Introduction
We’re taking a look at building single-class parties. Building a party around a single class presents unique challenges often due individual classes’ limited capabilities. DnD is fundamentally a game about a party of diverse characters pooling their abilities to become more than the sum of their parts. The single-class party flips that on its head, introducing fun new challenges.
Very powerful and lots of fun to play, the Sorcerer can do a lot of things despite typically focusing on conventional Wizard-like rolls like Blaster, Controller, and Support. A single-class party will require the Sorcerer to really stretch their muscles and look for options which they might typically overlook.
The Rules
- No multiclassing
- 4 party members
- Must attempt to cover all party roles
Strengths and Weaknesses of the All-Sorcerer Party
With full spellcasting and a fairly large spell list, the Sorcerer can do a lot with magic. Their high Charisma makes them great Faces, too.
But with d6 hit dice and no armor, they’re incredibly frail. Sorcerers also know fewer spells than other classes, which strictly limits their ability to diversify their spell lists in order to cover multiple roles.
The Party
Member 1: Divine Soul Sorcerer
The only Sorcerer with access to healing spells, Divine Soul Sorcerer is an essential addition to the party. The Cleric’s spell list also adds a ton of great Support options, so we’ll make this our Healer and Support.
We’ll still have room for other spells, of course. We’re not going to make this a boring healbot because no one enjoys a healbot.
Member 2: Shadow Magic Sorcerer
With exceptionally good Darkvision, the ability to cast Darkness at a discount, and the ability to summon a bunch of hounds, Shadow Magic offers some great stuff. We’ll make this our Scout to capitalize on their ability to move around in the dark.
We could also make this our Defender, choosing to focus most of their spellcasting on summoning creatures since we’re already summoning hounds. However, the Disadvantage on saves imposed by Hound of Ill Omen makes it much more effective to focus on save-or-suck spells, making this our Striker.
Member 3: Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
The Elemental Affinity adds a modest, but consistent boost to damage spells which makes this a natural choice for our Blaster. Draconic Resilience also makes our Draconic Sorcerer unusually durable. Coupled with a race like the Dwarf which further improves their durability, we could make this our Defender by throwing them in front of the rest of the party at low levels.
As soon as they become an option, we’ll start relying on summoning spells. Summoning a creature (or a crowd of them) to stand between us and our enemies is very effective, and, since Fireball doesn’t care about Concentration, it pairs nicely with our Blaster tactics.
Member 4: Aberrant Mind Sorcerer
With free spells known from their subclass, the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer has a huge advantage over the rest of the team. This leaves us lots of room in our spell list, especially since Aberrant Mind offers some great Controller options like Hunger of Hadar and Utility options like Telekinesis.
Since their spellcasting is also both the easiest and the most flexible, we’ll also make this our Scholar. A small investment in Intelligence and the right background and/or race, and we’re in good shape.
The Report Card
| Role | Member(s) |
|---|---|
| Blaster | 3 |
| Controller | 4 |
| Defender | 3 |
| Face | Everyone |
| Healer | 1 |
| Scholar | 4 |
| Scout | 2 |
| Striker | 2 |
| Support | 1 |
| Utility Caster | 4 |
Biggest Strength
With four full spellcasters, our offensive spellcasting is brutally effective.
Biggest Weakness
Creatures resistant to magic, antimagic fields, and anything good at breaking Concentration will present a huge problem for us. We’re also limited by our spells known, so anything that we don’t have a spell to solve may be functionally unsolvable.
Conclusion
This party is going to fall somewhere between “We can’t all have Fireball. One of us is going to have to change.” and “Wait, but I thought you were going to be proficient in Persuasions!” Those mixups will either be a hilarious running gag, or they’ll absolutely wreck the campaign. I honestly can’t tell which.
