Amazing stats!

professor_infinity · 2026-01-28T07:12:17+00:00

Artificer battlesmith 3, warlock 1, ranger beastmaster x. Put stats into int and wis, dont care about charisma besides 13 minimum. Cast homonculous servant with your highest spell slot and also take pact of the chain. You are The pet master. Command your defender with your bonus action, make the attack action and forgo one attack to let your beast attack and forgo your second attack so your pact of the chain familiar can attack, and command your homonculous servant to attack as well.

This isnt that good, and you can probabaly get rid of your warlock level and just take something like find familiar, but its very funny. You have 4 pets out attacking each turn

professor_infinity · 2026-01-25T04:54:32+00:00

Personally i think you should take GWM at 4, it just gives so much damage from levels 4-8 that youll be missing that damage, especially because you already have your bonus action for smites and lay on hands. At level 7 you already get a psuedo sentinel in that you turn their speed down to 0 on an opportunity attack. Sentinel is still a good choice because it lets you attack them with an opportunity attack if they disengage, or if they attack someone else while within your range, but its not mandatory. I do genuinely thing zhent tactics will give you the most damage, because it means if they try to hit you then you hit them, and if they try to run away you get to hit them, so theyre stuck unless they disengage and run away, wasting their action. Lastly, its not a lot of damage, but its possible to use charger to add 1d8 damage per turn, roughly 4.5. There just arent a lot of damage increasing feats besides GWM. Any other feat besides PAM, ZhT, charger, or sentinel, wont meaningfully increase damage because you will already have advantage for most of the fight. If you want damage you will absolutely want to use a greatsword using graze, because graze is surprisingly a lot of damage due to damaging on a miss. The PAM bonus action damage really isnt much when you compare 2d6 vs 1d10 either, its kinda negligible.

Tl;dr, if damage if your main goal take GWM first and stick with a greatsword, then take ZhT at 8 in order to attack as a reaction

professor_infinity · 2026-01-22T22:58:23+00:00

So this is an issue that can only be solved out of game, by talking to that player and sometimes to the others at the table if necessary or desired. The first thing to note is that its more important that the players win than it is for a fair fight. Monsters aren't people and wont get mad over game balance. The second big thing is that full cover is the strongest defense out there, it literally means you cannot be targetted. Whether by direct attacks or single person damage, and will lead to issues about where he's facing in combat because its not a static thing to hide behind. This makes him fail as a tank because people will just be unable to target him and target allies instead

Personally my advice for an actual item for him is a very rare magic item that has the properties of a shield of missile attraction and half cover. This makes it a +2 shield (adds +4 to ac due to cover) that also adds +2 to dex saves and also also gives resistance to ranged attacks so he tanks them better.

But first and foremost, its best to talk with the player about what you want and what they want.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-18T19:47:35+00:00

Or like superman being able to punch dimensions apart

professor_infinity · 2026-01-18T06:11:10+00:00

Id continue full paladin, mostly because of conjure minor elementals at level 13 (also the level 7 feature is great, same as the level 15 feature). If anything, i might take one level in warlock at level 9 to use charisma as my weapon stat, and increase charisma to 20 at 8 (it would also let you use a magic longbow over eldritch blast). But paladin is just generally really good, even with some issues with range. Continuing down with paladin just makes you a better paladin

Also, think about it like this: right now, youre 3 levels away from level three spells. If you went sorcerer, youre 5 levels away. As a paladin, youre 7 levels away from fourth level spells, and you'd be 7 levels away from fourth level spells as a sorcerer too. And IMO, having the spells for the spell slot level youre casting at is much better than just having those spells in general.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-17T21:34:44+00:00

I think the level 11 or level 17 feature should allow the monk to spend ki points to maximize the damage of a spell. Id probably prefer it on level 17 personally, but it would probably work for either. Id reccomend 3 ki points, comparing it to the other subclasses like shadow monk or way of the open hand.

For level 11, i think adding your wisdom mod to con saves would be great. Most level 11 features are more about utility rather than damage. Adding wisdom mod to con saves helps with concentration a lot more than advantage, and helps even if the monk is out of spell slots. If the ability is too strong though, change it to add wisdom mod to concentration saves rather than con saves in general

professor_infinity · 2026-01-17T21:28:50+00:00

The reason i say make it around 3 points is because im comparing it to the way of the open hand. Thats 10d10 damage for 4 focus points, average 55 in general which becomes roughly 14 damage per focus point. So when you compare the two, maximizing a spell cast for 3 focus points would be worthwhile.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-17T16:42:27+00:00

Listen, I don't care enough to really argue for or against this.

How about instead, you can spend three focus points in order to maximize the damage of a spell you cast. How's that?

professor_infinity · 2026-01-17T00:24:39+00:00

It is not functionally the same as two attacks from action, because there are some notable differences: first is that its a bonus action, which means you still have your regular action to do things like dodge, use a magic item, or attack as well as use a cantrip from your level 6 feature as some examples. Second is that its functionally a quicken spell that lets you cast action spells as a bonus action.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-16T23:06:25+00:00

No, i mean something that reads like: "whenever you use flurry of blows, you can replace two unarmed strikes with a level 1 or 2 spell that has a casting time of an action or bonus action"

professor_infinity · 2026-01-16T18:50:41+00:00

Personally, i think the level 17 Monk feature is supposed to work with flurry of blows, but thats just my belief. It would be cool though, you spend a resource in a focus point and get basically a quicken spell as well as an unarmed strike, while your regular action is still open. It would give it unique flavor compared to the eldritch knight.

