Sorcerer 5e: DnD 5th Edition Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

Born or imbued with an innate source of magical power, the Sorcerer is apowerful arcane spellcaster able to twist and manipulate their spells viaMetamagic. The ability to customize spells on the fly makes it easy to adaptyour spellcasting to the needs of the moment and to maximize the effect ofyour favorite spells. The Sorcerer’s spell list allows them to serve as aBlaster, Controller, Striker, and Utility Caster, and sorcerers make one ofthe easiest Faces in the game due to their skill list and their dependence onCharisma. The Divine Soul subclass also adds Healer to the class’s possibleroles.

Sorcerers can be challenging to play, but at the same time they can be lesscomplex than most spellcasting classes. The Sorcerer falls into a middleground between the Wizard and the Warlock. The Sorcerer lacks the versatilityof a Wizard due to their limited number of spells known, but share many of thesame capabilities and almost all of the same spells.

Where the Wizard is powerful because they own a tool for every problem, theSorcerer is powerful because they own a few good tools and can use them to fixany problem. The Sorcerer gets more spell slots than the Warlock, allowingthem to focus more on leveled spells than the Warlock, who must use themsparingly and rely heavily on cantrips and invocations.

The Sorcerer’s versatility comes from their ability to boost their spellsusing Metamagic, shaping them to suit the needs of the moment. If you’reaccustomed to playing a wizard, expect to cast a lot of low-level spells usinghigher-level spell slots to get as much utility as you can out of your limitednumber of spells known.

After reading this handbook, consider our other supporting material for the Sorcerer:

• Sorcerer Subclasses Breakdown
• Sorcerer Spells Breakdown
• Sorcerer Metamagic Breakdown
• RPGBOT.Podcast: 5e Sorcerer Optimization Part 1
• RPGBOT.Podcast: 5e Sorcerer Optimization Part 2

If you’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3, you might also enjoy ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerer Handbook.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Sorcerer Class Features
  • Optional Class Features
• Ability Scores
• Sorcerer Races
• Sorcerer Skills
• Sorcerer Backgrounds
• Sorcerer Feats
• Sorcerer Weapons
• Sorcerer Armor
• Multiclassing
• Sorcerer Magic Items
  • Common Magic Items
  • Uncommon Magic Items
  • Rare Magic Items
  • Very Rare Magic Items
  • Legendary Magic Items
• Example Sorcerer Build – Dragonborn Sorcerer (Draconic)
  • Abilities
  • Race
  • Skills and Tools
  • Background
  • Feats
  • Levels

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Sorcerer Class Features

Optional Class Features are detailed below under Optional Class Features.

Hit Points: d6 hit points is the lowest inthe game, so be sure to take enough Constitution to compensate.

Saves: Constitution and Charisma are twoexcellent saves, since things which effect either of them frequentlyincapacitate you in some fashion (example: Banishment requires a Charismasave), and since Constitution saves are used for Concentration. That meansthat Concentration spells are easier to maintain without investing in optionslike the War Caster feat.

Proficiencies: No armor or shields, andonly the most basic weapons, but the Sorcerer skill list containsall of the Face skills, including Insight.

Spellcasting: The Sorcerer casts spells thesame way a Bard does: You get a set number of spells known, and can cast anyspell from that list so long as you have the slots to do so. This means thatSorcerers always have fewer options available to them than a Wizard who canchange their spell list daily, but Sorcerers make up for this lack ofversatility by being able to augment their spells with Metamagic. The Sorcererspell list is a subset of the Wizard’s spell list (with a handful of additionslike Dominate Beast and Earthquake), but you still have plenty of options tochoose from.

It’s also interesting to note that the Sorcerer gets more cantrips than anyother spellcaster, but they get fewer spells known than the Bard. Expect tocast low-levels spells at higher-level spell slots frequently, and to usemetamagic to customize your spells. Most importantly, expect to retrainlower-level spells whenever you get a better option, constantly adjusting yourspells known to perfect your spellcasting capabilities.

For help selecting spells, see mySorcerer Spell List Breakdown.

Sorcerous Origin: Sorcerer subclasses are briefly summarizedbelow. See mySorcerer Subclasses Breakdownfor help selecting your subclass.

