Sorcerer or Bard as the only frontliner

[heavyfuel]

Can either of these classes be played as the party's main/only frontliner?

I was going to play an Abjurer with Eldritch Adept (and a Cleric dip) to fill both the frontliner and controller role, but since the party also needs a face, I thought best to go for a Cha based caster.

However, none of these classes seem particularly good at the frontliner job. Yeah, I can still dip Cleric for AC but none of the classes seem to have defensive options as good as Arcane Ward.

I don't really intend on attacking a lot with this character, so Blades Bard is useless. Draconic Sorcerer is basically like getting a d8 instead of a d6, not nearly enough to be a frontliner.

Can it be done?

The game will start at level 5, so any build must be up and runnning by then.

Thanks!

[Dark.Revenant]

Probably the best you can get with either of those classes is a Lore Bard with the Moderately Armored feat and as much Constitution as you can manage.

For frontline+control+face, consider Conquest Paladin.

[Amechra]

If the party needs a frontliner, a controller, and a face... what's everyone else doing?

[Emongnome777]

If Charisma-based caster is the only requirement, hexblade warlock seems like the best fit. Medium armor and shields helps tremendously here and you can go SAD with Cha-based attacks. You get some good melee spells like AoA to help defensive and offensively. Take blade pact to get the multi-attack invocation.

Edit: Oops, forgot the controller part. Guess warlock doesn't offer the controller aspects, but you can still manage some decent spells and not be totally useless in that area.

[noob]

If the party needs a frontliner, a controller, and a face... what's everyone else doing?

The other people are probably min maxers(instead of good max maxers) that reduced all their everything to get more damage.
So you need control, healing, being on the path of attacks, being a face and so on to solve all their non damage problems.
(They can however probably solve all their own damage problems in their infinite white fields with 1 ac 10 opponent per square)

[heavyfuel]

Probably the best you can get with either of those classes is a Lore Bard with the Moderately Armored feat and as much Constitution as you can manage.

For frontline+control+face, consider Conquest Paladin.

Hmmm... Lore Bard could work. I had totally forgotten about Cutting Words. I wonder what is best, getting Mod. Amored or just dipping Cleric to alleviate the MADness.

While I think Paladins are very solid from a mechanics perspective, I do find martial characters to be incredibly boring. Conquest Palains have a very effective trick, but that's it. It's one thing you repeat every combat. *yawn*


If the party needs a frontliner, a controller, and a face... what's everyone else doing?

I know right! :smallbiggrin:

Fact is this party is just me and one other guy. He's playing a Rogue with no social skills, so he can deal considerable single target damage and deal with traps and stuff. DM might allow a Healer sidekick but this guy is probably only going to be healing.


If Charisma-based caster is the only requirement, hexblade warlock seems like the best fit. Medium armor and shields helps tremendously here and you can go SAD with Cha-based attacks. You get some good melee spells like AoA to help defensive and offensively. Take blade pact to get the multi-attack invocation.

Edit: Oops, forgot the controller part. Guess warlock doesn't offer the controller aspects, but you can still manage some decent spells and not be totally useless in that area.

Again, I wonder what d8 and medium armor can do as the only frontliner when you have no class features that reduce damage and whatnot.

Plus, I played a Warlock pretty recently. Not a hexblade, but a warlock nonetheless. I'd prefer to play some other caster this time.


The other people are probably min maxers(instead of good max maxers) that reduced all their everything to get more damage.
So you need control, healing, being on the path of attacks, being a face and so on to solve all their non damage problems.

Not really, no.

[Amechra]

I know right! :smallbiggrin:

Fact is this party is just me and one other guy. He's playing a Rogue with no social skills, so he can deal considerable single target damage and deal with traps and stuff. DM might allow a Healer sidekick but this guy is probably only going to be healing.

Ah, one of those parties.

I was going to suggest the College of Swords, but you explicitly said "no" to that. Your only real alternative within just those two classes is the College of Valor. I could see dipping into Paladin for the AC boost and better weapons and then going for College of Glamour + Smites.

Why College of Glamour? Mantle of Inspiration tops up an ally and moves them out of melee and a minute of "free" Commands thanks to Mantle of Majesty is a great tool for shutting down a single target.

...

