The text describes the process of choosing a Sorcerer in DnD 5e, focusing on their ability score, hermit background, light, prestidigitation, ray of frost, and shocking grasp cantrips. The Sorcerer’s spell list should balance utility, defense, and offensive spells to keep their character’s abilities balanced.
The Spells Known column of the Sorcerer table shows when new spells are learned, each of which must be of a level for which players have spell slots. The first metamagic choices should include empowered, as they will have very few sorcery points and not a lot of spells.
Sorcerers can serve as Blaster, Controller, Striker, and Utility Caster, making them one of the easiest Faces in the game. New spells can be common from the sorcerer/wizard spell list or unusual ones that the sorcerer has gained some experience with. For utility spells, Minor Illusion or Mold Earth is recommended, while Ray of Frost is a combat cantrip pick.
The Sorcerer’s spell list recommendations include Shape Water Mind Sliver Fire Bolt Mage Hand Minor Illusion Dancing Lights (Drow Magic from Half Elf). A complete guide to DnD 5e Sorcerer spells includes expert-written advice on how to pick and use the best spells available to the Sorcerer.
The scorching Ray is a classic sorcerer spell that fires three beams of fire that do 2d6 damage. The Sorcerer’s spell list mainly consists of fire spells, such as Fire Bolt, Burning hand/chromatic orb, scorching ray, and fireball. Fire is the best choice, as it is where the majority of good spells are right now. Cold is still decent but limited in spells.
📹 Sorcerer Expanded Spell Lists for D&D 5e PHB and Xanathar’s Subclasses🐇🎩
Players have wished to have #DNDSorcerer subclasses that possessed expanded spell lists for years now. Giving them more …
What is the best Sorcerer spell in Baldur’s Gate?
The Sorcerer class in Baldur’s Gate 3 is distinguished by its proficiency in the most potent spells. Each of these spells has its own distinctive characteristics and capabilities. For instance, the Banishment spell can be used to force an enemy to flee, while the Scoring Ray can be used to inflict damage and debuff an opponent. The Mirror Image spell allows the user to create an exact duplicate of themselves or an ally, while the Chromatic Orb spell can be used to create a powerful, colorful orb that can be used to debuff or damage enemies.
What is the best level 1 sorcerer cantrips?
Sorcerers in Dungeons and Dragons are powerful magicians who gain their powers through raw talent and an inherently magical nature. They have access to powerful spells, but selecting the right ones can be challenging due to the small pool of spells available. The choice of subclass is crucial as there are many utility and offensive spells available depending on the origin of their magic, all with varying effects. Not all sorcerer spells are winners, and players should keep an eye on some and avoid others entirely.
Rookie sorcerers start at level 1 and their selection of spells, including cantrips and level 1 spells, is crucial for their early and frequent contributions to the team. However, some sorcerer spells waste precious spell slots and should be avoided. Players should focus on the best sorcerer spells to contribute to the team’s efforts early and often.
How to choose spells for Sorcerer?
It is recommended that sorcerer spell selection include a damage cantrip and Magic Missile, with the top two tiers focused on damage and the lower tiers on utility. It is recommended that damage spells and spells that deal instant damage be utilized, and templates for fireball can be employed for other elements.
What is the most op class in Baldur’s Gate?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a massively popular RPG that offers a wide range of classes, all directly linked to Dungeons and Dragons. Paladins are a popular choice due to their heavy armor and lethal attacks. The game also features a ranger with Beast Master subclass, offering a fun playstyle with a larger animal companion. The Arcane Trickster subclass for Rogue allows players to use spells and stealth attacks for effective combat strategies. With an Early Access phase, players can experience numerous classes before its full release on August 3.
Larian Studios, which heavily drew inspiration from Dungeons and Dragons, has twelve classes directly linked to their tabletop counterparts. With so many interesting choices and subclasses, players may wonder which class is the best to play in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How many spells should a Sorcerer have?
You have two 1st-level sorcerer spells from the spell list, and you learn an additional spell at each level except 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. Each spell must be of a level with spell slots. When you reach 3rd level, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level. You can also choose a known sorcerer spell and replace it with another from the list, also having spell slots. Charisma is your spellcasting ability, as it projected your will into the world. You use Charisma when referring to a spell and when setting the saving throw DC for a sorcerer spell.
What should a sorcerer stats be?
The highest Sorcerer stats are Charisma and Constitution, which are tied to saving throw proficiencies. Charisma is crucial as it directly impacts your Spell Attack Bonus and Spell Save DC in battles. Early leveling can improve these stats. The best races for playing a Sorcerer in Baldur’s Gate 3 are the High Half-Elf, Lightfoot Halfling, Drow, and Mephistopheles Tiefling. The High Half-Elf gains a +2 bonus to their Charisma stat and a High Elf cantrip, making it the most flexible choice for a Sorcerer build. The Drow is a good racial choice for the Sorcerer class, with a +2 bonus to Dexterity and +1 to Charisma, boosting initiative rolls and spell-casting abilities.
Do sorcerers need to prepare spells?
Sorcerers and bards are skilled magicians who cast arcane spells without the need for spellbooks or preparation. Their class level limits their spell casting abilities, with high Charisma scores allowing them to cast extra spells. To cast a spell, they must have a Charisma score of at least 10 and the spell’s level. They must focus their minds on casting their spells daily, taking 8 hours of rest and 15 minutes of concentration. This refreshment helps them regain spell slots from the previous day. Any spells cast within the last 8 hours count against their daily limit, similar to wizards.
