First off, sorry if this has already been asked or addressed, I couldn't find it in the forums when I looked. I will remove this if it is just an unnecessary repeat of another discussion.
With that out of the way, let's get started. At 6th level, the Aberrant Mind subclass gains the feature Psionic Sorcery. It reads,
"When you cast any spell of 1st level or higher from your Psionic Spells feature, you can cast it by expending a spell slot as normal or by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If you cast the spell using sorcery points, it requires no verbal or somatic components, and it requires no material components, unless they are consumed by the spell."
I think this is clearly supposed to mean that you can only use Psionic Sorcery with spells from the Psionic Spells feature. Below is the Psionic Spells table (the spells can be swapped out as you level up, with specific parameters on the subclass's page).
Notably, this only goes up to 5th level spells. This leads to my question: Can you "upcast" with the Psionic Sorcery feature? For example, could you spend 9 sorcery points to cast Dissonant Whispers at 9th level instead of 1st? In order to answer that, let's look at the Spellcasting chapter from the PHB.
In the Spell Level section, it says,
"Every spell has a level from 0 to 9."
In the Spell Slots section, it says,
"When a character casts a spell, he or she expends a slot of that spell's level or higher, effectively "filling" a slot with the spell."
These together would seem to imply to me that the answer is no, you can't "upcast" with Psionic Sorcery. The PHB specifically says that spells have a level, and that to cast it, you can expend a slot of a spell's level or higher. This would seem to mean that casting, for example, the 1st level spell Magic Missile at 2nd level, is still casting a 1st level spell, just with a 2nd level spell slot. Even though the spell gets upcasting benefits, and at least the people I play with say "I'm casting a 2nd level Magic Missile", for RAW purposes, its still 1st level intrinsically. Thus, you can only cast a spell with the Psionic Sorcery feature at the level that it is, since spells only have one level each.
However, the Casting a Spell at a Higher Level section of the PHB reads this,
"When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into."
This essentially says that an upcasted spell is actually at the higher level, so a 2nd level Magic Missile can and does exist. This could mean that an Aberrant Mind sorcerer could, for example, cast a 9th level Dissonant Whispers since a 9th level Dissonant Whispers exists and is known to you if you have the levels for it. Though, you could argue that a spell from your Psionic Spells feature is only known at the level it naturally is.
Personally, I think it's more likely intended that you can only cast your Psionic Spells with Psionic Sorcery at the level they are naturally, especially since it doesn't specify any rules for "upcasting" with it. This does mean that the feature loses potency at higher levels, though, so I think I might allow for "upcasting" if I were DM-ing an Aberrant Mind sorcerer.
"Expending a spell slot as normal" - I would rule covers upcasting, this is a normal function of casting spell. The feature says it expends sorcery points equal to the spell's level, so that's what it does. Looking through the psionic eligible list of spells is interesting, there are a lot that do not scale well, and given the option you would obviously use the minimum required sorcery points. Hold person, Mind whip, and dominate beast/person are the only ones I noticed that really jump out as really good choices to upcast with sorcery points.
I would rule that you could spend a boatload of sorcery points to upcast if you wanted to. I don't think many sorcerers would but you never know. It doesn't seem to be worth it to me. I'm playing an AM sorcerer at the moment. Maybe if I was at a higher level it would be useful. We are only Level 7 right now. It seems to me Subtle metamagic covers the "cast without verbal/somatic" at a cost of 1 sorcery point. You do save a spell slot by using the feature but you can also regain a spell slot by using font of magic.
Definitely a feature I'd like to see them get a little more specific about. It seems like the wording suggests you're supposed to cast them at base level only, but then lets you replace your intended spell slot expenditure with sorc points. A Dissonant Whispers cast at 4th level is a 4th level spell after all, which is important for cases like counterspell, so it seems like you should be able to spend the 4 sorc points for it.