As an alternative, have you considered tweaking the game so that both you and the other player play two characters instead of just one? That's actually something a group I was in did to deal with having a low character count. We ended up supplementing a Swords Bard (frontliner) and a Drunken Monk (skirmisher) with a Storm Sorc (blaster + face) and a Life Cleric (self-explanatory).

[heavyfuel]

Ah, one of those parties.

I was going to suggest the College of Swords, but you explicitly said "no" to that. Your only real alternative within just those two classes is the College of Valor. I could see dipping into Paladin for the AC boost and better weapons and then going for College of Glamour + Smites.

Why College of Glamour? Mantle of Inspiration tops up an ally and moves them out of melee and a minute of "free" Commands thanks to Mantle of Majesty is a great tool for shutting down a single target.

...

As an alternative, have you considered tweaking the game so that both you and the other player play two characters instead of just one? That's actually something a group I was in did to deal with having a low character count. We ended up supplementing a Swords Bard (frontliner) and a Drunken Monk (skirmisher) with a Storm Sorc (blaster + face) and a Life Cleric (self-explanatory).

The reason I said no to Swords Bard is that I don't want this character to be a gish, attacking their targets, and that's what a Swords bard must do to benefit from their college features.

Hadn't considered Glamor Bard. The temp HP is nice. 8 HP * 3 characters * ~10 times from Charisma (assuming some other uses of BI) is 240 HP per day. That's pretty on par with Arcane Ward!

10 uses of Command is nice, but 1/day and it requires concentration so not exactly a gamechanger.

What the DM is doing to compensate for our shortcomings is giving us better ability array. I think our array is 18 17 15 13 12 10

[Amechra]

Mantle of Majesty isn't something you build around, exactly. It's something you pull out for fights where there's one big guy you want to lock down. And the nice part about it is that it only takes up your bonus action, so you can use your Action to cast Booming Blade or whatever.

I don't think that having better stats is really going to solve the action economy problems that a party with only two people (maybe three) is going to run into... but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

[da newt]

For a 2 PC party, why bother trying to force a Face-Controller-Melee build? There are only 2 of you, don't try to fill all the party roles. You can stealth or strike or kite or whatever ...

Moon Druid with some CHA is an option too.

[Ganryu]

Honestly, what you need is a cleric. I'd just ask GM flatly "Hey, can I switch Wis to Cha as my casting stat." Long as your not multiclasing, can't see too many DM's caring. Wisdom's a pretty damn good stat, so not like you're optimizing that way, and it helps the party.

[Greywander]

If you need frontline+control+face, and your only other party member is a rogue, I'd consider some kind of grappler. Bards and sorcerers can make decent grapplers, giving you access to Enlarge/Reduce and/or Enhance Ability, Expertise (bard only), and Polymorph/True Polymorph/Shapechange. If shooting for a Polymorph grappler, you don't even need to worry about your STR score, since it will be replaced by the STR of the form you change into (Athletics expertise can still be used, though). And as a bard or sorcerer, you'll have plenty of other tricks you can pull out any time grappling doesn't work.

The nice thing about being a grappler with a rogue is that you get to grab people and shove them prone so that the rogue can attack with advantage to help insure that sweet, sweet Sneak Attack goes off. Polymorph into something like a giant octopus and you can hold down multiple enemies at a time, which also gives them disadvantage on their own attacks.

In general, Polymorph helps you to be a better frontliner, too, as you get an extra pool of HP and possibly a higher AC, too. Once you poof back to your true form, you're still a full bard or sorcerer, and can unleash powerful spells to clean up whatever is left.

A cleric dip seems like a good idea. Not only will you get medium/heavy armor and shields, but you get some healing and support spells, too, and a domain feature. Cleric dips give a lot, they're great for almost any class.

Edit: I should also mention, another reason why this works well is that it requires very little in build resources. Put one of your expertises into Athletics, and pick up maybe two or three specific spells, and that's it. Something like Enhance Ability is also rather versatile, so even if you weren't building a grappler you might still want it. Polymorph, too. For being online by 5th level, you sadly can't have Polymorph by then, but you can have Athletics expertise and Enhance Ability or Enlarge/Reduce, which will be enough even with a modest STR score.

[Evaar]

Again, I wonder what d8 and medium armor can do as the only frontliner when you have no class features that reduce damage and whatnot.


