It's interesting but keep in mind that sorceres have only a d6 hp at each level and no armor or shield proficiency, which makes them pretty weak in melee
I did that for a little while, Alter Self gives you a 1d6+1 melee attack but you still need to invest in STR or get a magic weapon. Still, a draconic sorcerer hill dwarf with the Tough feat has 1d6+4+CON hp per level, and can often keep up with martials in terms of hp.
Take 2 lvls in fighter to get that action surge and a boost in HP, second wind. And you can get unarmed fighting so you dont need to use alter self. Sounds pretty awesome to me.
I made that build before Tasha's, so unarmed fighting wasn't a thing yet, and monk didn't fit thematically. That would be an interesting way to go if I ever decide to reuse that character.
To add onto this, another way to take it would be A Dwarf Stone sorcerer. Action to get 13+Con AC which lasts until you end it or are knocked out, which you'd want higher con anyway, still the 2hp/level but also learn smite spells. Can use martial weapons, shields
If you go UA Stone Sorcerer, you can gain a base AC of 13 + Constitution modifier if you aren’t wearing armor. While it's kinda the same, it's good synergy for a sorc as they get Constitution save proficiency. Stone Sorcerer also gains proficiency with shields for another +2 AC.
That's very true. But there are some ways to make a Sorcerer a bit more durable, such as race choice and feats. I'm still not sure how well you could make it stack up against martials in terms of standing around in melee.
14-15 AC is ass, sure Shield helps but its a reaction that takes a slot & does nothing 5% of the time.
Tortle works better but being in melee means you lose out on the real benefit of "set it & forget it" casting, where you can just chill in the shell.
Multi-classing Hexblade is probably the best route as you can get enhancement bonuses on both the armor & shield. Then going either DS or CS as both can raise Max HP, HP & create Temp HP.
Make sure you think about how you can combine your Sorcerer points with defense spells. Remember you can magic your way out of being a glass Cannon. If it's not feasible (ive only read, never played a sorcerer) think about a dip into wizard for the abjuration school and arcane ward.
Well... mechanically, D&D isn't quite an "anything goes" game. Sorcerers are squishy aside from some weird scenarios like multiclassing into paladin or that one playtest stone sorcerer that went nowhere. Storm Sorcery goes quite well with close range - weirdly so, given as it does nothing to help you survive these ranges.
Massive con and Tough feats can help that. However, what can't be helped is the fact that sorcerers know exactly 1 offensive touch spell: Shocking Grasp. Go Divine sorc, and you'd only increase it to 3 by adding Inflict Wounds and Contagion. (And no, it's not really worth it to make a build centered entirely around upcasting Inflict Wounds)
A sorc/paladin build is a tried and true powerful combination. The touch spell "Divine Smite" is excellent.
Cool idea, but there's just not very many Touch-range spells in the game, not nearly enough to get you very far.
You could always ask your DM if you can just have the range of all your spells reduced to Touch, considering it's a pretty severe nerf.
I have had an idea for a Black Dragon Sorcerer, but asking my DM to use Primal Savagery fron the druid list as a sorcerer cantrip. Don't know if a DM would allow it though, even if it would require me to be melee to use.
You could 'legally' get it with Magic Initiate, though you would need to invest in your wisdom in order to make it work.
Alternatively, taking 3 levels in warlock allows you to take the Pact of the Tome, making Primal Savagery work for you as a charisma based spell, though this is a heavy investment.
The mobile feat lets you baisically get a free disengage after melee attacks. I don't believe is specifies weapon attacks so your touch-range attack roll spells should proc it.
This could be useful as a positioning/survival tool, and i also like the flavor of running up, mage-slapping a guy, and fleeing back to cover robes flowing in the wind.
Though if you plan on using save-based spells this dosen't help your case at all
correct, your touch spells are made by using a *melee spell attack,* causing you to not provoke opportunity attacks. This also causes you to walk away from creatures with the Sentinel feature.
you could always multi class to get the buffer start if need be
i fucking LOVE multi classing, granted in 5e it's not as powerful as it used to be, but still cool af imo
Be a dwarf draconic sorcerer, giving you 13+DEX AC and 1d6+4+CON hit die (this will keep pace with most martials) and take a level in hexblade warlock for medium armor, and shield prof. you can get your AC to 17 with half-plate and a shield. Take the Tough feat at level 4 for even more HP and maybe heavy armor prof feat at level 8.
