Sorcerer Feats 5E: We Rank The Top 10

Sorcerers in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition are capable of horrifying eldritch feats and miracles of the arcane arts. When one is already so powerful, feats are simply icing on an already delicious cake. However, as you approach level 4, you might already be thinking about some feats to collect for your Sorcerer. There are a lot of options, so which ones should you go for? Our Sorcerer Feats 5E Guide will give you some ideas for your next Sorcerer build.

Should Sorcerers Take Feats?

Feats are a lot of fun. they offer ways to vary a class well beyond what we usually expect from them. They also come at a cost. Unless you take play a variant human or take a background that offers a starting feat, your only way to pick one up is by giving up an Ability Score Increase. Whether or not that tradeoff is worth it depends on your build and your level.

At lower levels, most sorcerers will benefit from maxing out their Charisma as fast as possible. Charisma powers your spells, boosts your spell attack bonus, and increases your spell saving throw DC. In most cases, I am more concerned with get Charisma to 20 before I take a feat. However, there is room for plenty of feats after you max out Charisma depending on your starting ability scores.

At the end of the day, the decision to take a feat is yours to make. If you are more concerned about a larger spell list, Magic Initiate might make sense instead of an ASI.

Top 10 Sorcerer Feats 5E

Before you start selecting feats, we highly recommend that you get your Sorcerer to 20 Charisma. Charisma improves your spell attack rolls, spell DCs, and some spell effects. You want your magic to be as effective as possible before you start taking fun feats. 

10. Tough

Health is important for all casters. Tough gives the Sorcerer 40 health by level 20, which is huge. In a way, it’s like you’re taking a feat to get +4 to Constitution. You get beefy, it’s hard to put you down, you get to cast more spells. Very good! However, all it gives you is health; no Constitution saving throws or anything like that.

9. Elemental Adept

Have you ever worried about learning too many damaging spells? Wish that you just had Fireball and then you could select cool or situational level 3 spells to fill out your other Spells Known? Well, Elemental Adept might be for you! This improves specific spell elements and makes it so that the spells will usually deal more damage. It also allows you to ignore Resistance (not Vulnerability) which improves your spells against specific enemies. Not bad, but very situational.

8. Eldritch Adept

The ability to select an Eldritch Invocation is surprisingly useful. You can use this ability to get things like seeing in magical darkness, permanent Mage Armor, or an at-will Silent Image. You can also swap what benefits you get based on level, allowing you to adapt to changing campaign settings. Still, this is a pretty limited feat; you might want to get Lightly Armored instead of Armor of Shadows, for example. Eldritch Adept is versatile, but that doesn’t always mean good.

7. Telekinetic

Telekinetic is actually stellar. You get your +1 to Charisma, you get the really cool mage hand, and you get a Bonus Action. The Mage Hand isn’t really the strongest little guy, but you can get out of some specific sticky situations with nothing more than a cantrip. More interesting is the Bonus Action. Pushing someone 5 feet away might seem bad. But after pushing them, you can move away from them. That lets you outrange people, and outrun melee enemies! That can be actually really important.

6. Inspiring Leader

This feat gives a shocking amount of health. After any short rest, you hand out a ton of temporary health. At level 20, this gives 25 HP to your average party; 150 health if you give it to 6 people. That’s a lot of health! You can protect the party against a pretty big spell with this feat alone. And it comes up on every short rest! Great for a defensive or supportive build, and best once your Charisma is high.

5. Shadow Touched

Shadow Touched gives the Sorcerer a lot of good stuff. You get +1 Charisma, which you need to cast spells. You get Invisibility as a spell known, which is a great spell. And, you get your choice of one 1st level Illusion or Necromancy spell… Which isn’t great. Your options in these two schools at level 1 are pitiful. And most of the spells are on the Sorcerer’s spell list! Oh well, at least you have more options to use your magic on.

4. Fey Touched

+1 Charisma is a great start to Fey Touched. You learn a great spell in Misty Step, which allows you to use your Bonus Action and 2nd level spell slots on something incredible. Then, you learn a level 1 spell… And your list isn’t great. You can get some good buffs and debuffs, like Bless or Command, but nothing stellar. Still, it’s two free spells and two spells known on the Sorcerer. Fey Touched is worth something.

3. Metamagic Expert

The Sorcerer has trouble with Metamagic Expert, awkwardly enough. The biggest problem is that you’ve already learned a ton of Metamagic abilities. By level 17, you learn 4. With this feat, you learn 6; you get more than half of the 10 options. The 2 points is also a drop in a bucket.

That being said, early on especially, this gives you a ton of new choices. Get this feat at level 4, for example; you get to double your Metamagic options, and you get 2 more points to play around with when you only had 4 to begin with. That’s more versatility, more spell slots, and more damage. If you find yourself augmenting your spells often, it might be time to give this a whirl!

2. War Caster

War Caster is usually used for melee casters, but it’s so good for a Sorcerer. Advantage on Constitution saves for your spellcasting will come in handy quite a bit. You’ll get hit with a stray arrow and have a massive chance to lose your spell! This feat also lets you go for Shield proficiency, or hold a wand/rod without worrying about spellcasting. Finally, you’re a weird and scary threat if someone provokes an Opportunity Attack; imagine leaving someone’s threatened squares and getting hit with Hold Person, or Disintegrate. Horrifying!

1. Alert

The ability for a Sorcerer to end a fight in one spell should not be underestimated. With a +5 to your Initiative, you can banish the Dragon to a Demiplane and deal with his minions. You can disintegrate a king instantly. You can do basically whatever you want. You’ll never be ambushed, and assassins from the darkness are not nearly as scary. Alert just gives you that opportunity that few other feats can come close to.

Conclusions

Sorcerers are complex and interesting. What feats did we miss? Did we overvalue War Caster? Did we undervalue Toughness or Resilience? Should we have included feats like Actor? Tell us your favorite feats in the comments, and help the sorcerer community grow strong! And don’t forget to check out our 5E Feats Guide.