Introduction
Born or imbued with an innate source of magical power, DnD 5e’s Sorcerer is a powerful arcane spellcaster able to twist and manipulate their spells via Metamagic and empower themselves with Innate Sorcery. The ability to customize spells on the fly makes it easy to adapt your spellcasting to the needs of the moment and to maximize the effect of your favorite spells.
The Sorcerer’s spell list allows them to serve as a Blaster, Controller, Striker, and Utility Caster, and sorcerers make one of the easiest Faces in the game due to their skill list and their dependence on Charisma. The Divine Soul subclass also adds Healer to the class’s possible roles. Which of those roles you emphasize depends almost entirely on your choice of spells and on the spells provided by your subclass.
The Sorcerer lacks the versatility of a Wizard due to their limited number of prepared spells, but share many of the same capabilities and many of the same spells. Where the Wizard is powerful because they have a tool for every problem, the Sorcerer is powerful because they own a few good tools and can use them to fix any problem. The Sorcerer gets more spell slots than the Warlock, allowing them to focus more on leveled spells than the Warlock, who must use them sparingly and rely heavily on cantrips and Invocations.
This article is for the 2024 DnD rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Sorcerer Class Guide.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Sorcerer Class Features
- 2024 Sorcerer Changes from 2014 Rules
- Sorcerer Backgrounds
- Sorcerer Species
- Sorcerer Ability Scores
- Sorcerer Skills
- Sorcerer Feats
- Sorcerer Weapons
- Sorcerer Armor
- Sorcerer Multiclassing
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.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to 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
: d6 hit points is the lowest in the game, so be sure to take enough Constitution to compensate.
: Constitution and Charisma are two excellent saves, since things which affect either of them frequently incapacitate you in some fashion (example: Banishment requires a Charisma save), and since Constitution saves are used for Concentration. That means that Concentration spells are easier to maintain without investing in options like the War Caster feat.
: No armor or shields, and only the most basic weapons, but the Sorcerer skill list contains all of the Face skills, including Insight.
1. : The Sorcerer’s spells are numerous and versatile. They get full spellcasting. When combined with the Sorcerer’s other class features, you can do a lot of unique things with your spells which are entirely unavailable to other spellcasters.
1. : A small, but meaningful boost to your offensive spells. This is as impactful as +2 to your Charisma, and it will give you a numerical edge that no one else can match until Epic Boons become available. Save this for important fights, and use it as soon as you possibly can to maximize the benefits. You only get 2 uses per Long Rest until you get Sorcery Incarnate at level 7, and then it costs 2 Sorcery Points to use Innate Sorcery again.
2. : Font of Magic is a defining feature for the Sorcerer. Sorcery Points provide a secondary resource pool which you can use to make your spellcasting even more impactful.
- : Sorcery points fuel the Sorcerer’s abilities and allow the class to do much more than just casting spells. You have a limited pool per day, but you have the option of consuming spell slots to get additional Sorcery Points. This pool is fairly limited, so budgeting your Sorcery Points is crucial. If you need more, look at the Metamagic Adept feat and items like the Bloodwell Vial.
- : Using Sorcery Points to get additional spell slots is very expensive, so only do it when you absolutely need to do so. Converting spell slots to Sorcery Points is a bit less daunting once you have a large pool of spell slots, but be sure not to do it too much or you will quickly run out of daily resources. That said, it can be very effective to turn a bunch of Sorcery Points into level 1 spell slots to fuel Absorb Elements and Shield.
2. : Metamagic allows you to stretch the effects of your limited number of prepared spells, allowing you to easily capitalize on existing spells instead of constantly needing to find and learn new ones. Metamagic should consume the bulk of your Sorcery Points.
You gain 2 Metamagic options at level 2, 10, and 17, for a total of 6. The Metamagic Adept feat can add two more.
3. Subclass: Sorcerer subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Sorcerer Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.
- Aberrant Sorcery: Use the power of aberrations to cast spells with tentacles and gain telepathy and some other spooky outer realms powers.
- Clockwork Sorcery: Cast supportive and stabilizing spells like Aid and Lesser/Greater Restoration, and stabilize probability with the ability to negate Advantage and Disadvantage.
- Draconic Sorcery: Use the power of dragons to make yourself more durable and to enhance your elemental magic.
- Wild Magic Sorcery: Manipulate probability and enjoy the unpredictability of the Wild Magic table.
5. : Burning through all of your Sorcery Points early in the day hurts. This adds some very important sustainability.
