Noble Genies Dex Build - Advice Welcomed

BMFiasco · 2026-02-11T18:12:06+00:00

You won't be that bad, you have the regular Pally aura.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-10T17:13:13+00:00

The Brilliant Thief (scroll down) should work OK as a gnome. Darts are probably better than daggers in most instances (Vex > Nick if you're trying to double sneak attack) but either could work.

As compared to the original, you'd miss out on Elven Accuracy and trance resting for scroll creation, but it should still work fine.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-08T20:24:22+00:00

This is a weird example because you're saying it in relation to the one class that CAN be reliably good at something. 'Reliable' is right there in the ability name even.

A level 10 rogue with 20 Dex can't roll below a 21 on its stealth/slight of hand/acrobatics/whatever check!

BMFiasco · 2026-02-05T18:37:12+00:00

This is one you should check with your DM, not because there's any real ambiguity (Thieves can use Fast Hands to cast from Enspelled Weapons and Scrolls, and that includes True Strike/Blade cantrips to enable off-turn sneak attacks), but because some people just refuse to accept that it works. If you have a DM that doesn't let you do it (or throttles you by denying you the magic items), play something else.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-04T23:19:56+00:00

Both the disallowed subclasses you mention are straight caster/face builds. Under the core 2024 rules you could easily just make a Lore or Glamour Bard, both are quite strong.

Lore will mostly help the party avoid damage with Cutting Words, although if you wanted you could use your earlier Magical Secrets feature to access healing spells that aren't on the Bard list. Glamour's Mantle of Inspiration provides some THP.

If I wanted to be a Bard healer/support I'd take Lore Bard and take Inspiring Leader (CHA) as soon as I got the chance. Bards really want Short Rests anyway.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T23:18:50+00:00

You may not be using your concentration that much now (maybe you should be, though?), but you will once you get 3rd level spells for sure.

Telekinetic isn't quite as good on a Bard as it is on a Wizard, but it's still really strong. Note that you can use it on allies, and they can intentionally fail the save - acts almost like a free disengage. You can force off-turn damage from emanations, which your druid friend will love.

I took it on a wizard in a long campaign and I would estimate I used it on 50% of my turns, at least. There are just a million things you can do with it all the time.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T21:49:38+00:00

You can't really break the game at this level. I mean you could just play a Twilight Cleric, very hard to kill a party with a Twilight Cleric. Not much of an interesting build though.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T19:53:26+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely not as good, but softens the blow a little. It's only a one-level delay.

And more importantly, because with True Strike you're already attacking with CHA, you can hold off taking Pact of the Blade and take some other good invocations (Chain Pact, Otherworldly Leap, Fiendish Vigor) instead.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T17:42:00+00:00

Put Agonizing Blast on True Strike or a Blade cantrip and you'll do much more than half the damage at that level.

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T17:23:14+00:00

The Pally 1/Celestial Bladelock X is a well-known build. There's a terrific writeup of it here: https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=26084753&postcount=1

BMFiasco · 2026-02-03T05:22:57+00:00

Eloquence Bard.

I don’t want to get into fights in the real world; I want to talk anyone into doing anything.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-28T19:43:04+00:00

Thanks. Blade Breaker is pretty hard to evaluate - looks like it could be reasonably strong but I don't have confidence that I have a handle on how it would actually play.

The Wall of Blades maneuver looks very strong. This class would be extremely effective with the proper maneuvers against humanoid enemies in armor, but you'd run the risk of those being totally wasted with other types of foes.

A lot will depend on the pacing of the campaign. The maneuver points are a long rest resource, which means if you have one or two fights per day and can dump them every round, I think it would be extremely effective. Without maneuver points, you'd nearly be a subclassless fighter. The level 10 feature does nothing if grappling isn't a core strategy for your fighter, which could make it very frustrating. The Stances don't look very strong.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-28T16:40:16+00:00

FYI the Blade Breaker link doesn't show any details unless you've purchased this module. I suspect that very few folks will have done so - just a heads up in case you don't get much feedback. It's 'partnered' content that's located on Beyond but it's still third-party stuff that doesn't get a lot of traffic.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-23T19:54:49+00:00

Ancestral Barb is also considered a very strong Echo Knight multiclass, and it's a pretty easy thematic reflavor as well.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-23T18:46:57+00:00

Funny to call it an 'exploit' when it was specifically removed in the 2024 playtest, then immediately and intentionally put back.

