spell, and in big emergency for a super cool effect, but be carefull witht his super cool effect since you might be unable to cast Wish ever again, in this case, next level change it for Meteor Swarm, just be carefull with Wish at level 20.

18 -

19 -

20 -

 

Final spell list:

Cantrip: Firebolt, Acid splah, Minor illusion, Prestidigitation, True strike, Mage hand

Shield, Invisibility, misty step, Scorching ray (AC), Fireball(Dex), Dispel Magic, Counterspell, Greater invisibilty, Telekinesis (Str), Creation, Disintegrate(Force), Reverse gravity (Dex), Plane shift (AC+Cha), Dominate monster(Wis), Meteor Swarm

 

Some spell are very situational (like wish, comprehend language, teleport, clairvoyance, darkvision etc...) but very usefull in those situation. If you are the only one who can cast them, you should try to get some scroll of those spells. if you have a ritual spell caster (cleric, druid, warlock of the tome) in your team let him take care of ritual, otherwise you might want to change some of the spell for some usefull rituals. I do not believe that ritual caster feat is worth it, specialy since the soonest you could take it would be at level 16 (no matter what you need your 20 Charisma and elemental adept.

#5

Sorxores

Sep 16, 2014 6:35:26

I don't really have intention to do a complete multiclass section because that would be way too long. But I can show some dipping options. A sorcerer got no reason to go past 18 and is greatly encourage to take 2 level in a different full caster: ( only loosing 2 SP, a feat at 19, and the ability to regain 4sp on a short rest at lvl 20). I would suggest to wait to be sorcerer level 5  before considering to multiclass, since you want your fireball as your main AoE spell.

 

Warlock: you loose 2 caster level by taking Warlock, but the eldritch blast, If your DM rules that you can add your Cha on every eldritch blast ray, dipping 2 level in warlock to get eldritch blast with agonizing blast and Repelling Blast. This also give you 2 spell level 1 that refresh on a short rest (so 2 extra SP on a short rest) Also gain 3 spell lvl 1 including Hex, Hellish Rebuke and Witch bolt. for your patron, I like the Fey one, let you charm or frightened everyone 10 ft around you, a weaker version of the dragon lvl 18 feature but doesn't cost 5SP to do it. The fiendish pact would give you only 7 (or 9 if you go 4 level) Temp HP when you kill a target which is very small. The great old one give you telepathy which can also be a great ability.

 

To gain this, you will loose Sorcerous Restoration (gainign 4 SP per rest) but you are gaining the ability to get 2 SP per rest, so you really just loosing half of it.

 

Going all the way to warlock 4, will give you back the feat, give you 5 spell known luo to level 2 instead of just 3 spell lvl 1. You will regain 2 spell lvl 2 so 4 SP on a short rest, replacing the Sorcerous Restoration. Pact of the tome would give you access to ritual spell. But for those 4 level, you will lose 1 spell lvl 5, your only spell lvl 9,  your origin feature lvl 18, one spell known and 2 more SP.

 

I'm not a big fan or armored sorcerer since the dragon already give you a 13 AC, you got a easy to cast armor with mage armor, and your team should be able to protect you and keep you away from AC attack. multiclassing into cleric will require you to have at least 13 Wisdom so you might have to reduce your Constitution or Dex slightly to reach 13, and you might want a tad higher then 13 since many 1st level domain benefit require Wisdom.

 

Cleric: But if you really want armor, cleric is the best way to go since the only thing you'll lose from dipping 1 cleric level is: 1 SP, and sorcerous restoration. And you will gain

3 cantrip not on your sorcerer list, Guidance, resistance and spare the dying are my personal 3 favorites.

Able to prepare at least 2 cleric spell +domain

Access to lvl 1 rituals

Domain: My persoanl favorite includes:

Life: you can metamagic and upgrade your healing all to way to level 9, so you could cast a twinned cure wound lvl 9, with disciple of life, that is a lot of healing.

Light: Give you access to faeri fire, and warding light for some protecting (only WisMod/day).

Trickery: give advantage to the rogue before he go ahead to scout can be very usefull... or you can cast invisibility as a spell lvl 2

 

don't be tricked, wrath of the Strom from the tempest domain is NOT a spell so it will not benefit from the elemental affinity nor elemental adept feat. But if take 2 cleric of tempest level, once per day you'll be able to do maximum damage with one lightning spell at the cost of a feat and a 1 aditional SP

Knowledge give you 2 language and 2 knowledge skill, considering that Intellect is now your 5ft stats, you should probably let someone else be the smart one.

