D&D 5e Sorcerer Subclasses (2014): All Eight Origins Ranked

Introduction

The Sorcerer is the only full caster that can run out of things to know.

At 20th level you know fifteen spells. A Wizard of the same level has a spellbook with dozens in it and prepares a fresh list every morning. A Cleric prepares from the entire cleric list. You get fifteen, each one chosen permanently, with a single swap available at each level-up.

That is the first scarcity. The second is sorcery points, which equal your Sorcerer level and pay for every piece of Metamagic you use. Quickened Spell costs 2 points. Heightened costs 3. You will always want more of both.

Every Sorcerous Origin is an answer to one of those two problems, and that is the honest way to rank them:

• Aberrant Mind, Clockwork Soul and Lunar Sorcery hand you bonus spells that do not count against your spells known. They are attacking the first scarcity directly.
• Divine Soul attacks it differently, by making the entire cleric spell list a legal choice whenever you learn a spell.
• Draconic Bloodline and Storm Sorcery give you permanent effects that cost no points at all: free armor, free hit points, free movement.
• Shadow Magic gives you a free spell and a free escape from death, and then charges points for its best feature.
• Wild Magic gives you something your DM controls.

Read that list and most of the ranking is already decided. What follows is each origin feature by feature, with the numbers checked against the rules rather than against the version of them that gets repeated online.

The Eight Origins at a Glance

Rating key: ● fantastic, ● good, ● situational, ● bad.

What Separates Them

Free spells are worth more than they look. A bonus spell that does not count against your known total is not just one more option, it is a permanent refund of one of the fifteen decisions you get to make in a career. Ten of them, as Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul provide, is a two-thirds expansion of your entire library.

Free effects are worth more than cheap ones. Draconic Resilience is a Mage Armor you never cast, never lose to a dispel and never spend a known spell on. Tempestuous Magic is 10 feet of opportunity-attack-proof flight on every single spell you cast. Neither costs a point, so neither competes with Quickened Spell.

Watch what claims your bonus action. Quickened Spell is usually the most valuable use of a bonus action in the game. Tempestuous Magic, Telepathic Speech, Hound of Ill Omen, Dragon Wings, Angelic Form, Trance of Order, Revelation in Flesh and Waxing and Waning all want the same slot. An origin that gives you a bonus-action feature is, in practice, charging you a Quickened Spell for it.

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Hot Take: A Sorcerer origin is a scarcity fix first and a theme second. Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul each hand you ten spells that never count against your fifteen known, and that changes how the class plays far more than any single flashy origin feature.

Aberrant Mind

Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The psionic origin, and the strongest in the game because it solves the class's defining weakness outright.

Psionic Spells ●

Level 1. You learn additional spells at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th level: Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers and the Mind Sliver cantrip at 1st; Calm Emotions and Detect Thoughts at 3rd; Hunger of Hadar and Sending at 5th; Evard's Black Tentacles and Summon Aberration at 7th; Rary's Telepathic Bond and Telekinesis at 9th. None of them count against your spells known. When you gain a Sorcerer level you may swap one for another divination or enchantment spell from the sorcerer, warlock or wizard lists.

Note what is not on that list, because it gets misreported: Dominate Person is not a psionic spell. The 9th-level entries are Rary's Telepathic Bond and Telekinesis. If you want Dominate Person you spend one of your fifteen on it like anyone else.

The list itself is excellent and specifically fills the Sorcerer's control gap. Mind Sliver is a cantrip that deals 1d6 psychic and subtracts 1d4 from the target's next saving throw, which is the best possible setup for the Hold Monster or Banishment you cast next turn. Dissonant Whispers forces a Wisdom save and makes the target flee, provoking opportunity attacks. Hunger of Hadar creates a blinding zone of acid and cold. Evard's Black Tentacles restrains everything in a 20-foot square.

Every Sorcerer can take Fireball. No other Sorcerer gets Evard's Black Tentacles without spending one of fifteen permanent choices on it.

Telepathic Speech ●

Level 1. As a bonus action, choose a creature within 30 feet. You can speak telepathically to each other, in a language you know, for a number of minutes equal to your Sorcerer level, and it works while you are within a number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier, minimum 1 mile.

Both numbers are routinely reported wrong, usually as "Charisma modifier minutes," which would make this a four-minute effect at 1st level instead of a one-minute effect that grows into hours. The 30 feet is only the range at which you establish the link. Once made, it holds across a mile or more, which turns it from a combat whisper into a genuine scouting tool: send the Rogue into the manor and stay in contact from the next street over.

