Guru’s Advanced Sorcerer Guide

(now with less salt!) New Content!

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU'VE READ THE Easier to read Condensed format
PHB SORCERER CLASS DESCRIPTION Statistics and Math!
No more gimmicky Color Ratings

Section Page(s)
Introduction 1
A Brief on Spell Points 1
Why Play a Sorcerer? 1
Why not? 1
Managing Spells Known 2
"Condom Spells" 2
Stats, Race and Sub-class 3
Economize Sorcery Points 3
MetaMagic and Spells 4-11
Feats 12
M-M-M-Multiclass! 13
 Introduction: Hard≠Bad
Never let anyone convince you that sorcerers are a "noobie"
class. It's far and away the most complicated and least
forgiving one in fifth edition. It's signature feature literally has
the word "meta" in it, which should be your first clue that it's
not going to be simple...
Metamagic is the most bookwork intensive feature given
the breadth of options that it offers; exploring each and every
spell through the lense of warping the rules that govern them
takes a lot of time. Sorcerers are also the only class with an
entropic resource system; conversion of sorcery points to
spell slots, or the reverse, causes a net loss of energy. Without
a strong sense of calculated decision making it can backfire
easily, making it a potentially punishing feature for beginners.
These factors, combined with the desire to read a guide like
this, point to what some would consider a poorly designed
class for an edition that strives for simplicity... but even
munchkin casters need a class to mess around with! It should
be noted that errata and Jeremy Crawford tweets
(DINKLEBERG!) changed much for sorcerers, and this guide
should adequately supercede and replace it's predecessor.
I still do not factor UA, Volo's or EE for a few reasons.
The guide primarily focuses on spell management,
metamagic and sorcery point economization. The extra
races/subclasses offer very little space for a nuanced opinion.
There's nothing really "advanced" about it. You're going to
read it, and if you've read this guide your decision may be
better, but I have no intention of forcing you to go find
extraneous materials and worry about the PHB+1 rule in
order to make an optimal sorcerer.
A brief on Spell Points
This is where the controversy will start...
In some iterations of my previous guide I discuss
spell points (DMG 288) as a means to alleviate the
lack of spells known for the Sorcerer. After enough
experience I've backpedalled on my previous
stance.
I would encourage anyone who hasn't tried it and
is curious to test drive it at least once. However, I
can conclusively say it was published as a variant
for a specific reason; it's overpowered. Especially
for sorcerers.
A necessary restriction for casters is the
management of spell slots. Without this, it is
possible to spam high level spells allowing magic
users to overshadow martial classes in all facets of
the game. It is especially impactful for sorcerers
because it makes their limited spell list much less
of a restriction; running out of higher level slots
means no longer having access to those spells
known, which is a good gating mechanism for
power. It's important to recognize that this is why
sorcery points were designed to have entropy; if
the devs thought spell points were a fair and
balanced system to implement they would have let
sorcerers have a free exchange of slots and sorcery
points to act as a virtual spell points system. Like I
said, everyone should give it a shot at least once;
ask your DM and try it to form your own opinion.
1 Part 1 | "Introductory Stuff"
Why play a Sorcerer?
Metamagic appeals to you above any other class feature &
You're willing to do research to explore your options
(reading this guide will save you lots of that time).
If you look at any of the metamagic options and simply
must have one (or more!) and you want a full caster
progression without a 3 level multi-class then you'll want to
play a sorcerer. As a mono-class sorcerer, increased levels
create a sizeable pool of sorcery points allowing for ample
metamagic use without having to aggressively convert spell
slots. As your spell list expands and your number of
metamagics grow the sorcerer's powers grow in an
exponential fashion (hence why spells known clamps down
after level 11).
There are a few cool archetype features too. Wild-Surges
are exceptionally fun in casual play and dragon wings
represent the only class which gains permanent at-will flight.
By the end of this, you can realise the class' potential while
compensating or avoiding its very unique pitfalls.
Why not?
If you're new to D&D, don't want to do all that reading,
intensive character building and/or you would rather be a
diverse caster.
If you do not take the time to plan out your sorcerer it can
(and probably will) go badly. The number of greivances the
community has with the sorcerer are numerous and not
unfounded. There's a relative lacking in magical diversity,
both in spells known and spell list, especially when compared
to the wizard (the sorcerer's most analogous class). You also
recieve few metamagics and little choice in archetypes, so the
sorcerer looks shoddy on paper (at first glance). I'm of the
opinion that this caveat is 100% required to keep the sorcerer
from overshadowing other casters (even more). Hopefully,
after reading this guide and applying its knowledge you will
share my opinion.
Being the only full-caster in the group can leave you
wanting; without other members of the team to make up for
your own limited set of magical options, your relatively small
spectrum of spells limits not just you, but your entire party.
This, however, is a very rare circumstance; full-casters
make up half the classes in fifth edition and often dominate
the make-up of most parties, what with spellcasting being so
strong.
Rest assured, if you want to focus on casting a specific
niche of spells better than anyone else the sorcerer provides
just that opportunity. However, if you do not like the idea of
meager spell choices to balance said power then play
something else.

Managing Spells Known
When you only know your sorcerer level +1 in spells (less at
higher levels >.>) prioritizing them is way more important and
requires a level of experience and meta-gaming to milk as
much as possible from the spells you do get. With that in
mind here are some tips to help you have a strong list of
spells.
You can only concentrate on one
spell at a time!
It sounds obvious I know, but I made the mistake of taking
too many concentration spells with my first careful spell
sorcerer; as soon as I had cast one of my large AoE careful
spells, almost half of my other good spells became closed off
(or I'd waste the duration of the spell I had just cast). This
made my already limited spells known feel even smaller. This
is especially annoying because concentration spells tend to
be the most efficient and some of the strongest. If you learn
a concentration spell be mindful of what other
concentration spells you have already and if you can
afford to limit yourself in that way.
Focus on lots of mid-level spells
Think of it like this, if you use up your limited number of
highest level spell slots, then all the spells known that
you've commited to that level are no longer accessible
(unless your crap on your sorcery points to synthesize more).
If you use up your mid level spell slots you can still use higher
level slots to be able to cast them; your options are still open
with lots of mid-level spells. The lowest level spells don't scale
up well with higher slots and/or become a poor use of a turn
in combat later in the game compared to mid/high level spells
(outside of utility). Having a few lower level spells is still good
but the ones you take early may not be the ones you keep...
Cycle out low level spells
Another no brainer, but not to be overlooked; as old spells
become a less useful way to spend your turn, swapping them
for higher level spells becomes mandatory. Remember that
every time you level up you not only gain a spell but can
also change one of your previous spells for a new one. For
example, at level 5 Burning Hands isn't a great way to spend
your turn in combat. If you had Burning Hands and Shatter at
level 3, by level 5 you will probably have Fireball and/or
Lightning Bolt and can swap Burning Hands out for
something else. By level 7 shatter falls victim to the same
logical process and gets replaced. As your mid/high level slots
become more abundant you can even consolidate spells; I got
rid of Misty Step for Dimension Door at level 9 followed by
getting rid of Fly at 10. Dimension Door accomplished what I
generally needed out of both spells which let me replace
them once I had a comfortable number of higher level slots to
use it if I needed it. Which leads me to my next point.
Try to take multi-purpose spells
The spells you pick should have uses that cover many
fronts. The best example of this I can think of is Suggestion
which can substitute for like...5 different spells.
-Detect Thoughts: "Tell me everything you know about...."
