Share Your Out of the Abyss Character Creation Experiences

[somehownotsingl]

My group will start Out of the Abyss soon. Since it's been out for a while now, I figured there might be a critical mass of people on the forum pages that have played it, or at least started it.

1) Are there any classes you found particular useful/invaluable for your party? "We would have had a hard time or maybe even died if not for our ..."

2) Are there any classes you found to be very difficult/not fun to play in this particular campaign? "So-and-so was completely useless and eventually embedded his dice in the wall of the DM's living room ..."


Right now, I'm leaning toward a Half-Elf (with Drow substitute via Half-Elf Varient from the Sword Coast Adventures book) Paladin Oath of Vengeance. But I'm also flirting with possibly running a ranger (though we are going to level 15, and rangers are so sad after about level 7 or so). Finally, I would love to try to new bladesinger from the Sword Coast Adventures, but have heard that wizards are a really bad choice for this particular campaign.

At any rate, comments on the classes I mentioned or any other classes you have tried/seen played are much appreciated!

[ImSAMazing]

For the first level: Monk. You will definetely shine.

[somehownotsingl]

For the first level: Monk. You will definetely shine.

Good to know! We have a monk in the group :-)

[ImSAMazing]

Good to know! We have a monk in the group :-)

Also: don't dump dex or str. In chapter 1 we already encountered 3 dc 20 checks.

[m4th]

My first session of OotA was by far the most fun I've had in D&D in over 10 years of playing. After meticulously constructing a back story for a Dwarven Flame Cleric, I proceeded to foul up our escape attempt by illuminating a nest of Drow. Then, instead of fleeing or surrendering, I tried to take down two elite warriors and a priestess with a burning hands spell. I died, and the entire table spent the better part of an hour laughing as our carefully laid plans went to dust from a careless cantrip.

The point of this story is to say that any character played foolishly will die in the Underdark. On the other side of this coin, good RP and decision making is better rewarded in this campaign than any other I've seen.

Enjoy!

[steppedonad4]

The Underdark version of Outlander is really nice for PC's.

[Belac93]

Try to make your character the least dependent on equipment that you can. Get darkvision, have at least 2 people that have deep delver, and by all the gods, make sure that you can run away! We are playing it right now, and met demogorgon at level 2 (we had the xp for level 3, but we had to take a long rest). Also, fighting 11 skeletons in a 6 person level 2 party.

[somehownotsingl]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm curious if anyone has seen a wizard played in OotA? Is it really that bad?

[Maxilian]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm curious if anyone has seen a wizard played in OotA? Is it really that bad?

Wizards are never bad, but at early lvls... you are really squishy and almost anything can kill you :)

[SharkForce]

Wizards are never bad, but at early lvls... you are really squishy and almost anything can kill you :)

that's only slightly more true for wizards than it is for anyone else, really. at level 1, PCs in general are squishy, and almost anything can kill them, regardless of class. 15 AC and some extra HP helps, but not nearly enough.

[Falcon X]

So, we are about to start and we have a character who is a Githyanki... So, not too heroic, WILL attack mind flayers, and slavery is an interesting topic. Yeah, this will be fun.

Another fun option is a Fiend-pact warlock of one of the Demon Lords. Just saying...

[Joe the Rat]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm curious if anyone has seen a wizard played in OotA? Is it really that bad?
Started with two, one of which pulled off a DC20 strength check, the bastard.

Wizzies aren't too bad, you just need to avoid getting stabbed. You will want at least one no-material spell prepped at the start.

This is one where having a face, while not strictly necessary, will smooth over some of the plot transitions. It may behoove you to have that person be a non-resident, given the way the Deurgar, Svirfneblin, and Drow get along sooooo well.

An all-darkvision party will have an easier time sneaking.

NPCs. Use them.

[Kane0]

Don't forget somebody being able to acquire food, like from the outlander background or a good survival.

[Theodoxus]

My friend and I are revisiting a pair of halfling rogues for an OotA campaign. Not sure what the rest of the party will comprise of - possibly a human wizard, a land druid of some sort - if two other players stick to their stated ideas. Anyway, looks like we'll have minimal darkvision. Personally, I think this will be more fun - a bit like a Paladin in Hell. Wandering around with torches and Light spells, disturbing all the things.

My rogue is more of a face (going Swashbuckler) - though will only have Deception and Persuasion as proficient CHA skills. At 6th, I'll grab Expertise in Persuasion in anticipation of the 9th level ability, but for RP reasons, he's starting with Perception and Survival (he's a master chef, so Survival will do the heavy cooking lifting, though I'm also starting with the Cooking Utensils tool).