• Aberrant Mind: Combine the power of psionics with the power of arcane magic to create aspellcaster with the sorcerer’s deep well of spellcasting and some of thewarlock’s spooky, occult magic.
• Clockwork Soul: An avatar of order, the Clockwork Soul rounds the edges off ofprobability and wards their allies against harm and entropy.
• Divine Soul: Descended from a divine bloodline, add the ability to learn and castcleric spells in addition to sorcerer spells.
• Draconic Bloodline: Gain additional power from your draconic ancestry, growing scales whichwork like armor, and dealing additional damage with spells of the damagetype determined by your ancestry.
• Lunar Sorcery: Inspired by the three moons of Krynn (Dragonlance), the Lunar Sorcerercan change “phases” to change some of their features, allowing them to adapttheir capabilities and their spell list depending on their needs.
• Shadow Magic: Masters of magical darkness, gain the ability to see in darkness andsummon a powerful shadow hound to weaken and attack your foes.
• Storm Sorcery: Adept at flight and casting spells in close quarters, storm sorcerersdart in and out of close range to deal bursts of sonic and lightning damagebefore flying back out of reach and retreating.
• Wild Magic: Exciting but unpredictable, wild magic sorcerers can manipulate luck togrant themselves Advantage on some rolls and to apply a small bonus orpenalty to others, but casting spells may trigger rolls on the Wild MagicTable, producing unpredictable but exciting magical effects.

Font of Magic: Font of Magic is a definitivefeature of the Sorcerer, especially Sorcery Points.

• Sorcery Points: Sorcery points fuel theSorcerer’s abilities and allow the class to do much more than just castingspells. You have a limited pool per day, but you have the option ofconsuming spell slots to get additional Sorcery Points. This pool is fairlylimited, so budgeting your sorcery points is crucial. If you need more, lookat the Metamagic Adept feat and items like the Bloodwell Vial.
• Flexible Casting: Using Sorcery Points toget additional spell slots is very expensive, so only do it when youabsolutely need to do so. Converting spell slots to Sorcery Points is a bitless daunting once you have a large pool of spell slots, but be sure not todo it too much or you will quickly run out of daily resources. There aresome cases where it can be very effective to turn a bunch of Sorcery Pointsinto cheap low-level spell slots, but those cases are rare.

Metamagic: Metamagic allows you to stretchthe effects of your limited number of spells known, allowing you to easilycapitalize on existing spells instead of constantly needing to find and learnnew ones. With a pool of spells known as small as the Sorcerer’s, this is animportant capability.

For help with Metamagic options, including the Metamagic Adept feat, see mySorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.

Sorcerous Restoration: Four free SorceryPoints gives you a lot of options, but it’s only 4 points every Short Rest. Ina full adventuring day you can expect 2 Short Rests at most, so it’s 8 SorceryPoints across a full day compared to the 20 that you already get and howevermany you get from converting spell slots. Plus, a Bloodwell Vial will get you5 on a Short Rest if you spend at least one hit die, so this feelsdisappointingly small.

Optional Class Features

Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Optional Class Features offer ways to add additional features or replace existing ones. These rules are optional, and you should not assume that your DM will allow these features without consulting them first.

Assessments and suggestions for specific Optional Class Features are presented here, but for more information on handling Optional Class Features in general, see my Practical Guide to Optional Class Features.

Additional Sorcerer Spells (Addition): Asurprisingly large number of additions, the Sorcerer gets numerous spells takenprimarily from the Wizard’s spell list, bringing the two classes a littlecloser together in terms of spell options. The Sorcerer also gets Flame Blade,but Flame Blade is garbage so it’s mostly there to say “neat, you get a druidspell”.

I recommend allowing the new spells on all sorcerers. They’re no better thanwhat sorcerers already get, but they introduce some excellent new ideas to theSorcerer’s spell options.

Metamagic Options (Addition): Twointeresting new metamagic options.

I recommend allowing the new options on all sorcerers. The new options aregood but not as good as existing options like Heightened Spell and QuickenedSpell, so they’re not going to cause balance issues.

Sorcerous Versatility (Addition): Like otherspellcasters, the Sorcerer gains the ability to retrain a cantrip. Second, youcan retrain one Metamagic choice. Sorcerers get more cantrips than anyone elseso retraining them isn’t as impactful, but retraining metamagic is a hugebenefit considering how few you get.

I recommend allowing Sorcerous Versatility on all sorcerers. Like otherretraining mechanics, it’s helpful but doesn’t actually make characters morepowerful because they’re not getting anything which they couldn’t already haveat the same level.

Magical Guidance (Addition): This makes thespell Enhance Ability considerably less useful. A single sorcery point is alow cost for insurance against bad rolls on ability checks.

I recommend allowing Magical Guidance on all single-class sorcerers usingsubclasses which I’ve rated orange orred. Other sorcerers are already plentyeffective, and if they need help with ability checks they can cast EnhanceAbility.

