Confusion is the spell you bust out when Hypnotic Pattern isn't going to cut it Charm immunity, blind creatures, or foes with lots of health or have aoe damage affects are situations where Confusion works better
Is there anything specific about the spells wording that implies it bypasses immunities to charm? I just read it over and I didn't get that impression, largely because it's from the enchantment school and doesn't give specific wording to bypass a charm immunity. To be clear, I hope you're correct as one of my players picked up a charm immunity and I would love to use this against them 😅
The best thing to do, in my opinion, with Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is to convert all your slots into sorcery points and mostly use your Psionic spells. Twinned Tasha's Mind Whip will be your bread and butter.
That is what I did. I converted all I could to then use sorcery points as spells. And while twinned mind whip is sweet, churning low level spells for high level spells is pretty sweet as well. A twinned summoned aberration can really swing things even if its a crap ton of sorcery points.
@@deaconsyxx322 the math on its right though. Unlike normal usage of points for slots its one for one, which is the same rate you convert slots from. So not only do you get subtle for free but it gives you great access to controlling your spell slots. Burn 2 2nd level slots for 4 points. You can always use them for 2 2nd level slots again, but it could also become a 1st and a 3rd or a 4th. And you are going to have banger spells at all 5 of those spell levels.
Perfect! I'm about to play my aberrant mind sorcerer in a session next week! Basically Halfling archaeologist who stumbled on an aboleth in an ancient ruin.
A couple of levels of Great Old One Warlock takes your telepathic abilities to a crazy level. Also, Eldritch Blast takes to load off the rest of your spells known. I took pact of the chain with the sprite familiar that I could keep a telepathic link with. Very useful. Of course, this is your character 😅 and the level dip may not fit your theme
@@SpidermanandhisAmazingFriends Funny because I was thinking of going Sorlock at some point, I thought about Fathomless for extra battlefield control but there's a lot of overlap between it and Aberrant Mind. Great Old One may be a good shout, going with Talisman.
Aberrant Mind is hands down one of the most fun characters I've played. I went all out with Enchantment/Divination shenaningans... although that said, I did pick a handful of cold based damage spells, and roleplayed them as me tearing a rift to expose the victim to the deep cold between the stars.
I want to make a character that was intended to be a demented amalgamation of monstrous things (psuedo-Hag, Mindflayer tadpole, grafted Symbiotic Being and Living Shadow, etc.) but I’m not sure if they would be better as a Hexblood (manifesting the Hag powers) or as a Dhamphir (which could synthesize with a lycanthropic Second Skin form). Go all in on getting extra spells or hedge my bets with some wall-crawling and “cerebral spinal fluid” drinking survivability?
The two-way telepathy cannot be overlooked from the start. It is useful for discreet party communication, and don't forget the telepathic suggestion commands, especially if paired with subtle spell
I've been playing an Aberant Mind Sorcerer for the past 2 years and he has been my favorite character ever. Tasha's Mind Whip and Hypnotic pattern have been clutch in numerous encounters. He also has the Actor feat so I've been speaking into people's minds in their loved ones voices. or voices of their supperiors. It's wreaked all sorts of havoc.
My favorite thing is that Psionic Sorcery essentially lets me cast subtle spell in combination with other metamagics! Subtle+twinned suggestion, or a subtle heightened spell sounds awesome
There's another feat I think works really well with Aberrant Minds and that's Eldritch Adept for Misty Visions - free castings of silent image. Think how much you can mess with people by talking in their heads and making a ghost illusion? Or making a picture on the wall start moving and talking to someone in their head? It's great.
The sad thing about that example of using Calm Emotions to calm down a wild animal is that it only actually works on humanoids. Yeah I don't know why either.
When I made an Aberrant Mind I focused on swapping spells that had hefty material cost that wasn't used. For example, Summon Aberration is cool when you don't have to buy a 400 gp a pickled tentacle and an eyeball in a platinum inlaid vial. Plus scrying without a crystalball or mirrorpool was cool.
I usually only listen to these while at work or when I’m busy, but I actually had a chance to watch this one. The back and forth during spell selection felt more casual and fun than your typical videos. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Seemed more like a couple friends having fun talking about a class they really like instead of a hard analysis of the spells available.
Dont forget that if you switch one of spell picks (like Telekinesis or Rary's Telepathic Bond) for the Synaptic Static or another powerful spell you can use your sorcery points to cast this, making it even more powerful, especially against other casters that might have counterspell!
Played one of these as kobold charlatan and paired up with our noble arcane trickster goblin, we got a reversible cloak, started 2 people in a trench coat. With disguise kits, subtle magic and a ton of guile, every town we drew a crowd as buskers, choirs, pseudo bards. Very quickly we were had a small repitoire of persona, games and rumours we spread across the kingdom. Great times. Glad to see this class getting some coverage.
Agree with Kelly. This is my favorite Sorcerer, to the point that I'm currently playing 2 of them with 2 different groups, one a Tiefling and one a Drow Half-Elf.
I've seen a guide that says that casting with Sorcery Points, when you can use the best spells you can swap in, your spell slots end up as a battery for Points. This class is just a great way to use the resource to make you an subtle Psionic Caster
Calm emotions is one of the few ways a low-level character can suspend (but not break) a vampire's charm, for anyone playing in Curse of Strahd or a similar campaign.
I think Calm Emotions can be a pretty strong spell in the right situations. It can be used in two ways, and there's no limit on the number of humanoids it can affect. Turning hostile creatures indifferent can avoid a fight, and being able to influence them subtly an added benefit. Removing charmed or frightened condition from your whole party (and suppressing the cause) is also a good use of a second level spell. And the spell is very thematic. Even if it's only a situational, Aberrant Mind has so many Spells Known that they can afford to keep some situational spells at hand.
Calm Emotions has some definite utility if you're playing the new Dragonlance campaign. There are quite a few enemies unique to that campaign that utilize fear effects.
I played a character very similar to this one about a year ago until the DM got distracted by an idea for a different low level campaign. I had a great time while it lasted though. He was one of my favorite characters ever.
Aberrant Mind is one of my favorite ways to play 5e period. My current character is a blend of Aberrant Mind, Psi Warrior, and Hex Blade. Blending action surge, psionic casting, and quickened spell I've ended up with a very versatile blaster that can pull out some formidable control and social skills as well. It's been very fun, with alot of good flavor!
I play a psionic class similar to this subclass, and I use Calm Emotions semi-regularly. Recently, I used it to keep a bar fight from happening that would have caused a rift between us and a much needed ally faction. I've also used it within the last few months to counteract a rage poison and calm down an interrogation target who started panicking. My character is a psychologist, so the spell fits their personality despite not being universally applicable. They also try not to use mind control if they don't have to
Being able to suppress charmed and frightened is often helpful. I wouldn't switch that spell out. I've seen several times in the Dudes Drakkenheim campaign when they could have used it. Oh well!
