So You Want To Play a Sorcerer?

You'll probably want to read this first

You'll
Index probably want to read this first
Section Page(s)
Introduction 1
Metamagic 1,2,3
Sorcerous Origin 3
Races/Stats 3
Feats 4
Spells 5,6,7,8,9
Multiclassing? 10
Caster Unleashed: Guru's Guide to
Building and Playing a Sorcerer.
I
n the more hardcore circles of D&D the Sorcerer is
considered underpowered compared to wizards and
bards because of their limited spell list and small
number of spells known. I disagree with this
assessment and without a doubt view sorcerers as
the strongest casters, but because of the depth of
analysis required to build a proper sorcerer I decided
to make a guide.
Please Note this guide ignores UA and
SCAG as I am not as well versed in the
material and the advice herein will still
give you the right mentality for building a
good Sorcerer. Using this guide means
you can be strong without having to
bargain with your DM over what you have
access to; it's all in the Player's Handbook,
so it's all legit.
PART 1: MetaMagic Requires lots of
Planning
I
ts called MetaMagic for a reason; you have to get
really meta to properly use it. Your metamagic has to
complement your spell selection which has to tie into
the role you want to play as a sorcerer. This three
way synergy is what most players neglect when
building their sorcerer and can make the class feel
weak.
First step is to think about what role you want to fill as a
sorcerer, there are three distinct types
Blasters
Supports
Sociopaths
The names are pretty self explanatory;
Blasters focus on damage spells and lots of AoE
Supports use spells that buff allies or disable enemies,
controlling the flow of battle.
Sociopaths manipulate NPC's (or players) with magic to
get information and sculpt events in their favor. These are
often the most overlooked but most powerful sorcerers.
The reason you want to focus on only 1 or
2 role(s) is you do not have enough
metamagic options and spell choices to
fill all three at the same time. Committing
to a role makes you a stronger asset to
your party.
TIP #1: Reinvented Flexible Casting
Other casters have received what Sorcerer's had in
prior editions; no longer needing to prepare
specific spells, but instead having access to a list of
spells and specific slot levels to dynamically cast
from. What Sorcerers recieved is being able to mix
and match their spells no matter what level; if you
want to keep casting level 3 spells even though
you're only level 5 (2 casts of 3rd level spells) you
can feed lower level spells into your sorcery point
pool and convert them into higher level spell slots.
Where a wizard hits level 5 and gets 3 fireballs per
day a sorcerer can get 5 level 3 spells. No other
class can do this and it is often overlooked by
analysts and frequently underutilized by new players
(works the other way as well to turn high level spell
slots into lots of lower level ones).
With this in mind we can more accurately measure the use of
each Metamagic within the context of these three roles.
Color Coded
Highly Reccomended (green)
Middle of the Road (dark blue)
Not recommended (red)
Careful Spell
Highest Priority for Supports.
Not a priority for Sociopaths.
Not as effective for Blasters since it does not prevent
damage from blast spells entirely and can be worked
around by just aiming better.
Great for use with Web, Stinking Cloud, or Hypnotic
Pattern/Fear to have a diverse set of saves to attack. Lets
your allies roam through web/stinking cloud and never worry
about being disabled. Always relevant and costs only 1
sorcery point. At Higher levels works with Prismatic Spray,
Reverse Gravity and Earth Quake.
Distant Spell
Low Priority for everyone mostly because its
overshadowed by other metamagics.
We only get a max of 4 metamagics to choose from so we
need to take only the best. Can be useful for Bard multiclass
to get 30ft touch spells. Great for outdoors but a bulk of
encounters occur indoors.

Empowered Spell
Mandatory for Blasters and will likely be included in all
sorcerer builds that use any damage spells.
Only metamagic usable with other metamagic and the only
one usable after the spell has been cast. Great for salvaging
botched damage rolls on AoE spells. Despite being weaker
than the Invoker's Over Channel it is usable far more often
and is not limited to evocation spells. It makes every damage
spell feel worthwhile. Works well with fireball, disintegrate,
scorching ray...really any spell that involves rolling a
fistful of dice (doesn't work with Sleep).
Remember that you can re-roll UP TO your Charisma
modifier in dice. If you have +4 CHA but only want to re-roll 2
or 3 of your damage dice you can.
Extended Spell
Like Distant Spell it is simply overshadowed by other
Metamagic choices and should be avoided.
Doesnt offer anything truly unique; most strong crowd
control spells have saves every round and/or last long enough
to go through an entire encounter. Potentially good for using
a lot of save or suck spells that dont have concentration
requirements to keep a bunch of different enemies locked
down for longer, the Sleep spell comes to mind.
Heightened Spell
Mid Tier for all types of sorcerers.
Great for when you need a spell to work against that one
guy. Since it costs 3 sorcery points no matter what level of
spell being used it's better to pick it up at level 10 for use on
higher level spells and when you have more sorcery points
available.
It only affects the first save for one target, so while it can
be useful for things like blindness/deafness and hold person
it works better with spells that don't allow for multiple saves;
Banish, Polymorph, Levitate, Finger of Death. Great for
supports and sociopaths, so-so on blasters.
If you choose a Wild Mage this metamagic is not as
useful ; once a wild mage hits level 6 they can bend luck
to cripple an enemys saves (costs only 2 sorcery points
but consumes reaction) and still combo that with other
metamagics.
. higher level slots.
