Free subtle spell with Psionic Spells makes Aberrant Mind close, though. (But you're right, not enough to beat the insane spell variety of Clockwork Soul.)
@@ezdepaz4363 Yes, I'm of the opinion that the subtle metamagic is redundant and feats can make up for clockwork sorcerer advantage, making aberrant sorcerer have better spell economy, especially if you're not going to play tier 4.
I think Divine Souls offers more through 2 levels, and Shadow more at L6. The amazing clockwork ability doesn't come until L14, but all those extra great spell choices just help so much.
In the context of Hexblade Sorlocks, Clockwork Soul has easily the most powerful spell list, but Aberrent Mind has a big edge in terms of resource efficiency. They are number one and two respectively. A Hexblade Divine Soul though is very unique and can be built to function very differently and be optimized to fit into many roles, so easily number three but the best if you are just dipping.
Given that Harengon will be found in Monsters of the Multiverse, which is a general book meant for all settings, I would call the Harengon a setting agnostic race.
@@LoreFoundry No. Obviously nothing in D&D is strictly setting agnostic, but every true D&D setting has the Feywild, or some equivilant. Harengon are no more setting agnostic than orcs. A DM can obviously make a setting without Harengon just like they can without Orcs, but both are core to the game itself, not a specific setting.
You can cast Sleep on the same group of creature twice. The ones that fell asleep the first time are then excluded from the hit point count the second time, and so you can get even more opponents unconscious. 😴
15:05 Hexblade effectively gives you moderately armored feat, that's the crux of it. For a campaign I love the fun utility you can you have with Genie though. Carrying a 10ft pole around is obtuse and often isn't long enough, no problem, pull out your 28ft gaff from your vessel when you need it. Need to scale a 3 story smooth wall or tower, go go gadget ladder, like a magic clown. Something is going to sneak in invisible? take me in my vessel, now invisible too, with you. You or some object can't fit through the small gap? but your vessel can ☺ Need to do some serious heavy moving? Ransack the mansion, statues, fountains, banana trees, it doesn't matter, take it all wherever you want, venders will be impressed.
It wasn't mentioned in the video, so I'll point it out here. At (likely) Sorcerer level 2 (Char lvl 4) Sleep is swapped out for Absorb Elements. Noticed it on the Character Sheet, but it was not explicitly stated in the video. Great vid as always Chris.
The Harengon is in the top tier of lineages for me. Perception is always a good skill to pick up, lucky footwork is a nice addition, hare trigger is fantastic, and that rabbit hop ability... oh man.
Chris: since you’re thinking of redoing bladesinger, a thought. It is my humble opinion that one of the very best use cases for Harengon is the Bladesinger, inasmuch as every feature gets use. Wizards like going first, perception is always fantastic, lucky footwork is important for a melee wizard, since you might actually end up in range of a draconic breath attack, and the rabbit hop is your bonus action disengage, which again, a mobile melee wizard will want. Melee war wizard could work too ofc. And I say wizard btw because perception is NOT on the wizard list. That raises the value of leporine senses for a Harensinger.
Harengon is easily my new favorite race, even moreso than the feat races. Feats aren't unique, getting one at first level is just an acceleration. What the Haregon gives is not quite unique either, but proficiency to Initiative is rare, as is the pseudo-teleportation without using spell slots.
Another use for subtle spell which has come up at our table is the ability to cast a spell whilst unable to breathe or to not start drowning underwater. This is more likely to happen with spelljammer on the horizon if your character leaves an air bubble for example
I think you are right about subtle spell being a little context dependent. On some channels (that are generally very good), they have argued scrolls can never be counterspelled because there are no material or somatic components. Seems to me pretty obvious that if you are busting out a SPELL scroll in combat, someone is going to be able to anticipate that you are casting a spell
from what I understand the only thing that isn't required when casting from a spell scroll is material components so unless the spell being casted only had material components( as far as I know this doesn't exist ) I'd allow it to be counterspelled. Just personal standing but its how I am reading the rules for spell scrolls.
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 Totally true, and I would love to burn a scroll with a reaction Fire Bolt, but I don't see how we can RAW, even with Warcaster. But if your DM allows it, it would be cool. But then we would all have to get fireproof scrolls! Only 100gp more....
