Neutral 1: Aren’t Sorcadins squishy?
This is a question that may pop up in the minds of certain readers. Sorcerers have a pretty scrawny Hit Die of
d6, meaning that every level the Sorcadin takes in Sorcerer, he loses 2 HP (well, eh, all power comes with a cost anyways). This may seem like a pretty nasty problem for frontline warriors, and indeed, if you keep the Sorcadin as it is, they lag behind Pure Paladins in terms of tankiness. However, there are several ways to get around this, and I don’t believe it’s enough of something that can be classified in “Cons” - and so, here it is, in the “Neutral” box.
Let’s divide the solutions into “Increasing AC”, “Increasing HP”, and “Other Methods”.
Increasing AC
The most straightforward answer is to use the
Shield spell. You could call this more than a spell - it’s a part of the Sorcadin’s core abilities.
“Shield” is something Eldritch Knights also have, and the very reason why they’re considered to be the most tanky of all the Fighters;+5 AC one round at the cost of a level 1 slot is just way too juicy to ignore. If you’re trying to optimize your Sorcadin,
there is really no excuse to not taking this spell.
If you’re going for a STR build, get
Plate Armor as soon as possible. If you’re going DEX, use
Mage Armor or the
Draconic Resilience ability of Draconic Sorcerers to get maximum AC (
Studded Leather Armor is another good option if your DM allows you to buy or earn it). Both Plate and Studded Leather are either too expensive or rare to gain at early levels, but buffing AC is great, so be sure to pick them up sooner or later.
If you’re gonna go DEX-based Sorcadin, do keep in mind that since light armor consults your DEX, and you likely wouldn’t be maxing out your DEX until you’re really high-level (unless you rolled godly with stat-rolling), your AC will probably be still lower than that of a STR-based build. In fact, there’s some chance you will want to pump CHA instead of maxing out DEX, so either way, your AC may be 1 or 2 points lower than that of a STR build.
Going
Sword and Board (Longsword/Rapier and Shield) is another way to increase your AC. If you have Longsword+Shield+Plate, for instance, your normal AC will be 20, and when you get hit by an opponent’s strong attack, you can use the Shield spell for AC 25.
“Equal to the Tarrasque” sums up how high an AC this is in 5e. (However, if both of your hands are full with separate weapons, and your DM is fussy about rules, you may not be able to cast spells with Material or Somatic components.
War Caster solves this problem to some extent, and together with improving your concentration, it’s a mandatory Feat for Sword-and-Board Sorcadins that you should get as fast as possible.)
The
Shield of Faith spell increases your AC by 2, but sadly requires concentration. It’s not a bad spell; in fact it’s good... It’s just that there are better options, and there are many attractive contestants who want to be concentrated upon.
Finally, the
Defense Fighting Style is actually a pretty reasonable option for you, if not
the best option - you can take it via Paladin 2. It does
rob you of Dueling, which is pretty good for
Sword and Board builds too, but while obviously strong and still a good option, Dueling is not as effective as it is for other builds, mainly due to how you’re gonna be
Green-Flame Blading or
Booming Blading for a pretty long part of your career (both of which allow you to attack only once - the +2 damage bonus to each attack is stronger if you have Extra Attack).
Increasing HP
Draconic Sorcerer (close to
Gold for DEX builds, due to Draconic Resilience) is one good option for those who want a Sorcadin with a more blasty feel (increasing the damage of Fireball and other AoE spells is marvelous, and also makes the most out of this ability), but it’s not just about that. It also increases your HP by 1 per Sorcerer level, meaning that you don’t lose as much HP from going Sorcerer as you would have if you chose other Origin options.
The
Abyssal Tiefling (UA) race not only boosts your CON and CHA (both important stats for you), but also gives you one extra HP per two levels. It’s not really a very respectable amount, though, so just consider it an extra bonus. Might save your skin
occasionally.
There’s also Feats such as
Durable or
Tough, but, ehhh... Most of the time, I’d honesty just use my ASIs to increase my CON, if I wanted more HP. That way I can be better at concentrating too. And as mentioned later in the Cons of this class (no pun intended), ASIs and Feats are hard to come across, especially for multiclass builds such as this one. One should use them wisely.
