Interesting Feat Dilemma for Aberrant Mind Sorcerer

[bsullivanp]

I posted a bit ago about going Aberrant Mind or Chronurgy Wizard for a modified CoS campaign that the DM will take to level 20 with the heavy addition of Homebrew content. I opted for Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (thanks for the help deciding everyone!) As part of this change, he is allowing everyone to get a free feat at level 1 (however, I am joining the existing party at level 6). Standard 27 point buy array.

This gives me an interesting dilemma for feats. He is allowing Custom Lineage, which would enable an ungodly TWO FEATS at level 1! That just seems too good to pass up and could create some crazy combinations!

So, with a distribution of STR 8 / DEX 14 / CON 15 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 15, if I took two 1/2 ASI feats in CHA, and a level 4 ASI in +1 CHA, +1 CON, I could reasonably start the campaign at level 6 with a distribution of STR 8 / DEX 14 / CON 16 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 20. But which two feats?

I am thinking of going with BOTH Fey Touched AND Shadow Touched. My rationale is the sheer spell efficiency of such a double up.

First, I can grab two spells that I would most likely need anyways, thereby freeing up those slots to take additional known spells. Fey Touched is a no brainer here. Getting Misty Step and opening up the known slot selection for me to grab something else (like Haste). Additionally grabbing Silvery Barbs, Hex, or Gift of Alacrity is great too.

Shadow Touched essentially does the same thing, but this time with Invisibility (thus opening up a slot for me to add something like Tasha's Mind Whip).

Second, the benefit isn't just in the additional two known spell slots recovered, but in the added Sorcery Point potential of taking these over something else (like Telekinetic).

I essentially get a FREE casting of Misty Step, Invisibility, Silvery Barb, and Silent Image each LR. That's TWO 1st level and TWO Second level spell slots per LR I don't need to even use, or potentially up to 6 Sorcery points. Now I understand that I will rarely cast all of these in any given day, or I may cast none of these between LRs. But every time I do, I am essentially recovering valuable Sorcery points to put toward something else cool.

Am I thinking about this the right way, or am I better off applying something like Telekinetic instead for a non-spell related benefit, and forgo the added spell (Tasha's Mind Whip)/potential Sorcery Point benefit?

[Greywander]

Since you know you'll be going to 20, you might as well plan out your entire feat selection, and when you'll pick each one up.

I think it's a good idea to get both Fey Touched and Shadow Touched, and I think Telekinetic would be another great option as well. I don't think you necessarily need to play a custom lineage, nor do you need to cap your CHA at 20 at 6th level. Look at what other feats you might want, especially ones that might also give a CHA bump. If there's another CHA half feat you want, then you might want to wait to max your CHA so that the half feat doesn't go to waste. Yes, you could use Fey/Shadow Touched to boost something like WIS, but it would be more economical in the long term to just move some points from CHA to WIS at character creation, and then use Fey/Shadow Touched to only boost CHA.

That said, with a custom lineage, you should be able to start with a 17 in CHA, then use your two 1st level feats and your 4th level ASI to get Fey Touched, Shadow Touched, and Telekinetic, maxing out your CHA at 20. Should you? Maybe, maybe not. If you want a more well-rounded character, it may be better to move some points from CHA to other stats, and wait to max out CHA until, say, 8th level. You might also consider a race besides custom lineage, as there are a lot of other great races out there.

Metamagic Adept would be another good feat to get. It gives you more sorcery points and an extra metamagic option, which is great for sorcerers. You could also consider Magic Initiate (sorcerer) to pick up some extra cantrips and another spell known with a free casting (Shield is always a great pick). Warcaster is also a good option, giving you extra punishing OAs and helping you maintain concentration.

There are a lot of other good feats, depending on what you want to do with your character. You haven't really told us anything about your character except that they're an Aberrant Mind sorcerer (I didn't see your other thread, so maybe you explained it there). Share your concept with us, and we'll see if we can find good feats to fit your concept.

