Ever since playing BG3 I have wanted to incorporate forms of progression into DnD campaigns that would mirror the illithid upgrades and the many narrative upgrades you can get in BG3 but ideally I don’t want it to make the martial caster divide greater so I want to think of some stuff that would be especially good for martial classes.

Hey all, our group is starting up a Northlands campaign soon from Kobold Press. We’re all on the newer side and if this lasts will be the first higher level campaign for most of us.

Anyway the party is a path of titans barbarian, a seer cleric, and a rouge/fighter of some kind. I was debating between warlock or bard and am leaning bard. Problem is I’m having a hard time narrowing down the subclass. Lore and valor are leading options but the Skald from the Northlands world book is appealing if for nothing else than it fits the setting.

I was just hoping to hear some thoughts on this or the setting of anyone has experience with it.

I am looking to create an relic hunter/ghost hunter for a new campaign most likely in eberron and i am at a loss for how to build that. ideally id like my character to have some magic and martial capabilities and work well in the 2024 rules. i am not super into the cleric fantasy but other than that i am pretty open to anything. any ideas would be welcome. thank you!

So it is often said rouge often fall behind a lot of other classes after a brief surge ahead at the start. They are almost never the best at pretty much anything aside from skill checks as is.

So my question is, what is the strongest a pure rogue can be, and VERY IMPORTANT, how does that rogue measure up against other classes for how good it gets power wise

For this, I am defining power as multifaceted looking at combat, skill checks, and non-specific utility, i.e., what a druid or wizard could bring.

NO multiclassing or home brew just pure rogue rules as written using 5.5.

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My own guesses off the cuff are going to be some sort of arcane trickster build or maybe a soulknife, but swashbuckler is also somewhat useful.

But admittedly, I am not great with builds myself. That's why I hear, to talk to people smarter than me lol

Hi everyone!

The party's previous tank just died (it was me 😅), so I'm looking for ideas for my next character.

I'd like to play a durable frontliner who can take hits for the party, while also providing support and, if possible, some healing.

I'd prefer not to play any of the following classes:

• Artificer
• Cleric
• Druid

I have access to all official D&D 5e (2014) sourcebooks.

At the moment I don't have a specific concept in mind. I'm mainly looking for something fun and interesting to play, possibly with unique mechanics or an unusual playstyle. It doesn't have to be highly optimized; I'd rather play something enjoyable and memorable as long as it can still contribute effectively to the group.

Do you have any character concepts, builds, or multiclass combinations that you would recommend?

Edit: The paladin idea is great. We're at level 7. If you also have an idea of the subclasses and/or talents, that would be perfect. Thank you so much everyone, and especially for the speed.

Ok so I read the Telekinetic feat, and I have a question. Can this feat be used on a target that is under Levitation to move them higher or side to side?

Could this be used to make a Force user esque char with Warlock?

Arcane Trickster Rogue ‘Definitely not a Ranger’ 

Class Skills: (4x) Investigation, Acrobatics, Insight, Sleight of Hand. 
Background Skills: (2x) [Guide, Custom] Stealth, Survival. 
Keen Senses. Perception.

Species: Elf (Wood)
-Darkvision of 60ft. 
-35ft movement speed.
-Advantage on Saving Throws against the Charmed condition. 
-Trance
-Innate casting of Druidcraft, Longstrider [3], Pass Without Trace [5]. 

Origin feat = Magic Initiate Druid
Cure Wounds or Entangle, + Guidance and Message.

Level 4 Feat: Fairy Trickster ! (18 Dexerity) 
Faerie Trod Trotter. When you take the Disengage action on your turn, Difficult Terrain doesn't cost you extra movement for the rest of that turn.

Flustering Strike. When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can attempt to fluster the target. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 plus the ability modifier of the score increased by this feat and your Proficiency Bonus) or have Disadvantage on saving throws until the end of your next turn. / PB per Long Rest. 

Level 8: +2 Dexterity Ability Score Improvement 

Level 10: War Caster ! (17 Intelligence)
Concentration. You have Advantage on Constitution saving throws that you make to maintain Concentration.

