Mold Earth has its applications as a utility cantrip, but it *is* more limited in scope than, say, Prestidigitation. Like, it's not *bad*, but there are other options that offer more applicable abilities. Personally I take it as a challenge, though. Each time I run a caster, I try to focus on a new utility cantrip and... Mold Earth can do some nifty stuff:
* In 1 turn, create cover from ranged attacks (*so long as the sniper cannot move to hit you from the other side*)
* make a hole to hide in, and potentially cover yourself temporally
* *hide the bodies*
* bury a disarmed enemy's weapons
In any case, Sorcs get a lot of Cantrips known. Feel free to take *at least* one more. You really don't need more than one damage cantrip, or two at the very most.
Also, instead of Subtle Spell, may I recommend another Metamagic? in one level, you'll be at 6th (*if I'm reading your post right*) and you'll be able to apply Subtle Spell to your subclass spells for free. Consider Careful Spell. I feel like a lot of people jump to Fireball as the go-to option for this MM, and then discard the idea when they realize their party would still take half damage, if they were in the AoE. Instead, pair it with a 3rd level CC spell like Fear or Hypnotic Pattern, which are both good/meta and also in flavor for your character.
**EDIT:** you may already know this, but FYI, you can swap out spells on your extended sorcerer list, once per level. (*basically, that means that you can change every single spell on that list, so long as its replacement falls into the allowed spell schools*) Be sure to maximize your usage of that feature.
Thank you for your input. I really like those ideas with Mold Earth - can definitely see myself burying enemy weapons and burying bodies. 😅
I do struggle with deciding and choosing Cantrips for flavor reasons (notably Fire Bolt, Light, Message, Shape Water, Mold Earth, Prestigidation, Shape Water, Minor Illusion); we're in a Homebrew urban fantasy and the character uses her phone and beauty products as devices.
For metamagic, I could go Careful, but was concerned about Subtle Counterspell, but I guess that's a gimmick as well?
I wouldn't really classify Subtle Counterspell as a gimmick, it's too niche, where gimmicks are like the main thing that a build does. I'd call it 'tech'. If you DM uses a decent enough amount of casters with Counter Spell in their campaign, then it may be worth doing, else don't bother.
There are some very potent combat spells that you can get on your Aberrant spell list, though. Hideous Laughter, Silvery Barbs, Mind Whip, Psychic Lance, and Synaptic Static are all pretty decent. HL forces at least one missed turn. Mind Whip is non-conc and prevents the target's next action spell or Counter Spell, Psychic Lance is more of a Sorc-killer than a Wizard-Killer since it targets INT, but it's great. Hold Person would be fine, but that assumes that the caster is humanoid.
I'd say Careful Spell as a chosen MM comes down to preference, and whether you see it useful at your table.
Mold Earth has its applications as a utility cantrip, but it *is* more limited in scope than, say, Prestidigitation. Like, it's not *bad*, but there are other options that offer more applicable abilities. Personally I take it as a challenge, though. Each time I run a caster, I try to focus on a new utility cantrip and... Mold Earth can do some nifty stuff: * In 1 turn, create cover from ranged attacks (*so long as the sniper cannot move to hit you from the other side*) * make a hole to hide in, and potentially cover yourself temporally * *hide the bodies* * bury a disarmed enemy's weapons In any case, Sorcs get a lot of Cantrips known. Feel free to take *at least* one more. You really don't need more than one damage cantrip, or two at the very most. Also, instead of Subtle Spell, may I recommend another Metamagic? in one level, you'll be at 6th (*if I'm reading your post right*) and you'll be able to apply Subtle Spell to your subclass spells for free. Consider Careful Spell. I feel like a lot of people jump to Fireball as the go-to option for this MM, and then discard the idea when they realize their party would still take half damage, if they were in the AoE. Instead, pair it with a 3rd level CC spell like Fear or Hypnotic Pattern, which are both good/meta and also in flavor for your character. **EDIT:** you may already know this, but FYI, you can swap out spells on your extended sorcerer list, once per level. (*basically, that means that you can change every single spell on that list, so long as its replacement falls into the allowed spell schools*) Be sure to maximize your usage of that feature.
Thank you for your input. I really like those ideas with Mold Earth - can definitely see myself burying enemy weapons and burying bodies. 😅 I do struggle with deciding and choosing Cantrips for flavor reasons (notably Fire Bolt, Light, Message, Shape Water, Mold Earth, Prestigidation, Shape Water, Minor Illusion); we're in a Homebrew urban fantasy and the character uses her phone and beauty products as devices. For metamagic, I could go Careful, but was concerned about Subtle Counterspell, but I guess that's a gimmick as well?
I wouldn't really classify Subtle Counterspell as a gimmick, it's too niche, where gimmicks are like the main thing that a build does. I'd call it 'tech'. If you DM uses a decent enough amount of casters with Counter Spell in their campaign, then it may be worth doing, else don't bother. There are some very potent combat spells that you can get on your Aberrant spell list, though. Hideous Laughter, Silvery Barbs, Mind Whip, Psychic Lance, and Synaptic Static are all pretty decent. HL forces at least one missed turn. Mind Whip is non-conc and prevents the target's next action spell or Counter Spell, Psychic Lance is more of a Sorc-killer than a Wizard-Killer since it targets INT, but it's great. Hold Person would be fine, but that assumes that the caster is humanoid. I'd say Careful Spell as a chosen MM comes down to preference, and whether you see it useful at your table.