Sorcerer is Broken | Dungeons and Dragons 5e Guide

Sorcerer 5e Guide for Dungeons and Dragons! Let’s delve into your raw, unbridled, latent potential for infinite spell slots, powerful subclasses, and potent metamagic as a Sorcerer in DND 5e!

The innately gifted sorcerer has only gotten better since the Player's Handbook! Shadow Magic and Storm Sorcerery gave us plenty to love from Xanathar's Guide to Everything but the Divine Soul Sorcerer broke the game with its access to the cleric spell list! And Tasha's Cauldron of Everything surpassed even that with the Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul Sorcerer! Oh, and how could we forget the coffeelock, cocainelock, and trancelock multiclass builds with Warlock!?

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[ConstructedChaos]

Hey all! A couple little things to note here!

1. When speaking on the Quickened Spell Metamagic, I mentioned that you may only cast one leveled spell per turn. This is technically not true. The rules actually say specifically that, if you cast a leveled spell as a bonus action, you cannot use your action to cast another leveled spell. This is an important distinction because you can still cast a spell on your turn with your reaction if so prompted and the same holds true if you have an extra action via the fighter's action surge or something similar!

2. When discussing the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, I mentioned that your psionic spells could be swapped out with evocation or divination spells. I misspoke here and meant to say enchantment or divination instead!

As always, thanks for watching and letting me know about these little slip ups so I can make sure no one is confused by them!

[RobearRich]

Subtle spell can be really good because it makes it so it can't be counterspelled.

Subtle spell allows you to cast a spell without somatic or verbal components. Counterspell you have to see them and it says you are, "attempting to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell." It does require some interpretation, but a lot of people say that since with subtle spell you don't do anything that would signal you are casting a spell, it just casts before the spellcaster can see you doing it. The spell goes off and it is too later to "interrupt the casting of the spell."

[RobearRich]

Zee Bashew made an awesome video on the "Coffee Lock" that talks about the Cocainelock in some pretty hilarious way.

[TheKabukimann]

1. All sorcerers should get extra spells known like the aberrant mind and clockwork soul. For divine soul they could prepare spells from the cleric spell list each day equivalent to their Proficiency modifier. This change would make them unique as a both Known and prepared caster and give you room to get spells from both lists. Aberrant mind and clockwork soul already grant them more known spells and options to replace them. Giving these options to other subclasses would make them more in line and more well balanced with the other casters.
2. Giving sorcerers (and also monks but its not this convo to talk about this class) the ability to regain sorcery points during combat. for example If you crit with an attack roll, roll a 20 on a saving throw or a target rolls a 1 on their save against your spell you regain sorcery points (for example equal to your prof mod ) or if you used metamagic this round you regain the points spent. This would give those critical situations more impact.
3. Dragon ancestry could be expanded to the new gem dragons giving you more psychic necrotic and radiant damage.

[crownlexicon]

Subtle spell is absolutely necessary on my paladin/sorcerer multiclass. You can use subtle spell to cast spells with somatic components when your hands are full

[mattdespard]

There is no rule that states you can't cast more than one leveled spell per turn. This is a common misconception. You can't use your bonus action to cast a levelled spell if you used your action to do so, or vice versa. Nothing is stopping you from, say, using action surge from a fighter dip to cast two levelled spells.

Also, you didn't mention one of the most popular uses for subtle spell - preventing your casting from being counterspelled.

[JudgeMagisterSnow]

I played a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer who served as a scholar to a conclave of Oath of the Watchers Paladins. I took spells focused on manipulation of time and dunamancy, specifically the gravity based spells. I took Quickened, Transmuted and Twinned Spell in order to keep my allies safe and have quite a bit of battlefield control. At a certain point, I was basically playing 4D chess with the DM, locking enemy movements, boosting allies and dealing mostly thunder and force based damage.

It's not overpowered, but that character was basically a god by the time we'd finished.

[joeribaars]

Subtle spell also makes your spells uncounterable making it great too out cast wizards and end a counterspell fight simply by casting a subtle counterspell

[StateBlaze]

Was in a one-shot last week where I tried out the aberrant mind sorcerer. Character was a young farm boy that gained his powers after a beholder fell in his field (my headcanon is that it was the result of some adventuring party winning a Spelljammer boss fight) and getting hit with the resulting psychic wave of its death. Poor guy ended up manifesting his spells through panic and fear (the one-shot was a Hell run so he was constantly surrounded by demons).

