The God wizard's Twin Sorlock
GoalThis build aims to be a god, akin to Treantmonk’s God wizard. However I'm shooting for ¾ striker, ¾ battlefield control, ¾ healer, ¾ Face, Batman. Also defender in a pinch.
Short summary
Yuan-Ti Divine Soul Sorcerer 18/Hexblade Warlock 2
Feats: Inspiring Leader, Warcaster, Alert, Cha+2
All bases are covered by Level 4.
Striker
- Hexblade curse, Agonizing Blast and Hex/Greater Invisibility
- It out-damages a greatsword GWM fighter at all levels after first, except level 5 where he gets Extra Attack while we are 70% as good. (See Level 5 details for calculations)
- 6-8 encounter days: Twin Dragon's Breath
- Attack plan @5th: Twin Inflict Wounds then Quickening Scorching Ray and Eldritch Blast
- Attack plan @11th: Concentrate on Twin Holy Weapon/Polymorph with Quickened Cone of Cold and Eldritch Blast actions
- Attack Plan @17th: Same but using Chain Lightning for multi-target attacks instead
- Increase team damage output through twinning Command(Flee to provoke OA), Holy Weapon, Greater Invisibility, Haste, and Polymorph
- Maintain Concentration with Constitution prof, Magical Resistance(advantage on saves vs. magic), Poison Immunity, Favored by the Gods(+2d4 to first save), Shield spell, a normal Shield, Medium Armor, Warcaster, Absorb Elements)
- Sleet Storm
- Silent Image at-will
- Twinning Command, Levitate, Holy Weapon, Greater Invisibility (Booming Blade+warcaster), Polymorph (2x T-Rexes)
- [Optional] Staff of the Python, Huge Creature with reach, 65-83 HP, hits grapple requiring action to get free. Can revert as bonus action to reset HP.
- Healer or Inspiring leader for free HP per short rest
- Healing Word -> Heal, Raise Dead
- Preemptive healing with Greater Invisibility, Polymorph temp HP, Haste’s +2 AC, action denial with Twin Command
- Twin Lesser/Greater Restoration for quick battle turnarounds
- High Charisma
- Intimidation/Persuasion
- Guidance
- Minor Illusion + Hex for disadvantage vs. investigation checks on Illusions.
- Greater Invisibility + warcaster + Booming Blade (Adds 0.12 KPR on average, same as a Sneak Attack)
- Sleet Storm
- Good AC and resilient to magic attacks (see concentration helpers above)
- [Optional] Staff of the Python: See Python above.
Sorcerers and the action economy
Haste
Haste trades your Concentration for extra sustained damage from an ally with a big stick, and less damage to that ally (+2 AC, Advantage on Dex. saves). Sorcerers get 2x the bang for the buck. From a Damage per Spell Point perspective (see below), Twin Haste is ranks high. Additionally, if you go before the frontline fighters Haste enables both to reach into position rather than only 1. For example both the fighter locking down the BBEG and the Rogue gaining an ally for Sneak Attack.
Levitate
As a god spell, this one can
Greater Invisibility
Unlike spells, attacks have an easier way of boosting the chance of damaging through advantage. But, I hear you say, why not go Darkness?
Problems with Darkness
Option 1) Run into the fray and blind enemies. Cons) Allies can't see
Option 2) Stay back in a black bubble. Cons) Dungeons may not have a convenient corner, and AOEs can easily cover your corner.
Sure, you've made yourself invincible, but that focuses enemy fire onto your other squishy allies. Those arrows are going somewhere, and a blind wizard is useless.
Twinning polymorph really shines in battle as you can make 2 T-Rexs with their Huge size, Battlefield presence and massive attacks. From a damage/spell point perspective, a T-Rex averages 53 damage per round. For the slots spent this is super efficient (26 DpSP, see below). However note that while you can maintain your concentration after polymorphed, your AC is lower, so you'll take more hits, more chances at losing concentration.
Proactive Healing of Polymorph
Ally at 1 HP? Polymorph them and turn the battle.
Know there is a long battle coming up? Proactively heal with the free 272 HP.
Haste trades your Concentration for extra sustained damage from an ally with a big stick, and less damage to that ally (+2 AC, Advantage on Dex. saves). Sorcerers get 2x the bang for the buck. From a Damage per Spell Point perspective (see below), Twin Haste is ranks high. Additionally, if you go before the frontline fighters Haste enables both to reach into position rather than only 1. For example both the fighter locking down the BBEG and the Rogue gaining an ally for Sneak Attack.
Levitate
As a god spell, this one can
- Lift the squishy out of melee range
- Lock down the BBEG while you take care of the mooks
- More Utility stuff
Greater Invisibility
Unlike spells, attacks have an easier way of boosting the chance of damaging through advantage. But, I hear you say, why not go Darkness?
Problems with Darkness
Option 1) Run into the fray and blind enemies. Cons) Allies can't see
Option 2) Stay back in a black bubble. Cons) Dungeons may not have a convenient corner, and AOEs can easily cover your corner.
Sure, you've made yourself invincible, but that focuses enemy fire onto your other squishy allies. Those arrows are going somewhere, and a blind wizard is useless.
- A twinned Greater Invisibility lets the rogue never get hit, the squishy never worrying about his saving throws and teleporting out of danger.
- You also have synergy with Booming Blade: Foes are afraid of moving and triggering auto damage, thus a bit of battlefield control
- An invisible foe doesn't need healing.
Twinning polymorph really shines in battle as you can make 2 T-Rexs with their Huge size, Battlefield presence and massive attacks. From a damage/spell point perspective, a T-Rex averages 53 damage per round. For the slots spent this is super efficient (26 DpSP, see below). However note that while you can maintain your concentration after polymorphed, your AC is lower, so you'll take more hits, more chances at losing concentration.
Proactive Healing of Polymorph
Ally at 1 HP? Polymorph them and turn the battle.
Know there is a long battle coming up? Proactively heal with the free 272 HP.
Damage, KPR and damage per spell point
Fireball is amazing at level 5-9, and the nova assassin blowing 4th level slots on smiting the BBEG is a wonder. But how consistent are you? Can you deal with mooks and BBEGs in the same day? Let's analyze damage from 3 perspectives
KPR
Kills per Round is a number that takes into account your average damage, chance to hit, and normalizes for an average monster's HP. Think of it as "what percent of a typical monster's HP can you chew through each round?" We make formulas for a typical monster's AC and HP as follows
AC=CR/3+12
HP=14*CR +10
chance to hit = 1-(Monster AC - To Hit)/20
Expected Damage = Average Damage * chance to hit
KPR = Expected Damage / Monster HP
A KPR of 0.25 means you can expect to chew through 25% of a typical monster’s HP for your level each round and is a baseline for strikers.
0.3 < KPR < 0.5
0.5 < KPR < 1.0
KPR > 1.0
Usually KPR above 1 is for novas. DMs, don't be afraid of these levels of damage as the player usually spent levels/feats to do this, and has spent their resources doing the nova. Let them have some spotlight, then throw another encounter at them. The rest of the party will likely have the reserves.
Damage per Spell Point
Damage per Spell Point uses the Sorcerer's Font of Magic table to gauge resource cost of various options. A sorcerer is uniquely positioned to balance their daily resources where they are needed most. The Bard/Cleric/Druid/Wizard must get creative with their 1st/2nd level slots after they've spent their level appropriate spells. You, on the other hand can shift between frontloading damage, endurance, and utility, while keeping 1 slot of the most important levels to cast.
Here are a some examples for comparison
Thoughts on examples
We see that Eldritch blast at 5th level (Sorcerer 3/Warlock 2) rocks 16.7 DpSP meaning that at level 5 and 5 encounters and 5 rounds each you could theoretically deal = 802 damage total. Amazing longevity, but we need to couple this with options that front load damage (high KPR) especially at the levels just prior to 5, 11, 17.
