Clockwork Soul Sorcerer 5E Guide | Tasha’s Cauldron Subclass

To say that the Sorcerer is a being of chaos is to miss the point a bit… Though admittedly, sorcerers are fairly volatile and chaotic beings. However, thanks to Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, you can fight against that oppressive stereotype. The Clockwork Soul is built off of calculations. You may be infused by Mechanus, or simply have a mind that works like a computer. Your body is suffused with the power of order, and thus you’re a natural choice for a lawful demigod. Are you too predictable to be useful in a dungeon? Find out, in our Clockwork Soul Sorcerer 5E guide!

Restore the Balance: Clockwork Soul Sorcerer 5E

The Clockwork Soul is a support sorcerer origin focusing on bringing some Cleric utility to the Sorcerer. It succeeds on a few aspects of this; you gain the Restoration spells, pretty great access to dice rolls of enemies and allies, and even some healing… eventually.

Clockwork Magic

To start, you gain some spells known. These spells can be swapped anytime you gain a level. The swapped spells must be abjuration or transmutation spells from sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell lists.

Alarm is going to want to be replaced quickly. It’s just way too specific to be on your permanent Spells Known. You’re better off with an early-game option like Mage Armor. Protection from Evil and Good is… nice? But it’s fairly specific, only useful against the specific types that it protects against. If you know that your campaign is going to focus on either blasting through undead or crushing angels, you’ve got a good spell.

Aid is a cleric spell that… I just don’t like. 5 HP is so pathetically low in my opinion that it’s not worth the investment. Lesser Restoration is super rare for a Sorcerer to get access to, so keep that around! You’ll be super helpful for helping a paralyzed cleric.

Dispel Magic can be a lifesaver, and you are a full caster. You’ll destroy the check to dispel! This is a good spell for any caster to have. Speaking of, Protection from Energy can be a lifesaver against specific enemy types, like dragons or elementals. While it can’t stop physical damage, you’ll be glad to have it in almost every single fight.

Freedom of Movement is niche, but against those niches it’s literally unstoppable. Keep it around if you’re worried about being trapped, since it’s quite literally a win button in specific scenarios. Summon Construct is decent; it creates a potent tank with good damage. But 400 gold is a lot to ask for, when all you get is a pretty basic summon. This should probably be replaced, unless you’re willing to cough up some money.

Greater Restoration is an absolute lifesaver and can absolutely save a campaign. And it’s thankfully only 100 gold! Wall of Force is a brutally efficient defensive spell, and thus you should really consider keeping it around for it’s pure utility.

A great list of spells, and you can replace them with a ton of good options! Just play, and see if you use all of the spells that you have on your list. As you level, you can replace them pretty freely!

In addition to spells, you also gain a little cosmetic manifestation while you cast. That’s not really too important; just figure out what clockwork or balance-themed manifestation occurs. You’ll be fairly obviously magical in fights, though, so be careful!

Restore Balance

Also at level 1, you gain a pretty particular counter ability.

When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you is about to roll a d20 with advantage or disadvantage, you can use your reaction to prevent the roll from being affected by advantage and disadvantage.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

So… this is not overly particular, admittedly. Advantage and disadvantage comes up all the time; cover, “flanking,” spells, special effects, positionals… There’s a ton of options for advantage or disadvantage to come up. 

With a flick, you can negate it. Obviously, you’ll want to negate advantage for enemies and disadvantage for allies. And the only restriction is that they’re within 60 feet of you. That’s actually crazy; no save or anything. You just flick a d20 out of their hand! 

Sorcerers don’t have many great reactions outside of spells, so giving “advantage” or “disadvantage” is a pretty great use of a reaction. Just remember that you can only use it once per turn… And only a small amount of times per day, sadly. But you’ll be shocked at how often you’ll be able to benefit from this!

Bastion of Law

At level 6, you gain a defensive ability that expends your sorcery points… And unfortunately, this is a theme that’s going to stick around.

As an action, you can expend 1 to 5 sorcery points to create a magical ward around yourself or another creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The ward lasts until you finish a long rest or until you use this feature again.

The ward is represented by a number of d8s equal to the number of sorcery points spent to create it. When the warded creature takes damage, it can expend a number of those dice, roll them, and reduce the damage taken by the total rolled on those dice.