Do sorcerers need a focus?
Arcane Focus is a magical tool used by shamans, warlocks, and wizards to channel their innate abilities, tap into powers granted by their patrons, and augment their magical knowledge and prepared spells. Other spellcasters, such as bards, clerics, and Paladins, can use musical instruments, holy symbols, or a “Druidic Focus” to use an Arcane Focus. However, these items do not fall under the specific rules of the Arcane Focus feature. In the new 2024 DnD 5e rules, certain subclasses, such as the Eldritch Knight Fighter and Arcane Trickster Rogue, can also use an Arcane Focus, but these are rare exceptions.
What are the best spells for sorcerers in dnd5e?
The text describes a variety of actions, including Magic Missile, Mirror Image, Shatter, Dispel Magic, Thunder Step, Polymorph, Animate Objects, Disintegrate, Globe of Invulnerability, Scatter, Finger of Death, Reverse Gravity, Teleport, Dominate Monster, Gate, and Wish.
Do sorcerers need a spell focus?
In DnD 5e, an Arcane Focus is a crucial item in spellcasters’ toolkit, reducing the need for costly material components and channeling powerful arcane energies for spell casting. These simple items can include Warlock’s wand, Wizard’s staff, and Sorcerer’s crystal ball. However, the concept of an Arcane Focus is often more complicated than it seems, with questions about their function, interaction with spell components, and which classes can use them. The new 2024 Player’s Handbook has made subtle changes to how these magical conduits work and introduced new DnD spells, making the concept more complex.
What is the best magic in Baldur’s Gate?
Baldur’s Gate 3Light offers a variety of spells, cantrips, and spell scrolls that provide significant advantages in combat. The best spells, cantrips, and spell scrolls vary depending on the class you play in, with Wizards having a diverse pool, Druids focusing on buffs and support, and Warlocks having a range of moderate spells. Each class offers a different magic, with hundreds of spells across all classes. This guide on the best spells in BG3 was updated on 7 November, with some minor details to reflect recent strategies and new information.
Beginners should pick universal spells early on, as many of these will remain powerful and useful even in the late game. The guide also provides an in-depth guide on how magic works and highlights the importance of choosing the best spells for each class.
📹 Sorcerer Class Changes in D&D 2024
We look at the Sorcerer base class and all the changes made in the 2024 PHB. TIME STAMPS 00:00 – Intro 01:26 – More Spells!
I like the idea of Wild Magic sorcerer learning spells from the Wild Magic Surge table (fog cloud, grease, levitate, mirror image, fireball, fly, confusion, polymorph, reincarnate. throw in far step cause it’s like blink but cooler) It’s like they are getting better at controlling chaotic energy that they use.
i want to play a shadow sorcerer, so i have been looking at articles and spell lists. my list was a bit different in my ideas, shadow Sorcerer’s are supposed to be connected to the Shadowfell in some fashion. so conjuring things of darkness and shadow also made sense to me. so for 1st level: False life and Arms of Hadar make good sense to me (arms even though its conjuration does Necrotic Damage so thematically appropriate, other good choices would be Disguise self and Hex, but as a Hexblood i get those for free), at 3rd: Shadow Blade and Wither and Bloom make good sense (Invisibility does as well, and misty step, but i plan to grab Fey and Shadow Touched feats so i will get those anyway), at 5th: Fear and Summon Shadow Spawn (though their are a few others easily swappable), at 7th: I like Blight and Shadow of Moil (though Dimension door is tempting i get a better teleport from the Heritage later, Evards black tentacles was tempting though), and finally at 9th: Antilife Shell and Enervation. I am Also racking up 5 levels of Hexblade Warlock, so my Sorcerer Spells will max out at lvl 15 giving me only 8th level Spells, but giving me 5 3rd level slots thanks to warlock levels. 3rd level having several useful spells means i can be a little more Liberal in my application of Slot resources with things like Counterspell and Spirit Shroud (from Hexblade).
Great list. i liked the idea that you allowed druid swaps for the storm sorc. easily your best idea here. storm sorc needs the boost as it’s the worst sorc. wild magic is my fave sorc. very underrated. it’s a top 4 sorc if the DM always lets you surge. if they don’t then it’s the 2nd worst sorc. tides of chaos and bend luck (along with magical guidance) actually make the wild magic sorc the best skill check spell user in the game (telekinesis, counterspell, dispel magic).
Having finally found this article, I feel that if you’re going to give the expanded lists to the other subclasses, NOT giving them the same expanded list swap option as Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul (2 specific schools + 3 lists to choose from) just doesn’t feel that great. Why would I suffer those additional restrictions you put on them when I can just pick Aberrant Mind or Clockwork Soul and not have to deal with them?
Wild magic looks so fun, the majority (like 3/4) of wild surge results are either positive or harmless, and even the most of the negative ones are not terrible. you can pretty much spam wild surges in combat also by constantly using your tides of chaos advantage roll while casting spells. Very excited to try it out.
Homebrew idea for Twin Spell since being able to modify spells is kinda a Sorcerer’s thing. If the spell can normally be up-cast to target additional creatures, it costs 1 Sorcery Point to target an additional creature. If the spell normally cannot target additional creatures via up-casting then it costs the base spell’s level in Sorcery Points.