If you have high CHA, the
Inspiring Leader Feat does become
pretty good, though. Healing a good lot of HP per short rest (technically not healing, but rather giving out temporary HP, but pretty much the same thing) for everyone in the party is quite a nice ability, and makes you more tankier than CON +2.
If you’re going to multiclass Warlock for 2 or more levels,
Fiendish Vigor can work as a pretty nice option to give you Temporary HP. It gives you 8 temporary HP in-between every single battle (there’s no limit to the number of times you can cast False Life, so immediately after a fight is over, you can keep on re-using it till you roll a 4 with the 1d4).
Dark One’s Blessing (Fiend Pact) also gives you temporary HP whenever you kill someone.
(Multiclassing into Warlock delays your Caster levels, so it’s obviously not for everyone. However, the spells gained at even a 1 or 2-level dip are pretty powerful (Armor of Agathys etc.), and it’s arguably worth it, depending on what your build goal or role is.)
The simplest answer is to really just
heal yourself with Lay On Hands or Cure Wounds (or Aura of Vitality if you’ve gone deep in Paladin). Expect to do this every now and then.
Other Methods
First let’s talk about racial and class abilities.
Certain races give us not only CON bonuses, but also neat abilities that increase your tankiness. Apart from the aforementioned Abyssal Tiefling,
Half-Orc is great. It boosts your two main stats, has darkvision, makes you extra aggressive with critical hits, gives you proficiency with a skill you’re gonna be super excellent at, and allows you to recover from fainting once per day.
Everything in this package is wonderful for a Sorcadin, and it’s no wonder that the sample character shown in the first page of “Paladin” in the PHB is a Half-Orc. Actually, Half-Orcs make better Sorcadins than Paladins, since the
“Relentless Endurance” emergency button is more important to someone with lower HP.
Goliaths are another race well-suited for Sorcadins. Apart from having the same stat bonuses as Half-Orcs, they can reduce the damage you take by 1d12+CON per short rest, which is basically the same thing as being able to heal your HP by 10-ish per short rest by just using a Reaction. That said, this
“Stone’s Endurance” ability might compete with the
Shield spell for your defensive reaction, so make sure to decide wisely - which to use, at what moment. Ending a short rest without using this ability will make you regret it.
Taking a look at the Sorcerer options, the
Shadow Origin (aka the Emo Origin) gives you two ways to make yourself tankier. For one,
Strength of the Grave is basically the same ability as Undead Fortitude, which in other words means it’s pretty damn neat (general rule of combat:
when an ability the enemy uses is annoying for you, that probably means it’s strong). But what makes Emo Sorcerers really
Mary Sue powerful is the
Eyes of the Dark ability, which I feel is honestly too offhand in terms of Sorcery Points. Not only does it give you
Darkvision, it’s basically the infamous
Darkness + Devil’s Sight combo, except in a level 1 ability and with a cost that’s
astonishingly lighter than a level 2 spell slot. Shadow Sorcerers will have to choose between
Bless and
Darkness (among many others) for their spell concentration, but if they choose Darkness and target their weapon, they will
have advantage on all their attacks, and also impose disadvantage on all attacks meant for them. Together with the Shield spell, this thing is now unstoppable.
I’ve used Shadow Sorcerer Sorcadins several times, and one thing’s now certain: If a player wants to use Shadow Sorcerer in my games, I will make the cost of Eyes of the Dark 2 Sorcery Points, instead of 1. It’s obviously too much as it is.
Now, let’s move on to the Spells that boost your tankiness (besides Darkness).
Blur is a good option depending on the circumstances, bestowing disadvantage on all attacks aimed at you. The fact it’s a concentration spell is really tragic, because otherwise it would have been amazing beyond belief, but that’s how all strong 5e spells work...
...Hmm?
No, let me re-phrase that. That’s how
almost all strong 5e spells work.
Take a look at
Mirror Image, or the “Misprint of 5e”, which for some reason or another does not require concentration (you can use it
together with other strong spells!!). Casting it before combat is most ideal, but not all DMs permit that, and even if he did, you don’t really see every single combat coming beforehand. You should remember that it also serves as an
emergency button when you’re getting low on HP.
