Just reading the "natural armor substitute" trait the new UA sorcerers get makes me want to do a melee Dex based build on one.

But there is the question of how to go about it.

Just load up on melee range spells? Take concentration spells and actually use melee weapons? Shield vs focus? Try to get good points in Dex, Cha, *and* con or skip con? Warcaster feat, for sure.

Opinions?

I always figured melee sorcerers would take 2 levels paladin or 1-3 levels hexblade.

I had a friend who did something similar with the Draconic Bloodline subclass.  He took a lot of utility spells and buff spells that didn’t require saves or attack rolls and sacrificed some CHA for DEX.

I did this with a draconic sorcerer. He had 20 dex, actually like 10 charisma at level 20. He didn't like using his spells as a flaw, but he had to much magic so he had to swap between melee and magic each time. He was actually pretty useful, even though the feature that grants charisma to the damage type of your bloodline sucked when i needed resistance, because at that point he had negative charisma.

Quote from Utticer >>

I had a friend who did something similar with the Draconic Bloodline subclass.  He took a lot of utility spells and buff spells that didn’t require saves or attack rolls and sacrificed some CHA for DEX.

Quote from BobobSyxtieNein >>

I did this with a draconic sorcerer. He had 20 dex, actually like 10 charisma at level 20. He didn't like using his spells as a flaw, but he had to much magic so he had to swap between melee and magic each time. He was actually pretty useful, even though the feature that grants charisma to the damage type of your bloodline sucked when i needed resistance, because at that point he had negative charisma.

 I'm not sure why you're coming in with the notion of reducing Cha for Dex.
I jumped straight to the conclusion of "take both" and let other stats be low, like Str and Int.

I never said it was for a good reason. Just felt like not having good charisma. I do that sometimes.

I was planning on creating a sort of psionic "nightmare" character using the Aberrant Mind sorcerer...

The first step was using a half-drow for aesthetic, and the bonuses to Charisma, Dexterity & Constitution...though using a full-drow elf gives some weapon proficiency, so consider that vs. Sunlight Sensitivity. Scary red eyes, lurks in the dark...

They'd use a rapier for melee mainly...but I also considered taking the spell "Alter Self". Alter Self would allow for social situations to disguise the drow-like appearance (and fits the aberrant shape-shifting asthetic)...

...but it also let's the sorcerer sprout razor-like claws to use as +1 melee weapons. Add the Aberrant Mind's ability to fly without concentration...and this becomes a terrifying bogeyman.

It's a low-level spell, too...so it can see a lot of use. Very customizable, as well...you can flavor the shapeshifting as whatever you please.

I've been playing a paladin/sorcerer multiclass because we have a small party 3 people and I thought it would be fun to quicken fire ball and wade into the aftermath with a greatsword.

Edit: I am a draconic sorcerer and flavored it as a curse on my dwarf paladin that makes him greedy like a dragon when he sees large treasures. His people were also displaced from their mountain by an ancient dragon that he holds a grudge against. I took paladin to six and I am going to take the rest as sorcerer. Subtle spell, Quicken spell, and twinned spell are great meta magic options.

Some people like Hexblade and I can see it being powerful. You get good martial prowess and its single attribute dependent so you can focus on CHA and then Con/Dex for HP/AC. You can be a blaster and melee combatant all in one. Quicken spell will be your most used metamagic.