1) Firstly, monk's stunning strike will pair well with effects that target dex (and str) saves. So, make sure to grab disintegrate when you hit sorcerer 11 (3 levels from now, so this is one for the future). This will guarantee that the disintegrate will land (as stunned targets automatically fail dex saves). You might even want to quicken that disintegrate when up against a very strong enemy with high AC, so that you will have time to cast BB/GFB with you action and take advantage of the ....advantage (that stunned targets bestow) to land a hit stacked with a smite (against, this last bit might be a good idea only if against very strong opponents which also have a high AC).
2) Now, lets talk about buffing. A lot here will be determined by how your party's rogue plays. Is he a melee oriented arcane trickster (who uses twf, or even better, booming blade)? Or is he sticking to a (cross)bow?
a) If it's the former (ie melee rogue), you can safely drop haste from your spell selection.
Haste can still be useful for melee rogues and for monks, as it allows a ''free'' disengage, which means that the twf rogue gets to maximize his chances to land sneak attack by not using his bonus action to disengage, and it also means the monk gets to save some ki points, but I'll go right ahead and assume that the arcane trickster uses BB -if melee- and that the monk has taken the mobile feat; I'am assuming optimized teammates, that is. If this is not the case (ie optimized teammates), haste can still be of value, but emmm.... it would be better for the arcane trickster to use BB -again, assuming a melee approach on his part- and for the monk to already be mobile by taking the mobile feat. So in this case (melee arcane trickster), you stick with greater invisibility. Also twin it, it's expensive but it's pretty much worth it (afterall, that's why you picked this metamagic).
* (greater invisibility and tanking)
Obviously the rogue is the first candidate for greater invisibility. The other recipient of greater invisibility (for when you twin it), ideally should be you (pair it with BB and with movement that does not trigger OA's since you are invisible), as you are the main tank (cleric can fight in range, monk is -hopefully- very mobile to create some distance after he attacks, rogue is invisible and probably also hiding using his bonus action to do so at the end of each of his turns). Pair the disadvantage from greater invisibility along with your good base AC and with shield reactions if absolutely necessary (saying absolutely necessary, as shield competes with BB OA's for your reaction, and besides BB OA's you dont have many things to impose crowd control with), and you'll make an incredible AC tank. But.... tank too well, and there is the danger that the DM will have the enemies ignore you and run for your squishier teammates. Other than using a booming blade reaction (since warcaster), doing so with advantage (greater invisibility), and dealing a good amount of damage (due to triggering the secondary effect of BB too), you have no way to make sure your enemies will focus on you, other than DM's discretion and willing to play along with this stratey (ie you are the tank, so most monsters have to target you). If the DM is all about making things hard for you and/or using advanced tactics with the enemies (eg why would an enemy try to fight an invisile tanky opponent when he can go for his squishy allies?), then you might be into some trouble, if you aim to be the second target affected by greater invisibility that is. Also, make note, that aside from booming blade enhanced opportunity attacks, you have no way to guarantee the enemies will focus on you and not run after allies (and even that is nothing but some very soft control), and even those BB OA's wont be available when you use your reaction to shield yourself. So, if your DM plays hard, there are two ways to go about this. Either dont be one of the targets of greater invisibility (so target the rogue and the monk with it, or the rogue and the cleric; preferably the monk, especially if he doesn't take the mobile feat -though he still should-), or... take a 3rd level in paladin, oath of the crown (to get the channel divinity champion's challenge). By RAW, champion's challenge works with you being invisible, as the requirement is for just you too see the targets affected by champion's challenge. The DM might have a different idea about this (ie champion's challenge while invisible), depending on how he interprets stealth and invisibility (a long conversation.....). Though you could ''roleplay'' around it and have your character shouting insults and/or provocations to the enemies affected by champion's challenge, to ''justify'' how the enemies know your character's exact location and thus cannot (will not want to -from an in game angle) move further than 30 feet from you. If crown doesn't cut it for you or your DM though, your best bet is to stick with buffing with greater invisibility only your allies and not yourself (that again, is if your DM wont have the enemies focus on you out of his sheer kindness).
b) If it's the latter (rogue fights from range), then you have enough reasons to stick with haste, assuming the archer rogue and the DM dont object to a certain amount of cheese. You see, the arcane trickster archer rogue, can have his familair (owl, with fly-by) generate them advantage (so no much point in greater invisibility for them), and what's more, they can exploit haste in an admittedly cheesy, yet effective way. That is, that the rogue will use his haste-given action to attack during their turn (advantage from the familiar), and they will use their action to ready an attack which they will make during their off-turn (specifying a suitable trigger). Remember, sneak attack damage is once per round, not ince per turn, so they get to deal all their sneak attack damage again with that readied attack. Eventually, the rogue will manage to get haste as one of their spells (at level 14), at which point you can feel free to stop using haste with your concentration, and even drop it from your list of known spells and replace it with something else. Though, this again is something for the future. Keep this in mind though, as if this is to become reality at some point (ie the archer rogue getting haste, and you dropping it from your spell list), then that opens up a possibility for you to use concentration spell for things other han buffing (so think really hard on your choice of the 3rd metamagic that you'll pick at sorcerer 10).