Twin Dragon Breath might seem like a poor choice, but being a concentration spell puts it in a different category than the rest. This spell's efficiency increases with targets and rounds for the same initial cost. However note that this consumes your action, and the twinned version costs another's action. Use this when endurance is needed.
Fireball shines as wonderfully in both the DpSP and KPR arenas. It scales absolutely horribly, so we need to find something with high KPR till we get Chain Lightning, which scales the best of all spells +10d8 / slot. Vitriolic Sphere(17 DpSP, 1.1 KPR) and Cone of Cold(16 DpSP, 1.1 KPR) are the best candidates but are AoE rather than single target. To get near those numbers for single-target we have to do an upleveled Scorching Ray with Hexblade’s curse and Warlock’s Hex. This gives us a respectable 0.66 KPR at the cost of a mediocre 7.2 DpSP.
If we imagine a sorcerer somehow capable of casting Twinned Finger of Death every round (86 damage) it is worse than a bit of preparation(hex+curse) and using the Eldritch Blast cantrip (116 dam) which can be focused or spread out. This shows me that Hexblade + quicken checks off the striker role for almost all levels.
Warlock 2 or 3?
Warlock gives you spell slots that can be converted to Spell points. Warlock 2 gives you 4 spell points, while Warlock 3 gives you 6 spell points. Taking a level of sorcerer over a 4 encounter day is about the same. We want faster access to higher level spells.
Only go for Warlock 3 if you really want that Imp familiar from Pact of the Chain.
Area vs. single target
Area of effects do wonders if mooks bunch up, and you should totally rip out a fireball when there are 4 or more mooks to blast.
However a baddie at 4 HP is just as deadly as one with full HP, so you want to focus fire at times.
Single-target Nova often suffers from overkill. The Ranger with an OathBow and all their bonuses don't carry over to the next guy as easily.
This is where Eldritch Blast smooths over this problem. With the minimal selection of AoE, you can eat through tons of HP, then with Eldritch blast's multiple rays you pick off foes spending the minimal amount of damage needed while sending left over rays to the next mook or focus onto the BBEG.
Equivalent Monster action reduction
A helpful oversimplification is to view a combat as a pool of monster HP in discrete chunks that each can generate a monster action. On average these actions combine in dealing damage to your party and preventing them from taking their own actions. As we kill monsters they lose monster actions. Our goal then is to minimize these monster actions and also minimize resources spent getting there while also staying alive.
From this perspective we can compare an AOE to a single target attack by asking, how many fewer monster actions could the enemy take by the end of the battle thanks to your attack. A fireball might not remove any foes from the battlefield, but when combined with your team's attacks focusing down the weakest foe still alive you have brought victory much closer. How much? Well 3 fewer monster actions closer compared if you did single target damage that matched the party's output. The fighter's Action Surge round might kill 2 foes and thus 1 more monster than the team's average. Over 4 rounds that's 4 fewer monster actions.
The numbers may be off, but the idea is to look at AOE spells and the number of monsters you can hit and come up with a formula for how many fewer actions could they take if you did a fireball now vs. using some single target spell and save the fireball for something more juicy. This even lets us compare Battlefield control spells like Sleet Storm, Evard's Black Tentacles and Stinking Cloud as each have immediate action denial rather than delayed action denial through death.
// Under construction. I want to have a formula that I can take some KPR of a single target attack, and convert it to monster actions subtracted. I'd then run some AOE spells with some arbitrary conversion from area to number of targets just to get an idea. But it is late so I'll get to this later.
- KPR (Kills Per Round)
- DpSP (Damage per Spell Point, ie. spell slot efficiency)
- Area vs. single target
- Equivalent Monster action reduction
KPR
Kills per Round is a number that takes into account your average damage, chance to hit, and normalizes for an average monster's HP. Think of it as "what percent of a typical monster's HP can you chew through each round?" We make formulas for a typical monster's AC and HP as follows
AC=CR/3+12
HP=14*CR +10
chance to hit = 1-(Monster AC - To Hit)/20
Expected Damage = Average Damage * chance to hit
KPR = Expected Damage / Monster HP
A KPR of 0.25 means you can expect to chew through 25% of a typical monster’s HP for your level each round and is a baseline for strikers.
0.3 < KPR < 0.5
0.5 < KPR < 1.0
KPR > 1.0
Usually KPR above 1 is for novas. DMs, don't be afraid of these levels of damage as the player usually spent levels/feats to do this, and has spent their resources doing the nova. Let them have some spotlight, then throw another encounter at them. The rest of the party will likely have the reserves.
Damage per Spell Point
Damage per Spell Point uses the Sorcerer's Font of Magic table to gauge resource cost of various options. A sorcerer is uniquely positioned to balance their daily resources where they are needed most. The Bard/Cleric/Druid/Wizard must get creative with their 1st/2nd level slots after they've spent their level appropriate spells. You, on the other hand can shift between frontloading damage, endurance, and utility, while keeping 1 slot of the most important levels to cast.
| Spell level | Points |
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 11 |
| 8 | 13 |
| 9 | 15 |
- Ray of Sickness: 2d8 @60% to fail costing 2 spell points = 9*.6/2 = 2.7 DpSP (damage per spell point), 9*0.6/(14*1+10)= 0.14 KPR, 9*0.6=5.4 expected damage
- Paladin Smite: 2d8 @ 100%(smite on hit) costing 2 spell points = 4.5 DpSP, +0.25 KPR, +9 dam
- Burning Hands (2 targets): 2.25 targets * 3d6 @60% to fail costing 2 spell points = 9.1 DpSP, .48 KPR, 19 dam
- Burning Hands with Dragon Soul (2 targets): 2.25 targets * 3d6 +3 @60% to fail costing 2 spell points = 12.2 DpSP, 0.61 KPR, 24.3 dam
- Twin Dragon Breath: 3d6 15' cone, dex save for 1/2@ 60% save, 2 targets(secondary targets 50% weight) = 2.52 DpSP/round, 0.20 KPR/round, 12.6 Dam/round
- Twin Firebolt: 2d10 @ 60% to hit costing 1 spell point = 10 DpSP, 0.56 KPR, 12.3 dam
- Twin Eldritch Blast: 2d10@ 60% to hit costing 1 spell point = 6 DpSP, 0.56 KPR, 12.3 dam
- Scorching Ray: 3*2d6 @ 60% to hit costing 3 spell point (2nd level slot) =6.2 DpSP, 0.32 KPR, 18.6 dam
- Quickened Eldritch Blast(@5th) + Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast(AG): 6d6+2d10+2*cha @60% costing 5 Spell points = 16.7 DpSP, 0.42 KPR, 33 dam
- Fireball(4 targets): 8d6@60% fail costing 5 SP = 17.1 DpSP, 1.28 KPR, 16.8 dam/target
- Twinned Blight: 16d8 @60% fail costing 10 SP = 4.3 DpSP, 0.4 KPR, 21 dam/target
- Quickened Scorching Ray + EB + AB + Hex + curse: 10d6 + 2d10+2*cha + 7*Prof + 7d6 @ 60% to hit costing 10 SP = 7.2 DpSP, 0.66 KPR, 72 dam single target
- Quickened Eldritch Blast(@11th level) + Eldritch Blast + AB: 6d10@ 60% to hit costing 2 SP = 27.7 DpSP, 0.36 KPR, 55 dam single target
- Disintegrate: 10d6+40@60% to fail costing 9 points = 5 DpSP, 0.3 KPR, 45 dam
- Twin Disintegrate: 20d6+80@60% to fail costing 15 points = 6 DpSP, 0.6 KPR, 90 dam
- Quickened Chain Lightning + EB + AB: 4(10d8)+2d10+2*cha@ 60% to hit costing 11 points = 15.6 DpSP, 1.13 KPR, 171 dam tot
- Quickened Chain Lightning(7th level slot) + EB + AB: 5(10d8)+2d10+2*cha@ 60% to hit costing 13 points = 16 DpSP, 1.17 KPR, 207 dam tot
- Finger of Death: 7d8+30@60% to fail costing 11 points = 5 DpSP, 0.32 KPR, 57 dam
- Twinned Finger of Death: 14d8+60@60% to fail costing 18 points = 4.8 DpSP, 0.48 KPR, 86 dam
- Quickened Eldritch Blast(17th level) + Eldritch Blast + AB + curse w/ advantage: 8d10+8*5+8*6 @88% to hit = 58 DpSP, 0.43 KPR, 116 dam
Thoughts on examples
We see that Eldritch blast at 5th level (Sorcerer 3/Warlock 2) rocks 16.7 DpSP meaning that at level 5 and 5 encounters and 5 rounds each you could theoretically deal = 802 damage total. Amazing longevity, but we need to couple this with options that front load damage (high KPR) especially at the levels just prior to 5, 11, 17.