@@dcoffinh I’m thinking so… Eloquence bard can make an enemy’s next saving throw be subtracted by an inspiration die as a bonus action, and with Aberrant Mind you can cast Mind Sliver and add a d4 on top in the same turn, so if I wanted to make sure that a bad guy fails a save, they almost certainly will when they subtract 1d8+1d4. That alone might make it worth it, but the telepathy and extra cantrips really load me up with extra gadgets. I’d just take one level though. I think… those metamagics though…
You should always cast your Psionic Spells with Psionic Sorcery and Sorcery Points, even if you actually rather want to use a Spell Slot from your resources. You can convert the very same Spell Slot to the same number of Sorcery Points as a Bonus Action. You have gained having the shell cast super Subtle, and you could have added other Metamagic options on the top. If you are tight on Bonus Actions in combat, you can do a bit of planning and do the conversion before or after the combat, depending on your Sorcery Point pool.
The great thing about taking Hex with this feature is that you don't have to use hex for the extra damage. You can use it to debuff an Enemies saving throw, without them even being aware you've done anything. Then use it to drop a mind controling spell, which they will have disadvantage to resist.
Hex only affects ability checks, not saving throws, unfortunately. :) You could however Quicken Mind Sliver to get a d4 off the enemy's saving throw against the spell you use your action on. 👍
@@zTom_Still useful for various scenarios. Need to lie? Target Wisdom. Interrogating someone? Target Charisma. Have a martial class that loves grappling and/or shoving? Target Strength. Trying to catch a slippery escape artist? Target Dexterity. A party member is trying to use Detect Thoughts? Target Intelligence.
I'm currently playing an aberrant mind/Echo Knight focused on battlefield control. And holy hell it's fun. I took a lot of the options you guys laid down. I'm currently 4/4. On the fighter, I've got the great weapon fighting style with a maul, and Sentinel; and that's powerful enough on its own. For the sorcerer, subtle and twinned for metamagic, and war caster for the feat to not have to choose between casting or swinging. I swapped spells for Hex, Identify, and Suggestion. Spell highlights are Booming Blade for when Echo can't swing, Shield, Misty Step, and Vortex Warp. It's awesome to be a tank that can go from Hexing, then blowing action surge and Echo swings for 4 hexed attacks (3d6 each, reroll first 1's and 2's) to the next turn Twinning Vortex warp to get my rogue out of trouble and a baddie in a bad spot. Plus all the utility that comes with a subtle Detect Thoughts, Identify, or Twinned Suggestion
i played a friendly illithid(mind flayer) aberrant mind sorcerer in a campaign, love it XD so much much fun being a mind flayer thats nice trying to blend into society... ahhh good times
I had this exact same idea as a backup character for a spelljammer campaign! He was a shopkeeper on a asteroid that would join the party (and possibly give a magic item) in exchange for some information about each character. Wish I got to play him lol
Telepathic bond is a free spell here that is also a spell that can be cast as a ritual, in some settings it could be very powerful since you don't have to select it as one of your few spells known for Sorcerer.
I pair Aberrant Mind with Tabaxi. Easy bonuses to Perception and Stealth, and I have played mine as a child of a Rakshasa, which covers his tiger like appearance and source of his Aberrant Mind powers.
I created an aberrant mind sorcerer, he was a dispater tiefling and a spy, using those psychic powers and charisma, to lie cheat, and deceive. reading minds, making illusions, charming and suggesting through social interactions like a pro. I used him once in a basic battle arena session, but before the guards took us to the arena to start fighting, I convinced a guard to release me and that his friend was a thief. it turned a battle session into a prison break. The best ever.
I've gone full role-play with my aberrant mind sorcerer. He is named Scaurbellow Quindecillion. He's an awakened squirrel (using the fairy PC stats) who floats on an amethyst geode. His weapon attacks are flavoured as psychicly flung acorns. Every spell that possibly can be is psychic or psionic.
Calm emotions suppresses charm effects and fear effects. It depends on the campaign, but there are times when your cleric can't afford to give up their concentration, but you can. Additionally, it allows you to have an alternative for infiltrations - your whole party just walks by the guards at the front gate and they don't care because they are indifferent to you.
Holy crap! I just got to meet you guys and shake your hands at gencon. I thanked you for all the help you've given me. And now you've made this, which one of the PCs in my game is playing an aberrant mind sorcerer! Thanks guys!
Don't forget Actor for a half feat. You have telepathy and a high Persuasion and Deception, get advantage on those deception checks when imitating someone else's voice inside their own head!! Oow00wooow0Oo scarrrryyyyy! :)
Since I was taking spells like Hypnotic pattern which can have friendly fire in many situations, as well as some other area save spells, I took careful spell. I found it worked pretty well with confusion, since if I or a party member -or me- had a cluster of foes around them, it made an excellent place to hit multiple targets with confusion, which is something that its small area of effect sometimes makes difficult.
RE: Calm Emotions... kills barbarian rage at my table. That can be useful, with the utility being dependent upon how often "actual barbarians" feature in your campaign. Frequently in mine!
I just finished a campaign where I played a Plasmoid Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (I made them 12 to avoid the inevitable tentacle jokes as I could). His name was Wally and he looked similar to Oz from Monster Prom. I made them to be the most adorable yet horrifying creature on the planet. For example, whenever he casted Hunger of Hadar, he would actually turn the area into "portal" directly into his stomach. Each time he killed someone with it, he would unleash the cutest burp and excuse himself. Whenever he casted Vortex Warp on an enemy, tentacles of darkness would spawn out of their own shadow and drag them down through it. He also had a weird obsession with muffins.
I've been waiting so long for this one! Thank you guys for eventually getting to it. I think it stands to be maybe the best if not second best sorcerer with incredible utility and decent sneaky damage
You know I had this concept for a Clockwork Sorcerer who is an Changeling actor who uses his shape changing to get parts in plays he might otherwise get passed over. And I went with Clockwork because I thought the flavor would be fun that he sees his control spells as a play (IE Misty Step is him exiting stage left). But after this video I think I might switch him to Aberrant because I also see him as the character who also avoids conflict through subtle manipulation and infiltration. Like he would love to take on a new roll by stealing a uniform and playing Steve the guard for a while and the ability to subtly charm and read minds seems right up that alley.
You missed a bit of a trick with Warping Implosion. Its not a Spell, so after you use it, you can use your bonus action to Quicken spell and cast a spell on the now clumped up enemies.
My longest character is a triton twilight cleric 3 - aberrant mind 17. Blep is a force to be reckoned with. I just wish dnd beyond made it easier to swap psionic spells.
Scrying is a sorcerer spell, but it also has a VERY costly component that is not aways easy to carry around. Psionic Sorcery lets you ignore M components, even those that have a gold cost, as long as it is not consumed. So you can use scrying anywhere at any moment and people don't even see you do it
I believe RAW doesn’t require you to have the material component if it’s not consumed. You can just use your Arcane Focus , Holy Symbol etc to replace M components
@@sforce1412 that's not the case. Spellcasting focuses can only replace M components that don't have a gold cost at all. Component pouches can replace components that are consumed but don't have a gold cost. Neither can replace components with a value attatched to it
One aspect of Revelation in Flesh that I particularly like is that all of the effects you can create with it are essentially effects that are covered by other spells (See Invisibility, Fly, Gaseous Form and Alter Self), so that means you're getting even MORE spells for free!