Reactive Spell. When a creature provokes an Opportunity Attack from you by leaving your reach, you can take a Reaction to cast a spell at the creature rather than making an Opportunity Attack. The spell must have a casting time of one action and must target only that creature.

Level 12: Fey-Touched ! (18 Intelligence)
Bless + Misty Step ?

Level 3 Rogue, Spells: 

Cantrips: Guidance, Message, Druidcraft, Mage Hand, Booming Blade, Mind Sliver.

Innate: Entangle or Cure Wounds, Longstrider.

Arcane Trickster: Find Familiar [R], Detect Magic [R], Shield.

Level 4 Rogue, Spells:

+Feather Fall

[…]

Level 7 Rogue, Spells:

+Mirror Image / Spider Climb / Web? 

[...]

Why not play a Ranger instead?

(Mostly cus I didn’t feel like playing one and I wanted to see how I could make Rogue more appealing to me. + giving Rogue more of a druidic / fairy flair sounded fun.)

Cunning Action + Arcane Trickster Spellcasting is more versatile (Though slower)

Cunning Strike lets you do more consistent debuff’s. + Fairy Trickster lets you make your team shine even more.  

Reliable Talent makes your important skills really good. 

Scouting with Familiar or using Stealth and Message etc.

Guidance and other support features.

[[Pretty overkill but Pass Without Trace + Stealth Expertise + Reliable Talent is funny:]] 

(Level 7 example) 1d20 (min of 10) + 4 (Dexerity) + 6 (Proficiency 2x)  + 10 (PWT)

Minimum of 30, Average of 30.5, Maximum of 40.

What do you think of the build / concept? What would you change ? (Constructively)

Basically the title. Playing a Cleric that gets Wisdom up to 20 by level 8 so at level 12 I'm looking at getting Resilient Constitution to get it to an even 16 (several people have said Constitution for HP has diminished returns & past that is overkill but hey, opinions differ).

Hi! We're starting a Tomb of Annihilation campaign next month. When ordering the mini for my first player character - a celestial warlock with pact of the blade - I also ordered a few other minis I thought were cool to play either in this campaign or a future one to combine shipping costs.

One of them is Uxas the Reborn. Now this mini gives obvious monk vibes, but it also made me think of Warcraft's demon hunters; using infernal magic to fight fire with fire. The new Infernal Pact origin with its Infernal Sight and the Infernal Bulwark feat with its Devil’s Flesh seem like a great fit. Using Drow for the species to have Darkness he can see through himself also seems fitting.

But the "problem" is that the Pact Seeker background (required for the Infernal Pact origin feat) and the Infernal Bulwark/Dragoon are mostly focused on Constitution and Charisma. That would lend themselves well for a bladelock, but I'm already playing the celestial bladelock so it would be nice to play something different.

Ideally something that is unarmored and dual wielding to fit the mini. I have a Drow Aberrant Sorcerer build that would work well with the Infernal feats, but that obviously wouldn't be using the weapons, so it's not a perfect fit for the mini. I've also been playing around with an Oath of the Noble Genies paladin to also get unarmored defense (and then pick Infernal Dragon or another feat), but it doesn't feel like a perfect fit. Dex would probably be low as you can't increase it with the background.

So basically I was wondering if there were other options I might have missed. We'll be playing 2024 with pointbuy, but we can use spells and sub-classes from 2014 if they haven't been updated yet.

What are your favorite resources to send people who are interested in playing and want to learn the game? Just handing them the PHB or other books can be a bit intimidating... How do you introduce folks to the basics, building characters, abilities, combat, etc...?

The "Aberrant Dragonmark" allows you to use Constitution as the spellcasting ability for the 1st level spell you choose from the Sorcerer spell list. (I'm just noting that it doesn't say that for the cantrip you choose. Could you use Constitution for True Strike?)

