Sorcadin (5e Optimized Character Build)

Why Sorcadin?

Sorcadin is a build that cross-classes Paladin and Sorcerer. Two levels of Paladin and then Sorcerer all the way up(until 11 at least). The first most obvious reason to combine these is Charisma being a top stat choice. This combination eliminates dead ability points required for multiclassing, unless you were planning a Dexterity-based Paladin. The second reason is synergies. Certain synergies in character creation are undeniably good. This blend of classes creates a few disgusting synergies that lead me to believe it is among the most combat-optimized of classes. Yes, it even stands toe to toe with Sorlock(maybe I am getting carried away).

The primary reason to make a Sorcadin is so that you can optimize your spell slots for divine smite, because divine smite doesn't scale past fourth-level slots. However, you could do the same thing with a Sorlock - Warlocks get Eldritch Smite as an invocation, which is better than Divine Smite in all ways except for only working with Warlock slots. Sorcadins are slightly more slot-efficient (since they can smite without needing to convert Spellcasting slots to Pact Magic slots) and have access to Aura of Protection, which Warlocks can't mimic.

How many Paladin levels to take?

There are several factors to take into account when deciding how many Paladin levels you want. Here are the important decisions:

Multi-classing slot progression penalty

A Paladin's spell slots are normally half their level, rounded up. This is reduced to being rounded down when multiclassing. As a result, if you take an even number of Paladin levels, you will have the number of spell slots expected for a Paladin of your level. If you take an odd number, you will not.

Spells prepared

Paladins unlock higher spell levels prepared at levels 2, 5, 9, 13, and 17. If there's a Paladin-only spell you desperately want, this may be a strong consideration. However, if you can come up with another way to gain access to the spell you want, like through your Sorcerer subclass, that's a better choice than grabbing more Paladin levels.

Extra Attack

If you want to primarily rely on (potentially Quickened) Booming Blade and/or Green-Flame Blade, you won't be relying on Extra Attack, meaning you get less benefit from Paladin 5, and may want to duck out earlier.

Booming/Green-Flame Blade and Metamagic/Feats

These two cantrips, as of Tasha's, no longer interact with certain metamagics and feats (and spells!) in ways so unpopular, many DMs - including Jeremy Crawford himself - houserule them away. Of particular note to you:

• Spells: They don't work with the Shadow Blade spell or any magic weapons anymore for what amounts to the same reason, but Jeremy Crawford permits both at his table anyway.
• Feats/Metamagic: They don't work with Spell Sniper or Distant Spell anymore for what amounts to the same reason, but Jeremy Crawford permits both at his table anyway.
• Feats/Metamagic: Booming Blade doesn't work with War Caster or Twinned Spell anymore for what amounts to the same reason, but Jeremy Crawford permits both at his table anyway.
  • Green-Flame Blade didn't work with Twinned Spell using its SCAG text, so the Tasha's text doesn't meaningfully change it. GFB did work with War Caster, but only if you chose not to let it bounce to another target; the new text doesn't let you choose to make it a one-target spell, stopping War Caster castings of it with only one target. For that specific situation, Jeremy Crawford permits it at his table anyway.

Make sure you check with your DM exactly how they're ruling on the two cantrips interacting with Shadow Blade, magic weapons, Spell Sniper, Distant Spell, War Caster, and Twinned Spell.

ASIs

Paladins get ASIs at the standard rate, so the closer your Paladin level is to a multiple of 4, the more tempting it is to keep going to get an ASI. Because this is particularly true of Paladins, as they are intrinsically MAD, you may want to consider a 1-level dip into Hexblade so you can focus on Charisma and stop worrying about Strength or Dexterity.

Paladin Class Benefits

The Paladin abilities of particular note here are Divine Smite - i.e. the reason you bothered to be a Paladin to begin with - which unlocks at level 2, and Aura of Protection, which unlocks at level 6 and is the best tanking ability in the game.

Paladin Subclass Benefits

At level 3, a Paladin unlocks a Channel Divinity - 2 ways to consume a 1/short rest ability. If a Paladin subclass has a particularly compelling Channel Divinity you don't mind only being available that often, this can be compelling. In addition, if you're playing with Tasha's, at this point 1/day your Channel Divinity can instead give you an additional spell slot, of a level equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounding up. At level 13, this reaches its peak, providing 1 level 3 spell slot per day.

Perhaps more importantly, Paladin 7 unlocks a subclass-specific upgrade to your Aura, which, depending on subclass, may be incredibly good. In addition, this level lets your Channel Divinity be used a second time per day for a spell slot instead of its other two uses.