[heavyfuel]

If you're starting at level 6, have you considered multiclassing for some armor proficiencies? Hexblade would be nice, but Cleric (if you can spare the extra 13 Wis) would probably be better. Then you can pick Resilient (Constitution) with one of your feats.

Alternatively, go with a +1/+1 ASI instead of a feat, and then you could grab a full-on-feat, like Inspiring Leader, Alert, or Ritual Caster

But, if you're married to the idea of two half-feats, I'd go with Skill Expert for sure. Gaining expertise in Stealth is amazing for AM Sorc, as you can sneak up on enemies and use Psionic Sorcery to get enemies surprised.

For the second feat, I do thing Telekinetic is better than the Touched feat. I don't think the Touched feats are that good for you for 3 reasons:

As an AM Sorc, you get plenty of spells known;
Psionic Sorcery already allows you to cast a few extra spells using SP;
Since you're not in Tier 1 anymore, you're unlikely to run out of slots on any given day.


Plus Telekinetic gives you something to do with your Bonus Action every turn. It's a small effect, but it targets a Save you likely don't target that often, and it can be used to help your allies as well. Plus, the extra range on Mage Hand really goes hand-in-hand with an AM Sorc and Stealth

[bsullivanp]

Since you know you'll be going to 20, you might as well plan out your entire feat selection, and when you'll pick each one up.

I think it's a good idea to get both Fey Touched and Shadow Touched, and I think Telekinetic would be another great option as well. I don't think you necessarily need to play a custom lineage, nor do you need to cap your CHA at 20 at 6th level. Look at what other feats you might want, especially ones that might also give a CHA bump. If there's another CHA half feat you want, then you might want to wait to max your CHA so that the half feat doesn't go to waste. Yes, you could use Fey/Shadow Touched to boost something like WIS, but it would be more economical in the long term to just move some points from CHA to WIS at character creation, and then use Fey/Shadow Touched to only boost CHA.

That said, with a custom lineage, you should be able to start with a 17 in CHA, then use your two 1st level feats and your 4th level ASI to get Fey Touched, Shadow Touched, and Telekinetic, maxing out your CHA at 20. Should you? Maybe, maybe not. If you want a more well-rounded character, it may be better to move some points from CHA to other stats, and wait to max out CHA until, say, 8th level. You might also consider a race besides custom lineage, as there are a lot of other great races out there.

Metamagic Adept would be another good feat to get. It gives you more sorcery points and an extra metamagic option, which is great for sorcerers. You could also consider Magic Initiate (sorcerer) to pick up some extra cantrips and another spell known with a free casting (Shield is always a great pick). Warcaster is also a good option, giving you extra punishing OAs and helping you maintain concentration.

There are a lot of other good feats, depending on what you want to do with your character. You haven't really told us anything about your character except that they're an Aberrant Mind sorcerer (I didn't see your other thread, so maybe you explained it there). Share your concept with us, and we'll see if we can find good feats to fit your concept.


Here is build (https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/BrewnorBattleHammer/characters/67829475) in D&D Beyond.

In short, at level 6:

STR 8/DEX14/CON 16/INT 8/WIS 10/CHA 20
Feats: Fey Touched, Shadow Touched
Skills: Deception, Insight, Perception, Persuasion

Spells:
Cantrips: Firebolt, Mind Sliver (AbM), Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Minor Illusion, Prestigidation
1st: Absorb Elements, Shield, Mage Armor, Silvery Barbs (Fey Touched), Silent Image (Shadow Touched), Tasha's Hideous Laughter (Psionic), Dissonate Whispers (Psionic)
2nd: Tasha's Mind Whip, Invisibility (ST), Misty Step (FT), Suggestion (Psionic), Detect Thoughts (Psionic) - SIDE NOTE: I am really considering keeping Calm Emotions to combat party charm/frightened effects. Thoughts?
3rd: Counterspell, Fireball, Haste, Hunger of Hadar (Psionic), Sending (Psionic)