Oh, and though this also requires concentration,
Greater Invisibility can be also used to gain an effect similar to Darkness + Devil’s Sight. You can also
Twin it to make your party love you. Imagine what’d happen if
both the Sorcadin
[b]and[B] the Assassin are invisible... (Works even better with DEX builds, having Stealth, and GWM builds, which always want to have advantage on their attacks)
Finally, moving on to Feats.
Heavy Armor Master is pretty nice an ability, but do be aware that ASIs and Feats are precious for Sorcadins, so you should think twice before taking it (unless it’s
taken at level 1 using Variant Human).
And... I think that’s about it for now. Will update if I think up more, if other people suggest good ideas to add.
Neutral 2: Don’t they get Extra Attack late?
Yes, true, if you go Sorcerer for several levels before going Paladin 5, Sorcadins may get Extra Attack at a higher level. Or, builds going Paladin 2 or 3
never get Extra Attack unless they go Favored Soul. And without getting Extra Attack, the Sorcadin’s DPR will be lower than the average Pure Paladin. Right?
Well, the truth is that this is half-right and half-wrong.
I’m not going to say that Sorcadins can get constantly better DPR than a Pure Paladin. However, I am going to point out that the
Booming Blade and
Green-Flame Blade cantrips (SCAG) are wonderful additions to the Sorcadin’s arsenal, and most definitely
make up enough for not having Extra Attack for several levels.
For instance, a STR 18 Paladin with Longsword (one hand) + Dueling + Extra Attack inflicts 2d8+12 damage per turn, dividing 1d8+6 among two targets. The average DPR is 21.
A STR 16, CHA 16 Sorcadin of level 5 or higher but no Extra Attack (with one-hand Longsword and
no* Dueling) inflicts 2d8+3 damage to one target, and 1d8+3 damage to another target. These sum up to be 3d8+6, its average DPR being 19.5. The difference is only 1.5 points per round - even with a lower STR score (Sorcadins have less ASIs/Feats than pure builds due to the multiclassing),
the Sorcadin can damage just as well as the Paladin.
*NOTE - if you add the damage from Dueling, GFB actually damages more than Extra Attack, but here I didn’t give the Sorcadin Dueling because it’s actually more optimal to give him Defense.
If there’s no two enemies standing next to each other, Booming Blade is just 2d8+3 damage (average 12), so yeah, true, the DPR of Sorcadins lags behind Pure Paladins. But it also makes this guy a nice sentinel (without even taking the Sentinel feat). Zapping the enemy with 2d8 extra damage is fun.
Speaking of Booming Blade, this particular cantrip and
War Caster make a glorious combination, making picking up Booming Blade a
must for this build, even if you already have Extra Attack.
Remember how War Caster lets you attack someone with a cantrip when they leave melee range? The basic idea is that when somebody stupid turns his back on you, you attack him with Booming Blade to troll him, and also potentially kill him on the spot. At levels 5 to 10 this inflicts 2d8+STR damage with just that, but it doesn’t end there - since the enemy
moved (that was the whole trigger of the opportunity attack anyway), the enemy takes an extra 2d8 thunder damage, for a total of
4d8+STRmod damage for just moving out of your reach. And it gets even upgraded at higher levels, to a maximum of 8d8. Oh god, look, just
look at his face as he writhes in agony and falls dead crisping on the floor. Hilarious.
And if you
really need to damage someone badly, we’ve already covered how Sorcadins excel at it using Divine Smite. We do that better than Pure Paladins anyway.
Finally, to make the damage of the SCAG cantrips
better than Extra Attack, you can take the
Draconic Bloodline Sorcerous Origin and choose Fire (by RAW, Blue Dragons correspond to Lightning, and Booming Blade is Thunder, so the two don’t mesh together. I think this is really stupid and ridiculous, so I let Blue Dragons add damage to Thunder spells in my game, but not all DMs in the world are like that). From Sorcerer level 6 and higher,
Elemental Affinity increases your Green-Flame Blade damage even more.
All in all, it can be concluded that “lagging behind in average DPR” isn’t that much of a problem for Sorcadins. Either you can catch up with Extra Attack’s damage (GFB), or while you do inflict less damage, you can shine much brighter in other ways to make up for it (BB).