-Silence: "Go keep that wizard quiet would you?"
-Charm Person: "Treat me like your best friend."
-Blindness/Deafness: "Close your eyes & cover your ears."
-Scorching Ray: "Kill the queen in her sleep." (this is a joke)
Picking spells that have broad sweeping applications is key.
Another good example would be Dispel Magic, which is just
anti-any-other-spell.
Avoid single target "save or suck" as
much as humanly possible on mid-high
level spells unless you have heighten
spell or bend luck.
And I mean this. The negative effects on ones own morale
(as well as your combat effectiveness) of having an enemy
save on your spells and ignore them entirely is brutal. If you
use a level 2 spell on something like suggestion out of combat
and the target saves, no big deal. If you use a level 5 spell slot
on Dominate Person during a fight and the target saves...and
then they save the next round when you try it again?
Congratulations! You spent 2 rounds of combat and 2 level 5
spells doing bupkiss (this has happened to me recently and
I'm still butthurt about it).
"Condom Spells"
"I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and
not have it."
Shield, Counter Spell and Dispel Magic are my go-
to "condom spells" regardless of my metamagic
choices. Whilst Counter Spell and Dispel Magic are
definitely more dependant on setting (mid/high
magic campaigns), all three of them act as flexible
defensive counter measures that I would rather
have as a means to prevent my group's demise.
You may have a DM who you know for a fact
doesn't use a lot of casters, or in a setting which is
very low magic and as such dispel magic and
counterspell might not be a good fit.
PART 2 | Tricks for Overcoming your Abysmal
Number of Spells Known 2

Stats, Race and Subclass
Please Note: I don't roll for stats; now that feats and stats are
interchangeable it's unfeasable to expect a fair experience
with large stat discrepancies. This breakdown assumes you
are using point buy.
Cha > Dex ≥ Con
Some class features and metamagics scale off of charisma,
not just spell attacks and save DC's. This makes it the
primary stat far and above the others. Dexterity helps with a
handful of skill checks and AC, but having high hitpoints and
a high concentration save (as well as the most common save
in the game) puts constitution roughly equal. If you have
subtle spell, stealth checks become very important and raise
the value of dexterity. If you're a stone sorcerer constitution
affects your AC and becomes much more important.
Humans Variants and Half-Elves
Because of this the Human Variant and Half-Elf become
ideal candidates for sorcerers but anything that boosts
charisma is entirely viable. Half-Elves are somewhat
overtuned and not optional like Human Variants and
represent my ideal sorcerer race. Lightfoot Halflings with
their hide feature are really neat with Quicken spell and
Drow have neat daily spells if you're ok with being a paraiah.
Dragon for try-harding, wild-mage
for lulz/friends, Storm Sorcs Blow
The dragon sorcerer shores up so many of the
shortcomings of the class that it's really hard to ignore. +1 hp
has more value when your hitdice is already low (4+1 = +25%
7+1 = +14%) and the other features serve to mimic spells
known, something the sorcerer lacks the most. Granted,
dragon wings mimicing fly comes online rather late in level
progression, but by that time (level 14) spells known become
even more rare (+1 per 2 levels) and it's flying without
concentration, giving the dragon sorcerer a big edge in
spacious fights. It's an advantage I find so strong it virtually
trumps all the other subclasses. It should be noted that fire
affinity is the most ideal option as it is the only element
present in all early spell levels and has both strong AoE and
single target options. You can definitely choose other
elements, you just might be dissapointed with your available
choices if you only use the PHB.
Because Wild-magic surges are counter-intuitive to my
favourite metamagic and cannot have metamagic applied to
them after errata, the archetype is less than ideal. Even in
campaigns where your DM will guarantee a surge to
replenish Tides of Chaos every time, it's so erratic I would
never consider the archetype an option for serious play (#1
oxymoron). A 1/1000 chance to fireball yourself with every
spell is very dangerous to your party and is especially volatile
to low level PC's. The surges are super fun and definitely
spice up a campaign with friends who you don't mind being a
little reckless with, however, if your DM doesn't want to
trigger wild surges with some level of frequency the subclass
offers very little beyond Bend Luck. Bend Luck is fantastic for
altering saves and datamining encounters making wild mages
good controllers. It's best to discuss Wild Magic Surges with
your DM before choosing to play the archetype.
PART 3 & 4 | How not to shit the bed with
Sorcery Points and Why you'll probably pick a
3 Half Elf Draconic Sorcerer
Storm Sorcerers, a subclass that needs multiclassing; they
have an array of features designed around being in close-
quarters and being hit in melee, but have zero armor
proficiencies, no additional hitpoints and no extra healing.
Their saving grace is their level 18 feature but it comes online
so late that after you factor in the need for multiclassing you'll
likely never see it until 20. Tempest Cleric for armor and
healing is a good fit and warcaster will be mandatory.
Economize Sorcery Points
As discussed earlier, sorcery points are the only resource
system that is entropic in nature. It also doesn't replenish
with a short rest until level 20 (for good reason, they are a
powerful resource). To that end there are a few things you
should strive to do in order to maximize the efficiency of your
sorcery point usage.
Minimize "gambling" sorcery points
We often see forum posts that discuss using quickened and
twinned spell together to quicken out a spell then twin out 2
damage cantrips. This is not only an egregious way to smash
through your sorcery points it's also a chance to spend your
sorcery points doing absolutely nothing (the cantrips can
miss). Suffice it to say if your target has 16AC and you are
level 5 you have only a 65% chance to hit those cantrips. In
essence, spending 3 sorcery points to do an average of 1.3
more cantrips of damage on your turn. Avoid this unless you
are level 11+, attacking with advantage or really need the
damage. At level 11 not only is your sorcery point pool larger,
your cantrip damage is higher and your odds of hitting higher
AC targets increases substantially. If you know an enemy is
critically injured and can end it's life before its turn comes up
then this could be a gamble you'd want to take, but this is not
a sustainable strategy and when you spend sorcery points to
do nothing (or very little) it feels bad man.
Synthesize spell slots only when
absolutely necessary
Converting sorcery points into new spells is neat, but
because it costs more to create slots than it does to create
more sorcery points it is usually a poor choice to make. It
costs two level 2 and one level 1 spell to get the sorcery
points to create a level 3 spell. Sometimes this is worthwhile;
a fireball does only a little bit less damage than two shatters +
burning hands (because it's so overtuned) and it does it all in
one round to boot. But very rarely will this conversion be
fruitful. Be smart about it and consider exactly what you're
giving up to do it.
Pick inexpensive metamagics early
Lastly, your early metamagic choices should be cheap.
Higher cost metamagics become more worthwhile when
used in conjunction with higher level spells. A level 3 sorcerer
whose first two metamagics are Quickened and Heightened
Spell will have two metamagic options and only enough
sorcery points to use one before they have to start burning
spell slots to use the features more. Ideally, your first
metamagic options should cost 1 sorcery point and as your
level increases you can take the more expensive ones later to
keep your options open.
Metamagic!
Detailed descriptions
Math-tacular!
Spells that combine well with each metamagic
I've created a tier list because errata and JC tweets have
changed much about the game. While each metamagic can
be useful, the opportunity cost of missing out on another is
very real. Just because a metamagic is lower in tier doesn't
mean it's useless, but if you evaluate it comparatively to other
metamagics it becomes somewhat relevant. I rate a
metamagic option on a few metrics: Does the metamagic
have strict requirements that might cause compatibility isues
with your spell list? How impactful is it? How unique is it?