Warlock 2 can be substituted with Extra Invocation. You do lose a fair bit (Repelling Blast & Feat being the big items), but you do get that extra level of spell progression.
It would be fun to get a followup discussing some of the alternative options around the Sorlock-such as other subclasses and how they could interact, potential dips into Bard or Paladin, Feats, and magic items (Bloodwell Vial vs Rod of the Pact Keeper is an interesting conversation!).
Agreed. I've called it "1st level Dispel Magic," and used it exactly that way. Oh, you thought you were going to escape our party by casting Gaseous Form? Nope!
It does all the damage simultaneously though, hence the 1 damage roll. The con saves come from "Whenever you take damage" which is only once regardless of how many missiles.
@@SpiderWaffle yes but it is 3 missles. They all hit simultaneously, yes, but since you can hit up to 3 people at once it's hitting the target 3 times. It's not 3d4+3 but 3x 1d4+1. If it was the former, yeah only one save; but it's not, so 3 saves.
It's worth noting though that successfully sleeping the target would also disrupt concentration. Might be even more reliable than casting MM at levels 1-4 or so, assuming you can isolate the caster. That said I doubt many campaigns put PCs up against many casters concentrating on spells at those low levels.
Good call discussing subtle spell with material components. Popped up for me last week. DMG says using a material component is perceivable. It's going to be DM fiat and depend on how spellcasting works in the world, but the usual depiction of use of components is that there are visible magical effects when using them.
Hmm...a couple aspects of this build raise question marks for me. 1. It never picks up warcaster. If your DM doesn't give out magic items this will be fine, but if your DM gives out items like Wand of the War Mage +X or Rod of the Pact Keeper +X, since we're holding a shield we now don't have a hand free to use that stuff (assuming we still want to cast counterspell and shield). 2. This build is really slow to max out Charisma. Character Level 18 before hitting 20 CHA? The gap between 18 CHA and 20 CHA is like...20% more damage on eldritch blast. (Plus all the other benefits of 20 CHA, including increasing the chance to shove, more spell DC). At character level 10, we get Resilient Wisdom--sure, I'll give you a free pass on that one--Treantmonk builds get saving throws. But I'm not sure the value added by Telekinetic at level 14 is worth delaying 20 CHA. Telekinetic is most valuable when your resource count is low (low resources = harder to justify blowing quicken to get an eldritch blast = more value for a resource-free bonus action). Telekinetic is also more valuable before Eldritch Blast scales--at character level 14 EB is already 3 shoves, and will be 4 shoves soon. The value of spending a quicken to get EB just goes up as EB scales, and then you're not using the Telekinetic shove. Everything else feels pretty normal for a sorlock build. (I.e. basically a sorcerer build that invests heavier into cantrips and gets quicken to use those cantrips). But these two points feel a little off to me.
The telekinetic thing is really confusing to me as well, given that the build already have EB. And yes I would prioritize Warcaster as well. Probably Warcaster > Charisma > Charisma into Polearm Master for reaction spell upon contact or Gunner/Crossbow Expert for melee EB.
Eldricht blast with 18 or 20 cha goes from 9.5 to 10.5 damage per blast (and plus 1 to hit) so basically it is a 10% damage increase. I think he delayed 20 charisma because he has so many spells he can target any saving throw he wants, so having a 18 or 19 dc against a +0 ST is a small difference
@@deru72 20% overall damage increase on eldritch blast, not 10%. 10.5% damage increase from the added damage on hit. But also: 8.3% damage increase from +1 to hit. Multiplying both of those together gives us...19.7% damage increase (about 20%). Also going from getting 1.8 knockbacks per EB to getting 1.95 knockbacks from the increased hit rate. It's a noticeable difference.
Divine soul sorcerer has received a significant stealth buff. It has access to the new spell called spirit shroud. Using that instead of hex pushes up the DPR of a sorclock from 160 to 273 (with same attack modifiers). It also allows for nova above 500.
Personally, I always look for interesting multi classes that come into play early, for example at level 8 (5+3 mostly) or earlier and are fun till level 12 or 14. Because while theory crafting is fine and fun in the end we never even get to level 20 or if we hit it campaign end follows closely. And as far as I know, that's true for most. Maybe a fun multi class at level 8 video would be an idea.
