Gastronomie
2015-12-30, 05:45 AM
Well, so I was browsing through the Recruitment section the other day and came across a particular thread in which the DM said all the PCs will have "Maximum HP".
By Maximum HP, he means that, for instance, a Barbarian who gained a level would always get a "12+CON mod" addition to his HP, instead of "1d12+CON mod".
I found this idea interesting, especially since I felt it was difficult for me to create fights with multiple strong enemies with the original HP rules (of course that mainly derives from how I'm new to the game, and the pros'll still have ways to do that without this rule, but anyways).
When I DM in the future, I'm thinking of implimenting it, but before that, wanted to ask these forums if it's a good idea or not.
A Level 5 Wizard (16 CON) would normally have 35 HP average.
A Level 5 Wizard (16 CON) under this rule would have 45 HP (+10).
A Level 5 Barbarian (16 CON) would normally have 53 HP average.
A Level 5 Barbarian (16 CON) under this rule would have 75 HP (+22).
A Level 15 Wizard (16 CON) would normally have 100 HP average.
A Level 15 Wizard (16 CON) under this rule would have 135 HP (+35).
A Level 15 Barbarian (16 CON) would normally have 148 HP average.
A Level 15 Barbarian (16 CON) under this rule would have 225 HP (+77).
Mechanically speaking, with this rule in effect, the highest HP you can get using non-magical methods is a Level 20 Barbarian with CON 24 (Primal Champion).
This guy has 380 HP.
Whether that's "fun" or "terrible", prolly depends on perspective, but I myself am leaning towards the former.
The pros of this rule:
-The characters are harder to die, which is generally beginner-friendly
-It's easier to pitch enemies which inflict massive damage against low-level adventurers (such as a Young Dragon, whose breath could be potentially lethal against low-level d6 characters)
-The DM can throw in more monsters than normal and not have to fear of fatal critical chains
The cons:
-This would seem outrageous to anyone who wants a gritty feel
-If the DM doesn't make the fights tougher, it'll be way too easy for the adventurers
-I dunno, I'm asking this here because I'm unsure about this idea's pros and cons anyway. I can't think up any other ideas why this'll be a bad idea, but the people here prolly have some.
What'd you guys reckon on this idea? Have any of you guys used it? If so, how did it work out?
I have created over a thousand blades
What’s Your Weapon of Choice?
Part 1: Longsword
http://66.media.tumblr.com/bbeebefa6f00fc80a3807703f23d0327/tumblr_nwrae13a5H1smzgcuo1_500.gif
Your weapon defines your combat style. (Image by Ufotable)
As already mentioned in “Races and Stats”, the build of a Birthblade is defined by his weapon. You could call these the three “Sub-Classes” of Birthblades: Longsword, Greatsword, and Rapier. Depending on your weapon, the ratings of certain Oaths and Origins will start to change. I intend to make those points clear by sorting the guide in this way.
Each explanation of a “Sub-Class” will be divided into the following parts:
Core Concept
Core Abilities
Paladin Oath Evaluation
Sorcerer Origin Evaluation
Level Progression
Due to the limitation on the number of words per post, I will divide this section into three posts, and talk only about the Longsword in this one.
NOTE - Technically, damage-wise, you can replace a Longsword with a Battleaxe, Flail, Morningstar, War Pick, Warhammer, or hell, even a Rapier, and likewise, you can replace a Greatsword with a Maul - but I anyways named these weapons after the options I considered to be “default”.
Also, the UA Feat “Blade Mastery” makes using swords generally the better option.
Longsword Birthblade
IMO this is the default option for Birthblades. Not that it’s absolutely superior to the other Sub-Classes, just that it’s really well done and all-around well balanced. You have both great defenses and great offense, not to mention all the versatility via spells and the healing from being a Paladin, and you’ll be greatly welcome in virtually any adventuring team.
Core Concept
Let’s first look at the two main strengths of the Longsword Birthblade, which are “Superb Defenses” and having “Less Feat Dependency (Higher CHA)”. After that, we’ll talk a bit about the “attack method” of choice, which is either “Extra Attack” or “Green-Flame/Booming Blade”.
Superb Defenses
The main thing about Longsword Birthblades is their high defense. Your offense capabilities may not match that of a Greatsword build, but you’re more tanky than any other Birthblade sub-class in terms of both AC and Saving Throws, making you the ultimate All-Rounder.
First, about AC: As with all Sword and Board builds, having a shield equipped to you for +2 AC is amazing for any melee character. Being tanky is one of the core responsibilities of a frontline warrior, and with your HP being considerably lower than the average Fighter, Birthblades need an option to reinforce their defenses. The easiest way to get tankier is to hold a shield - and thus, it can be said that S&B and Birthblades are indeed synergetic from the start.