D8 hit dice and medium armor (plus shield) are sufficient to tank. That's 1 hit point on average less than a Fighter, per level - you can mitigate that by putting an extra couple points into Constitution if you're worried about it. +1 more to your bonus is the same as a single size increase on your hit die.

If you get access to Shield, Absorb Elements, or any other valuable damage mitigation spell then you don't need class features to accomplish the same (though if you're talking Hexblade, you don't want to use your expensive spell slots on those at higher levels).

Medium Armor is more of a sidegrade from Heavy Armor. You will need the +2 Dexterity bonus to make it work, but it works.

Depending on your level, Hexblade also gives you access to Shadow of Moil, obscuring you and giving disadvantage to anyone trying to attack you plus giving them some necrotic damage in return, and Tomb of Levistus to soak a huge hit if you take one, and Armor of Hexes to outright cancel some attacks that would've otherwise hit you.

There is no reason a Hexblade can't be an effective tank if that's what you want it to be.

[Aimeryan]

Consider VHuman (or custom with Feat) Pal 2, Hex 1, Divine Soul X. Take Mobility Feat. Take Booming Blade, Greenfire Blade, Shield, Absorb Elements, Spiritual Weapon, and Spirit Guardians when you can. Take Quicken and Subtle. Use a 1H and shield.

The idea here, if you are the only frontliner then Booming Blade and Mobility absolutely rocks; they move and take that huge damage (that scales with level), or they are controlled. Throw in Spirit Guardians and you can control and damage multiple enemies. Spiritual Weapon allows you to use your Bonus Actions efficiently, while Quicken allows you to nova with double Booming Blade and Smites. The Hex level allows you keep Strength at 15 (or even 13, as Mobility makes up for the speed penalty), while keeping your hit chance and damage up with Charisma, which you also want for your spell work and face.

For greater battlefield control, you have Sorcerer spells. Subtle Metamagic is good for complementing your face role outside of combat, but also has some in combat uses too (including Counter Spelling).

For survivability, you have plate, shield, Paladin starting health (+level), Shield spell, Absorb Elements spell. You also have Booming Blade, Spiritual Guardians and Mobility fouling the enemy from getting to you (and your party) in the first place - if they can't hit you, you take less damage.


There are a few considerations, however:

Spells that require Material (or Material+Somatic) components need you to have the Material in hand. If the Material is a weapon or shield (like Booming Blade), then simple, done. If the Material is something else, then you have to drop your weapon (no action), then freely interact with the Material during the spell's Action. You now don't have your weapon until the next turn when you can interact with it - which is a problem if you have an enemy minion who is fine giving up its action to pick it up. Three solutions here:


Get a focus embedded into something that will be held in one of your hands - one of your gauntlets (https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Infinity_Gauntlet), the shield strap/grip, the weapon hilt, etc. Highly DM optional, although isn't all 5e?
Use a weapon that is already an arcane focus - i.e., a staff (https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/staff) is a quarterstaff when used as a weapon. Similarly, a magic weapon like a Staff of Striking is also a staff, so this scales as you find magic weapons.
Ruby of the Warmage - 10mins to attach to any weapon, action to detach, however, requires attunement to attach.


Spells that require Somatic components (without Material) need you to just have a hand free. You can interact with one object for free during your Action/Movement, which means you can free up a hand at will (your weapon hand) during your Action/Movement: sheathe weapon, use spell, draw weapon - only one object is being interacted with here, so you don't need to drop the weapon this time. So, if you want to cast Animate Objects and keep your weapon out afterwards, no problem. Except, the Shield spell and Absorb Elements spells are taken during Reactions, so no free object interaction to do this with. Three solutions here:


Sheathe your weapon by the end of your turn (and don't redraw) - you now cannot use the weapon for an Opportunity Attack, however, those are kind are rare anyway and a single attack isn't that great. Furthermore, you cannot Opportunity Attack and Shield/Absorb Elements in the same round in any case.
Drop your weapon during the Reaction to cast the spell - problem shifts to your now unattended weapon, especially if it is also your focus!
Warcaster Feat - a valuable ASI/Feat, however, Opportunity Attacks now become way more powerful and it helps with Concentration as well. One of your later ASI/Feats, maybe.


