Any good options for someone who wants to specialize in acid damage?

[Morrison]

I'm soon to be playing a short game where all the characters will be themed around genres of music, and I was thinking of making a Jerry Garcia-esque hippy character focused around acid damage. The problem is that acid is usually thought of as a pretty weak damage type. Any there any exceptions?

[stoutstien]

Acid is actually pretty strong as far as damage goes. Resistance and immunity are not common and it has enough spells to make it a valid option.

Dragon bloodline sorcerer would get all the spells needed like acid splash, dragon breath, vitriolic sphere and chromatic orb. Druids or nature druids could work as well but would have more limited spells that deal acid damage but would get the primal Savagery cantrip.

[Nhorianscum]

I'm soon to be playing a short game where all the characters will be themed around genres of music, and I was thinking of making a Jerry Garcia-esque hippy character focused around acid damage. The problem is that acid is usually thought of as a pretty weak damage type. Any there any exceptions?

Vitriolic Sphere is a decent blast. Past that things cap out at... chromatic sphere (plzno).

It's playable and the character wouldn't be bad by any means, you'll probably want to focus on the "psychedelic" aspect for most of your build going for a very BC oriented caster with a blast in Vsphere.

[SLOTHRPG95]

What level(s) are we talking about here? GOOlock can fit a more psychedelic vibe, and also grants you access to Hunger of Hadar, plus SAD access to both Acid Splash and Primal Savagery if you're going Tome. Throw on Elemental Adept (Acid) and 6-7 levels of Black/Copper Draconic Sorcerer, and you're about as acid-themed as a caster can be in 5e.

[DarknessEternal]

Either the Sorcerer or Wizard options that let you change any energy type into another.

[LudicSavant]

I'm soon to be playing a short game where all the characters will be themed around genres of music, and I was thinking of making a Jerry Garcia-esque hippy character focused around acid damage. The problem is that acid is usually thought of as a pretty weak damage type. Any there any exceptions?

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612317-Resistances-Immunities-and-Vulnerabilities-of-Monsters-in-MM-Volo-s-and-MToF

Acid is one of the better damage types out there, sitting at a solid B tier. And half of the Resistant things are Slaad or Yugoloths. Though it has about as many resistances as Necrotic, I'd wager that the things that are resistant to Necrotic see more use by DMs.

So then it's a question of what spells to take. Your choices are:
Acid Splash
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Hunger of Hadar
Illusory Dragon
Melf's Acid Arrow
Primal Savagery
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Storm of Vengeance
Vitriolic Sphere

Of those, the only ones that leap out to me as worthwhile spells are Dragon's Breath, Elemental Weapon, Illusory Dragon, Hunger of Hadar, Prismatic Wall, and Vitriolic Sphere (and Glyph of Warding, but not for Acid damage)

[Morrison]

It's playable and the character wouldn't be bad by any means, you'll probably want to focus on the "psychedelic" aspect for most of your build going for a very BC oriented caster with a blast in Vsphere.

What is a BC oriented caster?

[micahaphone]

I'd go draconic sorc and ask your DM for a slightly expanded spell list, like Melf's Acid Arrow* or maybe Hunger of Hadar.

Taking the available acid spells and some trippy spells like any illusions, Hypnotic Pattern, Polymorph, Haste or Slow, and you'll have a good acid hippy.

Bonus points for dressing like Jodorowsky in a duster and cowboy hat.




*It's so ridiculous that there's several spells that are great for character ideas or styles that are wizard only because the spell was created by a Magic User back in the early editions of the game. All the "$Name's Adjective Noun" spells for example.

[Dork_Forge]

Since I've not seen it mentioned already, honorable mention has to go to the Alchemist subclass of Artificer. They get Int mod to Acid damage at 5th level (earlier than Dragon Sorcs and depending how high the game goes, it would stack), they natively get Acid Spalsh and Melf's Acid Arrow and a single level dip of Wizard (or Dragon Sorc if you're aiming to stack) would give them Chromatic Orb.

[stoutstien]

Since I've not seen it mentioned already, honorable mention has to go to the Alchemist subclass of Artificer. They get Int mod to Acid damage at 5th level (earlier than Dragon Sorcs and depending how high the game goes, it would stack), they natively get Acid Spalsh and Melf's Acid Arrow and a single level dip of Wizard (or Dragon Sorc if you're aiming to stack) would give them Chromatic Orb.

I home-brewed but sphere back on the list and it definitely has the acid feel to it.

[Misterwhisper]

If your dm is ok with UA, the expanded class ability one had a metamagic one for sorcerer to change spells to different elements.

[ftafp]

Acid options are kind of limited, but if you're interested, a simic hybrid with the spit acid enhancement and gaseous form can turn into a corrosive mist that's resistant to all damage.

[Nhorianscum]

What is a BC oriented caster?

Battlefield Control.

I'd eyeball druid for that dank swag and look at primal savagery (0), and vsphere (4) as attack's for the acid theme (they're both well above average) and focus the rest of your build on trippy effects that control the battlefield (illusions, weird plant stuff, some weird trippy animals or elementals shaped like lava lamps, w/e).

[Porcupinata]

If you're going for an acid-trip hippy character, then Wild Magic Sorcerer would seem to be really fitting, since many of the magic surges are pretty trippy.

It also lets you use Tides of Chaos on two of your acid-based spells (Chromatic Orb and Melfs Acid Arrow) to hit more often, as well as the usual sorcerer metamagic.

