D&D 5E [GUIDE] The Sorlock – Guide to the tormented divine soul with Xanathar's Divine Soul(17)+Hexblade(3) [Updated 12/20/21]

[Joseph Webley]

What about using aspect of the moon to make spell scrolls like hex, armour of agathys and shield. If you keep them in something like a bag of holding you will have a relatively easy way to cast spells and you can then turn your spell slots into sorcery points which will give you a quite big boost. That should net you something like 12 points so 6 quickened EBs.

 

[delph]

One idea - Melf's Minute Meteors - from 3th spell slot it's 12d6 dmg with 10 ft diameter. With use on enemy with Hex and Hexblade curse (some boss with huge amount of HPs, because you need 3 rounds to get in use) it's 12d6 fire+6d6 necro+6xProficiency, for every higher slot it's +4d6 fire + 2d6 necro + 2x Prof

negatives? - You can send only 2 meteors per round by bonus action (cant use quckened spells, or when move Hex), So useable for fights with more rounds.
But needn't use meamagic and spellpoints for use actions and bonusactions to deal dmg to enemy...

On 5th lvl:
1. round - BA - Hex, A - EB // 2d10+2d6+8(AgonizingB)
2. round - BA - Curse, A - EB // 2d10+8 +2d6 +6 (2x proficiency)
3. round - A - MMM, BA - send 2 meteors // 4d6 +2d6 +6
4. round - A - EB, BA - send 2 meteors. // 2d10+8 + 4d6 + 4d6 +12 = 59 Dmg before attack/save but no other spellslot and spellpoints... (and those 4d6 fire can be used for 4 creature when they are standing close)

 

[Joseph Webley]

Now that Tasha's is out I think it has become pretty clear the clockwork soul and aberrant mind sorcerers are the best by a mile because they get 10 extra spells (9 extra compared to divine soul). The aberrant mind alps has a variety of amazing abilities. And the clockwork soul gets access to so many good spells like wall of force that the sorcerer just doesn't have in the first place.

 

[Glibowick]

Edited

 

[Khazidhea87]

You state here that while using VotCM that using your familiars sense while on the same plane of existence Without requiring an action. This guide is the ONLY place I've found this to be true, everywhere else, unfortunately, states that it's an action to look through your familiars eyes.

I'm late to the party, but as I grew interested in Voice of the Chain since reading the guide I ended up looking into it a bit deeper so I thought I'd add this in here in case it would be helpful for anyone else.

My main takeaway was that there are decent reasons to think that Voice of the Chain Master and Find Familiar are linked, especially when considering RAI. Yet when looking at RAW there is little to support this interpretation primarily due to the linkage between the invocation and the spell being implicit rather than explicit, as well as it seemingly goes against the relevant precedents we do have to refer to, if it is indeed a rule modification rather than the gifting of a new ability:

1. Outside of VotCM there are two other PotC invocations that reference familiars. One explicitly calls out the Find Familiar spell, the casting of which, and lays out how it is modifying said spell. The other doesn't build off anything within the spell so presumably it is instead granting a new feature that simply requires having a familiar (within range). Lacking calling out Find Familiar by name VotCM aligns closer with the latter, so reasonably grants a new ability that simply requires a familiar (within range), rather than modifying the rules of a spell
2. Invocations in general seem to be self contained, except where explicitly noting otherwise. Singular spells also never (that I can see) are modified by implication, instead each time are explicitly named. This is particularly true when it comes to invocations involving spells. For VotCM to be modifying a spell rather than granting a new ability it would be the only one that does so in this way (~30 odd invocations that explicitly reference spells by name, 9 or so of which that explicitly modify a spell (beyond slot/material limitations))
3. Lastly (I'm less sure on this point, but think it holds up), if VotCM modifies Find Familiar it does so incredibly awkwardly. Find Familiar is an instantaneous spell, so if the spell itself is being changed then presumably it will have no effect on existing familiars. So FF would need to be cast again to have any effect, yet VotCM neglects to mention to do so.

 

[JTVincible]

In your 17/3 sample build, it looks like you remove Devil’s Sight which I thought was kind of a key component of the build for reliably gaining Advantage. How are you gaining it consistently in that build?

 

[Tornagh]

This is my all time favourite build guide and I have played variants of it (Mostly Shadow) many times. In fact I am playing one now and about to get to the sweet level 7 Mark where the DPR is kicking in!

However there is one aspect I would respectfully disagree with and that's Empowered spell being a green option:

"Empowered Spell - Rerolling dice can result in increasing your damage but not usually worth spending your sorcerer points on."

I think this is very wrong. In fact I think until level 5 Empowered is the single best option (even better than Twin or Quickened) and remains solid gold all the way to level 20.

