D&D 5E Basic Build Series: Sorcerer

Author: Wayward / Tatersalad810

Sorcerers are an interesting case of doing a great deal with very little. With the exception of the Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul Sorcerous Origins printed in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Sorcerers have a notoriously small pool of spells known. With only 15 spells known at 20th level, we are confronted with the unique challenge of finding one-size-fits-all spells that we can apply in virtually any encounter. However, we do gain access to sorcery points, which fuel powerful Metamagic options and subclass abilities, turning our limited spell repertoire into something truly formidable. This build, part of our Basic Build Series, uses the Shadow Magic Sorcerous Origin and primarily focuses on battlefield control with minor emphasis on blasting and utility. 

Race: Human (Variant)

Ability Score Increases – +1 Dex, +1 Cha. 
Feat – Fey Touched (+1 Cha). We’re taking Fey Touched to help offset our restricted number of spells known. We will take dissonant whispers as our first level spell, and we get misty step too. Remember you can cast each of these once without expending a spell slot, but you can expend a spell slot on them if you have the available slot to cast the spell. If your game uses content from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, the gift of alacrity spell is a superior first level option for Fey Touched.
Skill – Perception. Having a good Perception is nice for finding traps, hidden enemies, ambushes, etc.
Languages – Common and Elvish. Elvish is a flavor pick but choose anything you want to tie in to your subclass or backstory.

Class: Sorcerer

Skills – Arcana, Persuasion. Arcana is perhaps the most useful “knowledge” skill for the vast amount of magic phenomena an adventuring party regularly encounters, and Persuasion is a commonly used skill based on Charisma.
Sorcerous Origin – Shadow Magic. We will receive an additional spell known at third level, Darkvision, and a mix of defensive and offensive features as we level up.
Eyes of the Dark (Shadow Magic feature) – Darkvision on a race without it is always welcome, and 120 feet of Darkvision is better than what most races get, allowing you to fight many monsters outside their Darkvision range.
Strength of the Grave (Shadow Magic feature) – Under most circumstances you should not be in a situation where you are dropping to zero, but disasters strike and this is a decent feature to keep you standing long enough to misty step away from the danger. 
Spellcasting – The bread and butter of our class. Sorcerers have a limited number of spells known compared to the rest of the full spellcaster classes. As a result of this we will frequently swap out spells when we level up to maximize value when we cast a spell and maintain the flexibility of our limited spells known.

Misty step  – This is your spell to escape enemy reach, break out of grapples, and get past inaccessible terrain with just a bonus action and without having to Disengage to fully retreat. Very important insurance policy to have. It also helps us escape web or a wall of force. Remember that until level 3, you don’t have the spell slots to cast this more than once per long rest, which is afforded to you through your feat. 
Dissonant whispers – This is a single target control spell that will be useful in situations where sleep is not. This can generate opportunity attacks if your melee allies are positioned properly, leading to a good amount of damage early in the game. It is a decent spell right now, but when we get our Metamagic options it will become extremely efficient for its slot and sorcery point cost. Remember we get one free use out of this right away through our feat.
Shield – A must-have spell for any Sorcerer, 5 AC for a whole round is huge, when it’s often the difference between taking the full brunt of a monster’s attacks, and going unscathed, no damage at all. Do not be afraid to use this, but when you do, think about what you could’ve done differently to avoid spending the valuable slot.
Sleep – This is our most powerful spell at this level. Though it will quickly fall off in efficacy, at first and second level a single casting of this spell ends encounters. 
Mind sliver – Most monsters have bad Intelligence saving throw bonuses. The damage is not at all what we’re interested in, the rider is what we want. Capitalize on that and combo this with a debilitating spell you know an allied caster is going to cast and improve their chance of success. To have better control over the timing of the save penalty, you could use your action to Ready a spell, casting it on your turn and releasing it right before the turn of an allied caster to guarantee the rider will affect the correct spell, provided you’re not concentrating on another spell already (which, unless you deviated from our spell picks already, you shouldn’t be).
Minor illusion – Versatility limited chiefly by imagination and in some cases, DM fiat.
Mold earth – Without any multiclassing, Sorcerer defenses are mediocre at best. We want to find cover as often as possible, and if there isn’t any available we either want to run away or dig a quick hole and stand in it for cover, assuming we are not in melee range of an enemy.
Ray of frost – While it doesn’t do quite as much damage as fire bolt, the movement reduction can and will force melee enemies to Dash, preventing them from using their action to attack. 