How costly/economic is it?
S-Tier Metamagics are cheap, amazingly effective, unique
and have virtually no limitations. A-Tier are awesome but
have limits that S-Tier does not, either the spells they are
compatible with, their cost or both. B and C Tier are middle
of the road, and while useful will have a hard time fitting into
even late game builds. F-Tier is...well... you really shouldn't
take Extended Spell unless you've got some strange
gimmicky combo in mind to convserve spells.
S-Tier
Subtle Spell
Empowered Spell
A-Tier
Twinned Spell
Quickened Spell
B-Tier
Careful Spell
Heightened Spell
C-Tier
Distant Spell
F-Tier
Extended Spell
Subtle Spell
(Please note: this is the longest metamagic breakdown since
Subtle Spell has many creative applications)
To a novice, this metamagic looks like not much; removing
verbal and somatic components has zero numerical effect,
which is often why it's somewhat overlooked. The factors that
can make subtle spell seem very niche to a novice are often a
result of inexperienced DM's as much as it is inexperienced
players. Make no mistake, it's a game changer.
Only way to be a sneak mage
If you want to cast verbal spells without alerting people to
your presence or position you need this metamagic to do it. If
you like the idea of casting spells while hidden and remaining
hidden then you'll either be using only 5% of the spell list in
the PHB or using Subtle Spell. Arcane Tricksters ain't got
nothing on the sorcerer.
Social magic God
Another aspect of D&D that is undervalued by novice
players (or novice DM's) is the consequences of openly
casting in public. Some DM's will just let you cast spells willy
nilly in towns, taverns, castles, throne rooms etc. to charm or
trick people. In actuality, if you were to use an enchantment
spell in front of bystanders before eliciting an obvious effect,
you would arouse immediate suspiscion from surrounding
NPC's and townsfolk (even the target). The thought of
attempting spellcasting in a throne room should seem
laughably suicidal in an emersive setting; Kings aren't just
going to let people cast magic in their courts. Subtle spell
circumvents this however and gives another massive edge to
sorcerers inside of social encounters by letting them do
magic without arousing suspicion.
Completely Unique to Sorcerers
Some of the other metamagics are analogous across the
classes; increase damage, twinning specific schools of magic,
disadvantage on saves etc, but Subtle Spell is exclusive to
sorcerers, giving them a monopoly on the stealthy magic
industry.
(Subtle: Continued on next page)
PART 5 | Metamagics are like my children: I
definitely play favorites 4
 Note to DM's: Subtle Sorcerers are also
some of the most entertaining/terrifying
Extremely hard to shut down NPC's and Villains for these exact reasons
Short of stripping the sorcerer of both their arcane focus
and/or a (hidden) component pouch, which still leaves a lot of
spells open, enemies must use an anti-magic field to clamp
down on a subtle sorcerer's casting. Enemies have virtually
no other ways to restrict their spell options, where as any
other caster can be plagued by garrotes, silence fields, a
mouth submerged in liquid, counterspell (subtle spell can
circumvent counterspell), extreme pinning/dogpiling or even
intense grappling depending on how your DM rules. If you
ever fight intelligent enemies with any level of strategic
knowledge surrounding the limitations of magic, you would
be faced with these tactics often. Many DM's will avoid this to
promote fun for their caster players. If your DM is a realist
(A.K.A. a jerk good DM) you'll have to deal with these
shenanigans, which is where subtle spell comes in handy; you Good spells to know with Subtle
can still cast and hence save yourself instead of being a
liability to the group needing protection/rescuing. Cantrips
Minor Illusion (no verbal component but good to have),
It doesn't restrict spell selection Prestidigitation
As mentioned, 95% of the Spells in the PHB have a Verbal Level 1
component. The 5% that don't are mostly cantrips. That Sleep, Disguise Self, Silent Image
having been said, spells like fireball and lightning bolt and
other rays/projectiles will still give away your position. You Level 2
could discuss with your DM, in campaigns where the rules Alter Self (alter's vocal chords too!), Hold Person, Misty Step,
are more loose, imposing disadvantage on dex saves for Phantasmal Force, Suggestion
surprise rounds with subtle spells. The rationale being, most
denizens of the realm will ready themselves to danger when Level 3
hearing an arcane invocation; silent spell bypasses this reflex. Fear, Major Image, Tongues
Zero risk Level 4
There's no "gambling" element to the metmagic; If the spell Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire
fails or the target saves you still haven't given away your
position. This means spending sorcery points on it is never a Level 5
waste (excepting the use of rays and projectiles that is). Animate Objects, Dominate Person, Seeming, Telekinesis
Best Assassin in the game Level 6
Mass Suggestion
Remember kids, the best assassinations look like tragic
accidents. Phantasmal Force could be named Choke-a-bro-to- Level 7
death-on-illusions or Subtle Telekinesis to drop some Delayed Blast Fireball, Teleport
masonry on someone. People choke to death all the time, and
buildings have been known to collapse...creativity is king Level 8
here. Dominate Monster
Always One Sorcery Point
Accessible and usable as soon as you hit level 3. It's so I am only covering spells in the PHB; if you read the
cheap it can be spammed with more than 50% of your spell section on each metamagic you will probably figure
slots at higher levels and the cost never goes up. out what spells in extraneous materials will combine
with what metamagics well.
Highly Addictive! The ability for Wish to mimic any level 8 or lower
spell means that writing a section on that one spell
That's the real kicker. Once you start playing a subtle spell alone would gobble up half the guide. If you're level
sorcerer it becomes really hard to go back to being a pleb. 17+ and you've got wish you should start doing some
Ever played an enchanter wizard? What's the point if you heavy reading to figure out how to break the game
can't beguile people to their face until you can alter their with any spell + any metamagic (e.g.vampiric touch
memories at level 14? And even then you have to do it in with quickened + empowered = 16d6 heal half)
private. With subtle spell being 100% exclusive to the
sorcerer if you get used to it you'll never want to give it up.
PART 5 | "Have you heard the preachings of
/u/LoL-Guru and accepted Subtle spell as the
one true God?"
5

Empower Spell
So normally this would be an A-Tier metamagic given that it's
restricted to damage spells but there's one stipulation to this
feature that makes it pull back up into S-Tier.
It's the only Metamagic that can be
combined with others!
Despite the need to have a damage roll for compatibility
(not a very big restriction) this can be overlooked by virtue of
the fact that it's uniquely combineable with other
metamagics!
When used properly it's not a gamble
The metamagic is used after you've seen the roll, which is
great! If you roll uniformly moderate or high, no big deal,
don't empower it. If you decide to empower, you should re-
roll 1s and 2s on d6 rolls, 3 and lower on d8's and 4 and
lower on d10s (1/2 max -1). Even though you are
statistically at an advantage re-rolling 1 number higher on
each die, it also risks lowering results for less gain. If you
look at the die roll and subtract it from the die's average that
is your expected damage increase for re-rolling (Re-rolling 1
on a d6 is +2.5 average damage). It's cheap enough even as
little as +5 total damage is efficient (moreso for AoE).
Emotionally Significant
It's important to emphasize that no amount of arrays or
explanations can illustrate the value that empower spell
brings to ones own morale. When you spend a spell slot and a
turn in hopes of doing a lot of damage, and you flub the roll, it
feels bad. By using empowered spell you don't have to deal
with that feeling of a half-wasted spell. Anytime you crapshoot
a bunch of low numbers you get to re-roll up to your charisma
modifier in dice to bring the spell back up. Not only is it
statistically relevant, it's emotionally consequential and
increases your enjoyment of the game. You always hit hard
and using the metamagic always feels impactful.