Still working on the backstory, but I like some of the ideas offered in TCoE meshed together for this campaign. But basically, he is a member of a noble family (either heir or courtier) who experienced an horrific event where he blacked out, and came to with everyone in the court murdered except for him. Since then he hears whispers and received psionic powers. Not being the most upstanding individual, he used his new mind control powers to get ahead as a diplomat & negotiator, all the while thinking the event must have awoken something in his Astral self (hence the whispers being his ID or Superego speaking to him). He heads to Barovia thinking its another opportunity to pilfer it's resources and potentially create another trade partner (biting off more than he could chew in this case). I am thinking of working with the DM to make the whisper grow during the campaign. That the whisper ends up not actually being his Astral self, but instead the "event" was a Mind Flayer attack where he was rendered unconscious and implanted with a tadpole that never properly took. So the whispers are in fact residual echoes of the Hive Mind of the Mind Flayer Elder Brain.

As you can see in the build I make a rush to 20 CHA at the expense of DEX, INT, WIS, and more skills. You raise a good point about whether the rush to 20 CHA is worth it. If I had entered the party at level 4, then I could enjoy 4 whole levels of 20 CHA before the curve catches up at level 8. But now, I only enjoy 2 levels of that curve anyways. Perhaps I should take Telekinetic for better BA action economy or consider going to Half Elf to better my stats (or spread my Custom Lineage differently)? I'm sure others here may have good insights. Thanks in advance.

[Bobthewizard]

I'd probably take Metamagic adept now and hold off on the +2 Cha until level 8. The extra sorcery points are more important at lower levels, and then the extra two metamagics are amazing for versatility. Otherwise that build looks great to me. 6 extra subclass spells, 4 extra feat spells, and then 2 extra metamagics if you go that route.

[bsullivanp]

I'd probably take Metamagic adept now and hold off on the +2 Cha until level 8. The extra sorcery points are more important at lower levels, and then the extra two metamagics are amazing for versatility. Otherwise that build looks great to me. 6 extra subclass spells, 4 extra feat spells, and then 2 extra metamagics if you go that route.

Thanks Bobthewizard. If I take Metamagic at 4, then it would also impact my ability to get CON to 16 (since I take CON/CHA ASI at 4 currently). Perhaps wait until 8 and grab metamagic then?

Also, any thoughts on the Calm Emotions in CoS? I love the idea of a subtle Suggestion & Detect Thoughts on the Psionic Spell list, but I worry about the party getting hammered with Charm spells during the campaign. That said, I imagine the Cleric and Druid/Barb may have tricks up their sleeves too.

[Keravath]

Thanks Bobthewizard. If I take Metamagic at 4, then it would also impact my ability to get CON to 16 (since I take CON/CHA ASI at 4 currently). Perhaps wait until 8 and grab metamagic then?

Also, any thoughts on the Calm Emotions in CoS? I love the idea of a subtle Suggestion & Detect Thoughts on the Psionic Spell list, but I worry about the party getting hammered with Charm spells during the campaign. That said, I imagine the Cleric and Druid/Barb may have tricks up their sleeves too.

Calm emotions can be useful against creatures with charm effects. Certain undead are known to have these :) but the cleric could also prepare it so I would talk to the party since your spells known are much more restrictive.

I think you should also plan for resilient wisdom at some point. Proficiency in wisdom saves is likely to be essential in late tier 2+. Consider being hit with a DC17 wis save or DC19 by tier 4 - with +0 you are likely to spend the entire encounter standing around twiddling your thumbs. If you are proficient this goes to +5/+6 in late tier 3 into tier 4.

An alternative you might want to consider would be level 1 hexblade with resilient con and fey touched then 5 levels of aberrant mind sorcerer taking a +2 charisma at level 5. This gives the same stat line but proficiency in both con and wis saves which in the long run to level 20 is likely to be essential. It delays your psionic spell subtle casting by a level though.