Psionic Sorcery ●

Level 6. When you cast one of your Psionic Spells, you can cast it by spending sorcery points equal to its level instead of expending a spell slot. Cast this way it requires no verbal, somatic or material components, unless a material component is consumed.

This is the feature that puts the Aberrant Mind at the top. It is two things at once. It is a second casting resource, so your slots stay free for the spells the psionic list does not cover. And it is a permanent free Subtle Spell on ten of your spells, which means you can drop Evard's Black Tentacles in a throne room with your hands at your sides and nobody sees a caster.

The constraint is real at 6th level, where you have 6 points total. It gets comfortable by the low teens.

Psychic Defenses ●

Level 6. Resistance to psychic damage, and advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

Passive, free, no action. Charmed is among the worst things that can happen to a full caster, since a charmed Sorcerer's action economy is handed to the enemy. Advantage on that save closes the vulnerability permanently.

Revelation in Flesh ●

Level 14. As a bonus action, spend 1 or more sorcery points. For 10 minutes you gain one benefit per point spent, chosen from:

• See invisible creatures and objects within 60 feet.
• A flying speed equal to your walking speed, and you can hover.
• A swimming speed equal to twice your walking speed, and you can breathe underwater.
• Your body becomes slimy and pliable: you can pass through any space at least 1 inch wide, and you can escape nonmagical restraints with 5 feet of movement.

The costs are flat, one point per benefit, not an escalating ladder where flight costs 3 and swimming costs 4. And the fourth option is squeezing through gaps, not moving through creatures and objects, which is a different feature belonging to Shadow Magic. Both misreadings are common enough to be worth stating.

Read correctly, it is excellent: 2 points buys flight at your full speed plus see invisible, for ten minutes, from a bonus action.

Warping Implosion ●

Level 18. As an action, teleport up to 120 feet. Each creature within 30 feet of the space you left makes a Strength save, taking 3d10 force damage and being pulled toward that space on a failure, or half damage and no movement on a success. Once per long rest, or again for 5 sorcery points.

An escape and a punish in one action. Its best use is not fleeing, it is gathering: pull a scattered group into a cluster at your old position, then have the party drop an area spell on the pile.

Aberrant Mind in play

Take Mind Sliver seriously as an opener, because subtracting 1d4 from the next save is worth more than the 1d6 psychic. Spend points on Psionic Sorcery for the psionic list and keep your slots for Fireball, Counterspell and Hold Monster. Establish Telepathic Speech before you split the party, not after.

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Divine Soul

Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The cleric-adjacent origin. The only arcane full caster that can raise the dead.

Divine Magic ●

Level 1. You can choose spells from the cleric spell list as well as the sorcerer spell list whenever you learn a new sorcerer spell. You also choose an affinity, which grants one bonus spell that does not count against your spells known:

Good grants Cure Wounds, not Aid. That correction matters for the recommendation: the case usually made for the Good affinity rests on Aid being a strong pre-dungeon buff with excellent upcast scaling, and Aid is simply not what you get. Cure Wounds is a mediocre spell, a touch-range heal that Healing Word beats at almost every table because Healing Word is a bonus action at 60 feet.

Which makes Law the correct pick for most builds, and by a wider margin than usually stated. Bless adds 1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws for three creatures, concentration, and it compounds over every attack those three make for a minute. It is one of the most efficient 1st-level spells in the game.

The feature's real value is not the affinity spell anyway. It is that the entire cleric list is now legal for you. Healing Word, Revivify, Spirit Guardians, Greater Restoration and Mass Cure Wounds are all on the table, cast with Charisma, amplified by Metamagic. A Quickened Healing Word plus a leveled spell in the same turn is a healer who never stops dealing damage. Revivify in particular is available to no other arcane caster.

Favored by the Gods ●

Level 1. When you fail a saving throw or miss with an attack roll, add 2d4 to the total. Once per short or long rest.

Retroactive, which is what makes it good: you fail first, then decide whether this is the failure worth fixing. Average 5 is enough to flip a concentration save or a missed spell attack on a nova turn. Recharging on a short rest means two or three uses in a normal adventuring day, so spend it rather than hoarding it.

Empowered Healing ●

Level 6. When you or an ally within 5 feet rolls dice to determine hit points restored by a spell, spend 1 sorcery point to reroll any number of those dice. You must use the new rolls. Once per turn.

A quality-of-life feature, not a defining one. It is at its best on large multi-die heals where several dice come up low at once, since one point rerolls all of them. Note it works on an ally's healing spell too, so the party Cleric's bad Mass Cure Wounds is also yours to fix.