Quickened Spell
Mid tier metamagic for blasters or supports useful for
channeling standard action spells while casting other
spells or gain utility in combat
Better taken at level 10 when more sorcery points are
available and better channeling spells open up.
Channelling spells (they use concentration and actions to
maintain) no longer stop you from casting new spells that
dont require concentration like sunbeam, telekinesis,
eyebite, crown of madness or even vampiric
touch(multiclass bards/warlocks). Damaging Channel spells
can be double cast on their first round (quicken the spell then
standard action to re-use the power) and then channeled
while other spells are shelled out with your bonus action.
Quickened Spell (Continued)
Also great on lightfoot halflings for bonus action spells into
easy hide checks using allies. Does not multiclass well since
converting spell slots to more sorcery points gobbles up your
bonus action and if you dont have a lot of sorcerer levels your
maximum sorcery points are low.
Subtle Spell
Highest Priority for Sociopath.
Gamebreakingly strong. Allows for spellcasting in social
settings with 0 notice or repercussion. In combat it
overcomes silence, restraints/crippling injury, counter spell
and even allows for sneaky spells to be cast from the shadows
without giving away your position (if no rays or projectiles). If
used properly can disrupt dexterity saves (hard to dodge a
disintegrate to the back if you can't hear it being cast). I have
extolled the merits of this metamagic in its own reddit post
it's that good. Good for sleep, thunderwave, charm person,
suggestion, detect thoughts improved invisibility,
phantasmal force, ambush fireballs/disintegrates,
animate objects, pretending to be a worthless bystander
during fights, your imagination is the only limiter on this.
Usable by any type of sorcerer but mandatory for sociopaths.
TIP #2: Remember that you still need
an arcane focus or component pouch
to cast spells with Subtle Spell.
Sew a hidden component pouch into one of your
pockets/long sleeves so you can reach inside to
cast subtle spells that require components, or keep
an arcane focus that looks inconspicuous, like a
walking stick thats a staff or a false eye thats an
arcane orb etc. This keeps your casting almost
undetectable to those around you.
Twinned Spell
Very strong secondary pick into almost any role
Gets costly at higher level spells but strong economic use
of sorcery points if done right. Great for Crown of Madness,
Haste, Polymorph, Enlarge/Reduce, Suggestion and other
strong channel abilities that do not increase targets with
WARNING: DO NOT FALL FOR THE TWIN SPELL
TRAP
If a spell can target additional targets using higher level spell
slots then twinned spell isn't really that useful. Example: A
level 3 Fly Spell can be Twinned for 3 sorcery points. A level
6 Sorcerer can create a level 4 spell slot using 6 sorcery
points and recycle the level 3 Fly spell for 3 sorcery points.
The new level 4 slot created can be used to cast fly on two
targets. This is something all sorcerers can do and costs the
same # of sorcery point in this case. Twin spell lets you do it 1
level earlier however.
PART 1 | "Meta As Fuck"
1
2

With this in mind each specialisation of sorcerer has one very
influential metamagic they should take:
To Review
Supports do well when they take Careful Spell and
use it best with spells like Web, Stinking Cloud,
Hypnotic Pattern, Fear, Reverse Gravity and Earth
Quake.
Blasters get the most out of taking Empowered
Spell with damage Spells like burning hands,
lightning bolt, fireball, wall of fire, cone of cold etc.
Sociopaths Must take Subtle spell and can make
great use of Detect Thoughts, Charm Person,
Suggestion, Greater Invisibility, Phantasmal Force,
Dominate Person (everything and anything).
The other metamagics are more versatile in their
applications but not as strong for defining a role;
Twin Spell for instance is usable for blasters or supports;
double suggestion in combat can let you suggest that two
humanoids go and keep a third pinned down by the arms,
letting you use 1 spell to lock down 3 enemies; great for
control A lot of the strong twin effects are concentration so it
can be bad to take it with Careful Spell.
PART 2: Sorcerous Origin Wild Mage
or Dragon?
C
hances are if youre reading this youre a new
sorcerer player and should play a Dragon
Sorcerer; the extra HP/AC, elemental damage
and ability to fly without using a concentration
spell makes playing the dragon sorcerer so much
easier. A wild mages bend luck is sweet however,
so if you think you can stay alive and you want to
spice up your campaign a bit go for it.
If you want a heuristic to help make a decisiion, Dragon
sorcerers make better blasters and Wild mages make better
supports.
PART 3: Races/Stats
F
-lavor is important to a lot of players and some of
you may even roll stats, but if you want to keep
things fair then use the point buy system, it
helps to level the playing field for all players and
keeps characters within the parameters the
game is balanced around. Even though it may
make a character feel more cookie cutter, large
stat discrepancies between players turn into feat
discrepancies. If you go with point buy you'll probably play:
PART 1,2 and 3 | "The short stuff"
3
Quicken Spell can be used to cast while channeling but if
you are channeling a Twinned Telekinesis (throwing 2 people
around the battlefield) or Maintaining control of a Twinned
Crown of Madness you can simultaneously channel with your
standard and blast with your bonus action.
Because of this taking Twin and Quicken Spell early can
be a nice combo for maintaining double control spells while
still shelling out strong damage. It's like a blaster/support
hybrid. You can blast and control decently, but not as well as
someone who has focused on one (you also gun through
sorcery points).
Heightened Spell is truly incredible but because it costs
so many sorcery points is something I would save for level 10.