Your Guardian build inspired the creation of one of my favorite characters I have designed, that I am saving for my next campaign after BG: DiA wraps up for us at the end of this quarter. Several of your builds have made it into my character designs mechanically, and I am grateful for your content. Thanks again
First full video of yours I watched. Came over here after the recent collaboration with Dungeon Dudes and D4 Deep Dive. I very much enjoyed it, time to binge many more.
The idea of piling a bunch of enemies in a web and dropping a delayed blast fireball on top of it while they're unable to make a dex save is just funny. Whether they take an extra 8d4 or just the 2d4, that's just a hilarious way to end them.
Mine is the first 2 levels in artificer for the 2 infusions (+1 weapon, +1 studded leather), spare the dying cantrip, cure wounds and arcane weapon first level spells, and Constitution and Intelligence Proficiencies. Then the next 18 levels in Bladesinger wizard for all the wizardly goodness, including 9th level spells. Spare the dying and cure wounds are both touch and can be cast through your familiar. Super handy for a wizard. The +1 studded leather is the same AC as mage armor and is always up, so now I freed up a spell slot for something else. The +1 weapon with the arcane weapon spell and booming blade or green flame blade makes this feel a little bit like a paladin at early/mid level melee. Other than the occasional spell like Steel Wind Strike, Fire Shield or Spirit Shroud, the rest I do as a normal control/damage/utility wizard. Later on if or when I get some better armor or a weapon I swap out my infusions for a bag of holding and either goggles of night or an alchemy jug. If allowed, I go variant human with the tough feat, and get the war caster feat at some point. Other feats if or when necessary. Mobile is especially good for a bladesinger, both to get into and out of melee.
A point of contention for Hex Warrior: You said that the best damage you could do is a d8, and proceeded to name longsword. Hex warrior stats that a weapon cannot have the two-handed property, not that you can't attack while holding a weapon with two hands (versatile) so you could indeed get your longsword to do a d10 of damage. Just because you can attack with two hands doesn't mean that it's a two-handed weapon, also attacking two-handed doesn't mean that your off-hand is now stuck to the hilt until next turn, either. So this wouldn't even impact spellcasting, regardless of focus or component pouch.
My favorite Sorlock build is divine sorcerer healer/damage Sorlock... It's not an original build as I'm fairly sure it's pretty popular however it is rather fun. 2/3 levels in Warlock the rest in Sorcerer. (3 if you want to be spelly and take the "Pact of the tome" invocation. Otherwise, always take Agonizing blast & a fun bonus for roleplaying like "Mask of many faces" or "Eyes of the runed keeper". (However, you can sub the role-playing invocation for a more active invocation if you desire) I find as warlock you use eldritch blast as your main damage most of the time anyways. So taking divine sorcerer to get cleric spells for support really feels like your worth in combat is more warranted party-wise. It also gives a lot of challenging and unique combat interactions you might not have planned for by being a damage-only player. Even more so if you are one of the only healers in the party. I would take a protector Aasimir for flight coverage (blasting with eldritch and healing word from the air). You also get a bonus radiant damage per eldritch blast hit + agonizing blast bonus.. meaning you can still do a lot of damage. Once you unlock quickening and twinning you can twin heals and quicken eldritch blasts for insane 1 turn damage if needed. All and all I think it is a rather fun and enjoyable build.
Love the video and the guide. Sorlock builds have been very popular for a long time and it was actually the first build I've played in 5e. However, jumping from 3e/pathfinder straight to 5e made me have a bias against delaying spellcasting. Despite how much I like this build, I'm afraid your video strengthened that bias. I'm not convinced the AC and the Eldritch Blast forced movement is enough to justify delaying spells for 2 levels. Unless you have more than one short rest per day (not the case in most tables I played) there is no advantage in converting pact slots into sorcery points since you lose 2 sorcery points by multiclassing into Warlock for 2 levels. The telekinetic feat, in my experience, gives you enough forced movement to keep enemies in harmful areas. Granted, you can push more than one creature with EB and cause damage. But again, at 5th level you are missing counterspell, fireball, fly, hypnotic pattern, sleet storm. At 7h level you have dimension door, greater invisibility and, of course, polymorph. At 9th level is animate objectos, bigby's hand, synaptic static. Not to mention transmute rock and wall of force that are available from clockwork magic. You are also delaying class features. Even at level 20, when the sorlock has access to 9th level spells, a full Sorcerer has 2 more sorcery points, one extra 6th and 7th level spell slot and can recover 4 sorcery points after a short rest. I would argue that your Tuff the Buff build is more interesting and less punitive than this sorlock as you delay spellcasting for only one level. This isn't by any means critcism, just personnal bias against the sorlock in general, specially after Tasha. Now, if you want to play a sorlock, this is a great way to do it.
