Sorcerer Subclasses 5e | Ranked By 2023 (Guide) Archetypes Dnd 5th Edition
Dnd Classes

Sorcerer Subclasses 5e | Ranked By 2023 (Guide) Archetypes Dnd 5th Edition

Sorcerer Subclasses 5e

Draconic Bloodline, Aberrant Mind, and Divine Soul are a few of the origins, out of 7, from which the Sorcerer Class have to choose a subclass, not just for themselves but for their powers too.   Furthermore, these sorcerous origins 5e immensely affect what type of spells and ability you will play in the game. In other words, different origin makes an entirely different Sorcerer. So, it is crucial to get this d&d sorcerer subclasses 5e right or else.

At the 1st level only, you get this option of choosing your sorcerer’s origin, which then molds your spellcasting ability and your personality as well. Moreover, you get additional 5e sorcerer origins features at the 1st, 6th, 14th, and 18th levels. Obviously, all these features and personality types make it crucial to choose the best dnd sorcerer subclass from all the sorcerer 5e subclasses, but what is the best sorcerer subclass? To answer this, let us study all 7 sorcerer origins 5e in detail.

What are all the D&D Sorcerer Subclasses 5E?

There is a total of 7 Sorcerer 5E Subclasses/ Sorcerer Archetypes 5e. And, all these D&D Sorcerer Subclasses 5e have been explained in this section.

Aberrant Mind

Aberrant Mind
  • Source: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
  • Advantage: The power to use Psionic Spells
  • Suggested Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood, Tiefling, Half-Elf
  • Party Role: Defense, Damage

They are the ones whose mind blesses with the powers of aliens, which act as the source of your psionic energy. Furthermore, unlike other 5e sorcerer bloodlines, they get the ability to choose the story of how they got their powers.

Aberrant Mind Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1stPsionic Spells, Telepathic Speech
6thPsionic Sorcery, Psychic Defenses
14thRevelation in Flesh
18thWarping Implosion

Aberrant Origins

Firstly, you get the option of choosing your Aberrant origin (How you got your psionic powers) from the given table.

d6Origin
1Due to Far Realm’s warping influence on you, you believe that a tentacle is spreading inside your brain.
2You got your power from the Astral Plane, and it was a psychic wind from this plane that brought you your abilities.
3Once, an aboleth dominated your brain. Now, there are only his leftover psychic powers stored in you.
4A mind flayer tadpole implanted itself inside your brain. However, the tadpole never grew, leaving you with his psionic powers.
5You have faint memories of an imaginary friend who gifted you psionic powers. However, these powers are not imaginary.
6Surprise, you have a parasitic twin who lends you his psionic powers.

Psionic Spells

Furthermore, like many other sorcerous origins 5e, you achieve additional psionic spells, as shown below.

Sorcerer levelSpells
1st arms of Hadar, dissonant whispers, mind sliver
3rdcalm emotions, detect thoughts
5thSending, Hunger of Hadar
7thEvard's black tentacles, summon aberration
9thRary's telepathic bond, telekinesis

Telepathic Speech

Now, at the 1st level only, you gain the ability to talk to a visible creature telepathically. Furthermore, the network of this telepathic connection only holds for a gap of a number of miles equal to the Constitution modifier, and it lasts for minutes = your sorcerer level.

Psionic Sorcery

Unlike other 5e sorcerer bloodlines, this subclass excels in its psionic abilities. And, these abilities get a boost at the 6th level with the Psionic Sorcery feature. In simple words, you achieve an ability to choose with spell slot or sorcery points for casting any psionic spell. However, if you decide to spend sorcery points, remember that the “n” level spell requires “n” sorcery points.

Psychic Defenses

Moreover, to increase your command over psionic power, this feature gives you protection against psionic damage.