Booming Blade stacking. The same Spell effects cannot be active at the same time; i.e., you cannot be under the active effect of two Blesses, two Hastes, etc., at the same time. However, you can have the same spell effect on you at the same time - it is just that only one will be active at any particular moment. How does this affect Booming Blade? If you Booming Blade the same enemy twice in a turn (Quicken), they will not explode twice when they move 5ft - they will only explode once. Thankfully, if they then move another 5ft the second one will go off. So, Booming Blade stacks for most practical purposes, if not all of them. Well, the enemy may choose not to move (if they are even aware of the move condition at all - Arcane check? Seen recently and have good passive Perception?), so that may stop the stacking, however, that is valuable too.

[bendking]

Incidentally, I am a huge fan of Sorcerers and I love gishes, so I might have some good suggestions for you here.
The new Clockwork Soul makes for a great (best?) Sorcerer tank with Hobgoblin and Moderately Armored + Armor of Agathys + Bastion of Law. Here's the Steel Sorcerer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860929&postcount=6) build I made as an example.
Furthermore, any Sorcerer with a Hexblade dip gets Medium Armor and Armor of Agathys. And as you stated, a Cleric dip is also a great choice. Here are examples with the Divine Protector (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860928&postcount=5) and God of Lightning (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860924&postcount=2).

[heavyfuel]

For a 2 PC party, why bother trying to force a Face-Controller-Melee build? There are only 2 of you, don't try to fill all the party roles. You can stealth or strike or kite or whatever ...

Controller guy in melee (though not necessarily making melee attacks) is something I'm yet to play in 5e. I'm not playing it because the party needs it, I'm playing it because that's what I want to play.

The Face part is more in line with "because the party needs it". I might still play Abjurer after all, but I wanted to explore Cha-based possibilities.


Honestly, what you need is a cleric. I'd just ask GM flatly "Hey, can I switch Wis to Cha as my casting stat." Long as your not multiclasing, can't see too many DM's caring. Wisdom's a pretty damn good stat, so not like you're optimizing that way, and it helps the party.

Could work. Knowing my friend it probably won't though lol


If you need frontline+control+face, and your only other party member is a rogue, I'd consider some kind of grappler.

Consider VHuman (or custom with Feat) Pal 2, Hex 1, Divine Soul X. Take Mobility Feat. Take Booming Blade, Greenfire Blade, Shield, Absorb Elements, Spiritual Weapon, and Spirit Guardians when you can. Take Quicken and Subtle. Use a 1H and shield.

The idea here, if you are the only frontliner then Booming Blade and Mobility absolutely rocks; they move and take that huge damage (that scales with level), or they are controlled.

I don't mean to sound like an ass, but I don't really like either build/concept. I don't like characters that are basically one-trick ponies. Spending the majority of your rounds in combat rolling to grapple, or using hit-and-run booming blade, or whatever just doesn't appeal to me.


D8 hit dice and medium armor (plus shield) are sufficient to tank. That's 1 hit point on average less than a Fighter, per level - you can mitigate that by putting an extra couple points into Constitution if you're worried about it. +1 more to your bonus is the same as a single size increase on your hit die.

If you get access to Shield, Absorb Elements, or any other valuable damage mitigation spell then you don't need class features to accomplish the same (though if you're talking Hexblade, you don't want to use your expensive spell slots on those at higher levels).

Medium Armor is more of a sidegrade from Heavy Armor. You will need the +2 Dexterity bonus to make it work, but it works.

Depending on your level, Hexblade also gives you access to Shadow of Moil, obscuring you and giving disadvantage to anyone trying to attack you plus giving them some necrotic damage in return, and Tomb of Levistus to soak a huge hit if you take one, and Armor of Hexes to outright cancel some attacks that would've otherwise hit you.

There is no reason a Hexblade can't be an effective tank if that's what you want it to be.

I'm sure Hexblade can work as a frontliner, but after my last Warlock character I was left a bit disappointed with the class. It's strong when you need it to be, but most of the time you're spamming cantrips/attacks. I really want something different this time.


Incidentally, I am a huge fan of Sorcerers and I love gishes, so I might have some good suggestions for you here.
The new Clockwork Soul makes for a great (best?) Sorcerer tank with Hobgoblin and Moderately Armored + Armor of Agathys + Bastion of Law. Here's the Steel Sorcerer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860929&postcount=6) build I made as an example.
Furthermore, any Sorcerer with a Hexblade dip gets Medium Armor and Armor of Agathys. And as you stated, a Cleric dip is also a great choice. Here are examples with the Divine Protector (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860928&postcount=5) and God of Lightning (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24860924&postcount=2).