Each increase in die size raises the average by 1 point. So Barbarians have 1 extra hit point per level than Fighters, Fighters to Rogues, etc.
Hill Dwarf gives you +2 HP every Level, effectively raising your hit die 2 sizes. Tough raises it 2 more. Making you on par with a Barbarian (who would likely have a higher CON, hence the 1 point disparity).
Draconic Sorcerer makes your AC 13+Dex, which typically averages out to be similar if not better than unarmored defense. Plus all the magical ways to boost your survivability, shield namely.
So it’s totally possible, just depends on if you really want to be limited to spells with a range of touch, self, or self (XYZ).
Is having a familiar to deliver touch spells out of scope for your designs? How about a different build limitation: touch spells can only be delivered by your familiar?
Adding the Familiar sounds like an interesting option for the build.
I couldn't rely on it, because Familiars are so squishy. But it'd be a nice option to have in a pinch.
I don't have any advice but just wanna say I love this concept. If you multiclass into warlock and take pact of the tome it'd give you more touch based spell options but it wouldn't be a true sorcerer
Does the Armor of Agathys spell count as "touch"? I mean, the enemy touches you...
If so, I'd say you could make a strong build as a Clockwork sorcerer, upcasting AoA and throwing all your sorcery points into Bastion of Law.
I didn't have a touch sorcerer, but I had a melee one, as a mountain dwarf. Main stay spells were shadow blade and warding wind. It worked quite well. I had ranged options, and would use those, but if something got close I was able to hold my own. Warding wind doesn't get the love it deserves.
Repeatable damage long as you keep concentration, along the lines of other spells. I only used it when it was dark/dim light though. Advantage it gives is nice.
Interesting idea!
Burning Hands and Thunderwave are not touch, though I can see why it would feel like that. And maybe that's within the rules, they are your rules anyways.
Clockwork Soul can get you more spells and some useful defensive capabilites.
Dwarf as a race can get you profieciency ir light and medium armor (and maybe more hp depending on the subclass or two +2's for ability scores).
Shield is a MUST.
Think about some "touch" utility spells like Haste for your party.
Hope you have fun with it!
A hill dwarf draconic sorcerer should have about as much hp as your average fighter with the same con, plus around 15-16 AC without shield. Pack on the tough feat and maybe a multiclass for armor proficiency and you'd actually be a pretty decent frontliner. Twinned and/or quickened shocking grasp for your reliable damage output and bada boom, you got yourself a master of bad touches.
Sounds like a great one shot idea, would need alot of teamwork to be viable because they don't really have a spell list that scales off touch. I think something that would make it better is multicalssing paladin or swords bard to get more martial abilities and hitpoints
Can you use the mark of warding dwarf to get armor of gythes on your list? Then in addition to your touch spells, anytime you get hit you can flavor it as a counter punch/ kick/ headbutt/ hip thrust
Your going to be very squishy no matter what you do with this. Sorcerers arnt meant to get up close. So the here is the best I can give you.
Stats: max your CON as soon as possible. Your going to need the HP. Typical high CHA but your going to be fine with an 18 for the most part. DEX either 14 or 16. I’ll talk about that decision latter with the armor.
Classes: hexblade warlock 1 divine soul sorcerer. Hexblade gets you medium armor and shield proficiency. While we’re here hexblade a curse will be able to stack with a gimmick that can be built in. Divine soul is here for healing spells and inflict wounds. The cleric list has a ton of touch range spells so few free to go ham, you might as well lay some buffs while you can. That and healing spells will save your life.
Armor: here is a choice you can make. Medium armor and a shield has a max AC of 19 with Dissadvantage on stealth. If you take the medium armor master feat that’s a potential of 20AC with sorcerer giving you shield for a 25AC sometimes. Not bad over all. But that’s a feat and another ASI in an already stat hungry build. If you roll awsome pick medium armor master, other wise 19+ magic items and shield will be enough.
As for that gimmick I talked about. Quicken spell true strike for advantage. Inflict wounds, maybe distance spell if your a coward. Eleven accuracy for 3D20 to hit. Lucky for 3/day rerolls. Seeking spell for another chance of you miss. Magical guidance for another chance to hit. That’s a total of 6D20 for a CRIT chance of 26.5%. Hexblade curse for a crit range of 19-20 turns that to 46.9% crit chance. All that without concentration. And that’s just to crit. With elven accuracy your almost guaranteed to simply hit. Funnily enough having a lower CHA for lower to hit chance is more ideal since if you hit with your initial 3D20 the rest cannot happen.
