Help with builds

[SiuiS]

So hey playground, I have some requests. I have access to the actual PHB only intermittently, because I haven't bought it and can't use PDFs effectively (and because the book has things the basic rules don't!), and wanted to throw some stuff into the internet and see what comes back; one of the newbies at my table bought the DMG, got the basic rules and browses the other books at our LGS, and is going to design a game. Some of the other newbies (and me included) want to build characters for it in advance but no one has the familiarity with the system that we do with 3/4e.

How would you build the following?

• half elf blade signer a-la 2e; less focus on magic, more focus on the weapon martial art. Two weapon/deulist style, foppish.

Ive got nothing personally, except maybe 2wf rogue and ask for the deulist advantage thing from the playtest

• dragonborn "Lancer", specifically heavy armor, shield and lance.

as bucklers don't seem to exist, the best I came up with was suggesting making a mounted character, but instead of a horse, he takes a 'combat stance' that functions 100% like a horse. Charger feat, great weapon master maybe?

• wizard warrior Gish. MMO style heavy armored magic swordsman.

I haven't been able to grok the multiclass rules, let alone look at what works with them. Is there an archetype that handles this? How about if a caster who can hold their own i. A fight rather than a fighter who can also blast/enchant?


I know it poor form to say "build these for me!", but I'm hoping being able to dissect specific suggestions from you guys will be an exercise that helps me wrap my brain meats around the rules intricacies, both in how they are, and how they can be ignored/wiggled.

[Alucard2099]

So hey playground, I have some requests. I have access to the actual PHB only intermittently, because I haven't bought it and can't use PDFs effectively (and because the book has things the basic rules don't!), and wanted to throw some stuff into the internet and see what comes back; one of the newbies at my table bought the DMG, got the basic rules and browses the other books at our LGS, and is going to design a game. Some of the other newbies (and me included) want to build characters for it in advance but no one has the familiarity with the system that we do with 3/4e.

How would you build the following?

• half elf blade signer a-la 2e; less focus on magic, more focus on the weapon martial art. Two weapon/deulist style, foppish.

Ive got nothing personally, except maybe 2wf rogue and ask for the deulist advantage thing from the playtest

You might wanna take a look at the Edritch Knight archtype for the fighter... it's melee with a dabble of magic. They fighter also has access to two weapon fighting.


• dragonborn "Lancer", specifically heavy armor, shield and lance.

as bucklers don't seem to exist, the best I came up with was suggesting making a mounted character, but instead of a horse, he takes a 'combat stance' that functions 100% like a horse. Charger feat, great weapon master maybe?

Take a look at the battle master fighter. This can augment the combat to the point where you wont need to worry about being mounted. Then take the feats Polearm Master and Sentinel. Use a Pike or Glaive instead of a lance.


• wizard warrior Gish. MMO style heavy armored magic swordsman.

I haven't been able to grok the multiclass rules, let alone look at what works with them. Is there an archetype that handles this? How about if a caster who can hold their own i. A fight rather than a fighter who can also blast/enchant?

The Warlock would be good. They are a magic user with access to half decent melee abilities. Take 1 lvl dip into ranger if you wanna choose a fighting style.



I know it poor form to say "build these for me!", but I'm hoping being able to dissect specific suggestions from you guys will be an exercise that helps me wrap my brain meats around the rules intricacies, both in how they are, and how they can be ignored/wiggled.

These are my suggestions. I hope you like them.If at anytime you wanna pick my brain ( i have way too much time so I read the books over and over) pop onto my thread on here called Ask Me Anything. Giving Away Advice.

[Oscredwin]

• half elf blade signer a-la 2e; less focus on magic, more focus on the weapon martial art. Two weapon/deulist style, foppish.
Ive got nothing personally, except maybe 2wf rogue and ask for the deulist advantage thing from the playtest


Either an EK if you want lots of attacks, fireballs and dispel magic, or an Arcane Trickster if you want one big attack and illusion magic.


• dragonborn "Lancer", specifically heavy armor, shield and lance.
as bucklers don't seem to exist, the best I came up with was suggesting making a mounted character, but instead of a horse, he takes a 'combat stance' that functions 100% like a horse. Charger feat, great weapon master maybe?


Not really sure what you're looking for. What does this character do?


• wizard warrior Gish. MMO style heavy armored magic swordsman.
I haven't been able to grok the multiclass rules, let alone look at what works with them. Is there an archetype that handles this? How about if a caster who can hold their own i. A fight rather than a fighter who can also blast/enchant?


Lots of options here. If you want heavy armor and magic than and Eldritch Knight fighter gets 4th level spells of evocation and abjuration schools, a Paladin gets decent spells and heavy armor, and I assume you don't want a cleric (although you should look at Tempest Clerics, it's not what you're looking for but you might like it). If you want to multiclass, Paladin 6/Sorcerer 14 in that order, works really well with smiting and 7th level spells and 9th level slots. If you want medium armor, mountain dwarf caster of any sort can use a battle axe and medium armor and Valor Bards work well too.