I find Sorlock to be quite a different sort of character than a Sorcerer. You are quite correct in that it loses a lot of spellcasting and, early on at least, Eldritch Blast doesn't really do that much. I think of this character as a ranged attacker rather than a spellcaster. using Pact Slots for sorcery is a minor benefit to the setup, in my opinion. The fact that you are effectively getting a Fighter-level progression of Extra Attack through Eldritch Blast is much more significant. Once you reach 11th level and have 3 beams with Eldritch Blast the Sorlock really comes online. You can cast 2 Eldritch Blasts (6 beams) every turn for quite a long time as you convert spell slots into sorcery points to continue doing it. While doing so, you have a lot of high-impact options for your concentration as well that you can prop up in turn 1 or in the setup to the fight in the DM allows. If your damage is the only one likely to be useful in the fight, then you can simply Hex early on, providing an extra 3d6 damage (minus misses) on the first turn and 6d6 every turn afterward until you need to start burning slots for more points. Alternatively, you can use the typical battlefield control or you can pick up Twinned Spell and get some very high value out of team buff spells like Haste, Polymorph, or Greater Invisibility which are fantastic when Twinned. Bless is a great option when using the Divine Soul subclass as well. This tactic starts getting good in at level 7 when you have 2 beams with Agonizing Blast and level 3 spells but tier 3 is where it really shines. Basically, think of it not as a pure spellcaster, but a ranged attacker that has high-value team support with their concentration, has good defense with counterspell, shield, and absorb elements, and has other utility spells for various situations. If you go Hexblade, you can also do this with medium armor and a shield, though it may require War Caster do be able to use EB with a wand + shield, depending on your DM.
You should realize this isn't setting out to be his best sorcerer build, it's his best sorlock build. That means optimal eldritch blast damage (need agonizing blast at warlock 2, or I guess warlock 1 and a full feat) with as little disruption to the utility of being a sorcerer.
What a great idea! Of course your videos & builds are solid no matter how much they've aged, but selecting a few of the more popular builds to revamp is awesome. The name made me do a double-take. ;) If you're up for a puzzle, I'm noodling a Hexblade/Wildfire druid, leveraging the spirit to do an unlimited mini-Misty Step in combat, with melee crit fishing. I haven't figured how to optimize this one yet!!!
I have been considering a sorlock and have not had the opportunity to do one yet. This makes the option more exciting, and I will move it up in the characters to be run.
Eladrin has been my favorite race! 👍🏻 I’ve been working on a Troop Transport Teleportation Specialist: • Strixhaven Background • Strixhaven Initiate (Quandrix College for Vortex Warp from the added spell list) • Eladrin (Spring Season to teleport yourself or an ally) • Peace Cleric for the 6th Level Protective Bond • Wildfire Druid for Fiery Teleportation (only 2 levels) • Strixhaven Mascot feat (Fractal Mascot for Huge Troop transport & 60 foot teleportation swap with familiar • Fey Touched for 8th level feat What do you think? I might switch to Shadar-Kai, depending on how the new Mordenkainen’s version comes out. It would give resistance to the necrotic damage taken from Wither and Bloom, which would then be a better spell option.
@@theydon_bois: I guess so! LOL There are three questions I ask myself: Q1. Is this a character that I would enjoy playing? A1. Yes! Q2: Is this a character the other players would enjoy me playing? A2: Yes! Q3: Is this a character the DM would enjoy me playing? A3: Yes! This character checks all the boxes, for me anyway. ☺️
Hi! I'm a new viewer of this channel (because I came back playing D&D after a huge hiatus), and I'm making a Sorlock on a Eberron campaign, a "Death-themed no-undead-tho warlock", reflavoring the Undead Patron to "Dolurrh"! Talk about timing!