Twin Dragon Breath might seem like a poor choice, but being a concentration spell puts it in a different category than the rest. This spell's efficiency increases with targets and rounds for the same initial cost. However note that this consumes your action, and the twinned version costs another's action. Use this when endurance is needed.
Fireball shines as wonderfully in both the DpSP and KPR arenas. It scales absolutely horribly, so we need to find something with high KPR till we get Chain Lightning, which scales the best of all spells +10d8 / slot. Vitriolic Sphere(17 DpSP, 1.1 KPR) and Cone of Cold(16 DpSP, 1.1 KPR) are the best candidates but are AoE rather than single target. To get near those numbers for single-target we have to do an upleveled Scorching Ray with Hexblade’s curse and Warlock’s Hex. This gives us a respectable 0.66 KPR at the cost of a mediocre 7.2 DpSP.
If we imagine a sorcerer somehow capable of casting Twinned Finger of Death every round (86 damage) it is worse than a bit of preparation(hex+curse) and using the Eldritch Blast cantrip (116 dam) which can be focused or spread out. This shows me that Hexblade + quicken checks off the striker role for almost all levels.
Warlock 2 or 3?
Warlock gives you spell slots that can be converted to Spell points. Warlock 2 gives you 4 spell points, while Warlock 3 gives you 6 spell points. Taking a level of sorcerer over a 4 encounter day is about the same. We want faster access to higher level spells.
Only go for Warlock 3 if you really want that Imp familiar from Pact of the Chain.
Area vs. single target
Area of effects do wonders if mooks bunch up, and you should totally rip out a fireball when there are 4 or more mooks to blast.
However a baddie at 4 HP is just as deadly as one with full HP, so you want to focus fire at times.
Single-target Nova often suffers from overkill. The Ranger with an OathBow and all their bonuses don't carry over to the next guy as easily.
This is where Eldritch Blast smooths over this problem. With the minimal selection of AoE, you can eat through tons of HP, then with Eldritch blast's multiple rays you pick off foes spending the minimal amount of damage needed while sending left over rays to the next mook or focus onto the BBEG.
Equivalent Monster action reduction
A helpful oversimplification is to view a combat as a pool of monster HP in discrete chunks that each can generate a monster action. On average these actions combine in dealing damage to your party and preventing them from taking their own actions. As we kill monsters they lose monster actions. Our goal then is to minimize these monster actions and also minimize resources spent getting there while also staying alive.
From this perspective we can compare an AOE to a single target attack by asking, how many fewer monster actions could the enemy take by the end of the battle thanks to your attack. A fireball might not remove any foes from the battlefield, but when combined with your team's attacks focusing down the weakest foe still alive you have brought victory much closer. How much? Well 3 fewer monster actions closer compared if you did single target damage that matched the party's output. The fighter's Action Surge round might kill 2 foes and thus 1 more monster than the team's average. Over 4 rounds that's 4 fewer monster actions.
The numbers may be off, but the idea is to look at AOE spells and the number of monsters you can hit and come up with a formula for how many fewer actions could they take if you did a fireball now vs. using some single target spell and save the fireball for something more juicy. This even lets us compare Battlefield control spells like Sleet Storm, Evard's Black Tentacles and Stinking Cloud as each have immediate action denial rather than delayed action denial through death.
// Under construction. I want to have a formula that I can take some KPR of a single target attack, and convert it to monster actions subtracted. I'd then run some AOE spells with some arbitrary conversion from area to number of targets just to get an idea. But it is late so I'll get to this later.
Defender, a specialized battlefield controller
A meat shield is just a liability and a healing spell sink on the party. The real job of the tank is to keep the squishies safe, and punish foes for attacking them instead of him. His challenge is locking down foes as quick as possible.
As you level a single melee attack becomes less hurtful. A smart DM would take advantage of this and leave the tank and go for the squishies. Hard control and a meaner bite ends up being the only way to deal with this. Great Weapon Master's +10 damage fades as you level. The fighter must resort to Sentinel at higher levels to put a hard stop to rushing the squishies.
A rogue can apply their Sneak Attack once per turn, not round. Thus they look for opportunities to make opportunity attacks on a monster's turn and double dip. Just how much extra damage does this deal? +(1/2 level)d6 / 14*CR +10 = added KPR = +0.12 KPR on average. Losing 12% of your health does add a sharp bite. Thus an invisible rogue becomes a sticky defender.
How does Booming Blade compare? It adds 1d8 from 1-4, +3d8 from 5-10, +5d8 from 11-16, +7d8 from 17-20. We'll likely also need a finesse weapon. Doing the same math and averaging over all levels we also get +0.12 KPR. In other words Warcaster + Booming Blade makes ourselves just as much a defender as the Rogue when invisible.
Staff of the Python
A note about the underrated Staff of the Python: A Giant Constrictor Snake has 60 HP while being CR 2. You can leave it in snake form and give it Temp HP from Inspiring Leader. It isn't till level 15 that a 14 Con fighter finally gets more HP. This is HP you don't need to heal and tanky enough to maintain the 15' square of battlefield presence + 10' reach. You can have the snake choose to use its Constrict attack when they leave the 5' reach, which, if it hits, imposes the Grappled condition (no strength check, just straight up Grappled). It requires an action to free oneself from a Grapple, but that doesn't incur damage and wastes their action.
This is a non-concentration summon with HP that rivals 7th level summon spells. There is no randomness with what you're getting, and you explicitly can control it.
- He does this through Sentinel so as to keep them in place if they walk away.
- He does this through being resilient to attacks
- He does this to controlling the battlefield with reach
- Hexblade grants Medium Armor Prof. and Shield and Shield spell
- Booming Blade + Warcaster
- Greater Invisibility + Booming Blade +Warcaster
- Silent Image
- Staff of the Python(uncommon), if you can get it.
As you level a single melee attack becomes less hurtful. A smart DM would take advantage of this and leave the tank and go for the squishies. Hard control and a meaner bite ends up being the only way to deal with this. Great Weapon Master's +10 damage fades as you level. The fighter must resort to Sentinel at higher levels to put a hard stop to rushing the squishies.
A rogue can apply their Sneak Attack once per turn, not round. Thus they look for opportunities to make opportunity attacks on a monster's turn and double dip. Just how much extra damage does this deal? +(1/2 level)d6 / 14*CR +10 = added KPR = +0.12 KPR on average. Losing 12% of your health does add a sharp bite. Thus an invisible rogue becomes a sticky defender.
How does Booming Blade compare? It adds 1d8 from 1-4, +3d8 from 5-10, +5d8 from 11-16, +7d8 from 17-20. We'll likely also need a finesse weapon. Doing the same math and averaging over all levels we also get +0.12 KPR. In other words Warcaster + Booming Blade makes ourselves just as much a defender as the Rogue when invisible.