With Plate Armor, the Defense Fighting Style, and a Shield, your AC becomes 18+2+1=21. With the Shield spell (+5 AC) that becomes 26, even better than the Tarrasque. At higher levels, with spells like Greater Invisibility, disadvantage on all attacks meant for you makes you a truly terrifying opponent to face (Shadow Sorcs also get the same benefit from Darkness, at the price of possibly hindering your friends’ actions, and Blur also allows this with a level 2 spell). Let’s see how effective this is by actually crunching numbers.
With 21 AC:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 20% of the time.
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 30% of the time.
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 50% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you 70% of the time.
With 21 AC and disadvantage:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 4% of the time.
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 9% of the time.
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 49% of the time.
With 26 AC:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 5% of the time (Critical only).
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 5% of the time (Critical only).
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 45% of the time.
With 26 AC and disadvantage:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 0.25% of the time (Two Criticals in a row only).
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 0.25% of the time (Two Criticals in a row only).
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 6.25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 20.25% of the time.
...That’s how difficult it is to hit you.
Second, since you don’t depend on STR as much as Greatsword builds, the chances open up for you to invest more in CHA (more mentioning of this in the next section, “Less Feat Dependency”). This also reads “Better Saving Throws”, with your ever-so-awesome Aura of Protection.
D&D 5e is designed so that the saving throw DCs of the monsters’ abilities rise and rise with higher CR, but the saving throw bonuses of the PCs generally don’t get upgraded (only the bonuses for the stats you’re investing in and/or have saving throw proficiencies with can grow). While a level 1 Sorcerer and a level 20 Sorcerer will most likely both equally suck at WIS saves, the WIS save DCs of the monsters will rise and rise, from the DC 10 of the CR 2 Gibbering Mouther to the DC 21 of the CR 24 Ancient Red Dragon.
Most characters are good at only one or two types of saves. You’re good at them all, and boosting your CHA improves ALL your Saving Throws. Both in terms of AC and saves, your defenses are hell amazing. The only class that has better saving throws than you is the Monk with Diamond Soul, but unlike him, you can bestow your ability to your friends around you as well.
In addition to aforementioned benefits, Oath of the Ancients level 7 gives you resistance to spell damage, improving your tankiness even further. Oath of the Crown and Oathbreaker give you good battlefield control options as well, with their excellent Channel Divinity powers.
Less Feat Dependency (Higher CHA)
GWM is a Feat tax (well, to be fair, it’s also one that’s worth taking), and they also need to take either Resilient or War Caster. Compared to this, the only Feat S&Bs have to take is War Caster, which opens up possibilities for all sorts of ASIs and customizing via extra Feats.
Overall, Longsword Birthblades have the most options possible, both during character creation and during combat.
BTW, another thing worth mentioning is that you don’t need to necessarily have high STR to make a Longsword build work, unlike how GWMs will invest heavily in there. Longsword Birthblades should generally value CHA more than the Greatsword build does. If you went with a Race that gives you +2 STR, you should first pump STR to 18, but otherwise, it will generally be actually better to first pump your CHA, possibly even to 20, before going on to STR. This does depend on your playstyle and spell selection, but opens up a lot of possibilities by making you a more effective caster. And don’t forget Aura of Protection.
Remember that no matter how good your STR is, your offense capabilities can never match that of a well-built Greatsword Birthblade. Thus, pumping your Channel Divinity/spell save DC and saving throw bonuses via Aura of Protection is one good way to differentiate yourself.
Extra Attack V.S. SCAG Sword Cantrips
Now, from here, let’t move on to the offense issue. Longsword’s damage die of 1d8 is okay. It’s not particularly interesting, but not bad either.
Here is where stuff get interesting, and builds start to differentiate themselves. If you’re interesting in dealing more damage, taking Dueling instead of Defense is a not-bad option, but do keep in mind that at high levels (level 11 and higher), Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade can be a possibly more damaging option than Extra Attack. This is especially evident with Draconic Bloodline Origin + Green-Flame Blade. On the other hand, if you are an Oathbreaker with Aura of Hate, Extra Attack can be more beneficial for you, and thus Dueling will become a more yummy, synergetic option. At the same time you can also say that Draconic Bloodline and Oathbreaker are sorta anti-synergetic at what they do (only “sorta”, but still).
...Stuff like that. Depending on your Oath and Origin, certain options may become stronger or weaker.
So, it can be said that, one thing to keep in mind when going S&B is - “What is your main attack option? Extra Attack or the SCAG Blade Cantrips?”
Extra Attack has a higher chance of hitting at least once per turn, and rarely ends his turn without doing anything. The SCAG Blade Cantrips are only once per turn with their attacks, so if you miss you might end your turn doing nothing, but depending on the level it has better damage than Extra Attack, and Booming Blade can also be Twinned for a semi-Extra Attack (it does cost a Sorcery Point, and can’t choose the same target for both attacks, though).
There’s no “right” or “wrong” option here. Choose whichever attack option you think is more cool. Your choice of Oath and Origin should be, at least to some extent, based on that decision.