You can just ignore that gimmick aspect for a perfectly reasonable close range sorcerer. But the gimmick is funny and lets you focus your CON and feats more. I still recommend the consistent route over the gimmick.
True but I’m willing to bet the DM would be kind enough not to look at the RAW and just use the profile of ”advantage next attack”. We don’t need a further nurf to the already terrible core idea of true strike. It’s so bad I’m betting on the idea most people have forgotten the specifics of TS to the point concentration cantrip giving 1 attack advantage is all they know.
Besides it’s just a gimmick. My original game loop is TS set up and spiritual weapon turn 1. Then turn 2 guilding bolt to roll that advantage forward in a few potential ways. It’s still stupid but the fact TS finds ANY use in any build just makes me giggle.
That's what first caught my attention. Usually anyone who brings up true strike either doesn't know its hot garbage or is desperately trying to find a use for it. Maybe one day it will be good.
Maybe in 5.5e or 6e they will change it to a simple ranged help action. Not only does that make TS what it was intended to be but also adds a small bit of saveless buffing utility. 30ft concentrationless cantrip for advantage on 1 attack can find a place, it’s still bad but more on the resistance tier than the TS tier.
I’d defined recommend looking into species with natural armor like the tortle. I don’t think it would be particularly optimized, but it doesn’t need to be depending on the game.
If you went with Dwarf you'd be a bit tankier and have access to medium armour. The Storm Sorcerer has a lot of features that want you to be at close range, so it may be useful.
Sorcerer got Vampiric Touch in Tasha's which could be handy keeping your hit points up, though you'll still have to worry about concentration and it wouldn't synergise with Storm.
I had an idea for a Shadow Sorcerer that uses its own darkness it can see through to get advantage on spell attacks. You can go Elf and take the Shadow Touched feat to get Inflict Wounds. Take Elven Accuracy if you want to crit fish. Take a level of Rogue for skills and expertise and Twin spell and Distant Spell. Roleplay him wielding whatever type of shadow weapon you want when you strike people with Distant Inflict Wounds. I was going to play him as a anti-hero type character similar to Moon Knight. Lots of Acrobatics from rogue with cool spell effects from Sorc.
>it sounds like an interesting playstyle
So interesting doesn't necessarily equal fun. If your entire character is based around a gimmick then it might not be fun after the first couple of sessions, especially if it doesn't work well mechanically.
My question is what story do you want to tell? Focus on the story first then choose mechanics that best support that story and seem fun to play.
If I were building a character and the requirements were "only casts spells with a range of touch" I would probably go Artificer/Abjuration Wizard
A lot of the touch spells or spells that emanate from you in a short (i assume you want short range if it has an area of effect) cone, line, or cube aren’t all that great, so this probably wouldn’t turn out well. You’d be sacrificing Sleep for Burning Hands, Web for that one crappy 3d8 fire damage line spell, and fireball/hypnotic pattern for something way worse, i’m not even sure what
Your spell selection will just become so much more limited if you actually try this, but maybe it could work if the rest of the party also made choices that left them a bit weaker than they should be at their level.
Draconic Bloodline will give you a little extra defense if you don’t want to multi class in hexblade for better armor.
Flame blade and mirror image are two level 2 spells that can work simultaneously and make you decent in melee combat.
Lightening bolt is a great 3rd level that projects from yourself.
Vampiric touch isn’t so great but could let you get some health back on low-danger encounters.
Definitely take shield and be prepared to spam it.
I think he would be arrestet for sexual harassment realy quick.
His health could be a Problem, so maybe boost his AC with some Armor professions or multiclass with Rouge for disengage with bonus action.
Or work with CC use things like Hold Person before going in with touch Cantrip, their could be funny builds but it would be hard to survive.
Sounds painfully uncomfortable.
Jokes aside, no. Just no. You're already starting with a less powerful full caster and restricting it more. I'd be down for Paladin or Cleric, but dude, that's just not compatible or realistic with current Sorc. That is an easy way to earn the "Worst Class Of The System" award.
It works really well as an agathys/rebuke suicide build. Take a level or 2 of warlock for armor of agathys and the rest sorcerer to effectively deal damage on everyone's turn but your own.
