Best Favored Soul Domain?

[jaappleton]

So, what's the best Domain? Accounting for all available, even Death, Protection, Forge and Grave.

Sorcerers can break the laws of Magic with Metamagic, and break the Concentration limits on certain spells. Twinned Spell especially.

War Domain granting Shield of Faith on a Sorc can mean two allies have +2 AC.

Death grants Twinned Vampiric Touch, though it requires two enemies to be within reach.

Though any Domain granting Spirit Guardians can have fun with the Sorc's access to Lightning Lure.

Life of course grants Cure Wounds, which Sorcs can turn into a bonus action via Quicken.

[SharkForce]

depends what you want. war is pretty powerful in terms of giving you most of the basic "cleric tool kit". by which i mean... at level 5, a cleric has access to spiritual weapon and spirit guardians, which is basically what they're going to use in most fights for the rest of their career. they also get some interesting and useful buff spells, but mostly what it does is free up the rest of their spell slots to do mostly whatever you want... if you have those two spells, you're probably going to be useful in almost any fight you care to name.

on the other hand, trickery gives a lot of spells a sorcerer might want, and life gives an excellent set of support options.

[Zene]

Spirit Guardians and Lightning Lure, both boosted with Distant Spell, would be fun.

[Ovarwa]

No one gets SG.

[Zene]

No one gets SG.

???

It's on the war domain spell list

[Gignere]

Spirit Guardians and Lightning Lure, both boosted with Distant Spell, would be fun.

You can achieve the same by playing a Cleric with MI Druid. Magic Stone, Shillelagh, and Thorn Whip.

[Arkhios]

I'd say either Forge or Life.

Forge gets Elemental Weapon, just one level before they get Extra Attack, which is already nice on its own, but also because Sorcerer could (in theory, at least) twin Elemental Weapon for two weapons with two-weapon fighting in mind, and because sorcerers, along with bards and Forge clerics, can benefit from the 7th level EW as a single classed character.

Life on the other hand gains Cure Wounds which can be both Quickened and Twinned (not at the same time nor on same turn of course).
With Twinned Cure Wounds you could heal yourself and another target and Quicken a cantrip.
Alternarnatively, you could use your extra attack and then (or before) Quicken Cure Wounds.

[Zene]

You can achieve the same by playing a Cleric with MI Druid. Magic Stone, Shillelagh, and Thorn Whip.

Almost the same thing --you wouldn't have a 30' radius spirit guardians. And of course you wouldn't be playing a Favored Soul sorcerer.

(Funny thing is, I do in fact play a Life Cleric Tank w Magic Initiate Druid. I took Goodberry as the 1st-level spell, and shillelagh and thorn whip. It is awesome.)

[Specter]

For my group, I took Life. A twinned or quickened healing spell in a pich saved many lives. But no domain is bad, really. Light seems reduntant with as many blasting spells from the sorc list.

Vampiric Touch is bad, no matter what meta you apply to it.

[Spiritchaser]

I think they're mostly all good... Even the redundant seeming light, because it let's you pick more good standard sorcerer spells.

That said:

If you don't have bless in the party, life probably takes it on the strength of that one first level spell alone (and it's not like the other spells are bad) but it does make you fill a certain role that may or may not be what you want.

If you do Have someone running bless I'd put life war and forge on top, with trickery just lower.

[Drackolus]

Spirit Guardians and Lightning Lure, both boosted with Distant Spell, would be fun.

I'm not sure if it would work on spirit guardians. Range is self with a 15' radius. If it worked on that, it would work like that on thunderclap, burning hands, and lightning bolt.
Not 100% sure though.

[Arkhios]

I'm not sure if it would work on spirit guardians. Range is self with a 15' radius. If it worked on that, it would work like that on thunderclap, burning hands, and lightning bolt.
Not 100% sure though.

Your interpretation is correct. As seen below, Distant Spell only affects spells with specific range categories. Either range in feet or range of touch. Not range of self.
For reference, compare Spirit Guardians with Spiritual Weapon or Stoneskin (both on same page with Spirit Guardians btw), which would benefit from Distant Spell.