If you plan on resilient wis with your current bulid you could plan to apply a 1/2 feat to boost wis to 11 and follow up with resilient wis. Eg. telekinetic at 8 and resilient wis at 12.

Keep in mind that with quicken spell you will have options for your bonus action already.

[borg286]

If you have the ability to pick a rare magic item I strongly urge you to go with shadowfell shard. This encourages the metamagic adept so you can always be using the shard. Imposing disadvantage on the saves is equivalent to a +5 bonus, way more than pushing for a 20 CHA. It will cost more resources to pull off, but it will make you very reliable. I personally go for twinning dissonant Whispers or twinning Command. The opportunity attacks make the rest of the party feel effective while you hardly use any resources.

[ATHATH]

If you're starting at level 6, have you considered multiclassing for some armor proficiencies? Hexblade would be nice, but Cleric (if you can spare the extra 13 Wis) would probably be better. Then you can pick Resilient (Constitution) with one of your feats.
Level 6 is HUGE for AbSorcs; the ability to convert sorcery points into spells on your special list at a 1:1 sorcery point:spell level ratio lets you do dumb stuff like cast Silvery Barbs 25 times in one day (if you feel so inclined). It's what makes you FEEL like a psion from earlier editions instead of a bard with silent spells. And why would you need to take Resilient (Constitution)? You get proficiency in CON saves for free if you start as a Sorcerer, and due to how they're worded, you get the armor proficiencies from Hexblade/various Cleric subclasses regardless of when you dip into those classes.

[ATHATH]

Additionally grabbing Silvery Barbs, Hex, or Gift of Alacrity is great too.
I wouldn't recommend grabbing Hex, since it doesn't jive too well with Twinned Dissonant Whispers, which is gonna be your bread and butter spell/"pseudo-cantrip" for a while. Also, uh, Hex's bonus damage is Necrotic, and you're going into Curse of Strahd.


You could also consider Magic Initiate (sorcerer) to pick up some extra cantrips and another spell known with a free casting (Shield is always a great pick).
Aberrant Sorcs don't really need cantrips all that much, since they tend to have more 1st level spells to cast than they have actions to cast 'em with. You only cast cantrips when your allies are far enough out of position to make (Twinned) Dissonant Whispers not worth casting, if the fight's basically over, or if you blew like 10 sorcery points earlier that day trying to get a (Subtle'd for free) Suggestion to stick on the mayor (5th try's the charm). While Shield is a great spell, it's gonna have some pretty heavy competition with Silvery Barbs for your reactions, especially since Shields will effectively cost 2x as much as Silvery Barbs will once you've used your four "real" 1st level slots for the day (you... ARE taking Silvery Barbs as one of your Psionic Sorcery options, right??).


Also, any thoughts on the Calm Emotions in CoS? I love the idea of a subtle Suggestion & Detect Thoughts on the Psionic Spell list, but I worry about the party getting hammered with Charm spells during the campaign. That said, I imagine the Cleric and Druid/Barb may have tricks up their sleeves too.
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Subtle Detect Thoughts and Subtle Suggestion are pretty darn important for your social game, especially if your DM gives you a favorable ruling on whether or not targets that succeed on their saving throws vs. spells know that someone tried to mind-whammy them, even if they didn't notice a spell being cast. On paper, Calm Emotions seems like it could be a good tech choice in a campaign with a vampiric main antagonist, but even then, it faces some problems:

