Best BG3 Lorecerer Build – Bard Sorcerer Multiclass Build

LORECERER PROS

LORECERER CONS

BG3 Multiclass Explainer:

• How it works: New classes can be added as you level up. They are added on a level-by-level basis.
• Example: If you are a level 6 Bard and decide to add 1 Sorcerer level, you will only get the features of Sorcerer level 1.
• Example 2: If you want the features of a level 6 Bard and Sorcerer, you need to be max level and add 6 levels of each class.

Pro Tip: It’s usually best to choose subclasses that work together easily. For example, the Bard and Sorcerer go well together because they both use Charisma as their spellcasting attribute.

Bard

• This will be our primary class, and we’re using the College of Lore subclass.
• It gives you a wide range of Skill Proficiencies and lots of good spells.
• We’ll use six Bard levels to unlock the first helping of Magical Secrets from the College of Lore subclass.

Sorcerer

• Our secondary class is Sorcerer. Draconic Bloodline is strongly recommended as the subclass, because it will eventually boost your elemental damage.
• The Sorcerer allows you to buff your spells with Metamagic, for example increasing their range or success chance.
• We’ll use six levels of the Sorcerer, because this is what is required to unlock this bonus elemental damage.

Lorecerer Leveling Progress Overview

• Level 1: Bard 1
• Level 2: Sorcerer 1 (Draconic Power subclass)
• Level 3: Sorcerer 2
• Level 4: Sorcerer 3
• Level 5: Sorcerer 4
• Level 6: Sorcerer 5
• Level 7: Sorcerer 6
• Level 8: Bard 2
• Level 9: Bard 3 (College of Lore subclass)
• Level 10: Bard 4
• Level 11: Bard 5
• Level 12: Bard 6

Core Bard Features

Item Proficiency:

Hand Crossbows, Rapiers, Longswords, Shortswords, Light Armour (in addition to any Proficiencies that come from your chosen race).

Skill Proficiencies:

Choose 3 Skill Proficiencies. Unlike other classes, your choice is not restricted – you can pick any Skills in the game!

Musical Instrument Proficiency:

You can play music. In character creation, you can choose which instrument you want to start with.

 Bardic Inspiration

Inspire an ally, adding 1d6 to their next Attack Roll, Ability Check or Saving throw.

Bardic Inspiration Charges – You start with 3 charges, which are replenished on Long Rests.

Bard Magic:

You can choose four spells and two cantrips from the Bard Spell List. You’ll get more later.

Entertainer Background

Acrobatics

This is a Dexterity-based Skill that gives you resistance to enemy Shove actions.

Performance

A Charisma-based Skill that will sometimes appear as a Dialogue option, allowing you to sway some NPCs to do what you want, or simply impress them.

Important Tips:

• The “Even Number” Rule: In Baldur’s Gate 3, only even numbers (12, 14, 16) increase your ability modifier. This means an 11 is functionally the same as a 10, so we aim for even numbers to maximize efficiency.
• Concentration is Key: Many important Bard and Sorcerer spells (like  Hold Person or Call Lightning) require Concentration. A high Constitution ensures you don’t lose your spell just because you took a hit.

Spell Selection

Healing Word

• Consumes a Bonus Action rather than a regular one.
• Allows you to heal and attack or cast another spell on the same turn.
• It can also be used at long-range rather than being melee-only.

Pro Tip: While the maximum healing roll on this spell is a little lower than Cure Wounds; Healing Word is still preferable thanks to its much greater versatility.

 Speak with Animals

• Allows you to speak with animals, opening up extra dialogue and quest paths.
• Ritual spell – can be cast for free outside combat.
• Replace with another spell of your choice if another character is using this already.

 Dissonant Whispers

• Deals Psychic Damage and also afflicts them with Frightened (unless they perform a Wisdom Saving Throw).
• Targets remain Frightened for two turns.
• This is a great spell for locking down annoying or dangerous enemies.

Pro Tip: Frightened enemies have a Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls, and cannot willingly move closer to the source of their fear (the caster).

Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

• Another great spell for locking down enemies.
• This causes the enemy to be overcome with fits of laughter, making them fall prone and unable to get up.
• The caster can maintain this effect for up to 10 turns, as long as they can maintain Concentration.
• Also, the target will try to shake off the effect at the end of their turn, and every time they take damage.

New Cantrips

Vicious Mockery

• This deals a small amount of Psychic Damage to the enemy targeted.
• Also gives them a Disadvantage on their next Attack Roll.
• This is a handy debuff spell that can be used to lessen the danger of troublesome enemies.