Core Abilities
Here I will talk about abilities that are especially useful for the Longsword Birthblade. However, it should be noted that due to how “orthodox” and “simple” the Longsword build is, there are not many abilities that are especially or uniquely strong for Longsword builds.
Thus, there is honestly not that much to talk in here. If anything, we will talk about what options are especially strong with S&B - especially the CHA based options.
Paladin
Fighting Style: Take either Dueling (Extra Attack builds) or Defense (SCAG Blade builds). Protection does help your job as a tank, but is mediocre in how it uses up your Reaction. Your Reaction should be used for Booming Blade+War Caster (massive damage), or for the Shield spell.
Aura of Protection: Taking this requires 6-level progression in Paladin, despite how the levels 4 and 5 give you not much. However, this invest in Paladin is most definitely worth it.
The label does not lie, because Aura of Protection really protects you and your friends. This ability is insanely powerful for anyone, but it works better for STR S&B than it does for GWM or DEX S&B, because with STR S&B you can invest more heavily in CHA.
Sorcerer
Metamagic: Do keep in mind that you get only two options, and the options don’t increase till Sorcerer level 10. Thus you should choose these wisely. First, Quickened Spell is mandatory, so that’s that. Then you should go for either Heightened Spell (when you really want to kill someone) or Twinned Spell (use on stuff like Polymorph, Haste, or Booming Blade*). If you’re going level 9 Paladin, Extended Spell is another good option for the Aura of Vitality combo.
I generally would say Twinned Spell is the better option, since your DC is going to be already quite high with a lot of CHA investment.
Shield: I’m talking about the Level 1 spell.. It’s actually more of a class ability than a spell.
*NOTE-Some rulings by the creators say Green-Flame Blade cannot be twinned since it must choose two targets. However, as with all rulings, this depends on the DM, so ask beforehand.
Paladin Oath Evaluation
Oath of Devotion
This option is not bad, but not especially good either. Taking a look at what it has:
Oath Spells: A mixed bag of situational abilities that’s anyways extremely useful in how they’re free to take. All the Oath Spells options are good for you, considering how Sorcerers get so little spell selection, and you desperately need versatility .
Channel Divinity: Sacred Weapon: It increases your hit bonus and looks at your high CHA! Sadly it also uses an action. If you can activate it before combat it’s good, but even in that case this is more of a GWM ability than a S&B one.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Unholy: Too situational to be given an actual rating. It is certainly not bad when it can be used, though.
Aura of Devotion: Can’t be Charmed. Not “advantage”, you can’t be charmed. And sure it’s a nice ability, but it also sorta overlaps with racial abilities of an Elf or Half-Elf, and it’s also situational. A majority of Charming effects look at WIS, and with proficiency in WIS saves and Aura of Protection, chances are you’re gonna succeed on the save either way. If you’re going Devotion, level 6 is probably enough (unless you’re going level 9 for level 3 spells).
Oath of the Ancients
WARNING: This rating specifically refers to when you go 7 levels in Paladin instead of 6. If you plan on going only Paladin 6, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS OATH.
Oath Spells: Constantly having Misty Step prepared is good. Speak With Animals is also useful for when you need it in RP situations. Ensnaring Strike is not something you will be constantly using, but it’s a very good control spell that doesn’t use up your action and is great when you need it. “Restrained” is quite a menacing condition.
Channel Divinity: Nature’s Wrath: It’s not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s that Ensnaring Strike is generally the better option. At least this one doesn’t require concentration. It’s not bad when it can be pulled off, so better than nothing.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless: Same as Turn the Unholy - too situational to be given an actual rating, but certainly not bad when it can be used.
Aura of Warding: The selling point of this Oath. Now, sadly, not a good number of the monsters in the MM have spellcasting, and even if they have magical powers, this ability doesn’t work on magical damage that doesn’t come from spells (like a dragon’s breath weapon or a Mind Flayer’s Mind Blast). It’s heavily campaign/DM dependent, and not as amazing as it seems in paper.
However, even with that said, it’s still good. Very good, and can save your neck (and the necks of your friends) when needed, especially given how enemy spells tend to deal extremely high damage. Besides, anything that improves your capacities as a tank is a good ability to have.
Oath of Vengeance
Clearly this oath is designed to be an offense build, and a good one at that too. It’s a very strong Oath, but not one that synergizes well with S&B Birthblades, since you want more versatility than extra offense.
Oath Spells: This doesn’t give you much extra spell options when you compare it to the Sorcerer spell list. What it does is freeing up Sorcerer spell options and allowing you to choose more Sorcerer spells. That’s a pretty good thing.
Channel Divinity: Abjure Enemy: Not bad as means to keep someone from escaping or running towards the backrow casters. It’s easy to forget, but unlike you, most casters are fragile.