Nature: 1 druid cantrip and 1 skill between Animal handling, Nature or survival also heavy armor. You don't really need druid cantrip since you already got 3 cleric cantrip)

War give you an extra attack (not action)

 

 

 

Wizard: not a bad choice but I would dip 2 level to gain a school tradition. you only lose 2 SP a feat and Sorcerous restoration and will gain and you will need to have at least 13 Intellect which mean you'll probably need to reduce your dex Con and or Wis.
Access to ritual,

Prepare minimum 3 spell level 1

School bonus:

Evocator give you a great perks, Scultp spell which is a upgrade from Carefull spell and doesn't cost SP.

Necromancer: If you plan on having a lot of necromantic spell, the necromancer school can be really good to regain HP, even if cast mostly evocation gaining back twice the spell level is very interesting.

Diviner: Knowing 2 roll in advance, knowing that the super important spell you cast will land for sure, or making sure that the half orc barbarian in your team will crit can be very powerful.

Illusionist: If your DM is very liberal with your minor illusion abilities, being able to have a visual and auditible cue with a single cast will open even more door.

Abjuration: give you a protective bubble when you cast a abjuration spell

 wizard to gain ritual casting and the specialization bonus (evocation give you a free to use improved carefull casting metamagic on your evocation, necromancer give you back HP whenever you kill a target with your spells (even if not necromantic spells)  spell or the most powerfull one IMHO portent: you know 2 dice per day.

The wizard path also allow you to exchange all your level 1 spell for higher level spell, since you can transcribe all spell level 1 in your spellbook and as long as you take no-DC spell level 1 (sleep, detect magic, alarm, find familiar, identify, shield, mage armor, comprehend language, longstrider, expeditious retreat, jump etc...) you only need 13 intellect

 

Bard give you bardic inspiration which let you give +1d6 to any d20 roll an ally do. and share the same main stats as your sorcerer: Charisma. The second level (jack of all trade and song of rest) can be interesting, but I would prefer 1 bard/1cleric/18 sorcerer over 2bard/18 sorcerer.

 

Druid: In my opinion the weakest multiclass option for a 2 level dip: access to cantrip similar to the cleric list. druidic language, wild shape can be interesting giving you flexibility without using your limited spell slots. For circle, as oddly as it seems, I would take the moon circle to improve the wildshape abilities, since circle of land give you an extra cantrip, and the ability to recover 1 spell level 1 on a short rest.

other multiclassing is possible, but then you are no longer a sorcerer, you would be a monk/sorcerer or a kind of Eldritch knight or ARcane tricker using Cha instead of intellect but not longer within the scope of this guide.

#6

2Chlorobutanal

Sep 01, 2014 0:08:01

You may wanna go back and re-format your guide with some white space, indentation, and various font weights or bold/underlined headings- it's kind of hard to read.

(Edit: I see I jumped on this too soon.)

 

Some other thoughts about sorcerers:

  • Wild Mages can use their -1d4 reaction ability along with Heighten Spell in order to spend 5 SP (or the equivalent of a 3rd-level spell slot) to give a single target disadvantage and -2.5 (average) to a saving throw.  This combined effect might average out to about +7 DC (or -7 to their roll, depending on how you look at it), and could make Wild Mages good as save-or-die (or save-or-be-defeated) casters.
  • Quicken Spell can be used for more than just cantrip casting. (Nearly) any spell that has a repeatable action portion can be used with Quicken Spell for two attacks in the first round.  For example: sunbeam can fire two pulses in the first round if you spend 2 SP, you can use telekinesis on two targets or move a target twice as far, etc.  This varies from spell to spell based on the specific wording of the spell, but many spells allow for the "double actions" on the first turn if you use Quicken Spell.
  • I generally prefer multi-tasking spells on sorcerers because of their known-spell limitations, such as: polymorph, levitate (I didn't realize it immobilizes enemies offensively), enlarge/reduce, or plane shift (can be used offensively in a pinch, although not ideal).
  • I also try to strike a balance between single target and area spells, offensive spells and buff/utility spells, and spells that target different defenses.  For example, I probably won't pick two spells that both target a single creature and are negated or reduced with a Dex save unless they serve vastly different purposes or are very different in slot level.
(Reply to #6)

Sorxores

2Chlorobutanal wrote:
#8

Yunru

Sep 01, 2014 0:43:09

Is there going to be a multiclass section?