That in mind though, it's also vague enough to not limit your upcasting if it's possible. Right off the bat, no you can't cast a 6th level spell at 6, because you don't have the spell slot. But you do have 6 sorc points. And you can use sorc points to cast instead of a spell slot. It just lets you spend sorc points instead of spell slots, and having the appropriate spell slot isn't a prerequisite for how far you can upcast with sorc points.
If it's intended to let you upcast, it should probably specify you can only upcast it to a level of spell slots you have, otherwise we might have a lvl 9 character using 9th lvl charm person...and if that's the intention: oh my
You are not able to upcast. You can cast the spell as normal using a spell slot and can upcast the spell by using a higher spell slot per the spell description
Hold Persons upcasting:
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional humanoid for each slot level above 2nd. The humanoids must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them
you can only upcast with spell slots. The AM feature says you can use Sorcery Points instead so you are not using a slot. No slot, no upcast. The upside is, this method is cheaper than converting sorcery points to spell slots. If you wanted to cast a 5th level spell and you don’t have a slot normally it would take 7 sorcery points to make the 5th level slot. AM can spend only 5 points to cast a 5th level spell that is on the AM Psionic Spell list.
I would say that the class feature only allows you to cast at the natural level of the spell. If you want to cast at a higher level, it'll take a spell slot or a number of sorcery points like normal.
I would let a sorcerer in my campaign upcast using sorcery points that way. And I’d enjoy the fallout when they run out of sorcery points way too early for their liking!
That may not be the way the rules are written, but I’d happily let the PC burn up all of their sorcery points.
I'd personally allow upcasting since that's how I'd want it as a player.
I love summoners and the summon spells and I've been kicking around this idea for a crazy cultist character for a while. Picking up 3 levels of Fathomless Warlock for the noodle attack and regenerating spell slots to turn into 4 Sorcery points to fuel my Summon Aberration would make 10th level really fun.
The way I see it is you choose the spell you want to cast, choose at what level you would cast it as you would with spell slots, then you replace the spell slot with Sorcery Points.
First off, sorry if this has already been asked or addressed, I couldn't find it in the forums when I looked. I will remove this if it is just an unnecessary repeat of another discussion.
With that out of the way, let's get started. At 6th level, the Aberrant Mind subclass gains the feature Psionic Sorcery. It reads,
"When you cast any spell of 1st level or higher from your Psionic Spells feature, you can cast it by expending a spell slot as normal or by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If you cast the spell using sorcery points, it requires no verbal or somatic components, and it requires no material components, unless they are consumed by the spell."
I think this is clearly supposed to mean that you can only use Psionic Sorcery with spells from the Psionic Spells feature. Below is the Psionic Spells table (the spells can be swapped out as you level up, with specific parameters on the subclass's page).
Notably, this only goes up to 5th level spells. This leads to my question: Can you "upcast" with the Psionic Sorcery feature? For example, could you spend 9 sorcery points to cast Dissonant Whispers at 9th level instead of 1st? In order to answer that, let's look at the Spellcasting chapter from the PHB.
In the Spell Level section, it says,
"Every spell has a level from 0 to 9."
In the Spell Slots section, it says,
"When a character casts a spell, he or she expends a slot of that spell's level or higher, effectively "filling" a slot with the spell."
These together would seem to imply to me that the answer is no, you can't "upcast" with Psionic Sorcery. The PHB specifically says that spells have a level, and that to cast it, you can expend a slot of a spell's level or higher. This would seem to mean that casting, for example, the 1st level spell Magic Missile at 2nd level, is still casting a 1st level spell, just with a 2nd level spell slot. Even though the spell gets upcasting benefits, and at least the people I play with say "I'm casting a 2nd level Magic Missile", for RAW purposes, its still 1st level intrinsically. Thus, you can only cast a spell with the Psionic Sorcery feature at the level that it is, since spells only have one level each.
However, the Casting a Spell at a Higher Level section of the PHB reads this,
"When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into."