Ability Scores

8 Str, 15+1 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 15+2 Cha

Our Charisma score is odd because we will pick up a half-feat at level four to round it up to 18.

Background (Custom)

Skills – Insight, Stealth. Insight and Persuasion together will help us be the party face in public. Stealth is very handy for dungeon exploration and surprising monsters.
Tools – Thieves’ tools. 
Languages – Abyssal, Infernal, or Undercommon if you want to lean into the Shadow Magic flavor text of your subclass. The language choice doesn’t really matter, as it is campaign dependent and should be discussed with the DM. It can be useful to speak different languages from the rest of the party, or to have one obscure non-Common language that the entire party shares, so you can converse without the NPCs knowing what you’re talking about. 
Feature – Guild Membership: Lodging and food if necessary, and a source of potential patrons, allies, or hirelings.
Creator’s Note – Making a custom background is RAW. The PHB on page 125 states, “The sample backgrounds in this chapter provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and role playing suggestions. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds.” Using this, we are making a custom background and using the Guild Artisan feature.

Equipment

Sorcerer Starting Equipment

• Light crossbow with 20 bolts. Ranged attacks are good, so let’s take a crossbow. Our crossbow will be our main source of damage until level five when our cantrips scale.
• Component pouch or an arcane focus, both will work; if your DM uses a house rule that requires you to scavenge for the right components, use an arcane focus. Best to buy both and a bunch of back up pouches later on. 
• Dungeoneer’s pack
• Two daggers

Guild Artisan Background Starting Equipment

• A set of thieves’ tools
• Letter of introduction from your guild
• Set of traveler’s clothes
• Belt pouch containing 15 gp

Purchasing Goals

• Healer’s kit, potions of healing
• Quills, inks, parchment, and other items necessary to scribe scrolls. Your downtime days should be spent scribing defensive scrolls like shield to keep yourself protected and afford you extra flexibility with your spell slots. Remember that the DC on spell scrolls is static so if you use a scroll offensively it will not use your spell DC, but the DC of the scroll, see Dungeon Master’s Guide (pg 199-208).

Level 1 Strategy

At level 1, we are already a powerful character due to the Fey Touched feat and Sorcerer’s innate access to the sleep spell. Sleep disables multiple enemies in an area with no saving throw, limited only by the number of hit points we can roll. From there, ourselves and our party members can deal with the enemies left awake (if any), then proceed to pick off the sleeping foes one-by-one through focused fire. Dissonant whispers will become more useful later on. While it may not be worth one of our two slots for now, it is still another 1st level spell we can cast one extra time per day. We will use this against enemies that threaten to close the gap into melee range next turn and waste their reaction running away from us, forcing them to Dash on their turn to make up lost ground. Alternatively, we can use it to provoke multiple attacks of opportunity from our allies while also forcing it to retreat. We also have access to the shield spell, but for the time being, staying out of harm’s way is better than using half of our daily spell slots to boost our very poor 13 AC to a still mediocre 18. We have 1 use of misty step for free each day, which should be used to remove ourselves from dangerous situations entirely. Preferably, we want to misty step into somewhere that the enemies cannot reach (i.e. a nearby rooftop, tree canopy, etc.) in order to give us great defense. Whenever you have the funds and downtime, scribe scrolls of shield.

Level 2 Sorcerer

Font of Magic – Sorcery Points are what makes the Sorcerer class unique, but we don’t have a very good use for them at this level. Next level, we get some nifty use out of this.
Flexible Casting  – Flexible Casting is an expensive option for our sorcery points but right now it’s all we have. This is essentially another 1st level slot at this level. Once we get our Metamagic options we will very rarely use this.
Spell Changes: +mage armor.

Mage armor – Our Armor Class was terrible for level 1, but now at level 2 our Armor Class will be mediocre before shield and decent afterwards. If you take a long rest with a leftover slot, this is a good spell to rest cast. Remember you can convert unused sorcery points into spell slots so this is a good use of them if you are about to rest, out of slots, and have not spent the points. You can also use this on an NPC that you need to protect that may otherwise be unarmored or have weak defenses.

Level 3 Sorcerer

Metamagic – Subtle Spell, Twinned Spell. The ability to cast spells without using verbal or somatic components with Subtle Spell is often described as useful for discretion. This is accurate, but more importantly it prevents an enemy from using counterspell on our spells and allows us to overcome the effect of silence. While we probably won’t run into this too often right now, we’ll need this at higher levels, especially when we learn counterspell and use it against enemy casters without components. As we level up we’ll have more uses for Twinned Spell, but currently our strongest option is using it to twin dissonant whispers, which is extremely powerful. 
Spell Changes: +darkness, +phantasmal force, +web, –sleep.