Staff of the Python
A note about the underrated Staff of the Python: A Giant Constrictor Snake has 60 HP while being CR 2. You can leave it in snake form and give it Temp HP from Inspiring Leader. It isn't till level 15 that a 14 Con fighter finally gets more HP. This is HP you don't need to heal and tanky enough to maintain the 15' square of battlefield presence + 10' reach. You can have the snake choose to use its Constrict attack when they leave the 5' reach, which, if it hits, imposes the Grappled condition (no strength check, just straight up Grappled). It requires an action to free oneself from a Grapple, but that doesn't incur damage and wastes their action.
This is a non-concentration summon with HP that rivals 7th level summon spells. There is no randomness with what you're getting, and you explicitly can control it.
A character is not an island
The key to being a God Wizard was winning through your team, letting them roll the dice, taking comfort you gave them those attacks. The Shadow Sorlock approaches fights selfishly seeing a way to be immortal and win each fight through Darkness. But imagine spending that concentration slot on Twin Haste. You can assume someone on the team will have a big stick, so go ahead and add his extra attack to your tally. Commanding someone to Flee means those Opportunity Attacks were made by you.
Breaking down the healer role
What does a healer actually do?
We all know spending spell slots on Cure Wounds can't keep up with monster damage, except for a Life Cleric. But there is an overlooked cost: Concentration saving throws.
Healing damage < Temp HP < Boost to Concentration Save < higher AC/Save bonus < Not getting attacked < Dead foe
Reactive healing is at the bottom of this scale.
How does a god Sorlock heal?
- Heal downed allies
- Topping everyone up after battles
- Resurrecting/Revivifying slain allies
- Removing negative status effects
We all know spending spell slots on Cure Wounds can't keep up with monster damage, except for a Life Cleric. But there is an overlooked cost: Concentration saving throws.
Healing damage < Temp HP < Boost to Concentration Save < higher AC/Save bonus < Not getting attacked < Dead foe
Reactive healing is at the bottom of this scale.
How does a god Sorlock heal?
- Heal downed allies: Divine Soul grants access to cleric spells like Healing Word, bonus action “get back up”
- Topping everyone up after battles:
- Healer gives 1d6+4+level to anyone each short rest. It is as though the fighter had an extra 3-5 extra hit dice to spend for the day. Even more powerful to squishies.
- Inspiring Leader: Gives Cha+level as temp HP. While this looks weaker than Healer, it is qualitatively different as it increases the maximum damage one can take, therefore should be compared with a retroactive extra +2 con for everyone. Do you care more about max spike damage a heavy battle can do or endurance where your hit dice are spread out over a long day? Take this if you plan on using a Staff of the Python.
- Raise Dead/Resurrecting/Revifiying slain allies: Divine Soul again here, but we have few known spells to spare, so pick wisely. I prefer planning on the least worst case scenario, keep some diamonds around and Revifiy.
- Removing negative status effects: Lesser/Greater Restoration + Counterspell (don’t get hit in the first place)
- Haste's beefed AC: +2 AC -> -10% average damage -> 10% monster damage you didn’t need to heal multiplied by each attack
- Locking down foes
- having the BBEG waste their actions rather than attacking
- throwing summons to die on foe’s swords rather than scrounging up the spell slots to spend on healing afterwards
- Polymorphing the fighter into a T-Rex and letting ephemeral HP soak up the damage rather than your spell slots.
Illusions
Primary reading: The Illusionists Guide to Reality
To help the DM, add the intent and your justification for why the viewers would likely react.
“I am creating this acid pit to create a chokepoint. This should work because we are in combat and the monsters are too busy to investigate the illusion.”
Illusions have no save!?!?
Unlike spells that have the target make a save, the monsters must either see the illusion break, or take an action to do an Investigation check using their Intelligence, a common Dump Stat. Thus you get a high score and Proficiency, and potentially Hex debuffing them, and they only get a dump stat's modifier. You only get better as you level.
Why a pool of lava/crate isn’t a good idea
The closer to reality you are the more believable it is. There is no "summon lava" spell, especially at low levels. Imitate Mold Earth instead, inform the DM that the foes see the earth spring up with a head poking out the top and keep your DM guessing which spell you used.
The crate in the middle of the battlefield seems out of place, and odd to appear mid-battle.
Spells to Imitate
To help the DM, add the intent and your justification for why the viewers would likely react.
“I am creating this acid pit to create a chokepoint. This should work because we are in combat and the monsters are too busy to investigate the illusion.”
Illusions have no save!?!?
Unlike spells that have the target make a save, the monsters must either see the illusion break, or take an action to do an Investigation check using their Intelligence, a common Dump Stat. Thus you get a high score and Proficiency, and potentially Hex debuffing them, and they only get a dump stat's modifier. You only get better as you level.
Why a pool of lava/crate isn’t a good idea
The closer to reality you are the more believable it is. There is no "summon lava" spell, especially at low levels. Imitate Mold Earth instead, inform the DM that the foes see the earth spring up with a head poking out the top and keep your DM guessing which spell you used.
The crate in the middle of the battlefield seems out of place, and odd to appear mid-battle.
Spells to Imitate
- Silent Image: Arms of Hadar/Evard's Black Tentacles
- Silent Image: Entangle
- Silent Image: Grease
- Minor Illusion: Maximillian's earthen grasp ('protects' 15' square)
- Minor Illusion: Flaming Sphere ('protects' 15' square)
- Minor Illusion: Guardian of Faith
- Minor Illusion: Mold Earth
Player Level 1
Race: Yaun-Ti (+2 Cha, +1 Int)
Class: Divine Soul Sorcerer
Spells:
Skills: Arcana, Persuasion, Insight, Religion
Languages: Common, Abyssal, Draconic, Goblin, Giant
Features
Striker
Sleep has no save and takes care of 5d8 HP. Thereafter you have Poison Spray(1d12). Averaging over 4 rounds puts you at 8.5 expected damage, or 0.24 KPR, which is slightly higher than the fighter’s 0.23 KPR. But due to the dropped remainder on sleep it is a wash. You can do this for 2 encounters per day.
Face
High Charisma, Prof in Persuasion and Intimidation, Minor Illusion(clever auditory assist may grant advantage), Guidance(+1d4). If a Yaun-Ti Face seems contradictory, Go with ½ elf. Another option is to paint him as an Argonian from Skyrim that speaks and acts like a dragonborn.
Battlefield Control
Sleep: AoE, Allies get to deal damage rather than you, careful positioning may be able to drop the BBEG
Minor Illusion
Command (Bypasses immune to charm)
Out of Combat Utility
Speaks languages of most monolingual races(Giant, Goblin, Draconic)
Command (Note, the target doesn’t have to hear you, nor are you charming them.) (Also note, these are transitive verbs in case you want to find others. Here is a big list)
Minor Illusion
Mage Hand
Dancing Lights
Class: Divine Soul Sorcerer
Spells:
- Cantrips: Minor illusion, Guidance, Mage Hand, Dancing Lights, Poison Spray(Yaun-Ti)
- 1st level: Command, Sleep, Inflict Wounds(Evil), Animal Friendship(snakes)
Skills: Arcana, Persuasion, Insight, Religion
Languages: Common, Abyssal, Draconic, Goblin, Giant
Features
- Magic Resistance: Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects
- Poison Immunity: Monsters dealing Poison damage is just as common as fire damage.
- Darkvision(60')
- Favored by the Gods(+2d4 to failed saving throw/attack)
Striker
Sleep has no save and takes care of 5d8 HP. Thereafter you have Poison Spray(1d12). Averaging over 4 rounds puts you at 8.5 expected damage, or 0.24 KPR, which is slightly higher than the fighter’s 0.23 KPR. But due to the dropped remainder on sleep it is a wash. You can do this for 2 encounters per day.
Face
High Charisma, Prof in Persuasion and Intimidation, Minor Illusion(clever auditory assist may grant advantage), Guidance(+1d4). If a Yaun-Ti Face seems contradictory, Go with ½ elf. Another option is to paint him as an Argonian from Skyrim that speaks and acts like a dragonborn.