Ability Scores

Sorcerers are all about Charisma, and you can forego everything else.

Str: Dump.

Dex: Take a bit for AC.

Con: Take some to compensate for your d6hit points and to support Concentration.

Int: A bit for knowledge skills might benice.

Wis: Wisdom saves are common, and Insightis helpful for a Face.

Cha: Commands almost everything you do.

Sorcerer Races

Charisma bonuses are absolutely essential. Since you don’t need ability scoreincreases for other abilities, a +1 bonus can often be just as good as a +2,which opens up numerous racial options. Innate spellcasting, flight, andadditional skills are all great choices.

For help selecting a race, see ourSorcerer Races Breakdown.

For a classic sorcerer feel, consider the Drow or the Half-Elf. For ahighly-skilled sorcerer, consider the Kenku. For a powerfulspellcasting-focused sorcerer, consider the Fairy.

Sorcerer Skills

• Arcana (Int): One of the most importantknowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to back itup.
• Deception (Cha): Important for a Face.
• Insight (Wis): Helpful for a Face, butyou may not have enough Wisdom to back it up.
• Intimidation (Cha): Important for aFace.
• Persuasion (Cha): The king of Faceskills.
• Religion (Int): One of the mostimportant knowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to backit up.

Sorcerer Backgrounds

This section does not address every published background, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover the options which I think work especially well for the class, or which might be tempting but poor choices. Racial feats are discussed in the Races section, above.

You only get two skills from your class and Sorcerers are built to makeexcellent Faces, so look to pick up more Face skills from your background. Ifyou’re a Half-Elf or Variant Human, you can pick up your missing Face skillsfrom your racial bonus proficiencies, which opens up a lot of other options.Bonus languages are also helpful; if you can get enough of them you may notneed to learn Tongues.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

• Acolyte^PHB: Insight and two languages.
• City Watch^SCAG: Surprisingly good, though you probably won’t get much use out ofAthletics.
• Courtier^SCAG: You probably don’t have the Wisdom to back up Insight, but it’s stillgreat on a Face, and you get a Face skill and two languages.
• Faction Agent^SCAG: Insight and your choice of a bunch of skills including the Face skillsyou need, plus two languages.
• Guild Artisan^PHB: Two good skills and a language, but the artisan’s tools probably won’t beuseful.
• Hermit^PHB: Despite being the recommended background, this is an awful option forSorcerers.
• Noble^PHB: A Face skill and a Language, but you probably don’t have the Intelligenceto make History meaningful, and gaming sets are largely useless.
• Urban Bounty Hunter^SCAG: No languages, but access to the skills you need to be a Face and somegood tool options.

Sorcerer Feats

Thissectiondoesnotaddresseverypublishedfeat,asdoingsowouldresultinanever-growinglistofoptionswhichdon’tcatertotheclass.Instead,thissectionwillcoverfeatswhichIthinkworkespeciallywellfortheclassorwhichmightbetemptingbutpoorchoices.

• Alert^PHB: The bonus to Initiative is tempting because spellcasters can do so muchto affect a fight if they go first, but nothing else is particularlyhelpful.
• Cartomancer^BoMT: The card spell effectively lets you choose one spell from your spell list (not from your known spells) and quicken it ahead of time. You do still need to spend a spell slot, so that part isn’t any better than quickening a spell with Metamagic Adept; the appeal is that you have access to one spell per day that you don’t already know.
• Durable^PHB: Cast False Life or use Inspiring Leader instead.
• Elemental Adept^PHB: Very tempting for sorcerers who enjoy blasting, but specializing in oneelement is severely limiting. If something is resistant to one element, usea different one. Changing 1’s to 2’s averages 1/6 damage per die if you’rerolling d6’s, which is as close to nothing as you will ever see.
• Fey Touched^TCoE: Most sorcerers learn a frustratingly small number of spells, and sinceFey Touched allows you to cast your new spells using spell slots, youeffectively add two spells to your pool of spells known. Unfortunately therearen’t many good 1st-level spell options for the Sorcerer. Bless is alwaysgreat, but nothing else is obviously a great fit.

