Introduction
Born or imbued with an innate source of magical power, the Sorcerer is apowerful arcane spellcaster able to twist and manipulate their spells viaMetamagic. The ability to customize spells on the fly makes it easy to adaptyour spellcasting to the needs of the moment and to maximize the effect ofyour favorite spells. The Sorcerer’s spell list allows them to serve as aBlaster, Controller, Striker, and Utility Caster, and sorcerers make one ofthe easiest Faces in the game due to their skill list and their dependence onCharisma. The Divine Soul subclass also adds Healer to the class’s possibleroles.
Sorcerers can be challenging to play, but at the same time they can be lesscomplex than most spellcasting classes. The Sorcerer falls into a middleground between the Wizard and the Warlock. The Sorcerer lacks the versatilityof a Wizard due to their limited number of spells known, but share many of thesame capabilities and almost all of the same spells.
Where the Wizard is powerful because they own a tool for every problem, theSorcerer is powerful because they own a few good tools and can use them to fixany problem. The Sorcerer gets more spell slots than the Warlock, allowingthem to focus more on leveled spells than the Warlock, who must use themsparingly and rely heavily on cantrips and invocations.
The Sorcerer’s versatility comes from their ability to boost their spellsusing Metamagic, shaping them to suit the needs of the moment. If you’reaccustomed to playing a wizard, expect to cast a lot of low-level spells usinghigher-level spell slots to get as much utility as you can out of your limitednumber of spells known.
After reading this handbook, consider our other supporting material for the Sorcerer:
- Sorcerer Subclasses Breakdown
- Sorcerer Spells Breakdown
- Sorcerer Metamagic Breakdown
- RPGBOT.Podcast: 5e Sorcerer Optimization Part 1
- RPGBOT.Podcast: 5e Sorcerer Optimization Part 2
This article is for the 2014 rules. For the 2024 rules, see our 2024 DnD Sorcerer Class Guide. If you’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3, you might also enjoy our Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerer Handbook.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Sorcerer Class Features
- Optional Class Features
- Ability Scores
- Sorcerer Races
- Sorcerer Skills
- Sorcerer Backgrounds
- Sorcerer Feats
- Sorcerer Weapons
- Sorcerer Armor
- Multiclassing
- Sorcerer Magic Items
- Common Magic Items
- Uncommon Magic Items
- Rare Magic Items
- Very Rare Magic Items
- Legendary Magic Items
- Example Sorcerer Build – Dragonborn Sorcerer (Draconic)
- Abilities
- Race
- Skills and Tools
- Background
- Feats
- Levels
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- Green: Good options. Useful often.
- Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Sorcerer Class Features
Optional Class Features are detailed below under Optional Class Features.
Hit Points: d6 hit points is the lowest inthe game, so be sure to take enough Constitution to compensate.
Saves: Constitution and Charisma are twoexcellent saves, since things which effect either of them frequentlyincapacitate you in some fashion (example: Banishment requires a Charismasave), and since Constitution saves are used for Concentration. That meansthat Concentration spells are easier to maintain without investing in optionslike the War Caster feat.
Proficiencies: No armor or shields, andonly the most basic weapons, but the Sorcerer skill list containsall of the Face skills, including Insight.
Spellcasting: The Sorcerer casts spells thesame way a Bard does: You get a set number of spells known, and can cast anyspell from that list so long as you have the slots to do so. This means thatSorcerers always have fewer options available to them than a Wizard who canchange their spell list daily, but Sorcerers make up for this lack ofversatility by being able to augment their spells with Metamagic. The Sorcererspell list is a subset of the Wizard’s spell list (with a handful of additionslike Dominate Beast and Earthquake), but you still have plenty of options tochoose from.
It’s also interesting to note that the Sorcerer gets more cantrips than anyother spellcaster, but they get fewer spells known than the Bard. Expect tocast low-levels spells at higher-level spell slots frequently, and to usemetamagic to customize your spells. Most importantly, expect to retrainlower-level spells whenever you get a better option, constantly adjusting yourspells known to perfect your spellcasting capabilities.
For help selecting spells, see mySorcerer Spell List Breakdown.
Sorcerous Origin: Sorcerer subclasses are briefly summarizedbelow. See mySorcerer Subclasses Breakdownfor help selecting your subclass.
- Aberrant Mind: Combine the power of psionics with the power of arcane magic to create aspellcaster with the sorcerer’s deep well of spellcasting and some of thewarlock’s spooky, occult magic.
- Clockwork Soul: An avatar of order, the Clockwork Soul rounds the edges off ofprobability and wards their allies against harm and entropy.
- Divine Soul: Descended from a divine bloodline, add the ability to learn and castcleric spells in addition to sorcerer spells.
- Draconic Bloodline: Gain additional power from your draconic ancestry, growing scales whichwork like armor, and dealing additional damage with spells of the damagetype determined by your ancestry.
- Lunar Sorcery: Inspired by the three moons of Krynn (Dragonlance), the Lunar Sorcerercan change “phases” to change some of their features, allowing them to adapttheir capabilities and their spell list depending on their needs.
- Shadow Magic: Masters of magical darkness, gain the ability to see in darkness andsummon a powerful shadow hound to weaken and attack your foes.
- Storm Sorcery: Adept at flight and casting spells in close quarters, storm sorcerersdart in and out of close range to deal bursts of sonic and lightning damagebefore flying back out of reach and retreating.
- Wild Magic: Exciting but unpredictable, wild magic sorcerers can manipulate luck togrant themselves Advantage on some rolls and to apply a small bonus orpenalty to others, but casting spells may trigger rolls on the Wild MagicTable, producing unpredictable but exciting magical effects.
Font of Magic: Font of Magic is a definitivefeature of the Sorcerer, especially Sorcery Points.