Calm Emotions looks like a dual-purpose debuff clearing/fight ending spell, but it kind of struggles to do the latter (which is to be expected; it's a 2nd level spells). For one thing, it only affects humanoids, so if you're fighting plants or zombies or vampires or wolves or whatever, it's not gonna work. It also only really works well against the last enemy in a group; trying it on more than one enemy will usually be underwhelming, since your party can't really do too much to enemies that made their saves without freeing the people who failed their saves (you can set up some CC, I guess?).
Calm Emotions SAYS that creatures can intentionally fail their saving throws against it if they wish to, but a lot of charm effects of the "I'm your bestest friend now!" variety are going to make them not WANT to fail their saving throw and go back to fighting their "buddy". It's a bit murky as to whether or not "you must do what I say" effects (like Dominate Person) can make someone not wish to fail their saving throw against Calm Emotions, even if they've been explicitly ordered to not succeed on that saving throw (changing what they truly desire, rather than just suppressing the urge to act on those desires, is hard for most people to do on the spot).
Calm Emotions requires your concentration, which means that casting it will dismiss important concentration spells like Summon Aberration (which you'll get as a PS spell next level) or (Twinned) Haste (although tbf, you shouldn't be casting Haste just before a fight you think you might get charmed in, that's kind of asking for trouble). It also doesn't CURE charm effects, it just SUPPRESSES them, so you need to KEEP your concentration on it. If the vampire or whatever charms YOU next, they can just order you to dismiss Calm Emotions to bring your friends back under their control. Alternatively, they and/or their cronies can just beat you up until you drop the spell involuntarily due to a failed CON save or falling unconscious. Even if you get ignored and mr. bad vampire man charms someone ELSE instead, in order to un-mindzonk THAT guy, you'd need to dismiss your current Calm Emotions spell and then recast it, potentially making the situation worse if enough people make their saves (especially if not every mindzonked person in the party is in a 20 ft. radius sphere).


If you're worried about charm effects enough to consider taking Calm Emotions, I'd recommend asking the Cleric that I think you mentioned earlier to consider choosing Twilight as their domain if they haven't settled on one yet. Channel Divinity: Twilight Sanctuary pretty much hard counters like 95% of charm and fear effects, especially if the Cleric casts Protection from Evil and Good on themselves before suspicious fights (or just relies on their dummy high WIS save to keep them safe).

And remember, a large amount of dominate effects and the like can be ended via either shanking the dominator or employing the CalebCity method (https://youtu.be/86edQauL7J0).

[ATHATH]

And since it might be helpful, here's a list of every 1st party spell that qualifies to be on your Psionic Spells list (note, however, that some of the default ones can't be put back ON the list once you take them off):
Cantrips:
Friends
Mind Sliver (Default)
True Strike

Level 1:
Arms of Hadar (Default)
Dissonant Whispers (Default)
Charm Person
Command (OCF)
Hex
Silvery Barbs
Sleep
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Identify

Level 2:
Calm Emotions (Default)
Detect Thoughts (Default)
Augury (OCF)
Crown of Madness
Enthrall
Hold Person
Suggestion
Tasha’s Mind Whip
Locate Object
Mind Spike
See Invisibility

Level 3:
Hunger of Hadar (Default)
Sending (Default)
Catnap
Enemies Abound
Clairvoyance
Tongues

Level 4:
Evard’s Black Tentacles (Default)
Summon Aberration (Default)
Charm Monster
Confusion
Divination (OCF)
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance
Dominate Beast
Arcane Eye
Locate Creature

Level 5:
Rary’s Telepathic Bond (Default)
Telekinesis (Default)
Dominate Person
Geas (N.B., different DMs treat this spell wildly differently. It's gonna turn you into Lelouch in some games or be incredibly pathetic in others.)
Hold Monster
Modify Memory
Synaptic Static
Contact Other Plane
Legend Lore
Scrying

[Khrysaes]

And since it might be helpful, here's a list of every 1st party spell that qualifies to be on your Psionic Spells list (note, however, that some of the default ones can't be put back ON the list once you take them off):
Cantrips:
Friends
Mind Sliver (Default)
True Strike

Level 1:
Arms of Hadar (Default)
Dissonant Whispers (Default)
Charm Person
Command (OCF)
Hex
Silvery Barbs
Sleep
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Identify