Angelic Form ●

Level 14. As a bonus action, manifest spectral wings granting a flying speed of 30 feet. They last until you are incapacitated, you die, or you dismiss them as a bonus action.

Two things to correct. The feature is named Angelic Form, not Otherworldly Wings. And it grants no advantage on Charisma checks; that clause does not exist. What you get is flight, which is plenty.

It has no armor restriction, unlike Draconic Bloodline's Dragon Wings, which matters if you are running the Paladin multiclass this origin invites.

Unearthly Recovery ●

Level 18. As a bonus action, when you have fewer than half your hit points remaining, regain hit points equal to half your hit point maximum. Once per long rest.

An emergency button, and a large one: roughly 70 hit points at 18th level, for a bonus action, which means you can heal yourself and still cast. The gate is that you must already be below half, so it cannot be used as maintenance.

Divine Soul in play

Take Law for Bless unless your party specifically needs something else. Learn Healing Word early and Revivify as soon as 5th-level slots arrive. Take Quickened Spell first: bonus-action heal plus action damage is the whole build, and it is the reason this origin plays differently from every other Sorcerer.

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Clockwork Soul

Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The origin of order. Ten free spells including the best wall in the game, plus the most broadly applicable reaction any 1st-level feature offers.

Clockwork Magic ●

Level 1. Bonus spells that do not count against your spells known: Alarm and Protection from Evil and Good at 1st; Aid and Lesser Restoration at 3rd; Dispel Magic and Protection from Energy at 5th; Freedom of Movement and Summon Construct at 7th; Greater Restoration and Wall of Force at 9th. You may swap one for another abjuration or transmutation spell from the sorcerer, warlock or wizard lists as you level.

The top of that list is Greater Restoration and Wall of Force. It is not Globe of Invulnerability and Plane Shift, which appear on no version of this table and are worth naming because the error is in circulation.

Wall of Force is the reason to look twice at this origin. It is a 5th-level concentration spell creating an invisible barrier immune to all damage, unaffected by Dispel Magic, and removable only by Disintegrate or Wish. Dome a boss and the fight stops. Wall off a corridor and the reinforcements do not arrive. Getting it free, without spending one of your fifteen, is a genuinely large gift to a class this short on choices.

Dispel Magic, Aid, Freedom of Movement and Greater Restoration round out a list that covers most of what a party needs and a Sorcerer normally cannot afford.

Restore Balance ●

Level 1. When a creature you can see within 60 feet is about to roll a d20 with advantage or disadvantage, use your reaction to cancel it: the roll happens as a normal d20. A number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regained on a long rest.

The uses are proficiency bonus, not Charisma modifier. That is two per day at 1st level rising to six, not five or six from a maxed Charisma, which is a meaningful difference at the levels where you have the fewest resources.

What makes it excellent is breadth. Advantage is everywhere in 5e: flanking where the table uses it, Pack Tactics, an enemy hidden or your ally prone, a legendary creature's own abilities. Cancelling the boss's advantage on the attack that would drop your Wizard, or on its saving throw against your Hold Monster, is available in essentially every combat round of your career. Very few 1st-level features apply that often.

It competes with Shield for your reaction, which is the honest cost.

Bastion of Law ●

Level 6. As an action, spend 1 to 5 sorcery points to ward yourself or a creature within 30 feet. The ward gives a number of d8s equal to the points spent. When the warded creature takes damage, it can expend any number of those dice, roll them, and reduce the damage by the total rolled.

The mechanism is worth being precise about, because it is often described as a pool that automatically soaks damage. It does not. The warded creature chooses how many dice to spend each time it is hit, which is better than automatic absorption, not worse: it can spend one die against a scratch and four against the big hit, rather than having the pool drained by chip damage.

It is a touch at range, not a touch spell, and it lasts until depleted or your next long rest, so cast it before the fight rather than during it.

Trance of Order ●

Level 14. As a bonus action, enter a trance for 1 minute. Attack rolls against you cannot have advantage, and you treat any d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10 on your attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws. Once per long rest, or again for 5 sorcery points.

The floor of 10 is the feature, and it is much stronger than "you ignore disadvantage," which is how the parent guide had it. It means that for one minute you cannot roll badly on anything: not concentration saves, not the Dexterity save against the breath weapon, not a skill check. With Constitution +3 and War Caster proficiency at 14th level, your worst possible concentration save becomes 17.

Use it to guarantee a minute of Wall of Force in a fight that would otherwise break your concentration.