- Sorcery Points: Sorcery points fuel theSorcerer’s abilities and allow the class to do much more than just castingspells. You have a limited pool per day, but you have the option ofconsuming spell slots to get additional Sorcery Points. This pool is fairlylimited, so budgeting your sorcery points is crucial. If you need more, lookat the Metamagic Adept feat and items like the Bloodwell Vial.
- Flexible Casting: Using Sorcery Points toget additional spell slots is very expensive, so only do it when youabsolutely need to do so. Converting spell slots to Sorcery Points is a bitless daunting once you have a large pool of spell slots, but be sure not todo it too much or you will quickly run out of daily resources. There aresome cases where it can be very effective to turn a bunch of Sorcery Pointsinto cheap low-level spell slots, but those cases are rare.
Metamagic: Metamagic allows you to stretchthe effects of your limited number of spells known, allowing you to easilycapitalize on existing spells instead of constantly needing to find and learnnew ones. With a pool of spells known as small as the Sorcerer’s, this is animportant capability.
For help with Metamagic options, including the Metamagic Adept feat, see mySorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.
Sorcerous Restoration: Four free SorceryPoints gives you a lot of options, but it’s only 4 points every Short Rest. Ina full adventuring day you can expect 2 Short Rests at most, so it’s 8 SorceryPoints across a full day compared to the 20 that you already get and howevermany you get from converting spell slots. Plus, a Bloodwell Vial will get you5 on a Short Rest if you spend at least one hit die, so this feelsdisappointingly small.
Optional Class Features
Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Optional Class Features offer ways to add additional features or replace existing ones. These rules are optional, and you should not assume that your DM will allow these features without consulting them first.
Assessments and suggestions for specific Optional Class Features are presented here, but for more information on handling Optional Class Features in general, see my Practical Guide to Optional Class Features.
Additional Sorcerer Spells (Addition): Asurprisingly large number of additions, the Sorcerer gets numerous spells takenprimarily from the Wizard’s spell list, bringing the two classes a littlecloser together in terms of spell options. The Sorcerer also gets Flame Blade,but Flame Blade is garbage so it’s mostly there to say “neat, you get a druidspell”.
I recommend allowing the new spells on all sorcerers. They’re no better thanwhat sorcerers already get, but they introduce some excellent new ideas to theSorcerer’s spell options.
Metamagic Options (Addition): Twointeresting new metamagic options.
I recommend allowing the new options on all sorcerers. The new options aregood but not as good as existing options like Heightened Spell and QuickenedSpell, so they’re not going to cause balance issues.
Sorcerous Versatility (Addition): Like otherspellcasters, the Sorcerer gains the ability to retrain a cantrip. Second, youcan retrain one Metamagic choice. Sorcerers get more cantrips than anyone elseso retraining them isn’t as impactful, but retraining metamagic is a hugebenefit considering how few you get.
I recommend allowing Sorcerous Versatility on all sorcerers. Like otherretraining mechanics, it’s helpful but doesn’t actually make characters morepowerful because they’re not getting anything which they couldn’t already haveat the same level.
Magical Guidance (Addition): This makes thespell Enhance Ability considerably less useful. A single sorcery point is alow cost for insurance against bad rolls on ability checks.
I recommend allowing Magical Guidance on all single-class sorcerers usingsubclasses which I’ve rated orange orred. Other sorcerers are already plentyeffective, and if they need help with ability checks they can cast EnhanceAbility.
Ability Scores
Sorcerers are all about Charisma, and you can forego everything else.
Str: Dump.
Dex: Take a bit for AC.
Con: Take some to compensate for your d6hit points and to support Concentration.
Int: A bit for knowledge skills might benice.
Wis: Wisdom saves are common, and Insightis helpful for a Face.
Cha: Commands almost everything you do.
Point Buy | Standard Array | |
---|---|---|
Str | 8 | 8 |
Dex | 14 | 13 |
Con | 14 | 14 |
Int | 10 | 12 |
Wis | 10 | 10 |
Cha | 15 | 15 |
Sorcerer Races
Charisma bonuses are absolutely essential. Since you don’t need ability scoreincreases for other abilities, a +1 bonus can often be just as good as a +2,which opens up numerous racial options. Innate spellcasting, flight, andadditional skills are all great choices.
For help selecting a race, see ourSorcerer Races Breakdown.
For a classic sorcerer feel, consider the Drow or the Half-Elf. For ahighly-skilled sorcerer, consider the Kenku. For a powerfulspellcasting-focused sorcerer, consider the Fairy.
Sorcerer Skills
- Arcana (Int): One of the most importantknowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to back itup.
- Deception (Cha): Important for a Face.
- Insight (Wis): Helpful for a Face, butyou may not have enough Wisdom to back it up.
- Intimidation (Cha): Important for aFace.
- Persuasion (Cha): The king of Faceskills.
- Religion (Int): One of the mostimportant knowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to backit up.
Sorcerer Backgrounds
This section does not address every published background, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover the options which I think work especially well for the class, or which might be tempting but poor choices. Racial feats are discussed in the Races section, above.
You only get two skills from your class and Sorcerers are built to makeexcellent Faces, so look to pick up more Face skills from your background. Ifyou’re a Half-Elf or Variant Human, you can pick up your missing Face skillsfrom your racial bonus proficiencies, which opens up a lot of other options.Bonus languages are also helpful; if you can get enough of them you may notneed to learn Tongues.
If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:
- AcolytePHB: Insight and two languages.
- City WatchSCAG: Surprisingly good, though you probably won’t get much use out ofAthletics.
- CourtierSCAG: You probably don’t have the Wisdom to back up Insight, but it’s stillgreat on a Face, and you get a Face skill and two languages.
- Faction AgentSCAG: Insight and your choice of a bunch of skills including the Face skillsyou need, plus two languages.