Light

• This is a basic spell that lets you infuse an object or ally with light.
• It’s useful for navigating and fighting in dark places.

Pro Tip: This spell doesn’t need Concentration, so it won’t mess with our other Concentration Spells, which is why we chose this instead of other more powerful light cantrips.

Core Sorcerer Features

• Item Proficiency – Daggers, Quarterstaves, Light Crossbows.
• Sorcerer Magic – To begin with, you can learn 4 Cantrips and 2 Spells from the Sorcerer Spell List.
• Subclass Choice – You must choose your Sorcerer subclass.

New Sorcerer Spells – Choose 2

Thunderwave

• A powerful linear AoE (Area of Effect) that deals damage and knocks enemies back.
• Great at knocking enemies backwards or off cliffs.

 Ray of Sickness

• Deals Poison Damage and potentially poisons the target.
•  Poisoned enemies have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Ability Checks.

New Sorcerer Cantrips – Choose 4

Sorcerer Cantrips are much better than the Bard options, allowing you to deal reliable ranged damage without using a bow or casting spells.

 Fire Bolt

• Deals Fire Damage from range.
• Our preferred Cantrip most of the time, because it has the most damage.

 Bone Chill

• Deals Necrotic Damage and prevents the target from healing.
• Undead targets get Disadvantage on Attack Rolls.

 Bursting Sinew

• Cause a corpse to explode, dealing Piercing Damage in a small area.

 Mage Hand

• Summon a spectral hand that can pick up objects from a distance.
• Useful for solving puzzles or reaching distant objects.

Draconic Bloodline Features

•  Draconic Resilience – Your base Armour Class is increased to 13 when you are not wearing armour. You gain 1 additional HP per Sorcerer Level.
• Draconic Ancestry – You must choose a Draconic Ancestry to align with. We recommend choosing any of the Fire variants (Red, Gold or Brass) but you can change it if you want to focus on a different element.
  • For now, this just gives you a free spell depending on your choice. But later in the game you’ll get bonus damage with your chosen elemental affinity.

 Distant Spell

• Increases the range of the spell by 50%.
• Melee-only spells get a range of 9m.

 Twinned Spell

• Spells that only target 1 creature can target an additional creature.
• Costs 1 Sorcery Point per Spell Slot level used. Cantrips also cost 1 Sorcery Point.

New Sorcerer Spell

 Magic Missile

• Fires 3 projectiles. The projectiles cannot miss their target.
• Each projectile deals 2-5 Force Damage.
• Later on, you can upcast the spell for additional projectiles.

Metamagic – Choose 1:

 Heightened Spell

• Targets of spells that require Saving Throws have  Disadvantage on their first Saving Throw.
• Costs 3 Sorcery Point per spell.

New Sorcerer Spell

Scorching Ray

• Fire three bolts of fire in rapid succession.
• Each bolt does 2-12 Fire Damage.
• Later on, you can upcast the spell to fire more bolts.

New Sorcerer Spell

Hold Person

• Holds a humanoid enemy in place, preventing them from acting and leaving them defenseless.
• Upcast to attempt on several targets at once.
• The target attempts a new Saving Throw to break free every turn.
• Melee Attack Rolls against the target are guaranteed Critical Hits.
• Use with  Heightened Spell to markedly increase the success chance.
• Good combo with melee heavy-hitters like our BG3 Fighter Build.

Choose a Feat – Feats are bonuses for your character that give them a special passive or just increase an Ability Score.

• I recommend choosing Ability Improvement and putting both of the points into Charisma.
• This will make your spells and cantrips more potent, and boost your Charisma-based skills like Persuasion and Performance.

New Sorcerer Spell

Fireball

• Deal up to 48 Fire Damage.
• Large AoE.
• Upcast to increase the maximum damage.

New Subclass Features – Draconic Bloodline

 Elemental Affinity: Damage

• When you cast a spell that deals damage of the same type associated with your Draconic Ancestry, add your Charisma Modifier to the damage.
• This is currently 4 extra damage, if you followed the guide.

 Elemental Affinity: Resistance

• When you cast a spell that deals damage matching your Draconic Ancestry, gain Resistance to that damage type until next Long Rest.
• Costs a  Sorcery Point and a Reaction to activate.

Tip: Our spell recommendations so far have assumed that you chose a fire-based Draconic Ancestry as advised earlier in the guide. If you chose a different type, you might want to replace Fireball with a spell that matches your type.

