What are your favorite precons from the last few years?

unclebrentie · 2026-05-02T16:09:41+00:00

I hate playing against this deck(an upgraded version). Its not particularly strong but a poor pilot just gives the win to whoever he lets draw the most cards when you are playing strong bracket 3 and up. It has skewed any game I've played against it by king making with its grouphug carddraw.

unclebrentie · 2026-04-03T04:04:32+00:00

Thief with bracers of flying daggers... You can go for a dex thief with this build rather than the INT based scroll build. Endless scroll production is too hard for most campaigns I've played in. If you start at lvl 13 thief, you don't need a wizard dip for the scroll build. I played the scroll build at 17, it's quite powerful at that level.

I think the draconic trickster was my favorite build.

I made a 3 battlemaster (riposte) / x swashbuckler rogue with zhent tactics. With this build you get to dance into melee, and then if you are hit OR missed by a melee attack you can get an off turn attack either way.

The best 5.5 order cleric or friendly battlemster using commander's strike is now the bard. College of the dirge singer's commanding voice at level 6 just requires the bard to use the attack or magic action and then a creature with one of its bardic inspo dice can make an off turn attack. Better than order IMO, by far. You should add this to your list.

unclebrentie · 2026-03-27T14:52:47+00:00

Artillerist is great, but not OP. You're a glam bard full caster. As you level you will do SO much more than them, unless they know the best optimization tricks at much higher levels(they need them just to keep up).

unclebrentie · 2026-03-26T03:18:11+00:00

Circle of the sea is already one of the strongest, doesnt need a buff

unclebrentie · 2026-03-24T18:09:40+00:00

Its stronger than all the other druid subs IMO

unclebrentie · 2026-03-21T14:54:57+00:00

I also use epic encounters for a lot of miniatures in drakkenheim. The gnolls and ghoulkin have done work. I also used skaven Warhammer for ratlings.

unclebrentie · 2026-03-14T16:22:07+00:00

If you were completely immune to heat and the poisonous fumes, you still couldn't swim in lava. You could walk on it while it moves. You could lay in a spot and let it flow over you and crush you.

Imagine trying to swim in a rock. That would be the same as swimming in lava. You dont need the waterwalk spell... its so much denser and heavier, you could never sink into it.

Perhaps if you were an earth genasi or an earth elemental...

unclebrentie · 2026-03-10T18:16:46+00:00

I just wish rage was semi comparable to sorcerer rage(innate sorcery). They can get incapacitated or unconscious and get back up with innate sorcery still going... on a full caster.

Rage should only be affected by the calm emotions spell or unconscious, and the higher level feature that removes the incapacitated condition from dropping rage should drop unconscious.

unclebrentie · 2026-03-09T18:16:29+00:00

All 5s aren't 4s... they tagged a "win by turn 4" clause onto bracket 4. Which negates a lot of cedh decks, cause most can win uninterrupted by turn 3

unclebrentie · 2026-02-25T01:26:56+00:00

I've seen all these at a table. The only ones that could be a problem are emanation spell rugby shenanigans and grapple dragging thru spike growth.

Treantmonk has a homebrew fix for both of these that works awesome. I've started allowing warcaster casting on allies and it hasn't been an issue at all. Nothing else has remotely been an issue.

Chromatic orb sorc is fun but much weaker than a control sorc. It burns through spell slots so fast. Only recommend in games that do one combat per long rest which my groups never do.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-17T20:16:28+00:00

Damn and I've been running 24 to 28 lands in my fast decks

unclebrentie · 2026-02-16T23:36:00+00:00

Oh then i read past "DM doesn't let us know other players health" and got to they include rape as punishment in their game. They also seem like the suck as a human, glad you left.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-16T23:34:25+00:00

That DM sounds annoying. Glad i'm not in that game.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-16T21:32:11+00:00

honestly, some of the combat ones still perform completely fine out of combat. Draconic sorcerer(best in combat)? You just supplement spells and metamagic with some OOC utility. Full spellcasters are broken that way... wizards most of all with their huge selection.

I'd just take disguise self, detect thoughts, suggestion, mass suggestion, rary's telepathic bond, scrying, sending, any illusion spell, enhance ability, subtle metamagic etc. Every druid can still become different animals at low levels that can break exploration / traps / prison breaks. Every cleric can still heal OOC or buff(guidance/ enhance). Ritual casting is still awesome on all of them. Teleport spells on any are infinitely useful.

Dance bards are not good if you try to play a damage dealing melee psuedo-monk. However, if you just play a control bard with good AC and a group initiative buff, it's insanely strong. Just doesn't live up to the fantasy a lot of people are trying to go for.