Revelation in Flesh

Since only this dnd sorcerer subclass out of all 7 sorcerous origins 5e has a connection with beings of other realms, only this subclass can benefit from transforming their body with the help of this connection. Furthermore, at the 14th level, you gain a similar ability to transform yourself by spending sorcery points. And, each sorcery point can give you one of the following benefits:

  1. The power to see invisible creatures
  2. The ability to fly at the same speed as your walking speed
  3. The power to acquire a swimming speed of twice the walking speed
  4. The ability to turn your body and equipment into slimes allows you to pass through tiny spaces as well.

Warping Implosion

Finally, at the 18th level, you gain the ability to teleport yourself to any visible unoccupied space under 120 feet radius. Furthermore, this also causes damage to nearby creatures, and even a successful strength saving throw can’t fully protect them from this damage.

Clockwork Soul

Clockwork Soul
  • Source: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
  • Advantage: The power to gain 10 known leveled spells, which are usually not meant for the Sorcerers
  • Suggested Race: Dragonborn, Kalashtar, Half-Elf
  • Party Role: Defense, Damage

They are the type of 5e sorcerer origins, who has the force of order within them. To simplify, “force of order” is a power sponsored by Mechanus or other similar planes of existence.

Clockwork Soul Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1stClockwork Magic, Restore Balance
6thBastion of Law
14thTrance of Order
18thClockwork Cavalcade

Clockwork Magic             

Firstly, like many other sorcerous origins 5e, you achieve additional Clockwork spells, as the below-given table shows.

Sorcerer levelSpells
1st alarm, protection from evil and good
3rdaid, lesser restoration
5thdispel magic, protection from energy
7thfreedom of movement, summon construct
9thgreater restoration, wall of force

Restore Balance

Furthermore, at the 1st level only, you gain the power to render any disadvantage or advantage on a d20 roll of a visible creature. However, you can only use this ability for a number = your proficiency bonus.

Bastion of Law

Now, clockwork falls under those sorcerer 5e subclasses capable of protecting not just themselves but also their companions. And, this particular feature helps in that only you gain the ability to create a protective layer around a creature or yourself by expending sorcery points.

Trance of Order

Furthermore, when you reach the 14th level, you achieve the ability to render any advantage on your enemy’s attack useless. Moreover, when you roll a number less than 9 on a d20 die, it will be treated as a 10, given that the aim of the roll is an ability check, attack roll, or a saving throw.

Clockwork Cavalcade

Last but not least, this dnd sorcerer subclass gifts an ability to call the spirits within a 30-foot cube from you. Moreover, these spirits are useful for creating the following effects:

  1. They can revive a total of 100 hit points
  2. They have the power to repair any damaged object instantly
  3. They can end all spells of lower than 7th level on any creatures or objects.

Divine Soul

Divine Soul
  • Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
  • Advantage: The ability to use Cleric Spells
  • Suggested Race: Kalashtar, Changeling, Half-Elf
  • Party Role: Healing, Defense

They come under the rare category of sorcerer archetypes 5e, whose source power is good. In other words, Divine souls, as the name already indicates, have a blessed soul. Moreover, they are also the only one out of all sorcerer origins 5e who drives their power from their righteousness of the soul.

Divine Soul Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1stDivine Magic, Favored by the Gods
6thEmpowered Healing
14thOtherworldly Wings
18thUnearthly Recovery

Divine Magic

Firstly, this connection to the divine enables you to use cleric spells at the 1st level. However, you also get an option to pick an affinity for your divine power’s source, which also gives you additional spells, as the given table shows.

AffinitySpell
Goodcure wounds
Evilinflict wounds
LawBless
ChaosBane
Neutralityprotection from evil and good

Favored by the Gods

Now, since they are the only ones among the 5e sorcerer bloodlines with a divine soul, it’s natural to think even the gods want to protect that. And, this feature is there just for that particular purpose. You get the ability to add a roll of 2d4 to any failed saving throw or attack roll.

Empowered Healing

Moreover, when you reach the 6th level, you achieve the power of rerolling any number on the dice, given the aim of the die is to determine the number of hit points to revive by a healing spell.