7. : The ability to use Innate Sorcery again is great. The Sorcery Point cost is modest, but you still shouldn’t rush to use Innate Sorcery in every encounter since points are so valuable.
Using two Metamagic options on one spell is massive. Of course, it’s also very expensive. You can’t afford to use this on every spell, or you’ll be out of points by the end of your first encounter.
20. : Absolutely amazing. With this, spending 2 Sorcery Points to use Innate Sorcery is actually a discount compared to using Metamagic normally. Remember that you can also use two Metamagic options on each spell, so be sure that the more expensive of your two choices is the one that you don’t pay for.
2024 Sorcerer Changes from 2014 Rules
This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.
The Sorcerer’s too-small pool of spells known has been expanded, and the new Innate Sorcery feature offers some cool new things.
- 1. Spellcasting. Sorcerers now know/prepare considerably more spells than in the 2014 rules. The cap has been raised from 15 to 22. Also now allows you to change a cantrip when you gain a Sorcerer level.
- 1. Innate Sorcery. New. Spend a Bonus Action to be really good at offensive spells for 1 minute.
- 2. Metamagic. Largely minor mechanical improvements and clarification of wording.
- Careful Spell. Protected creatures now take no damage if the spell would deal half damage on a successful save. This was an odd and frustrating omission from the 2014 version.
- Extended Spell. Now also gives you Advantage on saves to maintain Concentration on the affected spell.
- Heightened Spell. Cost reduced from 3 to 2, and the target now suffers Disadvantage on all saves against the spell. A massive upgrade from the 2014 version, and I already thought this was one of the best options.
- Quickened Spell. No functional change, but the text is extremely explicit that you still only get one leveled spell per turn.
- Seeking Spell. Cost reduced from 2 to 1, and you can now use it on a spell which is already affected by another Metamagic.
- Subtle Spell. Now also omits material components if they’re not consumed by the spell and don’t have a specified cost.
- Twinned Spell. Completely reworked. Now only works with spells that add more targets when cast at a higher level, and costs 1 point to add 1 more target. No more twinned Haste. Look how they massacred my boy.
- 5. Sorcerous Restoration. New. Once per Long Rest, restore some Sorcery Points on a Short Rest.
- 7. Sorcery Incarnate. Spend 2 Sorcery Points to activate Innate Sorcery, and when Innate Sorcery is running you can add two Metamagic effects to the same spell. Similar to the 2014 Sorcerous Restoration capstone feature.
- 20. Arcane Apotheosis. New. While Innate Sorcery is running, use Metamagic once for free each turn. This is an awesome capstone.
Sorcerer Backgrounds
An increase to Charisma is too crucial to forego, so any Background which doesn’t include Charisma is immediately out. Charisma-based skills are also ideal.
For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Sorcerer Feats section, below.
- (PHB) : Magic Initiate (Cleric) is great, but the skills aren’t.
- (PHB) : Perfect ability scores, and an easy way to cover all of the Face skills that you need while leaving space for other skill proficiencies.
- (PHB) : The ability scores are good and the Musician feat is welcome in any party, but it’s hard to waste two skill proficiencies on borderline useless skills.
- (PHB) : Good ability scores, and Healer may be worthwhile if your party lacks other healing options, but the skills are poor.
- (PHB) : Good ability scores, and Lucky is an easy feat on any character. The only low point is Animal Handling.
- (PHB) : Fine, but Charlatan is a much easier choice.
- (PHB) : Magic Initiate (Wizard) is good, but the skills aren’t, and the Sorcerer’s spell list already significantly overlaps with the Wizard’s spell list.
- (PHB) : Good ability scores, decent skills, and Lucky is good on any character.
Sorcerer Species
.
- (PHB): Two damage resistances, Darkvision, a once per day heal, and a once per day combat transformation. Heavenly Wings lets you fly without Concentration, and Necrotic Shroud can discourage enemies from closing to melee. It’s only once per day, but that may be all that you need.
- (PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and once per day flight are great, but you will likely never use the breath weapon beyond very low levels.
- (PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and more hit points. The durability is largely wasted on a spellcaster fighting from a safe distance, and you have spells to handle hidden and invisible enemies.
- (PHB): Darkvision and an extra skill are both great, plus you can get access to some spells from outside of the Sorcerer’s spell list, as well as nicely complementing your limited number of prepared spells.
- (PHB): Darkvision and Gnomish Cunning are both great, and the added cantrips from Gnomish Lineage offer some interesting utility options.