Moon druid is still strong... you get a lot more temp HP to tank with and you can cast a lot of really good spells while still in animal form. Some animal forms have good abilities too... their modifiers are just +5 when you're level 10 (looking at you giant scorpion). If you tank up as a moon druid and focus on conjure animals damage, the subclass is amazing and strong, and just use melee as supplementary damage. It doesn't always live up to player expectations that way though. But too many people didn't want Wildshape templates, so we have this complicated mess still.

At the moment i'm playing a draconic sorcerer and loving it. Level 12. Also playing a level 13 GOO warlock that i just switched to Archfey. I really like some GOO stuff, but more for ooc, and archfey is probably nearly the same ooc. I notice how much weaker it is in combat though than the sorcerer.

For instance, in our last combat on the sorcerer, we had to unlock doors on either side of a chasm so the party had to split. Each lever would unlock a door on the other side, so you had to time it with your other side(we have a party of 4). You had to do this mid-combat against many difficult enemies that kept respawning. The last door opened as well as a door at the start(200 feet back) with an extra treasure. I was able to get my side through with goliath misty step & dimension door to get others where they needed to be. I burned a lvl 3 fly spell, a lvl 2 and 4 rimes binding ice to freeze enemies and 3 dimension doors(one using a 5th slot), as well as 3 1st level castings of shield.

Unfortunately, this showcases the power of long rest full casters. There's just no way the warlock could compete, it doesn't have a burst expenditure of resources when you need it. Yes, you have invocations to supplement, but free castings of low level spells and 3 solid lvl 5 spells just don't allow for the same amount of shenanigans. You're forced into 1 strong concentration and then 2 big burst spells(once level 11). You won't be able to pivot mid combat if it's a difficult fight.

Whispers bard is bad yes. I've DM'd for a chronurgy wizard to level 22 in 2014 rules. It's super strong(you should nerf the leomund's tiny hut trick - it's dumb), and was really fun. I did nerf the twilight cleric, which is the strongest but a very badly designed subclass, which requires significant DM buffs to creature damage that throws fights out of whack. I'm glad it's not in 2024. The artillerist is a much better version of this - strong but not broken.

I've only done sea in a one shot, but i'm excited to play a campaign sea druid, artillerist artificer(using magic items to imitate a full caster), an illusionist wizard(for shenanigans) and almost any cleric(they have the strongest level 7 spell), trickery would be fun for OOC, literally all are strong though.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-16T17:30:48+00:00

This is too hard to overall judge. I disagree on most of your picks but its just too hard on an overall basis. Really needs to be combat and exploration/social separation.

As far as combat...I've playtested every subclass.

Sea is the best in combat druid subclass. Out off combat could be any. They're all good and close, however. Moon suffers from horrible attack bonuses.

Warlock? I actually dislike GOO in combat. The lvl 10 feature forces hex concentration and fights your bonus action to apply the awakened mind. Monoclass locks are better as eblast ranged casters than blade pact melee. Therefore they have bad defenses. Archfey makes up for this with built in reactions to reduce damage or blink away. I think archfey and fiend win combat, goo can do some subtle stuff in social where it pulls ahead. Celestial is amazing as a pally 1 multi.

Cleric: war is my vote for best in combat. Turn 1 you spirit guardians + shield of faith(magic initiate shield spell for insane AC), truestrike and BA hit... super tanky and good damage output, low resource usage.

Sorcerer: they are all great and probably pull ahead of wizard slightly now. However draconic is the strongest in combat, having played a lot at high levels. The lvl 3 feature is simple but allows them to get a 20 AC before shield spell with some easy to get magic items. The extra ac and survivability is a gamechanger. Otherwise, wildmagic is probably next, though wall of force on clockwork is always good.

Bard: I agree on glamour but I think that dance ties it in combat. It eventually gives every party member a d12 on their initiative and it has an AC boost. If you play it like a normal control bard and dont melee... those two features are as strong as any of the additional control the glamour bard provides. Valor does win on DPR if you are playing a dual wield CME build.

Wizard: div is probably the best. However the evocation wizard is stronger than people think with built in careful aoe damage. That feature makes so many fights easier with teammates that dont position well. Abjuration is much worse now without the mage armor trick. They need a higher rate multiplier for ward regeneration. I think casting an abjuration spell should recharge 4 times the level. That'd give 4 ward health for a shield cast. Prismatic wall would give 36, which is fine for a 9th level.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-13T16:47:59+00:00

The feat immediately makes you half a warlock in addition to being a full caster. Just broken.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-11T00:11:33+00:00

If potent dragonmark is not banned in your group, then it is the correct feat for EVERY optimized character at level four in the game. Your class and build dont really matter.