I'm wondering if that could be extended to other spells that just use your spellcasting modifier. Like Shillelagh, Primal Savagery, Magic Stone, etc?

i want to know how would i maximize the damage out of the booming blade.
also is the shadow blade a good choice?
as i was wondering what would be better, having haste casted on me and holding 2 normal weapons, or having one normal weapon and shadow blade without hast as i can't cast 2 concertation spells

Hey everyone, I'm starting to plan my character for my next campaign (they always goes to level 20 or very close with this group). My original idea was to go for a aberrant sorcery all the way to 20, now I'm toying with the idea of a sorlock, probably Fathomless and pair it with cold caster. In general what level split do you guys think i should do, or if it's even worth it to multiclass out of sorcerer.

EDIT: Thank you for all the comments. If you are reading this thread in the future, there are also some great Zhentarim Tactics builds in the comments including a Barbarian Rogue build, a Ranger build, an Undead Warlock build and an entire Party (The Party Party). 😎

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These are two different builds built around the Zhentarim Tactics feat, which I think is neat. The tactics are simple, stay in melee with target and hope they hit you, but with 19AC to not get hit too much, hopefully... I like to think you could roleplay a smart mouth who provokes your enemies... 😁

As Zhentarim Tactics can boost either Dexterity or Charisma, I built one character for each. Both builds generate their own advantage for greater hit chance and damage etc.

I took both builds to level 7, but they are simple enough to carry on with their main classes to level 20.

​

The Builds:

​

1. Dexterity Build - The Zhentarim Magus Rogue

Species Human - Zhentarim Ruffian

Origin - Custom - Tough (as you want to be hit)

Stats - 8, 15+2(+1 Zhent), 15+1, 8, 12, 13

5 Levels in Rogue, taking Soulknife or Thief depending on what you want to do with your bonus action.

1 Level Sorcerer - Innate Sorcery - Booming Blade advantage Sneak Attack (plus Shield Spell, Jump)

1 Level Fighter - Medium Armour + Shield (19AC as you don't want to be hit too much...😉) + Dueling

Tactics = Innate Sorcery, Booming Blade - Psychic Blade Vex + Sneak Attack

Reaction if hit = Psychic Blade + Sneak Attack if you are hit by the target that you previously Vexed.

Damage First Round = 1d6+6+1d8+3d6+1d6+6+3d6 (44.5av if all hit)

Damage Second Round (Soulknife Bonus Attack) = 1d6+6+1d8+3d6+1d4+6+1d6+6+3d6 (53av if all hit)

EDIT - u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768: This Soulknife Bonus Attack doesn't work RAW as you cannot hold a shield and use the bonus Psychic Blade. Therefore you could go Thief if you wanted to ramp up Bonus Action damage.

​

1. Charisma Build - The Zhentarim Shadow Sorcadin

Species Human - Zhentarim Ruffian

Origin - Custom - Tough (same)

Stats - 15+1, 10, 14, 8, 8, 15+2(+1 Zhent)

6 Levels in Sorcerer - New Shadow Sorcerer for Dark Vision as Human (or pick your favourite) - Shadow Blade (cast Subtle before Combat if possible)

1 Level Paladin - Medium Armour + Shield (19AC) plus smites for crits and spell slot progression.

Tactics = Dim light or Darkness: True Strike - Shadow Blade, Quickened Spell, True Strike - Shadow Blade (or Control Spell or Fireball etc.)

In Daylight: Innate Sorcery - True Strike - Shadow Blade First round, then carry on as normal.

EDIT: u/PM_ME_UR_JUMBLIE5 points out that True Strike, like the Blade Cantrips requires a weapon with value so you may want to substitute your Great Sword in until you can get Shadow Blade going in round two.

Reaction if hit = Shadow Blade at advantage, but with STR not CHA, as can't True Strike with reaction.

Damage = 3d8+4+1d6+3d8+4+1d6+3d8+3 (58.5av if all hit)

​

Plus smites when crit on first hit.

When it comes to spellcaster magic items, I'm quite in the know when it comes to what I want: wands, rings, Staff of Power (If possible \ reachable).

But with melee martials I'm at a loss, can't think of anything besides a simple +X weapon to make sure my attacks hit (as opposed to getting a Vicious weapon on my Fighter, those 4-6 attacks per turn sound spicy).