- Guild ArtisanPHB: Two good skills and a language, but the artisan’s tools probably won’t beuseful.
- HermitPHB: Despite being the recommended background, this is an awful option forSorcerers.
- NoblePHB: A Face skill and a Language, but you probably don’t have the Intelligenceto make History meaningful, and gaming sets are largely useless.
- Urban Bounty HunterSCAG: No languages, but access to the skills you need to be a Face and somegood tool options.
Sorcerer Feats
Thissectiondoesnotaddresseverypublishedfeat,asdoingsowouldresultinanever-growinglistofoptionswhichdon’tcatertotheclass.Instead,thissectionwillcoverfeatswhichwethinkworkespeciallywellfortheclassorwhichmightbetemptingbutpoorchoices.
- AlertPHB: The bonus to Initiative is tempting because spellcasters can do so muchto affect a fight if they go first, but nothing else is particularlyhelpful.
- CartomancerBoMT: The card spell effectively lets you choose one spell from your spell list (not from your known spells) and quicken it ahead of time. You do still need to spend a spell slot, so that part isn’t any better than quickening a spell with Metamagic Adept; the appeal is that you have access to one spell per day that you don’t already know.
- DurablePHB: Cast False Life or use Inspiring Leader instead.
- Elemental AdeptPHB: Very tempting for sorcerers who enjoy blasting, but specializing in oneelement is severely limiting. If something is resistant to one element, usea different one. Changing 1’s to 2’s averages 1/6 damage per die if you’rerolling d6’s, which is as close to nothing as you will ever see.
- Fey TouchedTCoE: Most sorcerers learn a frustratingly small number of spells, and sinceFey Touched allows you to cast your new spells using spell slots, youeffectively add two spells to your pool of spells known. Unfortunately therearen’t many good 1st-level spell options for the Sorcerer. Bless is alwaysgreat, but nothing else is obviously a great fit.
For more advice on Fey Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.
- Gift of the Chromatic DragonFToD: The weapon buff is useful for hexblades, but remember that you can alsoshare it with an ally. Reactive Resistance is the important part of AbsorbElements without eating a spell slot.
- Gift of the Gem DragonFToD: Planning to get hit is a bad plan for the Sorcerer.
- Gift of the Metallic DragonFToD: Cure wounds is tempting for a class that usually can’t heal people, butit’s not a fantastic use of spell slots unless you’re desperate. ProtectiveWings is similar to Shield, and it’ll save you both spell slots and a spellknown. Of course, Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) will allow you to learn andre-cast Shield, so that’s likely a better choice.
- Inspiring LeaderPHB: An excellent way to capitalize on your Charisma, especially if your partylacks healing magic to help pad your hit points.
- Lightly ArmoredPHB: Mage Armor and Shield work fine.
- LinguistPHB: Cast Tongues.
- LuckyPHB: Amusing, but not particularly useful to Sorcerers since they don’tfrequently roll attacks or saves.
- Magic InitiatePHB: A tempting way to get cantrips from other classes, but remember that youuse the spellcasting ability of that other class, and since your Wisdom andIntelligence will be poor so will your spellcasting. Consider Eldritch Blastfrom the Warlock or Vicious Mockery from the Bard, but otherwise stick toutility options. Also note that since you can use spell slots to cast thespell you learned if it’s from a class in which you have levels, you mightstick to sorcerer to get another spell known.
For more advice on Magic Initiate, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.
- Metamagic AdeptTCoE: An additional Metamagic and two more Sorcery Points. An excellentaddition to the Sorcerer without adding much complexity. Keep in mind thatthe two additional Sorcery Points can only be used for Metamagic, so youcan’t use them to make spell slots or anything like that. For advice onMetamagic and the Metamagic Adept feat, see mySorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.
- ObservantPHB: You don’t have the ability scores to back this up.
- ResilientPHB: More saving throw proficiencies never hurt, but save this for after youhave 20 Charisma. You already get proficiency in Constitution saves, sounlike most spellcasters you can justify taking something else.
- Ritual CasterPHB: Sorcerers can’t cast spells as rituals by default like a cleric or wizardcan. Ritual Caster removes the need to know spells like Detect Magic whichare basically only cast as rituals, and it opens up options like FindFamiliar which are omitted from the Sorcerer’s spell list.
- Shadow TouchedTCoE: Most sorcerers learn a frustratingly small number of spells, and sinceShadow Touched allows you to cast your new spells using spell slots, youeffectively add two spells to your pool of spells known. Unfortunately therearen’t many good 1st-level spell options for the Sorcerer.
For more advice on Shadow Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.
- SkilledPHB: Proficiencies are great, especially since Sorcerers get few skills, butif you really need skills you should probably play a Half-elf or start as aRogue.
- Spell SniperPHB: Great for spellcasters who like to make spell attacks. Selecting this atfirst level as a variant Human can be really helpful when you’re so heavilyreliant on cantrips for damage output. You’re not locked into cantrips fromyour own class, so consider picking up Eldritch Blast.
For more advice on Spell Sniper, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.
- TelekineticTCoE: While the Sorcerer does have options to use their Bonus Action, most ofthem involve spending spell slots, and even if you have a mountain of spellslots to burn your Bonus Action is still going to be idle on many turns. Inthose cases, Telekinetic adds a useful way to spend your Bonus Action tohave a tactical impact. Moving a creature 5 feet often isn’t a big deal, butit’s enough to break grapples and sometimes it’s enough to force enemiesinto hazardous places like the area of ongoing spells.
- TelepathicTCoE: Unlike many sources of telepathy, including those offered by some races,this telepathy still uses languages, so the benefits are minimally appealingeven for a Face. You do get to increase a mental ability score, whichreduces the cost of the feat, but the benefits are primarily the ability tocommunicate while being stealthy.