Darkness – We get access to this spell from Shadow Magic, and it doesn’t count against our number of spells known. Be careful with how you use this spell as it’s possible to cause your allies some frustration. Use it when you’re fighting enemies that have Pack Tactics or other ways to easily generate advantage like wolves, kruthics, krauls, kobolds, Karrnathi undead soldiers, and various humanoids. Removing their sight imposes disadvantage from attacking a target you cannot see, and advantage from the target not seeing your attack, making all attacks through the area straight rolls, but again, some party members might be annoyed if you don’t at least cast the spell on an item you can easily cover up to turn the darkness off. Many spells like magic missile and hold person require sight of the target to use, and this counteracts that requirement. Using sorcery points to cast this is an option, but you likely have better uses for your sorcery points.
Phantasmal force – This is a very strong and twinable effect that can severely impair one (or two if twinned) enemies. A classic use is something covering the target– a bucket on their head, a cloaker, a swarm of biting insects– that blocks their vision and subjects them to heavy obscurement while potentially also dealing damage, but the sky’s the limit on other potential uses. It initially targets an Intelligence save, usually the weakest for monster stat blocks, and on subsequent turns, it is an Investigation check, something only 17 monsters throughout all official published material have proficiency in (if you look at just the Monster Manual and Volo’s Guide to Monsters, that number drops to 2!), making the spell as a whole very hard to stop. Note illusion-based spells tend to have fairly high amounts of variance in how they are run table to table, so make sure to have a chat with your DM on how monsters will react to this spell first. If you feel that this spell won’t be a useful combat spell, Tasha’s mind whip (also twinnable), suggestion, or Rime’s binding ice are all excellent alternatives. 
Web – Create a 20 foot cube of webs which restrain enemies. One of the most potent 2nd level spells in the game. Right now, this is the biggest thing we can do, but even as we reach high levels, we’ll continue to use web for its value-in-slot, and it’ll continue to be effective.

Level 3 Strategy

With access to 2nd level spells, we add web into our spell repertoire. This incredibly powerful spell is game-changing, and we get it just as sleep’s effectiveness begins to wane, allowing us to continue to end entire combats with 1 spell. Our free dissonant whispers is still a helpful tool, as we can use it to force enemies who escape our web back into it. Ray of frost is also powerful when coupled with web, as escaping web is incredibly difficult in the first place. Mind sliver is also great to use on enemies who are not restrained but have not left the spell area.
We gain access to Metamagic at this level, which allows us to spend our 3 sorcery points to either utilize Subtle Spell or Twinned Spell. If we suspect that an enemy may want to counterspell us, we can use Subtle Spell to prevent that, provided the spell does not have a material component. In encounters with one or two very tough enemies, we can use the more expensive but extremely powerful Twinned Spell on dissonant whispers (to buy your party some time as both creatures waste their turn Dashing back into the fray) or phantasmal force (a more long-term single-target lockdown turned double-target lockdown). Whenever you have downtime, you should be scribing scrolls of either mage armor, misty step, or shield, if you are able.

Level 4 Sorcerer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Telekinetic (+1 Cha). By taking this feat we are improving our chance to hit with spell attacks, raising our spell save DC for the very good spell options we get at fifth level, and unlocking a great use of our bonus action. Telekinetic has a wide variety of uses that are listed in our Optimized Feat Guide. Notably, we can use it to shove enemies who are near our web’s area of effect into it or group up enemies for better spell placement. There are a lot of fantastic options available with this feat, and it only requires a bonus action to use.
Spell Changes: +absorb elements, +mage hand.

Absorb elements – Defense is constant struggle for this class, so we’re adding another defensive spell to our list that will protect us from breath weapons from dragons, enemy elemental spells, and other hostile elemental areas of effect. That list of scrolls to scribe when you have downtime? Add this to it.
Mage hand – We’re taking this as our new cantrip learned independently of the feat we just took to benefit from the increase in range the feat offers. 60 feet range provides a lot more flexibility and mage hand on its own is a good utility spell. Open doors, check for mimics, and activate/investigate traps. Note, however, that the spell text still reads that the hand disappears if it’s more than 30 feet away, if your DM uses an ultra strict reading of the Rules as Written, mage hand actually gains no added utility from Telekinetic! On the other hand, the intent of the feat is clear, and many DMs can be expected to rule leniently in this case.