Level 2:
Calm Emotions (Default)
Detect Thoughts (Default)
Augury (OCF)
Crown of Madness
Enthrall
Hold Person
Suggestion
Tasha’s Mind Whip
Locate Object
Mind Spike
See Invisibility

Level 3:
Hunger of Hadar (Default)
Sending (Default)
Catnap
Enemies Abound
Clairvoyance
Tongues

Level 4:
Evard’s Black Tentacles (Default)
Summon Aberration (Default)
Charm Monster
Confusion
Divination (OCF)
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance
Dominate Beast
Arcane Eye
Locate Creature

Level 5:
Rary’s Telepathic Bond (Default)
Telekinesis (Default)
Dominate Person
Geas (N.B., different DMs treat this spell wildly differently. It's gonna turn you into Lelouch in some games or be incredibly pathetic in others.)
Hold Monster
Modify Memory
Synaptic Static
Contact Other Plane
Legend Lore
Scrying


True strike is a worthless cantrip. Although I guess Sorcerer can use it slightly better with a quicken metamagic, I still think NOT using true strike may be better.

That said
Here is a list of spells that can be added to the sorcerer spell list from dragonmark races and ravnica, and silverquill backgrounds

There are others.
Animal friendship. (Mark of Handling, Selesnya)
Animal messenger. (Scribing, Selesnya)
Beast sense (Handling, Gruul)
Calm emotion (Hospitality, Handling, Silverquill, Azorius, Selesnya)
Compelled duel (Sentinel, Gruul)
Commune with nature (Finding, Selesnya)
Zone of truth (Sentinel, Orzhov)
Detect evil and good (Detection)
Detect poison and disease (Detection, Simic)
Locate plants and animals (Finding)
Hunters mark (Finding)
Find traps (Detection)
Speak with animals (Handling, Gruul)

Im not sure which of these, if any, are added to wiz, wrlk, or sorc in tashas. But they are div or enchantment spells from dragonmarks not on those lists

Same concept applies to ravnica and strixhaven bacgrounds.

The ravnica ones have many of the above ones, and add
Command (Azorius, Orzhov)
(Orzhov also gets spirit guardians, which while not Aberrant mind capable, is still good)
(Azorius gets Counterspell, but I think Sorc already gets that)
Compulsion (Azorius, Silverquill)
Dissonant whispers (Rakdos, Silverquill)
Heroism (Boros)

Strixhaven, the only one with any non Sorc, Wiz, or Wrlk, spells of Enchantment or Divination is Silverquill with
Dissonant Whispers (default)
Compulsion
Calm Emotions

[Pildion]

If you're starting at level 6, have you considered multiclassing for some armor proficiencies? Hexblade would be nice, but Cleric (if you can spare the extra 13 Wis) would probably be better. Then you can pick Resilient (Constitution) with one of your feats.

Alternatively, go with a +1/+1 ASI instead of a feat, and then you could grab a full-on-feat, like Inspiring Leader, Alert, or Ritual Caster

But, if you're married to the idea of two half-feats, I'd go with Skill Expert for sure. Gaining expertise in Stealth is amazing for AM Sorc, as you can sneak up on enemies and use Psionic Sorcery to get enemies surprised.

For the second feat, I do thing Telekinetic is better than the Touched feat. I don't think the Touched feats are that good for you for 3 reasons:

As an AM Sorc, you get plenty of spells known;
Psionic Sorcery already allows you to cast a few extra spells using SP;
Since you're not in Tier 1 anymore, you're unlikely to run out of slots on any given day.


Plus Telekinetic gives you something to do with your Bonus Action every turn. It's a small effect, but it targets a Save you likely don't target that often, and it can be used to help your allies as well. Plus, the extra range on Mage Hand really goes hand-in-hand with an AM Sorc and Stealth

This on a Sorcerer is actually a really good idea, with Subtle Spell you could stealth up behind people and cast on them without them even knowing your there. If your DM is against the stealth casting then I would go Telekinetic over Shadow Touched. Just use Fey Touched for Misty Step and Silvery Barbs.