Channel Divinity: Vow of Enmity: It’s a Bonus Action, and doesn’t require a save either. Pretty nice, I reckon, but as already mentioned, it’s not your ideal ability. Does probably deserve a Blue rating for when you need it though, since it’s only a Bonus Action.
Relentless Avenger: Not bad. Not something worth the extra Paladin level either.
Oath of the Crown (SCAG)
This oath is often overlooked, but IMO it’s actually one of the, if not the best Oath(s) for a S&B Birthblade in how it offers you a lot of extra options and increases your versatility. It’s also the Oath that’s best suited for tanking, and synergizes well with the core concept of S&B.
Probably very close to Sky Blue, and does become Sky Blue for those who want to go Paladin 9, due to the yummy level 3 spells in its Oath Spell list.
Oath Spells: Blue for builds that go Paladin more than 9 levels due to Spirit Guardians, Black for builds that go only 6 or 7. Not a bad list, but not as good as the other ones.
Channel Divinity: Champion Challenge: Is it just me, or does this not use up an Action, or even a Bonus Action? I mean, all the other Channel Divinity abilities state “As an action...” or “As a bonus action...” but this one doesn’t. In which case this is Sky Blue as an ability that protects all your backrow friends. And remember how you have amazing AC? Feel free to take on the entire frontline by yourself.
Careful Spell is very synergetic with this ability. Drop a Web (normally Blue, but Sky Blue for you) or Hypnotic Pattern on the entire area (including yourself) without fear of failing the save.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Tide: A situational version of Mass Healing Word is better than it seems on first glance. Being able to restore the consciousness of several friends at a time is amazing, and is truly something you can call “Turning the Tides”. The way it’s written is the same as spells like Healing Word, so pretty sure you can include yourself in the targets you heal, but you should ask your DM beforehand about those rulings at your table.
Divine Allegiance: Using up your reaction is generally something you want to keep away from, and the 5 feet radius makes it even worse. Could be worth using if the friend next to you is going to faint, in which case this is a good use of your reaction, but generally, I would stop at Paladin 6.
Oathbreaker (DMG)
This Oath (or rather, the state of “Breaking an Oath”) specifically requires DM permission in how many associated characters will be evil. Some DMs may also allow this to be re-fluffed to be some sort of a really Dark Hero-ish or Fanatic Cultist-ish “Oath”, depending on the setting (in a particular game I’m joining, my character - who derives her Paladin powers from the Goddess of Death - is scheduled to become an “Oathbreaker” when she hits Paladin level 3). Whatever the case, it’s part of player manners to be cooperative to the team, so do keep that in mind, even when playing an Evil character.
Anyhow, the reason this Oath is Blue is because a lot of its abilities (all of them very strong!) rely on CHA. S&B Builds can get higher CHA than GWM builds, so it’s obvious that this Oath is a really good option for S&B Birthblades in general.
Whether to go Oathbreaker 7 or not is up to you. It does increase your damage by 3 or 4 per turn (double that with Extra Attack), but you’ll lag behind another level in spellcasting, and it also robs you of the level 14 Sorcerer ability (if you’ll actually ever get there, that is). If you want your build to go Extra Attack - like for instance, if you picked up a Flame Tongue or something during Paladin progression - you should probably go to Oathbreaker 7 since you want to be good at Extra Attacks, but otherwise, it’s not a requirement at all. Both the stuff you gain and the stuff you lose are quite heavy.
Oathbreaker Spells: Every class needs something to balance itself out, and in the Oathbreaker’s case that appeared in its Spell List. The spells in here are not necessarily bad, but not the sort of stuff you will be using frequently either. Very situational and overall meh.
Channel Divinity: Control Undead: It’s situational, but also as broken as hell when it goes off. Sky Blue in the right campaign.
Channel Divinity: Dreadful Aspect: The selling point of Oathbreakers in Birthblade builds. The super-superb part of this ability is that the targets can’t re-attempt saves unless they get over 30 feet away from the Oathbreaker - there is no other way to escape the Frightened condition bestowed by this ability. But if you’ve already locked the targets into melee range, the targets must risk being hit by opportunity attacks to get over 30 feet away from you. And when that’s triggered, you use War Caster+Booming Blade to zap them to a crisp. Combine with Tunnel Fighter to do this to everybody. This combination is absolutely devastating.
If you want to troll the hell out of your enemies, combine with Wall of Fire - encircle your enemies with the wall, and they are forced to fight you while they’re constantly afraid of you. Either that, or they need to jump through a burning wall.
Aura of Hate: Your good CHA score now boosts not only your spellcasting and saves, but also your weapon damage. Way to go, I mean, like, there’s now nothing you can’t do with your dazzling sexiness. For reasons mentioned, it isn’t for everybody, especially since it doesn’t synergize well with GFB and BB, but if you need it it’ll be good. If your party includes a Necromancer, this ability becomes awesome beyond belief.