I saw this somewhere else. Take Spell Sniper to pick up Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Adept for Agonizing Blast. Swap one of your psionic spells for Hex, which has the bonus of giving disadvantage on insight checks. That pretty much covers combat and let's you use spells for just utility and control.
My Aberrant Mind sorlock probably has one of the best backstories I've ever made. She was part of a mercenary squad that hunted an Elder Brain dragon. The hunt went horribly wrong, with my character being the only one to survive ceremorphosis and become an Aberrant Mind. But now she has to hunt down her former allies turned mind flayers and put them down.
I’ve been playing one for a little over a year now. I decided to not take any spells with material components and I subtle cast everything. Command is by far the best 1st level spell to swap. Also confusion is super underrated. I use it to great effect often. One other point is if you have the option never cast an AM spell subtly with a slot+1 SP. just convert the slot to points.
I found a lot use of Twinned Spell on lower levels with Mindwhip and Dissonant Whispers, more than Quickened Spell. Calm Emotions I would keep (but in the reguler Sorcerer roster) to suppress charm and frighten effects. It should be more and more useful at later levels (I have no experience with those).
My aberrant mind was 'Githzerai'; custom lineage, telekinetic feat (starting with 18 cha is great), add the 6th level subclass features and you get every single one of it's racial abilities, so it's a great fit. I think viewing the psionic sorcery as a 'discount on creating spell slots' is an odd way to look at it and greatly underselling the feature. It's more like your psionic spells can pull from a massive pool consisting of sorcery points+spell slots*lvl (given the 1:1 conversion). At level 10, you have a pool of 51 (10sp+41slot lvls), so you can cast synaptic static 10 times, or mind whip 25 times, or silvery barbs 51 times (etc), and all of them will be uncounterspellable. No other caster else can do this. Also, you mention it not really being a blaster, but after playing it I think it can be one of the best blasters in the game. I took the typical dip with two levels in hexblade for armor and eldritch blast with agonizing blast, and that pairs great later on with Summon Aberration. At level 11, on each turn you can cast/quicken two eldritch blasts and have a beholderkin firing eyebeams (which is actionless) for a total of 8 attacks, at level 17 with 8th lvl beholderkin this goes up to 12 attacks, and you have enough sorcery points to do this all day (not that stuff lives long with this combo).
Played one, had the meat magic that allowed me to change elemental types. Fireball became Thunderball, etc. Used Arms of Hadar as battlefield control, slorped up some baddies. We stealthed in behind some baddies at one point, and got off a twin Disintegrate on enemy casters, which was just rather cool.
The elemental Meta magic doesn’t seem as useful for an AM Sorcerer since a lot of their subclass focuses on spells that deal Psychic damage, which the Meta Magic doesn’t work with. (Subtle Spell also doesn’t offer as much benefit either.) Twinning to hit two targets with an Enchantment to take them out of a fight; use sorcery points to cast Suggestion on two enemies and make them do something together and confuse their allies. Quicken to cast Mind Sliver to weaken their next saving throw to help guarantee the follow spell immediately lands. Maybe even Heighten Spell since you are so reliant on spells that target saving throws?
I just started playing an aberrant mind sorcerer and I single handedly took a demilich out of the fight by using sorcery points to cast telekinesis just held him 60 ft up in the air. After that I used quicken spell to deceive him and his minions into thinking I hadn't cast the spell turning a hard encounter into a walk in the park
In our main campaign we started like 18 months ago at level 3, I'm playing a Custom Lineage Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. We're currently level 12. I built my spell list around Subtle Spell. All of my spells can be cast without any components if I want to do so. None of my non-psionic spells have material components. Basically, uncounterable when I want. My DM was generous enough to give me a Staff of Power, which helps cover me in some of the damage departments. It also gave me my favorite spell: Wall of Force. I love the thematic elements of this subclass. Casting without casting has been a blast.
I'm playing this right now, and I often quicken spell to allow casting mind sliver plus a spell with a saving throw, particularly those that are all-or-nothing
Personal experience - Streaking Plasmoid / Aberrant Mind with Telekinetic feat. Spells only with V, S , and bypass M with Sorc Point usage. Once a day swallows a crystal ball for a moment (looks like slime core) to cast Mage armor. Wiggle, wiggle - counterspell, wiggle, wigle, - firebolt. An amorphous blob that does not understand need for worldly possessions and privacy of ones mind.
Flexible Casting lets you convert spell slots into Sorcery Points (as a bonus action) at the same rate that Psionic Sorcery uses to cast them. Using both, the Sorcery Points end up cancelling out, so in effect, you can spend a bonus action to remove all components from a spell you cast using a spell slot. You don't *have* to use the bonus action on the same turn to even things out, but it does simplify things. Plus I like that you're taking that extra moment to concentrate and manifest the spell from your mind alone.
Another great spell to get subtled is geas. The 1 minute casting time restriction suddenly becomes a lot less restrictive, and a 30 day charm is absolutely massive in any game where you have to interact with the same people repeatedly.
If you can use level 6 psionic sorcery with swapped spells, which I think is RAW, you can cast silvery barbs all day. Even more if you dip warlock. Also, I really like calm emotions, I kept it on my AM sorcerer and took it on my lore bard. I've used it several times on a dominated ally. Its really good in RP situations when emotions start to run high, the party had to move in the opposite direction of a crazed crowd and another while new in a unfriendly town bad rolls things were about to turn ugly against us.
This subclass has made me the most excited to stick to its fantasy with my spell selection. And it doesnt really sacrifice effectiveness at all, because enchantment/psychic spells are SO DAMM GOOD, both in and out of combat.
@8:40 Access to more castings of your high level spells is incredibly powerful. At level 10 we were in over our heads and I cast 4 synaptic statics in one combat and still had sorcery points to twin mind whip. It’s amazing.
13:03 I actually once came up with the concept for a Deep Gnome Aberrant Sorcerer, mind you it’s setting specific. In this setting, there are large psychic crystals made from dead Gem Greatwyrms around the place that psionic races connect to in order to contact their ancestors. This sorcerers parents connect to it, but the ancestors place a psychic spark in their unborn child. Because o this, the sorcerer occasionally hears the whispers of their ancestors.
I have a build for this which is a weird melee build. I went Mountain Dwarf for the armor, it can use booming blade with a Warhammer. You get a bunch of reaction spells, including getting Silvery Barbs as a psionic spell to choose (or Hex). The extra constitution gives decent hit points. Breastplate or Half Plate gives an AC of 17 with +2 Dex. You can have the option of Shield and Absorb Elements as well. This is just the 1st level spell options. If you still need more 1st level spells, you can multi class with warlock.
A fun telepatic ability would be one that gives a a number of words to use pr level, so that you would need to give limited messages to make the spell last. But it would open the door for uses such as a silenct 'Duck Now' warning or a coded combat code might work.
Calm emotions is really good, any charm or frigthening effect on your allies is gone while the spell is on. Once I saved the party using that spell when a dragon inflicted fear on 3 party members.
In the video you mentioned non detection being really good on a sorcerer. Can you elaborate on that please. New player here. Google and Reddit don't have a big explanation of non detection uses. Great video btw.