[TheRobversion]

Since i've shared a build in your past class vids. thought i'd share one of my fave sorcs that i've played in the past. This build was inspired by a dark jedi/sit concept where they are more in-tune with the "force" but this also leads to a lot of random force disruptions (wild magic surges). level 10 theorycraft with action flow as always:

"Dark Jedi"
wild magic sorc 9, hexblade 1 (hexblade was chosen for flavor but could be any subclass)
custom lineage: eldritch adept: repelling blast
asi: +3 cha, +1 con (can also replace +2 cha with lucky)
metamagic: quicken spell, subtle spell
key spells: telekinesis, eldritch blast (not much spells known needed in this build. this is the bread and butter every combat)

pre-combat:

convert pact slots and un-needed 2nd/4th level slots into extra 5th level slots. tides of chaos your initiative.

1st round:

bonus action: quicken telekinesis the bbeg 30 ft into the air (magical guidance/lucky/tides of chaos as needed). surge. tides of chaos reset.
action: move the bbeg 60 ft into the air

reaction: shield/absorb elements/counterspell/bend luck/hellish rebuke as needed

2nd round:

bonus action: quicken repelling blast at advantage to push bbeg 70-80 ft into the air. this breaks the hold of telekinesis because it exceeds the maximum distance which will cause the bbeg to fall prone taking 7-8d6 falling dmg
action: re-apply telekinesis on the fallen bbeg. move them 30 ft to the air

3rd round:

bonus action: quicken spell whatever non-concen spell you want like grease or tasha's mind whip to recharge your tides of chaos. or perhaps convert spare 2nd/4th level slots to sorc points if you're running low. or perhaps hexblade's curse the bbeg to speed up the killing.
action: move the bbeg 60 ft into the air

continue doing the 2nd-3rd round until bbeg is dead then use telekinesis on another target.

the build basically lands telekinesis all the time (much like a certain sith) at level 10. tides of chaos provides advantage. magical guidance provides a reroll of the ability check for 1 sorc point. lucky allows you another reroll 3x a day. and worst comes to worst you can use your reaction and bend luck to give yourself a 1d4 bonus. the tools a wild magic sorc has makes them the best telekinesis controller in the game. telekinesis is such a great core tactic as it works on almost everything.

I wanted to share this build as i've seen multiple people in the comments harp on how sorcs lack power due to limited spells known. this build is an example of something optimized using a handful of spells.

[tarandenooij]

It is possible to get your warlock spell slots to get sorcerer points but you can't get your sorcerer spell slots back with a short rest because the players handbook says you can use the spell slots you gain from the PACT MAGIC feature to cast spells you know or have prepared from classes with the spellcasting feature, and you can use the spell slots you gain from the spell slots you gain from the spellcasting class feature to cast warlock spells you know.

And also when I read the multi classing part it does not say you you can use the tabel of spell slots per level. So that means you need to keep you spell slots separate.
You can read in the players handbook the part of multiclassing
(p 164) and the part of pact magic (p107)

[PowderKeg]

Two things that really made the sorcerer in our game shine as a unique and natural talent of magic. I added two spells for levels 1-5 just like the two new subclasses and they get to use the optional Spell Points in the DMG. This lets them really look, feel, and play differently than any other caster. I matched the spells with their subclass and they were usually the utility-type spells that sorcerers cannot afford to take. I do make them track their Sorcerery Points and their Spell Points separately and use the bonus action to convert if they wish.

[TheKabukimann]

Storm sorcerer with 2 levels tempest cleric with transmuted spell is really cool. you can make thunderballs that do max damage and you get access to cleric spells to boost combat.

[lukeanzilotti]

Just watching the video now and so far it’s amazing

[MitchT]

I just started playing my first long term campaign sorcerer. Wild magic and my dm really let me have creative freedoms here as to his origin. A mimic.. who ate a wild magic sorcerer while in a dungeon. Now I can take on human form and use wild magic. My party does not know this yet so it’s going to be fun keeping that fact hidden as I can still object shift as well. His name? Liam Camim. Which is essentially an anagram for “I am a mimic”.

your most powerful metamagic option had me. i had already failed the saving throw to resist its effects, but that was a great one!

[TheRobversion]

Yey! my fave caster class!

just an fyi you are allowed to exceed your sorc points by 2 if you pick up the metamagic adept feat.

appreciate the shoutout! haha!

here's my own list of combos with certain metamagic:

1. careful spell + voice of authority-cast an aoe at your enemy and ally/pet/summon. the ally/pet/summon makes a reaction attack instead.

2. distant spell + conjure animals-conjure beasts high up in the air turning conjure animals into one of the best blast spells in the game.

3. empowered spell + chaos bolt-get another chance to let the chaos bolt jump to another target.

4. extend spell + aura of vitality-lots of out of combat healing for the party to get them back to full.