Why? 3 reasons:

1. First reason can be summarized in a single word: Fireball. Empowered Spell will increase every single Fireball's damage by around 25% on average (if you used it every time) for a single sorcery point AND you can declare it after you see the damage rolls meaning that you will actually get closer to 30 % - 40 % in actual play. Take the most overpowered AOE spell, increase its damage by 30% at a very cheap cost and you get yourself the single best AOE clear from level 5 onwards while also being top dog when it comes to your DPR. What's not to love?
2. You can use empowered on Scorching rays for higher DPR! This is actually quite strong at lower levels where the rerolled dices add considerable damage and almost always add more damage than a quickened firebolt (pre-multiclass) at half the cost. Even after getting EB this can be a good way to increase damage further, and if you really want to NOVA at LVL 20 you can do Empowered Level 9 Scorching ray + Quickened Empowered EB for respectable extra damage at the cost of only 2 more sorcery points (Empowered specifically states you can combine it with other metamagic).
3. What you also need to consider is that due to the multiclass this build will be constantly short on sorcery points at the levels most campaigns end at. Having 5 sorcery points at level 7 (or even at level 8 depending on when you take warlock 3) doesn't really give you much room to use twin or careful spell while keeping enough sorcery points ready to set up your DPR wombo-combo. Transforming spell slots into sorcery points bites into bonus actions (that you really need for setup) and also into valuable high level spell slots that could have been used for fireballs or for scorching rays.

For these reasons I have transitioned into taking Empowered + Quicken as my first 2 metamagic options and I can tell you Empowered gets used every single session while quickened is basically useless until level 7 and then only used against a boss (or in very niche scenarios).

 

[Tornagh]

In your 17/3 sample build, it looks like you remove Devil’s Sight which I thought was kind of a key component of the build for reliably gaining Advantage. How are you gaining it consistently in that build?

Not OP but there are 2 ways to get it back:

1. In the sample build he gets it back 2 levels later when he gets Greater Invisibility which achieves pretty much the same result.
2. If he had gone Half-Elf Drow Heritage he can gain access to Fairy fire and gain perma advantage via that, although he does need the enemy to fail 1 dex save first which is not a given.

Personally though I would recommend going for the 18-2 Shadow Sorcerer route. Being 3 levels behind on Sorcerer hurts way more early game than the guide would admit. The delay in sorcerer spell and spellslot progression is not worth regaining 2 more sorcerer points per short rest unless you do 4+ short rests in between each Long Rest and combat encounters are spread out evenly. This is very rare and having 1 or 2 small encounters, a single short rest, then a big encounter seems to be the more common DM formula.

The only thing you really miss is the IMP familiar which is indeed a shame because it is very good utility-wise. I would certainly recommend getting a ring of spellstoring and having a friendly wizard give you at least a regular familiar with it so you compensate somewhat for the loss.

Last reason why I think 18-2 is superior is that if you do ever get to level 20, the "Umbral Form" ability of the Shadow Sorcerer which requires 18 levels in the subclass is actually super strong as you can purposefully phase into solid objects to become untargetable at the small cost of 5 health a turn. This takes you from being a DPR god to also being unkillable. I think becoming unbeatable in a fight aligns much better with the spirit of the build than the admitedly top tier utility the Imp provides.

 

[delph]

Hi, did you notice new book from Critical role? There are some nice feats for sorlocks. Vital sacrifice is best a make sorlocks broken.
You will sacrifice 1d6 hp to get +1d6 for attack rolls or 2d6 dmg necrotic. BUT nowhere is written you can't sacrifice you more times for more boons. So after there are:

Elven accuracy with 1d6 bonus, and EB + Agonizing + 1d6 hex + Curse + 2d6 per one blast

Edit (I read it too much quckly):

You've learned secrets of hemocraft that grant you esoteric power at the price of your own life force. As a bonus action, you can choose to take 1d6 necrotic damage to gain a blood boon. Your blood boon lasts for 1 hour or until expended. You can expend this blood boon to gain one of the following benefits:

• When you make an attack roll, you roll 1d6 and add it to the total.
• When you hit with an attack or spell, you deal an additional 2d6 necrotic damage.
• When you cause a creature to make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, roll a d4 and reduce their save by the amount rolled.

The damage you take to gain a blood boon can’t be reduced in any way.
- From Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn Book Page: 191

So it's only for one use and using bonus action. Nothing for good use.

 

[Xardion]

In your 17/3 sample build, it looks like you remove Devil’s Sight which I thought was kind of a key component of the build for reliably gaining Advantage. How are you gaining it consistently in that build?

With Shadow Soul you don't need Devil's Sight, as if you use 2 sorcery points to cast Darkness with the Eyes of the Dark feature, you are automatically able to see through that Darkness spell.