Advice for a Drow: Sorcerer

[Daghoulish]

So I'm planing out a character that I'm going to be playing soon and was interested in getting some advice. I'll start with the stats, we roll for stats but are allowed to use the standard array so I'll be using those for the planing stages.

Str: 8
Dex: 16 (14+2)
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 13
Cha: 16 (15+1)

My subclass will be Draconic Bloodline Black, for story reasons. With the Draconic Resilience I have 16 base ac, which might save me once even if my hit die are d6's. I don't know how prevalent sunlight will be over the course of the adventure but I would like to account for it at least a little. My starting spell list is looking like this.

Cantrips
Acid Splash, Create Bonfire, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion
1st level
Magic Missile, Shield

All these are saves which means sunlight sensitivity won't make too much difference. I was think at 2nd level I would grab Chromatic Orb for damage, even if it is an attack roll. My starting Meta Magics at the moment would be Subtle and Empower. Shield is there because it's amazing and in a pinch I could go melee with 21 ac and rapier proficiency. I only really plan up to level 10 and for my first ASI I was thinking of taking Resilient Wis to get to 14 and have proficiency in those saves. Not sure what after that, maybe just take the 2 points in Cha? Any advice on spells would be great though. The spells I'm thinking of for each level are these.

2nd level
Dragons Breath (thematic and decent damage), Hold person
3rd level
Erupting Earth, Haste
4th level
Vitriolic Sphere, Dimension Door

[Galactkaktus]

Cantrips
Acid Splash, Create Bonfire, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion
1st level
Magic Missile, Shield

All these are saves which means sunlight sensitivity won't make too much difference. I was think at 2nd level I would grab Chromatic Orb for damage, even if it is an attack roll. My starting Meta Magics at the moment would be Subtle and Empower. Shield is there because it's amazing and in a pinch I could go melee with 21 ac and rapier proficiency. I only really plan up to level 10 and for my first ASI I was thinking of taking Resilient Wis to get to 14 and have proficiency in those saves. Not sure what after that, maybe just take the 2 points in Cha? Any advice on spells would be great though. The spells I'm thinking of for each level are these.

2nd level
Dragons Breath (thematic and decent damage), Hold person
3rd level
Erupting Earth, Haste
4th level
Vitriolic Sphere, Dimension Door

I whould probably change acid splash to Firebolt regardles of sunlight sensitivity the extra range and damage Will probably make up for it in many cases i whould also probably choose magic missile and sleep at level 1 and switch out sleep at level 3 for some good level 2 spell.

[Daghoulish]

I whould probably change acid splash to Firebolt regardles of sunlight sensitivity the extra range and damage Will probably make up for it in many cases i whould also probably choose magic missile and sleep at level 1 and switch out sleep at level 3 for some good level 2 spell.

See I would normally agree with saying to take Firebolt over Acid splash because 120feet > 60feet. However with my group we met in person and we don't have the biggest mat, we have I think 80 feet maximum to work with so I would only get about 20 feet normally. That's not even counting the fact that some fights are in dungeons and there is no way to have 120 feet. As for damage, at 6 the damages would be 2d6+cha VS 2d10 with possible disadvantage. That not even counting the fact that it could be 4d6+cha if there's two enemies next to each other.

I might agree with sleep over shield though. I have seen it take a fight of 5 goblins down to 2, so I know how strong it can be. I'll keep that one in case there's not too much frontline.

[Galactkaktus]

See I would normally agree with saying to take Firebolt over Acid splash because 120feet > 60feet. However with my group we met in person and we don't have the biggest mat, we have I think 80 feet maximum to work with so I would only get about 20 feet normally. That's not even counting the fact that some fights are in dungeons and there is no way to have 120 feet. As for damage, at 6 the damages would be 2d6+cha VS 2d10 with possible disadvantage. That not even counting the fact that it could be 4d6+cha if there's two enemies next to each other.

I might agree with sleep over shield though. I have seen it take a fight of 5 goblins down to 2, so I know how strong it can be. I'll keep that one in case there's not too much frontline.

Shield is great(the best 1st level spell) when you have level 1 spell slots to spare which is not the case at lower levels and fights in dungeons seldom have sunlight in them so firebolt whould be superior in those cases even if we disregard the range.