[sambojin]

From the OP's spell list, I'd psionic in Silvery Barbs, and choose Bless as my Fey Touched lvl1. It is simply that good, and saves are gold later on. Never does a party not want more to-hit and saves, and if there is a Cleric in the party, it lets them go the proper SW+SG route (or radiant damage and summons) in combat while you keep everything awesome as well. It's so cheap and good, it's hard not to have, considering you can just grab Silvery Barbs anyway. It's essentially +1 free encounter, where you can then do what you want, instead of +1 free roll. Plus, you have no access to Bless otherwise, so nab it if you can.

The Rogue, Druid/Barb and Samurai in the party will absolutely love you for Bless, even while you have plenty of fun with mind control and blasting and metamagic at other times. You'll probably blow a couple of lvl1 slots on it a day when you're feeling generous, due to how much it lets them run amok.
(Not really spoilers, but there's times in some adventures you *really wished* NPCs had better saves or to-hit as well)
((Some DMs occasionally allow Bless to have some social/ friendship impact as well. It's not huge, but it's like saying "Me and my God *actually* Bless you", and it cost me a friggen spell slot to do so, so even though it's not a Good Berry, it was a pretty nice thing to do))

I agree with Metamagic Adept as my second feat choice (though shadow-touched is fine, invis is another concentration spell that drops really quickly sometimes), and the +2Cha ASI after that for 4th lvl. I'd be tempted to go Warcaster or +2Cha at lvl8 too, because if you're as good as it looks like you'll be, you will be targeted a fair bit. In theory your melee mooks (sorry, party members) will keep you safe, but saves are saves, and concentration is important. But so are spell DCs, very important. Your choice on that one. Round out Con in some way after that, or start with 14Con, Wis12

[ATHATH]

True strike is a worthless cantrip.
Well, yeah, duh. That isn't a list of GOOD choices (stuff like Enthrall, the worst spell in the game, is on there), it's a list of ALL of the possible choices, including the ones added by OCFs in Tasha's (which I've marked with "(OCF)").

[Greywander]

Aberrant Sorcs don't really need cantrips all that much,
Maybe if you're only focusing on combat. I love me some utility cantrips, and can never get enough of them. And the sorcerer has a lot available to them.

Good point on Shield competing with Silvery Barbs, but I don't think you'll be casting Silvery Barbs every turn, and when you need Shield, it will be worth forgoing Silvery Barbs. Getting a free casting also means it isn't costing you anything the first time.


True strike is a worthless cantrip. Although I guess Sorcerer can use it slightly better with a quicken metamagic, I still think NOT using true strike may be better.
Nope, quickening doesn't help. True Strike doesn't take effect until your next turn, even if you cast it as a BA. It is mind-boggling how useless this spell is. If you could use it to give someone else advantage, then it might be useful.

True Strike does have some extremely niche uses, though the Steady Aim feature for the rogue invalidated a lot of them. The only valid use I can still think of is casting it before you cast a high level spell that uses an attack roll. Like, I don't know, if you decide to try to Plane Shift an enemy to the Plane of Butts or something. Most high level spells use saving throws (Plane Shift uses both), so even then True Strike is still a pretty edge case spell.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I'm in the camp of Telekinetic being good and relevant for the whole campaign, as is something like Lucky, Alert, or Inspiring Leader if nobody else regularly gives temp hp. I always view Resilient Wis as pretty much a need at higher levels for every character that doesn't get Wis saves, as the alternative to saving is pretty much sucking.
Those 1/2 feats you're talking about seem like the full caster's equivalent of Heavy Armor Master: great in tier 1, good in tier 2, and less good the further you go. That doesn't make them bad; just that if you're going to level 20 there are going to be a lot of days where those extra castings don't happen, and your subclass gives a pretty good selection of extra spells already.