[Morgue]

I'll have a go giving you some pointers, but this is my first post, so bear with me if I'm not as clear as I'd like to be.
• half elf blade singer -

I'm not familiar with the 2e blade singer concept (my first edition of D&D was 3.5), but the obvious choice is the eldritch knight fighter archetype. The advantage of walking this path would be a fighting style appropriate to your weapon choice, coupled with half wizard spell casting from the third level onwards. Though it is worth noting as you use intelligence for casting, you would either have to spend points there, or stick with self buffs.

If dexterity was more your thing, you could consider the monk. Short swords class as monk weapons, you gain a Ki pool to fuel your combat options and magic, though the spell list is fairly limited. The "magic using" archetype of monk is known as the Way of the 4 Elements. It is worth noting you would lose the fighting style option from the fighter though, meaning your offhand attack would lack an ability modifier to attack and damage rolls. The upside is the damage of your weapons increases with your level, though you would have to wait until level 11 for the damage dice to surpass a short sword.

• dragonborn "Lancer", specifically heavy armor, shield and lance.

Only 2 classes in the game get heavy armour proficiency off the bat - fighter and paladin, so I guess the choice is one of flavour. I find the low levels of paladin (1-2) can be fairly difficult if you don't pick the right options, while fighter on the other hand gains some of the best features in the game during its first 2 levels. Provided it is assumed you can control your horse with your shield arm, there is no penalty to using a lance and shield on horseback. The duellist fighting style in particular has a nice +2 damage bonus to lend here. If you were more into the idea of a paladin, smite damage is almost unparalleled burst damage, whereas a fighter's damage is lower but arguably more consistent. Fighters also get the most Ability Score Increases (ASI's) of any class, so are a great place to pick up feats (if your DM allows them). An obvious choice for this build would be the mounted combat feat. If you aren't opposed to multiclassing, the first 2 levels of fighter followed by straight paladin would be a sterling option.

• Wizard Warrior Gish.

Again I'd recommend either eldritch knight, a warlock, or a bard. Warlock invocations allow them to have at will spells, though until level 11 they can only cast 2 spells per short rest. Most casters can in fact hold their own in a fight, since BAB was scrapped in place of proficiency modifier + relevant ability score. All that limits casters is the list of weapons they are proficient with, and access to a second attack. Pact of the blade warlock allows for a weapon to be summoned, and coupled with the thirsting blade invocation, allows for 2 attacks a turn. Mechanically though, this is often less damage than a blastlock hurling cantrips all day. The question really is, what type of gish would you like to play?

I know I've given no definitive answers, but from experience all classes are a joy to play so far.

[DragonSinged]

• dragonborn "Lancer", specifically heavy armor, shield and lance.

as bucklers don't seem to exist, the best I came up with was suggesting making a mounted character, but instead of a horse, he takes a 'combat stance' that functions 100% like a horse. Charger feat, great weapon master maybe?


The Lance has rules under the "special weapons" section, I believe, that specify that if you aren't mounted it can only be wielded 2 handed, which loses you the shield usage and limits non mounted utility somewhat. As previously, a glaive is probably a better option unless he really wants that final fantasy tactics feel.
Unless, as you say, a custom feat is used.

[Yagyujubei]

A monk applies dmg mod to the bonus action attack because it isn't two weapon fighting or dual wielding. you are using unarmed strikes regardless of whether or not your using shortswords or fists.

This is why monk is straight up the best class if you want to "dual wield" in my opinion, since you basically are, but don't get any of the drawbacks, and your weapon dice scales up.

anyway, a bladesinger would likely be best achieved by an Eldritch knight get two weapon fighting style and defense fighting style, dual wielder feat, and grab mostly buffing spells with some utility and ranged damage mixed in. Take Mobile for better versatility and maybe alert

another option would be lore bard(6)/fighter(14) with a similar setup

honestly the lancer one...I would be inclined to let you 1H a lance on foot if you take polearm master AND a special feat to negate the mounted only property of lances. in which case, straight up battlemaster fighter with those two feats and charger would get the job done.

as far as gishes go, almost any caster can gish in 5E since theres no spell failure armor restrictions. take 1 level of fighter then go into wizard or sorc and you can cast in heavy armor all day. Blade pact warlock is pretty gishy just by itself, valor bard is gishy...really easy to do in this edition

[SiuiS]

Not really sure what you're looking for. What does this character do?.

The player's goal was;

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/examples/RPGs/EDDE3FEF-DEDC-4C2D-853A-9CDB5F2D7969.png

And... That's it. I said it was a beefy rapier, but that was too cute so we're trying to finagle


The Lance has rules under the "special weapons" section, I believe, that specify that if you aren't mounted it can only be wielded 2 handed, which loses you the shield usage and limits non mounted utility somewhat. As previously, a glaive is probably a better option unless he really wants that final fantasy tactics feel.
Unless, as you say, a custom feat is used.

1d12 reach weapon with special tag, piercing damage, aye. That was what the whole "stance" thing being an invisible horse was about. Unfortunately, I feel "oops, sorry, rules don't say you can" is the way to approach this edition. Invisible technically-horse is better albeit also very clunky. Maybe custom feat, eventually, but will take time to read and digest.