For instance, depending on whether Warlock Spell Slots can be converted into Sorcery Points, taking up to 5 levels in Warlock can range from tasty to down-right fantastic.

Although Sorcerer 15|Warlock 5 means you lose out on that single level 9 spell slot. But hey! 2 short-rest-recharging 3rd level spell slots and the Eldritch Blast invocations.

Interestingly with such a set-up, Eldritch Blast does 4d10+4*cha, where as the humble Fire Bolt does 4d10+cha, presuming every attack hits. However, Fire Bolt can edge out over EB due to it being able to be twinned.

#9

mellored

Sep 01, 2014 11:04:47

Sorxores wrote:
#10

Sorxores

Sep 01, 2014 17:41:31

mellored wrote:
#11

ppaladin123

Sep 01, 2014 17:50:30

Check out this guide: http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4135276

 

It should give you a good idea of how class guides are typically set-up on the wizards boards. If you use that color scheme and set-up folks will be better able to read it. Right now it is blinding.

#12

SpedGuy

Sep 01, 2014 18:54:57

In the multi-class section: Two levels of Cleric (Tempest) gives you Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath... combined with Elemental Affinity (and potentially Elemental Adept) leads to some NASTY Lightning-Bolts/Chain Lightnings... at unparrelelled and terrifying range if you pick up Spell Sniper.  All in Heavy Armor.

#13

Sorxores

Sep 01, 2014 19:39:30

ppaladin123 wrote:
(Reply to #10)

2Chlorobutanal

Sorxores wrote:
(Reply to #14)

Sorxores

2Chlorobutanal wrote:
#16

Daganev

Sep 02, 2014 1:03:10

It's interesting that you only thought about the dragon choice based on spell damage increase rather than damage resistance.  Any reason for that?

#17

Yunru

Sep 02, 2014 2:46:47

Damage resistance is more situational, where as you're always going to be seeing the damage boost? (provided you pick good powers).

(Reply to #16)

Sorxores

Daganev wrote:
#19

Daganev

Sep 02, 2014 8:22:43

All true, however only the Sorcerer ability will ever give you resistance to poison damage (unless you are  dwarf ). Protection from Energy spells only give you protection from fire/acid/cold/lighting.

 

See here:  http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/45765/draconic-bloodline-sorcerer-elemental-affinity-optimization

(Reply to #19)

Sorxores

Daganev wrote:
#21

mellored

Sep 02, 2014 11:09:37

Sorxores wrote:
#22

1eejit

Sep 02, 2014 11:07:38

Of course in practice you'll get Wild Surges more frequently than that, as I expect most players will check with their DM that they'd trigger Tides of Chaos fairly regularly before picking the sub-class, if not use house-rules to make them more frequent. I know that's what I'd do.

Otherwise Wild Magic is boring.

#23

mellored

Sep 02, 2014 11:18:23

1eejit wrote:
#24

Sorxores

Sep 02, 2014 11:46:54

mellored wrote:
#25

mellored

Sep 02, 2014 11:54:53

Sorxores wrote:
(Reply to #23)

1eejit

mellored wrote:
#27

mellored

Sep 02, 2014 12:12:40

1eejit wrote:
(Reply to #27)

1eejit

mellored wrote:
#29

mellored

Sep 02, 2014 12:22:24

1eejit wrote:
#30

2Chlorobutanal

Sep 02, 2014 17:35:16

I'd definitely use Tides of Chaos as frequently as I reasonably could.  It precipitates additional surges as well as giving advantage.

#31

Seraphex

Sep 02, 2014 18:15:21

Sorxores wrote:
#32

Sorxores

Sep 03, 2014 5:28:44

ok you want math ok let's go in the mathematical details:

 

As Mellored a surge is slightly a positive feature, but some abilities are subjective and some abilities, Mellored consider them positive, other would consider them negatif and other would consider them neutral.

 

since In my assumption I do say that I'm creating a conventional spellcaster, meaning you stay behind the group usually near the other range member of the team usually ranged character have lower HP then melee character. So a fireball or draining the HP from everyone around you I would say they are negatif since they will most likely hit your ally then the ennemies.