If you're either starting at 4th level or playing a Vhuman then getting Elemental Adept has a larger effect on many of the acid spells that do damage in d4s than has on the usual d6s that you get for most elemental spells.

[LudicSavant]

Unfortunately, Melf's Acid Arrow is so bad it gives Witch Bolt a run for its money.

Let me put it this way. If you gave Melf's Acid Arrow a colossal buff such that it dealt all its damage in one turn, and auto-hit like Magic Missile, this super-buffed Acid Arrow would only do 1 extra point of damage over upcast MM, in exchange for less slot versatility, worse damage type, less synergistic combo potential, no ability to split targets, lower range, etc etc. Even with such a large hypothetical buff, it's still not as good as Magic Missile.

[Kyutaru]

Unfortunately, Melf's Acid Arrow is so bad it gives Witch Bolt a run for its money.
It's a classic hold over from past editions when acid was a vital damage type for disabling regeneration. Ongoing acid damage meant something that fast heals can't.

[stoutstien]

Could also fling acid vials with catapult. So much hits of acid puns potential.

[LudicSavant]

Could also fling acid vials with catapult. So much hits of acid puns potential.

Way better than Acid Arrow, anyway.

[stoutstien]

Way better than Acid Arrow, anyway.

Yea. I wish the alchemist artificer had some way to boost the follow up damage for it to give it at least one case where it is good.
As a DM I use it quite a bit.

[SLOTHRPG95]

Unfortunately, Melf's Acid Arrow is so bad it gives Witch Bolt a run for its money.

Let me put it this way. If you gave Melf's Acid Arrow a colossal buff such that it dealt all its damage in one turn, and auto-hit like Magic Missile, this super-buffed Acid Arrow would only do 1 extra point of damage over upcast MM, in exchange for less slot versatility, worse damage type, less synergistic combo potential, no ability to split targets, lower range, etc etc. Even with such a large hypothetical buff, it's still not as good as Magic Missile.

This is partially due to MM being overtuned, but there are still niche uses of MAA that make it way better than the likes of Witch Bolt. For starters, the lack of target splitting makes it twinnable, and if you have a DM that lets you pick it up as a Sorcerer spell then as a Black/Copper Draconic Sorcerer you're looking at MM damage turn one on a hit starting at 6th, with more damage turn two, and an extra point of damage both turns once you bump your Charisma to 20. Furthermore, while force is generally a better damage type than acid, note that there's no Elemental Adept (Force) feat. That's a pity, since damage that comes in d4s has the largest relative benefit from Elemental Adept. Not saying that you should pick up the feat just for MAA, but if you already have it for Acid Splash, Vitriolic Sphere, etc. then that's an extra point of damage turn one, plus half a point turn two (or more if upcast). Finally, if you can somehow guarantee a crit, then you can double your damage, which you can't do with MM.

tl; dr Melf's Acid Arrow isn't put to shame by Magic Missile since they were never competing. It is, however, put to shame by Chromatic Orb.

[LudicSavant]

For starters, the lack of target splitting makes it twinnable But do you want to Twin it? Doing so requires using resources comparable to casting Fireball. And getting it on your spell list somehow (it's not on the Sorc's list).

Being a Copper Sorc and taking Elemental Adept also strikes me as an inefficient investment -- it's basically just a worse version of other Elemental Adept Sorcs as far as I can tell.


Finally, if you can somehow guarantee a crit, then you can double your damage, which you can't do with MM.

Sorry to nitpick, but you can't double MAA's damage with a crit, you can only double the initial damage. Generally speaking if you can guarantee a crit you're better off using... almost anything else.

[SLOTHRPG95]

But do you want to Twin it? Doing so requires using resources comparable to casting Fireball.

Hence niche. And although it takes a 2nd-level slot and 2 SPs, which is indeed comparable to the one more SP needed to bump the slot and cast Fireball, I am not sure if an acid-themed Sorcerer has enough spells known to pick both Fireball and the more thematic Vitriolic Sphere. Not to mention that twinning a single-target spell is less prone to friendly fire. But failing all that, see: niche.


And getting it on your spell list somehow (it's not on the Sorc's list).

Mentioned in my previous post, but yes it's not normally on the Sorcerer's list. However, in spite of all that I've said in its defense, it remains such a poor spell that I'm not sure why any DM would insist on keeping it Wizard-only if you came to them and said, "hey I'm an acid Sorcerer and it really fits my theme."



Being a Copper Sorc and taking Elemental Adept also strikes me as an inefficient investment -- it's basically just a worse version of other Elemental Adept Sorcs as far as I can tell.

I thought we were assuming arguendo that one wanted to be an acid-based spellcaster. And if that's the case, it's a lot better than specializing in an element in which one has no interest.


Sorry to nitpick, but you can't double MAA's damage with a crit, you can only double the initial damage. Generally speaking if you can guarantee a crit you're better off using... almost anything else.

Very true, and please do nitpick. However, doubling its initial damage is still better than no doubling from MM. But yes, even better would be almost anything else. Off the top of my head, Chromatic Orb in a 2nd-level slot auto-crits for 8d8, while a DS (Evil) Sorc. can crit for 8d10 with a 2nd-level slot Inflict Wounds. And of course, the party Rogue or Paladin can probably make even better use of an auto-crit.