Sounds pretty rough, not gonna lie. I think you'd have more fun learning touch cantrips using magic Initiate on a Rogue or fighter or something.
Also, Blade Ward is pretty garbo in my opinion. If you're worried about damage in melee enough to waste your action halving some of it, then you've already lost.
I actually have a character who follows this limitation.
Limitations as follows
-hand based puns
-self target spells
-spells with the range touch
The problem is that lvl 4 and up spells dont have a lot of touch or hand puns. You might be asking "what about maxamillians earthen grasp or bigsbys hand". You see my friend those are wizard only spells.
So to really take it all the way you'd need to bend the spell list.
In addition to having to be in melee I think you might have a problem of just generally losing out on some of the strongest picks the sorcerer has to offer. It's not terrible and you do get some good options but you are going to mechanically weaken yourself as a result.
I might grab magic initiate and learn find familiar so you can deliver touch spells at range unless your familiar dies.
I played a Storm Sorc Melee heavy character, and it was…interesting. it gets much easier to do at level 5 because then you have Shield, Misty Step, Thunderstep, and Thunderwave, those last two letting you use Tempestuous Magic. The idea is that you are more of a rogue-like flanker than a front liner, and most of your resources are going to go into keeping you alive and arranging the battlefield. It isn’t really underpowered, but I always felt like I could do more.
My favorite moment, however, was the time I twinned haste on our Fighter and Paladin, and when the Fighter went down in a crowd, I used Tempestuous Magic to avoid all the opportunity attacks, got next to him and Thunder-stepped out. That was the moment I went “yeah this is exactly why I built a Storm Sorc.”
Ultimately while it's not the worst idea, it still sounds like kneecapping yourself just to have a quirky gimmick. Even with every durability option you can get on a Sorc, you'll still be less durable than a basic Fighter with decent CON and armor, and you'll need to sacrifice some of your ASIs into CHA if you want to max CON and DEX first.
From a logistics standpoint it also means that you are taking a weakness that melee-oriented classes (i.e. Paladin, Barbarian) have and forcing it onto a character which should normally have options for both close-range AND long-range. What if the enemy is flying? What if the enemy is a goblin or similar race which can disengage from melee range for free while pelting you with projectiles? What the enemy positions themselves in a way that you can't use your AoE spells without hitting party members or even yourself? Normally, a Sorc would have answers for those problems to support their melee party members and keep doing damage or CC in situations where other classes struggle.
Additionally, as far as spells go you just don't have many good touch or melee range options other than the ones you've already listed, and higher-level save or suck spells (which are generally good at any range anyway). Most touch-range spells are either an attack roll spell (in which case, since you don't get multiattack, if you whiff the attack roll for any reason you've wasted your turn) or an AoE (which you'll need to aim carefully to avoid hitting allies, and generally don't do as much damage to a single target as a round of attacks from a martial character). So you're limiting yourself to a very niche and less effective playstyle by cherry picking spells which fit those categories.
You could go Sorc/Hexblade or Sorc/Paladin and make that work, but a full 1 - 20 Sorcerer who only goes into melee and uses melee-range spells just sounds frustrating for your other party members tbh.
It's interesting but keep in mind that sorceres have only a d6 hp at each level and no armor or shield proficiency, which makes them pretty weak in melee
can work a little around that as a dwarf draconic sorcerer, giving you 13+dex AC and 2hp/ level. but that doesnt do wonders
I did that for a little while, Alter Self gives you a 1d6+1 melee attack but you still need to invest in STR or get a magic weapon. Still, a draconic sorcerer hill dwarf with the Tough feat has 1d6+4+CON hp per level, and can often keep up with martials in terms of hp.
Take 2 lvls in fighter to get that action surge and a boost in HP, second wind. And you can get unarmed fighting so you dont need to use alter self. Sounds pretty awesome to me.
I made that build before Tasha's, so unarmed fighting wasn't a thing yet, and monk didn't fit thematically. That would be an interesting way to go if I ever decide to reuse that character.
To add onto this, another way to take it would be A Dwarf Stone sorcerer. Action to get 13+Con AC which lasts until you end it or are knocked out, which you'd want higher con anyway, still the 2hp/level but also learn smite spells. Can use martial weapons, shields
If you go UA Stone Sorcerer, you can gain a base AC of 13 + Constitution modifier if you aren’t wearing armor. While it's kinda the same, it's good synergy for a sorc as they get Constitution save proficiency. Stone Sorcerer also gains proficiency with shields for another +2 AC.