I actually played a Sorlock based on your original build. It was an absolute killer. Most of the time I was doing normal battlefield control and buffing, but when a big bad made himself known I would pour it on and put them down.
Minus the Heringon, this is very close to my Cyclops build. I felt the Clockwork Soul subclass abilities lent themselves to a sort of leadership enhancement, and most fit the leader of the X-Men. Great build.
Great analysis. I do go back and forth between Clockwork and Divine Sorcerer. Clockwork has so many extra spells and a good first lvl trait.. Divine only gives 1 extra spell but with access to Cleric spell list you now have Spiritual Weapon for your bonus attack. Then for a while you'll do well with EBx2 plus Spirit Weapon with Hex added to the 3 attacks. Once you get 3rd lvl spells if you have multiple targets then Spirit Guardians could be a good go to.
A player should speak to their DM about using web on flying creatures. I'd rule that "the web collapses in in itself" happens immediately but in a way that still allows wings to flap etc. The webbing would then disappear as the spell ends at the end of the turn.
I prefered your old SorLock video, I think that build was more efficient, but this one is very good too. Very nice of you to explain that it's possible to use that Spell Slot Conversion Exploit, and even nicer to explain how that is going to make you being kicked out of a gaming table! lol
Chris, excellent video! 👍🏻 You make the game so much more easy to understand. ❤️ What do you think of this idea for a Sorlock ? • Owlin • Take Dhampir Lineage later • Sorcerer 1 (whichever you prefer) • Undead Warlock 2 • Agonizing Blast • Grasp of Hadar • Sorcerer X You would have no Medium or Heavy Armor, but your Walking / Flying / Climbing Speed would all be 35. You would also have Spider Climb from 3rd Level onward. If you hit them from above, you can pull them 10 feet into the air and then drop them for an extra d6 damage. If you are on the ground with Form of Dread, then you can pull opponents away from allies with Grasp of Hadar. If the opponent fails their save versus being Frightened, then they cannot approach you. If they succeed on their save versus Frightened, then you use Silvery Barbs. I know Repelling Blast is better because it can work on every Eldritch Blast beam. I just think this is an interesting alternative. If you cast Sleep, then you can Crit on the unconscious opponents with Vampiric Bite. I would drop a Net over them first, though, so they are still restrained after waking.
I think its worth mentioning that quicken eldritch blast + HBC + Hex can put out some absolutely massive damage on those single target big boss fights that are going to last a few rounds. You can even try to sneak in a subtle spell hex before it starts and try to get the debuffs stacked a round faster. This video also made me realize that by stacking lv 1 slots you could just abuse the living crap out of silver barbs. You could even take it as a replacement from the aberrant mind sorc and cast it every round for 1 sorc point. So if you ever want to convince your DM to ban that spell, I'd say that'd be a good way to do it.
Setting fire to a web that will expire at the start of your next turn still makes sense, though probably only if you can do it without using an action better used blasting the targets
34:10 What about an Elf that does 1-4 extra short rests while the party is doing an 8 hour long rest (the Elf only needed 4 hours to long rest) how taboo is that?
It's a great idea to revisit your earlier videos using the new features at your disposal!! Particularly, I would love if you did an update on magical secrets taking into account the new spells released, maybe even making two spell lists, one for bard's subclasses that prioritize armed combat and one for subclasses that prioritize the caster role! It would be really cool, and i think a lot of people would like it... Anyways, great video!
Great video as always! I was wondering if you are ever going to make a build for every sorcerer subclass, just as you did for wizards, as i now think sorcerers (trough expansions to the spell list, optional class features and new subclasses) are a very compelling alternative to wizard, and i think it would be very interesting to see how you would optimize each sorcerer subclass
I think that Fire bolt has one other use that isn't mentioned. Fire bolt is a single attack and situationally it could be better to have only one attack. It a target has a incredibly high AC. Like 20-22 or something. If you have advantage on your next attack, like from Guiding Bolt, I could see fire bolt being more useful, because at higher levels the eldritch blast would only get advantage on the first attack. Again totally situational but I think fire bolt is just as good as eldritch blast without invocations.
Clockwork cavalcade is basically a 10th level heal that is rarely wasted and an AOE dispel magic of 6th level or lower, you remove enemies' buffs and dispel debilitating spells on your allies. I love that ability so much
One other acceptable approach to the loop might be playing an elf since they have trance. That gives you enough time for 4 short rests before the rest of the party awakens.