It's a great subclass. As DM I built one for an important NPC, possible DMPC, but turned her over to a new player when we recruited him. Serious mind-f*"&3ry potential, was my thought. The new player tried to make her into a blaster, but also got a lot of mileage out of calm emotions, Tasha's and Raorhim's psychic damage spells. In the final BBEG battle (lvl 9) used telekinesis to pop a demi lich into another PC's bag of holding for several rounds, which won them the fight. Can't sleep on spells without saving throws!!
Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is my Favorite Sorcerer sub-class as well. One thing to mention, with the ability to switch out the spells from the expanded spell list, an aberrant mind sorcerer can allocate many great control and utility spells into the expanded spell list. This means an aberrant mind sorcerer can easily be built to be a battlefield controller AND a blaster. Also multiclassing an aberrant mind sorcerer allows them to pick up many powerful abilities that allow them be built into an array of powerful and useful roles, often times they are even able to be top tier as blaster, utility and battlefield control all at once. There are some drawbacks to some of the viable multiclassing options, but that is always the case when multiclassing any class.
My Deep Gnome Aberrant mind sorcerer took a 2 level dip into warlock for Mask of Many Faces and Agonizing blast, and I took the Actor Feat as well. This allowed for a super fun character to change appearance at will for infiltration, and other shenanigans, like the Faceless Men from Game of Thrones. But due to my size being small, I could only change appearance into other small races or a child of a medium size race. So a lot of time I pretended to be a young child of one of my companions. Also, for flavor, I made it so my appearance wasn't really being changed, but it was just being changed in the observers' brain. I also took Quicken Spell to cast Eldritch blast twice in a turn. That made my single target DPS fantastic, so I limited all my other spell choices to Illusion and Divination. I love this character, playing him is so much fun.
I like fey touched for free mist step. Plus I take the spell that lets you add a 1d8 to initiative. Twin or double the duration with metamagic and you're good to go.
I had a weird thought to play/build a mute full caster. Basically pick everything that does not have a verbal component or use subtle spell for those times when you need a spell with it. The Aberrant Mind sorcerer really helps fulfill this idea.
How did you guys know.... I was just sitting here, thinking about what kind of Sorcerer-Subclass I should play. And here you are! Maybe you guys are aberrant minds.... 😎
Played an Abberant Mind in Tier 3 - used subtle spell Detect Thoughts on an entire pirate ship in interrogations. I do recommend arcane eye too. Great for dungeon crawls. Also Scrying is a nice pickup for 5th level - super useful and cheap for this character and not a usual Sorcerer spell unless I'm missing something.
On Calm Emotions, In my campaign (which recently hit 100 sessions!) we were having an arc where the antagonists in question were hags, and were siphoning power from strong emotions in order to charge an obelisk that would revive a Dracolich. This arc was centered around our parties Barbarian, who is kind of a mix between Grog from CR and Kratos, and in the encounter where we began to fight the hags, I made major use of the Calm Emotions spell so that I could prevent him from Raging. I had this spell up as concentration during the fight, and the hags kill the barbarians mother in front of him... to which our DM had him make a charisma save in order to end calm emotions... and of course, he rolls a natural 20. And what is my aberrant mind sorcerers spell save DC? 20. The dice were on his side, and while we failed in preventing the resurrection of the Dracolich, man that was a cool moment. Obviously this is a VERY specific arc where Calm Emotions is a useful spell to have, but I have used it in the past to calm down NPC's who are panicked because they saw something they weren't supposed to see, or some PC's and NPC's are arguing and things are about to get violent. The spells utility honestly is entirely contingent on the player finding the situations where you can get mileage out of it. If an NPC is prone to make rash decisions when offended or angered, or otherwise excited, you can make good use of it. There was another scenario where, we were traveling as a party for long stretches of time underground, and we were making saving throws to not go insane, so I used calm emotions in order to keep our wits. This kind of use varies on the DM as well. Be creative, talk with your DM!
As much as the Dudes pointed out how great Psionic Sorcery is, I think they STILL undersold it. As an example, at level 9, you can swap out one of the 5th level spells for Synaptic Static. You can, throughout the day, convert ALL your spell slots to Sorcery Points, for an additional 36 Sorcery Points. This gives you a total of 45 Sorcery Points, assuming you didn’t take Metamagic Adept. That is 9 casts of Synaptic Static per long rest. A Warlock has to short rest 5 times per day to achieve that at the level 9. So good.
25:25 Scrying is available to regular Sorcerers, but if you take it with the psionic sorcery and spend sorcery points to cast it, you skip the material components. I just imagine you stiintng in a tavern, over your mug of beer and without anyone noticing, you use that beer as your scrying pool and watch someone in the rooms upstairs.
My 12th level Drow A.M. Sorceress smiles. One good combo is to hit your target with Mind Sliver, then if they fail the save, follow it up immediately with a Quickened leveled spell.
While confusion often isn't good, note that it bypasses the extremely common charm immunity
I agree and it also has the chance to deal damage and completely wast enemies turns
it may not always be usefull but it's normally pretty fun :)
Confusion is the spell you bust out when Hypnotic Pattern isn't going to cut it
Charm immunity, blind creatures, or foes with lots of health or have aoe damage affects are situations where Confusion works better
Totally second that one, confusion is like the force damage of debuffs.
Is there anything specific about the spells wording that implies it bypasses immunities to charm? I just read it over and I didn't get that impression, largely because it's from the enchantment school and doesn't give specific wording to bypass a charm immunity.
To be clear, I hope you're correct as one of my players picked up a charm immunity and I would love to use this against them 😅
The best thing to do, in my opinion, with Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is to convert all your slots into sorcery points and mostly use your Psionic spells. Twinned Tasha's Mind Whip will be your bread and butter.
until you get synaptic static. Then chuck those like cantrips
That is what I did. I converted all I could to then use sorcery points as spells. And while twinned mind whip is sweet, churning low level spells for high level spells is pretty sweet as well. A twinned summoned aberration can really swing things even if its a crap ton of sorcery points.
Uhhhh…nope! 👍🏻
@@deaconsyxx322 the math on its right though. Unlike normal usage of points for slots its one for one, which is the same rate you convert slots from. So not only do you get subtle for free but it gives you great access to controlling your spell slots. Burn 2 2nd level slots for 4 points. You can always use them for 2 2nd level slots again, but it could also become a 1st and a 3rd or a 4th. And you are going to have banger spells at all 5 of those spell levels.
@deaconsyxx322 what a thoughtful and meaningful reply /s
Hypnotic Pattern paired with Careful Spell is *so good*.
Perfect! I'm about to play my aberrant mind sorcerer in a session next week! Basically Halfling archaeologist who stumbled on an aboleth in an ancient ruin.
Played a Halfing Aberrant Mind Sorcerer at level 9 for a one shot. Very fun character to play as.
A couple of levels of Great Old One Warlock takes your telepathic abilities to a crazy level. Also, Eldritch Blast takes to load off the rest of your spells known. I took pact of the chain with the sprite familiar that I could keep a telepathic link with. Very useful.