That having been said if you take it before 10 and keep it for
things like Polymorph, Suggestion, Enlarge/Reduce you
wont be disappointed. Essentially Spells that do not allow
for repeated saves (it's also less useful on wild mages).
These are just a few neat metamagic combos, and while its
a bit daunting to think about, always try and stick to spells
that utilise your metamagics, otherwise youre not really
utilising your greatest strengths. If you really need/want a
spell dont let the fact you dont have the right metamagic
limit you, grab what you want.
My personal choice for first two metamagics is Twinned
Spell and Subtle Spell Your group will likely adore you since
you break all social encounters and strengthen their
characters in combat with cool twin buffs/debuffs like double
polymorph shenanigans. If you want to piss of the DM take
Careful+Subtle Spell, these two let you channel encounter
breaking AoE disables and cast when you're not supposed to.
The real defining moment for both is at level 6; Wild Mages
can really gobble through sorcery points with their ability to
botch enemy saves with Bend Luck but it can replace
heightened spell, while Dragon sorcerers really step up their
damage with Elemental Affinity. If you're planning on
multiclassing anything with an armor proficiency Wild Mage
will probably win over since you won't benefit from the AC
boost that Dragon Sorcerers recieve for free and you pretty
much get a free metamagic at sorcerer 6. Monoclass
sorcerers will probably opt for Dragon since the HP/AC is
great and you'll need spells for damage. This is not set in
stone however just something to keep in mind.
a Half-Elf (only race that can get 16 dex, 16 con and 16
Charisma with point buy),
a Drow (same as before except 14 con),
or a Lightfoot Halfling (also 14 con).
Honestly as long as you can start with 16+ charisma do
whatever. Just make sure you get a nice Constitution Score
and Dexterity Score (both are very common saves and you
need hp/AC.
PART 4: Feats
Get 20 Charisma as soon as
possible.
It affects your spell attack rolls, your spell saves, your social
rolls and even some of your metamagics. Always get 20
charisma first. If you don't see a feat listed here it's because I
don't think it's worth your time to even consider.
Alert
Many see this as one of the stronger feats, it's great if you like
to go first and hate being ambushed. I personally just keep my
sorcerer behind cover and hidden so I can avoid these
situations in the first place.
Actor
If you started with 17 Charisma and want to be the best little
Sociopath ever then have we got a feat for you. Disguise Self
becomes a whole new level of awesome with this feat and can
really take your social shenanigans to the next level.
Crossbow Expert
I wholeheartedly believe that using this feat to boost your
ranged spells in melee is not what the designers intended
when they wrote it. While technically this is a good feat on
paper you have lots of options for disengaging or keeping
opponents away; it's a waste and a douche feat to take.
Elemental Adept
Another sweet blaster feat, great for Dragon Sorcerers who
want to double down on their element of choice. Removing
fire resistance can really make your fire dragon sorcerer feel
a lot better. Because you have empower spell the part where
you turn 1's into 2's isn't really that useful..
Healer
Great if you take quicken spell; at level 6 it's a 1d6 +10
hitpoint heal and you still get to cast a spell. Not something I
really like to administer but it makes short rests much more
impactful for your team.
Inspiriing Leader
Hi tier team oriented feat. Highly recommended especially
since your charisma is going to be so high.
Lucky
Great if you like to make saving throws. Combo's well with
Wild Mage for lots of extra luck.
Magic Initiate
Nope. Not interested. You can't boost the level 1 spell and the
cantrips use the stat that other classes use. It can be cool
early level but falls off later very quickly.
Resillient
Good for bumping your dexterity up by 1 and giving you dex
save proficiency. If you opt for a Drow or Lightfoot Halfling as
your race then you can start with 17 dexterity and opt for this
feat.
Ritual Caster
If you are doing point buy stats it's very difficult to find the
stat points to invest in 13 Wisdom (or Int if you're one of
those Wizard dual classers BARF). If you've got the stats it
certainly helps to expand the already limited spell list that
Sorcerers have access to.
Spell Sniper
Good for overcoming cover if you're playing a Blaster
Remember that it only applies to spells that have attack rolls.
Tough
Hard to justify taking this over 2 more points in constitution
since con saves are part of your concentration checks but if
you're feeling delicate and don't really use concentration
checks (or feel fine with having warcaster) then this can be a
nice pick up especially at later levels.
Warcaster
One of the more hilarious melee sorceror builds available,
you can substitute spells for your Attacks of Opportunity. Use
Greater Invisibility to Stealth around to different enemies
and when they move away to something else BLAMO free
spell casts. This can gobble up your reaction but using it on a
spell is a good way to up your damage/utility. 10/10 for
blasters. It's generally an awesome tier 1 feat even if you don't
use shields (it's just a priority if you do).
There is a way to cast with a shield
without Warcaster; if you have a focus in
your mainhand it becomes the hand also
performing the somatic components of
your spell as well as the replacement for
your component pouch (excepting
material components that are consumed).
PART 4 | "Feats"
4
 Part 5: Spell Selection
A
rguably the hardest part of playing a Sorcerer;
with the most limited spell selection in the
game it's easy to see why. We're going to go
through level by level and role by role on what
spells you'll want to be picking up, most of you
may just skip this section with the knowledge
you've already acquired. Read the tip >>>
If you do not see a spell listed it's because
either I don't like it or don't have enough
experience using it to evaluate it properly.