I think of innate sorcery more like going super saiyan or more often Terra’s ability in Final Fantasy 6 to transform into an esper form to become stronger. Terra, being an esper hybrid, is quite literally the only natural sorcerer in the world of FF6 This was said by someone else in the comments of a different article, but it also would’ve been better to have a new shadow sorcerer and storm sorcerer in the phb instead of clockwork and aberrant. Clockwork and aberrant are already good, shadow and storm needed the update
This critique of mine is similar to most people’s disdain for summoning a dragon over becoming a dragon in the draconic sorcerer but for the new aberrant sorcerer. I know it may be more busted than I realize, but I really wish the aberrant sorcerer’s psionic spells ability worked with all enchantment/divination spells they pick up—not just the ones in the spell list. It would have made up for not being able to swap psionic spells. I never liked having Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, Summon Aberration, and Black Tentacles on a psychic sorcerer when I didn’t want the far realm/tentacle flavor. Otherwise, I’d want at least some other way to mechanically support a non-tentacle AM flavor.
Between wizards and sorcerers, I think the difference is strongly related to what kind of versatility you want. Sorc is better at creating on demand versatility, altering spells to better fit the situation Wizard is better in time spending versatility, as they can switch out their spell list daily and cast any ritual they have in their spellbook Honestly, I’m just really excited that I can play a sorcerer and not have to deal with such a small amount of spells known
21:20 in my opinion that’s how the balance always should be though. Between those two classes. The sorcerer should get to cast the stronger more potent spells due to them getting to empower them with metamagic. Cause it’s a whole extra resource for your magic it should give you stronger spellcasting overall. and the wizard should have to keep up with them due to their deeper more versatile bag of tricks with their spells. And for the longest time the wizard didn’t have to care about the sorcerer’s metamagic. cause they could do almost everything the sorcerers could do and sometimes better. In my opinion this is how it should be. The wizard should have a little bit of a disadvantage that they need to make up for. Not a huge one. But it’s there
The advantage of a Wizard is they can prepare spells based on their plans. A prepared wizard is very powerful. But the wizard needs to have a lot of spells in their spellbook to be able to use the point of the class. That is why I give Intelligence bonus per level per Wizard class level in addition to the other spells based on level. They can, of course, find or buy other spells to add.
My favourite aspect of Twinned Spell is that it allows you to break the pre-level-19 limit on casting more than one 6th level spell per turn. Twinning Hold Monster or an upcast Banishment lets you spend a 5th level slot and 1 sorc point to cast it at 6th level. Multiclass a 9th level warlock with sorcerer and now your pact slots can be cheaply boosted to 6th level for the purpose of multi-target upcasting.
If your DM lets you use Items from 5e then that Arcane Vigor spell is gonna be really good for Sorcerers. There is a Spellcasting Focus for Sorcerer’s in Tasha’s called the Bloodwell Vial that allows it’s user to regain 5 sorcery points once per day whenever the user rolls their hit dice. Previously there were only a few ways (that I know of) for sorcerers to heal with Hit Dice and make use of this item, but now any Sorcerer can use it at the cost of a spell slot!
I use Sorcerous Burst a lot, and actually have maxed out my exploding d8s on it one time so far. And while I don’t roll 8s every time, it happens enough to keep the mechanic fun for me. Innate Sorcery helps a lot too, because Advantage on the attack roll means more crits, which means double the d8s to roll and more chances for them to explode.
This isn’t related to D&D 2024, but I remember you guys talking about wanting a fey sorcerer subclass in another article, and I thought of a way that could be done without it stepping on the toes of Archfey Warlock or College of Glamour Bard: a sorcerer born with fey magic such that fey creatures are naturally drawn to them and eagerly assist them in spellcasting. The idea would be that this sorcerer always has a fey creature near them whom they need for casting spells. Think something like the show The Ancient Magus’ Bride: in that show, magi cast spells by working together with fey creatures.
It’s a shame they didn’t give wild magic sorcerer SOME extra spells. There’s a lot of flavour and power to be had in spells like Nathairs Mischief, Distort Value, Enlarge/Reduce, Enemies Abound and so so many more that have the essence of chance and whimsy whilst still putting the ability to choose when to use these effects in to the hands of the player instead of relying entirely on wild magic surges
Sorcerer has been my favorite class since 3rd (I’m not blind enough to say that I think they’re the best, just they’ve always been my favorite). So this article is actually troubling to me, because I wasn’t really thinking about upgrading to the new PHB at all, but now it seems like my single favorite class is walking reeeeaallllllly tall in it….
I have always had fun with the sorcerers I have played. So much so that I have and still will allow UA sorcerer subclasses such as the phoenix and stone sorcerer in my games. I once played a stone sorcerer / champion fighter multiclass in a one-shot that was a blast to play. It was great. I really enjoy your articles and your perspective on the new changes. Keep up the good work.🎉
The main mistake in the design of Sorcerers was the too few spells known and too few metamagics available. It’s great that they increased them both, but at least for Metamagics, they still come too late. At level 3 getting just 2 metamagics is very restrictive when metamagic is the main allure of the class and most metamagics are applicable for only so few spells. As a lvl3 player, having to play with just 2 metamagics all the way to level 10 which may be a few months away sucks. They should start with 3 metamagics and gain another one at lvl6, then gain another at 10, and one at 17 to the same total of 6 metamagics at the end.
Forgot to mention. I did like it before how you had to focus your sorcerer: be a blaster or bring support/utility spells, which is why I like druid because I coudl swap from day to day, but with sorcerer forced me to focus my build. But then agian, It would be nice to have more spells options. Makes sense. THough does that invade a wizzard’s territory where they were to utility / know many spells class and … Not sure how I feel about that.
