I'm trying to build a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer with the Elemental Adept feat (PHB, p. 166) and the Elemental Affinity subclass feature to maximize one element. I'm a new player, and our group so far is still only using the PHB.
When I look through all the sorcerer spells in the PHB, I was a bit surprised that the basic game would so overwhelmingly emphasize one element over the others—fire seems hands down to be the strongest element across most levels:
- 0: Fire bolt
- 1: Burning hands
- 2: Scorching ray
- 3: Fireball
- 4: Wall of fire
- 7: Delayed blast fireball and fire storm
- 8: Incendiary cloud
- 9: Meteor swarm
There are great spells, diverse in effect and often among the best in class, available at almost every step of my character's development.
Compared to cold-damage spells:
- 0: Ray of frost
- 4: Ice storm
- 5: Cone of cold
Basically I can use cone of cold a handful of times, and otherwise I just have my cantrip. Well there's ice storm, but I suspect I'd be using it for utility more than damage.
Or lightning-damage spells:
- 1: Witch bolt
- 3: Lightning bolt
- 7: Chain lightning
I can use chain lightning once or twice at levels 13-16; otherwise most of the time I'd be firing off lightning bolts, which I presume are inferior fireballs due to the line-shaped area of effect. The low-level spell slots are also pretty barren, as witch bolt seems bad and there's no ranged cantrip.
Am I missing something, or does an Elemental Adept & Elemental Affinity specialization grossly favor fire-damage spells, at least for the PHB selection? Do I need to include other spell sources if I want to attempt this build outside of fire?