I will be playing a Tiefling Divine Soul Sorcerer. A big part of his theme will be the fire within vs the light of his faith(Pelor, god of Light and Healing). I feel a little hamstrung as we might have an actual Cleric in the party, but it's not certain when or how consistent, so I feel the need to be more Clericy than I'd like, meaning straight healing rather than buffing and some combat with a Sorcerer twist(think twinned Invisibility for example). My thought being that going one level of Light Cleric I'd get some more spells known (Burning Hands and Fairie Fire) and some spell flexibility each day, along with the medium armor proficiency I'd probably save a spell slot and spell known on Mage Armor. We've been playing the character quickly from 1 to 3 over a couple of sessions and it's apparent that we're going to need some dedicated healing. A party of a Samurai Fighter, unknown Bard and Land Circle Druid is not particularly tanky and in some situations we could need a lot of healing. I think taking Prayer of Healing at Sorc4 will do a lot if it seems we need it, but freeing up my sorcerer spells known for Cure Wounds. Healing Word and other spells I might feel the need to know, even if it's just 2(3 if counting Mage Armor) will make it more enjoyable/less restricted, whatever you wanna call it.
The flip side of it is just sucking it up as a squishy Sorcerer and just tell the rest of the party that "Hey, I'm just specialised in the few things I know, I can only do so much" and kinda hope that the shit never hits the fan.
Any input on this is appreciated as this didn't really appear to me as an option before I created the character and I don't feel I see all sides of it.
I'd say do what feels right for your character. If your divine soul feels the need to worship a god and the god wants to grant some power then by all means take a dip.
Divine Souls can be tricky especially without a cleric because the party wants you to be the cleric since you have access to the same spell list. It generally doesn't work well because of your limited spells known list. Remember you only have 16 spells known as opposed to an actual cleric who can access their entire spell list to prepare spells each day. If you have extend as a metamagic that can help you with touch healing spells.
I've played a divine soul in a party with a cleric and a bard with access to healing spells. I never felt the need to be more like a cleric (my sorcerer had some serious PTSD where her goddess ancestor was concerned). As you will have both a druid and a bard with access to good healing spells, I suggest you ask them to spread the love a bit so the onus isn't all on you. You can certainly take one or two healing spells but buffing with Bless or a twinned Haste or Greater Invisibility will serve your party better as it could lessen the amount of damage they take in the first place. And don't discount the amount of damage you can inflict. The faster an enemy goes down, the less damage everyone else will take and sorcerers excel at inflicting damage.
I'm not a fan of Prayer of Healing because of the casting time. It's great if everyone survives after the fight but if you want healing on the fly, Healing Word is a better bet. B
I am playing in a group of 6 as a divine soul sorcerer. There is a druid but he [almost] never uses any spells (aside from cantrips) so does no healing.
I have never found an issue. Bless to start, spiritual weapon helps a lot and then just firebolt or toll the dead.
I have both healing word and cure wounds, but only ever use healing word, really to bring people back up if needed. Usually it isn't. You might be playing a rougher campaign, and certainly my guy has a lot more magical items than I would expect (Playing Saltmarsh where buying items is possible).
Cleric is a solid option (and actually the only way to get heavy armour proficiency through multiclassing, that i can see!) but I would also give some thought to celestial warlock. Might fit the character better and you get the healing ray thing as a bonus action as well as pact slots that refresh on a short rest. These can be funnelled through to sorcery points which gives you more options. Just another option.
But I say tough it out - let the others pick up the healing and be done with it.
Thanks for the input Okahey! We're playing Curse of Strahd and it's kinda rough so far. I decided on dipping one lvl of Grave Cleric as it gives me Spare the Dying as a ranged bonus action cantrip and max healing on targets that are at 0 HP (no rolling, just take the max of the dice). Having medium armor, possibly a shield later on, some flexibility in daily lvl 1 spells(albeit with a not-so-good spellcasting modifier as it uses WIS for Cleric spells, fantastic for things like Bless, Shield of Faith and Detect Magic though) and another boatload of cantrips, I feel like it gives me some more flexibility on the Sorcerer side, or freedom rather, to choose what I want of spells. I'm still not sure if I should take Prayer of Healing and/or Spiritual Weapon yet though, I know both of them are really good but I'm not sure they fit the character theme of fire vs light, destruction vs protection, maybe I'll take Prayer of Healing for some nice healing in between fights but with our Glamour Bard and an extra d6 healing per short rest I'm not sure it's neccessary.