Level 5 Sorcerer

Magical Guidance (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Optional feature) – This is a handy tool to improve your ability checks. Keep in mind that you can choose to spend the Sorcery Point after you see the result of your roll, allowing you to better control when you use this. Remember, dispel magic and counterspell against spells higher level than yours require you roll an ability check using your spellcasting modifier. Unfortunately, you cannot “fail” an initiative check, so you can’t use this on those.
Spell Changes: +hypnotic pattern.

Hypnotic pattern – This is one of the best spells for its level in the game, becoming our biggest play in hard fights. It incapacitates and immobilizes creatures in a 30 foot cube who fail a Wisdom save, and they don’t get any additional saves in subsequent turns. Their allies can use an action to break them out of it, but even if they do, that’s more creatures doing things with their turns that aren’t attacking you. The biggest limitation of this spell is that it doesn’t work on creatures immune to being charmed. 

Level 5 Strategy

We now have a huge boost in power with third level spells, and hypnotic pattern is absolutely going to be a decisive play in a lot of encounters. Use your bonus action shove from Telekinetic each round to manipulate the battlefield and set yourself and your allies up for more valuable turns. If an ally has Polearm Master, shove enemies that approached them away and allow your ally to reposition for another opportunity attack, or pull your ally away from that an enemy instead and allow them another opportunity attack when the enemy has to approach them again. If a friendly caster is suddenly stuck in melee, pull them away so they can Dash or Dodge instead of Disengaging. Otherwise keep up your tactics from earlier levels. 

Level 6 Sorcerer

Hound of Ill Omen (Shadow Magic feature) – This is a fantastic feature to be used against high-priority targets on the battlefield. Though costly, it’s an extremely potent buff to many of our save or suck spells that we have, and will continue to use. Bonus action time cements this as a potent ability to use before casting dissonant whispers, web, and some of our upcoming spells that target saving throws. Do note the initial roll against web is a Dexterity saving throw, but the subsequent actions to break free are Strength checks, so this only affects the Dexterity saving throw, but you can always use forced movement to shove things back in web’s area for another saving throw. The hound itself deals decent damage and can knock creatures prone, which is especially useful in conjunction with web as prone and restrained are very difficult to escape.
Spell changes: +fireball.

Fireball – The signature spell of Wizards and Sorcerers. We’re taking it a level later than most folks because we’re building a strong controller and needed hypnotic pattern first, but we’re still taking it because eliminating fodder using only a 3rd level slot is going to be valuable for a very long time. Don’t assume that round 1 is always for your concentration spell; in a situation worth spending a 3rd level spell slot where fireball is good, there’s no reason not to lead with it. If your DM tends to use lots of smaller enemies in the encounters you face it may be worth taking this at level five and then hypnotic pattern at this level. Twinned phantasmal force or dissonant whispers still has value so we opt to keep it instead of grabbing counterspell, but if your campaign has a higher propensity towards casters even at this level, you may need to select counterspell early.

Level 7 Sorcerer

Spell Changes: +polymorph.

Polymorph – Very powerful at this level, and versatile too. You could combo this with your Hound to make something else fail their saving throw, but that is not the most reliable way to use this spell. Instead, use this on an ally to turn them into a giant ape or mammoth, which both buffs their offense and gives them a big pool of hit points to absorb any damage they take before their own health is touched. At level 8 you also have the tyrannosaurus rex and huge giant crab for your go-to options. You can use Twinned Spell on this for a massive power spike. This spell also has a very long duration, so if your party has scouted ahead and knows a fight is coming you can cast this out of combat and have your allies begin combat immediately as polymorphed beasts.

Level 7 Strategy

At this stage in the game our character is becoming quite powerful. We have a game changing pseudo-heal and damage-boost option in polymorph, which is twinnable. We have two very powerful area of effect spells that can handle the vast majority of encounters, and we have some strong single target debuff options that we can use while concentrating on another spell. We also have a powerful subclass ability that empowers our save or suck spells. Bear in mind while we have a lot of options for Twinned Spell, the cost can add up very quickly, so monitor your sorcery points like any other resource. On the other hand, two giant apes can end most encounters on their own at this level, so do not be afraid to use this massive damage sponge. Consider Hiding or Dodging behind full cover to let your party clean up after you’ve pulled out the twinned polymorph—you don’t want to lose that concentration.