 

I end up with:

19 positive effect

13 neutral effect

18 negative effect

 

So within this subjective evaluation of the abilities (different from Mellored, but that is normal since the evaluation of some of those abilities are subjectif, like I said, how do you judge a unicorn? that depend on your DM, how do you evaluate fireball centered on yourself? etc...) this abilities is more neutral then a positive. Now we have to give those ability a value, we cannot just say positive of negative, you have to put a value. casting fireball centered on yourself will deal 8d6 on 2 or 3 member of your team or you can heal 2d10 HP, you can make the gain resistance against all damage for one minute or become a potted plant with vulnerablity to all damage for 1 turn. all abilities are not equal.

 

and in here some positive effect might even be neutral in certain condition like regaining 2d10 HP this is positive, but it's random, so it could really happen when you are already full HP becoming neutral, and considering that you are the spellcaster protected behind the front line with magical protection and a cleric doing AoE healing to heal the group, there is a good chance that you are already full HP or almost. If you have a monster in melee range with you attacking you yes 2d10 will be good, but it will quickly disapear under the attack of the monster. if you are afacing a spellcaster casting fireball, 2d10 will quickly disapear against those 8d6.. Yes the same could be said with negatif effect, if you become a potted plant while in town when you cast mage armor, then your team can simply wait 6 second before moving. But you cast more spell in the middle of combat, and usually you'll use your higher level spell in the bigger fight, and just use cantrip in small easy encounter. Reincarnate if you die, might seem like a good idea, but what if you reincarnate in a useless race like Half orc, you loose 1on your DC, 1 on your spell attack, 1 damage by loosing your +2 racial damage. You gain extra damage on a weapon crit but you never attack with a weapon. you gain +2 Strenght but you never use Strenght, if you already have Intimidation then gaining intimidation is useless, if you didn,t took intimidation, it might be because your character don't use intimidation, so this would be a negatif effect now, even if we considered it as positive, you choose a race at the begining, and now this "positive" effect yes give you an other chance to fight, but might cripple your build.

 

So here the positive effect need some setting to be good, but negative will most probably be negative.

 

The surge will happen mostly during the big fights since you probably use your spell lvl 1+ during the harder encounter, it's pretty rare that at lvl 5 when you get ambush by 3 goblin that you'll use fireball, usually you cast firebolt and you let the fighter kill them without wasting ressources

 

if the fight goes well, a negative surge could turn the table and make the fight go EXTREMLY bad.

If the fight goes bad a negative surge will most probably sign the death of your team.

 

If the fight goes well, a positive effect will strenghten your advantage in the fight

If the fight goes bad a positive effect might help, or might not help that much, casting mirror image, becoming invisible, or reincarnate into a half orc while the the enemi spell caster rain fireball on your group is not very usefull. Yes there is a chance that a surge might turn the tide of battle, if you turn your entire team invisible, you mgiht be able to escape tthe loosing battle, one addtiional action might save the group since you can cast a second high level spell, but it's RANDOM so you cannot count on it, you can just hope.

 

and lke I said in the guide and at multiple occasion since (since most people seems to block on my views on wild magic instead of debating on my spell list), I consider the randomness a liability, it's not consistant, yes one game you might be the savior of the party, and the other day you are now the bane of the party. With a dragon sorcerer you ALWAY a good party member (you'll never do a negative effect like casting fireball in the middle of your group)

#33

Yunru

Sep 03, 2014 5:42:30

Not to take sides, but it also varies with how much your DM lets you surge, so at the very least ETV.

#34

mellored

Sep 03, 2014 5:53:04

Sorxores wrote:
#35

ppaladin123

Sep 03, 2014 15:36:50

mellored wrote:
#36

mellored

Sep 03, 2014 16:08:33

ppaladin123 wrote:
#37

feartheminotaur

Sep 03, 2014 17:09:34

You have some pretty good info - looks like you've put some work in on the sorcerer -  but, really, even if an option is redder than Mao's little book, you have to include it, and detail why it's red, for the sake of completeness.  Have to.  That's what makes it a "A Guide to Sorcers" as opposed to being a post titled "On Sorcerers: Musings by Sorxores"

 

And seriously, colors, man, colors.  
 

 

#38

ElderMagus

Sep 12, 2014 12:35:06

Good guide overall outside of the formatting not being in line with the other guides on this site. However I have to agree with the majority of others about Wild Magic.

 

Reading over it, you've got a 5% chance of triggering a Wild Surge roll unless you've used Tides of Chaos (once again earlier noted). And as previously noted, you can strategically use the Tides of Chaos to illicit a Wild Surge. Even then, there's a percentage of the time when a Wild Surge goes wrong. I don't think that this inhibits optimization.