- (PHB): Giant Heritage doesn’t offer a lot of easy options for full casters, but Cloud Jaunt is fantastic non-spell teleportation, so you can use it the same turn that you cast a leveled spell. Stone’s Endurance is also useful for frail spellcasters. Large Form won’t see much use, but Powerful Build might help you escape grapples if you can’t get out by other means (such as Cloud Jaunt).
- (PHB): Brave and Lucky are both helpful, and Halfling Nimbleness may help you get past enemies to get into a safer position, though it won’t prevent Opportunity Attacks when you need to leave an enemy’s reach. Naturally Stealthy might let you hide before combat starts, but without Cunning Action it won’t see use in combat.
- (PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
- (PHB): Adrenaline Rush is an excellent option for getting out of dangerous positions quickly without a spell, and the Temporary Hit Points are great on a frail spellcaster. If that doesn’t keep you alive, Relentless Endurance provides some insurance.
- (PHB): The Tiefling’s innate spellcasting is a good way to expand your limited number of prepared spells, but all of the available spells are already on the Sorcerer’s Spell list.
Sorcerer Ability Scores
Sorcerers are all about Charisma. Beyond that, use your ability scores for defenses.
: Dump.
: Take a bit for AC and saves.
: Take some to compensate for your d6 hit points and to support Concentration.
: A bit for knowledge skills might be nice.
: Wisdom saves are common, and Insight is helpful for a Face.
: Your primary ability score.
| Point Buy | Adjusted | Standard Array | Adjusted | PHB Recommended | Adjusted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Dex | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 14 |
| Con | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Int | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| Wis | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Cha | 15 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 17 |
Sorcerer Skills
- (Int): One of the most important knowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to back it up.
- (Cha): Important for a Face.
- (Wis): Helpful for a Face, but you may not have enough Wisdom to back it up.
- (Cha): Important for a Face.
- (Cha): The king of Face skills.
- (Int): One of the most important knowledge skills, but you may not have enough Intelligence to back it up.
Sorcerer Feats
This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices.
Origin Feats
These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.
- (PHB): Great for starting big area control spells or for dropping big area damage spells before allies get in the way or enemies get into melee range.
- (PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
- (PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
- (PHB): A good way to expand your spellcasting. There aren’t any great combinations, but Healing Word may be worthwhile.
- (PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
- (PHB): Great for covering all of the Face skills so that you can make room for other options, especially in a small party with poor skill coverage.
- (PHB): Nice on a class with so little hp, but not impactful enough to justify the feat.
General Feats
- (PHB): If you want to heal yourself as a Bonus Action, cast Arcane Vigor.
- (PHB): Excellent for Draconic Sorcerers since you’re expected to focus on a single type of elemental damage.
- (PHB): Two more prepared spells and access to some 1st-level spells from outside of your spell list. Misty Step is great on any spellcaster.
- (PHB): A massive amount of temporary hit points.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Cleric or Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): Good insurance against difficult mental saves, but without a Charisma increase it’s hard to select this at low levels.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): Borderline worthless. Put +2 into Dexterity and wear light armor.
- (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
- (PHB): If you’re proficient in Perception and have decent Wisdom, you may be well qualified to use Perception reliably. But even then, this is only helpful if your DM likes to use stealthy enemies and/or likes to include traps in combat encounters.
- (PHB): This appears to work with all of True Strike’s damage dice, but be careful about over-investing in a tactic that you fall back on to conserve spell slots.
- (PHB): There aren’t enough poison spells to justify this.
- (PHB): You’re already proficient in Constitution saves. You could take this with Dexterity at high levels, but it’s not essential.
- (PHB): There are some great level 1 Ritual spells like Comprehend Languages and Find Familiar, but the fact that this only lets you get level 1 spells significantly limits its usefulness. Getting rituals from outside of your own spell list is nice, but unless there are specific Rituals that you want, this isn’t worth a feat.
- (PHB): More prepared spells is great, but the level 1 spells aren’t as good as Fey Touched.
- (PHB): Great for expanding beyond Face skills or for picking up Face skills which you couldn’t get at level 1.
- (PHB): If cover or range are issues, use a different spell.
- (PHB): An easy go-to option. Remember that creatures can willingly fail saving throws, allowing you to use this on allies in order to move them out of dangerous positions, break grapples, or otherwise help them.
- (PHB): Very cool, but usually talking works fine.
- (PHB): Advantage on Concentration saves will make your Concentration almost unbreakable, but you’re unlike to use Reactive Spell. >
Epic Boons
-
(PHB): Basically
free Misty Step every time that you cast a spell as an Action.