Clockwork Cavalcade ●

Level 18. As an action, spirits fill a 30-foot cube: restore up to 100 hit points divided as you choose among creatures in it, repair damaged objects, and end one spell of 6th level or lower on each creature you choose. Once per long rest, or again for 7 sorcery points.

Three effects in one action. The dispel clause is the underrated one: freeing four allies from Hold Monster, Web and a Confusion simultaneously is a fight-ending turn. It ends one spell of 6th level or lower per creature, not every magical effect, and it is a 30-foot cube rather than a fixed number of targets.

Clockwork Soul in play

Keep Wall of Force permanently and never swap it. Hold Restore Balance for the roll that actually decides something rather than spending it on the first advantage you see. Apply Bastion of Law to whoever is going to be hit most, before the door opens.

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Draconic Bloodline

Source: Player's Handbook. The durable blaster, and still the right default for a first Sorcerer.

Dragon Ancestor ●

Level 1. Choose a dragon type. Its associated damage type drives Elemental Affinity at 6th level. You learn Draconic, and your proficiency bonus is doubled on Charisma checks made when interacting with dragons.

The damage type is the decision, and it is locked for the campaign. Red, gold and brass give fire, which is where the best spells are: Fireball, Scorching Ray, Wall of Fire. Blue and bronze give lightning for Lightning Bolt and Chromatic Orb. White and silver give cold, which is underrated because cold is resisted far less often than fire. Green, black and copper give poison or acid; poison is the single most commonly resisted damage type in the game and should be avoided unless you have a strong reason.

Draconic Resilience ●

Level 1. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and by 1 again at every Sorcerer level. While you wear no armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

The best 1st-level feature in the PHB half of this list, because it pays out every round of every day forever. The hit points amount to +20 by 20th level on a d6 hit die class, roughly a 30% increase. The armor clause is a permanent Mage Armor that costs no slot, no known spell, no concentration and no action, and it cannot be dispelled.

The practical instruction: never learn Mage Armor. With 14 Dexterity you sit at AC 15 from level 1, and Shield as a reaction takes you to 20 when it matters.

Elemental Affinity ●

Level 6. When you cast a spell that deals your ancestry's damage type, add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell. At the same time, you may spend 1 sorcery point to gain resistance to that damage type for 1 hour.

The damage bonus is one roll, not one per target, so it is worth far more on Scorching Ray or Chromatic Orb than on Fireball. At Charisma 20 that is +5 per qualifying cast, free, forever.

The resistance is the excellent half. One sorcery point for an hour of fire resistance, bought at the moment you see a red dragon inhale, is one of the best point-for-point defensive trades in the class.

Dragon Wings ●

Level 14. As a bonus action, sprout wings and gain a flying speed equal to your current speed. Dismiss as a bonus action. You cannot manifest them while wearing armor unless the armor is made to accommodate them.

The armor restriction is any armor, not merely medium or heavy. For a pure Sorcerer that is irrelevant, since Draconic Resilience already made armor pointless. For a Sorcadin wearing plate it is a dead feature, and that is a real cost to weigh before multiclassing.

Free, unlimited, permanent flight with no concentration is one of the strongest mobility features available to a caster.

Draconic Presence ●

Level 18. As an action, spend 5 sorcery points for a 60-foot aura of awe or fear. For 1 minute, while you concentrate, each hostile creature that starts its turn in the aura must make a Wisdom save or be charmed or frightened until the aura ends. A creature that succeeds is immune to your aura for 24 hours.

Two clauses that change the assessment. The condition lasts until the aura ends, with no repeated saves, so a creature that fails is disabled for the whole minute, which is better than it is usually given credit for. But a creature that succeeds is immune for a full day, so the aura gets one attempt per enemy and no more.

Combined with the 5-point cost, the concentration requirement competing with your actual control spells, and 18th-level enemies having strong Wisdom saves, it stays situational. Good against a crowd of minions, unreliable against the boss.

Draconic Bloodline in play

Pick a fire or cold ancestor, never learn Mage Armor, and spend a point on elemental resistance whenever you can see the damage coming. From 14th, open fights in the air.

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Shadow Magic

Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The survivor. Free darkness, a free refusal to die, and the best save-debuff in the class.

Eyes of the Dark ●

Level 1. Darkvision out to 120 feet. At 3rd level you learn the Darkness spell, and it does not count against your spells known. You can cast it with a spell slot or by spending 2 sorcery points, and if you cast it with sorcery points, you can see through the darkness it creates.

Two corrections worth making. The Darkness half arrives at 3rd level, not 1st. And Darkness still requires concentration; what the sorcery-point casting buys you is vision through it, not freedom from concentrating.