- ToughPHB: Cast False Life or use Inspiring Leader instead.
- War CasterPHB: A really great feat, but generally best left to spellcasters who canjustify spending time in melee. With d6 hit points and no armor, that’s notyou.
Sorcerer Weapons
- Dagger: Carry one or two for utilitypurposes at any level, but the damage isn’t good enough to make it betterthan shocking grasp. You can make opportunity attacks with a dagger, butthat’s not something you should be doing frequently.
- Light Crossbow: Until you hit level 5, alight crossbow can do more damage than firebolt. If you have at least 14Dexterity, a light crossbow is probably a better option than firebolt whenyou just need to do some damage, and you can defer taking firebolt untilyou’ve gained some levels so that you can spend your limited number ofcantrips on something more interesting like ray of frost or a utilitycantrip.
- Quarterstaff: A great cosmetic item, buttotally useless in combat. Use Shocking Grasp or a Dagger instead.
Sorcerer Armor
Cast Mage Armor and learn Shield. At low levels that will be enough to keepyou safe, but at high levels you’ll likely dump mage armor because enemies’attack bonuses will be so high that it will stop being helpful. You might keepshield around for those rare times when it would deflect an attack, but you’rebetter served by other spells like Blur or Blink.
Multiclassing
This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing.
- Artificer: Starting with a level inartificer gets you a lot. Proficiency in medium armor, shields, andConstitution saving throws are really tempting (though the Sorcerer alreadygets proficiency in Constitution saves, so that’s not as appealing for theSorcerer as it is for the Warlock and the Wizard), plus artificers getaccess to some low-level spells which the Sorcerer doesn’t like Cure Wounds.The Artificer’s multiclassing rules allow you to round up when determiningspell slots (other spellcasting class round down), so while you don’t learnspells of new spell levels as quickly you still get the same spell slotprogression. The Artificer also gets Ritual Casting, which is useful sincesorcerers don’t get ritual casting.
- Bard: Bards also use Charisma forspellcasting, and since they’re full casters you won’t lost spell slots asyou level. You still delay access to higher level spells, but you can getJack of All Trades and Song of Rest from two levels. A third level gets youExpertise in two skills and a Bardic College which can offer someinteresting options, but I’m extremely hesitant to delay high-level spellsthat much.
- Cleric: Several domains offer proficiencyin heavy armor, and the Cleric’s 1st-level spells include several powerfuloptions including Bless and Healing Word which can have a huge tacticalimpact with little or no Wisdom. A 1-level class dip gets the Sorcerer a lotof great things, and you don’t need to do it at 1st level.
- Rogue: Expertise would be nice for yourFace skills, and Cunning Action gives you a great way to get out of melee,but I wouldn’t go past level 1.
- Warlock: The addition of Hexblade makesthe Warlock a powerful multiclass option. You get proficiency with mediumarmor and shields, you can use weapons with your Charisma instead of yourStrength or Dexterity, and you get access to wonderful spells like EldritchBlast. The Warlock’s spell slots recharge on a short rest, making themuseful fodder for your Sorcery Points. If you devote two levels you can pickup Agonizing Blast to make Eldritch Blast exceptionally powerful, but Ithink that the sorcerer spellcasting you’ll give up will be more importantthan making Eldritch Blast do a little bit more damage. If you take threelevels, you can get a Pact Boon and potentially trade your Invocation forsomething that improves it further.
Sorcerer Magic Items
Common Magic Items
- Clockwork AmuletXGtE: Only works once per day, but in many encounters a guaranteed 10 on attackroll will guarantee a hit (Players will hit an average CR-appropriateenemy’s AC on an 8 or better. See my article onThe Fundamental Math of Character Optimization.) For high-value attacks like an attack with a leveled spell likeChromatic Orb, that can be great insurance. Even better: you don’t need toattune this, so you can rotate through a stack of them if your DM is somehowcrazy enough to let you get away with it.
Uncommon Magic Items
- Bloodwell VialTCoE: +1 to spell attacks and save DC’s, and you can recover up to 5 SorceryPoints when you take a Short Rest. The extra Sorcery Points are a hugeimprovement to the Sorcerer’s sustainability, allowing you to stretch yourcapabilities over a long adventuring day much more easily.
- Broom of FlyingDMG: Easily overlooked, but one of the best ways to get flight for anycharacter. It doesn’t require attunement, and has a fly speed of 50 feet,though many medium characters will exceed the 200 pound limit to reduce thespeed to 30 feet, but even then 30 feet fly speed with no duration cap andrequiring no action after speaking the command word is absolutelyincredible. The only drawback is that you’re using the item’s speed ratherthan giving yourself a fly speed, so things that improve your speed won’tmake the broom move faster, and you can’t Dash with the broom. Even so, Ihonestly can’t justify why this is only Uncommon considering howexceptionally good it is.
- Cloak of ProtectionDMG: Good on any character, but it requires Attunement and it’s not veryinteresting.
- Feywild ShardTCoE: This item is super weird. It grants access to the Wild Magic table forall sorcerers, but it’s primarily useful for the Wild Magic Sorcerer sincethey can use it more than once per day. You can also attach the shard to aweapon, replicating the benefits of a Ruby of the War Mage. The Wild Magicbenefits are basically the sole purpose of the item, as it doesn’t provide abonus to spell attacks or save DC’s like a Bloodwell Vial does, but if youreally enjoy Wild Magic this may be worthwhile.
- Goggles of NightDMG: Crucial for races which don’t get Darkvision, especially if your partycan’t cast the Darkvision spell for you.
- Pearl of PowerDMG: Useful on any spellcaster.
- Slippers of Spider ClimbingDMG: The next-best thing to flight. Walking up a wall has all the benefits offlying out of reach.