How far have you leveled up? We just reached level 4(sorc3/cleric1).
Thanks for answering MorriganMacha! Yeah, I'm thinking that Prayer of Healing isn't really necessary as our Bards Song of Rest is turning out quite useful. Also, twinning a Healing Word or Cure wounds will go a long way too. I did decide on one level dip of Grave Cleric, mostly for the domains specific features along with medium armor, some spell selection versatility, and another buttload of cantrips. Going further along as a Sorcerer I'm thinking straight buff or damage spells, maybe Revivify. So far I just have Guiding Bolt as a damaging spell and I'm planning on getting Fireball when available. Are there other damaging spells I should look at? I have Distant Metamagic and I know a Distant Inflict Wounds can be real nasty but I'm kinda worried I'll "waste" my sorcery points on that. A twinned Inflict Wounds when pinned down though, that can be real useful I suppose.
Thanks for answering MorriganMacha! Yeah, I'm thinking that Prayer of Healing isn't really necessary as our Bards Song of Rest is turning out quite useful. Also, twinning a Healing Word or Cure wounds will go a long way too. I did decide on one level dip of Grave Cleric, mostly for the domains specific features along with medium armor, some spell selection versatility, and another buttload of cantrips. Going further along as a Sorcerer I'm thinking straight buff or damage spells, maybe Revivify. So far I just have Guiding Bolt as a damaging spell and I'm planning on getting Fireball when available. Are there other damaging spells I should look at? I have Distant Metamagic and I know a Distant Inflict Wounds can be real nasty but I'm kinda worried I'll "waste" my sorcery points on that. A twinned Inflict Wounds when pinned down though, that can be real useful I suppose.
Distant isn't a costly metamagic - only 1 point so its useful at all levels. Twin gets expensive since it costs the same number of sorcery points as the spell level. If you are very low level right now it won't matter all that much since you spend 1 point to twin a cantrip or Level 1 spell. I think you will find that whether or not you use distant on inflict wounds or twin guiding bolt will be situation dependent. You will know what you need to do when the time comes.
I've never played Curse of Strahd but it's my understanding there are a lot of undead creatures. They tend to be immune to necrotic damage so keep that in mind. Very few monsters are resistant to radiant damage so you might want to choose damage spells that inflict that - sacred flame, guiding bolt and spirit guardians. Revivify is a good thing to have as long as you can get diamonds.
As far as other damage spells go, you can never go wrong with Scorching Ray or Dragon's Breath. I'm a huge fan of Spiritual Weapon as it can be cast as a bonus action, stays up after the initial spell is cast (allowing you to cast other spells and then cause additional damage) and does not use concentration. I got a ton of use out of that spell.
Instead of Prayer of Healing take a look at Beacon of Hope (very helpful if it looks like the party might be going into death saves). In keeping with your character is Flame Strike.
I have played a Tiefling Divine Soul before, and let me tell you, if you are going to Multiclass do it into Paladin if you want Melee, if you want to stick with spells, just go straight Sorc.
EDIT: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so abrasive...
Personally - especially for a sorcerer - I think Prayer of Healing is useless. It does depend on how your group and DM does long rests, true, but I feel like it will be situational at best. Spiritual weapon gives you something to do with your bonus action and is force damage. It is effectively another character wailing away at the enemy.
I think having Inflict wounds as a high damage single target spell that scales well can be quite useful, both to twin at low level and distant cast at higher levels. Guiding bolt is good for the party because of the advantage given on a hit but it's not really useful in melee and doesn't scale very well with spell slot level. So having those two sets me up pretty good for single target spells that can be twinned. I've decided that Spiritual Weapon is going to be the most consistent damage boost so I'll take that when available.