Even correctly stated it is strong. Drop Darkness on your own square, see out of it while nothing sees in, and every attack against you is made blind. A free spell, a free casting method and a permanent defensive posture for 2 points.

Strength of the Grave ●

Level 1. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points, and it was not radiant damage and not a critical hit, make a Charisma saving throw with DC 5 + the damage taken. On a success you drop to 1 hit point instead. Once per long rest.

A free refusal to die, once a day, on a d6-hit-die class that gets targeted first. The scaling DC is the catch and is worth understanding: it is the damage of the hit that dropped you, so the hit that barely took you down is easy to survive and the one that overkilled you badly is not. In practice most of the hits that drop a caster from a comfortable total are in the range you can beat with a good Charisma.

Hound of Ill Omen ●

Level 6. As a bonus action, spend 3 sorcery points to summon a hound within 30 feet of a target you can see within 120 feet. It uses the dire wolf's statistics with changes, it has temporary hit points equal to half your Sorcerer level, it moves only toward its target, it can pass through creatures and objects, and it always knows where the target is. While the hound is within 5 feet of the target, that target has disadvantage on saving throws against your spells. Lasts 5 minutes or until it drops.

The proximity clause is the whole feature and gets dropped constantly: the disadvantage applies only while the hound is actually adjacent to the target, not from the moment you summon it. Plan for the travel time.

When it lands, it is the strongest save-debuff in the class. A creature with a 60% chance to save drops to 36%. The bonus action cost means you can summon and cast in the same turn, though the hound may not arrive before your spell does, which argues for summoning a turn early.

Shadow Walk ●

Level 14. As a bonus action, while in dim light or darkness, teleport up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness.

Four times the range of Misty Step, for free, unlimited, forever. The lighting condition is the price, and it is one you control: you have a free Darkness spell to make your own destination.

Umbral Form ●

Level 18. As a bonus action, spend 6 sorcery points to become shadow for 1 minute. You gain resistance to all damage except force and radiant, and you move through creatures and objects as difficult terrain, taking 5 force damage if you end your turn inside an object.

The carve-out is force and radiant, not psychic and radiant. And ending your turn in a wall costs a flat 5 damage, not 1d10 and certainly not 5d10; both larger numbers are in circulation and both are wrong. At 18th level, 5 damage is nothing, which means phasing through walls is essentially free and you should use it aggressively.

Six points is a third of your daily pool, so this is a boss-fight button rather than a routine one.

Shadow Magic in play

Never spend a known spell on Darkness. Summon the Hound one turn before you need the disadvantage, not on the same turn. Keep Strength of the Grave in mind when deciding whether to take one more risky turn, and remember it does not work on critical hits.

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Lunar Sorcery

Source: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. The largest free spell list in the class, spread across three phases you switch between.

Lunar Embodiment ●

Level 1. You learn the Lunar Spells as you level, and none of them count against your spells known. After each long rest you choose a phase, and while in it you can cast that phase's 1st-level spell once without a slot.

Fifteen spells is the biggest free list of any origin, and the Full Moon column alone is worth the pick: Shield on a class that badly wants it, Dispel Magic, and Death Ward. Hold Monster in the New Moon column is a genuine control spell.

The catch is that you only get the free cast from your current phase, and only at 1st level. The other fourteen spells are known, not free, so they still cost slots.

Moon Fire ●

Level 1. You learn Sacred Flame, and it does not count against your cantrips known. When you cast it you can target one creature normally, or two creatures within 5 feet of each other.

A free cantrip that is quietly a damage upgrade: a two-target Sacred Flame is more expected damage than most single-target cantrips, and its Dexterity save means it never misses due to a bad attack roll. It also gives you radiant damage, which the sorcerer list otherwise almost entirely lacks.

Lunar Boons ●

Level 6. When you use Metamagic on a spell from one of your current phase's two schools, reduce the sorcery point cost by 1, minimum 0. A number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

The school pairings are Full Moon: abjuration and divination. New Moon: enchantment and necromancy. Crescent Moon: illusion and transmutation.

This matters because the pairing is widely misreported as New Moon covering evocation and Crescent Moon covering divination, which would put your Fireballs and your Counterspells in completely different phases than they actually sit in. New Moon is enchantment, so it discounts Hold Monster and Hypnotic Pattern, not Fireball. Evocation appears nowhere on this feature, which means the Sorcerer's signature damage spells get no discount from any phase.

Read correctly, Lunar Boons is a control build's discount, not a blaster's.