Many spells are situational, play to your
campaign and your DM.
Cantrips:
Blade Ward: Can be good if you take quicken spell and
plan to be taking damage. That having been said you really
shouldn't plan on tanking unless you are a multiclass.
Chill Touch: Arguably the best damage cantrip in the game
for it's ability to stop all healing. Someone in your group
should have it, maybe even two.
Firebolt: Bread and butter damage cantrip (especially
Dragon sorcs who go fire).
Friends: Great for getting easy persuasion checks in.
Remember it has no verbal component so you can simply
wiggle your fingers behind your robes and cast it easily.
Light: Ehh...You have other ways of illuminating a room.
Like a torch... or a Fireball spell. Take it if you're really
struggling for light sources.
Mage Hand: Very useful for things you can see but can't
reach, or if you are restrained but can talk, since it has no
Somatic component (you didn't take subtle spell!?).
Mending: Here's the thing about Mending...everyone
except warlocks can cast it. So let someone else take it. If
not... you might still be able to make do without it.
Message: The poor man's telepathy. If your group is in the
habit of using you as a scout this could be very useful.
Minor Illusion: Dope. Really only as powerful as your
imagination. If you're not too familiar with it's use to
distract/confuse maybe avoid it.
Prestidigitation: Again you have to be creative. You can
clean your clothes, soil an enemies pants for them,
conceal the taste of poison, oust an enemy's campfire, etc.
Ray of Frost: The 10ft slow is so-so. It's just that the other
damaging cantrips are more useful and so this one tends
not to make it to my lists.
Shocking Grasp: Or as I like to call it "Disengage
replacement." The advantage vs armored targets makes it
very useful. Highly reccomend if you are not a control
sorcerer.
PART 5 | "Proper Spelling"
5
TIP #3: Levelling Up Lets you Swap Out
a Spell AND gain a new one.
If you are hitting a level that unlocks a higher tier of
spell slots you can actually gain 2 new spells for
that level by swapping one of your old spells for a
new one in the higher tier. This is especially useful
at levels 5, 7 and 9 because even though you have
limited higher level spell slots to cast with you can
convert lower level spells into higher level ones to
make use of your new slots more.
Letters in brackets denote what type of sorcerer and what
metamagics the spell combines well with.
Legend
Letter(s) Role/Metamagic
B Blaster
Sup Suppport
So Sociopath
Ca Careful
E Empowered
H Heightened
Sub Subtle
T Twinned
Level 1:
Burning Hands (B,E): As far as level 1 damage spells go
this one is pretty sweet. Red Dragon Sorcerers will love it
the most. Don't use higher level spell slots, it doesn't scale
well.
Charm Person (So, Sub): I mean..do I really need to
explain this one? Don't use it in combat (advantage on the
save). Almost required with Subtle spell, as charming
someone in front of others is really a faux pas. Not great
with heighten spell because you can just recast it with
Subtle Spell if they save. Doesn't require concentration
either which means you can afford to hold back on using
higher level slots or using it with Twin Spell.
Chromatic Orb (B, E, T): Lots of people seem to really like
this spell. It's great early levels but can be outperformed by
cantrips later so you can afford to replace it.
Detect Magic: Make somebody else take it.
Disguise Self (So,Sub): Wow this one is so underrated.
Pretend to be anyone you've ever met. If you took the
Actor Feat you're going to love this. You can use a disguise
kit to help put physical components into your costumes
too (like hats etc). Very rarely do other characters touch
those in positions of power (when was the last time
someone was allowed to grope the King willy nilly). It also
does not require concentration either!

Level 1 (continued):
Expeditious Retreat: If you want to be very mobile it can
be cool but it's hard to justify using up a valuable spell
known on it, especially when it requires concentration.
Feather Fall: This one depends on how much of a dick
your DM is. If they like dropping you from places it's going
to save your bacon. Eventually you get Fly so it could help
there too if you break concentration.
Fog Cloud: This spell doesn't do much to help your party
in combat and can be rather annoying in tight spaces.
Jump: Unless you plan to use the twin spell
Enlarge/Reduce piledriver combo you won't take it
(Reduce an enemy, Enlarge an ally so they can always
grapple them, cast jump on the same ally and they can
flying piledriver them for boatloads of damage).
Mage Armor: If playing Dragon Sorcerer or a multiclass
sorcerer this is completely useless, otherwise it's pretty
much compulsory.
Magic Missile (B, E): This spell isn't by any means bad...it's
just boring. If you're fighting a creature with high AC it's
great.
Ray of Sickness (Sup,T): This spell is useful in conjunction
with Web; if an enemy is restrained by Web you'll have
advantage on the Ray attack and if it's poisoned by this it
has disadvantage on the Strength check to escape the
Web.
Shield: It's going to save your bacon a lot, but can also be
avoided if you know how to play cautiously or have other
defensive spells.
Silent Image(So, Sub): Like many illusion spells it relies
on the power of your imagination. Since it requires
concentration however it's a bit hard to use in combat.
Sleep (Sup, So, Sub): The funny thing about civillian
NPC's is they tend to have very few hit dice. A maid, or
cook, or doorman will probaby have less than 10 HP. It
will be less useful with later levels but can be swapped out
later. Just be careful, it affects allies.
Thunderwave (B, E): Great if you are surrounded by
enemies and need to have them back away. If you are a
support you'll have better options.
