D&D 5E Stabby McSorcererpants! A question about conversion

[DogBackward]

...and doing all the damage through spells instead of attacks.

Did I miss a supplement for the Sorcerer or something? I got out of 4e around Essentials, but as I recall the Sorcerer still did all their damage with spells, there wasn't really a weapon-based version.

 

[the Jester]

It's interesting to hear your dude's wild mage felt significantly martial in nature...I've played one to mid-Paragon and he was always about the spell blasting.

In my (now mid-epic) 4e game, the sorcerer is a mix of blasting and weapon attacks. He uses a morning star that has a few cool charge-related powers, invested a feat in using it as an implement (he's a starlock and the weapon is called Meteor and has all kinds of thematically-appropriate stuff), and mixes up melee and spellcasting fairly freely.

Also, he has a power that lets him turn into lightning and shoot through a bunch of enemies. I suspect Piratecat's sorcerer player has the same ability, though its name escapes me at the moment!

 

[Piratecat]

I still feel like the truest conversion is going to be a finesse-based eldritch knight 3/wild sorcerer 12. Almost full spellcasting, armor, attack rolls at the same level as the rest of the party (most likely).

Now, you'd have to house rule the EK to use Cha instead of Int, and focus on a spell selection that fits the right feel, but I think it could work.

Great idea. We'll try it!

And Jester nailed it where I failed; that's the same sort of character that this one is.

 

[drjones]

I was looking to make a thief/illusionist after playing some Baldurs Gate so I experimented with a few different builds for min/maxing and fitting the 'feel' of what I was looking for. With the caveat that I was just theorycrafting them at level 10, have not play-tested any of this:

From what I could see the Arcane Trickster is a thief with some minor spell tricks. It takes till level 13 to even get level 3 spells and you never have many to chose from. It's a fun rogue but not what I was looking for.

AT/Bard can be close but it straddles Cha and Int for casting purposes and the spell list for bard is good but missing some of the wizard standards.

At/Illusionist 50/50 is the most obvious but because you get 1 practical spell casting level for each 3 of AT you end up with the defensive thief skills like Evasion and more sneak damage which are cool but lose out on spell progression and will never see moderately high level sells. The illusionist class features are not super great compared to some of the other schools but oh well.

AT/Illusionist 3/x is what I think I am aiming for, sneak damage is not major but spellpower is great and spells like Greater Invis are castable without having to be real high level.

To the OP, there are a lot of ways to do what you want but maybe dex-based Valor bard is the easiest? They can fight and they can buff, though concentration makes it harder to only buff.

 

[jadrax]

So its seems like the main thing you want from spell casting is Misty Step, the 2nd Level Teleport as Bonus Action Conjuration spell.

Looking at the Obvious Single-class Candidates aside from Warlock.

Rogue (Arcane Trickster): Can get this at 8th level using one of your few any school spells learned. One the plus side a teleporting Duel wielding Rogue murder machine sounds pretty cool. You will need good Dex for AC and Murdering, plus Int for spells.

Fighter (Eldritch Knight): Can get this at 8th level using one of your few any school spells learned. Could be Str or Dex based, plus Int for spells. Your available spells are abjuration or evocation, so is probably the standard choice.

Bard: Can get this at 10th level using Magical Secrets, (or 6th level if you go Collage of Lore). However, does singing a lot match what your looking for in the conversion, because if not this is not going to work.

Paladin (Oath of Ancients): Get Misty Step as a Bonus Spell at 5th level. If you want to teleport about in full armour smiting your foes, this a pretty solid option. If your Chaos Mage was in any way Fey or Elvish, this could well be a very good match.

 

[Vael]

Also, he has a power that lets him turn into lightning and shoot through a bunch of enemies. I suspect Piratecat's sorcerer player has the same ability, though its name escapes me at the moment!

Spark Form. Level 7 Sorcerer Attack. Hmm ...

Spark Form
4th level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (A burnt piece of wood from a tree struck by lightning)
Duration: Until the end of your turn (or 1 round)

You transform yourself in pure electricity. Until the spell ends, your movement ignores difficult terrain, you can enter the space of enemy creatures, and your movement does not provoke opportunity actions. The first time you enter the space of another creature, they must make a Dexterity saving throw. If they are wearing metal armor, they have disadvantage on the save. A creature failing the save takes 6d10 lightning damage, or half that with a successful save. A creature may only be damaged once per round with this spell.
At Higher Levels. For each spell slot higher than 4th, the damage increases by 1d10.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I feel like a blade pact warlock starting with 1-3 levels of fighter (battlemaster if you go that far) can do most stabby-casty archetypes quite well. Rogue or shadow monk with sorcerer would be other good multiclass options - you get to dash around like crazy (magically or otherwise) and nova with some quickened spells when appropriate. Remember, monks can do their wacky martial arts with daggers and shortswords!

 

[RangerWickett]

New feat. Speleport. When you cat a spell with an area of effect, you can teleport to any part of its area as a bonus action.

 

[Thaumaturge]

New feat. Speleport. When you cat a spell with an area of effect, you can teleport to any part of its area as a bonus action.

Not Telespell?

Thaumaturge?

 

[MarkB]

Not Telespell?

Telecast?