Waxing and Waning ●

Level 6. As a bonus action, spend 1 sorcery point to change your phase. You can cast one 1st-level spell from each phase's list once without a slot, resetting on a long rest.

This is what makes the subclass function. Before 6th level your phase is a morning decision you live with all day. After it, one point mid-combat swaps you from Shield into Color Spray, and across a day you get a free cast from all three lists rather than one.

Lunar Empowerment ●

Level 14. A passive tied to your phase. Full Moon: shed bright light in 10 feet and dim light 10 beyond as a bonus action, and you and creatures you choose have advantage on Investigation and Perception checks in it. New Moon: advantage on Stealth checks, and while entirely in darkness, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Crescent Moon: resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.

Three different characters rather than one bonus. New Moon's disadvantage-in-darkness is the strongest of the three for a squishy caster, and it pairs naturally with a party that can produce darkness.

Lunar Phenomenon ●

Level 18. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action you use to change phases, trigger your phase's capstone. Full Moon: creatures of your choice within 30 feet make a Constitution save or are blinded until the end of their next turn, and one creature you choose regains 3d8 hit points. New Moon: creatures of your choice within 30 feet make a Dexterity save or take 3d10 necrotic and have their speed reduced to 0 until the end of their next turn, and you become invisible until the end of your next turn or until you attack or cast. Crescent Moon: teleport 60 feet, optionally bringing a willing creature within 5 feet, and both of you gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn. Once per long rest, or again for 5 sorcery points.

A capstone with three different payoffs and, unusually, a recharge. Most 18th-level features are once per day full stop; this one is repeatable for 5 points, which a high-level Sorcerer can afford more than once.

Lunar Sorcery in play

Full Moon is the default phase for Shield. Take Waxing and Waning as the moment the subclass turns on, and budget one point per fight for phase swapping. Do not expect Lunar Boons to discount your damage spells, because evocation is not on any phase's list.

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Storm Sorcery

Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The aerial caster. Free movement on every spell and the best party-wide capstone in the class.

Wind Speaker ●

Level 1. You can speak, read and write Primordial and its four dialects: Aquan, Auran, Ignan and Terran.

Flavor. In an elemental-planes campaign it is a genuine tool; in most others it comes up once.

Tempestuous Magic ●

Level 1. As a bonus action immediately before or after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher with a spell slot, you can fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

One of the best 1st-level features in the class, and it costs nothing but the bonus action. Every leveled spell you cast comes with a free disengage-and-reposition. Step out of a melee cluster, drop behind the front line, rise above a grease patch, escape a grapple's reach.

The honest cost is the bonus action, which is the same one Quickened Spell wants. You cannot Quicken and use Tempestuous Magic on the same turn, so the build question is whether you are a Quickened Spell caster or a mobile one. At low levels, where you have few points, mobility usually wins.

Heart of the Storm ●

Level 6. Resistance to lightning and thunder damage. Whenever you start casting a spell of 1st level or higher that deals lightning or thunder damage, creatures of your choice within 10 feet take damage equal to half your Sorcerer level.

Two free things. The resistance is real defense against blue dragons, storm giants and a good share of the game's blast spells. The chip damage triggers when you start casting, which is worth knowing: it fires even if the spell is later countered.

At 5 damage around 10th level it will not carry a fight, but it costs nothing, it hits only enemies you choose, and it rewards the lightning-and-thunder spell list this origin already wants.

Storm Guide ●

Level 6. As an action you can stop rain falling in a 20-foot radius around you. If it is windy, you can use a bonus action each round to choose the wind's direction in a 100-foot radius.

Narrative utility. It has genuine uses at sea or in a storm-driven adventure and none at all in a dungeon.

Storm's Fury ●

Level 14. When you are hit by a melee attack, use your reaction to deal lightning damage to the attacker equal to your Sorcerer level, with no save. The attacker must then make a Strength save or be pushed up to 20 feet away.

The damage is your Sorcerer level, not your Charisma modifier. At 14th level that is 14 automatic damage rising to 20, roughly triple what the Charisma reading would give, and it makes this a genuinely punishing reaction rather than a token one.

It competes with Shield for the reaction. The tiebreaker is that Storm's Fury triggers on a hit that already landed, so use it when the hit was going to connect regardless and Shield would have been wasted.

Wind Soul ●

Level 18. Immunity to lightning and thunder damage, and a magical flying speed of 60 feet. As an action, you can reduce your own flying speed to 30 for 1 hour and grant a flying speed of 30 feet for that hour to 3 + your Charisma modifier creatures within 30 feet.