  For more advice on Fey Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Gift of the Chromatic Dragon^FToD: The weapon buff is useful for hexblades, but remember that you can alsoshare it with an ally. Reactive Resistance is the important part of AbsorbElements without eating a spell slot.
• Gift of the Gem Dragon^FToD: Planning to get hit is a bad plan for the Sorcerer.
• Gift of the Metallic Dragon^FToD: Cure wounds is tempting for a class that usually can’t heal people, butit’s not a fantastic use of spell slots unless you’re desperate. ProtectiveWings is similar to Shield, and it’ll save you both spell slots and a spellknown. Of course, Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) will allow you to learn andre-cast Shield, so that’s likely a better choice.
• Inspiring Leader^PHB: An excellent way to capitalize on your Charisma, especially if your partylacks healing magic to help pad your hit points.
• Lightly Armored^PHB: Mage Armor and Shield work fine.
• Linguist^PHB: Cast Tongues.
• Lucky^PHB: Amusing, but not particularly useful to Sorcerers since they don’tfrequently roll attacks or saves.
• Magic Initiate^PHB: A tempting way to get cantrips from other classes, but remember that youuse the spellcasting ability of that other class, and since your Wisdom andIntelligence will be poor so will your spellcasting. Consider Eldritch Blastfrom the Warlock or Vicious Mockery from the Bard, but otherwise stick toutility options. Also note that since you can use spell slots to cast thespell you learned if it’s from a class in which you have levels, you mightstick to sorcerer to get another spell known.

  For more advice on Magic Initiate, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Metamagic Adept^TCoE: An additional Metamagic and two more Sorcery Points. An excellentaddition to the Sorcerer without adding much complexity. Keep in mind thatthe two additional Sorcery Points can only be used for Metamagic, so youcan’t use them to make spell slots or anything like that. For advice onMetamagic and the Metamagic Adept feat, see mySorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.
• Observant^PHB: You don’t have the ability scores to back this up.
• Resilient^PHB: More saving throw proficiencies never hurt, but save this for after youhave 20 Charisma. You already get proficiency in Constitution saves, sounlike most spellcasters you can justify taking something else.
• Ritual Caster^PHB: Sorcerers can’t cast spells as rituals by default like a cleric or wizardcan. Ritual Caster removes the need to know spells like Detect Magic whichare basically only cast as rituals, and it opens up options like FindFamiliar which are omitted from the Sorcerer’s spell list.
• Shadow Touched^TCoE: Most sorcerers learn a frustratingly small number of spells, and sinceShadow Touched allows you to cast your new spells using spell slots, youeffectively add two spells to your pool of spells known. Unfortunately therearen’t many good 1st-level spell options for the Sorcerer.

  For more advice on Shadow Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Skilled^PHB: Proficiencies are great, especially since Sorcerers get few skills, butif you really need skills you should probably play a Half-elf or start as aRogue.
• Spell Sniper^PHB: Great for spellcasters who like to make spell attacks. Selecting this atfirst level as a variant Human can be really helpful when you’re so heavilyreliant on cantrips for damage output. You’re not locked into cantrips fromyour own class, so consider picking up Eldritch Blast.

  For more advice on Spell Sniper, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Telekinetic^TCoE: While the Sorcerer does have options to use their Bonus Action, most ofthem involve spending spell slots, and even if you have a mountain of spellslots to burn your Bonus Action is still going to be idle on many turns. Inthose cases, Telekinetic adds a useful way to spend your Bonus Action tohave a tactical impact. Moving a creature 5 feet often isn’t a big deal, butit’s enough to break grapples and sometimes it’s enough to force enemiesinto hazardous places like the area of ongoing spells.
• Telepathic^TCoE: Unlike many sources of telepathy, including those offered by some races,this telepathy still uses languages, so the benefits are minimally appealingeven for a Face. You do get to increase a mental ability score, whichreduces the cost of the feat, but the benefits are primarily the ability tocommunicate while being stealthy.
• Tough^PHB: Cast False Life or use Inspiring Leader instead.
• War Caster^PHB: A really great feat, but generally best left to spellcasters who canjustify spending time in melee. With d6 hit points and no armor, that’s notyou.

Sorcerer Weapons

• Dagger: Carry one or two for utilitypurposes at any level, but the damage isn’t good enough to make it betterthan shocking grasp. You can make opportunity attacks with a dagger, butthat’s not something you should be doing frequently.
• Light Crossbow: Until you hit level 5, alight crossbow can do more damage than firebolt. If you have at least 14Dexterity, a light crossbow is probably a better option than firebolt whenyou just need to do some damage, and you can defer taking firebolt untilyou’ve gained some levels so that you can spend your limited number ofcantrips on something more interesting like ray of frost or a utilitycantrip.
• Quarterstaff: A great cosmetic item, buttotally useless in combat. Use Shocking Grasp or a Dagger instead.

Sorcerer Armor

Cast Mage Armor and learn Shield. At low levels that will be enough to keepyou safe, but at high levels you’ll likely dump mage armor because enemies’attack bonuses will be so high that it will stop being helpful. You might keepshield around for those rare times when it would deflect an attack, but you’rebetter served by other spells like Blur or Blink.