Most Efficient Blaster Caster
It doesn't matter the level of the spell, empower is always
cheap and spammable. If you save a botched damage roll on a
spell not only are you spending the sorcery point to up the
value of the slot, but you are upping the value of the turn you
used to cast it. If we compare this to the damage spells of a
wizard, sure they might get to cast more fireballs (unless you
use sorcery points to make more slots) but each of yours is
always strong and doesn't require more turns/short rests to
use. A fireball that would normally hit for ~20 damage, is not
only a half-wasted spell slot but now a half-wasted turn. You
can spend 1 sorcery point and turn that 20 damage into ~30.
In this way the metamagic has immense value on your spell
efficiency.
Scales off Charisma
This is the only downside to Empower, and it's to prevent
multi-class cheesing. If you take this metamagic you will want
to max charisma ASAP. This also means the high level spells
or crits can see some diminishing returns.

The Math
If you re-roll 1's and 2's on a d6 the average damage of the dice goes up from 3.5 to 4.17
How is this calculated? It's actually pretty simple.
In 1/6 of our rolls we will get a 1.
5/6 of those re-rolls will yield us an increase from the original roll (because we have a 1/6 chance of rolling another 1). The
average increase in our new 5/6 rolls is 3 damage. Leaving us with 3 x (5/6) x (1/6) = 0.41667
In another 1/6 of our rolls we will get a 2, however, 1/6 of our re-rolls will be a reduction of damage by 1 (if a 1 is re-rolled) and
1/6 of our re-rolls is an increase of 1 (if we re-roll a 3) these two ratio's cancel eachother out. Lastly 1/6 of our re-rolls has no effect
(we re-roll a 2). This means only 3/6 of our re-rolls have an effect on the new number and have an average damage increase of 3
from our original roll. 3 x (3/6) x (1/6) = 0.25
Through the same process with re-rolling 3's we only see an increase of 0.083 damage per d6 (4.17 becomes 4.25) however we
open ourselves up to greater odds of reducing our damage (2/6) and we can only re-roll so many dice, hence why I tend to avoid re-
rolling 3's.
Let's apply this now to a Fireball, with an average damage of 28. If we assume that on average ~1/3 of those will be 1's or 2's we
can re-roll most of the dice we could ever need.
Our average damage of 28 becomes 33.33 or 19% more average damage.
In this same way a d8 goes from 4.5 to 5.39 and Wall of Fire goes from 22 average damage to just slightly below 27. Again,
roughly a 19% increase.
This does not mean you are spending 1 sorcery point for every damage spell to increase damage 19%
Realistically you don't have to use it every time you cast a damage spell. So it becomes very economic as it's only needed on bad
rolls which come up less often than average/good ones and when it is used on those bad rolls it has a greater impact than +19%.
Good Spells to know with Empower: PART 5 | Empower: Emotionally and
Does the spell involve rolling a fistful of damage dice? Then empower will be useful. Mathematically Significant 6
 Now that we are dropping into A-Tier territory we are dealing
with metamagics that are very strong but have limitations.
Twinned Spell
Some of you might be a bit upset to see this metamagic
outside of S-Tier. This one's a community favourite, probably
the best of the A-Tier metamagics. But it has some pitfalls
and very staunch limitations now more than ever after the
Errata really clamped down on its options.
Errata what?
Wizards of the Coast released a page worth of changes to
their Player's Handbook for Fifth Edition, wherein Twinned
Spell was clarified such that a spell -must- only be able to
affect one creature to be eligible. Before, the spell merely had
to target one creature when cast. So things like Eldritch
Blast, Scorching Ray, and a host of other great offensive
spells went up in smoke. It hit the metamagic hard enough
that it's not S-Tier anymore.
The potential for Gambling is tempting
but can bite you in the ass
Because many of the old spells that carried multiple beams
or attacks stopped being viable options, Twinning single
target damage spells became mostly an all or nothing
scenario. Before you could twin Eldritch Blast and your odds
of success or failure were mediated by having multiple attack
rolls. Now that this is not legal, twinning carries a lot more
risk. Nothing hurts morale more than spending resources to
do aboslutely nothing.
This makes support spells most viable
Meaning that spells with no saves or hit rolls become the
best candidates for twinned spell; buffs. Twinned Haste has
become the poster boy for the metamagic. It only gets better
later on with spells like polymorph (TWO GIANT APE
ALLIES) and Greater Invisibility, but this amazing utility
comes at a cost...
OMG IT COSTS SO MUCH
If you've ever had a twinned sorcerer make it to level 7+
you get the creeping realization that you've taken the only
metamagic that has the potential to gut more than 3 of your
sorcery points in one go. For instance, Twinned Polymorph
(on allies) is sweet, it just happens to cost 4 sorcery points....
(#worth)
Double concentration!
This is probably the saving grace of the metamagic as it's
the only way to effectively maintain two concentration spells
at once (even if they are the same spell).
OK we get it, Concentration is costly.
Again, all the optimal Twinned Spells use concentration,
which means you can restrict yourself too much if you go
overboard and lose out double if your concentration is
broken. If you're twinning a spell that needs concentration
you better be using one of them to cover your ass.
7 PART 5 | Twinned Spell and the errata nerf
So when should I use Twinned Spell
offensively?
If you know your attack rolls hit on lower rolls and/or the
target fails saves on high rolls. As I wrote earlier, cantrips at
level 11+ and attack rolls at advantage are likely the only ideal
time to use Twinned cantrips. If saving only mitigates half of
the damage it's more viable (blight) or if for some reason you
know the save will be at disadvantage/is a weak save for
them. Any feature that -can- activate based on the number
rolled before stating the outcome is very good for datamining
enemies (Wild Mage level 6 feature); it means your DM has to
tell you the rolls and you never have to use the ability but you
know when they succeed or fail. The times I have gambled
and lost with higher level spells have felt so awful I tend to
avoid high level offensive twinning as much as possible.
Remember that some spells can be
"twinned" without the metamagic using
higher level slots
Blindness/Deafness, Fly, Banishment etc. If you're
eyeballing this metamagic for a specific subset of spells,
check to see that you can't already upcast them to increase
the number of targets. In this way, Twinned spell can be a net
0 gain
Again with the math...
Take banish for example. If you twin it but have access to
level 5 slots you are spending a level 4 slot and 4 sorcery
points when you could burn the level 4 slot and 3 sorcery
points; by spending a 5th level slot and converting the 4th
level slot into points, then regain the 5th level slot by
converting and only be down 3 sorcery points. Twinning level
4 spells is one of the only times this stupid overthought
process comes up but I figured it's worth mentioning.
Potent Potables Twinnables
Damage Cantrips @ level 11+
Level 1
Chromatic Orb, Witch Bolt (really strong early)
Level 2
Crown of Madness, Enlarge/Reduce (only creatures),
Phantasmal Force, Spider Climb, Suggestion
Level 3
Haste
Level 4
Blight, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph
Level 5
Dominate Person, Hold Monster
Level 6
Disintegrate (mega gamble)
Level 7
Finger of Death (zombie farming?)
Level 8
Dominate Monster (#1 gamble)

Quickened Spell
This metamagic is phenomenal, if only because of the
flexibility it affords and the combo's it unlocks, but it's limited
by it's higher cost.