The count is 3 + your Charisma modifier, which at Charisma 20 is eight creatures, not three and not your proficiency bonus. That is the entire party plus their mounts, flying for an hour, and it is one of the most encounter-defining features in the game: it invalidates terrain, chasms, and any enemy without a ranged attack.

Storm Sorcery in play

Decide early whether your bonus action belongs to Tempestuous Magic or Quickened Spell, because you cannot have both in the same turn. Build the spell list toward lightning and thunder so Heart of the Storm fires. From 18th, hand out flight before the boss fight, not during it.

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Wild Magic

Source: Player's Handbook. The chaos origin, and the only one whose signature feature you do not control.

Wild Magic Surge ●

Level 1. Once per turn, the DM can have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a Sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. On a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table.

The table has 50 entries rolled on a d100. Some of what circulates about its contents is wrong, so for the record: 07-08 is "You cast Fireball as a 3rd-level spell centered on yourself" - that is an 8d6 Fireball in a 20-foot radius, not 6d6 at 40 feet, and it is not entry 01-02. 09-10 casts Magic Missile as a 5th-level spell, a one-off, not a minute of every spell becoming Magic Missile. 99-00 restores all your expended sorcery points, which is the best result on the table and is not a returned spell slot.

The feature's real problem is structural rather than numerical. The trigger is "the DM can have you roll," with no guidance on frequency anywhere in the rules. A DM who never calls for it has deleted your subclass identity; one who calls for it constantly has turned your character into a slot machine. This is the only feature in the class whose value is set entirely by someone else at the table. Ask before you choose this origin, and rate it on the answer you get rather than on the text.

Tides of Chaos ●

Level 1. Gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check or saving throw. Once per long rest. Before you regain it, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a Sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, and if they do, you regain the use immediately.

This is the good feature, and the recharge loop is elegant: the DM is incentivized to trigger a surge because doing so hands your resource back. At a table that engages with it, Tides of Chaos recharges several times a day.

Spend it on a saving throw rather than an attack roll. The Sorcerer's worst moments are failed concentration saves and failed saves against disabling effects, and advantage on one of those is worth far more than advantage on a spell attack.

Bend Luck ●

Level 6. When another creature you can see makes an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, use your reaction and spend 2 sorcery points to roll 1d4 and add or subtract it from their roll. You can do this after the roll but before the outcome.

The sleeper feature of the subclass, and better than its reputation. Applying it after seeing the roll means you never waste it: you know exactly whether 2.5 average will change the outcome before you commit.

It stacks with Heightened Spell for the most reliable single-target control in the class: 3 points for disadvantage on the save, then 2 more to subtract from whichever die they kept.

Controlled Chaos ●

Level 14. Whenever you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, roll twice and use either result.

A relief rather than an upgrade, and it arrives after thirteen levels of the raw table. It lets you dodge the genuinely harmful entries almost every time. At a table where surges are rare, it changes nothing, which is the same structural problem the whole subclass has.

Spell Bombardment ●

Level 18. When you roll damage for a spell and roll the highest possible number on any die, choose one of those dice, roll it again and add it. Once per turn.

A clean passive. It fires most often on dice-heavy spells: a Disintegrate rolling 10d6 will trigger it most casts, while a single d10 will not. Modest, reliable, and it asks nothing of you.

Wild Magic in play

Have the conversation with your DM before session one and get an actual answer about surge frequency. Spend Tides of Chaos on saving throws. Treat Bend Luck as the subclass's real combat feature, because unlike the surge table it does exactly what you tell it to.

Ability Scores

Charisma, then Constitution, then Dexterity. This does not change between origins.

Charisma is your spell save DC, your spell attack bonus and your social skills. Get it to 20 before anything else, which usually means your first two Ability Score Improvements.

Constitution is second and is not optional. Your best spells are concentration spells, and every hit you take is a save to keep them. Fourteen is the floor and 16 is better. War Caster or Resilient (Constitution) matters more than a third point of Charisma.

Dexterity is third and does one job: your armor class, since you have no armor. Fourteen gives AC 15 with Mage Armor, or with Draconic Resilience for free.

Two origin-specific notes. Draconic Bloodline makes Dexterity slightly more valuable, since its permanent AC scales with it and you never spend a slot on Mage Armor. No origin uses Intelligence, Wisdom or Strength for anything, including Aberrant Mind, whose features run on Charisma and Sorcerer level rather than any mental stat.

Races

Half-Elf ● - +2 Charisma, two flexible +1s, two extra skills and Fey Ancestry. The default best Sorcerer race for every origin, because the flexible bonuses cover Constitution and Dexterity without costing you anything.