- Stone of Good LuckDMG: Excellent on literally any character, but if you just want better defensea Cloak of Protection may be more effective. Stone of Good Luck shines ifyou’re heavily reliant on skills and ability checks (like Face skills), andability checks include Initiative rolls and checks to counter/dispelthings.
- Wand of DetectionDMG: This saves you the trouble of learning Detect Magic, which is atragically disappointing way to spend one of your limited spells known.
- Wand of the War MageDMG: Helpful if you’re heavily reliant on cantrips like Fire Bolt, but aBloodwell Vial will be considerably more useful.
- Winged BootsDMG: Excellent on its own, but Winged Boots are more limited in use than abroom of flying, and they require Attunement.
Rare Magic Items
- Amulet of HealthDMG: Setting your Constitution to 19 means that you don’t need to put AbilityScore Increases into it unless you’re really certain that you want 20Constitution. Less ASI’s into Constitution means more room for feats.
- Armor of ResistanceDMG: Excellent, but unpredictable in most games since you can’t perfectlypredict what sort of damage you’ll face. Fire is a safe choice.
- Astral ShardTCoE: While it doesn’t provide a bonus to spell attacks or spell save DC’s, theAstral Shard is still a phenomenally useful item. The teleportation effectis basically Misty Step with half the range. If you’re short on SorceryPoints, spend a Bonus Action to convert a 1st-level spell, then spend aninexpensive Metamagic on a cantrip or something. That’s a bit of a pain, butin most cases you’ll probably just cast a leveled spell with a Metamagicthrown on and teleport out of harm’s way. Regardless of how you trigger theeffect, the teleportation removes the need to learn Misty Step while stillallowing you to escape grapples, restraints, and all manner of otherproblematic situations.
- Barrier Tattoo (Rare)TCoE: Way better than Mage Armor and you don’t need to raise your Dexteritypast 14 to still have good AC.
- Bloodwell VialTCoE: +2 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See Bloodwell Vial underUncommon Magic Items for more.
- Bracers of DefenseDMG: Get a Barrier Tattoo (Rare).
- Cloak of DisplacementDMG: Among the best defensive items in the game. Taking damage from any source(spells, etc.) suppresses the effect temporarily, so make a point to killanything that can damage you without an attack roll.
- Elemental Essence ShardTCoE: This is essentially four items with the same mechanic. The d4 rolled todetermine the shard’s element is only rolled once (likely when the DM awardsit to the player), so you’re locked into whatever element you get on thatroll. Still, the effects are good.
- Air: Nearly as good as teleportation,60 feet of flight without provoking opportunity attacks will easily getyou out of melee if you don’t want to be there. It won’t get you out ofrestraints, unfortunately, so teleportation options like Misty Step maystill be helpful. It’s unclear how this works if you’re grappled sinceit doesn’t give you a fly speed (which the Grappled condition would thenreduce to 0), but as a DM I would rule that being Grappled would preventthis flight.
- Earth: Similar in many ways to AbsorbElements. It’s not quite as good since you need to guess the damagetype, but if your enemies are using spears it’s pretty easy to guess“piercing”.
- Fire: The simplest option, 2d10 damageto a single target every time you use metamagic will add up quickly.
- Water: Break grapples, get yourselfout of melee reach, and knock enemies prone so that your melee alliescan beat on them.
- Elven ChainDMG: One less AC than Barrier Tattoo (Rare), but it doesn’t requireattunement, so in a game with abundant magic items Elven Chain may be abetter choice.
- Far Realm ShardTCoE: Simple, easy to use, and effective. The damage is surprisingly good, andFrightened is a great debuff even if it only lasts one round. Many enemieshave poor Charisma saves, so you can expect to get a lot of use out of thisfor very little effort.
- Ring of ProtectionDMG: Cloak of Protection is lower rarity and has the same effect.
- Ring of ResistanceDMG: A fine item in a vacuum, but a Ring of Spell Storing full of AbsorbElements will be much more effective.
- Ring of Spell StoringDMG: Fill it with Absorb Elements and Shield, and recharge it wheneverpossible and this is a spectacular defensive asset.
- Shadowfell ShardTCoE: This item is extremely powerful, but it’s unclear how the timing works.If you use a metamagic option on a spell and then curse a creature targetedby that spell, can you cause them to suffer Disadvantage on the save againstthe spell? For example, could you cast Fireball and cause a creature tosuffer Disadvantage on the Dexterity save for that same Fireball? Since thisitem is already so powerful, I’m inclined to believe that the curse effectbegins after the immediate effects of the spell, so Fireballwouldn’t benefit, and while the target wouldn’t suffer Disadvantage on theirinitial save against Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, they would sufferDisadvantage on the save made at the end of their next turn.
Even with that conservative, cautious ruling, this is still a verypowerful item, allowing you to dramatically exceed the benefits ofHeightened Spell at the cost of as little as one Sorcery Point. Forexample: you could target a creature with a cantrip that you’ve enhancedwith metamagic (it doesn’t matter which, literally any of them willsuffice), and even if your cantrip is unsuccessful, you can then cursethe target with your Shadowfell Shard. Pick your party’s favorite type ofsaving throw, then until the of your next turn you can hammer on thetarget with spells and special features which target that saving throw.
Your Sorcery Points are the only limitation on usage, so you’re free torepeat this every round at very little cost. This can turn low-levelspells like Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter into anearly guaranteed death sentence for even high-level foes. Spamming ametamagic-enhanced Mind Sliver in order to repeat the curse effect andpile on a 1d4 save penalty is nearly unbeatable for most creatures, and ifyou have two or three suitable spells which target differing saves you canmake this combo work against nearly any creature you meet. LegendaryResistances and resistance to spells are basically the only thing you needto worry about, and even Legendary Resistances will fall apart if you havea couple allies with save-or-suck spells.