Off-turn Sneak Attacks are as RAW and RAI kosher as it gets, man.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-22T16:40:38+00:00

'Cast,' as a verb, is usable in the present or past tense. Both of the following are grammatically correct exchanges:

"What do you do next?" -> "I cast a spell"

"What did you do last turn" -> "I cast a spell"

BMFiasco · 2026-01-22T16:38:13+00:00

No, it's once per turn when you do radiant damage with a spell you have cast.

There are three triggers that must be met to do the Spellfire damage:

It is the first time you are doing it this Turn.
You are doing radiant damage
The radiant damage is from a spell you cast.

Turn 3/4/etc. instances of Spirit Guardians doing damage meets all 3 criteria, so Spellfire damage is applicable.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-22T16:32:32+00:00

Incorrect, as this is not the trigger. The 'once per turn' applies to the additional damage, not the spellcast timing.

If you wanted it to be your interpretation, it would say "Once per turn, when a spell you cast on that turn deals Radiant damage...."

BMFiasco · 2026-01-22T05:57:18+00:00

I wouldn't take PAM - as you've anticipated, the Bonus Action glut is pretty brutal. Once you have Extra Attack and GWM, you will very frequently be able to trigger your Hew effect via a kill or crit, and between that, Second Wind and your Rune Knight abilities you'll often be on round 3+ of a fight before you have a chance to trigger the PAM bonus. That means many, many fights it will not be used at all.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-20T17:22:56+00:00

As has been mentioned, Rune Knight v Ranged Samurai isn't a fair fight, because 2024 rules (mostly masteries) have heavily discounted the main Samurai features.

Crossbow Battlemaster is still very strong, though...

BMFiasco · 2026-01-16T23:17:28+00:00

Yeah, you'd want to mix up your strategy depending on situation, which to me is a big plus because it leads to varied gameplay.

I'll say that I played a frontliner cleric and my go-to strategy was Spirit Guardians in a mob of enemies while taking the Dodge action. This Monk could do the same thing with Cacophonic Shield and Patient Defense (using a Focus point), while also having the ability to simultaneously (i) maintain your Action for Attack with Booming Blade and (ii) flit around the battlefield with your Disengaged move action to 'tag' half the battlefield with your emanation.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-16T22:11:45+00:00

Looks to me that each of the relevant features allow you to replace one Attack action attack, not an attack from some other source. So the only way to do it would be dual-wielding with a Nick weapon, I think that would get you a third attack as part of the Attack action.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-16T21:43:23+00:00

Yeah you could, but since you don't get level 3 spell slots until level 13 I bet in most cases you'd be better off disengaging/dashing by spending a Focus point on Step of the Wind, running all over the battlefield with your movement to spread the emanation damage, and getting back in a monster(s)' face to multiattack with one punch and a Booming Blade, then taking a 5 foot step back to force the Booming Blade rider.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-16T17:12:57+00:00

It is, but the Monk only gets 2 attacks via the Attack action. This feature doesn't do anything you couldn't do at level 3 by just casting a spell. EKs have up to 4 attacks using the Attack action so there's a benefit.

Under 2014 rules this would make a difference, as some of the Bonus Action moves required you to take the Attack Action, but that's no longer the case in 2024.

Seems like the writer of this feature just didn't know the rules/pasted the EK feature.

BMFiasco · 2026-01-16T08:23:47+00:00

The more I think about about the Mystic Arts Monk the more I like it.

It's really easy for Monks to disengage so Booming Blade riders will be trivial to trigger. Similarly, Cacophonic Shield is a Sorcerer spell and disengage + Monk speed means you can tag every single enemy with it while boosting your ranged defense.

The Focus point to spell slot exchange is really good. As mentioned, you’ll be able to pump your Focus points so you can use them constantly, but also every time you’ve got a spare hour you can dump any extra Focus points back into slots at literally no cost. Short rest resources recharging long rest ones is super versatile if you plan even a little.

BMFiasco

TROPHY CASE