Battlefield Control
Sleep: AoE, Allies get to deal damage rather than you, careful positioning may be able to drop the BBEG
Minor Illusion
- Maximillian's earthen grasp protects 15’ square
- Flaming Sphere protects 15’ square
- Fake Mold Earth’s mound of dirt, make the DM second guess your cantrips.
- Fake BBEG's voice, "Fall Back!!", a la Peter Pan, to group them for AoE.
- "Fireball Incomming!!!"
- "Encircle the master!!" Preparing for some AoE
Command (Bypasses immune to charm)
- Betray/Revolt/Defect/Desert/Coup
- Burp/Belch (on a dragon)
- Fall/Trip
- Flee/Sprint/Dash
- Cower
- Dismiss/Abort/Cancel/Juggle (lose concentration, spells specify 'Dismiss' as an option)
- Undress/Strip (includes dropping weapon, shield, belt w/ component pouch, refrain from running)
- Approach
- Stop/Drop(See Undress instead)
- Grovel
- Halt
- Blaspheme/Apostatize (on a paladin/cleric)
- Tantrum
- Charge
Out of Combat Utility
Speaks languages of most monolingual races(Giant, Goblin, Draconic)
Command (Note, the target doesn’t have to hear you, nor are you charming them.) (Also note, these are transitive verbs in case you want to find others. Here is a big list)
- Commands above
- Monologue/Sing
- Defecate
- Dance/Salsa/Tango/Spin/Frolic/Prance
- Confess(bypass zone of truth, DM may confess squat)
- Cooperate/Capitulate
- Scream
- Pardon
- Believe
- Relent
- Cheat
- Eat/Drink (after poisoning their food)
- Overpay/Undercharge
Minor Illusion
- Distract guards with sounds of a fight
- Pile of gold to lure goblins out
- Dead Termites covering a rotten bridge on a rope bridge
- Make a wanted poster of town villain
Mage Hand
- Swing rope around room to find invisible foes
- Trigger traps from a distance (doors, handles, chests)
- Distraction
- Scoop and test unknown liquid safely
- Combine with Minor Illusion (Auditory) to make a skull speak from beyond the grave
Dancing Lights
- Lighting up dark road, 2 ahead of the party, 2 on each side. Leave the party in darkness but letting you see out
- Sent to scout hidden archers in the dark w/o giving away your position
- Can climb down cliffs.
- Can be colored and positioned for sending a message.
- Must be within 20’ of another light, so send them off in pairs
- 120’ Range
Player Level 2
Class: Warlock (Hexblade)
Features: Hexblade curse, Hex Warrior
Spells:
AC: 18(14+2(dex)+2(shield)), or 23 with Shield spell
Striker
Hex and friends
Hex lets you pick an ability score and make them have disadvantage on those checks (note not saves).
Because Hex requires your Concentration you can't cast it and one of these other spells, but if an ally does then you can pick 1-2 foes that you want to fail.
The one exception is Minor Illusion, which you have, and is an ability check that foes rarely get any bonuses to at all regardless of level.
Str or Dex
Intelligence
Wisdom
Features: Hexblade curse, Hex Warrior
Spells:
- Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Booming Blade
- 1st level: Hex, Shield
AC: 18(14+2(dex)+2(shield)), or 23 with Shield spell
Striker
- Engage in melee Curse and cast Inflict Wounds(3d10+2) for 4 times in a row (0.42 KPR), compared with a Greatsword fighter’s 0.2 KPR, you’re doing 2x the damage with better AC.
- Cast Command(flee) if there are 2 strong allies engaged with a foe, or join 2 plain melee players to get 3 opportunity attacks
- If they fail you’ve shut down their action and they get 2 opportunity attacks to the face. You can do this every encounter.
Hex and friends
Hex lets you pick an ability score and make them have disadvantage on those checks (note not saves).
Because Hex requires your Concentration you can't cast it and one of these other spells, but if an ally does then you can pick 1-2 foes that you want to fail.
The one exception is Minor Illusion, which you have, and is an ability check that foes rarely get any bonuses to at all regardless of level.
Str or Dex
- Entangle
- Black tentacles
- web
- Bigby's Hand
- Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
- Telekinesis
Intelligence
- Disguise Self
- Hallucinatory Terrain
- Major Image
- Maze
- Minor Illusion
- Phantasmal Force
- Programmed Illusion
- Project Image
- Silent Image
Wisdom
- Wrathful Smite
Player Level 3
Class: Sorcerer 2
Features: Font of Magic
Spells: Healing Word, Suggestion
If you can afford it and DM allows it, craft a +1 shield (Uncommon, no attunement required). A 19 AC isn’t just 5% better than an 18, it is ~30% better as you have nearly half the chances of getting hit at this level.
Endurance
Each encounter use your Warlock spell and a Sorcerer slot if you’re at maximum spell slots.
If cantrips can deal with the encounter, top up by converting 2 points into a sorcerer spell and the warlock slot into 2 points.
Striker
Features: Font of Magic
Spells: Healing Word, Suggestion
If you can afford it and DM allows it, craft a +1 shield (Uncommon, no attunement required). A 19 AC isn’t just 5% better than an 18, it is ~30% better as you have nearly half the chances of getting hit at this level.
Endurance
Each encounter use your Warlock spell and a Sorcerer slot if you’re at maximum spell slots.
If cantrips can deal with the encounter, top up by converting 2 points into a sorcerer spell and the warlock slot into 2 points.
Striker
- Cast Curse then Inflict Wounds(3d10) for 5 rounds in a row. 18 average damage per round, or 0.2 KPR. For comparison, the greatsword GWM fighter is doing the same.
- Healing Word
- Acolyte’s Shelter of the Faithful
- Command(proactive healing through action denial, 1 less concentration check)
- Suggestion: Another addition to open ended spells. For when a single command word doesn’t give the subtlety you need, suggest a course of reasonable action in a sentence or two.
Class: Sorcerer 3
Features: Metamagic(Twin, Quicken)
Spells: Sleep -> Dragon's Breath, Levitate
Total effective Spell Points: 17 + 2 points per short rest
Striker
Twin Levitate Nova vs. few foes
See the monster action reduction in the striker section above for this save-or-die spell analysis.
Assuming 2 short rests we have 21 points to spend. That is 4 Twin Levitates, or 7 single Levitates.
Against 5 foes, this has an 84% chance to lock at least 1 foe preventing him from 5 actions or 25% fewer actions. 36% chance to lock 2 foes out of combat or 45% fewer actions.
Twin Dragon's Breath vs. many foes
This costs the same as a Levitate but in addition to costing your concentration slot, it takes up yours and another's actions. Also it forces you to get close to foes.
Let's assume 9 foes (30 HP each). As a baseline assume 4 players do 15 DPR. It would normally take 5 rounds to kill them. They would be able to take 25 total actions against you.
Switching over to Twin Dragon Breath and hitting 4 foes each round, allies cleaning up survivors this should also knock off 8 total actions. That's 32% fewer attacks on you, ie. 32% less damage to heal.
Team Player/god
With a short rest refreshed warlock slot, Metamagic and Font of Magic your god powers enable you to shift your resources into where they are needed most. Facing hard hitters? Twin levitate. Facing a caster? Command. Lots of mobs? Recycle spells into Arms of Hadar. Only 1 encounter today? Quicken. Point is, you should be targeting to spend all your effective spell points by the end of the day and reshuffle to make sure you have at least 1 slot of each level ready for surprises.
See above for power of Twin levitate.
Tl;dr: Lift yourself and a squishy ally or 2 thugs, or you and a thug to really mess with the difficulty of the encounter.