Multiclassing

This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing.

• Artificer: Starting with a level inartificer gets you a lot. Proficiency in medium armor, shields, andConstitution saving throws are really tempting (though the Sorcerer alreadygets proficiency in Constitution saves, so that’s not as appealing for theSorcerer as it is for the Warlock and the Wizard), plus artificers getaccess to some low-level spells which the Sorcerer doesn’t like Cure Wounds.The Artificer’s multiclassing rules allow you to round up when determiningspell slots (other spellcasting class round down), so while you don’t learnspells of new spell levels as quickly you still get the same spell slotprogression. The Artificer also gets Ritual Casting, which is useful sincesorcerers don’t get ritual casting.
• Bard: Bards also use Charisma forspellcasting, and since they’re full casters you won’t lost spell slots asyou level. You still delay access to higher level spells, but you can getJack of All Trades and Song of Rest from two levels. A third level gets youExpertise in two skills and a Bardic College which can offer someinteresting options, but I’m extremely hesitant to delay high-level spellsthat much.
• Cleric: Several domains offer proficiencyin heavy armor, and the Cleric’s 1st-level spells include several powerfuloptions including Bless and Healing Word which can have a huge tacticalimpact with little or no Wisdom. A 1-level class dip gets the Sorcerer a lotof great things, and you don’t need to do it at 1st level.
• Rogue: Expertise would be nice for yourFace skills, and Cunning Action gives you a great way to get out of melee,but I wouldn’t go past level 1.
• Warlock: The addition of Hexblade makesthe Warlock a powerful multiclass option. You get proficiency with mediumarmor and shields, you can use weapons with your Charisma instead of yourStrength or Dexterity, and you get access to wonderful spells like EldritchBlast. The Warlock’s spell slots recharge on a short rest, making themuseful fodder for your Sorcery Points. If you devote two levels you can pickup Agonizing Blast to make Eldritch Blast exceptionally powerful, but Ithink that the sorcerer spellcasting you’ll give up will be more importantthan making Eldritch Blast do a little bit more damage. If you take threelevels, you can get a Pact Boon and potentially trade your Invocation forsomething that improves it further.

Sorcerer Magic Items

Common Magic Items

• Clockwork Amulet^XGtE: Only works once per day, but in many encounters a guaranteed 10 on attackroll will guarantee a hit (Players will hit an average CR-appropriateenemy’s AC on an 8 or better. See my article onThe Fundamental Math of Character Optimization.) For high-value attacks like an attack with a leveled spell likeChromatic Orb, that can be great insurance. Even better: you don’t need toattune this, so you can rotate through a stack of them if your DM is somehowcrazy enough to let you get away with it.

Uncommon Magic Items

• Bloodwell Vial^TCoE: +1 to spell attacks and save DC’s, and you can recover up to 5 SorceryPoints when you take a Short Rest. The extra Sorcery Points are a hugeimprovement to the Sorcerer’s sustainability, allowing you to stretch yourcapabilities over a long adventuring day much more easily.
• Broom of Flying^DMG: Easily overlooked, but one of the best ways to get flight for anycharacter. It doesn’t require attunement, and has a fly speed of 50 feet,though many medium characters will exceed the 200 pound limit to reduce thespeed to 30 feet, but even then 30 feet fly speed with no duration cap andrequiring no action after speaking the command word is absolutelyincredible. The only drawback is that you’re using the item’s speed ratherthan giving yourself a fly speed, so things that improve your speed won’tmake the broom move faster, and you can’t Dash with the broom. Even so, Ihonestly can’t justify why this is only Uncommon considering howexceptionally good it is.
• Cloak of Protection^DMG: Good on any character, but it requires Attunement and it’s not veryinteresting.
• Feywild Shard^TCoE: This item is super weird. It grants access to the Wild Magic table forall sorcerers, but it’s primarily useful for the Wild Magic Sorcerer sincethey can use it more than once per day. You can also attach the shard to aweapon, replicating the benefits of a Ruby of the War Mage. The Wild Magicbenefits are basically the sole purpose of the item, as it doesn’t provide abonus to spell attacks or save DC’s like a Bloodwell Vial does, but if youreally enjoy Wild Magic this may be worthwhile.
• Goggles of Night^DMG: Crucial for races which don’t get Darkvision, especially if your partycan’t cast the Darkvision spell for you.
• Pearl of Power^DMG: Useful on any spellcaster.
• Slippers of Spider Climbing^DMG: The next-best thing to flight. Walking up a wall has all the benefits offlying out of reach.
• Stone of Good Luck^DMG: Excellent on literally any character, but if you just want better defensea Cloak of Protection may be more effective. Stone of Good Luck shines ifyou’re heavily reliant on skills and ability checks (like Face skills), andability checks include Initiative rolls and checks to counter/dispelthings.
• Wand of Detection^DMG: This saves you the trouble of learning Detect Magic, which is atragically disappointing way to spend one of your limited spells known.
• Wand of the War Mage^DMG: Helpful if you’re heavily reliant on cantrips like Fire Bolt, but aBloodwell Vial will be considerably more useful.
• Winged Boots^DMG: Excellent on its own, but Winged Boots are more limited in use than abroom of flying, and they require Attunement.