Just because you are limited to casting
cantrips spells after using a bonus
action spell doesn't mean you should
As discussed prior, the gambling element is often abused
the hardest with this metamagic; people will quicken spells if
only to shell out another cantrip (or two), which, before level
11+ is a risky way to use this metamagic. Not only is this a
gamble, it's just plain not worth the investment of sorcery
points unless you're finishing off an oponent or attacking at
advantage. That having been said it's a really great tool for
putting up high high numbers even before level 11.
If I shouldn't cast cantrips what then?
Disengage, Dash, Use an Item, Dodge or Hide (also a
gamble), or Channel a spell. This is a huge array of options
and while it's not always needed they are good to have in a
pinch.
Dashing and Disengaging
Sometimes shocking grasp isn't going to work (immune to
lightning or not wearing metal armor/has high AC) This is
when disengaging becomes handy and quicken allows you to
spellcast while using these actions on the same turn. Both in
particular make you a menace to lock down or stay on top of.
Foes with the Sentinel would be the only thing that bypasses
this. Dashing ups your mobility greatly allowing you to kite or
catch people while using spells.
Dodging and Hiding
Dodge seems like a gamble but it's good if you have high
AC and want to soak some attacks (particularly if you have
the shield spell). Mathematically speaking, if you had full plate
and a shield then buffing yourself to 25 AC and using the
dodge action means 90% of the mobs in the MM won't hit you
~98% of the time (rolling two 18+'s is hard!).
Hiding can also be a great safety tool for after you've
launched a ray/projectile and need to reposition safely. Most
enemies in the MM don't have particularly high perception
bonuses so this can have good success rates.
Using Magic Items
Often you'll have great items that mimic spells (Gem of
True Sight, Rod of Wonder, Necklace of Fireballs etc.) that
require your action to use and would normally gimp the turn
of their user. If you are a sorcerer with Quickened Spell you
are now the best person on the team to have magic items that
require actions since you can always use them and still cast
your own spells on your turn! (even Thief rogues will enjoy
having their bonus action being freed up for hiding, dashing,
disengaging or offhand attacks)
Note: items which state "you cast" cannot combine with
bonus action spells from Quickened Spell on the same turn;
since you are technically still casting a spell which is not a
cantrip you cannot also use a bonus action spell.
"Channeling Spells?"
A term delineating spells which require your action to use
again (like crown of madness, telekinesis or sunbeam). A neat
strategy, if you're ok with gambling, is to quicken a Dominate
Person and use your action to assert full control of them the
same turn (giving access to their reaction as well). If you get
quicken spell and Sunbeam you'll do more sustained AoE
damage than any other caster can dream of doing.
Best taken at Level 10
My only gripe with it is that it's balanced around being 2
sorcery points... Which is fair, but it's far less usable than
some of the other metamagics early on. Coupled with the fact
that most of the strong channeling spells don't come into
effect until level 9+ I don't often take this metamagic until
level 10.
#1 Gish potential
If you take enough levels in classes that have 2 attacks in a
round this metamagic becomes mandatory as your combo
potential rises through the roof (multi-class section talks
about this briefly). Spells like Hold Person become useful on
the turn you cast them! (Auto crit smite paladins ftw).
If you start metamagic combo-ing
you'll burn out fast
If you're doing things like quickening spells in order to twin
cast cantrips or empowering the quickened spell into more
empowered/twinned cantrips. While these are great options
when in a bind, really evaluate how dire the situation is and if
it merits such aggressive consumption of daily resources.
What spells combo well with
Quicken?
Damage Cantrips @ level 11+
Shocking Grasp: easy attacks at advantage to disengage
Level 2
Crown of Madness (keep the thing attacking while you cast
spells as bonus actions), Hold Person (auto crits)
Level 3
Fly (good for disengage/dash), Haste (nothing in the rules
says you can't double dash!)
Level 4
Dominate Beast, Polymorph (you still have your action to use
the attacks of your new form)
Level 5
Dominate Person, Telekinesis (both can be "Channeled")
Level 6
Sunbeam!
PART 5 | "The Quickening" in D&D is
nowhere near as cool as Highlander... 8

Heightened Spell
Make no mistake, this metamagic is very potent, it's just
offset by the highest flat cost of any other. It's not "bad" it's
just one that I would wait until level 10 or 17 to take because
of it's elevated cost. While it's a fairly simple concept of
applying one save at disadvantage to one target there are a
few things to consider.
Save or suck
If the spell requires only one save and then elicits a
catostrophic effect (even if it lasts for only 1 round) and you
absolutely must have that target fail then you want to
heighten it. There are some spells which only allow for a save
once and then do not allow for more and effectively remove a
creature from the fight (e.g. Levitate, Polymorph or Banish).
These are the spells you want to heighten. Because most
spells require saves taking this metamagic is not really a
limiter on your spell list.
Overlaps with Bend Luck
Wild mages get a similiar option to botch saves by 1d4
using a reaction. When your reaction is being heavily used
(counterspell battles) it can be worse than heighten, and
while it's less effective than the metamagic, and less costly it
carries less risk because you are privy to knowing the roll and
can choose to use the feature after the fact. If you really want
to double down you can take both and spend 5 sorcery points
making sure that one spell definitely goes off!
Better at higher levels
Because the metamagic is a static 3 sorcery points using it
on high level spells is often ideal. Picking it up early is still
doable because there are some lower level spells that can use
it very well, it's just not nearly as spammable as the cheap
metamagics if you do.
PART 5 | I can't believe you're reading all of
9 these little notes I'm leaving...
Not entirely unique
Despite the fact that this is a great metamagic, there are
other classes which mimic it; Arcane Tricksters, Eldritch
Knights and Diviner Wizards as just a start. The first two can
also apply disadvantage without expending resources but
they all have their limitations (being a 1/3 caster for example),
So while it's broadly applicable and very useful if it's your
only focus there are other ways to get it.
Less of a Gamble but you can still lose,
and when you do....
What's worse than spending a level 5 spell to do nothing?
Spending a level 5 spell and 3 sorcery points to do nothing...
Yeah it happens sometimes, and when it does...it sucks. Any
boss monster with Legendary Saves can ignore this
metamagic at least three times which is a lot of sorcery
points to throw at a target. If you have allies which can wreak
havoc on those legendary saves (monks) then this metamagic
becomes much more valuable.
Optimal Heightened Spells
Level 1:
Charm Person (meh)
Level 2:
Phantasmal Force (1 save), Enlarge/Reduce (Reduce has 1
save but meh), Levitate (1 save, great vs melee), Suggestion (1
save), Hold Person (even though it keeps allowing for saves 1
good round of paralysis can be the death of someone because
of auto-crits).
Level 3:
Hypnotic Pattern has 1 save but can be ended by any other
creature using it's action to wake the creature.
Level 4:
Banishment, Blight, Dominate Beast (for any dominate if the
creature doesn't take damage it doesn't get to make more
saves), Polymorph (used on enemies).
Level 5:
Dominate Person, Hold Monster
Level 6:
Mass Suggestion (one guy will definitely be convinced),
Disintegrate: I love turning enemies into piles of dust.
Level 7:
Finger of Death (it does less damage than disintegrate very
meh)
Level 8:
Dominate Monster: Now we're talking

Careful Spell
Firstly, I must apologize, my own interpretation of careful
spell in the first guide was actually incorrect. The PHB's
description uses the word "save" instead of "saves" so it infers
that the first save is automatic but all subsequent ones are
not. This trims the list of careful spells down slightly, but
unless your DM has read this guide they may just allow for
continous saves since it's slightly ambiguous....