Witch Bolt (T): Really only good early with Twin spell
(2d12 damage a turn is awesome early) for double
channel. Once you hit level 5+ you'll drop it.
Level 2:
Alter Self (So): It's like a poor man's disguise self; if you
don't have the actor feat it can disguise your voice for you
and people can touch you but it requires concentration
which locks out a lot of spells. If you need to breathe
underwater it can be useful I guess.
Blindness/Deafness (Sup, T): You're pretty much always
going to use blind; it's a crippling debuff that doesn't
require concentration. Sure they get to attempt a save
every round but this can be a real fight turner if the target
has crappy Con saves.
Blur: If you're a multiclass with high AC and you want to
be in the fray this is a great spell. Unfortuntely it requires
concentration so it's only so-so.
Cloud of Daggers (B): RAW If you choose a point that is on
the intersection between two different tiles, it affects both
of them. Great with grappler teammates (no save!).
Crown of Madness (Sup, Q, T): If you use Twin spell this
becomes a lot better. Since it gobbles up your action and
concentration to maintain it Quicken spell can be useful,
but even after all of that unless the enemies choose to stay
next to other enemies it's useless.
Darkness: Unless you are taking 2 levels in warlock for
Devil's Sight don't waste your spells known on it. It's like
level 2 Fog Cloud.
Darkvision: You can't really afford to pick a race that
doesn't already have this feature. You need all the spells
you can get.
Detect Thoughts (So, Sub): This is actually a very useful
spell but unless you are willing to try and spend time
getting the right surface thoughts to come up you may be
forced to pry the right info from them and reveal yourself.
Enhance Ability: Very diverse usage for all kinds of skill
checks. Can also be cast on allies.
Enlarge/Reduce (T): Fun spell, especially if you have
someone who likes to abuse grappling but not
gamebreakingly strong.
Gust of Wind (Ca): RAW the push from this spell doesn't
trigger attacks of opportunity so it doesn't feel as useful.
Can be cool if you don't have careful spell for web and
want to keep people away.
Hold Person (Sup, H, Sub): The First spell deemed
worthy of using Heightened Spell. 1 round of paralysis is
worth the sorcery points. If you have a rogue in the party
this jumps up to top tier, only reason it's not already is
concentration req.
Invisibility (So, Sub): Good for infiltration, scouting and
listening in on other people's conversations. Get
advantage on one attack too. The duration is much higher
than Greater Invisibility so consider keeping it even when
you hit level 7.
Knock (So, Su): Go get proficient with Thieves' Tools.
Levitate (H, T): If you're fighting something out in the open
with only melee attacks it's a great disable that has no
continuous save checks. Very tough situation to find
however.
Mirror Image: Mirror-fucking-image. Doesn't require
concentration; absorbs single target attacks/spells. Blur is
better if you have high AC but the two can stack if you
want to be "that guy."
PART 5 | "Spells Bitch!"
6

Level 2 (continued):
Misty Step (Su): It's a bonus action bro....Only reason it's
not higher tier is my solution to getting things outta my
face is dealing with them, not running like a little BITCH
and spell slots are limited. Has neat out of combat utility
too.
Phantasmal Force (Su, T): Crafting a great illusion
requires a lot of cunning, best of luck. Great with Subtle
spell to have someone look like their choking to death or
Twin for 2 crowd controls and 2d6 damage/round.
Requires concentration and falls off at later levels.
Scorching Ray (B, E, Su): This spell's damage is balanced
around the fact that you have to succeed on attack rolls; as
soon as you have advantage it's dope. You should know
that Dragon Sorcerer's Elemental Affinity was errata'd to
only apply once per spell so it does not apply 3 times with
this spell (sad panda). After level 11 your cantrips do
almost as much damage (except Eldritch Blast... which
does more) so you can drop it after that.
See Invisibility: Too situationally infrequent to merit use of
a valuable spell known. If you're DM's a huge asshole you
might need it.
Shatter(B, E): If you want to break rope bridges with
enemies on them, or tethers/dangling chandeliers or
whatever it's great...I've yet to come across this situation.
Spider Climb: Great to keep safe from melee attackers but
there are other ways to do that without using up
concentration. Again situationally useful but infrequent.
Suggestion (Sup, So, H ,Sub ,T): 1 Save or become my
bitch for 8 hours. Twinned spell turns this into a 3 for 1
control spell ("You two go keep that third guy pinned to the
ground by his arms, and keep him quiet...") Limitless
potential and super fun.
Web (Sup,Ca): Careful Spell Web is a game changer;
enemies in a 20ft cube are screwed and all you and your
allies worry about is difficult terrain. It combusts though
so if you use it on someone with access to fire they can
free themselves for 2d4 damage (or you can free them for
an extra 2d4 damage).
Level 3:YEEHAW!
Blink: Very great defensive spell, but we discussed my
philosophy on defense. It's only a 50% chance to work
each round, but still very good when it does.
Clairvoyance: You don't have the room in your spell list for
this. It's very cool but....no.
Counterspell: This can be very useful; unfortunately it
mostly depends on your DM's propensity for casters. If
you need to keep your concentration spells open in
combat and your DM loves casters then take it. Otherwise
just disable and murder them. Mandatory for Wild Mages;
can counterspell wild surges!
PART 5 | #CastTheRightOne
7
Dispel Magic: Again it's DM dependant but more often
than not it's going to come up, it also scales up with your
charisma.
