Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Hey everyone, I had a character idea and I’m not really sure how to make it work mechanically.
I want to make a Draconic Sorcerer that actually gets into melee and fights with unarmed strikes. The idea is kind of a dragon martial artist, using punches, kicks, claws and magic together.
I’m using the 2024 rules, and I’m fine with multiclassing if that’s what it takes to make the build work.
I’m not really looking for the most broken build possible. I just want the character to feel good to play and have the unarmed attacks actually be useful instead of something I only use when I run out of spells.
What would you guys recommend for the build? Feats, multiclassing, spells, ability scores, anything really.
Disclaimer, there are posters here that do this way better than me.
Unarmed combat and magic use require multiple good ability scores as the two have no synergy.
Unarmed combat for non monks require high strength.
Sorcerer need high charisma.
Monks can use dexterity for unarmed combat and can get more unarmed attacks and better damage for each hit. But better damage dice is dependent on Monk level, so adding level s in other classes does no help with unarmed combat.
Monks need high wisdom.
Combination monk/sorcerer results in neither class being decent.
So do you want a sorcerer that can punch or a great unarmed fighter that can cast sorcerer spells?
Basically pick one you can concentrate on and make do for the other.
You're not going to find a good way to combine the Sorcerer class and unarmed melee combat in official 5.5e material.
If what you're mainly interested in from the Sorcerer class is the Draconic vibes, consider just playing a Monk using the "Way of the Ascendant Dragon" subclass from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
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Yeah. For starters, Sorcerer is the only full-caster class with no features or subclasses that give them any combat abilities.
Add to that the fact that non-monk unarmed combat is pretty awful.
You could take tavern brawler as your origin feat, do a fighter or barb multiclass, and you'd be able to dual-stat strength (or dex) and charisma, leaning on the draconic subclass's HP boost to help cover for the lesser focus on con, but it's still not going to feel good.
I think to make it work, you'd need to homebrew a subclass with your DM.
I do not see this working for you the way you will want it. The closest I can see for you to do it. Is the following ways.
1) Play as a weapon gish using the 3rd party Heroic Soc. subclass. This is the only gish I know for a soc and to be it plays more like the Anime Elf gish you see (elemtal into blade ect.). Mixed with quicken can be nice as you get 1 cantrip, 1 attack and quicken spell as bouse action in a round.
2) Play as a dance bard. They get unarmed attack with full bard casting.
Hope this helps.
I spell Goodly.
I'm going to have to agree that an unarmed attacking sorc is just going to be mostly bad. Dance Bard was a good call out, based on what you wrote. I'd second that. Ascendant Dragon Monk would be cool and thematic, but there is very little "magic" there without a very non-synergistic MC.
Monk1 or 2 / Sorcerer is actually a fun idea and absolutely doable. The Investment of 13 Wisdom doesn't hurt too much. Make one unarmed attack with True strike and one dex-based as a bonus action without spending any resources. True Strike damage scales. When you have 2 levels to spare for monk, you can disengage as a bonus action every turn, increasing your survivability.
Of course, if you have enough levels to spend, Dance Bard is the better choice here.
If you only take Fighter, Rogue or Paladin 1, you can attack with an action or bonus action with quickened True Strike, a quasi extra-attack But in that case, I would use two-weapon-fighting with the nick property rather than unarmed (even without the two-weapon-fighting style). Make 2 Attacks with light weapons and than quicken a spell or Smite as a bonus action. Fighter gives you healing, Paladin Smite and Rogue guaranteed Sneak attack while Innate Sorcery is on, all good options.
Perhaps also worth noting that with Arcana Unleashed we now have a Monk subclass called Warrior of the Mystic Arts that incorporates limited Sorcerer spellcasting, similar to the way Eldritch Knight Fighters have limited Wizard spellcasting.
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You can't TS an unarmed attack. It has to be a weapon (which unarmed strikes are not, especially now that "natural weapons" aren't a thing, and even if they were...), and it has to be worth 1+ cp.
It's absolutely worth checking with your GM to see if they'll allow it, though. There's no game-balance reason not to.
I am fairly sure there is no way to achieve this without at least some homebrewing, since Dragonborn do not have claws, and Draconic Sorcerers as a subclass do not feature either claws or unarmed attacks. I do notice that you're not focused on the nature of the spellcasting, or on breath weapons, so having specifics on that would be helpful.
Offhand, I would recommend a Monk/Druid. 1 level in each at level 2 would see the vision for this achieved immediately, and the cost of 1 level of spell progression delay, which isn't bad to achieve that vision. I would ask your DM to reflavor Lupin to be Draconic. You have Darkvision, Natural Weapons (claws, just like you wanted), and you can reflavor Dread Howl to be some kind of Draconic Frightful Presence effect.
Druid spellcasting is very versatile, and with the Circle of the Land subclass, you can be a very powerful spellcaster. The main reason this isn't done is because without Extra Attack and a middling Dex score, your Martial Arts is very mediocre. They're useful for dealing with mooks, but you won't have a very gishy sort of gish.
The only official spellcaster class that gets to mix it up in melee like a boss is the Bladesinger Wizard.
I would say Bards, Druids, Cleric and warlock also can do it very well depending on the build with wepons. It is the Sorc that does not unless you do 3rd party. That is becouse they each have ways to get more then one attack. The only way Sorc can do that that I know if is one of the blade cantrips (each needing a weapon) with quicken spell.
Valda’s Spire of Secrets: Player Pack 2 has 3 things that help this. Heroic Sorcery that is a gish for sorc. A Feat Spellblade: that lets you trade a attack for one of 4 blade cantrips, and 3 more blade cantrips.
I spell Goodly.
As others have said, this concept won't be as powerful as some others, but I think it can still be playable.
What I'd probably do is take a single level in monk for the ability to do an unarmed attack as a bonus action. You might also want to consider the Lupin species, as it lets you both do damage and shove the target of your unarmed attack. You'd then want to start by shoving your target into a convenient position for the spell you cast with your action.
That is any class doing two weapon fighting, that is not unique to monks. Nick allows you to move the BA to your attack action.
No, Monks are the only class that can make an unarmed attack as a bonus action.
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Also, they get to do it whatever they do with their Action, such as cast a spell.
I thought nick moves that second attack from the BA to the attack action.
Then why have Nick?
Nick is a weapon mastery property and does not have anything to do with unarmed strikes (which, by definition, are not made with weapons).
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Dance Bard (so level 3) can get 1 unarmed attack when you expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration as part of an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction and their damage is the Inspiration (D6 till level 5).
Some advantage of this is you attack mods become dex, your ac is 10+chr+dex, and you are getting spells as a full spell caster. If it is just for boom spell you want from Draconic Soc I would say just go Dance bard instead of monk/soc and take Evocation Adept as it adds the following at spell level 1 Chromatic Orb, 2 Shatter, 3 Fireball, 4 Vitriolic Sphere, 5 Wall of Force. Taken at level 4 you will have fireball at level 5 and then get magical secrets at level 10 letting you take the other wiz spell that are better then sorc spell list.
I spell Goodly.
Valor Bard kind of, but it's not as effective of a primary spellcaster as a Sorcerer. Druids don't get Extra Attack and neither do Clerics. They can survive being in melee, but attacking with melee Attack actions really isn't their thing.