For AoE I was thinking Fireball, at least until I can get Flame Strike. But because of my Cleric dip I'm one level behind on Revivify (which can also be twinned or distant cast) or something else like Daylight or Beacon of Hope, so maybe holding off on Fireball is the way to go?
You're right, if I wanted to go melee I should go Paladin, but I don't want that. Because of our party comp, and the one player who can keep me out of harms way the best, our Glamour Bard, is kinda new and still on the "but does it do damage"-train I decided on becoming slightly more well rounded. Our bard didn't want to use Viscious Mockery because "it only does 1d4 damage", even though it's the best debuff against single target, high damage dealing targets in the game. Hopefully he'll expand his horizon just a bit to what a Bard can really do, especially Glamour Bards. In the meantime I'll stick to Cleric dipping and trusting our Druid to get us out of sticky situations.
I think you're right that Prayer of Healing is kinda wasted on a sorcerer, it can be really good on a pure Cleric as they can just not prepare it if they don't get usage out of it. It does heal for a lot of HP for only a second level spell slot after all. I'm going with Spiritual Weapon next level up for sure.
3d10 is good but it is touch. Chromatic orb is a little lower in damage (3d8) but allows you to choose between multiple damage types. I would imagine in Strahd that a lot of things aren't going to be too bothered by necrotic damage.
I took an AOE damage spell at level 7 and I think it was a mistake honestly. The damage output is pretty low really and I personally think buffs are a better option.
I will link my character below. I am *not* saying this is the be all and end all or that this is what you should be doing - but it might give you a few more hints of thoughts. Before anyone jumps on me this isn't a min-maxed character, I haven't theory crafted etc. This is just a divine soul sorcerer that I am currently playing. I have not planned the level progression out - that isn't how I work.
I think the biggest advice would be to decide what you want to be - healer, damage, buffing ?? You can have overlap of course, but trying to do everything is going to spread you too thin.
I think you're right that Prayer of Healing is kinda wasted on a sorcerer, it can be really good on a pure Cleric as they can just not prepare it if they don't get usage out of it. It does heal for a lot of HP for only a second level spell slot after all. I'm going with Spiritual Weapon next level up for sure.
Sure, but with sorcerers you have a lower number of spell choices, as I am sure you realise. You need to pick spells you are going to use constantly (or just can't avoid).
For example - I don't think I have used cure wounds more than once. (Twinned during a fight). Mostly I heal (if it is needed) with healing word. Most fights are bless, spiritual weapon, fire bolt, repeat as necessary. Healing word if someone goes down. By this logic revivify is kind of a waste, but again, though I have never used it it is something you just have to have as the groups main healer. Prayer of healing is really a pseudo short rest, but short rests usually aren't in short supply - at least in campaigns I play in.
I think you're right that Prayer of Healing is kinda wasted on a sorcerer, it can be really good on a pure Cleric as they can just not prepare it if they don't get usage out of it. It does heal for a lot of HP for only a second level spell slot after all. I'm going with Spiritual Weapon next level up for sure.
Sure, but with sorcerers you have a lower number of spell choices, as I am sure you realise. You need to pick spells you are going to use constantly (or just can't avoid).
For example - I don't think I have used cure wounds more than once. (Twinned during a fight). Mostly I heal (if it is needed) with healing word. Most fights are bless, spiritual weapon, fire bolt, repeat as necessary. Healing word if someone goes down. By this logic revivify is kind of a waste, but again, though I have never used it it is something you just have to have as the groups main healer. Prayer of healing is really a pseudo short rest, but short rests usually aren't in short supply - at least in campaigns I play in.