New Sorcerer Spell

Haste

• Target yourself or an ally to Hasten them.
• Gives the target an extra Action, double Movement Speed, +2 to Armour Class, and Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws.
• When the buff ends, the beneficiary will be Lethargic, unable to move for 1 turn.
• Requires Concentration

Tip: If Haste ends early due to you losing Concentration, the beneficiary will still become Lethargic. Try to keep your Lorcerer safe from damage when they are using this spell!

New Bard Features

Jack of All Trades

• Automatically add half of your Proficiency Bonus to Ability Checks that you’re not Proficient in.

Song of Rest

• This is essentially an extra Short Rest that can be used to heal and revitalise your party.

New Bard Spell

Faerie Fire

• An AoE debuff that makes enemies much easier to hit and illuminates them.
• It prevents enemies from hiding or turning invisible.
• A very strong debuff, but enemies can roll a Saving Throw to resist it, so it’s not always reliable.

Bard Subclass – College of Lore

• Gain Proficiency with 3 additional skills. Prioritize Charisma and Dexterity Skills for the best results.
•  Cutting Words – Use your Bardic Inspiration Charges to debuff an enemy.

New Bard Features

Gain Expertise with 2 Skills you are Proficient in.

• This doubles your Proficiency Bonus.
• Choose skills that you use frequently, like Persuasion and Sleight of Hand.

New Bard Spell

Cloud of Daggers

• Create a small AOE, dealing Slashing Damage to those within.
• Works very well in chokepoints and crowded areas.

New Feat – Choose one of these:

• Ability Improvement: Charisma – Brings your Charisma score up to 20, giving another boost to your spells, cantrips and Charisma Skills.
• War Caster – Gain Advantage on Concentration Saving Throws. Makes it easier to maintain Concentration when you take damage.

New Bard Cantrip– We already got the best options, so choose whatever you like from the remaining list.

New Bard Spell

 Heat Metal

• Deal Fire Damage and heat up an enemy’s metal weapon or armour.
• The weapon is prioritised – armour is only heated if there is no metal weapon.
• The target must roll a Constitution Saving Throw.
• If they succeed, they are forced to drop the weapon.
• If they fail, they get Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Ability Checks for this turn.
• If you maintain Concentration, you can recast the spell every turn for up to 10 turns.

Pro Tip: The Heat Metal spell is very good because even if the enemy rolls a Saving Throw, they still take full damage and get Disadvantage on their attacks and ability checks, a severe debuff.

New Bard Features

 Bardic Inspiration

• You now have four charges instead of three.

 Improved Bardic Inspiration

• Your Bardic Inspiration Dice are now 1d8 instead of 1d6.

Font of Inspiration

• You will now regain Bardic Inspiration charges on both Short and Long Rests.

New Bard Spell

Glyph of Warding

• An AoE spell that uses a chosen element to deal up to 40 damage per enemy, or puts enemies in the area to sleep.
• When casting, choose the variant that matches your Draconic Affinity, unless the enemies are Resistant to it.

New Bard Features

Countercharm

• You and any allies within 9 metres have Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed or Frightened.

New Bard Spell

 Fear

• Forces targets in range to drop their weapon and run away for 2 turns, unless they succeed a Wisdom Save.
• This effect is stronger than Frighten, which debuffs an enemy’s attacks but doesn’t force them to flee.

Magical Secrets – Choose 2:

 Command

• Force a target to spend their next turn taking an action of your choice.
• You can make them halt, approach, drop to the ground, run away or drop their weapon.
• Upcast the spell to increase the number of targets.

  Hunger of Hadar

• Create a black sphere that Blinds and hinders all enemies within.
• Also deals Cold and Acid Damage every turn to those within.
• One of the strongest AoE spells in the game. Ruinous when used correctly.

Tip: You can combine this with the  Command spell to force enemies to stay in the AoE. This requires the  Eversight Ring, otherwise you won’t be able to see enemies within Hunger of Hadar.

Attacking Items:

• Hat of Fire Acuity – Allows you to massively increase your spell accuracy/success chance by up to +10. Upcasting  Scorching Ray at the beginning of a battle is a good way to immediately get several stacks.
• Cloak of the Weave– Gives another small boost to spell success chance.
• Potent Robe – Adds up to 5 bonus damage to your Cantrips.
• Helldusk Gloves– Another small boost to spell success chance.
• Markoheshkir– Empowers your spellcasting with Kereska’s Favour, gives you one free Spell per Long Rest and gives another small boost to spell success chance.

Debuff Items:

• Boots of Stormy Clamour – Applies Reverberation to enemies, debuffing their physical Saving Throws and eventually knocking them Prone.
• Spineshudder Amulet – Allies more stacks of Reverberation.
• Ring of Mental Inhibition– Applies Mental Fatigue to enemies, debuffing their mental Saving Throws.