Of course, this is your character 😅 and the level dip may not fit your theme
@@SpidermanandhisAmazingFriends Funny because I was thinking of going Sorlock at some point, I thought about Fathomless for extra battlefield control but there's a lot of overlap between it and Aberrant Mind. Great Old One may be a good shout, going with Talisman.
So he's an hp lovecraft main character
How'd it go?
Aberrant Mind is hands down one of the most fun characters I've played.
I went all out with Enchantment/Divination shenaningans... although that said, I did pick a handful of cold based damage spells, and roleplayed them as me tearing a rift to expose the victim to the deep cold between the stars.
I want to make a character that was intended to be a demented amalgamation of monstrous things (psuedo-Hag, Mindflayer tadpole, grafted Symbiotic Being and Living Shadow, etc.) but I’m not sure if they would be better as a Hexblood (manifesting the Hag powers) or as a Dhamphir (which could synthesize with a lycanthropic Second Skin form).
Go all in on getting extra spells or hedge my bets with some wall-crawling and “cerebral spinal fluid” drinking survivability?
Telekenesis, animate objects, and levitation rounds out the psychic roster lol.
Dip into Fathomless Warlock and you get a Cthulhu-esque spectral tentacle as well.
@@brotherjorge3 and eldritch bast which could be psychic energy.
The two-way telepathy cannot be overlooked from the start. It is useful for discreet party communication, and don't forget the telepathic suggestion commands, especially if paired with subtle spell
I've been playing an Aberant Mind Sorcerer for the past 2 years and he has been my favorite character ever. Tasha's Mind Whip and Hypnotic pattern have been clutch in numerous encounters. He also has the Actor feat so I've been speaking into people's minds in their loved ones voices. or voices of their supperiors. It's wreaked all sorts of havoc.
My favorite thing is that Psionic Sorcery essentially lets me cast subtle spell in combination with other metamagics! Subtle+twinned suggestion, or a subtle heightened spell sounds awesome
This! I'm so surprised they didn't mention it, but it's one of the most incredible parts of the power boost of the Psionic Sorcery feature.
There's another feat I think works really well with Aberrant Minds and that's Eldritch Adept for Misty Visions - free castings of silent image. Think how much you can mess with people by talking in their heads and making a ghost illusion? Or making a picture on the wall start moving and talking to someone in their head? It's great.
Sick idea! I’ll definitely consider it for my next character since I was planning on taking a warlock dip to begin with
Far and away my favorite Sorcerer class. Got to play one until level 11 and I had a TON OF FUN
I have binged this channel to the point where I'm concerned that I'm addicted to dnd
The sad thing about that example of using Calm Emotions to calm down a wild animal is that it only actually works on humanoids. Yeah I don't know why either.
I was thinking the same thing 😭
When I made an Aberrant Mind I focused on swapping spells that had hefty material cost that wasn't used. For example, Summon Aberration is cool when you don't have to buy a 400 gp a pickled tentacle and an eyeball in a platinum inlaid vial. Plus scrying without a crystalball or mirrorpool was cool.
Best feature of a subclass in my opinion
@@VolderothLives It's very useful.
I usually only listen to these while at work or when I’m busy, but I actually had a chance to watch this one. The back and forth during spell selection felt more casual and fun than your typical videos. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Seemed more like a couple friends having fun talking about a class they really like instead of a hard analysis of the spells available.
Dont forget that if you switch one of spell picks (like Telekinesis or Rary's Telepathic Bond) for the Synaptic Static or another powerful spell you can use your sorcery points to cast this, making it even more powerful, especially against other casters that might have counterspell!
These videos always pop up in time to yank me away from the character direction I thought I was going to take for my next game
Played one of these as kobold charlatan and paired up with our noble arcane trickster goblin, we got a reversible cloak, started 2 people in a trench coat. With disguise kits, subtle magic and a ton of guile, every town we drew a crowd as buskers, choirs, pseudo bards. Very quickly we were had a small repitoire of persona, games and rumours we spread across the kingdom. Great times.
Glad to see this class getting some coverage.
Agree with Kelly. This is my favorite Sorcerer, to the point that I'm currently playing 2 of them with 2 different groups, one a Tiefling and one a Drow Half-Elf.
I've seen a guide that says that casting with Sorcery Points, when you can use the best spells you can swap in, your spell slots end up as a battery for Points. This class is just a great way to use the resource to make you an subtle Psionic Caster
Calm emotions is one of the few ways a low-level character can suspend (but not break) a vampire's charm, for anyone playing in Curse of Strahd or a similar campaign.
I think Calm Emotions can be a pretty strong spell in the right situations. It can be used in two ways, and there's no limit on the number of humanoids it can affect. Turning hostile creatures indifferent can avoid a fight, and being able to influence them subtly an added benefit. Removing charmed or frightened condition from your whole party (and suppressing the cause) is also a good use of a second level spell. And the spell is very thematic. Even if it's only a situational, Aberrant Mind has so many Spells Known that they can afford to keep some situational spells at hand.
Calm Emotions has some definite utility if you're playing the new Dragonlance campaign. There are quite a few enemies unique to that campaign that utilize fear effects.
I played a character very similar to this one about a year ago until the DM got distracted by an idea for a different low level campaign. I had a great time while it lasted though. He was one of my favorite characters ever.
Aberrant Mind is one of my favorite ways to play 5e period. My current character is a blend of Aberrant Mind, Psi Warrior, and Hex Blade. Blending action surge, psionic casting, and quickened spell I've ended up with a very versatile blaster that can pull out some formidable control and social skills as well. It's been very fun, with alot of good flavor!
I play a psionic class similar to this subclass, and I use Calm Emotions semi-regularly. Recently, I used it to keep a bar fight from happening that would have caused a rift between us and a much needed ally faction. I've also used it within the last few months to counteract a rage poison and calm down an interrogation target who started panicking. My character is a psychologist, so the spell fits their personality despite not being universally applicable. They also try not to use mind control if they don't have to
Being able to suppress charmed and frightened is often helpful. I wouldn't switch that spell out. I've seen several times in the Dudes Drakkenheim campaign when they could have used it. Oh well!
Planning on building a Eloquence Bard/Genie Warlock, and thinking about taking a one level dip into Aberrant Mind. This video is perfect timing.
Do you think you’ll take the level dip? It sounds interesting!
@@dcoffinh I’m thinking so… Eloquence bard can make an enemy’s next saving throw be subtracted by an inspiration die as a bonus action, and with Aberrant Mind you can cast Mind Sliver and add a d4 on top in the same turn, so if I wanted to make sure that a bad guy fails a save, they almost certainly will when they subtract 1d8+1d4. That alone might make it worth it, but the telepathy and extra cantrips really load me up with extra gadgets. I’d just take one level though. I think… those metamagics though…
You should always cast your Psionic Spells with Psionic Sorcery and Sorcery Points, even if you actually rather want to use a Spell Slot from your resources. You can convert the very same Spell Slot to the same number of Sorcery Points as a Bonus Action. You have gained having the shell cast super Subtle, and you could have added other Metamagic options on the top. If you are tight on Bonus Actions in combat, you can do a bit of planning and do the conversion before or after the combat, depending on your Sorcery Point pool.
