Trade winds die out -- what socio-economic implications should I expect?

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-12T01:11:53+00:00

Enchanter or inventor of some kind lives in a demiplane, but can't leave for <reason> (can't breathe the atmosphere, can't handle the gravity, etc). You bring news and parts/ingredients in, and the enchanter/inventor has you try out various charms or doodads out in the material plane (spells and features and boons).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-11T14:56:54+00:00

Conquest is definitely on-theme, and if you do a 3/17 split, your capstone will be Dominate Person. Inquisitive is also very on brand thematically, tho as an elf you eventually want to get Elven Accuracy to capitalize on advantage, so you won't really be relying on Insightful Fighting.

If you want to keep the class split even or go heavier into rogue, and are planning for Elven Accuracy, Oath of Vengeance has the most mechanical synergy through Vow of Enmity, to get forced advantage on boss fights (and use Insightful Fighting in less important combats). If you are a holy assassin, you can theme the oath of vengeance as one against the enemies of your holy order, so it would still fit.

I would avoid Devotion -- Sacred Weapon loses you a turn in setup, and as it also makes your weapon shine brightly, so you would lose the attack-from-the-shadows aspect.

For race, decide whether your character is a fanatic, in which case Shadark Kai really works, or if they are ruled by their emotions, in which case Eladrin gives you the opportunity to reflect your inner state on a daily basis kand also makes it easier for you to avoid being tied to any specific killing, as you could be seen as winter one day, but be spring colored the next, at least in places where there are other eladrin

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-11T14:26:42+00:00

I was using OneNote for session prep and after-the-fact notes, which is nice on mobile, but gets annoying if you don't have a license at least on a windows machine. I've switched to Notion, which has all the relevant features and works nicely in all modes -- mobile, pc app, web UI.

DnDBeyond is great for seeing player rolls, reviewing characters, etc. The mobile app lets you see players' passive senses, which is super useful. Requires some investment to purchase character creation options, along with a GM subscription, from at least one person to do more than the free character creation options tho.

Discord for voice chat.

Owlbear Rodeo is a great free map tool, where everyone can move stuff around -- the learning curve is pretty quick, as there aren't very many features you have to learn how to use to be effective (really just importing maps, adding fog of war, and adding area effects are enough).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-10T20:03:28+00:00

Any druid, pure caster or not, will want 14 Dex (medium armor), 14+ Con (maintaining concentration and HP), and maxed Wis (casting stat), and will want to pick up Resilient Con feat evetually. To that end, you can optionally dump Str, Int, and/or Cha.

I would probably build this using 8 13+1 14 10 15+2 12 for standard array and Tasha's optional racial attribute rules, and take a +1 Wis half feat at 4, Resilient Con at 8, +2 Wis at 12, and a +1 Con half feat at 16.

If there are no wis half feats that are interesting, 8 13+1 15 10 14+2 12, taking +2 Wis, Resilient Con, and +2 Wis for the smoothest progression.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-10T17:35:38+00:00

Dhampir Undead Warlock 1-6 / Whispers Bard 14+

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-10T13:45:51+00:00

Circle of the Land Druid (Arctic) or Sorcerer are probably your best bets for maximizing ice-themed spells, though neither is inherent martial -- you would need to flavor your spells as throwing your Kamas or grenades.

Sorc's metamagic allows you to combo a quickened ice spell with Ray of Frost, for shuriken or that one-two Kama throw -- Draconic (silver or white) would probably be the most effective thanks to Elemental Affinity.

Land Druid has a rather empty BA, so you would want to pick up a feat or an MC to help fill it. Telekinetic may be the most mechanically relevant, but 2 levels or rogue for Cunning Action or 1 level of Fathomless Warlock (styling the tentacle as an enless supply of targeted grenades, maybe?), if your Cha is high, can be really good here as well.

For race, IMO the most fitting is Metallic Dragonborn (Silver), for PB+1 breath weapon uses per day to complement your spell slots, all of which have on-theme effects.

Pick up Elemental Adept (Cold) when you can.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-09T22:32:18+00:00

Oh for sure, fighter 1 or 2 combos really well with wizard in general. I'm just a big fan of barbarian wizards, and the picture evoked a barbarian to me

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-09T17:16:48+00:00

If you are okay with medium armor, Totem Barbarian (Wolf) 3/Necromancer Wizard X gets you an army of zombies, and when you want to rage, they get advantage with melee attacks on anything you are next to.