DISTANT SPELL
When you cast a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 1 sorcery point to double the range of the spell.
When you cast a spell that has a range of touch, you can spend 1 sorcery point to make the range of the spell 30 feel.

SPIRIT GUARDIANS
3rd-level conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (15-foot radius) [read: Range of Self (15-foot radius)]
Components: V, S, M (a holy symbol)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes.

SPIRITUAL WEAPON
2nd-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 60 feet [read: Range of 60 feet]
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute.

STONESKIN
4th-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch [read: Range of Touch]
Components: V, S, M (diamond dust worth 100 gp, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour.

[Spiritchaser]

I think they're mostly all good... Even the redundant seeming light, because it lets you pick more good standard sorcerer spells.

That said:

If you don't have bless in the party, life probably takes it on the strength of that one first level spell alone (and it's not like the other spells are bad) but it does make you fill a certain role that may or may not be what you want.

If you do Have someone running bless I'd put life war and forge on top, with trickery just lower.

[Gignere]

I think they're mostly all good... Even the redundant seeming light, because it let's you pick more good standard sorcerer spells.

That said:

If you don't have bless in the party, life probably takes it on the strength of that one first level spell alone (and it's not like the other spells are bad) but it does make you fill a certain role that may or may not be what you want.

If you do Have someone running bless I'd put life war and forge on top, with trickery just lower.

I would add if your party is light on healing life is the only one with any healing. So if your party need more healing life would be your only choice.

[Ogre Mage]

The Life Domain as you get access at Level 1 to two powerful spells the sorcerer usually does not get: bless and cure wounds.

The value of a twinned cure wounds is often discussed for a life domain favored soul, but my personal favorite is a quickened bless followed by an attack cantrip which requires a hit roll (usually firebolt). You boost yourself and your allies and then attack with the benefit of your own buff, all in the same round. Action economy!

Being able to bless yourself is also nice when you start casting scorching rays.

The forge domain is also great, but most of the key spells like shield are already on your spell list.

[Inox]

I'd say life, for the reasons already cited, but also for Lesser Restoration and Death Ward.

The first spell can cure a disease, or end the conditions of blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned--you can solve all but one of those for yourself. When you need LR, you really need LR.

Death Ward is amazing because it's a no-concentration 8 hour buff. While the effect vs. damage is nice, the protection against things that kill *without* doing damage is also a serious boon.

On the other hand, if you want a superior fire-based caster, take 2 levels of Undying Light Warlock (also UA) for that bonus to fire damage, and then go Favored Soul with the Light domain. That gives you a lot of the key 5th & below fire spells for free, freeing you up for additional selection goodness like Aganazzar's Scorcher, Melf's Minute Meteors, Immolation, Pyrotechnics, Green-Flame Blade, etc. And maybe with room for a few non-fire things.

[newsman77]

If you want a superior fire-based caster, take 2 levels of Undying Light Warlock (also UA) for that bonus to fire damage, and then go Favored Soul with the Light domain. That gives you a lot of the key 5th & below fire spells for free, freeing you up for additional selection goodness like Aganazzar's Scorcher, Melf's Minute Meteors, Immolation, Pyrotechnics, Green-Flame Blade, etc. And maybe with room for a few non-fire things.

This!!

I'm playing a Favored Soul (Life Domain)/Undying Light Warlock right now and it's been a blast! Definitely a lot of fun. You're character will be super-versatile. Need damage, check. Need healing, check. Need a buff, check. Need a debuff, check. Want to fight in melee, check. Want to be ranged this fight, check. Need to be the face of the party, check.

I will warn you, it was slow going at first. My party members made fun of my guy, called him useless and laughed when they hit the newest class feature, spell level, extra attack etc while saying how behind I was. But don't worry, you'll come into your own by like level 5. When I hit level 5, suddenly it was "you can do that?" "where did that come from?" "wow!"