So, you spend sorcery points. For each one you spend, you can expect to block about 4-5 damage. The question then becomes… Is a sorcery point worth about 5 health in savings?

Probably not.

This is a pretty good ability, if only it didn’t cost sorcery points! It’s just so expensive. If you don’t spend sorcery points on metamagic very much, or you don’t need them to refresh spells, then hey, this isn’t too bad! It’s a pretty good defensive spell.

And if you value this ability compared to the False Life spell, this defends for a ton more than False Life. So if you like tanking up and want to spend your sorcery points on defense, rather than boosting spells, then this is great, even! You can throw it on at the start of the day and be quite well off. And this stacks with temporary hitpoints, which can legitimately be useful!

Trance of Order

At level 14, you get a little bit more control of dice rolls.

As a bonus action, you can enter this state for 1 minute. For the duration, attack rolls against you can’t benefit from advantage, and whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can treat a roll of 9 or lower on the d20 as a 10.

Once you use this bonus action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 5 sorcery points to use it again.

Neat!

Once per day, you get 10 rounds of rolling minimum 10 and not getting destroyed by attack rolls. That’s… nice?

If you’re wanting to guarantee damage, this will usually guarantee that you get hits on spell attack rolls. It’ll also make you very likely to pass on saving throws or skill checks that you need to make. That’s wonderful, right?

Well… There’s a problem. Your number of attack roll spells are pretty limited. Guaranteeing Disintegrate is pretty good but… That requires you to learn Disintegrate. Is that bad? Not really, but there’s not many spell attack rolls for you, so popping this in combat is mostly defensive.

Still, this is a stellar ability for boss fights, and can still let you guarantee damage on your best spells. Just remember that it might be mostly defensive, rather than aggressive.

Clockwork Cavalcade

At level 18, you gain the ability to construct a 30 ft cube around yourself. Within this cube, clockwork spirits fly around and do a few things;

• The spirits restore up to 100 hit points, divided as you choose among any number of creatures of your choice in the cube.
• Any damaged objects entirely in the cube are repaired instantly.
• Every spell of 6th level or lower ends on creatures and objects of your choice in the cube.

Once you use this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 7 sorcery points to use it again.

How fun! This is a cool burst ability.

You get 100 health. Healing for 100 is a ton, even at level 18! That’s probably going to be on yourself, but you can still heal a nearby ally for a ton. As a Sorcerer, you normally don’t get access to any healing, so this massive burst of health is quite worthwhile. That alone would be arguably worth the 7 points!

But, there’s more. You repair any objects nearby. That’s pretty niche, but if the fighter’s sword got shattered then it might be a good idea to fix it quickly. However, most of the time enemies don’t really target your equipment or items of importance.

Finally, you cast a 6th level Dispel Magic that affects every spell on multiple creatures. Dang! If your enemy has a massive series of buffs on themselves then this is guaranteed to pop them. However, normally you’d just need to cast Dispel Magic, since most enemies just have one buff on them. If you don’t want to spend the spell slots, however, here this is!

This is a pretty alright ability. If you can, try to get the Healing and Dispel Magic simultaneously. That’d make this very worthwhile, and make your Cleric pretty jealous!

You might also want to know Misty Step, so you can quickly get out of danger after you use this ability near enemies. This takes your action, so it’s basically all your turn.

Best Races for Clockwork Soul Sorcerers

Clockwork Souls sorcerers are pretty much the same as every sorcerer; Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity. You’re fairly tanky with your class abilities if you want to be, but you still don’t want to be on the frontlines. You’re better off using those defensive buffs on your actual frontline classes.

Satyr

Satyrs are high Charisma classes from Mythic Odysseys of Theros. They have +2 Charisma, +1 Dexterity, which is perfect! Ram is not exactly what you’re looking for, and Mirthful Leaps is rather mundane for a wizard. However, you gain free proficiency in Performance and Persuasion, in addition to advantage against magic. They’re pretty fantastic… And it’s pretty ironic to be a being of pure partying and chaos that has embraced law and order!