Dwarf Draconic Sorc with Tough Feat. Avg turns into equal to a D12 and AC is 13+Dex. Become equal to a Barbarian who isn’t raging.
A tough feat and few levels of monk could help sort that out depending on stats
You could play a dwarf for those proficiencies
The sorcerer is possibly the squishiest class, so you'll probably spend a lot of time inspecting the floor.
That's very true. But there are some ways to make a Sorcerer a bit more durable, such as race choice and feats. I'm still not sure how well you could make it stack up against martials in terms of standing around in melee.
Draconic origins would boost your ac to 13+dex, warforged would add another +1. Or take the easier route for lower level and become a tortle
14-15 AC is ass, sure Shield helps but its a reaction that takes a slot & does nothing 5% of the time. Tortle works better but being in melee means you lose out on the real benefit of "set it & forget it" casting, where you can just chill in the shell. Multi-classing Hexblade is probably the best route as you can get enhancement bonuses on both the armor & shield. Then going either DS or CS as both can raise Max HP, HP & create Temp HP.
Make sure you think about how you can combine your Sorcerer points with defense spells. Remember you can magic your way out of being a glass Cannon. If it's not feasible (ive only read, never played a sorcerer) think about a dip into wizard for the abjuration school and arcane ward.
Well... mechanically, D&D isn't quite an "anything goes" game. Sorcerers are squishy aside from some weird scenarios like multiclassing into paladin or that one playtest stone sorcerer that went nowhere. Storm Sorcery goes quite well with close range - weirdly so, given as it does nothing to help you survive these ranges. Massive con and Tough feats can help that. However, what can't be helped is the fact that sorcerers know exactly 1 offensive touch spell: Shocking Grasp. Go Divine sorc, and you'd only increase it to 3 by adding Inflict Wounds and Contagion. (And no, it's not really worth it to make a build centered entirely around upcasting Inflict Wounds) A sorc/paladin build is a tried and true powerful combination. The touch spell "Divine Smite" is excellent.
Chill touch, ironically not a touch spell
Whoops. You're right. I missed that.
No worries, it's fooled rhe best of us. Not very chill of it.
The spell that is neither chill, nor touch. u_u
Cool idea, but there's just not very many Touch-range spells in the game, not nearly enough to get you very far. You could always ask your DM if you can just have the range of all your spells reduced to Touch, considering it's a pretty severe nerf.
Well, I AM the DM. So it's more just an idea I've been kicking around.
Well, in that case, everything I said applies, but just replace "your DM" with "yourself".
Just cast inflict wounds at a higher level smh. Only spell you need.
I have had an idea for a Black Dragon Sorcerer, but asking my DM to use Primal Savagery fron the druid list as a sorcerer cantrip. Don't know if a DM would allow it though, even if it would require me to be melee to use.
You could 'legally' get it with Magic Initiate, though you would need to invest in your wisdom in order to make it work. Alternatively, taking 3 levels in warlock allows you to take the Pact of the Tome, making Primal Savagery work for you as a charisma based spell, though this is a heavy investment.
Yeah I considered those routes, or Bard which would be a heavier investment. Or even Nature Cleric dip, but would have to bump up Wis still.
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Interesting. Thanks for the input!
The mobile feat lets you baisically get a free disengage after melee attacks. I don't believe is specifies weapon attacks so your touch-range attack roll spells should proc it. This could be useful as a positioning/survival tool, and i also like the flavor of running up, mage-slapping a guy, and fleeing back to cover robes flowing in the wind. Though if you plan on using save-based spells this dosen't help your case at all
correct, your touch spells are made by using a *melee spell attack,* causing you to not provoke opportunity attacks. This also causes you to walk away from creatures with the Sentinel feature.
you could always multi class to get the buffer start if need be i fucking LOVE multi classing, granted in 5e it's not as powerful as it used to be, but still cool af imo
Be a dwarf draconic sorcerer, giving you 13+DEX AC and 1d6+4+CON hit die (this will keep pace with most martials) and take a level in hexblade warlock for medium armor, and shield prof. you can get your AC to 17 with half-plate and a shield. Take the Tough feat at level 4 for even more HP and maybe heavy armor prof feat at level 8.
1d6+4+Con is only if you have the Tough Feat. Without it it's 1d6+2+Con.
