#but i like sorcerer/cleric since i hadn't thought of this particular build before working on this project

[red-dragon-archfiend]

Today I've given each non-Sorcerer class in D&D 5e a multiclass build combining them with Draconic Sorcerer. The power level of these builds ranges from terrific to typical to terrible, and Draconic is usually not the most optimal subclass to choose for them anyway, but I try to highlight when the subclass features are important. I'll start by just giving you the list of each combination, and below the cut I'll go into far more detail about each one, including how it functions and how viable I think it is.

Artificer: Half-Elf Draconic Sorcerer 17/Alchemist Artificer 3

Barbarian: Half-Elf Ancestral Guardians Barbarian 12/Draconic Sorcerer 8

Bard: Custom Lineage Draconic Sorcerer 17/Eloquence Bard 3

Cleric: Mountain Dwarf Draconic Sorcerer 19/Order Cleric 1

Druid: Half-Elf Spores Druid 17/Draconic Sorcerer 3

Fighter: Half-Elf (Drow) Eldritch Knight Fighter 11/Draconic Sorcerer 9

Monk: Half-Elf (Drow) Draconic Sorcerer 16/Kensei Monk 4

Paladin: Half-Elf Draconic Sorcerer 14/Crown Paladin 6

Ranger: Half-Elf Hunter Ranger 16/Draconic Sorcerer 4

Rogue: Ravenite Dragonborn Swashbuckler Rogue 19/Draconic Sorcerer 1

Warlock: Hellfire Tiefling Draconic Sorcerer 17/Hexblade Warlock 3

Wizard: Half-Elf Bladesinging Wizard 17/Draconic Sorcerer 3

To clarify a few things, the reason Half-Elf is chosen so frequently isn't just my own personal affinity for Half-Elves, but also because the stat increases Half-Elves offer are crucial for making the many MAD combinations (multi-ability dependent) function. If you're playing with stronger starting stats than those afforded by Point Buy, it's fine to change for a different race in most circumstances. As for the color of your Dragon Ancestor, it only matters on a mechanical level if you take six or more levels of Sorcerer. If you do, fire is generally the best choice, so Red, Gold, or Brass Dragon works best, but if you don't, any color works the same, so just choose the one you like best or what makes sense for your character. I'd also recommend starting with Sorcerer unless the other class gives you heavy armor, also offers constitution save proficiency, or if the class is (for some reason) Monk, because newly acquired versions of Unarmored Defense replace previous versions, and chances are Draconic Resilience will work better for you than the Monk's Unarmored Defense. Also, remember if you get armor that you're going to need space in the back for your wings when you hit Sorcerer level 14, so be sure to set time aside to get your armor modified.

Artificer: Not really exciting, but Infusions are always helpful, and medium armor and shields improves our durability. Healing Word is all we need to bring up downed party members, and Experimental Elixir gives us a free potion every day. We don't get to CHOOSE which one we get, but all of them are helpful, especially in a diverse party where at least somebody could benefit from whichever result our Elixir provides. The real value from this combination is flavor; a Sorcerer who experiments with their own magical blood is a cool concept!

Barbarian: This is kind of a joke? The idea is to cast Mirror Image and Fire Shield before we enter a rage, using Extended Spell to make them last longer. Ancestral Guardians makes attacking anybody but us both difficult and unrewarding, and our spells make that same for attacking us too. If you're not particularly attached to Draconic Sorcerers like I am, I'd recommend Clockwork Soul instead so you can learn Armor of Agathys.

Bard: This one is pretty straightforward. Silver Tongue is incredible, both classes use charisma, and choosing Custom Lineage and choosing a feat that increases charisma offsets the fact that we get one less ASI to work with. Notably, Sorcerers stop learning new spells after level 17, and our spell slots still scale like a full-classed character since we're combining two full casters, so we're only trading 3 Sorcery Points, Draconic Presence, an ASI, and Sorcerous Restoration for all the things those Bard levels have to offer. Not necessarily better than a full-classed Sorcerer at level 20, but not really worse either, if you're in a social campaign where Silver Tongue goes a long way.

Cleric: This one is actually really cool, I'm glad I thought of it. Voice of Authority is great in any party that makes weapon attacks a lot, and Font of Magic lets us make more spell slots to keep using it. An additional charisma-based skill is great for a Sorcerer, and the combination of heavy armor and shields in addition to constitution save proficiency from starting Sorcerer give us Fighter-like durability, outside of hit points, but those are already better than usual thanks to our great Mountain Dwarf stat increases. Mountain Dwarf also adds poison resistance, which goes nicely with fire resistance from Elemental Affinity, and more importantly we're not slowed by heavy armor, so we can dump strength.

Druid: Spores was chosen because it's the melee Druid, and Draconic Sorcerer offers better AC, constitution saving throw proficiency, Booming Blade, Shield, Mirror Image and Metamagic. Notably you get access to a lot of utility cantrips that Druids lack, like Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion, and Mage Hand, so I'd suggest grabbing those to make yourself more useful outside combat. It's MAD and delays your Druid levels by more than I'd like, but given how allergic Druids generally are to multiclassing, I'd say this is a reasonably effective combination.