Bringing it all together

Your number of Paladin levels should be at least 2 - never 1, or don't bother multiclassing - and at most 8 unless you have a very good reason. Here's the breakdown:

1. Don't do this.
2. Divine Smite.
3. Channel Divinity 1/short rest (1/day spell slot), spell slot penalty.
4. ASI.
5. Extra Attack, level 2 Paladin spells prepared, spell slot penalty.
6. Aura of Protection!
7. Subclass Aura, Channel Divinity can provide a spell slot 2/day, spell slot penalty.
8. ASI.

Level 1

Which class you take first has the following impacts:

• Paladin benefits:
  • +4 Hit points.
  • Proficiency in Heavy Armor; if you're a Strength build - and you probably are - this is really important.
    • You can employ any of the races that are good at MAD builds - Post-Tasha's Mountain Dwarves, Half-Elves of any stripe, Variant Humans, and Tasha's Custom Lineage - to try to avoid this. Using point-buy, your starting statline can be:
      • Half-Elf: Charisma 16 / Constitution 14 / Dexterity 14 / Strength 14 / Wisdom 10
      • Post-Tasha's Half-Elf: Charisma 14 / Constitution 14 / Dexterity 16 / Strength 14 / Wisdom 10
      • Post-Tasha's Mountain Dwarf: Charisma 14 / Constitution 14 / Dexterity 14 / Strength 13 / Wisdom 9
      • Variant Human: Charisma 16 / Constitution 14 / Dexterity 14 / Strength 13 / Wisdom 10
      • Variant Human: Charisma 14 / Constitution 14 / Dexterity 16 / Strength 13 / Wisdom 10
        • Both of the above are accomplished using 14/14/14/13/9, then applying the racial modifiers to Wisdom and something else, and taking a half-feat to stack with the something else to achieve an even score. you can use Skill Expert to apply a +1 modifier to any ability score you want.
      • TCL: This is Variant Human but better, and you "fix" your ability scores the same way, only you apply the +1 modifier from the half feat to Wisdom, since your racial modifier was a +2, not +1/+1.
    • Regardless of how you fix it, once you're Dexterity 14/Strength 13 or better, you can legally multiclass but function just fine in Half-Plate or eventually Studded Leather, or Mage Armor if you don't mind spending the spell slot. Aside from the general benefits of Dexterity over Strength - initiative, a better save, etc - in this case not needing heavy armor makes it an easier sell taking your first level in Sorcerer.
  • One of your two class skill proficiencies can be in Athletics - you'll probably take Athletics and Persuasion.
    • It can also be in Medicine, which is immaterial - you should never ever spend a proficiency on Medicine.
• Sorcerer benefits:
  • Constitution proficiency instead of Wisdom proficiency is the big seller here; you want to be able to maintain concentration on the front line.
  • One of your two class skill proficiencies can be in Arcana or Deception, in addition to the Persuasion proficiency you'll probably take.
  • If you have access to a racial feat and you want to spend it on a feat with a spellcasting prerequisite, like War Caster, your first level has to be in Sorcerer, not Paladin.

Ultimately, what matters most here is your Armor Class - if you're not figuring out a way to be Dexterity-based, your first level needs to be in Paladin. If you managed to swap to being Dexterity-based, Sorcerer first is better - the 4 hit point difference is negligible compared to the incredible benefits of proficiency in Constitution saves.

Paladin 2

The best fighting style available to you is usually going to be Defense; the only real contender is Blind Fighting, which is sufficiently niche that you have to build around it (leaning into things like the Darkness spell and the Elven Accuracy feat).

You can change your spells every day, so your spell choices made here aren't permanent, but Shield of Faith and Bless are particularly good choices.

Paladin 6

When to go to Paladin 6 (if you're going to) is a fine question; the answer is, once you're Paladin 2, you can go to Paladin 6 at any time, but you should do it no later than Sorcerer 6 - Sorcerer 6->10 is a smaller jump in power than Paladin 2->6. Thing is, your odd Paladin levels will have slower slot progression once you have any Sorcerer levels. As a result, if you have to play these levels and enjoy playing them, you may want to get Paladin 6 out of the way first no matter what, so when you swap to Sorcerer, you never have to play at a level where your slot progression was slowed.

The big choices to make along the way here are your Oath at Paladin 3 and your ASI at Paladin 4. Oath choice really depends on if you're stopping here or not - your Oath has almost no impact on gameplayer until Paladin 7, at which point it completely informs your playstyle. For example, Ancients is only worth it if you get the Aura. To keep things simple, the single best choice you can usually make if you're stopping here is Redemption - its combat use is based on your Reaction and synergises with tanking, its non-combat use exists if you have a low-combat adventuring day, and if you're clever, the Oath spell Sanctuary can be used to excellent effect when tanking.

