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Sorcerers inDungeons & Dragonscan augment their spellcasting with the help of Metamagic. Metamagic options allow you to change how you cast spells, their effects, range, duration, and other aspects. This versatility when using spells allows Sorcerers to stand out from other spellcasters, but there is a downside.
To use Metamagic, they have to spend sorcery points that are regained on a long rest. Sorcerers must carefully consider if they want to boost their spells now or save their sorcery points to be used later. In a lot of ways, the right Metamagic can spell the difference between failure and success.
What Is Metamagic?
Starting at second level, sorcerers receive a Font of Magic, granting them access to sorcery points. By default, the maximum number of sorcery points you can have is equal to your sorcerer level.
While you may use sorcery points to create spell slots, it’s more often going to be useful toalter a spell you can already castthan to give yourself the ability to cast a whole new spell,especially as youcan only make up to fifth-level spell slots.
you’re able to regain spent points by having a long rest or converting spell slots, butyou can’t convert spell slots to sorcery points such that you can’t have more sorcery points than your sorcerer level.
Metamagic uses these sorcery pointsand offers you the ability toalter any spell in a variety of ways, and has useboth in combat scenarios and roleplay.
There are several options you’re able to choose when you first gain Metamagic, though you will have to start with two at third level and gain one more at 10th and 17th level, respectively,for a total of four metamagic options.
If you choose to, you can alsouse your spell slots to convert them into sorcery pointsshould you need more. However, you still cannot have more Sorcery points than your level allows.
How To Use Metamagic
The number of sorcery points you have access to at a given time should be written on your character sheet.
When you want to cast a spell and use Metamagic, you’ll announce you’re doing so, use the necessary sorcery points, and then describe the effect as written.
For most options you willannounce you’re using them before you cast them, though Seeking Spell and Empowered Spell require you to have cast the spell first to see if you hit and need to reroll.
However,there’s no hard rule about whether you have to decide before or after you cast the spell,so verify you discuss it with your Dungeon Master.
If you are DMing, a good rule of thumb if you don’t want to be too strict on your players is “if it is a spell that can miss, let them add the Metamagic after they know they’ve hit.”
Additionally, in a situation where your sorcerer casts Burning Hands and accidentally deals massive damage to the fighter they didn’t realize was in range, they can add Careful Spell retroactively, provided no one else has taken their turn.
While you have many official options to work with, note thatyou can only use one Metamagic option on a given spell at a timeunless otherwise stated.
Below is a breakdown of the cost of each metamagic option, followed by an in-depth look at each Metamagic available for the sorcerer.
2
1
3
Equal to spell’s level, or 1 if a cantrip
Quickened Spell
This is one of the best Metamagic options, allowing you to cast any spell with a casting time of one action using your bonus action.
This leaves you free to cast another spell,take the dash action, disengage from enemies, and otherwise get out of sticky situations.
Careful Spell
Spells like Burning Hands or Cone of Cold are powerful, but since they hit a wide area, there’s always the risk of your allies getting caught up in the attack.
Careful Spell lets you mitigate thatby letting you have friendly creatures automatically succeed in their saving throw. For some spells, this will only mean half damage, but that’s better than taking the full hit.
It’s useful if you tend to fight a lot of enemies in a cramped space and can’t quite angle yourself to avoid your allies.
Heightened Spell
Heightened Spell is the reverse of Careful Spell, allowing you to give enemies disadvantage on saving throws whenever you cast a spell.
The most useful place to usethis is if you’re casting a“save or suck” spell, otherwise known as spells that have no effect if you succeed on the saving throw, such as Mind Sliver or Dissonant Whispers.
Distant Spell
Getting up close to enemies isn’t a good idea for spellcasters, so the further you can be, the better. Distant Spell lets you get around that.
If a spell’s range is five feet or greater, you can double the range. And for more versatility,you can increase the range of a touch spell to 30 feet.
You could cast Mage Armor on an ally who’s on the other side of the battlefield and could use the extra defense, cast Revivify on someone far away and about to fail their death saves, or cast Inflict Wounds from a safe distance.
Transmuted Spell
If you’re facing an enemy with resistance to fire, cold, lighting, poison, or thunder damage that resists your spell,you can use Transmuted spell to change the type of damage.
It’s also a good way of being able to target enemies who are weak to particular types of damage without having to take different spells of as many types as possible.
Subtle Spell
Spells with verbal or somatic components can be flashy and hard to use for stealth. Subtle Spell allows you to ignore that.
It will come in handy if you want to do something like cast Charm Person in a crowded room or justotherwise don’t want anyone to know you’re casting magic.
Twinned Spell
If a spell only targets one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, such as Chill Touch, you can use Twinned Spellto cast the same spell on another creature in range.
This is a useful option if you want to hit multiple enemies but either don’t have something like Cone of Cold or Careful Spell is too risky to use on the allies in the way.
Extended Spell
This option will double the duration of a spell that lasts at least one minute to a maximum of 24 hours.
Talk to your Dungeon Master for their ruling on spells that last up to one minute, as they may have differing opinions on whether it counts.
This is good for spells like Mage Armor or Light,something you would prepare in advancebefore entering a dungeon, making it less likely you accidentally lose it at a key moment.
It can also be useful to extend buffs on allies and debuffs on enemies.
Seeking Spell
If you miss a spell that requires an attack roll, you can use this to reroll and try again, thoughyou have to use the new roll.
However, unlike something like Bardic Inspiration, you’re allowed to know if you failed before rerolling,meaning you may be more judicious with it.
You can also use this if another Metamagic effect is in use.
Empowered Spell
Empowered Spell is very similar to Seeking Spell, onlyallowing you to reroll damage diceinstead of hit dice.
However, this makes Empowered Spell a double-edged sword because you have to use the new roll, and thus your new roll can potentially be lower. You don’t have to reroll all your dice, but you must use the new number on any dice you roll.
Because of this, Empowered Spell is best usedif you roll a one on the die.
Empowered Spell can also be cast alongside another Metamagic Effect.
The Metamagic Adept Feat
For non-sorcerers, theMetamagic Adept featwill give you two sorcery points to spend on two Metamagic options of your choice. Sorcerers can also take this feat to get extra sorcery points and Metamagic options earlier on.
Ask your Dungeon Master whether they want to rule that the sorcery points gained through this feat count towards the cap Sorcerers have or not, as the feat itself doesn’t specify.
You also can’t use these sorcery points to create spell slots.
For non-sorcerer spellcasters, themost usefuloptions to take will beCareful Spell, Transmuted Spell, or Quickened Spell,as they’re all relatively cheap and very versatile across spell lists.
The number of creatures you’re able to protect with Careful Spell is determined by your Charisma Modifier, so keep that in mind.