The great thing about taking Hex with this feature is that you don't have to use hex for the extra damage. You can use it to debuff an Enemies saving throw, without them even being aware you've done anything. Then use it to drop a mind controling spell, which they will have disadvantage to resist.
Hex only affects ability checks, not saving throws, unfortunately. :)
You could however Quicken Mind Sliver to get a d4 off the enemy's saving throw against the spell you use your action on. 👍
@@zTom_Still useful for various scenarios.
Need to lie? Target Wisdom.
Interrogating someone? Target Charisma.
Have a martial class that loves grappling and/or shoving? Target Strength.
Trying to catch a slippery escape artist? Target Dexterity.
A party member is trying to use Detect Thoughts? Target Intelligence.
I'm currently playing an aberrant mind/Echo Knight focused on battlefield control. And holy hell it's fun.
I took a lot of the options you guys laid down. I'm currently 4/4. On the fighter, I've got the great weapon fighting style with a maul, and Sentinel; and that's powerful enough on its own. For the sorcerer, subtle and twinned for metamagic, and war caster for the feat to not have to choose between casting or swinging. I swapped spells for Hex, Identify, and Suggestion. Spell highlights are Booming Blade for when Echo can't swing, Shield, Misty Step, and Vortex Warp.
It's awesome to be a tank that can go from Hexing, then blowing action surge and Echo swings for 4 hexed attacks (3d6 each, reroll first 1's and 2's) to the next turn Twinning Vortex warp to get my rogue out of trouble and a baddie in a bad spot. Plus all the utility that comes with a subtle Detect Thoughts, Identify, or Twinned Suggestion
i played a friendly illithid(mind flayer) aberrant mind sorcerer in a campaign, love it XD so much much fun being a mind flayer thats nice trying to blend into society... ahhh good times
I had this exact same idea as a backup character for a spelljammer campaign! He was a shopkeeper on a asteroid that would join the party (and possibly give a magic item) in exchange for some information about each character. Wish I got to play him lol
@@tai-len2290 heheh nice I love it
I was dying for an Aberrant Mind guide made by you guys, it finally happened 🙌🏼
Check out Twisted Tentacle Inn for another great Aberant Mind as well.
So glad the Dudes did one as well. Great job.
Clockwork Soul: I'm the best battlefield controller in the entire game
Aberrant Mind: hold my tentacle
This was amazing as one of my big bands is an A.M.Sorcerer. Fantastic job once again dudes!
I played aberrant mind in the realm of Drakkenheim! Was a fantastic subclass for the setting
Telepathic bond is a free spell here that is also a spell that can be cast as a ritual, in some settings it could be very powerful since you don't have to select it as one of your few spells known for Sorcerer.
Pretty sure sorcerer’s cannot ritually cast spells so yes but this would require the ritual caster feat
My favorite sorcerer subclass!!
I pair Aberrant Mind with Tabaxi. Easy bonuses to Perception and Stealth, and I have played mine as a child of a Rakshasa, which covers his tiger like appearance and source of his Aberrant Mind powers.
I created an aberrant mind sorcerer, he was a dispater tiefling and a spy, using those psychic powers and charisma, to lie cheat, and deceive. reading minds, making illusions, charming and suggesting through social interactions like a pro. I used him once in a basic battle arena session, but before the guards took us to the arena to start fighting, I convinced a guard to release me and that his friend was a thief. it turned a battle session into a prison break. The best ever.
Love this subclass! It basically turns you into martian manhunter
Yes!! I've been waiting for this video, the aberrant mind sorcerer is one of my favorite subclasses in general.
I've gone full role-play with my aberrant mind sorcerer. He is named Scaurbellow Quindecillion. He's an awakened squirrel (using the fairy PC stats) who floats on an amethyst geode. His weapon attacks are flavoured as psychicly flung acorns. Every spell that possibly can be is psychic or psionic.
I feel like your next playthrough will be a human fighter. Look like the en off the loop :p
Loved the Y for Yuan-Ti
Calm emotions suppresses charm effects and fear effects. It depends on the campaign, but there are times when your cleric can't afford to give up their concentration, but you can. Additionally, it allows you to have an alternative for infiltrations - your whole party just walks by the guards at the front gate and they don't care because they are indifferent to you.
Holy crap! I just got to meet you guys and shake your hands at gencon. I thanked you for all the help you've given me. And now you've made this, which one of the PCs in my game is playing an aberrant mind sorcerer! Thanks guys!
That's crazy I came up with an aberrant mind fairy sorcerer literally like 5 days ago. I will be playing him for oota after my COS campaign finishes.
Don't forget Actor for a half feat. You have telepathy and a high Persuasion and Deception, get advantage on those deception checks when imitating someone else's voice inside their own head!! Oow00wooow0Oo scarrrryyyyy! :)
Since I was taking spells like Hypnotic pattern which can have friendly fire in many situations, as well as some other area save spells, I took careful spell. I found it worked pretty well with confusion, since if I or a party member -or me- had a cluster of foes around them, it made an excellent place to hit multiple targets with confusion, which is something that its small area of effect sometimes makes difficult.
RE: Calm Emotions... kills barbarian rage at my table. That can be useful, with the utility being dependent upon how often "actual barbarians" feature in your campaign. Frequently in mine!
I just finished a campaign where I played a Plasmoid Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (I made them 12 to avoid the inevitable tentacle jokes as I could). His name was Wally and he looked similar to Oz from Monster Prom. I made them to be the most adorable yet horrifying creature on the planet. For example, whenever he casted Hunger of Hadar, he would actually turn the area into "portal" directly into his stomach. Each time he killed someone with it, he would unleash the cutest burp and excuse himself. Whenever he casted Vortex Warp on an enemy, tentacles of darkness would spawn out of their own shadow and drag them down through it. He also had a weird obsession with muffins.
So Dungeon Dad gave me a wonderful idea for the story of a Aberrant Mind, and now Dungeon Dudes gives this.
Gotta love the race known as "Y" for my Aberrant Mind Sorcerer.
I've been waiting so long for this one! Thank you guys for eventually getting to it. I think it stands to be maybe the best if not second best sorcerer with incredible utility and decent sneaky damage
You know I had this concept for a Clockwork Sorcerer who is an Changeling actor who uses his shape changing to get parts in plays he might otherwise get passed over. And I went with Clockwork because I thought the flavor would be fun that he sees his control spells as a play (IE Misty Step is him exiting stage left). But after this video I think I might switch him to Aberrant because I also see him as the character who also avoids conflict through subtle manipulation and infiltration. Like he would love to take on a new roll by stealing a uniform and playing Steve the guard for a while and the ability to subtly charm and read minds seems right up that alley.
This has officially put aberrant mind on my radar to play ngl. Never looked at the subclass much before this video!
You missed a bit of a trick with Warping Implosion.
Its not a Spell, so after you use it, you can use your bonus action to Quicken spell and cast a spell on the now clumped up enemies.
I love my Aberrant Mind!
My longest character is a triton twilight cleric 3 - aberrant mind 17. Blep is a force to be reckoned with.
I just wish dnd beyond made it easier to swap psionic spells.