 

Look, people optimize based off critical hits which deal massive amounts of damage but only occur a small percentage of the time. We can think about percentages all we want, but you can't call optimizing for critical hits/damage 'optimizing' in a similar fashion, you can call a 5% chance to trigger a random effect not a reason to optimize. As also previously mentioned, 5% doesn't even necessarily mean 5%; you could roll ten 1's straight, or you could go through a campaign and never roll a 1. GMs can roll three 20's in a row against you, so trying to optimize for 25AC even has a 5% chance of not working.

 

Optimization is a balance out risks verus rewards and an attempt to achieve the best possible reward for your risk. The two philospies are creating a low-risk, but low-reward and consistant character OR a high reward, high risk character that can have serious impact, but at the same time can have serious drawbacks - Wild Magic falls on the latter end of the spectrum. I think 2Chlorobutanol put it best here: it's like poker. In any dice game as a player you've got an inherent risk of outright failure. For optimization, it's key to understand what can increase that possibility of failure as well as what's the best means to achieve success, or change the course of a given encounter.

 

With this thought process, we can take a look at the chances of triggering a Wild Surge. Tides of Chaos significantly increases your Wild Surge and therefore significantly increases the risk of triggering a negative effect on ability use. By using Tides of Chaos, you implement an advantage on almost anything BUT you must now forgo your d20 roll and roll off the Wild Surge table. If you choose not to use Tides of Chaos, as a Wild Magic Sorceror, your inherent risk of triggering a negative is very low - lower than triggering an unmodified critical hit and lower than the chance of rolling a natural 20. But, with how powerful Tides of Chaos can be, you can strategically NOVA, or setup another PC's NOVA. Knowing this, you can significantly reduce the risks to yourself and your team if a Surge goes wrong. The risk of NOVAing OR improvign your saves AND doing something negative to yourself OR your group is inherently less than even, let's say the negative effect of the Barbarian Berserker's Frenzy which happens to be a garaunteed one stage of increased exhaustion every use after the first. I don't think this is too random for Optimization, when considering that it does come down to player choice when they want to use their Tides of Chaos and Increase the amount of risk they inherit from a Surge.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that a less than 5% chance of something bad happening when I cast a spell isn't something that yells 'too random to optimize' to me. On top of that, I don't have a problem with a drawback to using a very powerful class ability in Tides of Chaos to gain the advantage of a spell that I really want to hit, or toss up an extra layer of defense to a particularly powerful spell that I don't have a proficiency save against; if you've got the opporunity to knock off a boss with a metamagic improved fireball, or have a chance at surviving a mind control spell/blast that would kill you, but the byproduct is a small percent chance of turning into a potted plant, I'd take the chance 100% of the time.

 

To add some extra flourish, at level 14 Wild Magic even gets Advantage on their Wild Surge rolls (well sorta ). Rolling twice on the Wild Surge table gives both twice the chance for a good effect to happen and reduces the already rare negative effect down by half. At that point, you really don't even need to worry about Wild Surges if you have't burned your Tides of Chaos and if you have, the odds of something Neutral or Positive occuring during a Wild Surge increase substantially, while the negative effects are reduced.

 

To finalize this - the PHB puts everything up to DM discrestion. DM's don't have to make you roll for Wild Surges if they don't want to on standard casting of 1st level or higher OR if you've burned a Tides of Chaos. Both read "the DM can have you roll" so as previously mentioned, it's probably best to etch out with your DM how they'd like to handle Wild Magic Surge rolls before you eek out your character.

 

Ultimately, I'm trying to be constructive here with saying that I believe that your idea that Wild Magic is too random to optimize is weighing too heavily on the downsides of the Wild Action Surge being negative, when realistically Wild Magic Surges are realtively manageable, from a risk perspective. I'll totally agree with you that Dragonblood Sorcerors are more consistent with their abilities and damage output. But playing a Wild Mage is more about strategic use of your abilities, weighed upon judging the risk of the action in response to the power you obtain from your bloodline - this, in my opinion, has the ability to be Optimized.

#39

Seraphex

Sep 12, 2014 18:13:23

I don't want to be a jerk, but until you have actual grading, careful analysis and explanation, and as little of your personal bias, please don't claim this is a guide. In it's current form, this isn't a guide, this is your own rant on what you think is the optimal build for a sorceror. The point of a guide is to inform: Not just point out what is must-have, but to point out what options are slightly inferior (And why), and what options are trap options. While your race and attribute listing is kind of okay, the spell list is a little insulting. In it's current form, this is not a guide. I wish I could make my critique more constructively, but this is all I got.

