Would a Sorcerer be good here? (Curse of Strahd spoilers)

[jaappleton]

We all just hit level 8. I had an Ancients Paladin that... stayed a little too long in the Forge's Wall of Fire, and is currently KO'd. Its really up to me if I want to play something else, or if the party heals me up. So there's an opportunity for a change here.

This Curse of Strahd group consists of:

Kenku Assassin Rogue - Hit and run tactics

Warforged Forge Cleric - Stands there and takes hits

Half Orc War Cleric - Big two handed maul

Warforged Devotion Paladin - Shield Expert, lots of smites

Veldakin Divination Wizard - Focuses on non-damage spells, utility casting

??? (Me)

We have healing covered. Lots of spellcasting. We have one multi-attacker. We have a skillmonkey... Well, skillbird.

I could be something like a Divine Soul and starting next level, twin cast things like Holy Weapon. But a brilliant light isn't going to assist the Assassin Rogue much due to spoiling surprise, so it'd like go on the Paladin and the... War Cleric? Is that really worth Twinning for this group? I could Haste the Paladin and the War Cleric (or Rogue), that might be a better option.


There's also a very, very legitimate possibility that we get to 11th level before entering the castle. This is important.

We're 8, and our DM has been very clear in that we're leveling up by clearing up questline. So we just finished up Argynvolstholt, we're making our way now toward the Werewolf den to clear that out. That gets us to level 9. After that, we move to Baba Lysaga for level 10. Beyond that is the Amber Temple to bring us to 11, and then everything is pretty much cleared out, aside from Castle Ravenloft itself.

Why is level 11 important? Aside from all the full casters getting 6th level spells, the Paladin also gets Improved Divine Smite, and Wizards / Sorcs / Druids get access to.... Sunbeam. A spell capable of utterly devastating things in this module. Its legitimately my favorite spell in the game.

So.... Would a Sorcerer work here?

[Bobthewizard]

A Sorcerer would be good for this party. I'd go draconic over divine soul since the party has 2 clerics and this party could use AOE damage.

You could also consider Gold/Red Dragon Sorcerer 6, Evoker 2 for combining elemental affinity, empowered meta magic and sculpt spells for great AOE damage with fireball and wall of fire, but this would delay sunbeam.

Or straight evoker wizard for sculpted sickening radiance and sculpted dawn at level 9. This gives you the added benefit of being able to share spell books with the divination wizard.

[jaappleton]

A Sorcerer would be good for this party. I'd go draconic over divine soul since the party has 2 clerics and this party could use AOE damage.

You could also consider Gold/Red Dragon Sorcerer 6, Evoker 2 for combining elemental affinity, empowered meta magic and sculpt spells for great AOE damage with fireball and wall of fire, but this would delay sunbeam.

Or straight evoker wizard for sculpted sickening radiance and sculpted dawn at level 9.

There is a lot of merit to just.... blowing the hell out of enemies while safely ensuring my allies aren't harmed.

I'd wanted to be more of a 'battlefield commander' style character, debuffing enemies in crippling ways or buffing allies into god-tier.

But there IS something very satisfying about just... "Fireball." "Ok your allie-" "NOPE they're fine."

[Bobthewizard]

I'd wanted to be more of a 'battlefield commander' style character, debuffing enemies in crippling ways or buffing allies into god-tier.

Control is always my preference for a wizard, but I assumed the divination wizard would take care of that. Evocation wizards can still take those spells, they can just sculpt their evocation spells too. Divination wizard's portent will take care of the rare single target debuff so you can focus more on crowd control. I wouldn't play an enchanter against undead. Those are my 3 favorite subclasses.

There are some crazy combos with two wizards, some of these can be done with a sorcerer.

Web and Evards tentacles so the enemy can never escape
Hypnotic pattern and fear so if they shake someone out of hypnotic pattern they just flee
Wall of force and sickening radiance
Fly and haste so the paladin has 120' fly speed

Biggest benefit of going wizard over sorcerer would be sharing your spellbook with the other wizard so you could both have all of the rituals and downtime spells. One takes shield, one takes absorb elements, then you copy each other's spells.

[jaappleton]

Control is always my preference for a wizard, but I assumed the divination wizard would take care of that. Evocation wizards can still take those spells, they can just sculpt their evocation spells too. Divination wizard's portent will take care of the rare single target debuff so you can focus more on crowd control. I wouldn't play an enchanter against undead. Those are my 3 favorite subclasses.

There are some crazy combos with two wizards, some of these can be done with a sorcerer.

Web and Evards tentacles so the enemy can never escape
Hypnotic pattern and fear so if they shake someone out of hypnotic pattern they just flee
Wall of force and sickening radiance
Fly and haste so the paladin has 120' fly speed

Biggest benefit of going wizard over sorcerer would be sharing your spellbook with the other wizard so you could both have all of the rituals and downtime spells. One takes shield, one takes absorb elements, then you copy each other's spells.

The Sorc can do pretty much all of that, so the question is, what's better:

Twinning spells for double buff / debuff

OR

Keeping allies safe with AoEs

[Bobthewizard]

The Sorc can do pretty much all of that, so the question is, what's better:

Twinning spells for double buff / debuff

OR

Keeping allies safe with AoEs


Either one would be an effective character for that party. So from here, play the one you want. I prefer AoE control over twinned buffs/debuffs but you can make either one work. Either way, be strategic in your spells based on what the diviner has, and to lesser extent the clerics. Speaking of clerics, a sculpted dawn spell and an upcast spirit guardians would melt away a lot of undead problems. Even better if the DM allows both clerics to use spirit guardians in the same area.

One thing I've always wanted to play is the Sorcerer/Evoker above with careful metamagic. Use sculpt spells for blasts and careful for hypnotic pattern, fear, and confusion. Never worry about placing an AOE spell again.

Anyway, think of a character you want to play around these mechanics and use sorcerer or wizard to fit into that character. You'll be a good addition either way.