*A note about haste and concentration.
Losing concentration on haste hurts (as whoever was affected becomes stunned for a turn). And it hurts double if you have twinned it and then lose concentration on it. Now, you concentration is as good as it can reasonably get, still, there are some enemies with particular strong attacks out there (such as a dragon's breath), that can make you lose concentration easily enough. When up against such enemies prefer to rely on spells other than haste for your concentration, such as something as simple as bless. My point is, dont get carried away by how effective haste can look to be, always take into account the potential drawback, and always try to use it safely/smartly.
3) No one of your allies has counterspell (the AT could get it at 14, but there are better options for them, such as haste; and besides, you can make better use of counterspell, since you have more and also highr level spell slots -counterspell can take advantage of high level slots). So you pick it. Make enough room in your spell list and start with it.
At most tables I assume counterspell plays out like at mine; that is, the DM says something like ''
that enemy casts fireball'' and then a player yells
''COUNTERSPELL'', so that means that if you have some a good OoG knowledge of spells, you'll always know which slot is best to use with counterspell. However, it might be possible that the DM wont let you know which spell is being cast, so that makes it more of a gumble if you will upcast it or not. Then again, even if this is the case, you'll almost always want to upcast it to prevent an enemy escape using magic (use a 7th level counterspell to negate a teleport with 100% chance, etc). Say goodbye to reoccuring villains! That might of course cause the DM's wrath, so temper it with rile life wisdom...
In some cases, a DM could allow an arcana check to figure out what spell an enemy is using (not sure if this is RAW, but I've seen it done), so in that case pick arcana as one of your skills. You wont ace it, but proficiency will help (now that I think of it, pick it anyway if no one else has it).
4) You are supposed to be the main tank character. If tanking seems to be too hard of a job for your character, you might want to look at taking 1 level in warlock. An extra slot per short rest to use with shield is no joke, but the real prize is armor of agathys, which if you get, you will want to use with your higher level spell slots. I advise doing so after you hit sorcerer 11 (when you'll get disintegrate and mass suggestion, preferably, as then you'll have even higher level spell slots for armor of agathys to take advantage of), but you might want to rush that warlock level, if battles get too hard for your character. I advise patience (ie getting to sorcerer 11 first), and I also advise against a 2nd level in warlock (if you decide to take at least one level in warlock in the first place, that is). Now mattter how tempting a 2nd level in warlock might look, I think you have more benefits by fosusing on your sorcerer progression (for more sp and getting access to higher level spells).
5) I am not sure how much a light cleric can offer in the AoE department, but I dont think all that much (I know they get fireball, but dont know much else). It might be a good idea for you to have at least one non-fire AoE. When you hit sorcerer 9, means that you can take cone of cold. Till then, it might be good to have a look at errupting earth (which becomes all more good if you upcast it - still, eventually you might want to replace it with cone of cold though). Besides damage, it offers a small deal of crowd control, which you could take advantage of using BB somtimes (hard to put it in words, but at the cost of a few opportunity attacks, you can have a whole bunch of enemies lose their turn, and all that works since you have a very mobile group stocked with decent/good ranged options).
6) Without aura of protection (and it might be better not to have it in your case, as you have a very mobile group which will theoritically not be within 10 feet of you most of the time), your saves and the saves of your allies will be less protected. For that reason, it might be good to talk your cleric into preparing spells like restoration/ greater restoration/ freedom of movement/ etc (generally, spells that protect your from conditions and can get rid of conditions affecting you).
That's all I can currently think of, but I am sure there must be many other combinations of stuff that you and your party can pull off. Your teammates will probably have ton of their own ideas (as each one will approach things from a different angle probably, since they play different classes), so you can sit with them and discuss strategy if they are into it. Even if they are not, they'll certainly have a couple of ideas of their own, which might allow you to see better potential in your tactics. Keep in mind that actual play can prove wrong things that look good on paper, so adjust things according to your own gut and experience. And try to think of the bigger picture (meaning to prioritize things that work better overall for the group, over things that would make you the absolute damage dealer for example, at the expense of overall efficiency -that is if you like playing strategically).
Originally Posted by DDjake
).
). If these AoE are spells, you might want to remind you lore wizard that they can extend the range of their counterspell using alchemical casting.
Re: Unlimited Blade Works: The Guide to the Ultimate Paladin/Sorcerer Multiclass
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