I'm currently thinking of grabbing Ritual Caster [cleric] at 8th - how useful will Divination rituals be? (This will change if we end up with a cleric in the party - though I guess two different Divinations to different entities might not be bad).

[DanyBallon]

Definately looking for an all non-darkvision party. This will be pure madness !!! :smallbiggrin:

[somehownotsingl]

Don't forget somebody being able to acquire food, like from the outlander background or a good survival.

Yeah, my character is taking Outlander for his backbround

[somehownotsingl]

I'm currently thinking of grabbing Ritual Caster [cleric] at 8th - how useful will Divination rituals be? (This will change if we end up with a cleric in the party - though I guess two different Divinations to different entities might not be bad).

I would say, let the wizard handle casting. You focus on being even better at what you do (bump to CHA or DEX), rather than making a weak excursion into his/her role.

[steppedonad4]

Yeah, my character is taking Outlander for his backbround

This is one of those corner case curiosities but it seems that Outlander only applies when in the wilderness. This is because they've included the Deep Delver background in OotA which is functionally identical to Outlander with the exception of it only working in the Underdark.

[ad_hoc]

Well you don't start with equipment, and getting your starting equipment is quite hard and dangerous and probably not worth it (your party would need to be about 5th level to start thinking about taking on the Drow camp). So the Wizard will not have a spellbook for a while. They no longer need one in 5e, they are just better with one.

Without getting into spoilers there are Wizard specific goodies and situations where you will wish you were one or had one in the party. So rough going early on but benefit later.

To have the most fun with the story I would not take any characteristics that tie you to the Underdark. It works best if everything is a mystery and alien to the characters.

And yeah, exploration abilities are big.

[Kane0]

The recent unearthed arcana ranger, sorcerer and warlock subcalsses are also very solid options for those classes respectively, as are some SCAG like the arcana cleric and death/sun monks.

[DanyBallon]

Well you don't start with equipment, and getting your starting equipment is quite hard and dangerous and probably not worth it (your party would need to be about 5th level to start thinking about taking on the Drow camp). So the Wizard will not have a spellbook for a while. They no longer need one in 5e, they are just better with one.

Without getting into spoilers there are Wizard specific goodies and situations where you will wish you were one or had one in the party. So rough going early on but benefit later.

To have the most fun with the story I would not take any characteristics that tie you to the Underdark. It works best if everything is a mystery and alien to the characters.

And yeah, exploration abilities are big.

It's totally in DM fiat territory, but it could be a cool concept if the wizard has been imprisoned for some time and started to write down his spell book on his own flesh at the expense of some madeness...

[Inevitability]

Get a druid. You'll be caring for your own party plus up to a dozen of random tag-alongs. A single casting of Goodberry already takes care of everyone's food.

Also, remember to have someone with nature proficiency. A high enough check allows you to harvest poison from dead or unconscious creatures, and you'll encounter quite a few poisonous things early on. Don't be afraid to use it either!

[0oMooncalfo0]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm curious if anyone has seen a wizard played in OotA? Is it really that bad?

The issue with wizards is whether or not you'd be able to function without your spell book for a while, since losing it could be a real possibility. That aside, however, I was just about to say that casters were the real thing that shined in my party's experience. Picking the right spells can mean incredible utility and potential DPR at low levels, particularly if you're sneaky about material components. My group ran with a monk who actually ended up dropping in part because he couldn't keep up with the casters. So if you're inclined towards wizard, I say go for it! To answer the rest of your questions, however, I can tell you with experience that paladin and ranger are also viable options. Got one of each in my group, and they've both been respectable players the entire time.


1) Are there any classes you found particular useful/invaluable for your party? "We would have had a hard time or maybe even died if not for our ..."

Looks like a lot of folks already answered this, for you. But aside from generally promoting the usefulness of casters, I'd add one more thing: Our group really would have been toast if not for divine magic. Having at least one person in the group that can Turn Undead was a godsend.


1) Right now, I'm leaning toward a Half-Elf (with Drow substitute via Half-Elf Varient from the Sword Coast Adventures book).

Now that could be interesting. From a mechanical standpoint, the drow spells aren't bad. We've found plenty of uses for them. And from a roleplay standpoint, it could certainly be interesting. But it's interesting you're looking into having drow blood, because I was just about to say: other thing that really saved my crew's lives was having native races in the team. We had a drow PC playing face and a duergar PC playing medic, each boasting one of the new Underdark backgrounds. It was really useful mechanically, and terribly fun to role-play. Food for thought.