4th race option, especially if in a campaign in predominantly indoors, underground, or dim light... Kobold! :P I still say sleep is a situational spell you could keep around - there are still many creatures, especially into midlevel play, with pretty high AC and magic resistance or high saves. It is even more something that is DM dependent, but many DMs give you an idea of when a creature is bloodied, and that gives you your HP target for when sleep becomes useful. And there is no save and no attack roll involved with sleep. If you can roll empowered metamagic on sleep's "Damage" then you are much less chance reliant, and it really does become like "Power word: sleep" And another benefit to the hexblade is your booming blade will be a full attack bonus attack, as opposed to just +2 dex+prof Also also, since you have martial proficiency, if you aren't threatened than hexblades can make dual wielding shortsword attacks on the round after hex has been cast, to effectively deal greatsword damage with each hit. Also Also Also, as long as you are still primarily using hex for concentration, only having 1st level warlock spells (re: the 3 levels warlock vs 2 at the start) isn't a huge issue, as long as you use your warlock spells for hex, shield, and wrathful smite - as none of those really care about being level 1 or 2.
Reborn from Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft could be a great option as they don’t sleep or can be made to sleep and get a +2 to any stat. They don’t even meditate like elves, they sit and stare off into space. Although they’re presented in Ravenloft they’re basically an Awakened Zombie or someone who was Resurrected not quite right so as a DM myself I’d allow it anywhere. You could also say something like your Warlock Patron resurrected you for its purposes. As for the Loop, I really disagree with broadly saying Loops are bad. They’re tools, like any tool they should be used responsibly. You can Long Rest for 4 hours as an Elf, Reborn or Custom Lineage with that feature and then chain 4 Short Rests to get some extra Sorcery Points while everyone else is sleeping. This doesn’t break the game, you’re just more magical, you are still limited to one or two spells per turn.
My favorite version of the Sorlock is the pseudo coffeelock version that still takes long rest every night, but uses the reborn lineage to do it in 4 hours, and then spends the next 4 hours on watch taking short rests and spending sorcery points on bastion of law/creating spell slots while still having your max sorcery points at the start of the day.
I'd like to make a suggestion for the Drow race and then picking up the Drow High Magic feat. You get infinite Detect magics, dispel magic and levitate is almost like a free hold person and will give everyone advantage on hits. The Sorc spells prepared is always a tiny number and those extra spells have a ton of utility. Esp. Detect Magic.
If youre gonna stack up, do it for spreading out things to others like double casting haste or aid or heroism. Mind whip after hex.warding bond with bastian of law too. Esp for a chain pact
Im in somewhat of a disagreement about the loop. Yes, forcing other players to conform to that characters need of short resting is not nice, it should be avoided. If you finish the long rest, you shouldnt tell your party "I need 2 more hours" just to do it twice. But. What if you are playing an elf that only needs 4 hours of sleep? Elf, especially pre-tasha variant abilties scores, is not a good choice for a charisma based character. Lets say you take the first watch in the night, 2 hours pass. You sleep 4 hours. That still leaves 2 more hours. Even if you stand watch, that doesnt interrupt or prevent you from short resting. So my question is this: is an elf doing the sorcery points - pact slot loop after having completed the 4 hour long rest considered bad form, even tho nothing you could be doing during the remainder of their long rest conflicts with your short rests?
i'd say coercing the party to short rest constantly would be annoying, but doing it with an elf race would be fine since it does not interfere with other PCs, as long as DM is ok with shenanigans
Yep, this is a less disruptive way (imo) to accomplish a similar thing. I'd recommend checking with the DM first though, since it is RAW-legal but could be seen as a cheesy exploit and is probably not RAI. A bit like taking Svirfneblin Magic feat from Mordenkainen's on a duergar abjuration wizard to recharge the ward quickly at will. The fly in the ointment is that you might not immediately go from "when the party wakes up" to "exploring the dungeon," and even the 8-hr spells might wear off when you still need them. But you can pretty much fix that with the extended spell metamagic. Clockwork Soul and Divine Soul sorcs can get Aid and other good long-term buff spells. Mix that with short-rest slot recovery, and extend to double length. Give everything mage armor that might benefit from it (even your ally's familiars, etc.), extra HP, and other goodies. If your DM allows gift of alacrity, take that with fey touched and stack it on. Once you are out adventuring, even 1-hr effects can be cast, extended, before the party takes a short rest so you can, for instance, get an hour of upcast (using pact slot) Armor of Agathys essentially for the cost of one sorcery point. Clockwork soul can even take rope trick (transmutation spell) to make short rests safe and available in situations they normally wouldn't be. If there isn't already a character who can put a bunch of temporary HP on the party, the inspiring leader feat lets you pile more free buffing on top of all that. You can be an extremely effective "healer" with minimal resource costs and without using a single action in combat, allowing you to focus on the usual good combat spells (Web, Hypnotic Pattern, and so on). Just make sure the DM is on board with all the short rest abuse.