5. heightened spell + control spell of choice + bend luck/silvery barbs + unsettling words-ensure an enemy fails a critical save to a combat ending control spell such as polymorph, banishment, hold, etc... well until mid tier 3 and legendary resistance. just like what you said! great minds think alike!

6. quickened spell + a good non-spell action such as extra attack with dragon fear, emboldening bond, path to the grave, activating call lighting/telekinesis, etc-do multiple impactful things in the same turn. this is the best metamagic in the game and enables so many combos.

7. subtle spell + silence-walk up to the enemy caster and envelop them in silence while you cast spells.

8. twinned spell + good buff spell such as death ward, polymorph, haste, etc-this is why sorcs are one of the best, if not the best supports in the game.

9. seeking spell + hexblade's curse + scorching ray-not only does it help ensure scorching ray hits but it's another reroll so it allows you to crit fish again with hexblade's curse.

*a note on seeking spell Chaos, i use this alot since i tend to stay away from save spells. this works great with the aforementioned scorching ray along with chromatic orb, booming blade, inflict wounds, etc. this is usually 1 of my 1st 2-3 picks of metamagic. very underrated.

10. transmuted spell + destructive wrath + lightning strike- this allows you to make non-lightning spells benefit from these abilities such as if you want to be the Flash with lightning ashardalon's stride knocking away each enemy you pass by.

I'll post my subclass reactions in a separate comment. Good job with the vid Chaos!

[kirbo]

I made a Acid draconic black dragonborn sorrcerer and I argued to my dm that since Melf's minute meteors is on the sorcerer spell list and that since Melf's acid arrow is a sub par wizard spell and that there are hardly any acid spells for sorcerer or in general and he agreed and allowed me to use it and it was fun.

[ChasoGod]

One thing I would give to Sorcerers to give them a more thematic mage is similar to something I posted on your Warlock video, basically it's like the Transmuted Magic Metamagic ability except it doesn't cost a Sorcery Point but only lets the Sorcerer change the damage type of a Sorcerer Spell they cast to match a type associated with your Sorcerous Origin.
For instance a Blue Draconic Sorcerer would be able to change their spells to be Electric, like Firebolt is the best Cantrip for Sorcerers to use but something that specializes in Electric magic would prefer to have a good long range Electric damage spell.

[leodouskyron]

On Sorcerer consider these points:

-Exceptional Dip for cantrips and Con
You not only get the Constitution proficiency but also *FOUR (4) cantrips* . That is the most starting in the game. And remember cantrips don’t care what classes you are as they go up with CHARACTER level. If this is your goal consider Dragon and the Big 3 (Aberrant Mind, Clockwork Soul and Divine)

- Dragons are okay
The Dragon sorcerer is actually an great dip but is stealthily also is the only Sorcerer to not have low hp. They get +1 hp per level and if you don’t roll your HP you get half. That means they get the equivalent of a D8 hp in addition to always on Mage Armor.

-Metamagic is Broken
No seriously it sorta is in the worst way. This is why Sorcerers need to be taken by a moderately experienced player. You have to have a firm grasp on how spells work. Read them MULTIPLE times. And do research.

Example: You can’t (famously) twin scorching ray but you also can’t twin fly cast at level 4 for the same reason - you can target them at multiple targets already.

Example 2: Subtle Spell can be used to cast a spell cast in the middle silence spell effect.

Example 3: The Shadow Sorcerer has a hound of Ill Omen so it is not usually useful to also grab Heightened Spell.

-Flexible cast with your origin in mind
Pay attention to the flexible cost of a couple of sorcerers. Shadows and aberrant minds come instantly to well mind because casting with spell points can be more efficient.

- No effective Ritual Casting
If you come from other spell casting classes, the Sorcerer can’t ritual cast spells. So if they cast the spell they use a slot. Period no stop. This can be a bit of an issue so it may be worth getting Ritual Caster as a feat as a result. YMMV on this but people see some lists with Sorcerer spells have the Ritual Tag but that just says it can be if you have Ritual Caster (and if you get the feat as a sorcerer you do NOT have to get it for your spell list).


((( Suggestion below so you know)))
-Fixing the Dragon Sorcerer (suggestion)
While considered the base of the class, they have been left behind pretty badly. If you want to go Dragon but are put off by the spell power 5e gives you, ask your DM to give you this :
~ give you the ability to call a real pseudo dragon as a familiar at level 2 for 2 points and one hour concentration.
~ one spell added to spells known at each spell level 2-5 out of Fizban Treasury of Dragons and re-flavor as needed to your elemental type.

These are already Sorcerer spell but they then are free and a couple added to your element. That should get you feeling as powerful as other sorcerers.