Scrying is a sorcerer spell, but it also has a VERY costly component that is not aways easy to carry around. Psionic Sorcery lets you ignore M components, even those that have a gold cost, as long as it is not consumed. So you can use scrying anywhere at any moment and people don't even see you do it
I believe RAW doesn’t require you to have the material component if it’s not consumed. You can just use your Arcane Focus , Holy Symbol etc to replace M components
@@sforce1412 you have to have the components that have a gold cost, even if they are not consumed.
@@sforce1412 that's not the case. Spellcasting focuses can only replace M components that don't have a gold cost at all. Component pouches can replace components that are consumed but don't have a gold cost. Neither can replace components with a value attatched to it
@@miguelangelus959components pouches can't replace consumed components, where are u reading that?
@@hylohunter RAW they can, as long as the component doesn't specify a cost
One aspect of Revelation in Flesh that I particularly like is that all of the effects you can create with it are essentially effects that are covered by other spells (See Invisibility, Fly, Gaseous Form and Alter Self), so that means you're getting even MORE spells for free!
I saw this somewhere else. Take Spell Sniper to pick up Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Adept for Agonizing Blast. Swap one of your psionic spells for Hex, which has the bonus of giving disadvantage on insight checks. That pretty much covers combat and let's you use spells for just utility and control.
My Aberrant Mind sorlock probably has one of the best backstories I've ever made. She was part of a mercenary squad that hunted an Elder Brain dragon. The hunt went horribly wrong, with my character being the only one to survive ceremorphosis and become an Aberrant Mind. But now she has to hunt down her former allies turned mind flayers and put them down.
I’ve been playing one for a little over a year now. I decided to not take any spells with material components and I subtle cast everything. Command is by far the best 1st level spell to swap. Also confusion is super underrated. I use it to great effect often. One other point is if you have the option never cast an AM spell subtly with a slot+1 SP. just convert the slot to points.
I found a lot use of Twinned Spell on lower levels with Mindwhip and Dissonant Whispers, more than Quickened Spell.
Calm Emotions I would keep (but in the reguler Sorcerer roster) to suppress charm and frighten effects. It should be more and more useful at later levels (I have no experience with those).
I just realized how recently you guys posted this, how convenient.
I tried making my own ghibli inspired universe, and I'm super excited to run someone elses take on it
My aberrant mind was 'Githzerai'; custom lineage, telekinetic feat (starting with 18 cha is great), add the 6th level subclass features and you get every single one of it's racial abilities, so it's a great fit.
I think viewing the psionic sorcery as a 'discount on creating spell slots' is an odd way to look at it and greatly underselling the feature. It's more like your psionic spells can pull from a massive pool consisting of sorcery points+spell slots*lvl (given the 1:1 conversion). At level 10, you have a pool of 51 (10sp+41slot lvls), so you can cast synaptic static 10 times, or mind whip 25 times, or silvery barbs 51 times (etc), and all of them will be uncounterspellable. No other caster else can do this.
Also, you mention it not really being a blaster, but after playing it I think it can be one of the best blasters in the game. I took the typical dip with two levels in hexblade for armor and eldritch blast with agonizing blast, and that pairs great later on with Summon Aberration. At level 11, on each turn you can cast/quicken two eldritch blasts and have a beholderkin firing eyebeams (which is actionless) for a total of 8 attacks, at level 17 with 8th lvl beholderkin this goes up to 12 attacks, and you have enough sorcery points to do this all day (not that stuff lives long with this combo).
i'm having a lot of fun playing a soulknife with a subclass of aberrant mind. this video was very helpful and should spice things up
Played one, had the meat magic that allowed me to change elemental types. Fireball became Thunderball, etc. Used Arms of Hadar as battlefield control, slorped up some baddies. We stealthed in behind some baddies at one point, and got off a twin Disintegrate on enemy casters, which was just rather cool.
The elemental Meta magic doesn’t seem as useful for an AM Sorcerer since a lot of their subclass focuses on spells that deal Psychic damage, which the Meta Magic doesn’t work with. (Subtle Spell also doesn’t offer as much benefit either.)
Twinning to hit two targets with an Enchantment to take them out of a fight; use sorcery points to cast Suggestion on two enemies and make them do something together and confuse their allies. Quicken to cast Mind Sliver to weaken their next saving throw to help guarantee the follow spell immediately lands. Maybe even Heighten Spell since you are so reliant on spells that target saving throws?
I just started playing an aberrant mind sorcerer and I single handedly took a demilich out of the fight by using sorcery points to cast telekinesis just held him 60 ft up in the air. After that I used quicken spell to deceive him and his minions into thinking I hadn't cast the spell turning a hard encounter into a walk in the park
In our main campaign we started like 18 months ago at level 3, I'm playing a Custom Lineage Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. We're currently level 12. I built my spell list around Subtle Spell. All of my spells can be cast without any components if I want to do so. None of my non-psionic spells have material components. Basically, uncounterable when I want. My DM was generous enough to give me a Staff of Power, which helps cover me in some of the damage departments. It also gave me my favorite spell: Wall of Force.
I love the thematic elements of this subclass. Casting without casting has been a blast.
I'm playing this right now, and I often quicken spell to allow casting mind sliver plus a spell with a saving throw, particularly those that are all-or-nothing
Personal experience - Streaking Plasmoid / Aberrant Mind with Telekinetic feat. Spells only with V, S , and bypass M with Sorc Point usage. Once a day swallows a crystal ball for a moment (looks like slime core) to cast Mage armor. Wiggle, wiggle - counterspell, wiggle, wigle, - firebolt. An amorphous blob that does not understand need for worldly possessions and privacy of ones mind.
Flexible Casting lets you convert spell slots into Sorcery Points (as a bonus action) at the same rate that Psionic Sorcery uses to cast them. Using both, the Sorcery Points end up cancelling out, so in effect, you can spend a bonus action to remove all components from a spell you cast using a spell slot.
You don't *have* to use the bonus action on the same turn to even things out, but it does simplify things. Plus I like that you're taking that extra moment to concentrate and manifest the spell from your mind alone.
Another great spell to get subtled is geas. The 1 minute casting time restriction suddenly becomes a lot less restrictive, and a 30 day charm is absolutely massive in any game where you have to interact with the same people repeatedly.
I have been waiting for this ever since I found you dudes! Thank you so much, keep rocking 🙌
If you can use level 6 psionic sorcery with swapped spells, which I think is RAW, you can cast silvery barbs all day. Even more if you dip warlock.
Also, I really like calm emotions, I kept it on my AM sorcerer and took it on my lore bard. I've used it several times on a dominated ally. Its really good in RP situations when emotions start to run high, the party had to move in the opposite direction of a crazed crowd and another while new in a unfriendly town bad rolls things were about to turn ugly against us.
personally I do love mixing a few levels of Fathomless Warlock into a Aberrant Mind Sorcerer to really capture the Lovecraftian horror aspect.
Absolutely! Great Old One is a great pair too
Currently playing an Amethyst Dragonborn Aberrant Mind at Level 2. This has helped me decide what I want to do later Level.
This subclass has made me the most excited to stick to its fantasy with my spell selection. And it doesnt really sacrifice effectiveness at all, because enchantment/psychic spells are SO DAMM GOOD, both in and out of combat.