Features: Metamagic(Twin, Quicken)
Spells: Sleep -> Dragon's Breath, Levitate
Total effective Spell Points: 17 + 2 points per short rest
Striker
Twin Levitate Nova vs. few foes
See the monster action reduction in the striker section above for this save-or-die spell analysis.
Assuming 2 short rests we have 21 points to spend. That is 4 Twin Levitates, or 7 single Levitates.
Against 5 foes, this has an 84% chance to lock at least 1 foe preventing him from 5 actions or 25% fewer actions. 36% chance to lock 2 foes out of combat or 45% fewer actions.
Twin Dragon's Breath vs. many foes
This costs the same as a Levitate but in addition to costing your concentration slot, it takes up yours and another's actions. Also it forces you to get close to foes.
Let's assume 9 foes (30 HP each). As a baseline assume 4 players do 15 DPR. It would normally take 5 rounds to kill them. They would be able to take 25 total actions against you.
Switching over to Twin Dragon Breath and hitting 4 foes each round, allies cleaning up survivors this should also knock off 8 total actions. That's 32% fewer attacks on you, ie. 32% less damage to heal.
Team Player/god
With a short rest refreshed warlock slot, Metamagic and Font of Magic your god powers enable you to shift your resources into where they are needed most. Facing hard hitters? Twin levitate. Facing a caster? Command. Lots of mobs? Recycle spells into Arms of Hadar. Only 1 encounter today? Quicken. Point is, you should be targeting to spend all your effective spell points by the end of the day and reshuffle to make sure you have at least 1 slot of each level ready for surprises.
See above for power of Twin levitate.
Tl;dr: Lift yourself and a squishy ally or 2 thugs, or you and a thug to really mess with the difficulty of the encounter.
Player Level 5
Class: Warlock 2
Features: Invocations (Misty Visions, Agonizing Blast)
Spells: Armor of Agathys
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 35
Short day (1 encounter)
Levitate(over 6 rounds): 12 monster actions reduced, or 7.44 expected number of monster actions reduced
Total: 9.44 monster actions reduced. Almost twice as good as the fighter.
Long day (8 encounters, 3 short rests)
29 spell points: 17 spell points (4*1st level+2*2nd level) + 4*3 (warlock spells refreshed)
This means we could do Twin Levitate for 5 encounters and 2 1st level spells for Shield/Healing Word.
For the rest of combat we spam Eldritch Blast: 0.19 KPR
Each encounter you do Twin Levitate has an 84% chance to lock at least 1 foe preventing him from 5 actions or 25% fewer actions. 36% chance to lock 2 foes out of combat or 45% fewer actions. This averages out to 7.44 expected monster actions reduced per encounter.
Fighter damage calculations
Build: Great Weapon Master, Great Weapon Fighting, Greatsword from Great Grandfather, Battle Master (Riposte, Parry), 16 Strength, Level 5
Monster Stats: AC = 5/3+12 = 14, HP = 14*5+10 = 80
Single Melee Attack: 2d6 (min 3) +3 + 10 = 22
Chance to Hit: 1-(14-6)/20 = 60%
Single Melee Attack KPR: 22*0.6/80 = 0.165
Average KPR: 0.57 KPR
This should take an encounter with 5 foes at 61 HP each that would have normally gotten 20 total attacks against your team reduced down to 15. Namely the Fighter eliminates 5 monster actions.
Defender
In a pinch you can use Booming Blade to keep a target stuck to you. Being a cantrip you can quicken another spell like Command and get some damage out of him running away, triggering the secondary Booming Blade damage (+2d8). But you are too squishy to do this consistently, and you want to avoid making Concentration saves, as much as possible.
If you really need to you can twin Booming Blade for when you are feeling ballsy or need to keep 2 guys away from your party.
Battlefield Control
Misty Visions gives us Silent Image at-will. See The Illusionists Guide to Reality for examples of images you can use to shape the battlefield.
A few Notable Examples
Nothing more than we had at level 1
Utility
Misty Visions(Silent Image at-will): See The Illusionists Guide to Reality for your new found power. Recall their crappy Intelligence check vs. your proficiency boosted DC applies here as it does to Minor Illusion. Sadly both Silent Image and Hex use your concentration.
Face
Nothing more than we had at level 1
Features: Invocations (Misty Visions, Agonizing Blast)
Spells: Armor of Agathys
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 35
Short day (1 encounter)
- Hexblade Curse BBEG, Twin Levitate
- Quicken Eldritch Blast + Eldritch Blast: 4(1d10+3+3)@60% to hit = 0.38 KPR, 13.8 expected dam
- Convert 1st level spell -> 2 SP + Eldritch Blast = 0.19 KPR
- Repeat from 2
Levitate(over 6 rounds): 12 monster actions reduced, or 7.44 expected number of monster actions reduced
Total: 9.44 monster actions reduced. Almost twice as good as the fighter.
Long day (8 encounters, 3 short rests)
29 spell points: 17 spell points (4*1st level+2*2nd level) + 4*3 (warlock spells refreshed)
This means we could do Twin Levitate for 5 encounters and 2 1st level spells for Shield/Healing Word.
For the rest of combat we spam Eldritch Blast: 0.19 KPR
Each encounter you do Twin Levitate has an 84% chance to lock at least 1 foe preventing him from 5 actions or 25% fewer actions. 36% chance to lock 2 foes out of combat or 45% fewer actions. This averages out to 7.44 expected monster actions reduced per encounter.
Fighter damage calculations
Build: Great Weapon Master, Great Weapon Fighting, Greatsword from Great Grandfather, Battle Master (Riposte, Parry), 16 Strength, Level 5
Monster Stats: AC = 5/3+12 = 14, HP = 14*5+10 = 80
Single Melee Attack: 2d6 (min 3) +3 + 10 = 22
Chance to Hit: 1-(14-6)/20 = 60%
Single Melee Attack KPR: 22*0.6/80 = 0.165
- Attack + Attack(action surge) + Reaction(Riposte/Parry): 5 single melee attacks @ 0.165 KPR/attack = 0.825 KPR, 66 Expected Damage
- Attack + Reaction(Riposte/Parry): 3 single melee attacks @ 0.165 KPR/attack = 0.49 KPR, 39.6 Expected Damage
- Attack + Reaction(Riposte/Parry): 3 single melee attacks @ 0.165 KPR/attack = 0.49 KPR, 39.6 Expected Damage
- Attack + Reaction(Riposte/Parry): 3 single melee attacks @ 0.165 KPR/attack = 0.49 KPR, 39.6 Expected Damage
Average KPR: 0.57 KPR
This should take an encounter with 5 foes at 61 HP each that would have normally gotten 20 total attacks against your team reduced down to 15. Namely the Fighter eliminates 5 monster actions.
Defender
In a pinch you can use Booming Blade to keep a target stuck to you. Being a cantrip you can quicken another spell like Command and get some damage out of him running away, triggering the secondary Booming Blade damage (+2d8). But you are too squishy to do this consistently, and you want to avoid making Concentration saves, as much as possible.
If you really need to you can twin Booming Blade for when you are feeling ballsy or need to keep 2 guys away from your party.
Battlefield Control
Misty Visions gives us Silent Image at-will. See The Illusionists Guide to Reality for examples of images you can use to shape the battlefield.
A few Notable Examples
- Larger predator to scare off beasts
- Tentacles reaching out from the void
- Giant mostly-opaque Ooze
- A wall if you can bluff being a high level caster
Nothing more than we had at level 1
Utility
Misty Visions(Silent Image at-will): See The Illusionists Guide to Reality for your new found power. Recall their crappy Intelligence check vs. your proficiency boosted DC applies here as it does to Minor Illusion. Sadly both Silent Image and Hex use your concentration.