Utility & Defensive Items:

• Eversight Ring– Gives you immunity to Blindness and allows you to see through magical darkness.
• Darkfire Shortbow – Gives resistance to Fire and Cold, and lets you use the  Haste spell for free once per rest.

• To begin with, you will primarily deal damage with Cantrips.
• Use your spells to augment your damage when necessary.
• You can also spend your spell slots to buff and heal allies or debuff enemies.
• Remember to use your Sorcerer Metamagic features. Splitting spells into two, boosting their range or increasing their success chance.
• Get the Spellsparkler staff from Waukeen’s Rest (save Councillor Florick to get this staff as a reward) you can gain an Attack Roll bonus of up to 5 and as bonus Lightning Damage.

• When wearing the hat, you can upcast your  Scorching Ray to immediately gain a large amount of stacks of Arcane Acuity.
• If you combine this with the Elixir of Battlemage’s Power (crafted with Suspension of Gauth Eye and any Sublimate) you can pretty much reach the maximum +10 buff at the beginning of every combat.
• Prebuff with  Haste before entering combat (or drink a Potion of Speed) to get an extra Action, allowing you to immediately follow up with another spell.
• With a +10 Arcane Acuity bonus, enemies will have a very hard time winning Saving Throws against your spells – you’ll soon get accustomed to 90-95% success rates.

1. Make sure you have lots of Arcane Acuity stacks and are Hastened
2. Cast   Hunger of Hadar (upcast to increase the damage) on a cluster of enemies
3. Cast  Command (Halt) on the enemies in the area to force them to stay in the AoE, taking damage each turn.
4. This works because Command isn’t a Concentration Spell. You’ll need to recast it every turn to maintain the effect.

 Potion of Speed

• Hastens your character for 3 turns, giving you more Movement Speed and an extra Action.
• Drink this potion when you need to cast two spells in the same turn, i.e.   Hunger of Hadar and Command.
• Your character will be Lethargic for 1 turn when the potion runs out, so be careful.
• Craft by combining any Salt with Ashes of Hyena Ear
  • Combine three Hyena Ears to create Ashes of Hyena Ear
• You can get a lot of Hyena Ears in Act I, by defeating all of the Hyenas and Gnolls in the Risen Road area.
• Later on, they are sold by Derryth Bonecloak in the Myconid Colony (Act I – Underdark) and found in Alchemy Labs throughout BG3.

 Elixir of Battlemage’s Power

• Gives you 3 stacks of Arcane Acuity that won’t expire until your next Long Rest.
• Makes it easier to each +10 stacks with the Hat of Fire Acuity.
• Craft by combining any Sublimate with Suspension of Gauth Eye.
  • Combine three Gauth Eyestalks to create Suspension of Gauth Eye.
•  Gauth Eyestalks are quite rare. You can find one in Balthazar’s Room in the Gauntlet of Shar.
• In Act III, you can buy Gauth Eyestalks from Blurg (Lower City Lodge), Popper (Rivington) and Stylin’ Horst (Rivington).
• Due to its rarity, this powerful Elixir is best off saved to help you with the toughest parts of Act III.

 Concentrated Blast

• Allows you to deal extra damage to a target when you are Concentrating on a spell, potentially also healing if the target is Concentrating too.
• Ideally, you will spend a lot of time concentrating on either Hex or an AoE like Hunger of Hadar, so you should be able to get good use from this.

 Cull the Weak

• When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals 1-4 Psychic Damage to nearby enemies.
• This is particularly effective when engaging groups of weaker foes, enabling you to thin their numbers rapidly.

 Fly

• This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat.
• Use this to keep your Lorecerer safe from enemy attacks, so your Concentration won’t get disrupted as easily.

 Black Hole

• This power creates an area-based effect that pulls in and slows targets.
• It’s particularly useful for crowd control, allowing you to cluster enemies together for area-of-effect attacks or to isolate them from vulnerable allies.

Pro Tip: Try getting the Haste buff from a Potion of Speed or the Haste spell (lets you perform 2 Actions on one turn), then casting Black Hole and then Hunger of Hadar to cause a world of pain for a group of enemies.

 Psionic Backlash

• This is a top-tier reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3.
• This allows you to deal psychic damage when a nearby enemy casts a spell.
• This is especially useful if the target is casting a Concentration Spell.
• The damage from Psionic Backlash can immediately break their Concentration, ending the spell’s effects.