Fear (Sup, Ca): If you get good at positioning you can fear
a group of enemies into a corner; as long as you stand at a
point where they cannot move out of that corner without
moving closer to you they are feared forever. Even if they
break line of sight they'll keep running for every turn they
fail that save. Pretty decent spell.
Fireball (B, E, Su): Even if you're not technically a blaster,
this spell is so strong you might just pick it up anyway.
Works great with Subtle spell because if you cast a
surprise round fireball while hidden you can probably
argue your DM to at the very least force disadvantage on
the save. (can't dodge out of the way if you can't hear it
coming).
Fly: Great for outdoors but lots of encounters occur
indoors and pretty much forces you to take feather fall (or
you can be cocky and tempt your DM to punish your
hubris).
Gaseous Form: Flying speed of 10 ft guys!
Haste (Sup, T): If you have Twin Spell it becomes top tier.
AC boost, free disengages, dashes/hides, MOVESPEED,
makes you very hard to pin down. Uses concentration but
is worth it.
Hypnotic Pattern (Sup, Ca, Sub): Great crowd control
spell; no continuous saves but the effect can end if
someone shakes them awake, if you're a wild mage you
can dump more sorcery points into botching that initial
save and keeping more enemies out of a fight.
Lightning Bolt (B, E): Easier to avoid allies with this spell
compared to fireball but also harder to engulf all your
enemies...a tough trade off. It also doesn't have the ability
to set ablaze that house you're fighting in....making fireball
the more attractive option to me.
Major Image (So, Sub): It's like Silent Image except you
can smell it, oh and hear it, but no touching fellas
(#fetishfantasydenied). So you can probably do some
tricky shit if you're smart about it but it's gobbling up a
level 3 spell slot.
Protection from Energy: Why is everything concentration?!
Sleet Storm (Sup, Ca): This is a spell built for a party of
melee fuck bois who want to swarm in and goon squad
encounters without enemies being able to run or converge
on them.
Slow (B, Sup, H): It's like reverse Haste except that it
affects 6 creatures. They get a save every round. It's great
for debuffing AC and Dex saves (fireballs!) and craps on
their action economy (no reactions!). I love it.
Stinking Cloud (Sup, Ca): You do not take this without
careful spell, but if you do...I'm reminded of the Joker
walking around a room filled with gas laughing his head
off while everyone around him is gagging and dying; that's
you now! You're a supervillain Harry!

Level 3 (continued):
Tongues (So,Sub): Bro...clerics, bards and warlocks can
take this...make one of them take it. Unless you're going all
solo James Bond infilitration you won't need it.
Water Breathing: Affects 10 people? Again make someone
else take it for your party you can't use up the spell slots.
Water Walk: Ok so at first I was all like "forces them to the
surface? SHARK KILLING SPELL" Then I read that the
creatures had to be willing and was all like "Who does
water campaigns?"
Level 4: When Twinned
Spell Pays off
Banishment(Sup, H): Targets Charisma saves; a generally
weak save. It's only highly rated becuase of the community
hyping the shit out of it, however, I prefer to just have
polymorph for offensive and defensive purposes
simultaneously.
Blight(B, E, H, T): 8d8 to one target for a level 4 spell? Not
worth. Targets one of the most consistently strong saves in
the game with a single target damage that is almost
matched by fireball.
Confusion (Sup, Ca, Sub): This is a really neat crowd
control but alas relies a lot on chance. With a small area of
effect, a save each round along with concentration, it's
only so-so.
Dimension Door(Sub): It's not going to win you any fights
but it can almost guarantee your survival and make getting
into and out of places trivial. Very interesting applications.
Dominate Beast (Sup, H, Sub, T): DM dependant; if you're
going through the woods a lot or dealing with angry druids
or some shit then, it's going to be very useful. If a group
member has polymorph it can also be cool to turn an
enemy into a giant gorilla; and then mind control them.
Greater Invisibility (B, Sup, So, Sub, T): This is where
taking Twinned Spell really starts to pay dividends.
Making yourself and an ally permanently invisible for 4
sorcery points is gamebreakingly strong. I'd always
reccomend using a cast on yourself so that you can
maintain the concentration check more easily.
Ice Storm (Sup, Ca): I feel like I must be missing
something everytime I read this spell. It's pretty much
fireball that costs a fourth level spell slot and with difficult
terrain slapped onto it. I don't get it...
Polymorph(Sup, H, T): Another Twinned Spell beauty.
What's better than turning an ally into a Giant Ape?
Turning TWO allies into Giant Apes. Double the temp HP
and mayhem... simply glorious. Also doubles as a great
crowd control without repeated save (I like turning
enemies into Killer Whales in land combat; 0ft in
movespeed and 90 hit points that have to be burned
through to turn them back, deal with a fight while they flop
around helplessly).
Stoneskin(T): Good buff for your tank and potentially
yourself but I much prefer greater invisibility.
Wall of Fire (B, E) If you or your party have access to
abilities that can move enemies around this spell is going
to be incredible. I particularly like the ring option being
directed inwards so you can push or toss enemies into the
ring of fire and have them burn to a crisp.
Level 5:
Animate Objects(Sub): Unless you want to animate a
bunch of medium ropes/chains to start tying people up,
just carry a small supply of kitchen knives and daggers to
swarm the shit out of people with. Great for convincing
people they have a deadly haunted house with subtle spell.