Getting AoA through Clockwork Magic is very interesting! I'll check the builds in more detail later. Thanks!

[LudicSavant]

Controller guy in melee? Easy peasy. Just be a Lore Bard with a 1 level Hexblade dip.

Cutting Words is a good defensive reaction, and the damage reduction combos with Armor of Agathys.

In fact, you have a ton of defensive reactions. You have 7x level 1 slots in a "standard adventuring day." That's a lot of Shields to burn through. And then there's 15x Cutting Words in a "standard adventuring day" too.

Hexblade's Curse combos with things like Flames of Phlegethos and Fire Shield, doing extra damage on every activation, and you can get a bunch of good fire spells. And when you do cast something like Fireball? FoP makes it hit about as hard as if you had Empowered Evocation (it's worth about +0.5 damage per die). That's pretty darn good for a Cha half-feat.

Or you can just take a bunch of control spells.

And you get Contingency and Simulacrum, and all that that entails. Level 5 Armor of Agathys with Contingency "I am hit in melee and don't have temp HP" is a very lovely thing on a frontliner. As is having both you and the Simulacrum being able to Cutting Words everything in sight.

And the beautiful thing? Options like Shield, Hellish Rebuke, Fire Shield, Armor of Agathys... not a single one of 'em cuts into your Concentration. Control away. And Fire Shield and Armor of Agathys get shared to your Find Greater Steed, too. Just sayin'.

Another possibility available to you is to grapple people into submission. You don't even need to invest much in Strength for it, you've got Expertise and Cutting Words, after all. You could even pick up Hex if you wanted, too. Or even just have your minions grapple people for you while you cut their ability checks and cast Silence or whatever you want on them.

And if you're the sole frontliner, that just makes it even better. Take Warcaster to punish people trying to move away from you, and people who *don't,* well, hitting you with melee attacks is basically suicide.

[heavyfuel]

Controller guy in melee? Easy peasy. Just be a Lore Bard with a 1 level Hexblade dip.

Cutting Words is a good defensive reaction, and the damage reduction combos with Armor of Agathys.

In fact, you have a ton of defensive reactions. You have 7x level 1 slots in a "standard adventuring day." That's a lot of Shields to burn through. And then there's 15x Cutting Words in a "standard adventuring day" too.

Hexblade's Curse combos with things like Flames of Phlegethos and Fire Shield, doing extra damage on every activation, and you can get a bunch of good fire spells. And when you do cast something like Fireball? FoP makes it hit about as hard as if you had Empowered Evocation (it's worth about +0.5 damage per die). That's pretty darn good for a Cha half-feat.

Or you can just take a bunch of control spells.

And you get Contingency and Simulacrum, and all that that entails. Level 5 Armor of Agathys with Contingency "I am hit in melee and don't have temp HP" is a very lovely thing on a frontliner. As is having both you and the Simulacrum being able to Cutting Words everything in sight.

And the beautiful thing? Options like Shield, Hellish Rebuke, Fire Shield, Armor of Agathys... not a single one of 'em cuts into your Concentration. Control away. And Fire Shield and Armor of Agathys get shared to your Find Greater Steed, too. Just sayin'.

Another possibility available to you is to grapple people into submission. You don't even need to invest much in Strength for it, you've got Expertise and Cutting Words, after all. You could even pick up Hex if you wanted, too. Or even just have your minions grapple people for you while you cut their ability checks and cast Silence or whatever you want on them.

And if you're the sole frontliner, that just makes it even better. Take Warcaster to punish people trying to move away from you, and people who *don't,* well, hitting you with melee attacks is basically suicide.

Ever since Dark.Revenant mentioned it I've been really considering Lore Bard.

I'm still undecided on Hexblade dip vs Cleric dip vs Moderately Amored, though. Hexblade dip is amazing in the low levels, but it scales really poorly, and being SAD doesn't really matter when the DM gives you an amazing ability array. Cleric gives better proficiencies, and doesn't delay Bard progression as much. MA is basically "free" since I can go Half-elf and start with 20 Cha regardless.

