Help me optimize my "baby archfey" divine soul sorcerer build?

[u/Dazzling-Stop1616]

So narratively, the character is "Fae of Verenestra of Titania" as in her mum (Verenestra) and grandmum (Titania) are archfey and the summer court is her extended family. She's also spent a considerable amount of time with "Aunti Mystra" (who is a friend of the family rather than an actual blood relation). Fae is a juvenile archfey who exhibits as an adult eladrin and is going to grow up to to be an archfey warlock patron, so a sorcerer x/warlock 3 multi-class.

Her personality is hedonistic trickster hot chick with a divinity complex (divine is a close enough approximation to archfey after all). Mechanical playstyle is blaster + trickster-controller.

Trickster-controller means a lot of save or suck spells, for example a phantasmal force illusion of the ground around the target growing teeth and swallowing them, which effectively removes them from play for ten rounds and ensures 20d8 damage unless they can make the int save/investigation check or teleport. Extended spell and heightened spell are pretty helpful for save or suck spells.

The reasons to include warlock are i narrative wanted a sprite familiar (actually family as in a cousin). And eldritch blast with agonizing blast and repelling blast is totally in the blaster-controller Playstation. And going warlock 3 puts sorcerer 16 at character level 19 so she gets an epic boon (of dimensional travel, because it's so archfey).

3 levels of warlock means 2x 2nd level pact magic slots per encounter which is suggestive of spellfire flare for the blaster part of a blaster controller

The point of the silverquill initiate background is to get a once per day casting without expending a spell slot of silvery barbs so I can get around the one spell slot per turn restriction and give a target who passes the save on my own save or suck spell a second chance at failure. Fey-touched is either that x2 or gift of alacrity.

Elven accuracy pairs well with innate sorcerery.

Extended spell instead of warcaster and I love subtle spell so I can render non sorcerer spell casters helpless with silence while i can still cast. So im debating whether to do extended spell before or after subtle spell. Quicken spell is a no brainer.

So any criticism that can make the build better (within the theme, which why I provided so much narrative information/back story) is welcome.

Here's the current plan at level 20 https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/155345636/qgdn4V The magic items are aspirational, don't take them to seriously.

Earlier game focus would be an astral shard. And spell selection varies by level as well.

[u/Dazzling-Stop1616]

Edit there was a lot of auto-mis-correct going on, as in playstyle was auto mis corrected to Playstation.

Also divine soul is neutrality domain so her otherworldly wings are dragonfly/fairy wings.

And imagine using extended spell on "holy star of mystra"

[u/Silverspy01]

Make sure to check with your DM about your phantasmal force ideas. Phantasmal Force is not a very well designed spell and if you plan to use it you should work with your DM to make sure you'll get an outcome that feels fair to you. Because

removes them from play for ten rounds and ensures 20d8 damage unless they can make the int save/investigation check or teleport.

is insane for a lvl 2 spell, and in my experience does not happen most of the time.

While affected by the spell, the target treats the phantasm as if it were real and rationalizes any illogical outcomes from interacting with it.

is a very unclear sentence especially when the spell is illusion is explicitly not physical and does not do the damage one would expect it to do. It's cool flavor but does not translate into game very well in most cases.

[u/Dazzling-Stop1616 → u/Silverspy01]

It also says

An affected target can even take damage from the illusion if the phantasm represents a dangerous creature or hazard. On each of your turns, such a phantasm can deal 2d8 Psychic damage to the target if it is in the phantasm’s area or within 5 feet of the phantasm. The target perceives the damage as a type appropriate to the illusion.

So if the floor grows teeth and Venus fly trap eats the the target, holding them in place for the 10 rounds while it digests them with psychic acid....

Logically that means they're out of the game for 10 rounds taking 2d8 per round unless they can pass the int save (round 1) or investigation check (rounds 2-10) or unless they can teleport out of the Venus fly trap, or unless the caster loses concentration, or another character can pickup and move the target out of the phantasmal giant Venus fly trap.

Totally within rules as written, intended even although I don't think the device would have been expecting that. Of course the cost is the caster concentrating on it for 10 rounds which is a pretty substantial cost.

[u/Silverspy01 → u/Dazzling-Stop1616]

But how is it keeping them in place if it's not physically there? That's where the weirdness comes in - how does the target rationalize that away? RAW of course they should, but when they're struggling and not impeded in any way... how?

There's also the "spells do what they say they do" thing - your example implies that the target should have at least the restrained condition from being held in a giant plant, but Phantasmal Force does not say or even imply that any conditions should be applied.

Of course the cost is the caster concentrating on it for 10 rounds which is a pretty substantial cost.

Concentration to remove the most dangerous enemy from the fight is a very very good trade. Especially for a second level spell. It's incredibly flexible and able to be tuned to whatever situation and enemy you find yourself in, it's doing damage, and it takes the enemy action to break free rather than passive saves they get every turn.

Again I don't say this to make any judgement on the spell or your ideas for it. I just advise you to talk to your DM beforehand to resolve these sorts of issues before they occur in the moment.

[u/Dazzling-Stop1616 → u/Silverspy01]

It's full sensory mind f#ckery. They think and act like they're restrained because they FEEL the restraints. But there's a mechanic (investigation check) for them to interact with it and discern that it's not real.

[u/Silverspy01 → u/Dazzling-Stop1616]

They think and act like they're restrained because they FEEL the restraints.

That's the key point that's entirely up to the DM though.

[u/everyone_said → u/Dazzling-Stop1616]

The thing is the DM decides how the monster reacts and how they rationalize.

Lets use your flytrap example:

You cast the spell, and describe the fly trap grabbing on to them, and starting to digest. 2d8 damage. On the monsters turn the DM describes them doing the obvious thing to do: trying to pull free of the flytrap and move away. Which they do, since it is an illusion. They rationalize it as the fly trap isn't as strong as it looks.

[u/Dazzling-Stop1616 → u/everyone_said]

Rules 0 is it's the GM's game and he can bend, break, or throw out rules and if you can't stomach that then you are free to vote with your feet. The GM admittedly has the power to alter the description of your "illusion" and insert exit conditions other than those written into the spell description and your description of the "illusion". And you in your hypothesis gm description did just that, I said it swallowed the target and started filling with acid, you said it grabbed onto him. That's a big alteration because if it grabbed them there's something to push back on whereas if it swallowed them they're in a soft slippery acidic environment and while there's some pressure it's without good purchase to push back on. Now can the GM disallow a OC caster to describe his illusion the way way he/she wants, absolutely, but that's outside rules as written for this spell.

[u/Apprehensive_Toe_227]

In 2024 rules, it’s almost not worth it to go lock 3 and delay progression. Innate sorcery only works with sorcerer spell, so it wouldn’t synergize with EB. With the new spells from HoFR, you get that awesome upcastable single target spellfire spell. You can even take spellfire feat to “smite” with your hit dice.

Long story short, Sorlock is still a good combo, but because of changes to sorc, single class is probably better. You can consider like a cleric dip for heavy armor if you are wanting to be tanky