- Wings of FlyingDMG: Broom of Flying is much better, lower rarity, and doesn’t requireattunement.
Very Rare Magic Items
- Absorbing TattooTCoE: Good, but too high rarity to devote to a single damage type. Get a Ringof Spell Storing and fill it with Absorb Elements.
- Spellguard ShieldDMG: Basically only useful against spellcasters, but if you’re facing aspellcaster there are few better defenses.
- Barrier Tattoo (Very Rare)TCoE: The fixed AC matches full plate, so you don’t need to worry aboutDexterity to boost your AC and you don’t even suffer Disadvantage onDexterity (Stealth) checks.
- Bloodwell VialTCoE: +3 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See Bloodwell Vial underUncommon Magic Items for more.
- Manual of Bodily HealthDMG: Permanent Constitution bonus and raises your cap by 2. Unless you’reusing a magic item that fixes your Constitution as a specific score, this isexcellent.
- Rod of Hellish FlamesBoMT: The damage resistances are nice, but you’re here for the ability to maximize fire or necrotic damage once per day. Easily missed but very important: It’s not “the first damage roll” like most similar effects. You simply don’t roll damage. That means that this works with spells that do repeated or ongoing damage such as Dragon Breath, Fire Shield, Hex, Illusory Dragon, Scorching Ray, Spirit Shroud, and Wall of Fire. Yes, it’s only once per day, but you can get a ton of mileage out of that single use. Not all of those are on your spell list, but I really want you to understand the possibilities here.
- Staff of FireDMG: Good go-to spells a few times per day. This may be good enough that youdon’t need to learn Fireball, but upcasting Fireball is incredibly effectiveso you might still want to learn it.
- Staff of IceDMG: Cone of Cold for quick AOE damage and Wall of Ice for a combination ofdamage, area control, and utility. Wall of Ice is a good spell that’snormally exclusive to the Wizard’s spell list, and it can be a usefulutility in addition to its offensive uses.
- Staff of PowerDMG: A +2 quarterstaff, +2 to spell attacks (though not to spell DC’s for somereason, so you may want another focus), +2 to both AC and to saving throws,20 charges, and 9 spells which you can cast. This is powerful, versatile,and all around just an exceptionally powerful item.
- Tome of Leadership and InfluenceDMG: Permanent Charisma bonus and raises your cap by 2.
Legendary Magic Items
- Cloak of InvisibilityDMG: Invisibility is extremely powerful in 5e. Note that this is just theinvisible condition, not the spell spell Invisibility, so you can stillattack or whatever while invisible.
- Harp of Gilded PlentyGotG: A floor of 10 on all of your Charisma checks, including both skill checksand ability checks like the check to dispel magic or counter a spell.College of Eloquence will get less benefit than most bards.
- Ioun Stone (Mastery)DMG: Proficiency Bonuses apply to a lot of things and a +1 bonus goes a longway. Attacks, saves, skills, spell save DC’s, etc. all benefit. Somesubclasses and feats also have features tied to proficiency bonus, so youmay get additional uses of those options. A Stone of Good Luck may be justas useful if you just want bonuses to saves and skills, and a bloodwell vialis a more effective option if you want better spell attacks and saveDCs.
- Jester’s MaskBoMT/a>: A +3 spellcasting focus, some excellent defensive benefits, and you don’t need to hold it in your hard.
- Orb of SkoraeusGotG: Darkvision, see in magical darkness, a bonus to saves to maintainconcentration, and mitigate 300gp of material component costs per day. Thisfeels very tempting, but it’s just not good enough for this rarity. By thislevel, 300gp is a pittance, and you have access to magical options that makemagical darkness much less of a problem.
- Ring of Spell TurningDMG: Given the choice, I would much rather have a Mantle of Spell Resistancesimply because the Ring of Spell Turning doesn’t provide any protectionagainst area effect spells. Otherwise, this is a really fun item, and if itprovided Advantage on saves against area of effect spells it would shootstraight up to blue.
- Ring of Three WishesDMG: Learn Wish and give this to someone in your party who can’t cast spellsso that they can use it to give everyone permanent damage resistance.
For more help with Wish, see myPractical Guide to Wish.
- Robe of the ArchmagiDMG: Combine the benefits of a Very Rare spellcasting focus, a Barrier Tattoo(Rare), and a Mantle of Spell Resistance. Those are three absolutelyfantastic items, and combining them on one item is spectacular.
- Scarab of ProtectionDMG: An upgrade from the Mantle of Spell Resistance, the Scarab of Protectionadds a limited benefit against necromancy and undead creatures, and doesn’ttake up your cloak slot, leaving you free to take items like a Cloak ofProtection or Cloak of Invisibility instead.
- Spindle of FateBoMT: The third bullet is why you’re here. Force a creature to auto-fail a save up to twice per day. Perfect for all those awesome save-or-suck spells rendered useless by targeting Con saves.
Example Sorcerer Build – Dragonborn Sorcerer (Draconic)
Jesshann the Dragonborn Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
Orange sparks shoot from sharp talons in the dark, glinting off of a handencased in deep red scales. Yellow reptilian eyes catch and hold yourattention as the large figure steps into the light—clad in a rich, emeraldgreen velvet robe, a black leather belt with pouches slung low across thehips. Though her age is hard to guess, the smirk on the Dragonborn’s facebelies a sense of mischief, and perhaps trickery.
— Boxed text provided by dScryb(affiliate link)
Thisisa“StapleBuild”.Thisbuildissimple,andreliesonoptionsfromtheSRDandtheBasicRuleswhereverpossible.Ifyouneedafunctionalbuildwithnothingfancyorcomplicated,thisisagreatplacetostart.