Cloud Kill (B, E): Only good if you have a mega grappler in
your group to keep opponents inside the cloud or you have
pushing eldritch blast to nudge enemies into it.
Cone of Cold (B, E): Huge area that's ideal for smashing
hordes of stuff. Nothing special but if you like doing lots of
damage go for it.
Creation: Hole plugger and merchant tricker.
Dominate Person(Sup, So, H, Sub, T): Keep in mind with
this spell, dominated enemies don't make saves if they
don't take damage.
Hold Monster (Sup, H): Like Hold person it becomes
higher priority if you have a rogue in your group (they will
love you forever).
Insect Plague (B, E): It's cloud kill but it doesn't slurp away
from you down stairs and vents and whatnot.
Seeming (So,Sub): It's disguise self for you and your
group; or to make a group of enemies look like foes to
their re-enforcements while you look like allies. Gotta be
creative however. (No concentration!)
Telekinesis (Sup, Q,): If you have quicken spell and take
this you may as well get rid of counterspell since you can
strip casters of their arcane focus and material pouches to
eliminate their ability to cast spells. Can't be used with
Twinned Spell :(
Teleportation Circle: Entirely DM dependant. If your DM
doesn't want you to come across other mage guilds or
places where teleportation circles exist this spell blows.
Wall of Stone Lets you make permanent walls, but this is
the kind of spell a wizard takes since they have lots of
spells known to throw around.
Level 6: So hard to choose
Arcane Gate: Infiltrate with your entire party; sneak an
army into a castle one troop at a time, maybe bait
monsters into following you into a trap of somekind. It's
neat to think about but hard to capitalize on.
Chain Lightning (B, E): It lets you cast a cone of cold
without worrying about collateral essentially.
Circle of Death (B,E): Huge sphere for moderate damage.
Ideal for dealing with hordes I guess.
PART 5 | The Spellening
8

Level 6 (continued):
Disintegrate (B, E, H, Sub, T): Great spell for just
smashing someone hard. Lots of conditions make dex
saves an automatic fail (paralyzed, stunned, unconscious)
or give disadvantage (restrained) so make use of those to
increase your odds of success.
Eyebite (Sup, Q, T): Another reason to take Quicken Spell.
While shelling out loads of conditions you can still cast
regular spells like fireballs and what have you.(sleep
someone with eyebite then get a saving throw free
disintegrate for instance).
Globe of Invulnerability: If you have a team of casters that
can hurt their allies with conditions this is useful, as well
as DM's who love casters. Good to pick up if you want to
replace Counter Spell.
Mass Suggestion (Sup,So,Sub): All the shenanigans of
suggestion but on many people without the concentration
checks. Wait what? No concentration checks? OP
Move Earth I'm sure it has lots of cool uses for like
digging into places or destroying the foundations of a
structure, I've just never seen it go so far as this.
Sunbeam (B,Sup,Ca,E,Q): This is the spell that makes you
stronger than any invoker can hope to be in a multi turn
fight. With Quicken Spell acquireable at level 10 you can
channel your standard action to do 6d8 damage in a line
while blinding fools then toss out more damage spells
using quicken spell. It burns through spell slots and will
use your action and bonus action but you turn into a
powerhouse while this spell is up.
True Seeing: Is your DM a tricky bastard with magic? Not
any more he ain't...
Level 7:
Delayed Blast Fireball (B, E, Ca, Sub): Ok so Careful Spell
can be used to charge this thing up for 10 rounds before
having an ally (or yourself) hurl it 40 ft. So that's cool I
guess. Subtle spell can also be used to start channeling it
in the middle of a campfire or torch without much notice.
Apart from that though it's not that great.
Finger of Death (B, E , T): Zombies have 22hp and 8
AC...This spell does less damage than Disintegrate for the
trade off of making a Zombie. That having been said it's
permanent so you can make your own little Zombie Horde
with this badboy. Twin spell for double the Zombies!
Which at the end of the day is not that many Zombies... If
you're evil and want to harvest random peasant folk for a
month to amass ~50 zombies that could be cool I guess...I
think they made this spell for Conjurers and Necromancer
Wizards...Or Ogre killing; Zombie Ogres are wayyyy
stronger.
Firestorm (B, E): Again, this is another one of those easy
aim fireballs that does some extra damage. It's not that
impressive to me but it gets the job done.
Prismatic Spray (B, Sup, Ca): Only this great because
careful spell can allow your allies to completely avoid the
effects. Empower is not reccomended because it only
affects one roll and not everyone in the AoE.
Reverse Gravity (Sup, Ca): You really need careful spell for
this one to be amazing. Optimal use of this spell relies on
2 words... "high ceilings." If you can find a place with 100ft
High ceilings you've got yourself a 20d6 spell (10d6 for
going up, and 10d6 for coming back down). In all other
uses though it's actually really good for just splitting up a
fight and being able to shoot "down" on enemies. Any
arrows enemies fire towards you are being fired upward
and as such might incur disadvantage whilst you are firing
downward (with gravity) and might gain advantage or
bonus damage. Great outdoors as well.
Teleport: Optimal use of this spell is to acquire an object
from the place you wish to teleport to. It will prevent
mishaps and allow for easy detective work/travels. While
not incredible it can be useful for getting your group out of
potential TPK's.