Variant Human ● - +1 to two stats and a feat at level 1. War Caster from level 1 on a class that lives and dies by concentration is a real power spike.

Yuan-Ti Pureblood ● - +2 Charisma and Magic Resistance, which is advantage on saving throws against spells. For a fragile caster who must stay upright to keep concentration, permanent advantage against enemy magic is among the strongest defensive traits available.

Aasimar ● - +2 Charisma in the variant forms, Healing Hands, darkvision, and resistance to necrotic and radiant. The natural fit for a Divine Soul.

Tiefling ● - +2 Charisma, fire resistance, darkvision and innate spells. The +1 Intelligence is wasted, but the rest is solid and it suits a Draconic or Shadow build.

Warforged ● - +2 Constitution, +1 to a stat of your choice, a natural armor bonus and immunity to poison and disease. Constitution-forward rather than Charisma-forward, which suits a concentration-heavy Clockwork Soul.

Dragonborn ● - Thematically perfect for Draconic Bloodline and mechanically poor for it, since +2 Strength does nothing for any Sorcerer.

Feats

War Caster ● - Advantage on concentration saves, plus the ability to cast a spell as an opportunity attack. The single most valuable feat in the class, because every important spell you cast is a concentration spell.

Resilient (Constitution) ● - Constitution save proficiency plus a point of Constitution. The alternative to War Caster rather than an addition to it; take one, and take it early.

Alert ● - +5 initiative and no surprise. Going first lets you land Hypnotic Pattern before anything has moved, which prevents the damage that would have broken your concentration in the first place.

Lucky ● - Three rerolls per long rest, usable on your own rolls or an enemy's attack against you. Universally good, and especially so on Wild Magic where it stacks with Tides of Chaos and Bend Luck for a build that manipulates more dice than anyone.

Metamagic Adept ● - Two more Metamagic options and 2 extra sorcery points. A direct answer to the class's second scarcity, and it is the rare feat that gives a Sorcerer something no ability score can.

Elemental Adept ● - Ignore resistance to one damage type and treat 1s as 2s on its damage dice. Worth considering only on a Draconic Bloodline committed to fire, where resistance is common enough to be a real problem.

Multiclassing

Paladin 6 ● - The Sorcadin. Charisma drives both halves, Aura of Protection adds your Charisma modifier to every save you and nearby allies make, and your Sorcerer slots become Divine Smite fuel. Quickened Spell means you can cast and still swing. The one caution: heavy armor blocks Draconic Bloodline's Dragon Wings.

Warlock 2 to 3 (Hexblade) ● - Warlock slots return on a short rest and can be converted into sorcery points, which is the largest effective daily resource pool available to any caster. Agonizing Blast also gives you a damage cantrip that does not compete with your spell list. Discuss the conversion loop with your DM first, since some tables restrict it.

Fighter 1 to 2 ● - Constitution save proficiency at Fighter 1 helps concentration, and Action Surge at Fighter 2 gives one extra full casting turn in a boss fight. A cheap, unglamorous dip that does exactly what it says.

Cleric 1 ● - Thematic for a Divine Soul and largely redundant with it, since Divine Magic already gives you the cleric list on Charisma. Consider it only for a domain's armor proficiency.

Wizard ● - Intelligence and Charisma pull in opposite directions and nothing in either class supports the other. Avoid.

Choosing by Campaign

• Any campaign, no other information: Aberrant Mind. It needs nothing from the table and fixes the class's structural weakness.
• Party with no healer: Divine Soul. It is the only origin that turns a Sorcerer into a credible healer without giving up offense.
• Boss-heavy, high-lethality campaign: Clockwork Soul, for Wall of Force and Restore Balance, or Shadow Magic for Strength of the Grave and the Hound's save debuff.
• New player's first Sorcerer: Draconic Bloodline. Permanent armor, extra hit points and no bookkeeping.
• Outdoor, naval or vertical terrain: Storm Sorcery. Free repositioning every turn and party-wide flight at 18th.
• You want the largest spell list possible: Lunar Sorcery, at fifteen free spells, or Aberrant Mind if you would rather have ten better ones you can cast with points.
• Your DM actively enjoys chaos and has said so: Wild Magic. Only then.

Related Guides

• D&D 5e Sorcerer Guide - the class itself: Metamagic, Font of Magic, sorcery points and level 1 to 20 progression.
• Best Sorcerer Spells - which fifteen to actually pick.
• Best Feats for Sorcerer - the full feat priority list by level.
• D&D 5e 2014 Class Guides - every class in the system.

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