Rare Magic Items

• Amulet of Health^DMG: Setting your Constitution to 19 means that you don’t need to put AbilityScore Increases into it unless you’re really certain that you want 20Constitution. Less ASI’s into Constitution means more room for feats.
• Armor of Resistance^DMG: Excellent, but unpredictable in most games since you can’t perfectlypredict what sort of damage you’ll face. Fire is a safe choice.
• Astral Shard^TCoE: While it doesn’t provide a bonus to spell attacks or spell save DC’s, theAstral Shard is still a phenomenally useful item. The teleportation effectis basically Misty Step with half the range. If you’re short on SorceryPoints, spend a Bonus Action to convert a 1st-level spell, then spend aninexpensive Metamagic on a cantrip or something. That’s a bit of a pain, butin most cases you’ll probably just cast a leveled spell with a Metamagicthrown on and teleport out of harm’s way. Regardless of how you trigger theeffect, the teleportation removes the need to learn Misty Step while stillallowing you to escape grapples, restraints, and all manner of otherproblematic situations.
• Barrier Tattoo (Rare)^TCoE: Way better than Mage Armor and you don’t need to raise your Dexteritypast 14 to still have good AC.
• Bloodwell Vial^TCoE: +2 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See Bloodwell Vial underUncommon Magic Items for more.
• Bracers of Defense^DMG: Get a Barrier Tattoo (Rare).
• Cloak of Displacement^DMG: Among the best defensive items in the game. Taking damage from any source(spells, etc.) suppresses the effect temporarily, so make a point to killanything that can damage you without an attack roll.
• Elemental Essence Shard^TCoE: This is essentially four items with the same mechanic. The d4 rolled todetermine the shard’s element is only rolled once (likely when the DM awardsit to the player), so you’re locked into whatever element you get on thatroll. Still, the effects are good.
  • Air: Nearly as good as teleportation,60 feet of flight without provoking opportunity attacks will easily getyou out of melee if you don’t want to be there. It won’t get you out ofrestraints, unfortunately, so teleportation options like Misty Step maystill be helpful. It’s unclear how this works if you’re grappled sinceit doesn’t give you a fly speed (which the Grappled condition would thenreduce to 0), but as a DM I would rule that being Grappled would preventthis flight.
  • Earth: Similar in many ways to AbsorbElements. It’s not quite as good since you need to guess the damagetype, but if your enemies are using spears it’s pretty easy to guess“piercing”.
  • Fire: The simplest option, 2d10 damageto a single target every time you use metamagic will add up quickly.
  • Water: Break grapples, get yourselfout of melee reach, and knock enemies prone so that your melee alliescan beat on them.
• Elven Chain^DMG: One less AC than Barrier Tattoo (Rare), but it doesn’t requireattunement, so in a game with abundant magic items Elven Chain may be abetter choice.
• Far Realm Shard^TCoE: Simple, easy to use, and effective. The damage is surprisingly good, andFrightened is a great debuff even if it only lasts one round. Many enemieshave poor Charisma saves, so you can expect to get a lot of use out of thisfor very little effort.
• Ring of Protection^DMG: Cloak of Protection is lower rarity and has the same effect.
• Ring of Resistance^DMG: A fine item in a vacuum, but a Ring of Spell Storing full of AbsorbElements will be much more effective.
• Ring of Spell Storing^DMG: Fill it with Absorb Elements and Shield, and recharge it wheneverpossible and this is a spectacular defensive asset.
• Shadowfell Shard^TCoE: This item is extremely powerful, but it’s unclear how the timing works.If you use a metamagic option on a spell and then curse a creature targetedby that spell, can you cause them to suffer Disadvantage on the save againstthe spell? For example, could you cast Fireball and cause a creature tosuffer Disadvantage on the Dexterity save for that same Fireball? Since thisitem is already so powerful, I’m inclined to believe that the curse effectbegins after the immediate effects of the spell, so Fireballwouldn’t benefit, and while the target wouldn’t suffer Disadvantage on theirinitial save against Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, they would sufferDisadvantage on the save made at the end of their next turn.