This ability can become detrimental for you if you face Fiends or Undead, but by RAW Divine Smite somehow still works with Oathbreakers (I really think they should change the damage type to Necrotic and change the preferred targets to other monster-types for Oathbreakers, but anyways), so you can Smite them harder to kill them first before they kill you (and don’t forget that powerful undead can become best friends with Control Undead). That, or you can utilize your high CHA and spellcasting capabilities to simply slink back into the backrow and fling Fireballs until your evil friends have all been extinguished from the battlefield.
Sorcerer Origin Evaluation
Draconic Bloodline
Gives you extra tanking and improves your damage. It’s a really solid choice.
Draconic Ancestor: Extremely campaign-dependent but can be useful in certain situations.
Draconic Resilience: Your job is to be a tank. This ability makes you a better tank. The part about not needing Mage Armor, you can really just skip over, because your DEX is going to be either 8 or 10.
Elemental Affinity: And now here’s what’s really amazing. The obvious choice is Fire, improving the damage of Green-Flame Blade as well as amazing AoE spells such as Fireball.
There has been some rulings that this ability can work only once per spell, so like for instance, it improves the damage of only one of the rays created by Scorching Ray, and so on. By the same logic, if you’re to abide by these rulings, you need to choose which to buff, Green-Flame Blade’s “main slash” or the “leaping fire”. However, there is a lot of fan debate over whether this ruling is to be followed or not. When it comes to ruling interpretation, the power level goes like Sage Advice/Twitter Rulings < Official Printed Material <<<<< DM judgment, so ask your DM beforehand about how he will rule this.
Dragon Wings: So like, you can fly. Isn’t that fascinating? Do keep in mind that you can never gain this benefit if you go Paladin 7 or higher, though.
Wild Magic
In terms of how entertaining it is as a class, Wild Magic Sorcerer is Sky Blue. Sadly, that isn’t really the main purpose of this guide.
The powers of this class largely depend on how often your DM is willing to activate Tides of Chaos. Depending on the DM, this can become possibly upgraded to Blue, but in general it has little to synergize with S&B and is overall a mediocre option in terms of optimization. However, it is better than most people assume on first glance.
This option and Oath of the Ancients mesh together rather uniquely and humorously. Even if you Fireball yourself, you will be able to mitigate the damage. That said, this sort of thing rarely happens, so it’s not like it’s a really big deal. It will be fun when it goes off though.
Wild Magic Surge: Entertainment, which at times come with a price. It’s really fun and a good class, but not exactly the sort you look for in optimization.
Tides of Chaos: Advantage on anything, once per short rest! Which is good for both offense and defense, and also recharges whenever the DM “feels like it”. This is largely dependent on the DM, but with the right DM, can be abused to hell.
Bend Luck: It’s like Bardic Inspiration, except you don’t need to give it beforehand. 1d4 might not seem like a large amount, but it’s very versatile in both boosting your friends and weakening your enemies. Using up your Reaction is what sorta hurts, hence the Blue rating, but still an actually pretty good ability.
Controlled Chaos: Avoid turning into a potted plant by accident. That’s pretty nice.
Storm Sorcery (SCAG)
This is a wonderful Sorcerous Origin option that is both thematic and powerful. Sadly, it doesn’t synergize well with Birthblades.
Wind Speaker: Great, so now you can speak with that raging Elemental that’s coming after the party to kill you! Better than nothing, but this ability will be important once in every, like, several hundred sessions (unless your DM is a good, creative DM who knows his job well, and specifically creates moments where this ability can be useful).
Tempestuous Magic: Your spells are generally going to be cast using Bonus Actions, and even if it’s cast with an Action, you don’t need to run away from your opponents.
Heart of the Storm: This ability is more important for Birthblades than it is for pure Sorcerers in how you’re on the frontlines, and having a lot of enemies within 10 feet of you is a good thing, not a bad thing. Sadly, there are not many spells that deal Thunder or Lightning damage, and even when there are, dealing damage using spells is the least of your priorities.
Storm Guide: This is one of those abilities that can become Sky Blue with the right situations but is otherwise too, and I mean too situational to be considered an actual class ability. If your campaign is going to be about a bunch of adventuring pirates, your party needs a guy with this ability, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be you, given how almost nothing this Origin offers is beneficial for a Birthblade.
Storm’s Fury: It’s like you have an unlimited supply of Hellish Rebuke, except with a less resisted damage type. Which is good. It also uses up your reaction, and thus robs you of opportunity-Booming-Blading and Shielding. Which is meh. Overall not bad, I mean, it’s still useful, but not something to get really excited over either.
Favored Soul (UA)
It’s a running joke how WotC introduced a Sorcerer Origin with an expanded spell list in the exact same guide in which they specifically stated that the spell list of the Sorcerer is heavily restricted on purpose. However, despite how it’s a powerful Sorcerer Origin, it’s not that much of an option for Birthblades.
This is, for one, because the level 1 and 6 abilities of the Favored Soul are complete wastes for Birthblades.