@@nathansmith9597 I dont think I agree with the svirfnebling magic feat, because abjurers can already spend 1 hour of ritual casting alarm isntead of short resting. You pay a feat so that it doesnt take your short rest. And with Eldritch Adept, you dont have to be a certain race to do it.
@@texteel Yes, armor of shadows does a similar thing and (for that reason) might be nixed by some DMs. Personally, I don't think I would, but I could definitely see why a DM might choose to. In most practical situations, I agree that mage armor or nondetection at will are going to be very similar for this purpose. I strongly disagree that ritually casting alarm (e.g.) is in the same league as either of those. With ritual casting you are restoring 2 HP per 11 minutes (alarm takes 1 minute, + 10 for ritual casting). So, a level 8 wizard whose ward has 21 HP will need about two hours (!) to fully recharge their ward, during which they can't be doing anything but ritually casting alarm over and over. If the same wizard has Armor of Shadows or can cast nondetection at will, they can recharge their ward entirely in about one minute. Granted, you won't always need to fully recharge the ward, but it really is a huge difference.
@@nathansmith9597 either in the case of nondetection or armor of shadows, it takes a feat. A feat that isnt spent improving DCs or securing concentration. Yes, the ward being up at the beginning of a fight can prevent concentration checks, but it doesnt stand up to focus fire. You pay a very expensive price to do something more efficiently
Thanks for the video! I'm building my first multiclass character and he's a sorlock. I'm going with Pact of the Chain, so I'm not exactly maxing out my potential for damage. Still this gives me some ideas to work from and helps convince me of the usefulness of the telekinetic feat.
The way I limit the sorlock loop without just banning it is this: 1. The rules under sorcery points say that you can never have more sorcery points than allowed by the sorcerer table. This both prevents hoarding and your Sorlock has to pay more attention to the points they are juggling during the loop. Inefficient or interrupted loops could leave them either losing points (I/e: converting a second level pact slot while they still have one point, losing one because their max points are two), or entering a scene/event/battle with less than their maximum points. 2. Not as necessary, and not as concrete, you should probably not let your Sorlock player make slots of a higher level than their highest Sorcerer spell slot. Not in the RAW, but prevents a minor bit of cheese. 3. I would heavily enforce the Xanathar’s rule on exhaustion due to lack of sleep. Between that and properly punishing the Party if the are taking excessive amounts of short rests (events being lost due to missed opportunity/opposition surprise attacking more frequently/fees for annoying tavern patrons with your magic hooha/etc…). If the party isn’t feeding their short rest habit, the Sorlock will have to either have to force the party to wait at the beginning of the day or gamble with exhaustion by not taking their long rest (they can’t horde slots, sense they reset after a long rest.) All of this together means that the worst abuse of the loop would happen if they went full Cocainelock. Which is both a late game issue and wastes a 5th level slot a day.
I'm enjoying having more warlocks that benefit a sorlock build. For example undead 1 divine soul 2 can be a decent blaster. Dao warlock crusher shenanigans are also interesting. Glad we have options that aren't just hexblade
Here's a unique one I'd love to see: an Undead warlock build. I'd love to see you combine the undead warlock with some other effects which take advantage of frighten (other than Conquest pally) to make a powerful lich-king build!!!
looking forward to what you do with Sorcadin :) Also, Aid + Armor of Agathys + Blade Ward + Bastion of Law + running through enemies, provoking attacks of opportunity is really good with Clockwork
4:12 I'm not so sure the web lasts, in the air, a whole round. It says "the conjured web collapses on itself," with a comma, thus concluding that separate instruction. What "collapses on itself" means is subjective but I would think if it were the air and collapsed on itself it wouldn't say in the air. Then, after this, the spell ends at the start of your next turn. Commas matter.