Anyway, Careful Spell is good for big indiscriminate AoE
debuffs that have the potential to cripple your allies as well as
your enemies. Careful spell makes them safe to a handful of
targets (preferably your party).
Let's talk about why it's valuable first.
Most Economic Metamagic
Always one sorcery point and quite often for effects that
continually persist for 10 rounds. Disables scale indefinitely
with levels; a fireball trivializes a fight at level 5 but less so at
level 10. Hypnotic pattern and fear trivialize an encounter at
all levels. If you take careful spell you'll have the easiest time
of any other sorcerer conserving your casting power.
Swings an entire group fight
Incapacitating, controlling advantage/disadvantage on
enemies or allies, or even just removing actions from
enemies becomes extremely potent across mid-size party
fights and being able to manifest these bonuses across entire
groups becomes devastating. Even if your spells affect only a
handful of enemies the ones that it does are going to be of
little help to their allies.
No potential for gambling
Simply put, if you're investing the 1 sorcery point and
you're looking at the grid/asking your DM about your spell
placement you're guaranteed effectiveness out of the
metamagic.
Profoundly changes the value of the
spells it affects
Part of the balancing mechanics of many strong area of
effects spells was that they affect allies and enemies. The
spells are allowed to be very crippling because they can cut
both ways. By making them usable when enemies have
already been engaged those spells become very powerful.
Despite the fact that there are so few spells that interact with
this metamagic it's entirely worth the effect.
You don't need to build your spell list
around it
Mostly because you can't... the metamagic affects so few
spells but in such a profound way even if you only have as
little as 2 spells that use it optimally it can still serve be a
valuable tool.
Despite these great strengths it does have some noticeable
downsides that keep it from being the best of the best.
So what are the tragic pitfalls of the spell?
It only works on the first save
Stinking Cloud? Nope. Web? Nope. (Jeremy Crawford is the
ruiner of dreams....)
Extremely Low compatibility
Especially after Jeremy Crawford's ruling the list of careful
spells is trimmed down to a few scant spells on the sorcerer
list, and this is what makes it B-Tier. If you're ok with your
friends taking half damage (or banking on Evasion to save
them) then by all means use it with damage spells, but bear in
mind it's use is intended for long lasting AoE debuffs, of
which there are few options. So few in fact..
Level 4-6 Spell Vacancy
After level 3 there are virtually no ideal careful spell
candidates until level 7. There are still some good candidates
on level 3 but the metamagic just runs into a bit of a brickwall
from sorcerer levels 7-12.
Beating the dead horse deader.
As mentioned in an earlier section, if you load up your spell
compendium with strong concentration spells you will feel
the "concentration crunch" much harder. All the spells that
combine best with this metamagic bank on concentration..
Scales off of Charisma
This means it doesn't multi-class as easily and after you hit
20 charisma you can only save 5 people max from your
spells. So big groups with many allies can still be afflicted by
your larger AoE debuffs.
The small list of Careful Spells
level 1
-
Level 2
Web:The first save is made on the affected creature's turn.
Jeremy Crawford's (DINKLEBERG!) ruling states it's
intended for the "turn" the spell is cast. Doesn't work :(
Level 3
Fear: if enemies remain in line of sight (feared into a corner)
they never get to make a save. Hypnotic Pattern
Level 7
Reverse Gravity! High ceilings result in damage going up and
coming down! (max 20d6 for 100ft both ways)
Level 8
Earthquake, Delayed Blast Fireball: only affects the turn the
spell is cast so no dice on DBF anymore.
PART 5 | Jeremy Crawford takes a massive
dump on Careful Spell 10
 Distant Spell
This metamagic is mostly limited by the fact that scenarios
where you are tightly grouped together or in a confined space
can crop up more often than those where you are in a vast
open environments. Because of how cover interacts with
casting spells often enemies can venture indoors or round
corridors to try and force you into close quarters and the
metamagic becomes far less useful. The other problem is that
there is a certain type of spell range that it is entirely
incompatible with....
The number of "Self" spells is too damn
high!
Telekinesis? Nope. Sunbeam? Nope. Misty Step? Nope.
Lightning Bolt? Fear? CONE OF COLD?! Ye-Nope... there are
all these spells that would probably be infinitely cooler if you
could double their range but because technically their range
is "self" this metamagic is entirely incompatible with them
and it hurts it a lot (multi-class vampiric touch @ 30ft
would've been soooooo cool!). It hamstrings the metamagic
but if you are ever in the homebrewing mood/casual play
environemnt you could definitely sit down and have a
discussion with your DM about certain self spells you'd like to In all honestly you could begin to consider this metamagic
make compatible with it. That said, I stick to the rules, so when hitting level 17 because 1) it has little restrictions on
here it is in C-Tier. Despite this lack of compatibility it does what spells it works with and wouldn't require overhauling
function with one very important spell range... your spell list (which you can't do) 2) you'll have dragon wings
(I mean -I- would have them, you could definitely not have
Touch Spells? them...) and being airbourne makes spell ranges much more
So this is where the metamagic could get great utility by relevant and 3) you'll now have wish and the idea of doubling
making touch spells far more usable with a 30ft range... it's the spell range on any level 8 or lower spell seems far more
too bad none are offensive sorcerer spells except for shocking useful.
grasp and plane shift....
Great Distant Spells
Compatible with Spell Sniper! Cantrips
Double range feat times double range metamagic = Shocking Grasp (remove a reaction @ 30ft)
quadruple range! The feat is only compatible with attack roll
spells but allows for the longest distance attacks possible Level 1
outside of dropping objects from orbit (1200ft Eldritch Blast). Feather Fall (because you'll have fly)
Spotting a target from 1200ft is another challenge
entirely...so it's limited to aerial combat essentially. Level 3
Fly You'll need this to make yourself untouchable from huge
"up to insert number in Range"? heights and lord your range superiority over others both
figuratively and literally (neither this nor featherfall become
These types of spells are marginally improved as well; very relevant if you are a level 14+ Dragon sorcerer
Mass Suggestion, Seeming, Animate Objects, all affect obviously). DOES NOT WORK WITH COUNTERSPELL:
targets you can see within range (which is either a frontal Part of the trigger for counterspell
120 degree cone or a full sphere depending on how you
interpret it), and now it embodies an area that is 4-8x bigger, Level 4
depending on how much 3-dimensional space is relevant. Dimension Door (to keep the range advantage)
Outdoor caster duels There are many others these just happen to be the mandatory
This is where the metamagic shines. A lot of the really ones if you take Distant Spell; if I covered all the options the
crippling mindcontrol/crowdcontrol/getrekt kind of spells list would be asinine. I know this seems lazy but this is one of
have ranges of 30-120ft, and so being able to keep an those options you're either going to love because you're doing
opposing spellcaster at bay while having larger access to your a sweet open ocean/air ship speciailized campaign or you
arsenal is the best niche use of this metamagic I can think of. won't because it's a standard campaign with lots of tight
spaces and closed in rooms, which for me, has been most of
them. Definitely useful outdoors when fighting flyers (Rise of
Tiamat?)
PART 5 | Distant Spell: for the player who
10 actually gets to play that sweet pirate campaign
Why does Extended Spell
suck so much dongs get
relegated to F-Tier?