@8:40 Access to more castings of your high level spells is incredibly powerful. At level 10 we were in over our heads and I cast 4 synaptic statics in one combat and still had sorcery points to twin mind whip. It’s amazing.
If it is a mind whip, could you not just use points to upcast it and get a twin/triplet effect by putting in more points? (Or is this prevented?)
@@warrenprintz5219 that would be better, my DM ruled that would not be allowed. That’s said, I often did upcast it instead of twinning it.
13:03 I actually once came up with the concept for a Deep Gnome Aberrant Sorcerer, mind you it’s setting specific. In this setting, there are large psychic crystals made from dead Gem Greatwyrms around the place that psionic races connect to in order to contact their ancestors. This sorcerers parents connect to it, but the ancestors place a psychic spark in their unborn child. Because o this, the sorcerer occasionally hears the whispers of their ancestors.
I have a build for this which is a weird melee build. I went Mountain Dwarf for the armor, it can use booming blade with a Warhammer. You get a bunch of reaction spells, including getting Silvery Barbs as a psionic spell to choose (or Hex). The extra constitution gives decent hit points. Breastplate or Half Plate gives an AC of 17 with +2 Dex. You can have the option of Shield and Absorb Elements as well. This is just the 1st level spell options. If you still need more 1st level spells, you can multi class with warlock.
A fun telepatic ability would be one that gives a a number of words to use pr level, so that you would need to give limited messages to make the spell last. But it would open the door for uses such as a silenct 'Duck Now' warning or a coded combat code might work.
Calm emotions is really good, any charm or frigthening effect on your allies is gone while the spell is on. Once I saved the party using that spell when a dragon inflicted fear on 3 party members.
In the video you mentioned non detection being really good on a sorcerer. Can you elaborate on that please. New player here. Google and Reddit don't have a big explanation of non detection uses. Great video btw.
It's a great subclass. As DM I built one for an important NPC, possible DMPC, but turned her over to a new player when we recruited him. Serious mind-f*"&3ry potential, was my thought.
The new player tried to make her into a blaster, but also got a lot of mileage out of calm emotions, Tasha's and Raorhim's psychic damage spells.
In the final BBEG battle (lvl 9) used telekinesis to pop a demi lich into another PC's bag of holding for several rounds, which won them the fight. Can't sleep on spells without saving throws!!
Silvery Barbs and the 6th level feature was the basis of my first d&d 5e character and it did work with the lucky feat
I love Aberrant Mind.
I like to pick it while a Goblin.
I call it a Mind Goblin.
Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is my Favorite Sorcerer sub-class as well. One thing to mention, with the ability to switch out the spells from the expanded spell list, an aberrant mind sorcerer can allocate many great control and utility spells into the expanded spell list. This means an aberrant mind sorcerer can easily be built to be a battlefield controller AND a blaster. Also multiclassing an aberrant mind sorcerer allows them to pick up many powerful abilities that allow them be built into an array of powerful and useful roles, often times they are even able to be top tier as blaster, utility and battlefield control all at once. There are some drawbacks to some of the viable multiclassing options, but that is always the case when multiclassing any class.
My Deep Gnome Aberrant mind sorcerer took a 2 level dip into warlock for Mask of Many Faces and Agonizing blast, and I took the Actor Feat as well. This allowed for a super fun character to change appearance at will for infiltration, and other shenanigans, like the Faceless Men from Game of Thrones. But due to my size being small, I could only change appearance into other small races or a child of a medium size race. So a lot of time I pretended to be a young child of one of my companions. Also, for flavor, I made it so my appearance wasn't really being changed, but it was just being changed in the observers' brain.
I also took Quicken Spell to cast Eldritch blast twice in a turn. That made my single target DPS fantastic, so I limited all my other spell choices to Illusion and Divination.
I love this character, playing him is so much fun.
counterpoint: cold spells as the bone chilling depths of the far realms is thematically on brand.
I like fey touched for free mist step. Plus I take the spell that lets you add a 1d8 to initiative. Twin or double the duration with metamagic and you're good to go.
+1 for my favorite sorcerous subclass
I had a weird thought to play/build a mute full caster. Basically pick everything that does not have a verbal component or use subtle spell for those times when you need a spell with it. The Aberrant Mind sorcerer really helps fulfill this idea.
How did you guys know.... I was just sitting here, thinking about what kind of Sorcerer-Subclass I should play. And here you are! Maybe you guys are aberrant minds.... 😎
Enemies Abound plus Subtle Meta is incredible
Played an Abberant Mind in Tier 3 - used subtle spell Detect Thoughts on an entire pirate ship in interrogations.
I do recommend arcane eye too. Great for dungeon crawls.
Also Scrying is a nice pickup for 5th level - super useful and cheap for this character and not a usual Sorcerer spell unless I'm missing something.
On Calm Emotions,
In my campaign (which recently hit 100 sessions!) we were having an arc where the antagonists in question were hags, and were siphoning power from strong emotions in order to charge an obelisk that would revive a Dracolich. This arc was centered around our parties Barbarian, who is kind of a mix between Grog from CR and Kratos, and in the encounter where we began to fight the hags, I made major use of the Calm Emotions spell so that I could prevent him from Raging. I had this spell up as concentration during the fight, and the hags kill the barbarians mother in front of him... to which our DM had him make a charisma save in order to end calm emotions... and of course, he rolls a natural 20. And what is my aberrant mind sorcerers spell save DC? 20.
The dice were on his side, and while we failed in preventing the resurrection of the Dracolich, man that was a cool moment.
Obviously this is a VERY specific arc where Calm Emotions is a useful spell to have, but I have used it in the past to calm down NPC's who are panicked because they saw something they weren't supposed to see, or some PC's and NPC's are arguing and things are about to get violent.
The spells utility honestly is entirely contingent on the player finding the situations where you can get mileage out of it. If an NPC is prone to make rash decisions when offended or angered, or otherwise excited, you can make good use of it. There was another scenario where, we were traveling as a party for long stretches of time underground, and we were making saving throws to not go insane, so I used calm emotions in order to keep our wits. This kind of use varies on the DM as well. Be creative, talk with your DM!
As much as the Dudes pointed out how great Psionic Sorcery is, I think they STILL undersold it. As an example, at level 9, you can swap out one of the 5th level spells for Synaptic Static. You can, throughout the day, convert ALL your spell slots to Sorcery Points, for an additional 36 Sorcery Points. This gives you a total of 45 Sorcery Points, assuming you didn’t take Metamagic Adept. That is 9 casts of Synaptic Static per long rest. A Warlock has to short rest 5 times per day to achieve that at the level 9. So good.
25:25 Scrying is available to regular Sorcerers, but if you take it with the psionic sorcery and spend sorcery points to cast it, you skip the material components. I just imagine you stiintng in a tavern, over your mug of beer and without anyone noticing, you use that beer as your scrying pool and watch someone in the rooms upstairs.
My 12th level Drow A.M. Sorceress smiles. One good combo is to hit your target with Mind Sliver, then if they fail the save, follow it up immediately with a Quickened leveled spell.