- The Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer is very similar to the Evoker Wizard. Withan emphasis on a specific element rather than a specific school, you tradethe ability to easily switch elements for better usage of a wider variety ofspells.
Abilities
We will mostly assume the point buy abilities suggested above. The Dragonborn’s ability score increases raise your Strength (which we won’t use) and our Charisma.Base Increased Str 8 10 Dex 14 14 Con 14 14 Int 12 12 Wis 10 10 Cha 15 16
Race
Classic Dragonborn. The Charisma increase is the biggest draw, and I haven’tused the Dragonborn in a staple build yet, so I really want to double down onthe draconic theme of the character. You’ll need to choose a draconic ancestorto determine your breath weapon and your damage resistance. Personally Ialways prefer cones over lines, but that’s mostly personal preference. Alsokeep in mind that you’ll be able to add damage resistance using your bloodlinefeatures starting at level 6, so choose different ancestors for your race andfor your class.
Since staple builds are limited to the SRD and the Basic Rules, we don’t havea ton of spells to choose from, which means that the dragon ancestor youchoose for Draconic Bloodline should be a fire dragon. I recommend either coldor poison for your racial dragon ancestor. Cold will be more usefuloffensively, but there are a lot of enemies that deal poison damage whichmakes poison resistance very useful defensively.
Skills and Tools
With high Charisma and access to all four Face skills, there is little reasonfor you to not be the party’s Face. Between your background and your classskills, try to end up with Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion. GetInsight if it’s convenient, but your Wisdom isn’t high enough to be especiallygood at it so hopefully someone in your party can fill in the gap.
Background
Acolyte, Criminal, Noble, and Soldier all get you one of the Face skills wewant, but there’s no option to get two. If no one else in the party hasThieves’ Tools proficiency, take Criminal. Otherwise I recommend Noble so thatyou can get the three Charisma-based Face skills.
Feats
Sorcerers only really need Charisma, so feats can be a great option. DraconicBloodline’s Elemental Affinity feature emphasizes one element, which makesElemental Adept a particularly appealing option.
Levels
Level | Feat(s) and Features | Notes and Tactics |
---|---|---|
1 | Draconic Bloodline Dragon Ancestor Draconic Resilience Spellcasting CantripsKnown: – Chill Touch – Mage Hand – Prestidigitation –Ray of Frost Spells Known: – Shield – Sleep | For your starting gear, take a light crossbow, a component pouch or arcane focus, either pack, and two daggers. We get a lot at first level, and there are a lot of decision points. Things are a little less daunting at higher levels, but we have a lot of choices to make at first level. First we get stuff from Draconic Bloodline. We need to choose a Dragon Ancestor, and since fire spells are more common than other damage spells in the SRD, I strongly recommend a fire dragon ancestor. Once we get elemental affinity at 6th level, that will present a significant damage boost across most spell levels, including cantrips. Draconic Resilience matches Mage Armor, which saves us a spell known, and on top of that we get an extra hit point per level. That makes us very durable compared to other sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. Four cantrips is more cantrips than any other spellcaster. We have lots of great options. However, keep in mind that your light crossbow is a perfectly viable combat option. Even with just 14 Dexterity, +4 to hit and 1d8+2 damage will likely net more average damage than you can score with a cantrip. Eventually Fire Bolt will be your go-to combat option, but for now we can focus on more interesting options. Chill Touch gives us one of the Sorcerer’s few options for dealing necrotic damage, and it’s a great fallback when you face enemies with problematic damage resistances. Ray of Frost provides a nice crowd control option. That’s plenty of offensive options at this level, so we have room to use the rest of our cantrips on utility. For our leveled spells we’ll pick up general staples. Shield is a powerful defensive option at every level, and Sleep is powerful enough at low levels to end an encounter outright, but you may want to retrain it later when. |
2 | Font of Magic New Spell Known: – Burning Hands | Font of Magic is the Sorcerer’s most iconic class feature. SorceryPoints allow you to create additional spell slots, but the primaryappeal is Metamagic. We don’t get Metamagic until 3rd level, so fornow it’s basically just a free 1st-level spell slot. Atthis level we’ll learn Burning Hands. It’s probably redundant withyour breath weapon, so use your breath weapon first. We mostly want itfor when we pick up Elemental Affinity at 6th level. |
3 | Metamagic – Empowered Spell – Quickened Spell NewSpell Known: – Scorching Ray | 3rd level introduces Metamagic. You get two choices now and two more later, giving you a total of 4 choices. There are 8 options, so obviously we’ll need to skip some. We’ll take Empowered Spell and Quickened Spell. Empowered Spell insulates us against poor damage rolls, and you’ll get more use out of Empowered Spell at low levels than you will from Quickened Spell because you have so few Sorcery Points to spend, and rerolling three damage dice can provide a relatively large boost at this level. Scorching Ray is a reliable damage option, but it’s not very exciting. Keep in mind that Elemental Affinity will only apply to one damage roll per spell, but that also means that you only need to hit with one of the three rays to get the bonus damage. |
4 | Ability Score Improvement (Charisma 16 -> 18) New CantripsKnown: – Fire Bolt New Spell Known: –Blindness/Deafness | At this level our Charisma increases. More spell attack bonus means that cantrips will be considerably more reliable than a crossbow, so between the improved attack bonus and adding Fire Bolt, it’s likely time to retire your crossbow. Blindness/Deafness is an excellent debuff. Being blind makes it hard to target enemies with spells, and Disadvantage on attacks is a huge debuff. However, it works on Constitution saves so it’s not reliably against big burly enemies which typically rely on weapon attacks. |