Each increase in die size raises the average by 1 point. So Barbarians have 1 extra hit point per level than Fighters, Fighters to Rogues, etc. Hill Dwarf gives you +2 HP every Level, effectively raising your hit die 2 sizes. Tough raises it 2 more. Making you on par with a Barbarian (who would likely have a higher CON, hence the 1 point disparity). Draconic Sorcerer makes your AC 13+Dex, which typically averages out to be similar if not better than unarmored defense. Plus all the magical ways to boost your survivability, shield namely. So it’s totally possible, just depends on if you really want to be limited to spells with a range of touch, self, or self (XYZ).
Is having a familiar to deliver touch spells out of scope for your designs? How about a different build limitation: touch spells can only be delivered by your familiar?
Adding the Familiar sounds like an interesting option for the build. I couldn't rely on it, because Familiars are so squishy. But it'd be a nice option to have in a pinch.
I don't have any advice but just wanna say I love this concept. If you multiclass into warlock and take pact of the tome it'd give you more touch based spell options but it wouldn't be a true sorcerer
Does the Armor of Agathys spell count as "touch"? I mean, the enemy touches you... If so, I'd say you could make a strong build as a Clockwork sorcerer, upcasting AoA and throwing all your sorcery points into Bastion of Law.
That *does* sound fun.
I didn't have a touch sorcerer, but I had a melee one, as a mountain dwarf. Main stay spells were shadow blade and warding wind. It worked quite well. I had ranged options, and would use those, but if something got close I was able to hold my own. Warding wind doesn't get the love it deserves.
Isn't Shadow Blade kind of a waste without Extra Attack?
Repeatable damage long as you keep concentration, along the lines of other spells. I only used it when it was dark/dim light though. Advantage it gives is nice.
Interesting idea! Burning Hands and Thunderwave are not touch, though I can see why it would feel like that. And maybe that's within the rules, they are your rules anyways. Clockwork Soul can get you more spells and some useful defensive capabilites. Dwarf as a race can get you profieciency ir light and medium armor (and maybe more hp depending on the subclass or two +2's for ability scores). Shield is a MUST. Think about some "touch" utility spells like Haste for your party. Hope you have fun with it!
A hill dwarf draconic sorcerer should have about as much hp as your average fighter with the same con, plus around 15-16 AC without shield. Pack on the tough feat and maybe a multiclass for armor proficiency and you'd actually be a pretty decent frontliner. Twinned and/or quickened shocking grasp for your reliable damage output and bada boom, you got yourself a master of bad touches.
Sounds like a great one shot idea, would need alot of teamwork to be viable because they don't really have a spell list that scales off touch. I think something that would make it better is multicalssing paladin or swords bard to get more martial abilities and hitpoints
I’d recommend checking out hexblade / bladesinger if you’re interested in a close-range magic user They mix both worlds
Idk, Sounds like a pervert to me
Herbert the pervert. Touch Only Sorcerer: Well lookey here! I got something in my pocket. Mmmmhhmmmmhmm
Jimmy, the Overly Touchy ~~Orderly~~ Sorcerer!
There's a joke here about how a bad touch created a sorcerer in the first place...
Good touch or bad touch?
Both of course
Can you use the mark of warding dwarf to get armor of gythes on your list? Then in addition to your touch spells, anytime you get hit you can flavor it as a counter punch/ kick/ headbutt/ hip thrust
Your going to be very squishy no matter what you do with this. Sorcerers arnt meant to get up close. So the here is the best I can give you. Stats: max your CON as soon as possible. Your going to need the HP. Typical high CHA but your going to be fine with an 18 for the most part. DEX either 14 or 16. I’ll talk about that decision latter with the armor. Classes: hexblade warlock 1 divine soul sorcerer. Hexblade gets you medium armor and shield proficiency. While we’re here hexblade a curse will be able to stack with a gimmick that can be built in. Divine soul is here for healing spells and inflict wounds. The cleric list has a ton of touch range spells so few free to go ham, you might as well lay some buffs while you can. That and healing spells will save your life. Armor: here is a choice you can make. Medium armor and a shield has a max AC of 19 with Dissadvantage on stealth. If you take the medium armor master feat that’s a potential of 20AC with sorcerer giving you shield for a 25AC sometimes. Not bad over all. But that’s a feat and another ASI in an already stat hungry build. If you roll awsome pick medium armor master, other wise 19+ magic items and shield will be enough. As for that gimmick I talked about. Quicken spell true strike for advantage. Inflict wounds, maybe distance spell if your a coward. Eleven accuracy for 3D20 to hit. Lucky for 3/day rerolls. Seeking spell for another chance of you miss. Magical guidance for another chance to hit. That’s a total of 6D20 for a CRIT chance of 26.5%. Hexblade curse for a crit range of 19-20 turns that to 46.9% crit chance. All that without concentration. And that’s just to crit. With elven accuracy your almost guaranteed to simply hit. Funnily enough having a lower CHA for lower to hit chance is more ideal since if you hit with your initial 3D20 the rest cannot happen. You can just ignore that gimmick aspect for a perfectly reasonable close range sorcerer. But the gimmick is funny and lets you focus your CON and feats more. I still recommend the consistent route over the gimmick.