Verdan

You’d be forgiven for not knowing about the Verdan from Acquisitions Incorporated. These guys are great, though! +2 Charisma, +1 Constitution is great. Black Blood healing allows you to heal a ton during short rests. Limited Telepathy is effective but not exactly powerful. You still get free Persuasion proficiency, which is always nice. Finally, Telepathic Insight helps you not get mind-controlled… Which is always nice! These guys are great, and make a little more sense thematically than Satyr!

Best Feats for Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

Sorcerer has a smorgasbord of options when it comes to feats. Concentration help, defensive options, and extra spells will all constantly vie for your attention. Here are some of our favorites to think about as you level up.

Chef

The Chef feat is similar to Inspiring Leader in 5E, and honestly, it doesn’t hold too much of a candle to it. Chef provides four benefits that we’re interested in.

• +1 Con or +1 Cha. Either of these is fine, providing a much-needed evening out of our stats. Only take this feat if you have odd Constitution or Charisma.
• Chef’s Tools proficiency. Fun! Not super useful, but you can always find a use for delicious food.
• +1d8 Healing per short rest. 4.5 health is pretty middling, but some characters adore short rests. For a party of Monks or Warlocks, that healing can really sustain characters.
• The Treats. Also on short rest, you get a number of treats equal to your proficiency bonus that block damage equal to proficiency bonus. On a Bonus Action, mind you! So, during a fight, your Barbarian can Dash towards an enemy and consume a sweet treat to provide a health shield. This feat offers between 4-36 HP per short rest with the treats alone. Not too much on first glance, but offering that every time you rest? That’s worth consideration.

Fey Touched/Shadow Touched

Similar to Chef, both Fey Touched and Shadow Touched provide a +1 to Charisma, nice for rounding out an odd score set. They also both provide a 1st and 2nd level spell slot, as well as a 1st and 2nd level spell that you learn. The free spell slot must be used on that specific spell, so it’s good to make it count.

Of the two feats, Fey Touched is our preference. Misty Step is a great get-out-of-jail free card, and your bonus action is only used for Quickened Spells otherwise. And learning great magic like Silvery Barbs for free is worth considering. You could alternatively get spells like Hex if you want more aggression!

Shadow Touched is similar, but has a worse spell list in general.

Inspiring Leader

Inspiring Leader is one of the best ways for a Sorcerer to support their party. Level + Charisma is a lot of temporary health. If you reach level 20, that’s 100 HP for the standard party! 25 HP over your own health pool might not sound super great at level 20, but… It’s really good. You absorb a fireball for free, on average. And you get this once per short rest! Seriously, if you have a free feat slot and have high Charisma, consider scooping this up.

Metamagic Adept

Clockwork Soul Sorcerers have a few ways to spend Sorcery Points outside of Metamagic. So, getting 2 more Sorcery Points is a good start. Having a guaranteed Quicken in the pocket can be nice! And you also get more options. While few Sorcerers need 5 options for Metamagic, having niche choices like Extend or Distant can be nice compared to the otherwise standard spread. As a Supportcerer, that’s even more enticing!

Ritual Caster

Ritual Caster is a great choice for a Sorcerer, since they otherwise don’t get to naturally cast spells as rituals. You now don’t need to spend any resources for traditionally strong options like Detect Magic, and lets you learn some cool Wizard options like Find Familiar. You’ll need to invest in Wisdom or Intelligence to make this work, but that’s a small price to pay for the additional utility.

Best Multiclass Options for Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

For a primary-class Sorcerer, your multiclass choices that are better than full investment are somewhat limited. However, there are some options that might be worth considering.

Fighter

For Fighter, we have only one major consideration… Action Surge. If we don’t want to invest 2 levels into this class, don’t bother multiclassing. If we are willing to invest, then take the Defense Fighting Style for extra durability. Second Wind is a fine use of our Bonus Action in emergencies. 

But Action Surge… The ability to cast 2 spells in a turn is too good to pass up. Just… Be sure not to cast a Quickened Spell when you Action Surge! Any Bonus Action spell hard-limits you to cantrips. You can always Quickened a Cantrip if you’re desperate for damage.

If you can, try to start as a Fighter and move up into a Sorcerer. Heavy Armor proficiency is no joke! If you don’t want to do that, medium armor works just fine.