Fighter: This one takes advantage of Draconic Resilience to focus on dexterity. Metamagic is the big draw though, that combined with Action Surge and War Magic gives us a buffet of action economy. Either pick of a rapier and use the blade cantrips, or a longbow to use with ranged cantrips. Consider taking Elven Accuracy to use with Faerie Fire, and Quickened Spell to pair with Scorching Ray and Action Surge longbow attacks to capitalize on that advantage as much as possible. By level 20, this build can use Action Surge to make six longbow attacks, then follow with Quickened Scorching Ray, upcast to sixth level, for a total of thirteen attacks in that turn, with super-advantage if you have Elven Accuracy and cast Faerie Fire beforehand. This sounds incredible, and it is, but the biggest problem this build faces is (spoilers) it's mostly outclassed by Sorcerer/Paladin and Sorcerer/Warlock, as you'll see below, because they can accomplish similar things much more effectively and with less multiclassing investment. This build absolutely works, especially if you were disappointed by the Arcane Archer and want something stronger, but consider those other two combinations first.

Monk: This one is terrible, but there is something you can maybe do with it. If you take Elven Accuracy and Great Weapon Master, you can make two-handed longsword attacks with dexterity for big damage, using one of the blade cantrips. Martial Arts is an amusing bonus action, but compared to Quickened Spell it's kinda just filler. If your DM allows the use of Dedicated Weapon, you can use the Elf Weapon Training feature from the Half-Elf variants in place of Skill Versatility to make the Way of the Kensei entirely obsolete, so you can choose a different subclass, which may as well be the Way of the Ascendant Dragon, if only for flavor purposes. Is that the most practical choice? Not really. But this build is itself very impractical, so it doesn't matter much. Really, if you want to be a dragon-themed Monk, just play Way of the Ascendant Dragon, it's really cool and does everything you'd want it to do.

Paladin: In stark contrast with the last one, this one is not only good but actually better than most single-classed builds. The Sorcadin, as it's called, is one of, if not the, strongest multiclass combinations possible, and also my favorite build in D&D 5e. There's a lot to say about it, but the TLDR is Quickened Spell means we can be a Paladin and a Sorcerer at the same time, and our Sorcerer levels give us a lot more spell slots to burn for Divine Smite. I could write an entire post about this combination, from the several ways to play it, the sheer potential it has, and the narrative potential of a warrior motivated by a personal oath they chose for themselves grappling with powerful inner magic they had no say in possessing.

Ranger: With quite possibly the best combination out of the way, back to one of the worst. This one has similar problems to Monk, but it's not quite as bad. The idea here is to use Horde Breaker in conjunction with Green Flame Blade to do sizeable damage to two foes at once. Draconic Resilience aside, not much to say about this one, though the flavor is neat. Like with the Monk, the Ranger has a dragon-themed subclass in the Drakewarden, so I'd recommend just playing that instead.

Rogue: Better AC on the only Rogue that wants to be in melee a lot, Booming Blade for more damage, and we already want good charisma so we can actually get some solid use out of our few spells. Ravenite Dragonborn was chosen for Vengeful Assault, which paired with Quickened Spell (from Metamagic Adept unless we decide to take more Sorcerer levels) allows us to make more sneak attacks outside of our own turn. If that's not your speed, Half-Elf is once again the best option, this time because Rogues really like the extra skills. If you liked the Fighter build, you could play an Arcane Trickster instead of a Swashbuckler and take several more Sorcerer levels, though managing the build becomes a lot harder at that point. Still pretty solid though, an Arcane Trickster with several uses of Subtle Spell could be an absolute menace.

Warlock: The "Sorlock", the only combination here that rivals Sorcadin, though I'd say this specific version is probably worse. All the benefits of Warlock without the downsides! We can even convert our Pact Magic slots into Sorcery Points every short rest. Hellfire Tiefling was chosen to capitalize on Elemental Affinity and to use Darkness alongside Devil's Sight, since we want to get the most out of Draconic as our subclass. Usually Sorlocks take Eldritch Blast, but Elemental Affinity means Fire Bolt is almost (but not as) good, so we can afford to take another invocation besides Agonizing Blast. I'd recommend choosing Pact of the Chain and taking Investment of the Chain Master, because we might as well get a pseudodragon familiar to match the theme. The real gimmick to this particular Sorlock is combining Elemental Affinity with Hex Warrior to make Green-Flame Blade a viable melee option, especially with Quickened Spell. This matches and even outpaces the damage from a Hexblade with Pact of the Blade just using a longsword, and we have the spell slots to make casting Shield actually worth it, which pure Hexblades can't do. Not the most optimal way of playing a Sorlock, but certainly a cool one that's still very effective.

Wizard: Same benefits as the Spores Druid and works for the same reasons, though Wizard spells are stronger in general than Druid spells, so Metamagic is even more of a benefit. Consider learning Shield and Shadow Blade as Sorcerer spells, so you always have them prepared. Between Sorcerer and Wizard, we'll eventually have 9 cantrips, fixing the Bladesinger's struggle to fit in their combat cantrips and utility cantrips at the same time, but like with the Druid, MADness is the main issue here, and the Bladesinger really doesn't want to be more MAD than it already is. You may want to prioritize dexterity over intelligence or charisma, or if that sounds too gimmicky, try a more traditional subclass like Abjuration, Divination, War, or whatever makes sense for your dragon ancestor. An Evoker with red dragon ancestry or an Enchanter with green dragon ancestry feels thematically appropriate and fun to me!

#musings #dungeons and dragons #dragons #sorcerer/paladin is my favorite build in the game #but i like sorcerer/cleric since i hadn't thought of this particular build before working on this project #and i think it actually would work really well