[somehownotsingl]

To answer the rest of your questions, however, I can tell you with experience that paladin and ranger are also viable options. Got one of each in my group, and they've both been respectable players the entire time.

Thanks for all the very helpful advice! I was particularly intrigued to hear that you have a paladin and ranger in your group. Are you guys going to level 15ish? If so, do you know if your paladin or ranger intend to multiclass, or play it straight?

[HaltTheSlayer]

To me out of the abyss would be extremely hard if you didn't have these two classes. The first being a ranger that has favored terrain Underdark and either takes favored enemies, Elf, dwarf, fiend. The reason is because a ranger gets a crap ton of benefits in their own terrain and in this campaign they are always in their favored terrain. Without a ranger, your party would have to make a whole bunch of survival checks to avoid getting lost and to find food and water. Also if your a halfing ranger, their is an animal companion that you can take called a Male Steeder, which is basically a man sized jumping spider. If you are a small PC it is an incredibly good mount since it is medium size and it can jump 60 feet by expending all its movement, 180 feet if you cast jump on it. It also has a climb speed of 30 which is also really good since your in a cave. Favored enemy elf is just for being able to fight drow more effectively, dwarf is to fight duergar and derro more effectively and favored enemy fiend will become very useful later on.

Another useful class is cleric, just because you need a healer who can cure your madness levels which will be an extreme pain in the butt later on.

I am the party halfing ranger in my group and we do have a dwarf war cleric and together we make our party's lives a lot easier.

[MightyDog16]

I'm DMing an OotA campaign and my group opted not to have a support class like bard/cleric/druid and are paying for it. They only have one spellcaster too so spell slots are at a premium and the poor guy just doesn't have enough spells known to have the right utility type spells at the right time. Also, many underdark creatures have sunlight sensitivity so having someone who can create that effect would be clutch in many situations.

[somehownotsingl]

Thanks for the continued great advice, all! The rest of the party is a bard, monk, and sorcerer (prb should have mentioned that waaaay sooner).

From what you all are saying, now I'm wondering about a cleric with a ranger dip. Thoughts on that? I want to fill gaps to help keep the party alive.

[HaltTheSlayer]

That could work, you probably only want a few levels in ranger and go the rest war cleric. I recommend since the campaign could take a party up to level 20, is 4 levels in ranger and go the rest cleric. Also you probably want Dexterity and wisdom as your main stats, dex for using finesse weapons and wisdom for spells.

[somehownotsingl]

That could work, you probably only want a few levels in ranger and go the rest war cleric. I recommend since the campaign could take a party up to level 20, is 4 levels in ranger and go the rest cleric. Also you probably want Dexterity and wisdom as your main stats, dex for using finesse weapons and wisdom for spells.

That makes a lot of sense. We're starting at level 3, so I was considering Ranger 2/Cleric 1 to start (get some good ranger spells and a fighting style right away to help with the initial fights), then advance mainly cleric.

So, something like Ranger 2/Cleric 1/Ranger 1 (for colossus or horde slayer)/Cleric X (maybe a ranger slot or two thrown in there somewhere for ASI and extra attack).

I'm still looking over the Cleric domains (the new Arcana one in SCAG looks nice!), but currently leaning toward War because of the pseudo-extra attack domain feature. Even though it's limited, it gets enough uses to make up for delaying (or even never getting) the extra attack at Ranger 5.

A DEX-based Ranger/Cleric makes a great deal of sense, obviously, and I think I can still reasonably be a second tank/secondary damage dealer with that build -- especially in a campaign like OotA, where it sounds like things like the heavy armor a strength build would rely on might be hard to come by.

And between Ranger and Cleric, I think I can reasonably recreate what most appealed to me about my original Oath of Vengeance Paladin path.

What say you, forum friends?

[djreynolds]

We had a ranger, barbarian, me(wizard), cleric of light and we did okay. We had a paladin but he ceased showing. The abjurer wizard I had become relegated to tanking. It wasn't by designed mind you. But mirror image, medium armor(no shield, dam dwarves) and haste on the barbarian saved our bacon. The barbarian was really good and just taking pressure of him allowed us to maintain the line and let that ranger, man can they hit hard with consistency. Feather fall was used quite a bit by me, shield spell (a lot), gaseous form, sheriff background.