And for another, a majority of the spells you can get from the Cleric Domains are already in the Paladin spell list.
If you’re going to go Favored Soul, the reason for that should be because you really want a particular spell on your list, or because you think having more selection of Sorcerer spells is more important than the level 1 and 6 abilities of the Sorcerer Origins. It’s difficult to justify, and probably not optimized, but who knows? Maybe you could find an insane combo or something.
Chosen of the Gods: Read this as “bit more spell versatility”. Not that it makes you as versatile as you hope. Let’s look at the Domain candidates.
Knowledge prominently gives us Command, Suggestion, Arcane Eye and Scrying. Not bad, but more of out-of-combat stuff than in-combat. Having Suggestion constantly ready gives us the freedom to take 1 extra Sorcerer spell. Not bad. Not the sort of stuff you expect from being a “Chosen of the Gods” either.
Life has honestly not much to give us, which is not a surprise, since all the important spells are already on the Paladin list, and we don’t need that many Paladin spells to make a strong Birthblade.
Light is not bad, freeing up Sorcerer spell selection with Fireball and Wall of Fire. It also has Faerie Fire and Scrying, which are good spells.
Nature is a bag of situational spells that is not really that bad, but not the sort of stuff you would trade the level 1 and 6 abilities of the other Origins for.
Tempest has nothing special about it.
Trickery is an actually pretty good list, and is probably the best choice, since it has Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Polymorph and Dominate Person, allowing you to choose a lot more Sorcerer spells.
War has spells like Spiritual Weapon, Magic Weapon, Spirit Guardians, and Hold Monster, so it’s an okay choice.
Death (DMG) is honestly bad.
Arcana (SCAG) is likewise meh.
Bonus Proficiencies: It’s not really a “bonus” proficiency when you already have it.
Extra Attack: It’s not really an “extra” attack when you already have it.
Divine Wings: Same as the Draconic Bloodline ability.
Shadow (UA)
Also known as the Emo Sorcerer. The “Quirks” list included in the UA article is really fascinating, and IMO a list that should be added to any new supplements WotC publishes, but that’s not really relevant to this guide. What is relevant to this guide is that Shadow Sorcerers are a pretty strong - if not overpowered - choice of Origin that can both tank and attack nicely.
Eyes of the Dark: At level 1 it’s a Darkvision ability. From level 2 it allows you to cast an uber-empowered version of an extremely versatile Level 2 spell at the cost of 1 Sorcery Point, which is honestly nuts. It’s a badly designed ability, so you might want to ask your DM beforehand if it’s really okay to use this. My suggestion is to make it cost 2 Sorcery Points, in my games. And even then, it’s still strong.
This ability works most with GWM, but advantage on all your attacks, disadvantage on all your enemies’ attacks, and not getting targeted by enemy spells is so yummy an ability that basically anyone can benefit from it.
Strength of the Grave: Emergency button for when you’re going to faint. Which is very useful for a tank like you.
Hound of Ill Omen: Spending 3 Sorcery Points as a Bonus Action to summon forth a CR 1 creature that also bestows an enemy disadvantage on the saving throws of your spells. While a bit costly, this is a strictly better version of Heightened Spell. And Heightened Spell was already good...
Shadow Walk: While a bit situational, bonus action teleport of 120 feet is an extremely juicy ability for a frontline martial character who constantly wants to be in melee range of someone in the enemy team. Use this to teleport next to the enemy caster while you’ve got Darkness on your weapon, and the enemy becomes blinded, becoming unable to cast Spells that target. Hell amazing, if not broken. IMO this should have a cost, like 1 or 2 Sorcery Points or something.
Level Progression
Since this is a mutliclass build, there are certain levels at which your build may not work as good as it is supposed to. To minimize that problem, I’ve created this section that will hopefully be helpful for those who wish to go Paladin/Sorcerer.
The first thing to mention is that you need War Caster as quickly as possible, since otherwise, unless your DM is willing with component issues (I honestly don’t care much as a DM, but some people do), you cannot cast a majority of your spells while holding both a Longsword and a Shield. Since Variant Human does not net you War Caster (assuming you start Paladin), going to Paladin 4 and getting War Caster as soon as possible is a must.
Thus, the real question here will be - “After Paladin 4, do you keep on going Paladin or do you go Sorcerer?”
1. Go Paladin 6 or 7, and go Sorc all the way from there
This is for those who want to prioritize Extra Attack and/or get Aura of Protection as fast as possible. It’s also a really solid choice, since Paladins are known to be top-tier classes at low levels, and you’ll probably have absolutely no problem with this path, aside from the fact it’s mostly a normal Paladin till level 7 or 8 and higher.
Oathbreakers are especially suited for this progression path, being good Extra Attackers and having an awesome level 7 ability. But really, if in doubt, this might be actually the most safe choice. Especially given how your CHA bonus is going to be good.
