Sorcerer Multiclass 5e Guide: 5 Great Options & 5 To Avoid

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

Whether you’re a hardcore power-gamer or you’re perusing a roleplaying archetype that just doesn’t quite mesh with the sorcerer class, you’re here with two questions.

Should I multiclass my sorcerer? And if so, which classes should I take levels in?

Should I Multiclass as Sorcerer?

The Pros

With every class there are major upsides and downsides to multiclassing. Classes which are MAD, or multi-ability dependent, rely on rolling high in multiple ability stats in order to be effective.

With these classes, multi-classing can often be a bad idea because it can increase the number of ability stats required to be effective.

For example, a war domain cleric needs reasonably high scores in wisdom, strength, and constitution to be effective.

If you’re playing a war domain cleric, then taking a dip in wizard introduces intelligence as an additional required stat.

Unless you were very lucky with your stat rolls in character creation, it’s unlikely that you’ll have four high stats to play with, so multiclassing to wizard, in this case, may be a bad idea.

Sorcerer has a major advantage when it comes to multiclassing in that the class is only really dependent on one ability score – charisma. This is your casting ability that all your spells are based on.

Sorcerers aren’t frontline fighters, so while they do benefit from high constitution for increased hitpoints and concentration-based spells, they don’t strictly need high constitution to be effective.

Similarly, high dexterity will allow them to act early in the initiative order, but they don’t use it as an attack stat. Sorcerers are less reliant on dexterity than many other classes.

This means that you only need to dedicate one ability roll to charisma in order to be effective as a sorcerer.

Even if you only made two high rolls, that might already be enough that you could consider multiclassing into a class that doesn’t rely on charisma.

Sorcerer’s casting stat, charisma, is also very useful to several other classes. Unlike wizards, whose casting stat is nearly useless from the standpoint of multiclassing, sorcerers share a casting stat with warlock, bard, and paladin.

The Cons

Sorcerer is one of D&D’s main spellcasting classes. You’re heavily reliant on spells for effectiveness, and you gain huge power bumps each time you gain the ability to cast a higher level of spell.

If you’re putting levels into paladin, that means you’re not putting levels into your main sorcerer class. Even multiclassing for one level pushes up the level threshold where you unlock all those spells.

If your party is likely to reach the level 17-20 range, then multiclassing may even prevent you from unlocking 9th-level spell slots entirely.

While this is unlikely to be relevant in most games, it’s worth considering if you’re starting at a high level or you’re playing with a DM who has a history of progressing their games to that stage.

What Are the Most Powerful Multiclass Options for Sorcerer?

Multiclass builds in D&D vary wildly between totally useless and incredibly strong.

Sorcerer is one D&D’s more effective classes for multiclassing, so you have a few options for extremely powerful builds. If you want to deploy these builds, then you should consult your DM first.

Depending on what your DM and other players want from the game, you might end up playing a character who totally outshines the rest of the party in combat.

This isn’t fun for anyone and should be avoided.

Paladin

Paladin/sorcerer is a devastating multiclass combo. It’s one of the strongest multiclass builds available in D&D and is, by far, your strongest option for a gish (combined spell casting and melee combat) sorcerer build.

Paladins are multi-ability dependent. They rely on high charisma for casting, they need high constitution because they’re built as frontline fighters, and they need either strength or dexterity for their weapons and armor.

Sorcerers only require charisma though, so a paladin/sorcerer multiclass doesn’t require any additional high ability scores beyond those that paladin already needs.

The strength of sorcadin stems primarily from paladin’s Divine Smite. This relies on expending spell slots to deal massive bursts of single-target damage with melee attacks.

Paladin doesn’t have a ton of spell slots, and Divine Smite doesn’t scale with paladin level, only with the level of the spell slot expended.

Sorcerer has loads of spell slots and has spell slots at higher levels, so a paladin/sorcerer split gives a significant damage increase over smiting as a single-class paladin.

There’s also relatively low overlap between the spell lists for paladin and sorcerer, so you gain a ton of utility too.

How To Build a Sorcerer/Paladin Multiclass

There are two main paths to playing sorcadin, depending on whether you want to focus on strength or dexterity as your melee attack stat.

If you’re planning on a strength-based build, then you should start as a paladin at level 1, so you gain heavy-armor proficiency.

If you want to create a dexterity-based sorcadin, then you should start as a sorcerer so you gain proficiency in constitution saves instead of wisdom.

After first level, you should take levels in paladin until you have two. This is super important because it gives you Divine Smite – the ability the sorcadin build is based around.

Once you have two levels in paladin, you should take levels in sorcerer up to level 3.

This gives you Metamagic, and, more specifically, it gives you Metamagic: Quickened Spell, which allows you to cast spells like Booming Blade as a bonus action.