Inside of combat encounters I can count on both hands the
number of times I've said to myself "Gee I really wish this
spell lasted twice as long." Metamagic options are so few that
taking something which has little benefit inside one of the
cornerstones of D&D, combat, is not really an option for
sorcerers. Even subtle spell has amazing benefits inside of
combat encounters despite it's social value.
Here's the rub: well designed fights do not last much longer
than 10 rounds (the standard duration of most spells)
because otherwise they wear on the patience of the players
and on the resources of every other spell caster. Moreover the
downtime between combats ensures that spells that last 1
minute will expire before the group can start another fight (so
lasting 2 minutes becomes a moot point). The fact that you
have to make this decision when you cast the spell and not
when the spell expires means that getting interrupted can
waste the sorcery point and make your initial investment
useless as well. If I were to homebrew it, at the very least I
would make the choice to invest the sorcery point when the
spell is about to expire and potentially make it interact with
other metamagics like empower does. If I wanted to get
creative, I'd have concentration effects persist after
concentration is broken or a new spell is cast for (Charisma
modifier) rounds with a maximum of one additional
concentration effect in place (so you can layer two
concentration effects for 5 rounds for 1 sorcery point). Again
this would probably be overpowered (or at the very least
useful) but we come back to the realm of hard rules and the
terribleness (sp?) of this metamagic becomes ever apparent.
The opportunity costs of taking this metamagic is what
kills it; it's far outweighed by the other options available as
well as being exclusive with other metamagics. The reward is
lackluster at best and is designed for extremely niche
endurance builds that I have never seen flourish. The
problem being, that if your group is taking a very long time to
close out fights, the odds of you all taking lots of damage and
spending too many resources on each fight is very high. Even
doubling the duration on a delayed blast fireball would mean
an attack which takes you 2 minutes to charge up; it's the
ultimate spirit bomb but without being able to cast subtle
spell on it simultaneously you can't really charge it up
inconspicuously to deal that sweet 32d6 damage. The same
could be said of a 20d6 Phantasmal Force; sure it's
economic, but who has 20 rounds to sit around and
concentrate on it during a fight?
The possibility exists within a multi-class somewhere I'm
sure (Phantasmal Killer? Aura of Vitality?) But again, I'm not
too keen on going down that rabbit hole in the first place for
reasons stated earlier.
If you have seen a build that revolves around extended spell
(without homebrew) and thought "Wowsers! /u/Lol-Guru was
totally wrong about how crappy this metamagic is!" then by
all means please PM me and let me eat my words on this one
because I've never seen someone use the metamagic to the
same gamebreaking effect as the others (I can update the
guide in real time).
Why I won't give example
Spell lists
Because there are too many combinations of metamagics and
spells for me to fairly cover the options. Spell lists also
change and adapt with level ups; as stated earlier, spells get
replaced and changed out when new options become
available and the idea of creating many different multi-layered
adapting spell list arrays that are derived from increasing
metamagic combinations that also increase with levels is too
drastic an undertaking even for me. You'll just have to
stumble through the process yourself like I did. Always
remember that a spell doesn't have to used with a metamagic
everytime, and just because you pick a spell doesn't mean it's
going to be used with a metamagic at all (dispel magic, misty
step, shield and counterspell come to mind).
I'm going to list a few powerhouse spells that have never
led me astray:
Shield: I would've died many many times without this level
one wonder.
Shatter: Destroying objects while doing damage is
sublime; collapse roofs above or bridges below foes.
Suggestion: One sentence mindcontrol!
Fireball/Lightning Bolt: Overtuned AoE destruction
Dimension Door: Never get caught. You can take someone
with you (combine with suggestion to take an enemy 200ft
into the air while you have dragon wings and drop 'em)
Wall of Fire: Remote, precise, consistent line damage.
Hitting enough foes 1 turn is often enough, 2+ is icing on
the cake.
Animate Objects: Sorcerer's Apprentice much? Also poor
mans AoE 15ft fly speed...
If you want a great source for checking through sorcerer
spells I reccomend Grimoire which is an easy to navigate
website including all PHB spells and even the expanded
options from Elemental Evil. It is also compatible with mobile
phones. Go experiment and find out what you like.
PART 5 | I can't believe I have to explain why
Extended spell is awful... 11

Feats
I will make an attempt to discuss feats within the scope of
what spells, metamagics or niche multi-classes they combine
well with. It should be noted that I almost always rush to 20
charisma before taking a feat (Variant Humans are not used
at my table anymore...too much of a good thing). If you don't
see a feat listed, it's because I don't think it's worthwhile or
I've never considered/tested it. With that in mind:
I have never regretted rushing to get 20
charisma; it is such a core stat to the class
that affects so much of what you focus
on deviating from this is a rare
occurrence.
Alert
After you realise how hard it is to be shut down as a Subtle
Sorcerer one of the few things your DM can throw at you is
ambushes to try and cripple or down you early. This feat
pretty much bypasses this last weakness you may have which
is people getting the drop on you or being attacked by hidden
foes. It also comes with a lovely intiative boost, and going first
can be the make or break in a lot the small skirmishes in an
adventuring day. Highly reccomended.
Actor
The only feat that can be taken early (if you have an odd
number for your charisma score or another score you want to
boost later) and makes the disguise self spell very useful.
There's nothing stopping you from donning an actual disguise
underneath the spell just in case. Coupled with your already
high charisma, impersonation becomes much easier and
almost indistinguishable through use of the Alter Self Spell
later(which can change your vocal chords to match your
target). Probably something you'd take with Subtle Spell to be
a master infiltrator/doppleganger.
Crossbow Expert
I consider it jenky and not in keeping with the spirit of the
Feat to use this feat on spells. It's called "Crossbow Expert"
why would it help you cast spells in melee? Regardless if
you're getting engaged in melee combat often you're probably
a Gish or a very dead sorcerer.
Elemental Adept
I've recently changed my tune on this feat. In mid-high tier
elemental resistances becomes abundant. It's probably one of
my go to feats at level 12 now because there are a surprising
amount of ways for enemies to get resistance as well. Be wary
not to hit your allies however because your spells will ignore
their resistances as well.
Healer
This one actually works wonders if you have quicken spell; it
also scales up with levels and a healing kit can be used with
every short rest. Unfortunately the HP is rather meh and you
can gun through lots this way. Take it if there aren't a lot of
party members with healing magic (to stabilize dying people)
and you have Quickened Spell, otherwise...pass.
PART 6 | I was always under the impression
that "feats" weren't something to be performed
12 consistently... that's what makes them feats...
Lucky
It's a great Feat, so good in fact that I often run out of luck
points very quickly. Saves you in the clutch but everybody's
luck runs out...
Mage Slayer
Remarkably Strong on Paladin Gishes: Aura of Protection
coupled with advantage on saves in melee makes you a
menace to deal with. Moreover disadvantage on
concentration checks applies to even your AoE damage
spells. As a Pure sorcerer I'd probably avoid it, but as a
Paladin Multi-class I'd very likely take it (unless my DM
doesn't use casters...)
Observant
It's a nice boost but because wisdom isn't a high stat for most
sorcerers it becomes hard to justify going for that super high
passive perception. Multi-class bards/rogues where you take
specialization in Perception can overcome this for high
passive perceptions despite the low wisdom scores and so a
small niche exists to take this feat. Reading lips is rarely
useful but cool.