[Christew]

True Strike does have some extremely niche uses, though the Steady Aim feature for the rogue invalidated a lot of them. The only valid use I can still think of is casting it before you cast a high level spell that uses an attack roll. Like, I don't know, if you decide to try to Plane Shift an enemy to the Plane of Butts or something. Most high level spells use saving throws (Plane Shift uses both), so even then True Strike is still a pretty edge case spell.
Textbook use of Plane Shift.
You can specify a target destination in general terms, such as the City of Ass on the Elemental Plane of Butts. If you are trying to reach the City of Ass, for example, you might arrive in its Street of Stool, before its Gate of Asses, or looking at the city from across The Sea of Fart, at the DM's excretion.
I'll see myself out.

[Khrysaes]

I have been playing around with my own AM sorc.

If you start with a +2/+1 race, or choose a feat so v.human or Custom Lineage (14 points in Cha +2 Cha race +1 cha or con or dex feat)

You can easily start with 14 dex, 14 con, 13 wis, 17 cha with +2 cha, +1 con or dex.

This would mean you can start 1 sorcerer, then multiclass dip 1 cleric if you so choose to get medium armor and shield proficiency, some extra spells and/or nice features like Life Cleric, Twilight Cleric, or Peace Cleric

I don't think it likely, but you can massively expand your spell potential with a Dragonmarked Race and/or Ravnica/Strixhaven Background

This also gets you guidance and bless without a feat. If you are a Mark of Healing Halfling, I would recommend Life Cleric, otherwise for Vhuman or CustLin, I would suggest Twilight or Peace.

Alternatively, for Custom Lineage, pick Resilient con and +2 charisma, and start with Cleric, which will get you wisdom and constitution save proficiency.

This puts your spells known 1 level behind, but not your spell slots, so you can upcast spells at normal level.

Other feats I like would be
Fey Touched +1 Cha
Telekinetic +1 Cha
Gift of the Gem Dragon +1 Cha
Skill Expert +1 Cha possible(if start with 17 Cha and chose other three, pick a different stat)
Aberrant Dragonmark +1 con
Lucky
Inspiring Leader
Warcaster
Metamagic Adept
Eldritch Adept
Squat nimbleness +1 dex
Bountiful Luck (req: Halfling)

[SOLariss]

Good point on Shield competing with Silvery Barbs, but I don't think you'll be casting Silvery Barbs every turn, and when you need Shield, it will be worth forgoing Silvery Barbs. Getting a free casting also means it isn't costing you anything the first time.



There is one interesting feature of Silvery Barbs, this spell actually affects two creatures: the attacker and an ally, the latter gets
"You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time."
So, technically you're targeting ally with a spell, and here multiclass into 1 Cleric can be extremely useful, particularly into Order cleric. Said cleric has an interesting feature:

"Voice of Authority

Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the power of law to drive an ally to attack. If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell, that ally can use their reaction immediately after the spell to make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see.

If the spell targets more than one ally, you choose the ally who can make the attack."

So with 1 cleric level, Silvery barbs becomes much more potent, as it allows your ally immediately attack with advantage. And as far as I understood, there is no limit for this feature. Additionally, with one level of cleric you get heavy armor and shield proficiency. As well as to have both intimidation and persuasion (one from sorc, one from order cleric).

I'm actually considering such a build: AM Sorc x / Order cleric 1. Mountain dwarf (to be able to dump strength and still use plate with no limitations as well as to have 2 x +2).

With a backstory of being saved as a child by the inquisition (dark cults and daemon hunters) order from some dark ritual, and then living under their supervision in their monastery so they could study strange abilities that manifested after that ritual. Something similar to 11 from "Stranger Things" but with religion added. Eventually, when the conclave decided that PC is safe, they tried to employ his power, provided him with some cleric training, indoctrination and made an inquisitor acolyte. As for 4 level ASI, the most thematically suitable feat would be "Telekinetic", but spell providing options are also tempting.