  Even with that conservative, cautious ruling, this is still a verypowerful item, allowing you to dramatically exceed the benefits ofHeightened Spell at the cost of as little as one Sorcery Point. Forexample: you could target a creature with a cantrip that you’ve enhancedwith metamagic (it doesn’t matter which, literally any of them willsuffice), and even if your cantrip is unsuccessful, you can then cursethe target with your Shadowfell Shard. Pick your party’s favorite type ofsaving throw, then until the of your next turn you can hammer on thetarget with spells and special features which target that saving throw.

  Your Sorcery Points are the only limitation on usage, so you’re free torepeat this every round at very little cost. This can turn low-levelspells like Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter into anearly guaranteed death sentence for even high-level foes. Spamming ametamagic-enhanced Mind Sliver in order to repeat the curse effect andpile on a 1d4 save penalty is nearly unbeatable for most creatures, and ifyou have two or three suitable spells which target differing saves you canmake this combo work against nearly any creature you meet. LegendaryResistances and resistance to spells are basically the only thing you needto worry about, and even Legendary Resistances will fall apart if you havea couple allies with save-or-suck spells.

• Wings of Flying^DMG: Broom of Flying is much better, lower rarity, and doesn’t requireattunement.

Very Rare Magic Items

• Absorbing Tattoo^TCoE: Good, but too high rarity to devote to a single damage type. Get a Ringof Spell Storing and fill it with Absorb Elements.
• Spellguard Shield^DMG: Basically only useful against spellcasters, but if you’re facing aspellcaster there are few better defenses.
• Barrier Tattoo (Very Rare)^TCoE: The fixed AC matches full plate, so you don’t need to worry aboutDexterity to boost your AC and you don’t even suffer Disadvantage onDexterity (Stealth) checks.
• Bloodwell Vial^TCoE: +3 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See Bloodwell Vial underUncommon Magic Items for more.
• Manual of Bodily Health^DMG: Permanent Constitution bonus and raises your cap by 2. Unless you’reusing a magic item that fixes your Constitution as a specific score, this isexcellent.
• Rod of Hellish Flames^BoMT: The damage resistances are nice, but you’re here for the ability to maximize fire or necrotic damage once per day. Easily missed but very important: It’s not “the first damage roll” like most similar effects. You simply don’t roll damage. That means that this works with spells that do repeated or ongoing damage such as Dragon Breath, Fire Shield, Hex, Illusory Dragon, Scorching Ray, Spirit Shroud, and Wall of Fire. Yes, it’s only once per day, but you can get a ton of mileage out of that single use. Not all of those are on your spell list, but I really want you to understand the possibilities here.
• Staff of Fire^DMG: Good go-to spells a few times per day. This may be good enough that youdon’t need to learn Fireball, but upcasting Fireball is incredibly effectiveso you might still want to learn it.
• Staff of Ice^DMG: Cone of Cold for quick AOE damage and Wall of Ice for a combination ofdamage, area control, and utility. Wall of Ice is a good spell that’snormally exclusive to the Wizard’s spell list, and it can be a usefulutility in addition to its offensive uses.
• Staff of Power^DMG: A +2 quarterstaff, +2 to spell attacks (though not to spell DC’s for somereason, so you may want another focus), +2 to both AC and to saving throws,20 charges, and 9 spells which you can cast. This is powerful, versatile,and all around just an exceptionally powerful item.
• Tome of Leadership and Influence^DMG: Permanent Charisma bonus and raises your cap by 2.