Aren’t the wizards supposed to gain additional spells on odd levels? I heard Crawford mention this in a article. Illusionists getting 2 spells at 3rd and then 2 more Illusions, then an extra 3rd illusion at 5, 7, etc? It seems like that’s a way to get an expanded list (though I know the two summons have been added).
Wizard still has the better spells and while they can’t prepare as many spells they can cast any rituals in their spell book. I think the wizard can still hold their own against sorcerers. I always felt like sorcerer was by far the better class to multiclass but I think straight wizard still beats out straight sorcerer. By a hair.
The Wizard are not just strong because they could cast a hypnotic pattern, they are strong because they had access to the most amount of ritual spells in the game without the need to prepare those spells to use them. Your book was your massive toolbox of rituals, and your prepared spells are your combat spells. While Sorcerer is very strong now, and probably will be the next caster I wish to play, it still doesn’t beat the on demand versatility of the absurd amount of rituals that you can cast as a Wizard.
Honestly you could set up any of your concentration spells if they’re above on your teammate on round one as long as they went first, which is even easier with the new alert feat. Imagine being a 20th level fighter with alert swapping with whoever he needs to on round one to go before the sorcerer, walks past him warcaster haste for even more attacks and The sorcerer’s concentration is already set up on his turn and he can just start blasting.
More spells available and Innate Sorcery makes me very interested in running a Divine Soul in the 2024 rules. Obviously Spirit Guardians functionality changes are a big deal here, I’m less likely with my squishy hp to be actively running into enemies, but with 20 Charisma at level 8 and Innate Sorcery active… that’s DC 17 to save on all of those Cleric spells, and it bumps again in just the next level. Thats really cool.
I have always been curious about the sorcerer especially the divine soul sorcerer. I love the idea of blasting enemies on one turn then healing allies on the next. It felt like the ultimate spell caster to me. Sadly, divine soul sorcerer wasn’t brought forward. Yes, I know things are supposed to be backward compatible, but it remains to be seen how well that will work in practice.
Wild Magic might be able to have three meta magics active at once. I saw the table somewhere at one point but can’t find it. As long as the option for making all spells a bonus action isn’t the last one. Tamed Surge would let you “bonus action” cast spells which could be considered Quicken, and then Sorcery Incarnate allows for 2 metamagic options on top of sudo Quicken.
With this nerf, Twinned metamagic becomes almost useless! Upcasting a spell one level and spending one sorcery point are exactly the same. The only remaining benefit I see is if you want to upcast one level above the highest spell slot you have — either because you ran out of your higher-level spell slots or you aren’t yet able to cast at levels that high.
Sorcerers are the best! My favourite was a Fire Genasi Sorcerer with an Artificer background (started off Artificer, went – this doesn’t fit what I’m looking for – and swapped hard over to sorcerer). Made them less Fire and more Volcanic Sorcerer; Melf’s Minute Meteors being my head turning into a volcano and then re-forging itself with lava.
Didn’t mention one of the biggest changes, which is that creating sorcery points is actionless. Along with getting metamagic now at lvl 2 and all metamagic costing max 2 points, means a 2 level dip in sorcerer gets you any 2 metamagics that you have unlimited use of if you have the spell slots. Starting with 2 levels in sorcerer then going bard for magical secrets is such a crazy build now, you basically get everything
I think you guys are really undervaluing the fact that Wizards are able to cast ritual spells out of their spell book and do not need them prepared. While Sorcerers have barely any ritual spells, Wizards can fill their spell books with rituals they can pull out as they need. And that’s not mentioning the extra spells they get from their Savant feature.
I really enjoy your content about the changes to the game. I do feel however that you guys are putting to much emphasis on min-maxing classes. The element of the game is role play and problem solving. The battles are fun but learning how to use skills and abilities is a major part of character growth. I would like it if you could circle around to how the new classes approach these things.
I like sorcerer more but they are really just as powerful as a Wizard at the cast level. While a sorcerer can cast rituals, the Wizard can have all of them. While the Wizard has 16 spells it can be any spell even one you find on an enemy – Sorcerers get more spells but are relatively locked in. I think that unlike the Ranger, they got this right!
a few mistake or imprecision: Yes TECHNICALLY sorcerer have the subclass spell list that add to their spell knowns Except: If you take a 2014 subclass with no subclass spell list Then if you take a 2024 with a subclass spell list, those spell list (unlike the abberant mind in tasha) cannot be changed, so at best you have 5 good spells and 5 bad spells on those list, some of those list have no good spell. Let’s take the Tasha abberant mind sorcerer spell list for example (since I do not have access to the 2024 update: 1st\tArms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers, Mind Sliver 3rd\tCalm Emotions, Detect Thoughts 5th\tHunger of Hadar, Sending 7th\tEvard’s Black Tentacles, Summon Aberration 9th\tRary’s Telepathic Bond, Telekinesis Arm of Hadar is a bad sorcerer spell, few sorcerer do not like being stuck in melee so no I do not want arm of hadar on my sorcerer DIssonant Whisper yes great spell; +1 Calm Emotion: no way too situational, so few instance where calm emeotion is useful in a campaign to be worth a spot on my sorcerer spell list Detect tought : sure can be useful if the DM understand the spell properly as a no saving throw lies detector (and prevent gruesome torture scene in game with sensitive people) Hunder of Hadar: concentration for 4d6 damage in a stationary location, sorry I much prefer casting twin haste on my rogue and barbarian and let them destroy the ennemy Sending: really why sending is even here, at level 6 I can subtle cast those spell using my sorcerer point. when the fuck do you even want to cast subtle sending?