Face
Nothing more than we had at level 1
Player Level 6
Class: Sorcerer 4
Features: Inspiring Leader or Healer
Spells: Enhance Ability, Inflict Wounds->Lesser Restoration
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 39
Healer
Here we finally patch up the Healer role
Features: Inspiring Leader or Healer
Spells: Enhance Ability, Inflict Wounds->Lesser Restoration
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 39
Healer
Here we finally patch up the Healer role
- Lesser Restoration: Often Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed, Poisoned are done to the team. Turn the tides with twinning.
- Pick Healer if your frontline fighters are eating through their hit dice throughout the day. Healer will make a 6 encounter day look like you’ve had an extra 5 hit dice to spend. Remember to bring a stash of healer’s kits, they’re cheap
- Pick Inspiring Leader if your DM has few encounters in a day and you need to handle larger spikes in damage.
- Both grow in effectiveness if you break dungeon crawls into more encounters, but at the cost of needing to recast concentration spells.
Player Level 7
Class: Sorcerer 5
Spells: Enhance Ability -> Fireball, Haste
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 39
Striker
Fireball: Enuf said
Haste: The total increased damage to the party brings your effective KPR far above that of the fighter
Healer
Haste??? +2 AC to 2 allies means few hits, fewer heals
Fireball?!?!? A good offense is a good defense. A dead goblin doesn’t attack. Don’t be a dumb bandaid, be a smart striker.
Team Player/god
Treantmonk’s God wizard is all about changing the course of the battle through subtle means. A fireball feels great, and you can do it more often than any other character. But you can also win the encounter by routing fewer resources through allies and let them have the spotlight. You are the wind beneath their wings and can reroute your energy where the team needs it.
Spells: Enhance Ability -> Fireball, Haste
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 39
Striker
Fireball: Enuf said
Haste: The total increased damage to the party brings your effective KPR far above that of the fighter
Healer
Haste??? +2 AC to 2 allies means few hits, fewer heals
Fireball?!?!? A good offense is a good defense. A dead goblin doesn’t attack. Don’t be a dumb bandaid, be a smart striker.
Team Player/god
Treantmonk’s God wizard is all about changing the course of the battle through subtle means. A fireball feels great, and you can do it more often than any other character. But you can also win the encounter by routing fewer resources through allies and let them have the spotlight. You are the wind beneath their wings and can reroute your energy where the team needs it.
Player Level 11
Class: Sorcerer 9
Features: Warcaster
Spells: Levitate->Sleet Storm, Counterspell, Fireball->Cone of Cold, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, Dragon's Breath -> Holy Weapon (If allowed to twin), Raise Dead
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 84
Striker
Greater Invisibility and Eldritch Blast’s 3 rays are amazing for damage here.
Warcaster adds yet another layer of protection for maintaining our spells.
Haste, Polymorph, Greater Invisibility, Holy Weapon, sleet storm are ways we can enable the team to win the day while you sit back calmly blasting the BBEG with good but not ZOMG damage. Spice it up each encounter to keep your DM on his toes.
Features: Warcaster
Spells: Levitate->Sleet Storm, Counterspell, Fireball->Cone of Cold, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, Dragon's Breath -> Holy Weapon (If allowed to twin), Raise Dead
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 84
Striker
Greater Invisibility and Eldritch Blast’s 3 rays are amazing for damage here.
- Quickened Eldritch Blast(@11th level) + Eldritch Blast + AB: 6d10@ 60% to hit costing 2 SP = 27.7 DpSP, 0.36 KPR, 55 dam single target
- Cone of Cold(vs. 5 targets): 8d8@60% fail save costing 9 SP = 16 DpSP, 1.1 KPR, 144 dam.
- Twinned Holy Weapon: +4d8 per round per attack. On a 11th level fighter over 5 rounds (21 attacks) that’s an extra 378 damage on just him. Add on top of that a second frontline character getting 10 attacks and the Kaboom at the end (4d8@ 30’ radius no friendly fire ~ 81) puts us at 640 damage or 127 damage per round(+0.87 KPR). This is on top of our own Eldritch blasts.
- Twin Polymorph: +107 damage per round(+0.73 KPR). Choose wisely as they lose their abilities when transformed. Holy weapon doesn't squash abilities.
Warcaster adds yet another layer of protection for maintaining our spells.
- Greater Invisibility(Concentration): Let the rogue/caster go to town w/o worrying about getting swarmed, and everyone afraid that you are invisibly next to them ready to blast them thanks to Warcaster.
- Polymorph(concentration): Mwa ha ha. Twin T-Rexes. Resist the urge to polymorphing a foe as they get a save every round. You’d still need to damage them after they make the save.
- Sleet Storm(concentration): huge AoE, not easy to leave difficult terrain. Split the enemies into bite sized chunks. Position so they keep falling prone and forced to make a save.
- Holy Weapon(concentration) ends with a bang and blindness. This shuts down casters, imposes disadvantage, grants advantage, allows you to waltz around and use Minor Illusion(Auditory) to draw them over a cliff.
- Absorb Elements: breaking your concentration is the worst. You're getting into the levels where a few hard hitters can break through your Favored of the Gods, Constitution save proficiency, and warcaster advantage. When you see the big club then forgo Shield in favor of reacting with Absorb Elements to ½ the damage and thus ½ the DC on the concentration check.
- Armor of Agathys combos well with Absorb Elements against a horde of mooks. They are likely to deal the same damage type. Upcast Armor of Agathys for 25 temp HP, rush into the fray, then use Absorb Elements on the first hit. You take 1/2 damage while each hit smacks the attacker for 25 HP. No concentration to boot.
- Healer: 1d6+4+level HP every short rest should reduce burden on Hit Dice. If you have 6 encounters, that's 111 HP healed per person, most likely the frontline fighters. Equivilant to giving them 3-5 hit dice to spend after every fight.
- Raise Dead: when proactive healing fails
- Healing Word as a bonus action. Can be twinned. Even if there is a TPK with you hanging on for dear life, you can get everybody back on their feet and flee.
- Polymorph: proactive healing with temp HP, or use when an ally who pulled a Leroy Jenkins and is almost dead now.
- Counterspell: Much cheaper to counter a Fireball/Cloudkill than heal it.
- Greater Invisibility lets you get into places
- Polymorph: Lots of handy beast options to handle various situations
Haste, Polymorph, Greater Invisibility, Holy Weapon, sleet storm are ways we can enable the team to win the day while you sit back calmly blasting the BBEG with good but not ZOMG damage. Spice it up each encounter to keep your DM on his toes.
Player Level 14
Class: Sorcerer 12
Features: Alert
Spells: Wall of Stone, Lesser ->Greater Restoration, Cone of Cold->Chain Lightning, Mass Suggestion, Healing Word->Heal
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 94
Healer
Elven Accuracy boosts out Eldritch blast and crit chance(Hexblade curse gives is 19-20 critical)
Chain Lightning scales at +10d6 per level, better than anything.
Features: Alert
Spells: Wall of Stone, Lesser ->Greater Restoration, Cone of Cold->Chain Lightning, Mass Suggestion, Healing Word->Heal
Total effective Spell Points(4 encounters per day): 94
Healer
- Twinned Heal during combat.
- Twin Greater Restoration
- Alert: Going before others means you are the first to complicate the others’ plans.
- Mass Suggestion: no concentration, 12 creatures follow reasonable suggestion
Elven Accuracy boosts out Eldritch blast and crit chance(Hexblade curse gives is 19-20 critical)
Chain Lightning scales at +10d6 per level, better than anything.
- Quickened Chain Lightning + EB + AB: 4(10d8)+2d10+2*cha@ 60% to hit costing 11 points = 15.6 DpSP, 1.13 KPR, 171 dam tot
Class: Sorcerer 15
Features: Alert
Spells: Plane Shift, Sunburst, Meteor Storm,
Striker
Healer
Swap out Revifify with whichever Resurrection spell that fits with your party. Realize you can't change spell selection as easily as a cleric, who only needs a long rest.