[LudicSavant]

Ever since Dark.Revenant mentioned it I've been really considering Lore Bard.

I'm still undecided on Hexblade dip vs Cleric dip vs Moderately Amored, though. Hexblade dip is amazing in the low levels, but it scales really poorly, and being SAD doesn't really matter when the DM gives you an amazing ability array. Cleric gives better proficiencies, and doesn't delay Bard progression as much. MA is basically "free" since I can go Half-elf and start with 20 Cha regardless.

Amazing stat array or not, Hexblade is a strong choice in general, because it gives you so darned many first level slots to go through (nearly doubling them in a "standard adventuring day"), and gives you access to high-value spell choices like Shield, Hellish Rebuke, or Armor of Agathys. Even Wrathful Smite can be a decent choice (because it's an ability check to break out of it, and you can cut that). And because it can give you cantrip options like FoP GFB, Warcaster BB, or HBC EB. And because Hexblade's Curse is as strong as ever.

[Aimeryan]

I don't mean to sound like an ass, but I don't really like either build/concept. I don't like characters that are basically one-trick ponies. Spending the majority of your rounds in combat rolling to grapple, or using hit-and-run booming blade, or whatever just doesn't appeal to me.

No thats perfectly fine, however, that is not the case with my concept; 17 out of 20 levels are Sorcerer, with all the associated spells that come with (+ Cleric spells). The 'tricks' I explained were simply to aid in fulfilling the frontliner and control roles with basic and repeatable actions. You can go entire combats not casting Booming Blade at all, not casting Spirit Guardians - you would still be a highly survivable frontliner with control and damage from your spells. Indeed, at later levels that might be the case with most combats as you have enough fuel to not need such efficiency. Those 'tricks' are simply the butter to your bread - add whatever fillings/spread you want, or even forgo the butter at all since you still have the bread.

[Greywander]

I don't mean to sound like an ass, but I don't really like either build/concept.
That's fine, everyone has their preferred playstyles. Some people love playing characters that other people would hate to play.


I don't like characters that are basically one-trick ponies.
:smallconfused: A bard that takes Enhance Ability and/or Polymorph is a one-trick pony?


Spending the majority of your rounds in combat rolling to grapple, or using hit-and-run booming blade, or whatever just doesn't appeal to me.
That's fair. Though if you're just put off by the idea, then perhaps you haven't looked closely enough at those styles of play to see what they're really like. I know there have been builds or classes that I wasn't initially interested in, but once I looked closer at them I started to like them more. Grapplers can be a lot of fun. It's not for everyone, but there are people who really enjoy that style of play. And it is, as you requested, a frontliner/controller hybrid, and one that can be built using a face.

[CornfedCommando]

I’m no optimization guy, but I kinda like the idea of a Mountain Dwarf Clockwork Soul Sorcerer. With a standard point buy and Tasha options enabled, you could have Str 8, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, and Cha 18 with your level four ASI put into Cha. The 14 Dex lets you get the maximum benefit from Medium Armor, so your AC could be 15 to 17, depending on what your DM lets you take. You have access to Shield and can sub out Alarm for Armor of Agathys.

+2 to hit with a dagger could be doable so you can exert a little bit of control with a Booming Blade while maintaining concentration on whatever control/defensive spell you want. Or hit two engaged targets with a little bit of Green-Flame Blade while your higher DPS backline lays out the real damage. Maybe get some Str-boosting magic items so you can take advantage of your dwarven weapon proficiencies, but that’s obviously situational and highly game dependent.

The HP, depending on how your table generates it, is roughly 30, which isn’t great, but I guess it just depends on how brutal your DM intends to be. 40 if you want to upcast that Armor of Agathys. Hopefully that backline has a good healer since y’all are looking to throw a Sorc or Bard right into the fray. 😄

I like the roleplaying aspects this character could bring to the table too. A young dwarven craftsmen who aspires to one day build a great machine of perfect form and function. At night, he dreams of orderly columns of modrons marching towards a towering device of infinite complexity. You don’t know what the device is or what it does, but you feel like it’s your destiny...

[Arkhios]

Frontliner is more likely to be the one getting hit, regardless of how high their AC is.

Because of this, especially as a sorcerer, I would recommend taking the Tough feat as soon as possible.

Maxing AC is of course still vital