The 1 slot per turn can get in the way of reaction spells on your turn. This doesn’t matter for most reaction spells, but it is a signifcant change to 2 big ones; Counterspell and Silvery Barbs. Now that you can’t use them on your turn (unless you bypassed the spell slot from a feat) you can’t use Silvery Barbs to give your own spells advantage, and if an enemy tries to counterspell you, you can’t cancel their counterspell by counterspelling back. This change isn’t really a loss though, you can still make these kinds of plays so long as an ally is the one reacting. It just sucks if you’re the only caster in the party.
I do love the upgrades to sorcerers (one of my favorites too)….but the ultra nerf of ritual caster feat means wizards get so so many great rituals (leomunds tiny hut, rary’s bond) that a sorcerer can now never get I think makes wizards overall stronger class….although innate and metamagic make combat stronger for the sorcerer…..love that ythe draconic sorcerer can get charisma to every cantrip and spell at level 6!!!
Ok but is there a way to see what spells that can be twinned? Like a simple list, or an identify the spells on the full lists? I’ve always found finding spells that can/can’t do a thing or can be cast as a bonus action or whatever. It’s just a huge pain in the butt to find which spells require x y or z. You always have to look online or outside of the source to find these things and then add them to your character sheet (not that the game comes with character sheets now). Playing a drag Sorcerer currently, soooo glad the subclass got a long long overdue upgrade
Sorcerers have been my favorite class since 3rd edition. I was upset that storm sorcerers lost their bonus spell lists because of the poor design of the PHB sorcerer. (*storm sorcerers had bonus spells in UA but lost them in SCAG and Xanthar’s because it made them more powerful than PHB sorcerers) I like these changes but wished they made the sorcerer and wizard spell lists more similar. But they addressed my two biggest gripes about my favorite class: spells known and sorcery points. I’m going to miss twinning thorn whip or lightning lure, but those were niche cases anyway.
i’m playing my first sorcerer, and i’m not feeling terrible about limited spells known. I have been swapping out one spell for a different one whenever I level, which is in the 2014 rules. Maybe if I was building the sorcerer for a higher level game I’d feel differently, but i’m having fun interacting with my party and swapping in more useful spells – i’m giving the ranger’s wolf Dragon Breath!
I crunched the numbers on the wild magic table. It’s about a 70% chance of something purely positive happening, no drawbacks. There’s like an 8-12% chance of something purely bad happening, and those things are more likely to be bad for you than your allies. There’s about 4% chance of something neutral/flavorful happening, and the rest depend entirely on the situation.
Me wondering if they didn’t bring over the eldritch adept feat because of the new agonizing blast and sorcerous burst. Imagine a lvl 6 red dragon bloodline sorcerer with agonizing blast on sorcerous burst. Double charisma! As for how I would homebrew Eldritch adept over…….probably have it require either lvl 4 or 8 and a 13+ charisma andnlet you increase cha, wis, or int by one. And maybe word it so you could choose any lvl 2 or lower incantation and it uses the spell casting modifier you increased. Can’t say for sure that this isnproperly balanced, but I tried.
Sorcerer are my favorite casters, along with Druids. I think druid is a great healer, can be blasty (focusing on cold spells) and I do think they are my favorite class). Love Warlocks too, but I like the options you have. WIld magic is fun and crazy, storm and shadow magic are great thematic and I love the lightning/thundering sorcerer that can fly! Only played a storm magic, and started campaigns (they ended up short with party kills) for shadow and wild magic (wild magic was the culprit of a TPK when a fireball wiped the party… Yeah. we got fireballed at level 3… But I like the changes, and am excited to play my new shadow sorcerer. Maybe I’ll do rune child.
I let my player play a Wild Card rogue (Unearthed Arcana). I let him use cards instead of daggers. When he found a person to upgrade his deck (the deck box is magical, not the cards) to +1, I also let the d4 popcorn (“explode”) on a 4. When it does popcorn, he can turn half the total damage (sneak attack included) into his choice of fire, cold, acid, or poison (no attunement required). The Elemental Deck was born. It is well balanced since the added damage is rare and not that crazy, it’s not like rogues regularly do massive amounts of damage anyway.
Just now listening to this and The Dude’s point about something like the Sorcerer having 27 spells on hand where the Wizard has “only” 16. I get the point about the Wizard spellbook is more extensive, but if not prepared then it is pointless. I think about my BG3 game where there are hundreds of scrolls a party can find. I played multi-year TTRPG DD&D campaigns and we ran into just a handful of scrolls. This has been my experience for 25+ years of D&D. So just because a Wizard can write one in a spell book doesn’t mean they actually come across the scrolls. In my future DM sessions I’m going to make scrolls way more available like they are in BG3. I wonder if some high level Wizard class ability would be to expend an action slot to swap out a spell. So it is “expensive” in that you lose a total action, but it leverages the wizard spellbook. Of course the counter-argument is to play a sorcerer.
I hope they put Vortex Warp in a future book with the ability to upcast and target a second creature rather than increasing the range on upcast. Twinned Vortex Warp was my favorite thing to do as a battlefield control sorcerer and losing that is going to suck so bad. I can deal with losing Haste, Polymorph, Guiding Bolt, etc (as much as those also hurt) but man I’m going to be bitter as hell if I lose Vortex Warp.