This essentially says that an upcasted spell is actually at the higher level, so a 2nd level Magic Missile can and does exist. This could mean that an Aberrant Mind sorcerer could, for example, cast a 9th level Dissonant Whispers since a 9th level Dissonant Whispers exists and is known to you if you have the levels for it. Though, you could argue that a spell from your Psionic Spells feature is only known at the level it naturally is.
Personally, I think it's more likely intended that you can only cast your Psionic Spells with Psionic Sorcery at the level they are naturally, especially since it doesn't specify any rules for "upcasting" with it. This does mean that the feature loses potency at higher levels, though, so I think I might allow for "upcasting" if I were DM-ing an Aberrant Mind sorcerer.
"Expending a spell slot as normal" - I would rule covers upcasting, this is a normal function of casting spell. The feature says it expends sorcery points equal to the spell's level, so that's what it does. Looking through the psionic eligible list of spells is interesting, there are a lot that do not scale well, and given the option you would obviously use the minimum required sorcery points. Hold person, Mind whip, and dominate beast/person are the only ones I noticed that really jump out as really good choices to upcast with sorcery points.
I would rule that you could spend a boatload of sorcery points to upcast if you wanted to. I don't think many sorcerers would but you never know. It doesn't seem to be worth it to me. I'm playing an AM sorcerer at the moment. Maybe if I was at a higher level it would be useful. We are only Level 7 right now. It seems to me Subtle metamagic covers the "cast without verbal/somatic" at a cost of 1 sorcery point. You do save a spell slot by using the feature but you can also regain a spell slot by using font of magic.
You could replace a 5th level for dominate person and get 8 hours of control at level 9.
Definitely a feature I'd like to see them get a little more specific about. It seems like the wording suggests you're supposed to cast them at base level only, but then lets you replace your intended spell slot expenditure with sorc points. A Dissonant Whispers cast at 4th level is a 4th level spell after all, which is important for cases like counterspell, so it seems like you should be able to spend the 4 sorc points for it.
That in mind though, it's also vague enough to not limit your upcasting if it's possible. Right off the bat, no you can't cast a 6th level spell at 6, because you don't have the spell slot. But you do have 6 sorc points. And you can use sorc points to cast instead of a spell slot. It just lets you spend sorc points instead of spell slots, and having the appropriate spell slot isn't a prerequisite for how far you can upcast with sorc points.
If it's intended to let you upcast, it should probably specify you can only upcast it to a level of spell slots you have, otherwise we might have a lvl 9 character using 9th lvl charm person...and if that's the intention: oh my
You are not able to upcast. You can cast the spell as normal using a spell slot and can upcast the spell by using a higher spell slot per the spell description
Hold Persons upcasting:
you can only upcast with spell slots. The AM feature says you can use Sorcery Points instead so you are not using a slot. No slot, no upcast. The upside is, this method is cheaper than converting sorcery points to spell slots. If you wanted to cast a 5th level spell and you don’t have a slot normally it would take 7 sorcery points to make the 5th level slot. AM can spend only 5 points to cast a 5th level spell that is on the AM Psionic Spell list.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I would say that the class feature only allows you to cast at the natural level of the spell. If you want to cast at a higher level, it'll take a spell slot or a number of sorcery points like normal.
there's a forum here that sorta looks at things from both angles:
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/180065/can-aberrant-mind-sorcerers-upcast-psionic-spells-using-sorcery-points
I would let a sorcerer in my campaign upcast using sorcery points that way. And I’d enjoy the fallout when they run out of sorcery points way too early for their liking!
That may not be the way the rules are written, but I’d happily let the PC burn up all of their sorcery points.
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I'd personally allow upcasting since that's how I'd want it as a player.
I love summoners and the summon spells and I've been kicking around this idea for a crazy cultist character for a while. Picking up 3 levels of Fathomless Warlock for the noodle attack and regenerating spell slots to turn into 4 Sorcery points to fuel my Summon Aberration would make 10th level really fun.
The way I see it is you choose the spell you want to cast, choose at what level you would cast it as you would with spell slots, then you replace the spell slot with Sorcery Points.