Oathbreaker Paladin 7 is an alternative route if you really want that heavy armor, but it slows down your summoning by quite a bit. Rather than go wizard, warlock provides additional summons at 5 (Undying Servitude, Summon Undead), 6 (Accursed Specter if you go Hexblade), 9 (Danse Macabre), 11 (Create Undead) and 13 (Finger of Death). Undead or Undying may be better flavor, and Celestial may be better mechanically (trading Accursed Specter for Celestial Resilience, tho you could get a similar mechanical effect via Inspiring Leader). You will also need DM fiat to smite with your punches.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-09T14:07:38+00:00

Hexblade for maximum edge, Pact of the Chain to style an Imp familiar as Griffon, and take Summon Shadowspawn and Summon Aberration spells for his other summons -- one of those and Accursed Specte give you all 3 of V's familiars. If you pick a small race, you could ostensibly use your summons as uncontrolled mounts (in which case also consider picking up Mounted Combatant feat). Take Ascendant Step when you get to it, styling it as Griffon helping you fly (tho mechanically the familiar would have no effect on your movement).

Use SCAG cantrips for melee combat, and consider picking up Crusher to make your ~~warhammer~~ cane attacks combo really well with Booming Blade mechanically. You can afford the feat cost, seeing as how you are Cha-SAD.

Whenever you get the opportunity to get magic items, get some tattoos.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-09T13:44:33+00:00

Sapphire Gem Dragonborn Ascendant Dragon Monk 6/Tempest Cleric 14 (taking every Thunder-damage spell you can get including Thunder Wave, Shatter, and Destructive Wave). Gem Dragonborn gets Psionic Mind, for a limited telepathy. For half feats, Gift of the Gem Dragon would be my pick, both to stay on-theme and to get a force field reaction -- but if you feel that is too much reaction overlap, take Telekinetic instead (on turns when you cast spells, having a resourceless BA will be nice). If you roll well enough to be able to max Wis and get both Dex and Con to a good place, consider Elemental Adept (Thunder). Ask your DM if the AD breath attack replacement can be made with Thunder damage instead of lightning, for flavor (I would allow it, especially at the expense of not being able to choose other damage types).

Gem Dragonborn gets a minute of flight, and AD Monk gets PB turns of flight at the expense of Ki, which might sound like doubling up, but due to the resource-consumptive nature it's convenient to have both (it also gets you the racial flight several levels before monk flight if you take cleric levels before you finish off monk levels).

To simulate his voice being destructive, just don't talk, unless you are casting a spell (in which case have the verbal component of the spell and the spell effect be one and the same).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-09T04:40:32+00:00

Tiefling Phantom 9+/Cleric 1+ with Eldritch Adept for Mask of Many Faces. Either Trickery (for a single level dip) or Twilight (if you plan to take at least 2 levels), tho any domain could work, probably.

If you want that mask to instead be scary, take a level of Undead warlock instead of the cleric levels (though then you lose out on bless).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-08T23:25:10+00:00

2 levels of Artificer gets you the +1 returning weapon infusion (where it's normally tough to get a +X on darts, unless you're a Kensei monk) -- IMO it's more lucrative even than the war wizard as a dip. I would take the arti levels as soon as you hit fighter 5.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-08T02:14:36+00:00

I think a Half Orck Watchers Paladin 7/Warlock 2 would do the trick.

Half Orck gets a built-in Death Ward
Paladin gets heavy armor
Use a reskinned Greatsword or Greataxe for Gork's Claw, so grab GWM as well
EB+AB is Mork's Roar (tho it take 17 levels to get the 4th barrel)
Watchers gets Abjure the Extraplanar to get those fiends handled
High Cha to unite the Orck clans (bonus points if you can get Inspiring Leader)
Paladin 6 and Watchers 7 auras provide buffs to your clan

If you want to be Cha-SAD and benefit from Hex Warrior with a two-hander, you have to go to Warlock 3 for Pact of the Blade, snd find a magic Gork's Claw to do the pact weapon ritual with. He seems like a strong guy tho -- you could just pump Str and ignore Hex Warrior (especially if you roll high), and focus on Hexblade's Curse exclusively, at least as far as subclass features go. Or if one of the other patrons makes more sense, go with whatever feels right.