2. Go Paladin 4, then to Sorc 3, then to Paladin again to 6 or 7, and go back to Sorcerer
“If you’re gonna go that many levels first in Paladin, why not just straight jump to Extra Attack and Aura of Protection!?”
The answer is because you want the Sorcerer spells quick for extra protection - which can be especially said for Crown Paladins, with their ability to get all the enemies near you and never leave your side. Going Paladin 4 first gives you War Caster, which is the reason you want to go Paladin 4 as fast as possible.
However, while losing Extra Attack is honestly not that much of a problem (with the SCAG Blade Cantrips being so powerful), losing Aura of Protection for several levels is very painful indeed. Do think carefully about that.
HOWEVER, the above stands only if you start at a low level and know the campaign is eventually going to get to high-level, OR if you start level 12 or higher (level 12 is where you get Aura of Protection and the level 6 Sorcerous Origin ability).
If your game starts at level 6 or higher, and if you know you will never get over level 12 (perhaps because it’s a one-shot campaign), and you want to experience the unique powers of Birthblades, in that case, starting Paladin 2 and going Sorcerer 4 or higher for War Caster may be the better choice (or Paladin 3, if it’s level 7 or higher, and so on). (I wrote “starts at level 6 or higher” because otherwise, you cannot get War Caster at the beginning of character creation.)
For instance, if you’re joining a short campaign that starts at level 8 and only gets to level 10 (the DM declares this when he explains the campaign to the players), you might want to go Paladin 2/ Sorcerer 6. Paladin 6 / Sorcerer 2 is honestly not a competent Caster, since you don’t have Metamagic nor level 2 or higher spells. Aura of Protection is good, but if you want to experience the sheer “power” of Birthblades, you might want to pursue faster spell progression.
By Maximum HP, he means that, for instance, a Barbarian who gained a level would always get a "12+CON mod" addition to his HP, instead of "1d12+CON mod".
I found this idea interesting, especially since I felt it was difficult for me to create fights with multiple strong enemies with the original HP rules (of course that mainly derives from how I'm new to the game, and the pros'll still have ways to do that without this rule, but anyways).
When I DM in the future, I'm thinking of implimenting it, but before that, wanted to ask these forums if it's a good idea or not.
A Level 5 Wizard (16 CON) would normally have 35 HP average.
A Level 5 Wizard (16 CON) under this rule would have 45 HP (+10).
A Level 5 Barbarian (16 CON) would normally have 53 HP average.
A Level 5 Barbarian (16 CON) under this rule would have 75 HP (+22).
A Level 15 Wizard (16 CON) would normally have 100 HP average.
A Level 15 Wizard (16 CON) under this rule would have 135 HP (+35).
A Level 15 Barbarian (16 CON) would normally have 148 HP average.
A Level 15 Barbarian (16 CON) under this rule would have 225 HP (+77).
Mechanically speaking, with this rule in effect, the highest HP you can get using non-magical methods is a Level 20 Barbarian with CON 24 (Primal Champion).
This guy has 380 HP.
Whether that's "fun" or "terrible", prolly depends on perspective, but I myself am leaning towards the former.
The pros of this rule:
-The characters are harder to die, which is generally beginner-friendly
-It's easier to pitch enemies which inflict massive damage against low-level adventurers (such as a Young Dragon, whose breath could be potentially lethal against low-level d6 characters)
-The DM can throw in more monsters than normal and not have to fear of fatal critical chains
The cons:
-This would seem outrageous to anyone who wants a gritty feel
-If the DM doesn't make the fights tougher, it'll be way too easy for the adventurers
-I dunno, I'm asking this here because I'm unsure about this idea's pros and cons anyway. I can't think up any other ideas why this'll be a bad idea, but the people here prolly have some.
What'd you guys reckon on this idea? Have any of you guys used it? If so, how did it work out?
I have created over a thousand blades
What’s Your Weapon of Choice?
Part 1: Longsword
http://66.media.tumblr.com/bbeebefa6f00fc80a3807703f23d0327/tumblr_nwrae13a5H1smzgcuo1_500.gif
Your weapon defines your combat style. (Image by Ufotable)
As already mentioned in “Races and Stats”, the build of a Birthblade is defined by his weapon. You could call these the three “Sub-Classes” of Birthblades: Longsword, Greatsword, and Rapier. Depending on your weapon, the ratings of certain Oaths and Origins will start to change. I intend to make those points clear by sorting the guide in this way.
Each explanation of a “Sub-Class” will be divided into the following parts:
Core Concept
Core Abilities
Paladin Oath Evaluation
Sorcerer Origin Evaluation
Level Progression
Due to the limitation on the number of words per post, I will divide this section into three posts, and talk only about the Longsword in this one.
NOTE - Technically, damage-wise, you can replace a Longsword with a Battleaxe, Flail, Morningstar, War Pick, Warhammer, or hell, even a Rapier, and likewise, you can replace a Greatsword with a Maul - but I anyways named these weapons after the options I considered to be “default”.