Otherworldly Wings

Like many other sorcerer archetypes 5e, Divine souls also gain an ability to fly. In simple words, this feature gives you otherworldly wings, which give you a flying speed of 30 feet.

Unearthly Recovery

Finally, at the 18th level, whenever you have less than 50% of your hit points, you can use a bonus action to revive a total of hit points = 50% of your max hit points capacity.

Draconic Bloodline

Draconic Bloodline
  • Source: D&D Player’s Handbook
  • Advantage: The power to use Dragon Ancestor Spell, which controls your Elemental Affinity ability
  • Suggested Race: Tiefling, Dragonborn
  • Party Role: Damage

They come under those sorcerer 5e subclasses who achieved their powers out of their own choice. In other words, they or their ancestors had a bargain with the dragons to share their powers.

Draconic Bloodline Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1stDragon Ancestor, Draconic Resilience
6thElemental Affinity
14thDragon Wings
18thDraconic Presence

Dragon Ancestor

Firstly, you will have to choose what type of dragon gave you your powers. This happens via the below-given table. Furthermore, you also achieve competency in Draconic language.

DragonDamage Type
BlackAcid
BlueLightning
BrassFire
BronzeLightning
CopperAcid
GoldFire
GreenPoison
RedFire
SilverCold
WhiteCold

Draconic Resilience

As with the case with other 5e sorcerer bloodlines, your body starts to change to fit the draconic presence in you. In other words, your hit points maximum increases by 1 point whenever you go up the sorcerer level ladder.

Elemental Affinity

Now, when you reach the 6th level, you unlock the ability to add charisma modifier to the damage of your draconic ancestry spells. Consequently, you can also achieve protection against that same damage for 1 hour by spending 1 sorcery point.

Dragon Wings

Moreover, like all other 5e sorcerer origins, this subclass also achieves the power to fly with a flying speed equal to your walking speed.

Draconic Presence

Finally, at the 18th level, you can spread your dragon ancestor’s aura making other creatures awestruck or frightened by you.

Shadow Magic

Shadow Magic
  • Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
  • Advantage: The ability to induce disadvantage on the enemy’s saving throws
  • Suggested Race: Satyr, Dragonborn, Human
  • Party Role: Damage, Defense

Like many other sorcerous origins 5e, they drive their power from the dark and evil places. In other words, they are the creatures of shadows, whose power comes from the ill-light corners of these worlds.

Shadow Magic Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1stEyes of the Dark, Strength of the Grave
3rd Eyes of the Dark (darkness)
6thHound of Ill Omen
14thShadow Walk
18thUmbral Form

Shadow Sorcerer Quirks

This is the first option you get to choose your quirk, as the following table shows.

d6Qurik
1Your body is always at a negative temperature (icy cold)
2You don’t seem to be breathing while sleeping
3Whenever you are hurt grievously, there is barely any blood leaking out.
4You have a heart rate of 1 beat per minute
5You often treat living beings and corpses in the same manner
6You rarely blink, once per week

Eyes of the Dark

Unlike any other feature among all the 5e sorcerer origins, this feature develops in two parts. Firstly, at the 1st level, you achieve the ability to see in the dark up to 120 feet. Secondly, at the 3rd level, you earn the power to use darkness spell.

Strength of the Grave

Moreover, at the 1st level, you achieve the ability to survive any catastrophe barely. In other words, whenever your hit points drop to zero, you can make them pop up to 1 hit point by making s successful Charisma saving throw. However, this ability doesn’t work against radiant damage or a critical hit.

Hound of Ill Omen           

Like few other sorcerer 5e subclasses, this ability allows you to conjure up beings from the source realm of your powers: Shadow Realm. Furthermore, this creature is called the Hound of ill Omen and can target any creature within 120 feet radius from you.

Shadow Walk

When you reach the 14th level, you unlock an ability to teleport to a free space within 120 feet.