Booming blade allows you to make a melee attack as part of your spell cast, so this increases the number of melee attacks you can make in each turn of combat.

After this, there’s space to focus more on gaining levels in either class depending on what features you find most appealing.

Warlock

Warlock/sorcerer is also a very strong option for a sorcerer multiclass. The idea behind this multiclass is to take walock’s signature catrip, Eldritch Blast, and modify it with Metamagic.

Metamagic: Quickened Spell and Metamagic: Twinned Spell will allow you to fire off a ton of Eldritch Blasts.

Eldritch Blast is the most powerful damage-dealing cantrip in the game, so casting it twice per round allows you to deal huge amounts of damage.

Additionally, you don’t need spell slots to cast because you’re relying on a cantrip for damage. You can convert all of your spell slots to sorcery points and use metamagic more often than you’d otherwise be able to.

How To Build a Sorcerer/Warlock Multiclass

There’s no real advantage to beginning as a warlock at level 1. You should start as a sorcerer so you gain proficiency in constitution saves and thus at saves against having your concentration broken.

The most straightforward way to build your sorlock is by taking three levels in sorcerer to gain metamagic, then taking two levels in warlock for Eldritch Blast, Hexblade’s Curse, and Agonizing Blast.

After that, you should focus on putting levels into sorcerer.

What Are Some Cool Thematic Multiclass Options?

Thematic multiclassing is usually a bad idea. D&D classes gain increasingly powerful abilities at higher levels, and multiclassing without consideration for power will often result in effectively wasted levels.

This can make you significantly less powerful than your single-class party-mates. Playing a weaker character isn’t fun and can seriously clash with the fantasy you were trying to create.

Usually, it’s better to re-flavor your class’s abilities to fit the fantasy you’re aiming for rather than multiclassing to create a blend than matches your vision.

All that being said, there are a few options for thematic multiclasses you can safely try without losing too much power.

Bard

There are no real killer synergies between bard and sorcerer, but there are clear benefits to taking a dip into bard. Jack of All Trades and Bardic Inspiration are both strong early-level features you can grab with a level-dip into bard.

The main weakness of sorcerer, as compared to other main casters, is a relatively limited spell list.

A bard multiclass gives you access to an entire second spell list. Even better, your casting stat for those spells is still charisma.

While bard/sorcerer won’t result in terrifying munchkin builds, taking two or three levels in bard has clear enough benefits that your character is unlikely to be overly limited by doing so.

Fighter

If you want to play a gish build but you don’t want to upset your DM and party-mates by playing sorcadin, sorcerer/fighter might be the way to go.

This build is more multi-ability dependent than a single-class sorcerer or fighter but no more so than paladin (or sorcadin). You only need high scores in constitution, charisma, and either dexterity or strength.

This build allows you to make multiple attacks per turn with Booming Blade and Quickened Spell, similarly to sorcadin.

This counteracts some of the power loss of gaining Extra Attack later as a fighter, but without Divine Smite, this combo is much less overpowered for sorcerer/fighter than for sorcerer/paladin.

Action Surge will also give you some real moments of glory and the ability to burst down high-priority targets.

This build is powerful enough that you’ll be able to contribute to the group. You’re also less likely to be accused of power-gaming than if you’d played sorcadin.

Cleric

The cleric spell list contains a ton of great options that your sorcerer could benefit from.

Sorcerer spells also synergize well with the features for several cleric domains, particularly those of Tempest Domain, and dipping into cleric will give access to either medium or heavy armor depending on the domain you choose.

Your main casting stat for cleric spells is wisdom – a dump stat for single-class sorcerers – so cleric/sorcerer doesn’t feel quite as natural as bard/cleric.

That said, you’re not totally limiting yourself with this multiclass. You’ll still be able to contribute to the group.

Multi-Class Options To Avoid

There are a few classes that you should not multiclass with sorcerer. Unfortunately, D&D’s multiclassing system is not balanced, and you can very easily land yourself with a borderline useless character if you multiclass without consideration for character power.

Even if you’re not interested in power-gaming, it’s very easy to accidentally create a character so weak that it impacts your ability to enjoy the game.

Barbarian

Barbarian is built around rage, and rage prevents you from casting spells for its duration. That means you can’t use the Booming Blade/Quickened Spell combo to make two attacks per turn.

While barbarian/sorcerer is a cool thematic combo, as a pair of classes that both rely on intuition-based inner power, this multiclass will result in extremely weak builds.

Artificer, Wizard, Monk, and Ranger

These multiclass options all offer very little synergy and are all very multi-ability dependent. Multiclassing to any of these classes is likely to result in underpowered builds that aren’t able to contribute to the group.

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