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Guru Guide MKII
Guru Guide MKII
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 Why play a Sorcerer?
Never let anyone convince you that sorcerers are a "noobie" Metamagic appeals to you above any other class feature &
class. It's far and away the most complicated and least You're willing to do research to explore your options
forgiving one in fifth edition. It's signature feature literally has (reading this guide will save you lots of that time).
the word "meta" in it, which should be your first clue that it's If you look at any of the metamagic options and simply
not going to be simple... must have one (or more!) and you want a full caster
Metamagic is the most bookwork intensive feature given progression without a 3 level multi-class then you'll want to
the breadth of options that it offers; exploring each and every play a sorcerer. As a mono-class sorcerer, increased levels
spell through the lense of warping the rules that govern them create a sizeable pool of sorcery points allowing for ample
takes a lot of time. Sorcerers are also the only class with an metamagic use without having to aggressively convert spell
entropic resource system; conversion of sorcery points to slots. As your spell list expands and your number of
spell slots, or the reverse, causes a net loss of energy. Without metamagics grow the sorcerer's powers grow in an
a strong sense of calculated decision making it can backfire exponential fashion (hence why spells known clamps down
easily, making it a potentially punishing feature for beginners. after level 11).
These factors, combined with the desire to read a guide like There are a few cool archetype features too. Wild-Surges
this, point to what some would consider a poorly designed are exceptionally fun in casual play and dragon wings
class for an edition that strives for simplicity... but even represent the only class which gains permanent at-will flight.
munchkin casters need a class to mess around with! It should By the end of this, you can realise the class' potential while
be noted that errata and Jeremy Crawford tweets compensating or avoiding its very unique pitfalls.
(DINKLEBERG!) changed much for sorcerers, and this guide
should adequately supercede and replace it's predecessor. Why not?
I still do not factor UA, Volo's or EE for a few reasons.
The guide primarily focuses on spell management, If you're new to D&D, don't want to do all that reading,
metamagic and sorcery point economization. The extra intensive character building and/or you would rather be a
races/subclasses offer very little space for a nuanced opinion. diverse caster.
There's nothing really "advanced" about it. You're going to If you do not take the time to plan out your sorcerer it can
read it, and if you've read this guide your decision may be (and probably will) go badly. The number of greivances the
better, but I have no intention of forcing you to go find community has with the sorcerer are numerous and not
extraneous materials and worry about the PHB+1 rule in unfounded. There's a relative lacking in magical diversity,
order to make an optimal sorcerer. 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
A brief on Spell Points sorcerer looks shoddy on paper (at first glance). I'm of the
opinion that this caveat is 100% required to keep the sorcerer
This is where the controversy will start... from overshadowing other casters (even more). Hopefully,
In some iterations of my previous guide I discuss after reading this guide and applying its knowledge you will
spell points (DMG 288) as a means to alleviate the share my opinion.
lack of spells known for the Sorcerer. After enough Being the only full-caster in the group can leave you
experience I've backpedalled on my previous wanting; without other members of the team to make up for
stance.
I would encourage anyone who hasn't tried it and
your own limited set of magical options, your relatively small
is curious to test drive it at least once. However, I
spectrum of spells limits not just you, but your entire party.
can conclusively say it was published as a variant This, however, is a very rare circumstance; full-casters
for a specific reason; it's overpowered. Especially make up half the classes in fifth edition and often dominate
for sorcerers. the make-up of most parties, what with spellcasting being so
A necessary restriction for casters is the strong.
management of spell slots. Without this, it is Rest assured, if you want to focus on casting a specific
possible to spam high level spells allowing magic niche of spells better than anyone else the sorcerer provides
users to overshadow martial classes in all facets of just that opportunity. However, if you do not like the idea of
the game. It is especially impactful for sorcerers meager spell choices to balance said power then play
because it makes their limited spell list much less something else.
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.
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 So when should I use Twinned Spell
with metamagics that are very strong but have limitations. offensively?
If you know your attack rolls hit on lower rolls and/or the
Twinned Spell target fails saves on high rolls. As I wrote earlier, cantrips at
Some of you might be a bit upset to see this metamagic level 11+ and attack rolls at advantage are likely the only ideal
outside of S-Tier. This one's a community favourite, probably time to use Twinned cantrips. If saving only mitigates half of
the best of the A-Tier metamagics. But it has some pitfalls the damage it's more viable (blight) or if for some reason you
and very staunch limitations now more than ever after the know the save will be at disadvantage/is a weak save for
Errata really clamped down on its options. them. Any feature that -can- activate based on the number
rolled before stating the outcome is very good for datamining
Errata what? 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
Wizards of the Coast released a page worth of changes to know when they succeed or fail. The times I have gambled
their Player's Handbook for Fifth Edition, wherein Twinned and lost with higher level spells have felt so awful I tend to
Spell was clarified such that a spell -must- only be able to avoid high level offensive twinning as much as possible.
affect one creature to be eligible. Before, the spell merely had
to target one creature when cast. So things like Eldritch Remember that some spells can be
Blast, Scorching Ray, and a host of other great offensive "twinned" without the metamagic using
spells went up in smoke. It hit the metamagic hard enough higher level slots
that it's not S-Tier anymore.
Blindness/Deafness, Fly, Banishment etc. If you're
The potential for Gambling is tempting eyeballing this metamagic for a specific subset of spells,
but can bite you in the ass 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
Because many of the old spells that carried multiple beams 0 gain
or attacks stopped being viable options, Twinning single Again with the math...
target damage spells became mostly an all or nothing Take banish for example. If you twin it but have access to
scenario. Before you could twin Eldritch Blast and your odds level 5 slots you are spending a level 4 slot and 4 sorcery
of success or failure were mediated by having multiple attack points when you could burn the level 4 slot and 3 sorcery
rolls. Now that this is not legal, twinning carries a lot more points; by spending a 5th level slot and converting the 4th
risk. Nothing hurts morale more than spending resources to level slot into points, then regain the 5th level slot by
do aboslutely nothing. converting and only be down 3 sorcery points. Twinning level
4 spells is one of the only times this stupid overthought
This makes support spells most viable process comes up but I figured it's worth mentioning.
Meaning that spells with no saves or hit rolls become the Potent Potables Twinnables
best candidates for twinned spell; buffs. Twinned Haste has
become the poster boy for the metamagic. It only gets better Damage Cantrips @ level 11+
later on with spells like polymorph (TWO GIANT APE Level 1
ALLIES) and Greater Invisibility, but this amazing utility Chromatic Orb, Witch Bolt (really strong early)
comes at a cost...
OMG IT COSTS SO MUCH Level 2
Crown of Madness, Enlarge/Reduce (only creatures),
If you've ever had a twinned sorcerer make it to level 7+ Phantasmal Force, Spider Climb, Suggestion
you get the creeping realization that you've taken the only
metamagic that has the potential to gut more than 3 of your Level 3
sorcery points in one go. For instance, Twinned Polymorph Haste
(on allies) is sweet, it just happens to cost 4 sorcery points....
(#worth) Level 4
Blight, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph
Double concentration!
Level 5
This is probably the saving grace of the metamagic as it's Dominate Person, Hold Monster
the only way to effectively maintain two concentration spells
at once (even if they are the same spell). Level 6
Disintegrate (mega gamble)
OK we get it, Concentration is costly.
Again, all the optimal Twinned Spells use concentration, Level 7
which means you can restrict yourself too much if you go Finger of Death (zombie farming?)
overboard and lose out double if your concentration is Level 8
broken. If you're twinning a spell that needs concentration Dominate Monster (#1 gamble)
you better be using one of them to cover your ass.
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
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