Features: Alert
Spells: Plane Shift, Sunburst, Meteor Storm,
Striker
- Quickened Eldritch Blast(17th level) + Eldritch Blast + AB + curse w/ advantage: 8d10+8*5+8*6 @93% to hit = 61 DpSP, 0.46 KPR, 123 dam
Healer
Swap out Revifify with whichever Resurrection spell that fits with your party. Realize you can't change spell selection as easily as a cleric, who only needs a long rest.
Yuan-ti and Flavor
Yuan-ti are typically viewed as the cliche evil guys, evil motives, evil tactics, evil past and free pass to slaughter every last one of them. But I'd like to show them from a different light.
Quiddity and Choice
Order of the Stick did a great job showing the relationship between a god's essence and his followers. Now imagine if one of the early gods revealed, or had the key to quiddity understood by mere mortals. Further imagine if this essence was rooted in Choice. The greater the ability to choose, the greater the quiddity added to a god when that being died and rendered to that god's realm. Now imagine if you could somehow consume the quiddity from a creature and add it to your own. Animal sacrifices and human sacrifices now make sense as a mechanism for gaining power and ultimately consuming one's own god in order to supplant them, a sort of survial of the fittest.
This would explain their lack of empathy for humans, as no one but the Yuan-ti have learned the rituals for consuming choice. This explains why mind control and magical resistance is so common as they are striving to become creatures that have greater will than others. This explains why they are unique in using their gods as tools and think some capable of replacing them.
Rather than playing a Yuan-ti that is neutral evil for evil's sake, you can play one that looks at life differently. You use illusion as a way to test a person's fitness of Choice. You use Command as a way to take their choice or respect them when they assert their will and get a glimpse of what true living is.
Background
My first kiss was to the mayor of a town I had seduced and killed. Our clan needed to incite a civil war to weaken them so I posed as a citizen of a neighboring town. I learned a great deal of what human men liked.
This earned me the right to pursue Sorcery. I read about the epic empire we once had and the power Merrshaulk offered our people and wanted to see his might restored. Yet because I was a female I was barred from the priesthood. I mixed sorcery and divine to become a Divine Soul.
Ideals
I seek to awaken Merrshaulk, or better yet be powerful enough to consume and supplant him.
Bonds
High priests of Merrshaulk are likely to take notice of me as I gain in power, some wanting to sacrifice me, others fearing I will reveal disruptive truths (see below).
Goals
Flaws
As a humans look at Horses as tools, but categorically inferior to them, so do I view myself as a cut above humans. Some call me a racist, but if they only knew of the potential power they rarely glimpse when they chose to let their will overpower their bestial nature. I respect those that, through sheer will, defy the odds and rise above the dust of the earth. The Yuan-ti are the only people strong enough to take Quiddity from another and thus challenge the gods. I've learned that people are uncomfortable with these views, so I quietly let them continue in their meaningless lives and mortal visions.
Plot Hook
Powerful high priest of Mershaulk notice my rise to power and seek to kill me. When I learn about the prison(see below) and the futility of it all, their leadership seeks to kill me to keep the truth and their priestcraft hidden.
Plot Twist
The other Serpent gods, Sseth and later Set, unable to kill Merrshaulk, create a prison forever squelching his ability to communicate with his followers (incidentally triggering the downfall of the Yaun-ti). As is common in Yaun-ti culture, powerful high priests seek to consume their god and replace him. But with the prison it instead sucks in those that get that far and one kills the other with the prison draining their Quiddity to fuel the religion. Have others come to understand the prison as well as I do? Should I seek to destroy the prison and replace him, or choose to crush the head of the religion and let the last of the Quiddity be drained away and end the cycle of futility?
Quiddity and Choice
Order of the Stick did a great job showing the relationship between a god's essence and his followers. Now imagine if one of the early gods revealed, or had the key to quiddity understood by mere mortals. Further imagine if this essence was rooted in Choice. The greater the ability to choose, the greater the quiddity added to a god when that being died and rendered to that god's realm. Now imagine if you could somehow consume the quiddity from a creature and add it to your own. Animal sacrifices and human sacrifices now make sense as a mechanism for gaining power and ultimately consuming one's own god in order to supplant them, a sort of survial of the fittest.
This would explain their lack of empathy for humans, as no one but the Yuan-ti have learned the rituals for consuming choice. This explains why mind control and magical resistance is so common as they are striving to become creatures that have greater will than others. This explains why they are unique in using their gods as tools and think some capable of replacing them.
Rather than playing a Yuan-ti that is neutral evil for evil's sake, you can play one that looks at life differently. You use illusion as a way to test a person's fitness of Choice. You use Command as a way to take their choice or respect them when they assert their will and get a glimpse of what true living is.
Background
My first kiss was to the mayor of a town I had seduced and killed. Our clan needed to incite a civil war to weaken them so I posed as a citizen of a neighboring town. I learned a great deal of what human men liked.
This earned me the right to pursue Sorcery. I read about the epic empire we once had and the power Merrshaulk offered our people and wanted to see his might restored. Yet because I was a female I was barred from the priesthood. I mixed sorcery and divine to become a Divine Soul.
Ideals
I seek to awaken Merrshaulk, or better yet be powerful enough to consume and supplant him.
Bonds
High priests of Merrshaulk are likely to take notice of me as I gain in power, some wanting to sacrifice me, others fearing I will reveal disruptive truths (see below).
Goals
- Fly in an airship. Being pressed upon by the Jungle Canopy and humidity, I've fantasized about the flying ships I read in the history books of my people from thousands of years ago.
- I’m on a quest to become a warlock and use it’s curse combined with the sacrificial rites of Merrshaulk in order to better attune my mind to his and awaken Merrshaulk. I've learned that kidnapping people is a poor way to get sacrifices, instead society allows me to kill bad guys. Either way works.
- <Reflavor Hexblade’s curse to reflect Yaun-ti’s belief that killing/sacrifice bestows power. See the on-death trigger of the curse>
- Research a rumor there is a stick that can be transformed into a gloriously large snake, and how to control it. Perhaps the long forgotten spell "Sticks to Snakes" was simply misremembered.
Flaws
- I am unprepared to deal with my humanity leaking through. Humor will at first be simply another learned skill, but slowly I’ll finally start actually getting it. Similarly crying will change from activated to real sorrow. I try to suppress this through meditation but humanity perseveres. Will this humanity drive me to fight Mershaulk’s cult, or will I be able to successfully supplant him?
- My forked tongue is both a blessing and a curse. People recoil when they see it. Yet it is helpful in pronouncing foreign tongues and in seducing men and smelling pheromones. Thus when others lie they are less effective when they are nervous. Being attracted and in fear are easily exploited. Cities give me a headache unless I literally keep my mouth shut.
As a humans look at Horses as tools, but categorically inferior to them, so do I view myself as a cut above humans. Some call me a racist, but if they only knew of the potential power they rarely glimpse when they chose to let their will overpower their bestial nature. I respect those that, through sheer will, defy the odds and rise above the dust of the earth. The Yuan-ti are the only people strong enough to take Quiddity from another and thus challenge the gods. I've learned that people are uncomfortable with these views, so I quietly let them continue in their meaningless lives and mortal visions.
Plot Hook
Powerful high priest of Mershaulk notice my rise to power and seek to kill me. When I learn about the prison(see below) and the futility of it all, their leadership seeks to kill me to keep the truth and their priestcraft hidden.
Plot Twist
The other Serpent gods, Sseth and later Set, unable to kill Merrshaulk, create a prison forever squelching his ability to communicate with his followers (incidentally triggering the downfall of the Yaun-ti). As is common in Yaun-ti culture, powerful high priests seek to consume their god and replace him. But with the prison it instead sucks in those that get that far and one kills the other with the prison draining their Quiddity to fuel the religion. Have others come to understand the prison as well as I do? Should I seek to destroy the prison and replace him, or choose to crush the head of the religion and let the last of the Quiddity be drained away and end the cycle of futility?
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