Resillient
Good for boosting Wisdom saves which can often be your
downfall. While it might be nice to boost dexterity and have
proficiency in those saves, no feat can be taken twice and so I
would very likely choose wisdom.
Skulker
This is only relevant because if you have Darkvision it
actually makes pitch black darkness count as Dim Light
which with this feat no longer imposes disadvantage on
perception checks. If you subtle spell a cantrip attack and it
misses you won't give away your position either. Very good if
you splash two levels in rogue to cunning action hide while
slinging cantrips.
Spell Sniper
Combines with the Distant Spell metamagic. Another good
multi-class rogue option to hide in the distance while slinging
off damage cantrips/sniper spells. The problem is when
you're shoehorned indoors and all that open space closes
right up; the feat becomes far less useful. That having been
said the bonus cantrip and the ability to bypass cover are
much needed icing on the cake that still help.
Tough
I really like this feat, if only because when you are a Dragon
Sorcerer it will bring you up to a Barbarian's level of hitpoints
(HAH) and the lower your original HP the more impactful
bonus HP is (adding 2 to 5 is more impactful than adding 2 to
7). I highly reccommend this in mid to high levels since it
scales retroactively and that is also when attacks start to hit
really hard.
Warcaster
If you're Gish-ing or taking a lot of hits while concentrating
and would rather not worry about losing concentration
(instead of worrying about not getting hit...) then you'll want
this feat. Odds are you'll almost never lose concentration
without losing consciousness first. If you'reProbably
mandatory for extended spell...I wouldn't know...
M-M-M-Multiclass!
Pure sorcerers are pretty rad, but sometimes you want to
expand your spell list, get more spells known or just make
some hardcore munchkin multi-class combo to flaunt your
metagame prowess. The following are the only Multi-classes
with sorcerer that I have ever been impressed by.
I am skipping Sorcerer/Warlock because it's very
unlikely I will contribute anything new to this already
done-to-death multi-class.
Dragon Sorcerer X / Invoker 2
Invoker is the old-school-cool terminology for an evocation
wizard.
METAMAGIC REQUIRED: Empowered Spell
His name, was Horvath, and holy moly did I have a lot of
fun with this one. A human Sorcerer whom after Dragon
Sorcerer level 6 (because fireball and lightning bolt) switched
gears to Invoker for 2 levels to pick up Sculpt Spells and by
golly I think we have a winner. Unlike Wizard X / Sorcerer 3,
your spell progression is delayed less, and the Wizard feature
isn't dependant on any kind of resource system that scales
with wizard level. What's more, the Sculpt Spell feature is
completely compatible with any metamagic and scales with
level of the spell as opposed to casting stat (unlike careful
spell) which means that the higher level evocation spells with
larger areas can still be safely cast around allies. Throw in
some extra utility cantrips, some great level 1 utility spells
along with ritual caster and an excuse to play a smart
character (because 13 int) and you're left with a well rounded
power-blaster that can simultaneously subtle-empower-sculpt
a Wall of Fire or Ice Storm.
It was the most worthwhile 2 level dip I've ever milked out
of the multi-class system and comes highly reccomended.
Wild-Mage X / Trickster Cleric 2-3
Because subtle spell combined with an illusionary wild-surge
proxy is shenanigans to the max.
METAMAGIC REQUIRED: Subtle Spell
Disguise Self is 1 hour in duration and concentration free.
You can use it to disguise yourself up to 1ft shorter and
essentially peer over cover without actually revealing your
head to the enemy. Coupled with spells that are silent with an
illusionary proxy @ level 2, and you've got yourself the recipe
for shenanigans abound! Getting the Cleric up to level 3
means you get pass without trace and mirror image for free
and some useful level 2 cleric spells.
The build relies on an understanding between you and the
DM that wild-surges triggered by casts that use your clone's
range (instead of yours) would trigger the surge at that
location.
If your DM rules as such, all the risk of wild-surges
becomes negligible (to you...). So if you want to come to the
table and grate some grade A cheese, slap down this bad boy
and let the good times roll.
Paladin 6 / Dragon Sorcerer X
Das Über Gish
METAMAGIC REQUIRED: Quickened Spell
Imagine if you will: Quickened Hold Person into double
auto-crit smite. Need I say more?
The key here is to use human variant and pick up resillient
Con. at level 1. Starting paladin lets you have heavy armor as
well as fast track to second attack and adding charisma to
saving throws. Some would argue to start with Sorcerer 1
level to get Con saves, but I need that sweet sweet platemail,
plus I hate delaying second attack and wisdom saves are just
as useful, so if you can get resillient con right off the bat, why
make someone choose?
Vengeance Paladin is usually the best fit since it has the
best enhanced spell list for this type of Gish but is by no
means mandatory.
As for weapon choice, welll...unfortunately Great Weapon
Fighter doesn't affect smite damage (Curse you Jeremy
Crawford!!!) which means that defensive fighting style +
sword and board will affect all incoming attacks and their
damage but if you took Great Weapon Fighter it only affects
roughly half your damage output. Combined with the
potential for spells like Blur and Shield having 21 AC is just
better than two handed weapons in this case.
Minimum 15 Strength so you can wear platemail (and
multi-class) but 16 is attainable with point buy.
A PC that's a big, dumb, foolish, unresponsive
MURDERHOUSE that quicken's spells and is able to shell
out smites on the same turn. High HP, High saves, High AC,
huge damage.
An easy spell combo is quickening a hold person into
double crit smites; simple and very effective. Ever since the
PHB Errata you can use sorcerer spell slots for paladin
smites which means sorcerer levels also provide better fuel
for paladin smites :D.
Dragon Sorcerer 17/Valor Bard 3
I still haven't gotten to test this (level 20 characters have
never been my bag) but I asked myself what a sorcerer could
want after getting their last metamagic and 9th level spells
spell* (let's face it, it's wish) and 3 levels of Bard seem to
complete the class beautifully. Medium Armor Proficiency
which includes the very important Shield Proficiency,
Expertise in two skills (Stealth would probably be one of my
choices), 6 spells known of level 1-2 (instead of 1) which often
is the levels I have the most lacking, and most importantly
half proficiency on counterspell and dispel magic (+8 total!).
Spending a level 3 spell and reaction to crap on a once a day
level 6-9 spell is satisfying.
Obviously There are tonnes of multi-class
combinations that are both viable and fun
this is just a nice sampler with some of the
more hilarious/powerful Multiclasses I've
seen/played.
PART 7 | Extra Munchkin Mode ENGAGE! 13
That's the end!

I
hope the time and effort I put into writing this guide
helps to alleviate or avoid some of the problems you
might've had to struggle through building and playing
the class. It's truly incredible and powerful, it's just
really hard to execute on without the right mindset
and maybe a healthy amount of D&D experience.

Picture Credits
In order of appearance
https://ghostradio.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/serendibsorcerer.jpg
http://www.manaleak.com/magic-the-
gathering/images/Counterspell_image12617.jpg
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-
IiWbSimRWVA/Vxkghg6iUtI/AAAAAAAACCI/JJwVdYdMLJ4HxDOrSFTzwGOtapFKvABLQCLcB/s400/counterspell-
730x280.png
http://pro.bols.netdna-cdn.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/03/dnd-mystic.jpeg
http://www.eberron5e.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/03/slide-complete-spells-list.jpg
http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/1539/Genasi_Sorcerer.jpg
https://wrathofzombie.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/gun-
mage-2.jpg
https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/736x/74/f8/61/74f861a6d29cceebe1c144b079f30fde.jpg