Umbral Form

Last but not least, at the 18th level, you achieve an ability that is common in most of the sorcerer origins 5e to transform in your author’s form: Shadowy Form. Consequently, this form protects you against any damage except radiant and force damage, and it also enables you to travel through other creatures and objects.

Storm Sorcery

Storm Sorcery
  • Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
  • Advantage: The ability to cast spells that cause lightning damage
  • Suggested Race: Changeling, Satyr, Half-Elf
  • Party Role: Damage

They, as their name already indicates, thrive in storm energy, making them a crucial part of a ship’s crew. However, we still consider them the worst of all 7 sorcerous origins 5e as its features show (You are allowed to disagree; we may be wrong).

Storm Sorcery Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1st Wind Speaker, Tempestuous Magic
6thHeart of the Storm, Storm Guide
14thStorm’s Fury
18thWind Soul

Wind Speaker

Firstly, at the 1st level, you gain expertise over the Primordial language.

Tempestuous Magic

Again, at the 1st level only, this dnd sorcerer subclass gets the ability to fly up to 10 feet without evoking any opportunity attacks.

Heart of the Storm

Now, when you reach the 6th level, you become resistant to thunder and lightning damages. Furthermore, whenever you use a lightning or thunder spell, all enemies within a 10 feet radius suffer damage = half of your sorcerer level.

Storm Guide

Since all other sorcerer archetypes 5e can control things related to their power, it’s is no shocker that this origin also gets the ability to control the weather at the 6th level. In other words, you can rain stop for a particular 20 feet sphere, and you can control the direction of winds.

Storm’s Fury

Whenever an enemy attacks you with a melee weapon, you can counter-attack with lighting damage by electrifying the melee weapon. Furthermore, the enemy has to make a Strength saving throw or suffer damage = your sorcerer level.

Wind Soul

Like all other sorcerous origins 5e, you gain complete control over your powers at the 18th level. In other words, you become immune to lightning and thunder attacks, and you achieve 60 feet of flying speed, and so on.

Wild Magic

Wild Magic
  • Source: D&D Player’s Handbook
  • Advantage: The Power to use Wild Magic Surge
  • Suggested Race: Tiefling, Half-Elf
  • Party Role: Damage

Unlike other sorcerer origins 5e, this dnd sorcerer subclass drives their power from the raw forces of chaos. However, this chaotic magic can be hard to control and prevent from leaking out of the body.

Wild Magic Features

Sorcerer LevelFeature
1st Wild Magic Surge, Tides of Chaos
6thBend Luck
14thControlled Chaos
18thSpell Bombardment

Wild Magic Surge

Firstly, at the 1st level, you gain the ability to create a random magic effect out of the untamed magic leaked while spellcasting.

Tides of Chaos

Secondly, at the 1st level, you achieve an advantage on one saving throw, ability check, or an attack roll. 

Bend Luck

Now, when you reach the 6th level, this dnd sorcerer subclass grants you the power to add a roll of 1d4 as a bonus or penalty to a creature’s attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw.

Controlled Chaos

Moreover, at the 14th level, you get the ability to roll twice on the wild magic surge table (you can use any one of the two rolls).

Spell Bombardment

Finally, like every other sorcerer archetypes 5e at the 18th level, your attacks become deadly. In other words, whenever you roll the maximum number on any dice made for spell damage, you get to roll again and increases the already lethal damage by adding the second roll.

What is the best Sorcerer subclass 5E?

Divine Soul is the best DnD Sorcerer Subclass out of all the 7 D&D Sorcerer subclasses 5e/ Sorcerer origins 5e. However, Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind are also up there with similar ratings, choosing any of these 3 guarantees in a strong Sorcerer. Furthermore, we think Storm Sorcery is the worst dnd sorcerer subclass among all the 5e sorcerer origins.

About the author

Shubhi singh

Shubhi Singh a bibliophile with a love for words and has completed her graduation in English Honours from a distinguished university. She has a passion for writing and her love for creativity reflects in her writing style. She also tries her hand at story writing in her free time and is quite dedicated when it comes to her work.

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