I feel it’s a tad strange to call simulacrum a “brief moment to shine” at lv13. Suppose the wizard finds the component to cast that. Doesn’t the sorcerer just never recover past that point? Obviously you aren’t likely to be able to loop it, but surely just having 1 clone is going to be allowed if you get to that level?
I like a lot of what they added but there’s some real frustration for me as a sorc lover. I don’t like that quicken spell isn’t covered by the new spells per turn rule. The other thing I really hate is that none of the origin feats fit into any previous sorcerer build I’ve made. I want war caster, metamagic adept, fey/shadow touched or even elemental adept. You only get 2 full feats by the time most campaigns end now even with human. Lastly i really wished they kept sorcerous eruption because it was the only unique spell that competes with the power level of the exclusive wizard spells. Especially the new elemental summon spell that allows multiple attacks per turn to add bunus damage. Not even Hex or Hunters Mark can do that
Sorcerer may be better control or blaster casters, but the wizard has them beat in versatility and utility. Wizards get ritual adept which allows them to cast non prepared ritual spells from their spell book. So any ritual spell does not have to compete for space on the prepared spells list. Wizards can also swap out their whole prepared spell list on a long rest. Sorcerers are for the most part stuck with their spell choices, only being able to swap spells on a level up. Wizards at level 5 get memorize spell. Every short rest they can prepare an extra spell they don’t already have prepared. A diligent wizard can cater their prepared spell list to better deal with the challenges of the day. Be it social, combat or exploration a wizard can bounce between roles every day. A sorcerer on the other hand can not do that. Sorcerers have to take more care when picking spells. While they have more room for spells now its still possible for a sorcerer to make bad spell choices that they could be potentially stuck with. The wizard does not have that problem.
I’ve always loved the class fantasy of the sorcerer – even when that came with significant limitations. They just inspire me more. As for spells that they are still unable to cast – if it’s something fundamental to a character concept, then a new subtype might be appropriate…failing that, another opportunity for story telling. I will be honest – I love sorcs so much that I find it difficult to justify restricting their access to certain spells…I think that wizards and sorcs should be differentiated on other class mechanics…I actually find reduced spells known to be less offensive than zero access to certain arcane spells. With all of that said – I do like the themed nature of sorcerers, so prefer their spells to be consistent along those lines.
Oooo interesting. I read the new cantrip completely differently. I assumed that the maximum number of d8s was equal to your modifier. So at top level you can roll 4d8’s, so long as at least 1 was an 8 you could roll another one totalling 5d8s (assuming you had max charisma) 9d8 from a cantrip seems a bit overpowered. lol.
I’m surprised you didnt cover Heightened Spell in more detail. Wasn’t it’s main change the fact it applies to ALL saves of that spell for its one-time cost (for one of it’s targets). Cast Hold Monster banishment or Slow? ALL saves are at disadvantage until it ends. I hate the twinspell change. No twinspell cure wounds, or word of healing, or spare the dying. Sucks for the Divine Soul. Usually to gain an extra target for multi-target spells just upcast one single level. Not really worth the ability compared to the other options IMO. PS combine Arcane Vigor with Bloodwell vial. Have fun!
the entire class got better, which is good (some might say a bit too good, but screw you wizards, sorcerer gang 4ever) but I, personally, don’t like the changes to Twinned Spell. I’d rather have more options, even if some of them would come at a greater cost. I understand it has some pros, but I liked the versatility that it gave, which is why I like sorcerers having more spells: versatility. But it’s a net positive overall. Now I just want to see all the subclasses updated and more metamagic options. Love the Sorcerer class
You guys still aren’t seeing that you can reaction cast cure wounds weather forecast for now on your friends. Either you go Divine soul sorcerer together or you just go acolyte to get it and you’re suddenly a healer with your reaction with new upgraded your wounds. Even on a dragon sorcerer if you took the acolyte route.
The biggest loss I see from no longer being able to swap the spells on the Aberrant Mind supplemental list is because those spells automatically get Subtle Metamagic after a certain level (or did in TCoE). There were times when I dropped a spell from my Aberrant list and picked it right back up in my normal sorcery spells because I still wanted it, but there was a different spell I wanted to have the always-on Subtle.
My favorite class has always been a toss up between Wizard and Sorcerer with sorcerers get a slight edge for meta magic, especially with meta magic adept and clock work sould sorcerer coming around, but these new changes make sorcerers way OP to the point of making wizards obsolete. You could see the pain in Monty’s face when the sorcerer took the wizard’s lunch money lol.
I just feel like aberrant mind got the short end of the stick with their spell list. It’s probably the worst one; one 5th lvl spell got nerfed (telekenesis, now a saving throw and does not synergize with Quickened spell as well as it did before since you can no longer try to force use it twice on a turn, as it specifies LATER turns now). Some of the draconic soul spells feel like they would actually be better suited for the psionic subclass btw. COMMAND, ARCANE EYE, LEGEND LORE. Really? And the psionic one gets 4 different tentacle themed spells?? Some of them are very redundant as well. The 6th lvl feature doesn’t shine as bright anymore as well, as the spell list is trash and probably one of the best spells, summon aberration, now DEMMANDS you get the material component even with the 6th lvl feature.
