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The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer brought psionics to the forefront ofDungeons & Dragons’sorcerer class. Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the Aberrant Mind melds Lovecraftian influence and early multiversal concepts, introducing extraplanar sources for the sorcerer’s power.
Origins range from an incomplete ceremorphosis, a psychic wind from the Astral Plane, running afoul of an aboleth, and a parasitic twin. The class also makes a case for being born with powers through unnatural means, making a variety of backstories possible for your sorcerer. The Aberrant Mind subclass provides excellent spellcasting and an uncanny, psychic flavor, making it a great alternative for your next spellcaster.
Aberrant Sorcerer Class Features
The variety of origins for the Aberrant Mind allows you to create a character who may not fully understand the extent of their powers, fearfully watching as their thoughts warp the world around them.
Conversely, you may make a sorcerer who intends to bring the world to its knees by infiltrating the private observations of political figures, utilizing their arcane and aberrant talent to carve a place for themselves.
The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer plays with the minds of surrounding creatures, manipulating the patterns of their allies' and enemies' brainwaves tocommunicate, inflict damage,andotherwise mold others to their indomitable will.At thefirst level, you receive an ability to articulate that will discreetly.
There are a couple of limits:
By maxing your Charisma, you would get five miles of connection. You could, say, safely stand outside an area and maintain a connection with someone in a situation in which the party must split. At tables where Dungeon Masters allow you to exceed 20 (the hard cap being 30), your telepathic connection could extend much further.
Psychic Defenses
At thefourteenth level, you gain what’s probably the Aberrant Mind’s best and most versatile feature as you take on unusual aspects of your body that grant you enigmatic abilities, giving your enemies a glimpse into your unknowable nature.
Revelation in Flesh
As abonus action, you can spend 1 (or potentially more) sorcery points to transform your body for 10 minutes. These features line up with how many sorcery points you spent. So, a sorcery point for each feature.You could have multiple active at one time, and the effects last until the end of your magical transformation:
With the Mobile feat, this feature becomes even more powerful, giving you extra swimming and flight speeds. Haste + Mobile + Dhampir Lineage would be nightmarish, but it would be one speedy character.
Ateighteenth level, you now have the ability to bend space and time to punish your enemies.
Recommended Species For Aberrant Mind
Dhampir, leonin, wood elf,andswiftstride shifterare good if you want to build around your fourteenth-level feature, Revelation In The Flesh. Extra speed is always good to have, so you could conceivably create a build around such a late-game acquisition for a longer-form game. Further, dhampir gives you the Spider Climb ability, making your character incredibly mobile.
Purely mechanically, you’ll want to avoid species with preexisting psychic resistance, as your sixth-level feature would render that acquisition moot fairly early.
Tieflingautomatically hasCharisma-based casting, as doeshalf-drowanddrow. It’s hard not to recommend drow for every spellcaster, as Faerie Fire is so helpful that it nearly justifies always picking the species if you’re in a large party. These work especially well for sorcerers because Hellish Rebuke and Faerie Fire aren’t otherwise available on the sorcerer spell list.
Stout halflinggives you some cool features, withpoison resistancebeing extraordinarily useful, as poison is one of the most common damage types.Yuan-tiis good for this reason as well, and works fantastically with the flavor of Aberrant Mind.
Rebornorwarforgedwill also give your spellcaster some durability.
Recommended Ability Scores For Aberrant Mind
Charismacomes first, as yourspell save DC and the amount of damage you do will apply here.Many sorcerers serve as “faces” for their party, and will take the brunt of socialization, so having high bonuses to Deception, Persuasion, and Performance may come in handy.
Next, you’ll want to increase yourConstitution.Sorcerers are notoriously fragile, so you should add to yourhit point maximumwhenever possible.Dexterityis your armor class, so it comes third.
For Aberrant Mind in particular,Intelligencesaves may be more imperative to succeed in, with spells utilizing those saves frequently used by creatures in the aberrant and illithid sphere.Wisdomis also a great contender for this spot, as many spells use Wisdom saves, but failing those few Intelligence saves could potentially take your character off the board (such as in the case of the spell Feeblemind).
If you suspect your Dungeon Master wants to make use of your aberrant origin, ensure your Intelligence is stacked fourth. Otherwise, you’re free to switch it out with Wisdom.Strength is last, as you really, really won’t be using it unless you’re multiclassing.
Recommended Spells For Aberrant Mind Sorcerer
Psionic Spells
You’ll get a couple of spells by virtue of choosing the class, themed towards the mind.
Telekinesis
Recommended Cantrips
Here are a couple of cantrips that are good to have all the way through your playthrough:
Mind Sliver
You push a spike of psychic energy into your foe’s mind, and they take1d6psychic damage ona failed Intelligence save.They’ll also have1d4subtracted from their next roll, which is great for Evard’s Black Tentacles. You’ll get this inherently.
Fire Bolt
On a hit, the target takes1d10fire damage. This is a greatranged cantripthat levels with you, increasing ind10s.
Prestidigitation
The roleplayer’s delight. Prestidigitation allows you toperform a minor magical effectsuch as: cleaning an area, soiling an area, altering the taste of food, warming something, or shooting off sparks. Prestidigitation can be incredibly fun for creative players.
Shocking Grasp
The target takes1d8lightning damage while within melee range, andyou roll with advantage if the foe is wearing armor.It prevents opportunity attacks,as it eliminates reactions for the turn,and you can escape if caught in close range.
Recommended Spells
Here are some first-level spells to help build your character from the ground up.
Chromatic Orb
Chaos Bolt is one of the best spells for a sorcerer, but in the Aberrant Mind’s case, it can’t be recommended over Chromatic Orb. You have other sources of psychic damage, andthe flexibility of getting to choose your damage type is great.It also works with Twinned Spell, which Chaos Bolt does not.
Sleep
Sleep canknock out a bunch of low-level opponentsif they have fewer hit points than5d8, no save required. An early must-have.
Shield
You cast on areaction, and the Aberrant Mind doesn’t use its reaction for much. It’s good to boost AC!
Magic Missile
Magic Missile is anassured hit, which is something you’ll want with you for the majority of your adventure. You roll a number ofd4scorresponding with the level you’re at, starting at3d4at early levels.It’s good, reliable damageand is frankly one of the best spells out there.