Level 8 Sorcerer

Ability Score Improvement – +2 Cha. It’s time to max our Charisma, which will increase our spell save DC and our spell attack rolls as well.
Spell Changes: +counterspell.

Counterspell – A simple must-have for defense, remember this and Subtle Spell combine quite well. You are the premier counterspell caster by virtue of being able to keep your counterspell from being counterspelled, don’t hesitate to use it when an enemy spellcaster is in range. Remember Magical Guidance has synergy here.

Level 9 Sorcerer

Spell Changes: +synaptic static.

Synaptic static – It’s like fireball, but targets a better save and comes with an extremely debilitating rider. It is also a much less frequently resisted damage type. These advantages provide far more value than 7 additional fire damage (had we upcast fireball). This spell would be an auto-pick even if it required concentration. It does not. If we had more 5th level slots we wouldn’t hang on to fireball, but we don’t so we want to keep a blast option at a lower level slot. With our limited spells known, we want spells that can do double duty, and this fits the bill nicely with blasting and control.

Level 10 Sorcerer

Metamagic – Quickened Spell, Subtle Spell, Twinned Spell. Quickened Spell opens up for a lot of good combinations for us. Twinning mind sliver to increase the likelihood our targets fail the saving throw against our Quickened bonus action web is very nice. Many items require an action to activate some component of them, this Metamagic option allows you to use items and cast spells during the same turn. Remember that using a magic item like a staff or a wand that allows you to cast levelled spells still cannot be used per the bonus action casting rules, which state that the only spells you may cast with your action are cantrips. A wand of web may be channeling the spell, but you are still casting it; a necklace of fireballs however does not cast fireball, so it may be used. Of course, the primary reason we take Quickened Spell is to take the Dodge action right away and make ourselves harder to hit immediately after dropping our big combat-winning concentration spell.
Spell Changes: +Tasha’s mind whip, +prestidigitation.

Tasha’s mind whip – Tasha’s mind whip allows for extra control while concentrating on a stronger spell such as polymorph or hypnotic pattern. It has the additional use of cheaply burning an enemy’s legendary resistances. On top of that, it’s also twinnable. If an enemy has to live with it, it allows the whole party to move away for free. Note that unlike phantasmal force, Tasha’s mind whip can be upcast for more targets. Rime’s binding ice is an alternative, but at this point the damage is becoming close to negligible and Constitution saves for monsters are trending upwards. If your encounters trend more towards higher quantity, lower quality enemies, it’s a strong consideration.
Prestidigitation – Take this, or take a different utility cantrip that appeals to you.

Level 10 Strategy

We’ve now got a slew of potent abilities at our disposal. Quickened spells allow us to begin Dodging immediately after we cast a big spell like hypnotic pattern, web, polymorph. Or we can use our action to cast mold earth immediately and obtain cover when none would be available otherwise. Another good first turn option for obviously dangerous encounters would be quickened fireball or synaptic static on a group and then twinned mind sliver to beef up another disabling spell an ally may use as a follow up to your play. Like twinned polymorph, quickened spell plus twinned cantrip is costly, but absolutely worth it in the right encounters.

Level 11 Sorcerer

Spell Changes: +mass suggestion, +banishment, -polymorph.

Mass suggestion – Mass suggestion allows us to defuse one encounter by giving a suggestion to up to twelve creatures that can understand you to save themselves and flee. It lasts 24 hours so anything you affect is guaranteed to go away for a very long time. The suggestion doesn’t have to just be “move far away,” but this would be a minimum expectation. Discuss this with the DM, but “reasonableness” here mostly just means to not do directly harmful things. “Knight giving horse to a beggar” is an example in the spell text for suggestion.
Banishment – Polymorph doesn’t stay as strong at higher levels so we’re swapping it out at this level. Banishment is a good option and is twinnable just like polymorph, sometimes you just need a couple of enemies to go away for ten rounds, or permanently and suddenly the encounter is far more manageable. It also upcasts decently as well, but you cannot twin it if you upcast it.

Level 12 Sorcerer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Lucky. This gives us a way to reroll failed saves, which might be important concentration saves, or might be Wisdom saves, or more rarely, Intelligence saves, both of which are a bit of an Achilles heel for us.

Level 13 Sorcerer

Spell Changes: +reverse gravity, +telekinesis, –phantasmal force.