Still sad they gutted the aberrant mind. Why would you ever play it now with a starting ability that is mainly there for flavor and a level 6 ability that only works on 10 fixed spells, most of which don’t really benefit from that interaction or are not spells you will use. Being a psionic mind mage was such a fun way to play. Now you only have a reason to take it if you really like tentacles
I wish sorcery incarnet increased in number of uses for free and the Attack roll was +2 rather than advantage then at level 7 and 20 it would increase the DC and attack bonus by +2 and +3 and more meta magic at earlier level from level 2 to way back to level 10 is too far ! like you have 3 levels of having a feature says you can use two meta magics. so you only use the two that you picked . or if you picked one that can be used with another meta magic regardless then you got no feature. Dragon sorcerer I really wish the cap stone was not summon dragon but was draconic transformation
Im still excited to play a sorcerer, but I’m no longer as excited about my favorite AL character: devotion paladin/clockwork soul sorc. The changes to Mounted Combatant and Find Greater Steed hurt. But this is a sorcerer article. So, what hurts is the change that Clockwork can’t grab Armor of Agathys. It hurts that quickened now prohibits me from smiting (a paladin issue, not a sorcerer one, but still). The “multiple leveled spell rule” can hurt but likely won’t. The only thing I could see is if I provoked an Attack of Opportunity (AoOp) after I cast, say, bless, I can no longer cast shield since it’s another leveled spell on my turn. Despite that, i think ill still enjoy playing the multiclass, but the changes to Mounted Combatant hurt. Though, something i just realized is that i can now cast Find Steed and get a flying mount with my multiclass. I needed to buy a scroll before, so thats nice. And my 1 free casting of the base version will be good for dungeons like one module i played where we climb down a rope into a giant’s ruin. The mount wouldve been valuable down there, but i didnt want to waste a slot casting it down there. The sorcerous rage ability will be nice, too, to help offset my lower charisma modifier and make my spells stickier, so i look forward to that. Advantage on all spell attacks will also be quite helpful.
Note that the probability of rolling 8 on a d8 and then rolling an 8 again 5 more times (for your max modifier value) is 1 in 262144, or just under 4-in-a-million. At those odds, it’s very possible!! Given the millions of people estimated to play D&D, I’d say it’s likely to happen in the next few years for sure 🤓
OK I have a question about the new damage cantrip. what if you multiclass into The Tempest domain cleric that gives you max rolls on your thunder and lightning damage and you choose thunder and lightning for that cantrip damage does those max numbers count has getting the 8 so you can add the extra dice
Innate sorcerer: yeah exactly like the 2014 barbarian rage: twice per day then you cannot use it anymore. Someone can remain me why 2014 barbarian wasn’t good? Sure brutal critical preventing damage scaling pass level 11 was a reason, but the rage limitation was an other reason, once you did both your rage you were a bad fighter for the remaining fight. Now sorcerer will have the same problem, once you did your 2 “magical rage” you’ll be a bad spellcaster for the remaining fight. And no at level 7 spending 2 sorcery point to activate it a 3rd/4th/5th… time do not help since sorcerer point are SO limited that between recovering your spell, slot, and doing 2 metamagic per spell cast, you will run out of sorcery point really fast, and the sorcerous restauration at level 5 will not help as much as you think. no 50% more sorcery point is not good enought. Yes it’s a buff from 2014, but still not enought. Let’s do some math to illustrate my point: Wizard arcane recovery let the wizard regain half his wizard level in spell level. The sorcerer in order to regain as many spell level he need to spend ALL his sorcery point to convert them into spell slot. So just to be able to cast as many spell per day as the wizard can, the sorcerer need to consume all his sorcerer point. Leaving him with only sorcerous restauration (50% of your sorcery point) to activate your subclass abilities, your metamagic and your 3rd/4th/5th Sorcery incarnate. The wizard can cast “metamagic” like abilities on all his spell on a particular school.
Innate Sorcery is my favorite feature. I cannot wait to build a sorcerer, and then take 2 levels of Paladin. I can only smite once per turn now, but the spell slot cap has been removed. So round one will be going super saiyan and activating Innate Sorcery, then casting Hold Person or Hold Monster. The next turn using True Strike while innate Sorcery is active gives the attack advantage (Although I know I’d already have it on a held enemy, it’s just in case they make their save), and then dumping my high level spell slot into them.
Like, 5 years from now after the XGE and TCE equivalents come out, I’ll be interested. If I’m forced to use the old books to play the subclasses I like, there’s no point. 75% of the “new” stuff is recycled anyway. This PHB isn’t really for us. It’s for the millions of new players Hasbro is hoping for.
I would argue Bards are the best Spellcasters now. They get access to Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard spell lists once they hit level 10 or 11 (don’t remember off the top of my head). Valor Bards make better gish’s now because they can use their weapon as a spellcasting focus (unlike Bladesingers), and they get the Bladesinger Extra Attack. That’s in addition to more skill/tool proficiencies and access to armor.
Hate the sorcerer “rage” and the crazy amount of meta magic points. Where’s the cost, when a barbarian goes reckless they have to give advantage to everyone. This just gives them the most reliable spell damage and I think might be game breaking. They were second to wizard’s barely. Now it’s the problem for the whole table, more so than usual.
The strongest half caster martial background probably is Ravnica izzet-engineer adding some useful spells and cantrips to you spell list as well as call lightning, elemental weapon, glyph of warding, otiluke’s resilient sphere (it’s a great spell with a trickery domain dip or a warlock with gaze of 2 minds), animate objects and of course conjure minor elementals (ranger would suddenly start to look nice with an action surge dip). Arcana and investigation aren’t terrible skills, draconic, 1 language from goblin or vedalken (2 usable choices), some less useful tools, ASI’s of your choice and an origin feat of your choice. Whether I would be playing ranger, paladin or of course artificer I would consider my final levels for action surge since that’s pretty strong.