Yes, you are on the nose here. As I am currently the only player that gets access to Revivify(before lvl 10 as Bards can get it then) I feel obligated to select it as soon as I can. On the other hand, when healing downed companions I can now heal the max of any dice rolled thanks to Grave Clerics being kind of stupid like that. A 3rd lvl Cure Wounds that can be distant cast will heal for 24+ HP. And with Spiritual Weapon up I could still do damage with a bonus action. Alright, so Revifiy isn't necessarily on the top of my priority list anymore, unless we're getting dangerously close to dying despite all of our healing. I'm still torn on wether I should take Fireball, Daylight and/or Beacon of Hope when I can take 3rd level spells though.
I don't know you and I don't know your campaign. I am going to go a little controversial however and say that just because you have the spell slots you don't have to have a spell of that level. Filling in a lower level gap to give you more flexibility may be a better option than taking something you can only cast once or twice a day. The slots can then be used as upcasts or changed to sorcery points. I am not saying do this every time, but better to have a spell you will use a lot than one you will use occasionally just because it is a certain level. You can always change your lineup (slightly) when you level anyway.
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I will be playing a Tiefling Divine Soul Sorcerer. A big part of his theme will be the fire within vs the light of his faith(Pelor, god of Light and Healing). I feel a little hamstrung as we might have an actual Cleric in the party, but it's not certain when or how consistent, so I feel the need to be more Clericy than I'd like, meaning straight healing rather than buffing and some combat with a Sorcerer twist(think twinned Invisibility for example). My thought being that going one level of Light Cleric I'd get some more spells known (Burning Hands and Fairie Fire) and some spell flexibility each day, along with the medium armor proficiency I'd probably save a spell slot and spell known on Mage Armor. We've been playing the character quickly from 1 to 3 over a couple of sessions and it's apparent that we're going to need some dedicated healing. A party of a Samurai Fighter, unknown Bard and Land Circle Druid is not particularly tanky and in some situations we could need a lot of healing. I think taking Prayer of Healing at Sorc4 will do a lot if it seems we need it, but freeing up my sorcerer spells known for Cure Wounds. Healing Word and other spells I might feel the need to know, even if it's just 2(3 if counting Mage Armor) will make it more enjoyable/less restricted, whatever you wanna call it.
The flip side of it is just sucking it up as a squishy Sorcerer and just tell the rest of the party that "Hey, I'm just specialised in the few things I know, I can only do so much" and kinda hope that the shit never hits the fan.
Any input on this is appreciated as this didn't really appear to me as an option before I created the character and I don't feel I see all sides of it.
Druids get really good healing spells, so just leave it to them. I'd still take healing word for that bonus action revive.
I'd say do what feels right for your character. If your divine soul feels the need to worship a god and the god wants to grant some power then by all means take a dip.
Divine Souls can be tricky especially without a cleric because the party wants you to be the cleric since you have access to the same spell list. It generally doesn't work well because of your limited spells known list. Remember you only have 16 spells known as opposed to an actual cleric who can access their entire spell list to prepare spells each day. If you have extend as a metamagic that can help you with touch healing spells.
I've played a divine soul in a party with a cleric and a bard with access to healing spells. I never felt the need to be more like a cleric (my sorcerer had some serious PTSD where her goddess ancestor was concerned). As you will have both a druid and a bard with access to good healing spells, I suggest you ask them to spread the love a bit so the onus isn't all on you. You can certainly take one or two healing spells but buffing with Bless or a twinned Haste or Greater Invisibility will serve your party better as it could lessen the amount of damage they take in the first place. And don't discount the amount of damage you can inflict. The faster an enemy goes down, the less damage everyone else will take and sorcerers excel at inflicting damage.
I'm not a fan of Prayer of Healing because of the casting time. It's great if everyone survives after the fight but if you want healing on the fly, Healing Word is a better bet. B
I am playing in a group of 6 as a divine soul sorcerer. There is a druid but he [almost] never uses any spells (aside from cantrips) so does no healing.
I have never found an issue. Bless to start, spiritual weapon helps a lot and then just firebolt or toll the dead.
I have both healing word and cure wounds, but only ever use healing word, really to bring people back up if needed. Usually it isn't.