[Daghoulish]

Shield is great(the best 1st level spell) when you have level 1 spell slots to spare which is not the case at lower levels and fights in dungeons seldom have sunlight in them so firebolt whould be superior in those cases even if we disregard the range.

Sorry I worded my response kinda poorly. I meant I would take sleep instead of shield. I can see how it would be the better low level spell early on. I will be taking it at 1st, thanks for reminding me of it.

Admittedly I do get Faerie Fire at 3 and that could offset my disadvantage in sunlight, the fact that it's probably my best concentration spell or a while but it's also only once per day. I'm still not sold on firebolt for this character for a couple reasons.

1) Damage increase is stipulated on a single enemy, with two close together acid slash is better. This is very subjective but my DM tends to throw quantity over quality. They believe action economy is important so enemys tend to be our numbers or more. The last boss fight was 3 enemys(our party had 4 people). With his style I would be able to more often hit for 2d6 with acid spray over firebolts 1d10.
2) I believe in reducing chances for little-nothing happening. At level 6 my minimum damage with acid splash VS firebolt would be 5(2d6+3) or 2(2d10). The averages aren't too different (9 VS 10) While the max is somewhat different (15 VS 20). However this is all assuming I don't have two targets together in which case acid splash is the more damaging cantrip every time.

[Galactkaktus]

2) I believe in reducing chances for little-nothing happening. At level 6 my minimum damage with acid splash VS firebolt would be 5(2d6+3) or 2(2d10). The averages aren't too different (9 VS 10) While the max is somewhat different (15 VS 20). However this is all assuming I don't have two targets together in which case acid splash is the more damaging cantrip every time.

Oh right sorry forgot about your draconoic origin choice. That makes acid splash abit better. And the average whould be 10 vs 11 (which makes firebolt a harder sell). But what do you think about taking shocking grasp instead of create boonfire to give you a melee spell that alows you to disengage without taking an Aoo if you hit?

But maybe
Lv1
1 MM + sleep

Lv2
1 MM + sleep + shield

Lv3
1 MM + Shield
2 Dragons breath + hold person

Lv4 some cantrip
1 MM + Shield
2 Dragons breath + hold person +Misty step(whould have taken this at level 3 but dragons breath seems cool)

Lv5
1 Shield
2 Dragons breath + Hold person + Misty step
3 Haste + Erupting earth

I whould also try to fit in absorb elememts somewhere maybe instead of misty step or at level 6.

[Daghoulish]

Oh right sorry forgot about your draconoic origin choice. That makes acid splash abit better. And the average would be 10 vs 11 (which makes firebolt a harder sell). But what do you think about taking shocking grasp instead of create bonfire to give you a melee spell that allows you to disengage without taking an Aoo if you hit?

But maybe
Lv1
1 MM + sleep

Lv2
1 MM + sleep + shield

Lv3
1 MM + Shield
2 Dragons breath + hold person

Lv4 some cantrip
1 MM + Shield
2 Dragons breath + hold person +Misty step(would have taken this at level 3 but dragons breath seems cool)

Lv5
1 Shield
2 Dragons breath + Hold person + Misty step
3 Haste + Erupting earth

I would also try to fit in absorb elements somewhere maybe instead of misty step or at level 6.

That all sounds so fantastic. I was concerned about not having a melee cantrip, pre 5th level I was thinking I could get away with my rapier prof but I forgot shocking grasp has a chance to remove an opponents Aoo. Thank you so much. I'll be honest, even though I just read it I had forgotten I could change out a spell every level. I think that's going to be the hardest thing to remember that I should be doing after being mostly martial classes.


would have taken this at level 3 but dragons breath seems cool
I really think Dragons Breath doesn't get enough credit for what it does. It does 3d6 in a cone and half on miss, while lasting for a minute concentration. Scorching ray only does 6d6 max and has three chances to miss and do no damage. it only takes 2 hits of Dragon's Breath to do equal damage to Ray and at 3 hits your doing the best damage you could get at a 2nd level slot. The fact that it's thematic to a dragon sorcerer is just gravy on top of everything else.