Level 8+
I haven't had enough experience playing
sorcerers this high level to test enough
of the spells. By this point in time your
own experiences and the rationale
behind other spell selections should
help you make the right choices.
Tip #4: Since you can only cast level
6+ spells once per day and your spells
known per level drops to +1 every 2
levels after level 11 feel free to take
more lower level spells that
potentially scale up. For instance I
don't really like level 8 sorcerer
spells, I'd be more willing to pick up
Teleport or Disintegrate at level 15
instead of a level 8 spell and use the
spell slot to scale something up.

PART 5 | Why are you reading these footnotes?

9
PART 5: Multiclassing...?
L
uckily for Sorcerers, Charisma is the most
common caster statistic in the game which
really opens up the door for some amazing
multiclass options. I personally prefer being a
pure sorcerer but there are times (especially at
later levels) when multiclassing can be good.
Sorcerer/Bard and Sorcerer/Warlock are great but
coming up with a proper multiclassing order can be difficult.
Starting with Sorcerer often suits most casters because it
starts with Proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws
(concentration checks). If you dont plan to take a lot of hits or
want to go 6 levels in Paladin (ugh so munchkin) then dont
worry about it.
The problem with multiclassing early is that levels 3-14
each provide really strong milestones that youll want ASAP.
Sorcerer
Level Cool Shit You Get
3 Metamagicthe whole point of the class.
4 stat boost/feat.
5 level 3 god spells. <-Good place to start
multiclassing to Bard/Warlock
6 Sorcerous Origin Feature and the ability to make
level 4 spell slots with sorcery points
7 level 4 godlier spells and the ability to make level
5 spell slots with sorcery points
8 another stat boost/feat
9 game breakingly strong Level 5 spells
10 3rd metamagic (so gooood)
11 level 6 spells like Sunbeam, Mass Suggestion and
Disintegrate
12 another stat boost/feat <- Wild Mages can
potentially stop here
13 level 7 spells (meh)
14 THE ABILITY TO FLY FOR FREE cough Sorcerous
Origin feature (WHY DIDN'T YOU PICK DRAGON
SORCERER?)
You see the problem; each and every level after level 3 is
really impactful to a sorcerer.
Sorcerer X/ Warlock 2-5
One of the most common power dips for a Sorcerer to make
to get Eldritch Blast and boost it with Invocations. Works best
after level 4 because it lets you shell out the best cantrip in
the game. Honestly not a huge fan of this one because its
pretty min/maxy but it seems popular. Its great for also
getting a nice spell list boost and the invocation which makes
eldritch blast push lets you keep creatures inside of AoE
spells (GET BACK INTO THE WEB FULL OF MY ALLIES).
Sorcerer X/Rogue 2
Not really viable. You have quicken and subtle spell to help
you use hide actions more easily instead of cunning action.
Costs too many levels for too little.
Paladin 6/Sorcerer X
Paladin 6/Sorcerer X
You can start either Paladin or Sorcerer at level 1 but get to
level 6 Paladin ASAP then go for sorcerer til the end. You
have extra attack and can still get the second last sorcerous
origin feature by the time you hit level 20, your saves are
massive and youll be a cool juggernaught/caster. Pick up
Warcaster at level 4 or get ready to never use a shield while
casting sorcerer spells. Id recommend going for The
Defense Fighting Style (+1 AC) and Oath of Vengeance for
sweet spells and a great channel divinity. This multiclass is -
really- resillient and when channeling Blur is almost
untouchable.
The Sorcerer X/Bard 6
This one is again hard to figure out when to go Bard, but
when you decide to go Bard get to 6 ASAP in the College of
Lore. This multiclass gives extra skill proficiencies, two
double skill proficiencies, Jack of All Trades (which affects
counter spell rolls) cutting words, font of inspiration (regain
cutting words on short rest) and eventually MAGICAL
SECRETS. The cheese cannon; if you want to grab a level 3
spell from any spell list it will give the option to abuse any
spell with metamagic. (Quickened Empowered Vampiric
Touch being one of my favourites). I could go on for a while,
but plundering the paladin spell list is pretty hot too.
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer X
15 Strength and a level in Fighter lets you run around with
21 AC (Defensive Fighting Style) and defensive spells like
Blur up. It will gut your Dex saves and stop you from using
things like stealth, but if you want to be more of a blaster
caster instead of a tricky SoB this can be very useful.
Warcaster is a must for this as well because you want to be
able to cast with that shield.
Life Cleric 1 / Sorcerer X
This one was recommended to me by someone on reddit and
though I haven't tried it I can see the appeal. Wisdom Saves
are nice, high AC, access to the bless spell early, cure wounds
(which can be scaled up with higher spell slots), heavy armor
+ shield proficency and some cool early level cleric spells to
choose from. Shit Dex saves and no Con save proficiencies.
Hard to say how it would play.
Sorcerer is really strong in the early to
mid levels and it is wise to keep the
multiclassing to the later levels when you
stop getting a new spell every level and
the bulk of your strong abilities have been
acquired. Getting 17 levels in sorcerer for
the fourth metamagic is still a potent
option to consider.
PART 5 | "Multiclassing" munchkin as fuck
10
You read it all? Wow I'm impressed. I hope
your Adventures as a Sorcerer go well. I
look forward to hearing about your
party's journeys and shenanigans on
/r/dndnext. Drop me a line at /u/LoL-Guru
and let me know what you thought.
Thanks for reading!