Legendary Magic Items

• Cloak of Invisibility^DMG: Invisibility is extremely powerful in 5e. Note that this is just theinvisible condition, not the spell spell Invisibility, so you can stillattack or whatever while invisible.
• Harp of Gilded Plenty^GotG: A floor of 10 on all of your Charisma checks, including both skill checksand ability checks like the check to dispel magic or counter a spell.College of Eloquence will get less benefit than most bards.
• Ioun Stone (Mastery)^DMG: Proficiency Bonuses apply to a lot of things and a +1 bonus goes a longway. Attacks, saves, skills, spell save DC’s, etc. all benefit. Somesubclasses and feats also have features tied to proficiency bonus, so youmay get additional uses of those options. A Stone of Good Luck may be justas useful if you just want bonuses to saves and skills, and a bloodwell vialis a more effective option if you want better spell attacks and saveDCs.
• Jester’s Mask^BoMT/a>: A +3 spellcasting focus, some excellent defensive benefits, and you don’t need to hold it in your hard.
• Orb of SkoraeusGotG: Darkvision, see in magical darkness, a bonus to saves to maintainconcentration, and mitigate 300gp of material component costs per day. Thisfeels very tempting, but it’s just not good enough for this rarity. By thislevel, 300gp is a pittance, and you have access to magical options that makemagical darkness much less of a problem.
• Ring of Spell Turning^DMG: Given the choice, I would much rather have a Mantle of Spell Resistancesimply because the Ring of Spell Turning doesn’t provide any protectionagainst area effect spells. Otherwise, this is a really fun item, and if itprovided Advantage on saves against area of effect spells it would shootstraight up to blue.
• Ring of Three Wishes^DMG: Learn Wish and give this to someone in your party who can’t cast spellsso that they can use it to give everyone permanent damage resistance.

  For more help with Wish, see myPractical Guide to Wish.

• Robe of the Archmagi^DMG: Combine the benefits of a Very Rare spellcasting focus, a Barrier Tattoo(Rare), and a Mantle of Spell Resistance. Those are three absolutelyfantastic items, and combining them on one item is spectacular.
• Scarab of Protection^DMG: An upgrade from the Mantle of Spell Resistance, the Scarab of Protectionadds a limited benefit against necromancy and undead creatures, and doesn’ttake up your cloak slot, leaving you free to take items like a Cloak ofProtection or Cloak of Invisibility instead.
• Spindle of Fate^BoMT: The third bullet is why you’re here. Force a creature to auto-fail a save up to twice per day. Perfect for all those awesome save-or-suck spells rendered useless by targeting Con saves.

Example Sorcerer Build – Dragonborn Sorcerer (Draconic)

Jesshann the Dragonborn Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer

Orange sparks shoot from sharp talons in the dark, glinting off of a handencased in deep red scales. Yellow reptilian eyes catch and hold yourattention as the large figure steps into the light—clad in a rich, emeraldgreen velvet robe, a black leather belt with pouches slung low across thehips. Though her age is hard to guess, the smirk on the Dragonborn’s facebelies a sense of mischief, and perhaps trickery.

— Boxed text provided by dScryb^{(affiliate link)}

Thisisa“StapleBuild”.Thisbuildissimple,andreliesonoptionsfromtheSRDandtheBasicRuleswhereverpossible.Ifyouneedafunctionalbuildwithnothingfancyorcomplicated,thisisagreatplacetostart.

1. The Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer is very similar to the Evoker Wizard. Withan emphasis on a specific element rather than a specific school, you tradethe ability to easily switch elements for better usage of a wider variety ofspells.

Abilities

We will mostly assume the point buy abilities suggested above. The Dragonborn’s ability score increases raise your Strength (which we won’t use) and our Charisma.

Race

Classic Dragonborn. The Charisma increase is the biggest draw, and I haven’tused the Dragonborn in a staple build yet, so I really want to double down onthe draconic theme of the character. You’ll need to choose a draconic ancestorto determine your breath weapon and your damage resistance. Personally Ialways prefer cones over lines, but that’s mostly personal preference. Alsokeep in mind that you’ll be able to add damage resistance using your bloodlinefeatures starting at level 6, so choose different ancestors for your race andfor your class.

Since staple builds are limited to the SRD and the Basic Rules, we don’t havea ton of spells to choose from, which means that the dragon ancestor youchoose for Draconic Bloodline should be a fire dragon. I recommend either coldor poison for your racial dragon ancestor. Cold will be more usefuloffensively, but there are a lot of enemies that deal poison damage whichmakes poison resistance very useful defensively.

Skills and Tools

With high Charisma and access to all four Face skills, there is little reasonfor you to not be the party’s Face. Between your background and your classskills, try to end up with Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion. GetInsight if it’s convenient, but your Wisdom isn’t high enough to be especiallygood at it so hopefully someone in your party can fill in the gap.

Background

Acolyte, Criminal, Noble, and Soldier all get you one of the Face skills wewant, but there’s no option to get two. If no one else in the party hasThieves’ Tools proficiency, take Criminal. Otherwise I recommend Noble so thatyou can get the three Charisma-based Face skills.

Feats

Sorcerers only really need Charisma, so feats can be a great option. DraconicBloodline’s Elemental Affinity feature emphasizes one element, which makesElemental Adept a particularly appealing option.

Levels