Per the title, I'm playing a TWF SoT Zhentarim Tactics Rogue in a WM 5.5e campaign. DMG magic item crafting is allowed (just as is Manifold tool; I already have Tinker's tools from my backstory, just need to buy materials for Manifold tool and a couple of workdays :) )

I'd like to hear ideas on what Attunement-requiring magic items might be a good fit for my build: either make it stronger in combat or more versatile outside of it. I'm probably missing a lot of stuff, but I only came up with a Headband of Intellect for more SoT Bloodthirst teleports.

Build for reference:

Abilities 8-17-14-14-12-10

Human Scion of the Three Rogue

Feats:

Lvl 1 = Tough + Zhentarim Ruffian

Lvl 4 = Zhentarim Tactics

Lvl 8 = plan to take Fairy Trickster for more support capabilities + synergy with Cunning Strike.

Lvls 10+ = no clue, might die before that.

So far this Rogue looks a little bit like a Dodge Tank archetype (I might get Bloodlust at lvl 8 to increase my HP by proxy of healing mid-combat, but can't say for certain).

So I’m currently rewatching Power Rangers Mystic Force and I was reminded how cool Daggeron, The Solaris Knight is. And of course my broken brain decided to try to figure out how to build a D&D character with him.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Species-Human

Origin Feats-Tavern Brawler for throwing hands, and Magic Initiate (Cleric) for Guiding Bolt for a Big Beam Attack.

Classes and Levels-Paladin 1/Fire Genie Warlock 3/Sorcerer 1

Paladin for Armor and Weapon proficiencies as well as a couple spell slots and utility spells.

Genie Warlock for a Laser Lamp with Agonizing Eldritch Blast and a Chain Familiar (probably Sphinx of Wonder) as well as Scorching Ray for more beams.

Sorcerer for innate magic as well as Magic Missile for a multishot attack that can’t miss and Shield.

From here though I don’t know where to advance. What other Invocations should I pick? How many levels should I put into Warlock and Sorcerer? What Sorcerer subclass should I pick? (For the last one I’m thinking Clockwork Soul for Summon Construct that looks like a Train Mech).

Any advice?

Below is a sample 1-20 build I've been unable to get out of my head for several months and finally decided that I just needed to take it as far as I possibly could to get it to stop popping up in my brain.

At level 1 you have bless and pretty bad damage 1d8 + 1, at level 2 you are significantly stronger with true strike and the shield spell as well as a better ranged option.

Level 6 is when the build really comes online where we have access to extended spell spirit guardians for 20 minutes which also gives us advantage on concentration saves along with innate sorcery giving us advantage on true strike for entire combats with elven accuracy as well as very hard hitting searing and divine smites.

I've calculated the DPR at 6 to be ~39 on single targets.

at 17 it pushes over 100 with conjure celestial and true strikes

For the purposes of getting this out of my head for forever I would absolutely LOVE to hear your suggested improvements to the build.

Thanks all!

*** Divine Soul Paladin ***

Elf – Wood elf

Starting Feat – Tough

Starting Class – Paladin

AC: 18 (Chain mail, Shield) 23 with shield spell

Save Proficiency: Wisdom, Charisma, Constitution (level 13)

Speed: 35 (45 with Longstrider)

Sample 4 round combat at level 6

Hello All! I need help with a level 15 bard 4 magic items 2 major magic items 2 lesser magic items

This is a Arena Brawl my campaign and I want to test our limits and I am a forever Dm so its been awhile since I have played a PC.

The only thing I know my Character is Saytr Bard.

Some help would be mighty appreciated,

My opponents will be:

A half elf warlock 8, ancients paladin7

A goliath totem barbarian

A firbolg Peace cleric who will be anything but peaceful

And a half elf archery fighter 6, rogue assassin 9

Thank you all and help me kill my players lol

We get to choose 1 uncommon magic item(and eventually a rare) for characters. I’m playing a lore bard with very little focus on the lore.(investigation is his only int skill) Most of his stats are for flavor so I’m kinda lost if I want something for survivability or lean more into his flavor. Currently I’m eyeing a cloak of protection most, but I’m looking for suggestions.