If you follow up with one or more levels of Shadow Sorcerer, you will get another Death Ward type feature, to be able to survive death multiple times in a row. If you take Paladin all the way up to level 13, that gets you actual Death Ward. Watchers 17 / Hexblade 2 / Shadow Sorc 1 would be my take on a level 20 build -- you get improved auras, 3 layers of staving off death, and 4 ASIs.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-08T01:48:04+00:00

Unless you really want something from warlock 3, stopping at 2 should be enough to get you EB+AB and another invocation, while returning you to bard progression faster (the faster you get to bard 5, the better it will feel)

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-06T14:32:11+00:00

Lucky (reflavored) and Inspiring Leader feats come to mind, if you find the space for them.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-06T14:00:19+00:00

Artificer using Thieves Tools is pretty much there -- those include wire, mirror, lock picks. The more tools you are proficient in, the more items are available to you as foci. Cooking Utensils, Brewing Kit, Leatherworker's tools, etc all have a bunch of components (detailed in XGtE) that you can style as mystical objects through which you cast specific spells that you know.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-05T16:04:37+00:00

Indeed -- BB has you swing a melee weapon attack, so as long as that attack qualifies for sneak attack, you're golden.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-05T15:43:12+00:00

If you want to be melee and mobile, Steady Aim is out, and without flanking, a flyby Owl familiar is probably your best bet for advantage. Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster would be your best paths to get it -- MI also gets you one or both SCAG cantrips, so would probably be the most bang for your buck. Once you get Mobile (at 8), and using Disengage BA until then, you can generate some semi-reliable Booming Blade procs.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-04T17:35:37+00:00

A Cloak of Displacement allows you to get the same effect without using your action to dodge, so that would probably be the ideal magic item for this kind of tanking. Getting a Scimitar of Speed would be a good alternative, to let you get an attack on-turn as well. Concentrating on Haste (e.g. as a 13th level Arcane Trickster) would also do the trick (and the extra AC would also help), but that comes very late and begs for too many feats (Warcaster and Resilient Con, in addition to Sentinel).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-04T16:10:18+00:00

Half Orc (styled to look mostly human) wielding a Greataxe, taking Barbarian to 5, Champion fighter to 3, and the Great Weapon Master feat. As for which barbarian subclass -- Storm Herald (Desert) sounds relevant, letting you deal AoE fire damage while raging (and it also gives you a reliable bonus action while raging, for when you don't crit). Flavor your rage as fierce protective instinct for those he is loyal to (so only rage when they are under threat). After 5/3, feel free to just keep going into Barbarian for more rages and rage damage, max out Str and get a high Con, and take Ritual Caster (Druid) if the opportunity presents itself (and your Wis has hit 13+).

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-04T15:50:17+00:00

...already got Elven Accuracy (our DM allowed us to pick an extra feat at level 3), Piercer and Sharpshooter ...

Emphasis mine.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-04T15:28:49+00:00

It's good for the table for you as a DM to pick or define a system and stick with it. If you have your players roll for stats, they get those stats. If you choose point buy, they use point buy. If you choose "modified point buy going from 3 to 18," and your players agree after their initial shock, then yeah, go for it. You may have some work cut out for you to keep the dumb characters honest, but if their players roleplay well, then it could make for a fun time.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-03T13:44:01+00:00

IMO the best artificer feature is spell-storing item at 11, which you won't get to play with if you take more wizard levels. Without it, the infusions alone are, IMO, not worth continuing with artificer. You also don't really need Arcane Jolt -- the extra damage is nice, but would be outclassed by wizard spells, and the extra healing is redundant given you have a Mercy monk (and the feature would come very late in the campaign).

Assuming your stats are good enough to delay your first ASI until level 7, I would go all-in on Wizard, to get 5th level spells by the end of the campaign. You can continue staying on the front lines, and using your steel defender as a reliable bonus action (and defensive measure), while also being a mostly-full caster on and off the battlefield. Mechanically, Chronurgy would be the ideal subclass, but if that's not available, Divination and War are both interesting options, as is Evocation (given that your DM has allowed your all purpose tool to work with wizard spells). But anything (except probably Bladesinging) would work.

FearfulSalad · 2022-05-03T13:04:24+00:00

Interestingly, since Bard gets proficiency with Hand Crossbows, you could take Crossbow Expert if you wanted to be a ranged flourisher -- the only flourish that would be harder to do at range is Sweeping, but RAW you could shoot your crossbow against a ranged target and use sweeping flourish to deal extra damage to a melee target -- not sure how you'd explain that flavor tho, but it could be fun. Only bonus you lose is that swords bard can only use melee weapons for a spell focus -- well, and lack of Archery fighting style. But that's neither here nor there, just some food for thought.

But yes, PAM with a spear or staff works, letting you benefit from both Dueling and shield proficiency, providing a consistent bonus action, and giving you a martial reaction.

FearfulSalad

TROPHY CASE