5 | New Spell Known: – Fireball | If you haven’t already retired your crossbow, now is the time. Eventhe cantrips we’ve selected with the least damage now deal 2d8 (avg.9), easily outpacing your crossbow at 1d8+2 (avg. 6.5). 5thlevel also introduces 3rd-level spells. Take Fireball. That gives us abig AOE damage option, so consider retraining Sleep for utilityoptions like Detect Magic if you’re not using it frequently. |
6 | Elemental Affinity New Spell Known: – Haste | Elemental Affinity gives us a serious boost to all of our firespells. Fire Bolt jumps to 2d10+4. Adding the boost on top of AOEspells like Burning Hands and Fireball makes them especially potentbecause the damage boost applies to every target. |
7 | New Spell Known: – Wall of Fire | Wall of Fire is the first area control option we’ve taken. The first damage roll will benefit from Elemental Affinity, but the additional damage after that won’t. Use Wall of Fire to alter the layout of a fight; split up groups of enemies so that enemies are forced to to suffer extra damage to reach you and your allies. Once enemies are separated they’ll either take the damage to get to you, or they’ll be stuck waiting while you kill their allies. |
8 | Ability Score Improvement (Charisma 18 -> 20) New SpellKnown: – Polymorph | Another Charisma increase means better spell attacks, higher DC’s, more damage from Elemental Affinity, and more dice from Empowered Spell. Polymorph adds a powerful buff option for yourself or for your allies, but you can also use it to turn enemies into something harmless. By this level you have enough Sorcery Points that you should be experimenting with Quickened Spell. Keep in mind that you still can’t cast two leveled spells in a turn (unless you got a second Action from something like Action Surge), so Quickened Spell typically means that you’re doing something else with your Action like casting a Cantrip. |
9 | New Spell Known: – Cone of Cold | 5th level spells are important because they’re the highest-levelspell slots which you can create with Sorcery Points. Unfortunately,the SRD and the Basic Rules contain no fire damage spells at thislevel. Instead, rely on lower-level spells cast using 5th-level spellslots. Fireball cast as a 5th-level spell deals 10d6 damage (avg. 35)compared to Cone of Cold’s 8d8 (avg. 36), so the gap in damage isalready negligible, and Elemental Affinity will make Fireball moreeffective. Empowered Spell is more effective for spellswith fewer but larger dice, which should be enough that Cone of Coldcan do more damage than Fireball if you want to spend a Sorcery Pointto buff it. And if you’re going to cast your high-level spell slot,spending a Sorcery Point to get some more power is worth the cost. Thatcomparison really calls attention to how Sorcerers can adjust theirlimited number of spells on the fly to get more versatility from theirrelatively limited number of spells known. |
10 | Metamagic – Twinned Spell New Cantrip Known: – Any NewSpell Known: – Hold Monster | We get some great stuff at this level. An additional metamagic optiongives us even more ways to customize our spells. Using Twinned Spellon single-target spells like Blindness/Deafness and Hold Monster meansthat we can target additional enemies as though we were casting thosespells using higher-level spell slots, by using Twinned Spell. You canalso twin powerful spells like Polymorph which are limited to singletargets. |
11 | New Spell Known: – Sunbeam | 6th-level spells introduce our first spell slots that we can’t createusing Sorcery Points. They’re our “big guns”, even well into highlevels, and since spellcasters get so few high-level spell slots youreally need to get a lot out of each of them. Sunbeam,while its initial damage is lower than lower-level options like Coneof Cold, you can use it every round for a full minute, dealing out ahuge amount of damage with a single spell slot. It’s also one of theonly ways for the Sorcerer to deal radiant damage, and blinding foesis really effective. If you use Quickened Spell to cast it, you castthe initial beam as a Bonus Action and you can still use your Actionon the same turn to fire another beam. This is also thelast level at which the Sorcerer learns a new spell at every level.Instead, you’ll learn one new spell each time that you get access to anew spell level. Expect to rely on your lower-level spells cast withhigher-level spell slots, and retrain any low-level spells whichyou’re not using. |
12 | Ability Score Improvement (Constitution 14 -> 16) | This is our fist ability score increase that we don’t really need, soif you’ve decided to experiment with feats now is the time. Otherwise,enjoy a pile of extra hit points. |
13 | New Spell Known: – Fire Storm | Fire Storm’s damage actually isn’t all that impressive. 7d10 (avg.38.5) is actually less than you would get from Cone of Cold cast as a7th-level spell (10d8, avg. 45). Fire Storm’s big appeal (beyond thedamage type) is that you can position the cubes very flexibly to avoidyour allies. You can also use Empowered Spell to reroll low dice, andsince Fire Storm uses d10’s you’ll get a lot of mileage out ofEmpowered Spell. |
14 | Dragon Wings | Dragon Wings means free, persistent flight without maintaining concentration or spending a spell slot. If you’re fighting, you should be flying. |
15 | New Spell Known: – Incendiary Cloud | Incendiary Cloud is an all-around fantastic offensive option. Itdeals roughly the same damage as a fireball cast as an 8th-level spellevery round for a full minute in a reasonably large area. |
16 | Ability Score Improvement (Constitution 16 -> 18) | Oh look, more hit points. |
17 | Metamagic – Any New Spell Known: – Meteor Swarm | At this level cantrips receive their final damage boost, raising Fire Bolt to an impressive 4d10+5 damage. Meteor Swarm is the biggest AOE damage spell in the game, totalling 40d6+5 damage (avg. 145). Use Empowered Spell to boost the damage and you can destroy entire encounters (including the terrain) in a single turn. |
18 | Draconic Presence | Draconic Presence is a nice way to handle crowds, but if you’re in a situation where diplomacy isn’t an option you’ll have better luck with Meteor Swarm. |
19 | Ability Score Improvement (Constitution 18 -> 20) | Still more hit points! |
20 | Sorcerous Restoration | Recovering sorcery points on a short rest is nice. 4 points means two quickened spells. Not super impressive, but always helpful. |