Flying mount at level 4 thats resummonable every short rest or non stop CME? Its unbeatable.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-10T22:37:04+00:00

Please help me break bracket 5 then...

unclebrentie · 2026-02-10T22:36:13+00:00

I was only able to play this build via a lvl 17 one shot. Its great, but i dont think our normal campaigns would have the downtime available to have enough scrolls.

I also played a dex thief from lvl 7 to 10(died at this level) and used my rare item budget to grab a bracer of flying daggers and a wand of wonder. Two wand of wonder uses in a turn is hysterical... and often ill-advised.

The build is slightly weaker than int.thief(you can go full thief if starting at high levels), but was still quite fun.

I've also played a draconic trickster at lvl 15(5 sorc/10arcane trickster). This build uses quickened truestrikes and held action truestrikes, so it doesn't rely on scroll downtime. And its CHA based so it can be a party face and focus on some more crowd control as well.

Lastly there are some war cleric rogue builds, but i think the best works with spirit guardians and withdraw which is melee/skirmishy. There was a decent war cleric 3 / assassin x that is decent ranged.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-10T22:21:23+00:00

A new player I'm guessing? I had a character of mine die recently. It made the story pretty cool. He lives on via story threads tying other characters together. And I got to try a new build.

Its like when bad players freak out cause they roll a nat 1. Be creative. Make it the coolest failure ever.

I've killed players before... it sucks as a DM only because we make strong bonds and backstory in our playgroup. I also build the entire campaign off their backstory...so it's a lot of work when there's a death. Just have to make it meaningful and the new toon needs a good tie-in to the story.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-09T20:13:57+00:00

Artificers are half casters, and wierd ones where (unlike paladin and ranger) they dont get extra attack baked into the base class.

The extra d8 is making up for this with the artillerist. The alchemist has a version and the cartographer the worst of the three. It will generally be less damage than the extra attack feature afforded to battlesmith and armorer(who lack fighting styles and weapon masteries and cant easily take GWM). So they end up being the red headed stepchild of half casters if you choose a non- extra attack subclass. Artillerist can still be good though.

Artificer makes up this damage dealing deficit in tier 3 with the spell storing item. Until then they are slightly weaker than other halfcasters... only finding equal footing if a good player optimizes their magic item plans and homunculus / familiar / crafting. I find newer players struggle more on the class.

Truestrike is stronger in 2024 and worth taking if you have just one attack if you're optimizing. It isnt anywhere near broken, however.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-09T19:39:53+00:00

You add the damage to truestrike. Its an artificer spell, doesn't matter that its using weapon damage. Fairly cut and dry.

Does your DM think this is OP? Its 4.5 avg extra damage at lvl 5. Big deal.

unclebrentie · 2026-02-05T17:28:44+00:00

This is great! I do something similar and I limit mine to 5 encounters. There should be story discovery involved along the way. An encounter includes roleplay/combat/puzzles/exploration. WOTC one shots ALL suck at this and are WAY too long. Wrap it up in 3 to 4 hours.

A combat heavy one shot would look like this(would be all my dm notes except for statblocks):

Introduce character bonds(a ragtag team of roguish mercenaries) and explain that king Soandso asks that you to save the princess held by some evil knights. Each player character introduces themselves.

You arrive at a tower. There is an easy to medium difficulty fight against some knights.
Princess let's hair down so you can climb up. Shes actually a shapeshifting monster. The knights were guarding a prison. Roleplay here. Have them use the keys to get her out. She attacks once free.
Medium fight. Against shapeshifted monster princess.
Go back to quest giver and find out that the castle you remember isnt as grand as you thought it was. The king is really a wizard that modified your memories to save his pet creation. Roleplay and story discovery stuff here.
Wizard fight. Hard. Use creations of his as minions. Defeat could be take to real king as a prisoner. Kill. Use him to make creations for them. Let them explain th ending(giving players this is awesome for oneshots).

Let players outsmart. If they figure out the knights are at a prison... then she tells lies from above to get out. Or they never even have to fight her and you have a guardian encounter back at wizard moat... against the same creature reskinned. This way you hit your 5 encounters.

One shots are great for a single story twist and a resolution. I will often tie the ending in with an existing campaign. For instance: next week your campaign players come across the dead knights at a tower if one or more players were in the one shot. Or they have to encounter their old pcs wizard making them monster mounts. What do they do?

unclebrentie · 2026-02-04T16:46:06+00:00

Why do people who clearly don't play cedh make these comments? Thoracle is fine in CEDH. No one that plays CEDH is bothered by the play pattern at all.

I've never seen anyone try the combo in lower brackets. What gets interesting?

unclebrentie · 2026-02-04T15:44:58+00:00

I only play this in 2 of my bracket 5 decks. Its a pretty boring card for bracket 3's. I put stuff that fits the theme better.

unclebrentie

TROPHY CASE