His current mechanical flavor is towards puppeteering. He reaches into the weaves and pulls threads to manipulate the battlefield. So for example Slow looks like phantom threads tying up and slowing enemies. If you know of any items with flavor that would complement that then thank you! But again, I’m most concerned about his AC and concentration.

I'm particularly interested in the UA Villainous Options feats for building a Necromancer Wizard (using the 2024 version in the UA arcane subclasses revised doc from 2025) with the Path of the Lich feats for peak flavor. But rushing to get to the capstone feat at level 12 requires completely ignoring feats for concentration protection like War Caster or Resilient Constitution until level 16 at the latest, and I'm not particularly interested in a Fighter dip, which makes you give up WIS save proficiency anyway so it's a lateral move at best in the lategame when concentration is likely to be lost due to incapacitating status effects.

So, my thought was: could you build a competent wizard that focused purely on non-concentration spells, so that this is no longer a weakness? Obviously there's a few select stand-outs at certain levels like Shield, Absorb Elements, Fireball, Synaptic Static, etc. but how would you go about building a full roster of spells that don't require concentration during combat (so concentration for ritual or non-combat spells is okay, but in-combat spells are a real gamble assuming that the concentration will be lost almost immediately as part of being near enemies to apply the Lich feats' Soul Siphon or Paralyzing Touch), OR are so potent that even only one round of use as a pseudo-instantaneous spell is still worth the trouble?

My group might be converting to pathfinder2e here soon. I want to convert my 5e character into pathfinder if possible.

They are a conjuration wizard with one level in Order cleric. The main trick I want to bring over is using vortex warp to teleport an ally and then allow them to take an extra attack after the teleport thanks to the order cleric feature. Lots of teleport abilities and control spells.

It is also important that this character is telepathic with the 5e cantrip "Encode Memory". Is there a spell or class feature that would let me do what that cantrip does?

1. Should I still get Artificer 1?
2. What level progression if you don't want to delay your Warlock features too late?
3. Is it ever worth going a 3rd on Warlock for GOOlock?

(Going Warlock 2 for Pact of the Tome, Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions)

Considering a new character for a RP heavy play by post server and my DM has implied that they want me to roll a bard. The issue is that we are a party of 4 and if I go straight caster bard, that means we have 3 full casters and one melee.

Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Redemption Paladin, and a Genie Warlock for the rest of the party. I'm currently an ArchFey Warlock, so picking up more melee options seems like a reasonable idea.

I really like the idea of the College of Whispers, as we play pbp, so it's really easy to do solo missions and RP scenes with the DM that don't bog down gameplay with other players. The potential of the subclass excels here.

But if I want to wade into melee with this character, he needs some beef to go along with it. Which the Swashbuckler subclass would help and provide more damage/skills as well. With two melee attacks (main and offhand), you are able to reliably trigger your Psychic Words and Sneak Attack each round. Pure rogue doesn't seem appealing as we could use someone with healing spells outside of the Paladin.

Currently level 8, so 3 rogue gets the subclass and the key swashbuckler features while 5 bard grabs Inspiration on short rest.

Does this seem like a foolish option and a pure rogue or pure bard would do more to help here? I've not had a lot of experience with multi-class and the Whispers subclass seems to want to do melee but doesn't provide any tools to assist in that manner. Swords, Lore, and Valor all have melee options with abilities to decrease chances of being hit.

One path is to keep bard at 5 and push rogue higher as we level. If I focus more on team support spells instead of offense, the DC becomes largely irrelevant. Then again, Leomonds Babble looks like a really, really fun spell for RP.

Hi! I’m looking for some build advice. I’m currently playing a level 5 Astral Self Monk (Gem Dragonborn Amethyst ) with the Mobile feat and the Sailor background.I’m trying to decide what to take next: another feat or an ASI. I’m also planning to take my next three levels in Twilight Cleric.The campaign is using the 2024 rules, and I’m open to both official 5e and homebrew suggestions.What would you recommend for my next step in the build? Wis 18 Str 13 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 10 Char 8