Sorcerer 1

The only bad origin choice you can make here is Wild Magic, but Storm Sorcery isn't great either. Any of the others can work reasonably well, depending on how you build it - Draconic (Gold/Brass/Red) has excellent synergy with Green-Flame Blade, and if you managed to be a Dexterity build, Mage Armor doesn't cost a slot any more; plus, bonus hit points never hurt anybody. Shadow Magic gets you Darkness you can see through, a summonable ally, and more - all excellent for tanking. Divine Soul gets you an emergency accuracy buff or, more likely, an emergency saving throw buff (remember, if you have it, you get to know if you failed before you use it - meaning you get to know if you failed, no matter what!), what amounts to Empowered Spell without the Charisma limit on all healing spells, and more. Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul need no introduction. Just remember to build around the choice you make.

For spell choices, Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, and Sword Burst are all immediate go-tos, since you're going to be a frontline caster. Shield and Absorb Elements are practically mandatory.

Sorcerer 2

You get Font of Magic at this level, guaranteeing Diving Smite will never face scaling issues with L5+ spell slots. You can also now buy level 1 and level 2 spell slots with your sorcery points, to fuel your smites. Try not to buy slots of any other level - the amount of damage you're buying per sorcery point drops precipitously. Here's the breakdown:

Divine Smite Efficiency

Slot Level	Damage Per Sorcery Point	DPSP, Undead Target
1	4.5	6.75
2	4.5	6.0
3	3.6	4.5
4	3.75	4.5
5	3.21	3.86

Level 1 and level 2 slots cost 2 and 3 points each, respectively, so it'll be relatively uncommon for you to be forced to be inefficient, even if you later have no way to spend 1 sorcery point at a time. Level 4 slots cost 6 points, so there's no excuse for buying them - if you can afford a level 4 slot, you can afford 2 level 2 slots or 3 level 1 slots.

It's not generally useful to consume slots to make slots, because you generate fewer points than you spend, but for L6+ slots, this changes. For example, a level 6 slot is only 5d8 smite damage, but you can buy 3 level 1 slots with it, for 6d8 smite damage. 2 level 5 slots are 10d8 damage and can be consumed for 5 level 1 slots for 10d8 damage, breaking even, so you needn't bother if you don't want to. If you're up against Undead, it's level 4 slots that break even - 2 level 5 slots are 12d8, and converted deal 15d8. As a result, if you don't know what you'll be facing, converting your L5 slots beforehand is a good idea. Similarly, you should always try to maximize your L1 slots in that circumstance, because they murder Undead the most efficiently.

Sorcerer 3

Meta-Magic! Quickened Spell is the biggest seller here, letting you spend 2 sorcery points to cast a spell as a Bonus Action, and then your Action can be a cantrip or you can just attack (if you have Extra Attack, this may be enticing). If your DM is letting them work on Booming Blade/Green-Flame Blade, Twinned Spell is an auto-include, and Distant Spell is worth considering if you're leaning into a reach weapon, like a glaive (presumably for PAM/Sentinel/GWM shenanigans). If you're sticking to the RAW, Twinned drops to merely good (easily combined with buff spells like Haste or Greater Invisibility to excellent effect, as well as offensive spells like Banishment), competing directly with Heightened Spell if you have less-than-stellar Charisma (which is likely) but want to make a single-target offensive spell stick (like the aforementioned Banishment).

Your general attack pattern at this point when you're serious about committing murder is Bonus Action Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade, Action Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, or Attack Twice (if possible). If you crit, spend a slot on Divine Smite.

If you've chosen the Draconic Bloodline, don't forget to seriously consider Transmuted Spell - being able to convert spells like Booming Blade to deal Fire damage instead can be absolutely clutch for you. Likewise, if you did take Storm Sorcery, converting to Thunder or Lightning damage can be very good for you (although Storm Sorcery doesn't work with cantrips).

Variant Builds

Like all good builds, people have come up with countless variants that fit their needs or playstyles. Below are examples.

Alternate Spellcasters

While Sorcerer is clearly the best option, some people choose other spell casters to be their main type.

• Bard: The 2nd most common option, it trades sorcery points for utility and support powers. Lore Bards make excellent tanks, and Eloquence Bards are very good at save-or-suck spells.
• Warlock: Usually not done - "Hexadins" are normally Warlock 1-3/Paladin 17-19. Warlocks get their own Smite as an invocation which is better than Paladin Divine Smite if your primary slots are Pact Magic ones. That said, Paladin 6/Warlock 14 can certainly be used to excellent effect, as can (potentially) be Paladin 7/Warlock 13.
• Druid: Paladin 2 is a popular addition to Moon Druid builds since it allows smites while in wildshape form. A Moon Druid only needs Wisdom, so they can easily afford MADness to multiclass freely.
  • The SAC says that Divine Smite isn't intended to work on unarmed strikes, but the text says it does, since it applies to any melee weapon attack. Since the SAC does not mention natural weapons, the same text applies, meaning you can Divine Smite with any natural weapon (which is mechanically distinct from an unarmed strike - that's why Monk Martial Arts doesn't modify natural weapon damage, only unarmed strike damage).

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