You might be playing a rougher campaign, and certainly my guy has a lot more magical items than I would expect (Playing Saltmarsh where buying items is possible).
Cleric is a solid option (and actually the only way to get heavy armour proficiency through multiclassing, that i can see!) but I would also give some thought to celestial warlock. Might fit the character better and you get the healing ray thing as a bonus action as well as pact slots that refresh on a short rest. These can be funnelled through to sorcery points which gives you more options. Just another option.
But I say tough it out - let the others pick up the healing and be done with it.
Thanks for the input Okahey! We're playing Curse of Strahd and it's kinda rough so far. I decided on dipping one lvl of Grave Cleric as it gives me Spare the Dying as a ranged bonus action cantrip and max healing on targets that are at 0 HP (no rolling, just take the max of the dice). Having medium armor, possibly a shield later on, some flexibility in daily lvl 1 spells(albeit with a not-so-good spellcasting modifier as it uses WIS for Cleric spells, fantastic for things like Bless, Shield of Faith and Detect Magic though) and another boatload of cantrips, I feel like it gives me some more flexibility on the Sorcerer side, or freedom rather, to choose what I want of spells. I'm still not sure if I should take Prayer of Healing and/or Spiritual Weapon yet though, I know both of them are really good but I'm not sure they fit the character theme of fire vs light, destruction vs protection, maybe I'll take Prayer of Healing for some nice healing in between fights but with our Glamour Bard and an extra d6 healing per short rest I'm not sure it's neccessary.
How far have you leveled up? We just reached level 4(sorc3/cleric1).
Thanks for answering MorriganMacha! Yeah, I'm thinking that Prayer of Healing isn't really necessary as our Bards Song of Rest is turning out quite useful. Also, twinning a Healing Word or Cure wounds will go a long way too. I did decide on one level dip of Grave Cleric, mostly for the domains specific features along with medium armor, some spell selection versatility, and another buttload of cantrips. Going further along as a Sorcerer I'm thinking straight buff or damage spells, maybe Revivify. So far I just have Guiding Bolt as a damaging spell and I'm planning on getting Fireball when available. Are there other damaging spells I should look at? I have Distant Metamagic and I know a Distant Inflict Wounds can be real nasty but I'm kinda worried I'll "waste" my sorcery points on that. A twinned Inflict Wounds when pinned down though, that can be real useful I suppose.
Distant isn't a costly metamagic - only 1 point so its useful at all levels. Twin gets expensive since it costs the same number of sorcery points as the spell level. If you are very low level right now it won't matter all that much since you spend 1 point to twin a cantrip or Level 1 spell. I think you will find that whether or not you use distant on inflict wounds or twin guiding bolt will be situation dependent. You will know what you need to do when the time comes.
I've never played Curse of Strahd but it's my understanding there are a lot of undead creatures. They tend to be immune to necrotic damage so keep that in mind. Very few monsters are resistant to radiant damage so you might want to choose damage spells that inflict that - sacred flame, guiding bolt and spirit guardians. Revivify is a good thing to have as long as you can get diamonds.
As far as other damage spells go, you can never go wrong with Scorching Ray or Dragon's Breath. I'm a huge fan of Spiritual Weapon as it can be cast as a bonus action, stays up after the initial spell is cast (allowing you to cast other spells and then cause additional damage) and does not use concentration. I got a ton of use out of that spell.
Instead of Prayer of Healing take a look at Beacon of Hope (very helpful if it looks like the party might be going into death saves). In keeping with your character is Flame Strike.
I have played a Tiefling Divine Soul before, and let me tell you, if you are going to Multiclass do it into Paladin if you want Melee, if you want to stick with spells, just go straight Sorc.
EDIT: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so abrasive...
My sorcerer just hit level 7.
Personally - especially for a sorcerer - I think Prayer of Healing is useless. It does depend on how your group and DM does long rests, true, but I feel like it will be situational at best. Spiritual weapon gives you something to do with your bonus action and is force damage. It is effectively another character wailing away at the enemy.
Good luck and have fun.