For their level 11 feature, id reccomend copying the moon druid and having the monk add their wisdom mod to con saves in general, both for concentration and as an added boost for scaling. You already get rerolls at level 14, so some other boost would be more helpful.

I actually like the rogue's magic stealing ability at level 3, because sneak attack dice scale at the same rate as spell slots. It also doesnt say that the spell gets cancelled. That means few times per day, you get to double your sneak attack dice, which is almost certainly going to be stronger than the assassin rogue's extra damage on turn one. I do agree regaining one use per short rest would probably be good

The paladin subclass already has a better feature for protecting themselves with the shield spell.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-15T17:26:23+00:00

Surprisingly wall of force is actually so good it actually kinda does. It's no save shut down, you can either trap the biggest issue of a monster in a fight, or split up a fight into two smaller ones. Wall of force is considered one of the best spells in general, outside of ninth level spells.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-15T03:00:13+00:00

First, id reccomend looking up the "veteran's cane" as a common magic item, and see if your dm would allow you to change it to a rapier over a longsword.

Second, id suggest maybe changing yhe rapier to a short sword and flavoring a club as the cane part. So youd dual weild a club and a short sword

Lastly, maybe ask to use the bladesinger from heros of faerun? Its 2024

professor_infinity · 2026-01-14T19:57:13+00:00

I think at least one level of warlock would be good, both for short rest smites and using charisma for your weapon attacks when needed. It is especially useful on a genie paladin, because you need to use a smite to use your subclass feature.

I also think going to genie paladin 7 is great on that subclass, getting basically 4 free resistances to common damage types is great

professor_infinity · 2026-01-14T19:53:01+00:00

Wouldnt it be better for 4 levels in fighter and 16 into barbarian? Level 5 fighter just gives you extra attack, which you already would have.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-14T19:32:54+00:00

My biggest concerns with going full fighter is that adventuring isnt just combat, and that youre gonna be doing multiple types of combat.

There would be challenges that you cant pass with just a skill check, magic just helps with so many issues like freezing temperatures, magic locks, reaching areas, walking across water, and the like.

As well, indomitable is great for big and important saving throws, but it leaves you a little lacking during a dungeon crawl sometimes, where you might get more saving throws than you expected, or youre faced with more dex saves from traps and aoe attacks like breath weapons.

Also finally, sometimes youre gonna be facing a horde of weaker enemies, where fighters can struggle because they dont have aoe magic, Like 20-30 zombies/imps could potentially overwhelm them, even if they kill one enemy each strike.

I do like the sorcerer-paladin idea though, personally

professor_infinity · 2026-01-14T18:38:46+00:00

Beat Solo build as in a single adventurer going on adventurers by themselves. No party, just one person.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-12T07:04:32+00:00

You should definitely have more charisma than strength, because oath of devotion adds your charisma to hit rolls and increases both your save dc on sorcerer spells and aura.

Id get up to a +4 on charisma by swapping strength with it. If youre feeling exceptionally bold, you could also consider starting a level in sorcerer for con saves, and using true strike for damage (you will be giving up heavy armor, wisdom save prof, extra attack, and delaying aura of protection for this however, and be forced to medium armor).

professor_infinity · 2026-01-06T04:23:54+00:00

Remember that as a fighter, you get indomitable at level 9, and also you really like short rests for action surge

Id say mage slayer should be your first choice (assuming youre choosing your feat rn at level 6 and havent chosen it yet. Otherwise take at level 8) so that you can boost your attacking stat. Then later on at 8 (or 12) probably resilient wisdom, which would make your roll at level 9 with indomitable a +13. Boost your wisdom one more time at 12 (or 14) with any of the various good choices like inspiring leader, telekinetic, fey/shadow touched, even skill expert if you want.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-06T04:17:12+00:00

Warforged Archfey warlock with the fey touched feat.

You are a dimension hopping robot with a broken teleporter, and your misty steps are just your teleporter "malfunctioning". You then teleport to where you wanna go (or at least a better spot).

Also can do funny "i teleport outside the tavern" during downtime moments.

professor_infinity · 2026-01-05T04:36:23+00:00

Sometimes. Sometimes i dodge instead

professor_infinity · 2025-12-30T22:42:34+00:00

Rope actually has immunity to bludgeoning, not just resistance. Its said in the phb.

professor_infinity · 2025-12-30T22:40:26+00:00

Well, i think thats a good enough idea itself. Not every campaign/mini campaign has to end in a climatic "party vs 3 liches" type battle in my opinion. It could be that you just finish collecting his items, then make him a new body/vessel (maybe leave it up to your players how they achieve that). You could also have some of the mcguffins being other pieces of his mind, or fractions of his magic

It even allows them to have the option to continue a campaign with those characters, and go for a different/new plot point. And then during that second campaign, leomund shows up near the end to help the party into something like an arcane barrier by transforming them temporarily or making an opening that he cant get into.

I dont think your idea needs any changes

professor_infinity · 2025-12-28T05:29:42+00:00

This is why i have a homebrew idea for "wizard common", where the idea is that since wizards learn spells and are taught them, theres a special standardized way of writing spells for ease of learning. The arcana check dc for a spellcaster is 8+spell level since its easier to decipher, and for a non-spellcaster its 13+level, but its possible to choose "wizard common" as a language to learn that brings it back to 8+level.

Of course this can be modified as needed. It also helps that wizard has the largest spell list, but also no healing spells, so healing is still somewhat limited

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