I assume an aberrant mind would grab completely different spells for this kind of combo. Haven't d&d'ed for a while. Driving myself nuts making a charrie for my friend's game. Leaning towards whispers bard/ aberrant mind. You've made some good observations about what spells are valuable, which I'm totally going to use. Great vid!
This is really on a sorlock but as DND Shorts noted in their latest video if you go dwarf so you can take the dwarven fortitude feat and then get the bloodwell vial magic item (which starting out as an uncommon you might be able to get quite early) you could roll a hit die mid combat using the feat letting you activate the bloodwell vial's once per day ability and regain 5 sorcery points. I've used the vial (not with this combo) and it was pretty balanced in the hands of a regular sorcerer but on a sorlock I would be very very wary.
You know what could be a cool optional feature? Being able to swap levels in a class for levels in another class. Maybe even you need a certain "amount of XP" after 20, but then you can swap out a level. Because honestly, I think at lower levels, this would be better with the 3rd level of Warlock. But at higher levels, you want that Sorcerer capstone. So being able to swap it as an official optional rule and not just home brew would be pretty cool, imo.
Man i dunno about wish. Prismatic wall with a character that can push and pull enemies back and forth through all 7 layers of the wall potentially multiple times in one single turn is insane!
The idea of a loop might be interesting to allow in a limited way very particular type of scenario: I'm thinking of ritual combat or a duel, something where the character has time to specifically prepare for a fight. In resting, the warlock might be communing with her patron and building on the boon by the conversion to points. If the patron would feel this was clever use, it may allow some loops. If the patron would consider that cheating, the added spell slot need not be granted and might even merit further sanctions.
Cat lady hoarder fills genie bottle with conjured animals to hurl at enemies with catapult. Double cast transmute rock to lock em in or drop the roof on em too
Shocking Grasp takes away a creatures reaction. Yes you have to hit them but if they are wearing metal armor you get advantage. Then I can walk away without an opportunity attack. Just saying 😁. I think it deserves an honorable mention.
Instead of spending an action on shocking grasp and have a chance that will hit so you can move away, you can disengage as an action and be certain to move away without attack of opportunity
@@Hendori3 True, but it also allows others to flee as well but still get their attacks in. I understand it is not the best choice but it can have a big impact.
I wish you would do "impossible" builds. Monk/warlock Druid/bard Barbarian/wizard Etc. If anyone can, you're the guy. Ps. Also, the fact that I want to MC my druid into bard is not the point 🤣
@@RavarSeer doubles your metamagic versatility and gives you 50% more sorcery points at that level, while misty step is slightly redundant with rabbit hop.
@@elliotbryant3459 misses out on the cha bump and tasha's hideous laughter or gift of alacrity though. Maybe after either fey touched or telekinetic so you have an even cha.
@@micahswerens2472 That's a good point, I did gloss over the cha bump, though if you had a 16 cha it would leave 2 points to redistribute into other base stats. I'd probably pick up meta adept with either the 1st or 2nd asi just to get to use them more often. Metamagic use is my favorite aspect of playing a sorcerer so I really appreciate doubling the tools available. Personally I'm not really crazy about telekinetic outside of psionic themed character builds. It's really flavorful but the potential 5' push/pull benefit just doesn't seem crazy impactful to me as a feat commitment.
@@elliotbryant3459 Might depend on how much forced movement you can use as part area of effect spells, eg web or spike growth, hypnotic pattern, if the char has consistent BA use (wildfire druid would not want telekinetic), and perhaps if the invisible no component mage hand would also be useful or not. This build in particular does focus on forced movement, so having another bit to add to repelling blast could be useful especially if you have a wizard or druid also helping with AOE concentration spells. Or shove a bunch of enemies into cleric sprit guardians lol. I suppose how much teamwork you can rely on would be part of it too.
The only other choice for me was Celestial Lock, which gives you more support utility, in larger groups where you can largely expect to not get hit a lot due to numerous meat shields...Err party members standing in front of you.