 

Also colors, man. There´s a reason 4e charop loved colors.

 

Edit: Also, if you insist on not getting into the Wild magic subclass don't call this a Sorcerer guide. THis is a Dragon Sorceror guide. It's an important distinction. As it is, it's borderline false advertisement to people who want to read about the full package that is a Sorceror. I'll repeat an earlier point once more. This is not a guide. This is a very elaborate build. Heck, compared to some of the 4e builds, it's not even that elaborate. Not a guide. A build.

#40

imaginari

Nov 17, 2014 19:29:35

[I posted this on another guide, but I thought I'd see what people's impressions are here.]

 

I wanted to suggest a dip into Fighter, and ask people's opinion.  Before you reaction, and perhaps many think a level in fighter is a waste, I'm specifically seeking to build an armored sorcerer for low to mid levels.  Armor seems like it would be a huge benefit to a sorcerer that is soft and squishy, and 5e doesn't have restrictions for spell casting in armor so long as you are proficient.  Furthermore, there are fewer defensive armor spells, and armor in general scales much better in 5e.  So for the sacrifice of a level, gaining heavy armor and shield proficiency seems a bit like a no brainer, with the exception of sacrificing a level of spell casting.  

 

And as far as I imagine, dex isn't nearly as valuable for a sorcerer other than for AC. Going for heavy armor requires str rather than dex which can be dropped, which also makes a Dragonborn a pretty good race for this path.

 

It can also be argued that dipping into cleric instead, particularly the war domain, would be better than fighter.  So let me ask your opinion.  Both paths grant heavy armor and shield proficiency and varying skills.

 

A level in fighter grants:
• 10 hp at 1st lvl
• Defensive Fighting Style: +1 AC (or another style as per your choice)
• Second wind: d10+1 hp per short rest

 

A level in cleric grants:
• 8 hp at 1st

• Cleric level added to Sorcerer lvl for total spell casting level

• Access to 1st lvl cleric spells and Cantrips

 

Which path do you think would be most valuable for an armored sorcerer?  Are the cleric spells worth it, particularly at lower levels?  How good is second wind compared to healing word, at low and higher levels? 

 

Your thoughts on a level dip in fighter or cleric?

 

Thanks,

 

dana.

#41

Knight_Marshal

Nov 17, 2014 20:23:30

Just remember that you only gain the full benefits of a class you take at first level, any dips you take loose some of the proficiencies like dipping into fighter doesn't give you heavy armor. If you really must have heavy armor, you must start off with a class that has it at 1st.

(Reply to #41)

grendel111111

Knight_Marshal wrote:
(Reply to #41)

imaginari

Knight_Marshal wrote:
#44

Knight_Marshal

Nov 18, 2014 3:57:14

grendel111111 wrote:
(Reply to #13)

ScuroNotte

I am playing a sorcerer (Human Wild) for the first time. Played a 2e wizard less than a handful of times, and never lived passed 2nd level as never got hang of saving spells. Wasted them all after 1 or 2 encounters. Anyway, the DM of another game I am playing allowed me to wear light armor and know upto 20 spells as they needed a wizard class character in the group. Do you think that is overpowering or should be a part of the sorcerer's build?

 

I know another poster who is very informative (forgot name) told me it was a modified Bard which I do agree with.

(Reply to #45)

QwertyAzerty

ScuroNotte wrote:
(Reply to #46)

ScuroNotte

I am a wild Sorcerer so I don't get the mage armor ability as Dragon sorcerer. I rather not waste a spell slot for mage armor. 

Actually, I of little spellcaster experience have been researching the spell list and have it narrowed to 21 spells.

I think half the number of wizards, 20 in your example, is reasonable as they don't do research for spells. It is an innate ability

Back to light armor, I was considering taking medium armor feat, then shield master for benefit for sex saves, then resilient Wisdom. Already have Ritual Caster feat

#48

mellored

Jan 26, 2015 6:03:23

QwertyAzerty wrote:
(Reply to #48)

ScuroNotte

 

They are balanced as is.  Wizard has more utility, sorcerer does more damage, and does it less time.

 

That said, if you have a small party, it's probably fine to add some extra spells.