Unfortunately, Bonus Action and Reaction spells don’t qualify. According to
the Rules Glossary: “When you take the Magic action, you cast a spell that
has a casting time of an action or use a feature or magic item that requires
a Magic action to be activated.”
Outside of combat, you can still use this to get around obstacles. Cast a harmless spell like Prestidigitation and you can teleport without making a mess.
- (PHB): A powerful defense on any character.
- (PHB): 2d4 averages to 5. Adding +5/-5 to a saving throw can rescue you or an ally, or it can cause an enemy to fail a save. On a d20 scale, 5 means that there’s a 25% chance on any given roll that this will have an impact. Granted, it is still a dice roll, so the smaller the gap, the safer this is to use. On a full caster where save-or-suck spells are such a huge part of your arsenal, this is devastatingly effective. The fact that you can use it once per encounter is amazing.
- (PHB): More hit points are great on a class as frail as the Sorcerer, but given the choice between this and Resilient (Constitution), you need proficiency in Constitution saves much more than 40 hp and some extra healing.
- (PHB): The Last Stand feature is great insurance, but definitely not enough to justify your first Epic Boon. Try to get someone to cast Death Ward on you.
- (PHB): Potentially useful in a small party with poor skill coverage.
- (PHB): Take Boon of Dimensional Travel instead.
- (PHB): If you’re using Font of Magic to create lots of low-level spell slots, such as level 1 slots to cast Absorb Elements and Shield, this could be very useful.
- (PHB): Be invisible at all times outside of combat. Take advantage of invisibility at the start of combat, then look for ways to become invisible as frequently as possible. Even if you’re not making attack rolls (and you almost certainly aren’t doing so often), the defensive benefits of invisibility are massive. However, remember that a lot of things are an Action, so it’s very easy to break this invisibility. Notable examples that people easily overlook include Hide, Search, and Study.
- (PHB): Fantastic, but technically only situationally useful. You can already cast both See Invisibility and Truesight. This is objectively good, but don’t make it your first boon unless you have a very specific reason to do so.
Sorcerer Weapons
The Sorcerer is proficient in simple weapons. They do not get access to Weapon Mastery.
- : Carry one or two for utility purposes at any level, but the damage isn’t good enough to make it a good idea.
- : A light crossbow combined with True Strike will deal more damage than Fire Bolt until you reach level 11, making it the Wizard’s go-to attack option at least until level 11.
- : If you’re preparing True Strike to use with a light crossbow, you can also use it with a quarterstaff two-handed for the same amount of damage. You don’t want to do this intentionally, but it’s a good backup option.
Sorcerer Armor
The Sorcerer is not proficient in any armor.
Cast Mage Armor and learn Shield. At low levels, that will be enough to keep you safe, but at high levels you may forgo mage armor because enemies’ attack bonuses will be so high that it may stop being helpful. Keep Shield around for times when it would deflect an incoming attack, but also consider other spells like Mirror Image, which doesn’t care about attack bonuses.
Sorcerer 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.
- : Starting with a level in Artificer gets you a lot. Proficiency in medium armor, shields, and Constitution saving throws are really tempting (though the Sorcerer already gets proficiency in Constitution saves, so that’s not as appealing for the Sorcerer as it is for the Warlock and the Wizard), plus artificers get access to some low-level spells which the Sorcerer doesn’t, like Cure Wounds.
- : More Charisma-based spellcasting is nice, and the Bard gets access to both Cure Wounds and Healing Word. Two levels gets your Expertise, which is very tempting, but may not be necessary if you prepare Enhance Ability.
- : A single level for proficiency in heavy armor and shields, and there are plenty of level 1 Cleric spells which don’t care if your Wisdom is relatively poor.
- : Starting with 1 level in Fighter gets you heavy armor, shields, a Fighting Style (pick Defense for the AC bonus), Weapon Mastery to make True Strike more effective, and you don’t give up proficiency in Constitution saves.
- : Despite having some dependence on Charisma, the Paladin doesn’t offer the Sorcerer as much as the Fighter does.
- : Expertise would be nice for your Face skills, and Cunning Action gives you a great way to get out of melee.
- : One level for Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast gives you a powerful and reliable offensive cantrip. Pact Magic Slots can be used to create Sorcery Points, and they recharge on a Short Rest, but you’ll get more out of advancing your Sorcerer levels to get higher-level spell slots sooner.