Reverse gravity – A potent crowd control option is available at this level. A 50 foot radius is enormous, and keep in mind saving throws are only available if there’s something to grab within reach. If they make the save to hold onto something with one of their hands, that hand would remain occupied. 7th level spells are a sore spot within the Sorcerer spell list; most other full casters get something even more extraordinarily broken at this point.
Telekinesis – This spell lasts long enough for us to expect it to last for at least two encounters, providing us flexible control and utility. Dungeon obstacles like cave-ins or large boulders can be largely ignored with this spell. We can move obstacles around and re-shape the battlefield as needed. We can steal weapons or important items (MacGuffins) with it. Probe for traps with an object. If we use it on enemies they make a check but not a saving throw, which is important for two reasons. Firstly, enemies do not add their proficiency bonus to Strength checks and secondly, if you lose the contested check you can expend a sorcery point to reroll and try to succeed via Magical Guidance. Use this spell to throw people upwards and outwards or into pits, traps, and other environmental hazards. Versatility is key here with this spell.

Level 14 Sorcerer

Shadow Walk (Shadow Magic Feature) – This feature is a solid defensive option. Think of it like misty step, except better range and conditional upon light. Use it to break grapples and get out of reach like you would misty step, except you can get far enough away you can force a Dash action. Since it only costs a bonus action to use, one could feasibly take the Hide action if you’re already concentrating on a big spell, provided you use your movement to get to a spot where you can hide. Works very well in many dungeons, not at all outdoors in broad daylight.

Level 15 Sorcerer

Spell Changes: +demiplane.

Demiplane – It’s like a bag of holding, but large enough for furniture, a house, or a dragon’s hoard. If you have a Bard, Cleric, or Wizard in the party, they can use a high level spell slot on planar binding and then store whatever is bound in here. It could also be a viable choice to forego 8th level spells entirely in favor of powerful mobility spells for yourself and the rest of the party, like plane shift or teleport, if you are the only caster capable of such magic.

Level 16 Sorcerer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Resilient (Wis). Several of the nastiest effects in the game at high level are tied to Wisdom saving throws, so let’s shore up that weakness now. You know by now there will still be plenty of opportunities to use your Lucky feat on!

Level 17 Sorcerer

Metamagic – Heightened Spell, Quickened Spell, Subtle Spell, Twinned Spell. At this stage in the game we can afford to grab this Metamagic. It’s extremely expensive for a single spell casting but it’s absolutely worth it when you consider the kind of spells you’ll be heightening, like synaptic static, hypnotic pattern, banishment, or anything you’d cast with your new 9th level spell slot. You can even use this in conjunction with Hound of Ill Omen for an expensive but potentially impactful way to ensure two creatures have disadvantage to their saving throw against a particular spell if it’s vital enough to get both, like a 5th-level banishment on two high priority targets.
Spell Changes: +wish.

Wish – This lets us cast any spell, on any list, with any cast time, of 8th level or lower, with a single action and no material component cost. Using wish to cast simulacrum saves you 12 hours and 1500gp, and that’s just the start of what you might use this for. Remember, it’s almost never worth it to use one of the “alternate” uses for the spell that have a chance of preventing you from casting it ever again. You can read about wish in greater detail in our Spell Spotlight.

Level 17 Strategy

We’re finally here at 9th level spells, and while our strategy is largely unchanged, we’ve got a lot more sorcery points to play with and plenty of good uses for them. With wish there are a lot of spells you can now cast that have saving throws—heighten them to make it that much harder for a successful save. Cast simulacrum with wish, but used twinned Metamagic to target two people and make two simulacra in one casting. You’ll likely have some very nice magic items to use your actions on so use some quickened metamagics to place spells on top of it. Of course, Subtle Spell remains the trump card against counterspell and we have plenty of options we do not want countered. You’re a tier four character, so play like one; just don’t forget to keep some tricks up your sleeve as a contingency plan.

Level 18 Sorcerer

Umbral Form (Shadow Magic feature) – An expensive feature, but resistance to damage is resistance to damage. Likely this won’t be used frequently, but in a fight against something like a nightwalker this is a handy situational ability. However, as always, our best defensive option is being out of the line of fire completely.

Level 19 Sorcerer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Alert. Bonus to initiative, going first when you have control spells is extremely important so you can shape the battlefield before any allies enter melee range or before any hostiles have a chance to cast their own spells.

Level 20 Sorcerer

Sorcerous Restoration – Recovering four sorcery points on a short rest isn’t exactly what one thinks of when they think of an exciting capstone, but the saving grace here is you don’t have to have expended all of your class-specific resources to benefit from this.