[/quote]

 

I don't think adding 5 more spells is out of question. It's not overpowering and approximately half of what other spellcasters get, excluding warlocks which I  am trying to understand. 

 

I feel more comfortable playing a spellcaster and not needing to do research into multi classing for more spells. With 20 spells and light armor from the DM, I feel confident I can survive a few levels at-least. So far it's fun. I plan to take Twinning and quicken. I know many like empower, but think subtle would be fun and may choose that if I get to that point

(Reply to #48)

ScuroNotte

 

They are balanced as is.  Wizard has more utility, sorcerer does more damage, and does it less time.

 

That said, if you have a small party, it's probably fine to add some extra spells.

[/quote]

 

I don't think adding 5 more spells is out of question. It's not overpowering and approximately half of what other spellcasters get, excluding warlocks which I  am trying to understand. 

 

I feel more comfortable playing a spellcaster and not needing to do research into multi classing for more spells. With 20 spells and light armor from the DM, I feel confident I can survive a few levels at-least. So far it's fun. I plan to take Twinning and quicken. I know many like empower, but think subtle would be fun and may choose that if I get to that point

#51

mellored

Jan 26, 2015 6:42:53

ScuroNotte wrote:
#52

QwertyAzerty

Mar 17, 2015 4:33:55

Since Sorcerer have a very limited amount of known spell, I believe it would be wise to choose very few concentration spells (maybe 1 or 2 combat concentration spell)

 

So combat concentration spell:

 

Hold person/Monster

Telekenesis

Haste

Greater Invisibility

Melf Minute Meteor (EE)

 

other concentration spell (like witch bolt, enlarge/reduce etc... exist but those spell are are clearly inferiror those those spell mention here. and spell like Invisibility, fly, etc... can be usefull out of combat so could technically be taken with those.

 

witch one should be better for a general purpose sorcerer usefull  in AL type adventure.

 

- Melf Minute Meteor allow you to use your bonus action to deal an additional 2x2d6+cha that can be used with scorching ray.

- Haste can be cast on the big hitter of the group (the great sword barbarian dealing an additional 2d6+barbarian strenght+2(rage)+magical property of the weapon) everyone round, and also increase the barbarian survivibility (+2AC) and increae his speed so he can attack every round instead of wasting a round doing a double move toward the next target. And can be twinned to boost the greatsword fighter or the moondruid transform in a big animal form

- Greater invisibility to gain advantage on EACH scorching ray. Greater invisibility can also be twinned and cast on the rogue to make him a sneak attack machine.

- Hold person/Monster: paralyze a target so he can no longer attack, and the party gain advantage to attack him and when they hit him deal automatic critical damage. Once again cna be twinned

- Telekenesis: can be twinned to control 2 target, make then automatically fail there dex save and being able to make them take falling damage.

 

personnally I have a preferance for Haste or greater invisibility since they are not dependand on the target failling his saving throws and they can make a huge difference.

but I always loved taking the huge brute serving the wizard and hold person him and since he got -2 wisdom he will faill 90% of his wisdom saving throws, but then I got nothing agianst the evil wizard who got a strong wisdom save so now I would need to also take telekenisis target the strenght of the wizard who since he got a -2 strenght will faill 90% of his saves or he will simply counterspell the dangerous spell.

 

#53

PhillPowell

Jun 05, 2015 5:51:28

Hello!

 

Thanks for a great guide

 

I was wondering if you would rate any of the new EE spells and cantrips over the ones you have picked for your optimised fire dragon sorcerer?

#54

QwertyAzerty

Jun 05, 2015 6:36:35

Sorxores have been absent for a LOOONG time from the forum so I doubt I'll respond to you anytime soon. But here my review on the EE spells.

http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4196961#comment-51948551

 

TL:DR they few interesting spell, require concentration therefore you'll have to choose between melf minute meteor giving you 3 round dealing an 2 time 2d6+charisma modifier as a bonus action OR Greater invisibility on 2 target (twinned) or Haste on 2 player (twinned) or Hold person/Monster etc...

 

In my opinion it's not worth it, I prefer greater invisibility so I gain advantage on each scorching ray that I cast increase my chance to hit and to crit the target, Also benefit from being invisible so creature donT' know where I am and even if they hear me they still get disavantage to attack me. but I can see some people prefering the extra raw damage.

#55

PhillPowell

Jun 05, 2015 7:11:54

Awesome, thanks for the link (it isn't on the guide list for some reason?) I shall read up!