Paladin

Paladin has some features like the Fighter if you dip 2 levels into it. Medium Armor, good health, and the Defense fighting style. It also comes saddled with spells and Divine Smite, making you scary in melee. Not terrible! We personally prefer Action Surge, since melee and d6 don’t normally mix too well. But if you want more spell slots while keeping the armor, you could do worse!

Warlock

Warlock offers a weird mix of options for a Sorcerer. You get spell slots that return every Short Rest, allowing for the famous (but a bit old) “Coffee Lock” build to come online. However, the important part for us is the Hexblade’s medium armor proficiency, access to the best offensive cantrip in the game in Eldritch Blast, and Invocations at level 2. Seriously, this is a spellcaster’s dream! And it opens up melee as an option, if you want to get in there and mix it up, cleric-style.

Best Backgrounds for Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

When making a Sorcerer, the Background is inherently important. Sorcerers get very few skills to start, making careful picking a requirement if you want to do stuff out-of-combat without spending spell slots.

Investigator

If you can get away with the Investigator from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, then you’re in a good spot! Insight and Perception are perfect out-of-combat skills for a sorcerer. Access to Disguise kit and Thieves’ Tools proficiencies are even better! While you could pick locks with Knock, it’s better to save a level 2 spell most of the time.

Your equipment and feature are both a bit lackluster, but when the rest of the background is so good, who cares? This is an easy win for our favorite background.

Entertainer

However, at times, you aren’t going to get more than the Player Handbook for your backgrounds. In that case, we still want to get some unique, out-of-class perks. Enter the Entertainer. Performance isn’t anything too handy, but Acrobatics can save your life in a pinch. You’ll get an Instrument – which can come up – and a disguise kit – which is slightly more likely to come up, depending on your creativity. Your equipment is just fine, and your feature is a bit campaign reliant. But, when it comes to making money with just a background, Entertainer is actually quite hard to beat!

FAQ for the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

Why is the Clockwork Sorcerer Good?

The Clockwork Sorcerer is mostly good due to the extra utility provided by Clockwork Magic. Where many sorcerers have too few spells to get utility options, the Clockwork Sorcerer thrives on additional, strong utility spells. It’s also the sorcerer most attuned to supporting the party, making it very unique amongst the many different options you have for dealing damage in the Sorcerer class.

What Book is the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer In?

The Clockwork Soul Sorcerer is found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It is on page 68.

Is Trance of Order Worth Using?

Trance of Order is a solid option for out of combat, funny enough. Math in 5E implies that a 10 will allow you to succeed on many standard-difficulty attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. However, since the Sorcerer primarily relies on enemies making saving throws, it’s usually not very important during fights. Thus, using Trance of Order for guaranteed 10s in social situations might actually be very important.

Example Clockwork Soul Sorcerer Build

When even thinking about an example build, you’ll need to know what your DM is allowing. For instance, for this example, our DM is not letting us use lineage rules from Tasha’s Cauldron. We need to choose races that have stat bonuses – or races where the DM and I can realistically work out the stat bonuses, like the different backgrounds for Dragonborn. We’re also stuck with Standard Array for ability scores and standard starting equipment. But, we’re allowed to use any core book.

Our Sorcerer doesn’t necessarily need to have the highest possible Charisma. However, 17 Charisma is a pretty good idea for Standard Array. Because of that, we’ll be a Scourge Aasimar, for the Charisma, Constitution, and decent utility abilities. Our background will be Investigator, from Van Richten’s, since it lets us get Perception without too much of a fuss. We’ll be investigating sources of chaos across the campaign!

Equipment really doesn’t matter all that much, since the Sorcerer really doesn’t start with much. Our Standard Array should prioritize Charisma, but also leak into the two most defensive stats: Dexterity and Constitution. Plus, our Sorcerer isn’t doing much else other than cantrips and spells, but we can wield a crossbow if times get rough!

Our skills should be focused on conversations. As the Charisma Caster, we’ll be doing a lot of the talking if times call for it. Persuasion, Intimidation, and Insight are great choices for us.

Conclusion – Our Take on the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

The Clockwork Soul is a pretty decent support archetype, though some of it’s later game abilities don’t do quite enough to make them high-tier. You’ll want to try this out if you want to do some roll control on a Sorcerer! You’ll have a ton of fun trying out some spells that Sorcerers can only dream of!