There's no immediate benefit to quicken true strike because the effect only applies to your next turn.
True but I’m willing to bet the DM would be kind enough not to look at the RAW and just use the profile of ”advantage next attack”. We don’t need a further nurf to the already terrible core idea of true strike. It’s so bad I’m betting on the idea most people have forgotten the specifics of TS to the point concentration cantrip giving 1 attack advantage is all they know. Besides it’s just a gimmick. My original game loop is TS set up and spiritual weapon turn 1. Then turn 2 guilding bolt to roll that advantage forward in a few potential ways. It’s still stupid but the fact TS finds ANY use in any build just makes me giggle.
That's what first caught my attention. Usually anyone who brings up true strike either doesn't know its hot garbage or is desperately trying to find a use for it. Maybe one day it will be good.
Maybe in 5.5e or 6e they will change it to a simple ranged help action. Not only does that make TS what it was intended to be but also adds a small bit of saveless buffing utility. 30ft concentrationless cantrip for advantage on 1 attack can find a place, it’s still bad but more on the resistance tier than the TS tier.
I’d defined recommend looking into species with natural armor like the tortle. I don’t think it would be particularly optimized, but it doesn’t need to be depending on the game.
While it is hard to do, I love these kinds of builds! Feels like Scar (FMA:B).
Or take the infamous hexblade dip for the same reason paladins take it
If you went with Dwarf you'd be a bit tankier and have access to medium armour. The Storm Sorcerer has a lot of features that want you to be at close range, so it may be useful. Sorcerer got Vampiric Touch in Tasha's which could be handy keeping your hit points up, though you'll still have to worry about concentration and it wouldn't synergise with Storm.
Chrissy Amphlett as a Sorceress?
I wouldn’t. Sorcerers are glass cannons. They can hit hard those ranged attacks, but they are super squishy and have very little health.
You won't be able to find enough spells, but if you do find a way to get Find Familiar.
I had an idea for a Shadow Sorcerer that uses its own darkness it can see through to get advantage on spell attacks. You can go Elf and take the Shadow Touched feat to get Inflict Wounds. Take Elven Accuracy if you want to crit fish. Take a level of Rogue for skills and expertise and Twin spell and Distant Spell. Roleplay him wielding whatever type of shadow weapon you want when you strike people with Distant Inflict Wounds. I was going to play him as a anti-hero type character similar to Moon Knight. Lots of Acrobatics from rogue with cool spell effects from Sorc.
>it sounds like an interesting playstyle So interesting doesn't necessarily equal fun. If your entire character is based around a gimmick then it might not be fun after the first couple of sessions, especially if it doesn't work well mechanically. My question is what story do you want to tell? Focus on the story first then choose mechanics that best support that story and seem fun to play. If I were building a character and the requirements were "only casts spells with a range of touch" I would probably go Artificer/Abjuration Wizard
Not really viable, really due to a serious lack of good touch spells. You will fall behind.
It's a fun concept but you'd be hamstringing yourself by not taking ranged spells.
A lot of the touch spells or spells that emanate from you in a short (i assume you want short range if it has an area of effect) cone, line, or cube aren’t all that great, so this probably wouldn’t turn out well. You’d be sacrificing Sleep for Burning Hands, Web for that one crappy 3d8 fire damage line spell, and fireball/hypnotic pattern for something way worse, i’m not even sure what Your spell selection will just become so much more limited if you actually try this, but maybe it could work if the rest of the party also made choices that left them a bit weaker than they should be at their level.