IMO Wizards should have Metamagic abilities that are exclusive to them, like innate resistances to spells, magic absorption/spell stealing, concentration on two spells at once, instant spell swap with a spell in their spell book that isn’t currently memorized, advantage on counter spelling/dispelling magic, etc. Being able to spend a separate pool of points on cool stuff should be in their arsenal too. Oh well, at least they’re not Rangers, lol.
It seems likely to me that the use of the”leveled spell” terminology under Quicken Spell is an error: they changed it in the main text but forgot to make the corresponding change in Metamagics. Either way, it’s ridiculous and over-complicated to make Sorcerers subject to two conflicting sets of rules for casting multiple spells, which is after all their raison d’etre. I like the Spell Slot approach, so I will house rule that for Quicken as well.
Sorcerer is truly enhanced with a few ” eh..s” Topaz dragonborn Sorcerer here with Amethyst Draconic Bloodline/ Sorcery. Necrotic+Force is.. interesting and FUN! Now it will be better! Just slot in Gem dragon Ancestries in general and for the dragon companion + Sorcerer Burst too ( slot in missing Force, Necrotic, Radiant ). My groups GM will totally allow it and I aswell for the groups I am DM for, and this.. sub class is COMPLETE. 👌🤝 Something WotC completely glossed over/ forgot, such a simple in-written thing they could have done in Fizban but didnt😂 In the VERY same book they introduced gem dragonborns and reintroduced gem dragons! Official written material always have a weight in sayso even we GM/ DM do thr final say. The gem elemental types of Force, Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant and Thunder is NO worse or better than Fire, Cold, Poison, Acid and Lightning. Nothing OP and its easly balanced. Having both breath attack, resistance and affinity ofca element IS a double edged sword. Like sure you deal force damage few resist BUT while you resist force damage… few monsters and npc deal that back, making other elements more advantageous vs you.
The problem is this. Wizards were the ‘best’, but they paid for that. What put thme over the top was being able to learn spells outside of their leveling up spells, resulting in a much larger list of spells they could choose from when preping than Sorcs. But, that advantage was paid for in the time and effort to find additional spell scrolls, (or money to buy them if that was an option) and then money (or more money) to pay for the paper and ink, and more time, to transcribe them. No other class is expected to put such time and money into just being what they are. No, gear for martials doesn’t count, as wizards benefit and enjoy magical items just as much. Now, with Sorcs knowing so many more spells than before, what wizards ‘pay’ that price for isn’t what puts thme ahead, it is what ‘might’ let them keep up with Sorcs. Sorcs have spells and metamagic as their class features essentially, Wizards have their spells, full stop. For Sorcs to be better off before you even look at metamagic, means the devs have done a poor job here. I think the two classes that got a poor ‘imporvement’ this time around are Rangers and Wizards, largely because they have not kept pace with the comparable classes they should have.
I’m opposed to adding more spells known to sorcerer. I was working on a homebrew way to buff sorcerer for my games, but after playing a sorcerer I think they are in a fine spot. The limited spells known forces you to get creative with your metamagic. Reducing cost and more sorcery points is great. I think that is what sorcerer should feel like. Twisting your spells to your design, not an arsenal of options.
Unpopular opinion, but I believe they kind of overdid it for sorcerers. They had a great niche as a combat caster who had few spells but could use them in a versatile way. Now they are just plain best at everything, which is not a good design. I also low-key hate the fact that the class that lore-wise is the most “I’m the Chosen One, no need to study and sacrifice!” gets the best treatment😂
I feel like they WAY overshot with the Sorcerer. Before, Wizard was better than Sorcerer (sorry Kelly) because of the versatility of having more spells, both actively prepared and that they could swap out. Sorcerers were specialized and could do their few spells better than the Wizard. Now, Sorcerers get more AND are better at those spells. They could have given the Sorcerers one of the changes they did and it would have been enough. Expanded spell list is my preference because it gave the Sorcerers enough spells while still feeling specialized (it’s how I run at my games). They don’t need that insane number of spells on top of more sorcery points and an expanded spell list
I failed to wrap my head around the Quickened spell. You can not cast another spell via slot after all ready casting a spell with a spell slot. Okay, then WTF is the point of this meta magic when the rules and the meta description eat its own tail. Is this meta exclusively for cantrips only? If that’s the case. I would roll up a Sorlock and A-10 Warthog: Twin Spell: Eldridge Blasts. Quicken Spell+ Twin Spell: Eldridge Blast again. Let Sorcerers double-cast leveled spells with the restriction being. After casting a spell that is 5th level or higher the second spell cast has to be a spell at 5th level or lower. Quickening and Twinning spells that require concentration the sorcerer must roll a concentration check at a disadvantage during the start of their turn. Any ability, feat, or spell that grants an advantage on CON checks would now be a normal roll. Failing the Con check will result in a spell lock-out that you can’t use again until after a long rest.
I’m very mad about this sorcerer. I have generally been really positive about most of the changes the 2024 rules are making, but this just grinds on me. I think every choice made in this rules change devalues the wizard, be it the number of spells you now get access to, Sorcerous Blast, the improved number of Metamagic options you get, etc. Granted, I may be biased as a wizard main, but I just feel like there are very few reasons to play any other arcane caster, especially wizard. I’m not going to ban it or anything, but I may ban Sorcerous Blast.