Gnome Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer Build Guide
Combining the Gnome's natural resilience with eerie alien magic, the Aberrant Sorcerer controls the battlefield with unmatched mental defenses and telepathic manipulation.
Free — no signup needed for the free tier.
Why Aberrant Sorcery?
The Gnome Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer is a master of mental warfare and crowd control. By utilizing Charisma as your primary ability, you will easily bend the minds of your foes. What makes this combination truly special is your unmatched mental fortitude. Your Gnomish Cunning species trait grants you advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic, making you incredibly difficult for enemy spellcasters to shut down.
At level 6, this resilience reaches new heights with Psychic Defenses, which grants you resistance to psychic damage and protects you from being charmed or frightened. Combined with your innate Gnomish traits, you become an absolute fortress against mental assaults. This lets you confidently position yourself to cast powerful control spells, using your Darkvision to target enemies lurking in the shadows without needing a light source that would give away your position.
As a controller, you can use Telepathic Speech to coordinate silent strategies with your allies while you subtly manipulate the battlefield. Since Sorcerers are traditionally fragile, your high Constitution (CON 14) keeps you standing, while your alien magic turns the tide of every battle.
Aberrant Sorcery Features
Psionic Spells
Level 3You learn additional spells that don't count against the number of spells you know: Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers, Mind Sliver (level 1); Calm Emotions, Detect Thoughts (level 3); Hunger of Hadar, Sending (level 5); Evard's Black Tentacles, Summon Aberration (level 7); Rary's Telepathic Bond, Telekinesis (level 9).
Telepathic Speech
Level 3As a bonus action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet. You and that creature can speak telepathically with each other while you are within a number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1 mile). The connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to your sorcerer level. It ends early if you are incapacitated, die, or use this ability on a different creature.
Psychic Defenses
Level 6You gain resistance to psychic damage, and you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Psionic Sorcery
Level 6When you cast any spell from your Psionic Spells feature, you can cast it by expending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell's level instead of expending a spell slot. When you cast a spell using sorcery points this way, it requires no verbal or somatic components, and it requires no material components unless they are consumed by the spell.
Revelation in Flesh
Level 14You can spend 1 or more sorcery points as a bonus action to transform your body for 10 minutes. For each sorcery point spent, you can gain one of these benefits: see invisible creatures within 60 feet, gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed with a hover, gain a swimming speed twice your walking speed and breathe underwater, or become slimy and pliable — you can move through spaces as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing and spend 5 feet of movement to escape nonmagical restraints or grapples.
Warping Implosion
Level 18As an action, you can teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 120 feet. Each creature within 30 feet of the space you left must make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, a creature takes 3d10 force damage and is pulled straight toward the space you left, ending in an unoccupied space as close to it as possible. On a success, it takes half damage and isn't pulled. Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 5 sorcery points to use it again.
Recommended Ability Scores
Gnome Traits That Benefit Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer
Gnomish Cunning
Extra saving throw advantages protect against debilitating spells and effects.
Darkvision
Gnome Darkvision helps Sorcerers scout ahead and fight in darkness without needing a torch.
Combat Effectiveness
| Level | HP | Melee DPR | Spell DPR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 5 | 32 | 3.9 | 7.8 |
| Level 11 | 68 | 3.58 | 10.18 |
| Level 17 | 104 | 3.58 | 13.2 |
👉 Stop reading. Start playing.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- ♦ Aberrant Sorcery grants Psionic Spells at level 3
- ♦ Strong species-class synergy enhances core abilities
- ♦ Darkvision for dungeon exploration
- ♦ Versatile spellcasting options
Weaknesses
- ♦ Low hit points — vulnerable in melee
- ♦ May require careful feat selection to optimize
Pro Tips
Use Telepathic Speech to silently coordinate with your party's scout, planning perfect battlefield setups without making a sound.
Leverage Psionic Sorcery to cast control spells subtly while in public spaces, completely avoiding detection by suspicious guards.
Rely on Gnomish Cunning and Psychic Defenses to confidently hold concentration on powerful crowd-control spells when targeted by enemy mages.
Activate Revelation in Flesh at later levels to gain a swimming or flying speed, keeping your small Gnome out of reach from melee threats.
Other Sorcerer Subclasses for Gnome
Other Races for Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aberrant Sorcery a good subclass for Gnome Sorcerer?
What makes Aberrant Sorcery different from other Sorcerer subclasses?
Create Your Gnome Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer
Use Dice Will Decide's free character builder with optimized stats, spells, and equipment.
Create This Character