Best damage type for a dragon path sorcerer

[Spacehamster]

Hello playground.

One of my players wanted to make a dragon path sorcerer and he choose gold dragon, but read later after we played that fire is the most common elemental damage to to have resistance for among mobs, so since we barely had time to start I were going to let him change to another type of dragon if he wants to.

So my question is which type of dragon has the best type of damage for not getting half dmg too often?

Spacehamster to infinity and beyond!

[Ramshack]

Having flipped through the MM a few times already the most common immunity / resistance I found was Poison. Fire was also common.

Cold would be solid as long as your campaign isn't set in a snowy adventure setting or Electric would be my best guess, bonus points if you want to allow it to do double damage against people in metal armor.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

My personal opinion with no empirical evidence would be Lightning, since it seems to be a less common resistance, and there a a number of good lightning spells.
Maybe look into acid as well. Not sure how common the resistance is, and I don't think there's as many acid spells to work with.

[Daishain]

I don't think anyone has done a ranking on the most common 5E energy resistances yet, so the following is based on past editions.

1. Fire
2. Cold
3. Lightning
4. Acid
5. Sonic (thunderous in this version)
6. Force

I'm not sure where the new damage type, poison, ranks in this hierarchy, but I've seen it pop up several times already, and suspect it is fairly high.

Of the other four actually available. Fire and cold are nearly equal (the latter mainly due to undead being so common), and lightning and acid are nearly equal.

I suppose acid would technically be the best choice under those circumstances. But I don't personally like the image and would prefer lightning instead.

[Shining Wrath]

Acid or electric, but the problem with those is that they are chromatic dragons not metallic, so there might be alignment issues - although you don't HAVE to play a PC with the alignment of your ancestry, fluff-wise it feels wrong.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Acid or electric, but the problem with those is that they are chromatic dragons not metallic, so there might be alignment issues - although you don't HAVE to play a PC with the alignment of your ancestry, fluff-wise it feels wrong.

Bronze & Copper dragons are Lightning & Acid respectively.

[HugeC]

Is there a spell that deals acid damage to an area? I think your only choices are Acid Splash (crappy, IMO), Chromatic Orb, and Melf's Acid Arrow.

[Blacky the Blackball]

Remember, it's not just about which element is resisted the least. It's also about which element has the most (and most fun) spells.

Besides, your sorcerer friend can always pick up the Elemental Adept feat at 4th level, which will negate his targets' fire resistance and let him do full damage anyway (or whatever other resistance if he chooses to specialise in a different element).

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Remember, it's not just about which element is resisted the least. It's also about which element has the most (and most fun) spells.

Besides, your sorcerer friend can always pick up the Elemental Adept feat at 4th level, which will negate his targets' fire resistance and let him do full damage anyway (or whatever other resistance if he chooses to specialise in a different element).

Good point. And part of the choice of dragon also gives you resistance to the chosen damage, which can make fire that much more attractive, and would be a pro for choosing poison if you want to be green. But it ain't easy.

[cobaltstarfire]

Acid or electric, but the problem with those is that they are chromatic dragons not metallic, so there might be alignment issues - although you don't HAVE to play a PC with the alignment of your ancestry, fluff-wise it feels wrong.

Someone who has a chromatic dragon in their past does not have to be evil. (heck depending on the setting chromatic dragons don't even have to be evil).

[Kaiisaxo]

Since elemental adept takes care of resistances I think the most important think to consider is which immunity is the most common.

[Spacehamster]

Thanks for the answers, completely forgot about elemental adept!

[Demonicattorney]

Fire Immunity is most common, all of the Fiends have it, as do the most prototypical dragons.

[Naanomi]

I'm a fan of electrical damage... long range, spells at several levels, few people immune, and the possibility of a two-level 'tempest' cleric dip for some fun Zap!

[EugeneVoid]

I'm looking into building around blasting and lightning/thunder are both decent options if you ever want to dip Cleric for the Tempest Channel Divinity. The 2-level dip probably isn't worth it though. I think, then, that choosing whichever element is most appealing to you characteristically is the best choice.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Here's a list of the Sorc's spells which deal an appropriate damage.


Fire
Fire Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Burning Hands
Scorching Ray
Fireball
Wall Of Fire
Delayed Blast Fireball
Fire Storm
Prismatic Spray
Incendiary Cloud
Meteor Swarm

Lightning
Shocking Grasp
Chromatic Orb
Witch Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Chain Lightning
Prismatic Spray

Cold
Ray of Frost
Chromatic Orb
Ice Storm
Cone Of Cold
Prismatic Spray

Acid
Acid Splash
Chromatic Orb
Prismatic Spray

Poison
Poison Spray
Chromatic Orb
Ray Of Sickness
Cloudkill
Prismatic Spray

As you can see, Fire gets the most spells, and all of the high level spells (Above 6) are Fire, making it a great choice, especially when combined with the Elemental feat. Acid is notably bad, as it only gets Acid Splash, a minor cantrip.

[Easy_Lee]

Could always let him play a cobalt, ethereal, phantom, radiant, etc dragon and take force. It's not in the PHB, but they're probably coming.

[Naanomi]

Here's a list of the Sorc's spells which deal an appropriate damage.

As you can see, Fire gets the most spells, and all of the high level spells (Above 6) are Fire, making it a great choice, especially when combined with the Elemental feat. Acid is notably bad, as it only gets Acid Splash, a minor cantrip.
I would note that the ability to scale spells by using higher level slots somewhat mitigates the disadvantage... not for Acid, perhaps, but throwing Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning into higher level slots for more ZAP still seems like a viable choice even next to the variety Fire specialization offers.

[rollingForInit]

I would note that the ability to scale spells by using higher level slots somewhat mitigates the disadvantage... not for Acid, perhaps, but throwing Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning into higher level slots for more ZAP still seems like a viable choice even next to the variety Fire specialization offers.

Fire still gets more versatility, especially at lower levels. I would imagine that Fireball generally hits more enemies than Lightning Bolt, and before that there's both Burning Hands and Scorching Ray.

I'm going to start playing a dragon sorcerer soon. I might ask the DM to reflavour some spells into cold or lightning, such as Scorching Ray and Fireball.