I think having Inflict wounds as a high damage single target spell that scales well can be quite useful, both to twin at low level and distant cast at higher levels. Guiding bolt is good for the party because of the advantage given on a hit but it's not really useful in melee and doesn't scale very well with spell slot level. So having those two sets me up pretty good for single target spells that can be twinned. I've decided that Spiritual Weapon is going to be the most consistent damage boost so I'll take that when available.
For AoE I was thinking Fireball, at least until I can get Flame Strike. But because of my Cleric dip I'm one level behind on Revivify (which can also be twinned or distant cast) or something else like Daylight or Beacon of Hope, so maybe holding off on Fireball is the way to go?
You're right, if I wanted to go melee I should go Paladin, but I don't want that. Because of our party comp, and the one player who can keep me out of harms way the best, our Glamour Bard, is kinda new and still on the "but does it do damage"-train I decided on becoming slightly more well rounded. Our bard didn't want to use Viscious Mockery because "it only does 1d4 damage", even though it's the best debuff against single target, high damage dealing targets in the game. Hopefully he'll expand his horizon just a bit to what a Bard can really do, especially Glamour Bards. In the meantime I'll stick to Cleric dipping and trusting our Druid to get us out of sticky situations.
I think you're right that Prayer of Healing is kinda wasted on a sorcerer, it can be really good on a pure Cleric as they can just not prepare it if they don't get usage out of it. It does heal for a lot of HP for only a second level spell slot after all. I'm going with Spiritual Weapon next level up for sure.
3d10 is good but it is touch. Chromatic orb is a little lower in damage (3d8) but allows you to choose between multiple damage types. I would imagine in Strahd that a lot of things aren't going to be too bothered by necrotic damage.
I took an AOE damage spell at level 7 and I think it was a mistake honestly. The damage output is pretty low really and I personally think buffs are a better option.
I will link my character below. I am *not* saying this is the be all and end all or that this is what you should be doing - but it might give you a few more hints of thoughts.
Before anyone jumps on me this isn't a min-maxed character, I haven't theory crafted etc. This is just a divine soul sorcerer that I am currently playing. I have not planned the level progression out - that isn't how I work.
https://ddb.ac/characters/21638061/qtllz2
I think the biggest advice would be to decide what you want to be - healer, damage, buffing ?? You can have overlap of course, but trying to do everything is going to spread you too thin.
Sure, but with sorcerers you have a lower number of spell choices, as I am sure you realise. You need to pick spells you are going to use constantly (or just can't avoid).
For example - I don't think I have used cure wounds more than once. (Twinned during a fight). Mostly I heal (if it is needed) with healing word. Most fights are bless, spiritual weapon, fire bolt, repeat as necessary. Healing word if someone goes down.
By this logic revivify is kind of a waste, but again, though I have never used it it is something you just have to have as the groups main healer. Prayer of healing is really a pseudo short rest, but short rests usually aren't in short supply - at least in campaigns I play in.
Yes, you are on the nose here. As I am currently the only player that gets access to Revivify(before lvl 10 as Bards can get it then) I feel obligated to select it as soon as I can. On the other hand, when healing downed companions I can now heal the max of any dice rolled thanks to Grave Clerics being kind of stupid like that. A 3rd lvl Cure Wounds that can be distant cast will heal for 24+ HP. And with Spiritual Weapon up I could still do damage with a bonus action. Alright, so Revifiy isn't necessarily on the top of my priority list anymore, unless we're getting dangerously close to dying despite all of our healing. I'm still torn on wether I should take Fireball, Daylight and/or Beacon of Hope when I can take 3rd level spells though.
I don't know you and I don't know your campaign. I am going to go a little controversial however and say that just because you have the spell slots you don't have to have a spell of that level. Filling in a lower level gap to give you more flexibility may be a better option than taking something you can only cast once or twice a day. The slots can then be used as upcasts or changed to sorcery points. I am not saying do this every time, but better to have a spell you will use a lot than one you will use occasionally just because it is a certain level. You can always change your lineup (slightly) when you level anyway.