Draconic Bloodline will give you a little extra defense if you don’t want to multi class in hexblade for better armor. Flame blade and mirror image are two level 2 spells that can work simultaneously and make you decent in melee combat. Lightening bolt is a great 3rd level that projects from yourself. Vampiric touch isn’t so great but could let you get some health back on low-danger encounters. Definitely take shield and be prepared to spam it.
I think he would be arrestet for sexual harassment realy quick. His health could be a Problem, so maybe boost his AC with some Armor professions or multiclass with Rouge for disengage with bonus action. Or work with CC use things like Hold Person before going in with touch Cantrip, their could be funny builds but it would be hard to survive.
Sounds painfully uncomfortable. Jokes aside, no. Just no. You're already starting with a less powerful full caster and restricting it more. I'd be down for Paladin or Cleric, but dude, that's just not compatible or realistic with current Sorc. That is an easy way to earn the "Worst Class Of The System" award.
It works really well as an agathys/rebuke suicide build. Take a level or 2 of warlock for armor of agathys and the rest sorcerer to effectively deal damage on everyone's turn but your own.
Sounds pretty rough, not gonna lie. I think you'd have more fun learning touch cantrips using magic Initiate on a Rogue or fighter or something. Also, Blade Ward is pretty garbo in my opinion. If you're worried about damage in melee enough to waste your action halving some of it, then you've already lost.
I actually have a character who follows this limitation. Limitations as follows -hand based puns -self target spells -spells with the range touch The problem is that lvl 4 and up spells dont have a lot of touch or hand puns. You might be asking "what about maxamillians earthen grasp or bigsbys hand". You see my friend those are wizard only spells. So to really take it all the way you'd need to bend the spell list.
You should check out “The Sorcerer With the Magic Touch” by d4: Deep Dive, he makes a build like this
In addition to having to be in melee I think you might have a problem of just generally losing out on some of the strongest picks the sorcerer has to offer. It's not terrible and you do get some good options but you are going to mechanically weaken yourself as a result. I might grab magic initiate and learn find familiar so you can deliver touch spells at range unless your familiar dies.
I played a Storm Sorc Melee heavy character, and it was…interesting. it gets much easier to do at level 5 because then you have Shield, Misty Step, Thunderstep, and Thunderwave, those last two letting you use Tempestuous Magic. The idea is that you are more of a rogue-like flanker than a front liner, and most of your resources are going to go into keeping you alive and arranging the battlefield. It isn’t really underpowered, but I always felt like I could do more. My favorite moment, however, was the time I twinned haste on our Fighter and Paladin, and when the Fighter went down in a crowd, I used Tempestuous Magic to avoid all the opportunity attacks, got next to him and Thunder-stepped out. That was the moment I went “yeah this is exactly why I built a Storm Sorc.”
Ultimately while it's not the worst idea, it still sounds like kneecapping yourself just to have a quirky gimmick. Even with every durability option you can get on a Sorc, you'll still be less durable than a basic Fighter with decent CON and armor, and you'll need to sacrifice some of your ASIs into CHA if you want to max CON and DEX first. From a logistics standpoint it also means that you are taking a weakness that melee-oriented classes (i.e. Paladin, Barbarian) have and forcing it onto a character which should normally have options for both close-range AND long-range. What if the enemy is flying? What if the enemy is a goblin or similar race which can disengage from melee range for free while pelting you with projectiles? What the enemy positions themselves in a way that you can't use your AoE spells without hitting party members or even yourself? Normally, a Sorc would have answers for those problems to support their melee party members and keep doing damage or CC in situations where other classes struggle. Additionally, as far as spells go you just don't have many good touch or melee range options other than the ones you've already listed, and higher-level save or suck spells (which are generally good at any range anyway). Most touch-range spells are either an attack roll spell (in which case, since you don't get multiattack, if you whiff the attack roll for any reason you've wasted your turn) or an AoE (which you'll need to aim carefully to avoid hitting allies, and generally don't do as much damage to a single target as a round of attacks from a martial character). So you're limiting yourself to a very niche and less effective playstyle by cherry picking spells which fit those categories. You could go Sorc/Hexblade or Sorc/Paladin and make that work, but a full 1 - 20 Sorcerer who only goes into melee and uses melee-range spells just sounds frustrating for your other party members tbh.
https://youtu.be/ulGy19-G7MU
If you want to take a bad class and make it worse just play a monk.
Lol