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Nine out of ten Wizards hate them, and Warlocks wish they could be them! Presenting the Sorcerer and its Sorcerer subclasses in Baldur’s Gate 3. Characters with this class simply woke up one day and found out they could breathe fire or shoot sparks, which may or may not have been due to their ancestors getting a little too frisky with dragons, djinns, or demons.
Regardless, your choice of Sorcerer subclasses can drastically dictate your playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses throughout Baldur’s Gate 3‘s long campaign. To help a prodigy like you, we’ll delve into the three available Sorcerer subclasses: Draconic Bloodline, Storm Sorcery, and Wild Magic.
Draconic Bloodline
The Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer is a top pick for those seeking a balanced and durable approach. This subclass ties your character’s power to a draconic heritage (it’s best not to question how it happened).
The more important thing is that the Draconic Bloodline comes with unique benefits that grant you magical abilities based on the color of your chosen dragon. Besides, Dragon Sorcerer already sounds cool.
Subclass features
- Draconic Resilience (level 1): This feature increases your hit point maximum by one for every Sorcerer level, providing a significant boost to your survivability. Furthermore, it grants you a base Armor Class of 13 when not wearing other armor, enhancing your defensive capabilities.
- Elemental Affinity: Resistance | Elemental Affinity: Damage (level 6): Casting a spell or getting hit by an elemental type associated with your dragon color (more on that below) lets you strengthen your spell or be more resistant against that element.
- Fly (level 11): You can fly. It’s underwhelming since, at that level, you likely already have another source of flight.
Additionally, upon choosing the Draconic Bloodline, you’ll have the opportunity to select the color of your dragon lineage, each associated with an elemental affinity and corresponding spells:
- Red (Fire) – Burning Hands (melee Fire damage)
- Black (Acid) – Grease (area control spell which makes enemies slip and go prone)
- Blue (Lightning) – Witch Bolt (ranged lightning spell)
- White (Cold) – Armor of Agathys (armor spell that can freeze attackers)
- Green (Poison) – Ray of Sickness (ranged disease/poison spell)
- Gold (Fire) – Disguise Self (allows you to shapeshift into a different race, etc.)
- Silver (Cold) – Feather Fall (removes Falling damage)
- Bronze (Lightning) – Fog Cloud (area control spell that blinds enemies caught in a fog)
- Copper (Acid) – Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (control spell that makes enemies laugh uncontrollably, denying them actions)
- Brass (Fire) – Sleep (control spell that puts a target to sleep until an attack wakes them up)
Choosing the right dragon color can provide you with handy spells tailored to your character’s strengths and playstyle. For roleplaying, you can decide how prominently your character’s dragon scales are displayed on their face, allowing for further customization.
It is worth noting that the spells tied to dragon colors are somewhat weak and low-level, so you won’t be relying on them too much.
Storm Sorcery
The Storm Sorcery subclass is an excellent choice for players seeking mobility and versatility in combat. More than anything, this is the choice you make if you like lightning more than fire.
However, Storm Sorcery does come with a trade-off. You’ll miss out on some defensive boosts and the unpredictable but occasionally thrilling magic found in other subclasses. Nonetheless, the enhanced movement capabilities can make this subclass a valuable choice for players who prefer maneuverability on the battlefield and enhanced lightning damage.
Subclass features
- Tempestuous Magic (level 1): After you cast a Level 1 spell or higher, you can Fly up to 9m as a Bonus Action until the end of your turn without receiving Opportunity Attacks. It’s handy for hit-and-run tactics.
- Heart of the Storm | Heart of the Storm: Resistance (level 6): Casting a level one lightning spell or higher creates a small local lightning or thunderstorm that damages enemies. You’re also more resistant to Lightning and Thunder damage.
- Learn lightning/thunder spell (level 6): You get a free powerful spell of your choice.
- Storm’s Fury (level 11): When you are hit by a melee attack, you deal your Sorcerer Level in Lightning damage to the attacker and potentially push them away. Sounds great on paper, but what if that melee attack also kills you?
If you know how to use the environment to your advantage, Storm Sorcerers can absolutely take any combat encounter by storm. Hint: applying the wet (water) status on enemies automatically makes them weak to Lightning.
It also just so happens that there are so many ways to splash enemies with water in Baldur’s Gate 3…
Wild Magic
The Wild Magic subclass is the most unpredictable and chaotic option among all the Sorcerer subclasses.
This choice leans into the idea that Sorcerers draw their power from an enigmatic and uncontrollable source, leading to volatile magical surges. It’s still powerful and somewhat optimized despite the element of randomness (which arguably makes it more fun).
Subclass features
- Tides of Chaos (level 1): Activate to gain Advantage on your next Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw. Increased chance of Wild Magic surge afterward. Only available once per short rest.
- Wild Magic (level 1): Each time you cast a spell of level one or higher, your magic might surges and triggers a random magical effect. Effects include:
- Casting a Fog spell, centered on yourself. It Blinds and Obscures everything inside.
- Casting Enlarge/Reduce on everyone nearby.
- Enhancing a weapon with +1d4 Force Damage. Its hits will now always deal critical damage.
- Making creatures within 9m become Blurred.
- Giving you a bonus action teleport up to 9m.
- Polymorphing into a sheep.
- Setting fire to everyone around the caster for five turns.
- Spawning water puddles around the caster.
- Spells of level one and higher heal all creatures in a 3m radius for 1d4 hit points per Spell Slot level.
- Summoning a hostile mephit.
- Switching positions with a target with each spell or Cantrip.
- Trigger a random magical effect every turn.
- Turning the ground within a 6m range into thorns.
- Bend Luck (level 6): When a creature you can see makes an Attack Roll, Ability Check, or a Saving Throw, you can use your reaction and spend two Sorcery Points to roll 1d4, applying the number rolled as a bonus or penalty (your choice) to the creature’s roll. It’s not really worth it for a reaction or spell slot, in our humble opinion.
- Controlled Chaos (level 11): Foes may suffer a Wild Magic Surge while casting spells near your fluctuating magic. It sounds really fun but otherwise useless when fighting martial classes.
These surges can have both beneficial and detrimental effects, ranging from amusing inconveniences to potential game-changing events. While Wild Magic adds an element of excitement to your gameplay, it might not be the best choice if you prefer a more controlled and strategic approach to combat. Not really ideal for beginners.
But don’t let us spoil your fun when picking Sorcerer subclasses in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can always re-spec if the chaos becomes a bit too much.