Also, the UA Feat “Blade Mastery” makes using swords generally the better option.
Longsword Birthblade
IMO this is the default option for Birthblades. Not that it’s absolutely superior to the other Sub-Classes, just that it’s really well done and all-around well balanced. You have both great defenses and great offense, not to mention all the versatility via spells and the healing from being a Paladin, and you’ll be greatly welcome in virtually any adventuring team.
Core Concept
Let’s first look at the two main strengths of the Longsword Birthblade, which are “Superb Defenses” and having “Less Feat Dependency (Higher CHA)”. After that, we’ll talk a bit about the “attack method” of choice, which is either “Extra Attack” or “Green-Flame/Booming Blade”.
Superb Defenses
The main thing about Longsword Birthblades is their high defense. Your offense capabilities may not match that of a Greatsword build, but you’re more tanky than any other Birthblade sub-class in terms of both AC and Saving Throws, making you the ultimate All-Rounder.
First, about AC: As with all Sword and Board builds, having a shield equipped to you for +2 AC is amazing for any melee character. Being tanky is one of the core responsibilities of a frontline warrior, and with your HP being considerably lower than the average Fighter, Birthblades need an option to reinforce their defenses. The easiest way to get tankier is to hold a shield - and thus, it can be said that S&B and Birthblades are indeed synergetic from the start.
With Plate Armor, the Defense Fighting Style, and a Shield, your AC becomes 18+2+1=21. With the Shield spell (+5 AC) that becomes 26, even better than the Tarrasque. At higher levels, with spells like Greater Invisibility, disadvantage on all attacks meant for you makes you a truly terrifying opponent to face (Shadow Sorcs also get the same benefit from Darkness, at the price of possibly hindering your friends’ actions, and Blur also allows this with a level 2 spell). Let’s see how effective this is by actually crunching numbers.
With 21 AC:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 20% of the time.
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 30% of the time.
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 50% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you 70% of the time.
With 21 AC and disadvantage:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 4% of the time.
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 9% of the time.
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 49% of the time.
With 26 AC:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 5% of the time (Critical only).
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 5% of the time (Critical only).
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 45% of the time.
With 26 AC and disadvantage:
Goblins (CR 1/4) can hit you only 0.25% of the time (Two Criticals in a row only).
A Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4) can hit you only 0.25% of the time (Two Criticals in a row only).
A Young Red Dragon (CR 10) can hit you only 6.25% of the time.
An Adult Red Dragon (CR 17) can hit you only 20.25% of the time.
...That’s how difficult it is to hit you.
Second, since you don’t depend on STR as much as Greatsword builds, the chances open up for you to invest more in CHA (more mentioning of this in the next section, “Less Feat Dependency”). This also reads “Better Saving Throws”, with your ever-so-awesome Aura of Protection.
D&D 5e is designed so that the saving throw DCs of the monsters’ abilities rise and rise with higher CR, but the saving throw bonuses of the PCs generally don’t get upgraded (only the bonuses for the stats you’re investing in and/or have saving throw proficiencies with can grow). While a level 1 Sorcerer and a level 20 Sorcerer will most likely both equally suck at WIS saves, the WIS save DCs of the monsters will rise and rise, from the DC 10 of the CR 2 Gibbering Mouther to the DC 21 of the CR 24 Ancient Red Dragon.
Most characters are good at only one or two types of saves. You’re good at them all, and boosting your CHA improves ALL your Saving Throws. Both in terms of AC and saves, your defenses are hell amazing. The only class that has better saving throws than you is the Monk with Diamond Soul, but unlike him, you can bestow your ability to your friends around you as well.
In addition to aforementioned benefits, Oath of the Ancients level 7 gives you resistance to spell damage, improving your tankiness even further. Oath of the Crown and Oathbreaker give you good battlefield control options as well, with their excellent Channel Divinity powers.
Less Feat Dependency (Higher CHA)
GWM is a Feat tax (well, to be fair, it’s also one that’s worth taking), and they also need to take either Resilient or War Caster. Compared to this, the only Feat S&Bs have to take is War Caster, which opens up possibilities for all sorts of ASIs and customizing via extra Feats.
Overall, Longsword Birthblades have the most options possible, both during character creation and during combat.
BTW, another thing worth mentioning is that you don’t need to necessarily have high STR to make a Longsword build work, unlike how GWMs will invest heavily in there. Longsword Birthblades should generally value CHA more than the Greatsword build does. If you went with a Race that gives you +2 STR, you should first pump STR to 18, but otherwise, it will generally be actually better to first pump your CHA, possibly even to 20, before going on to STR. This does depend on your playstyle and spell selection, but opens up a lot of possibilities by making you a more effective caster. And don’t forget Aura of Protection.
Remember that no matter how good your STR is, your offense capabilities can never match that of a well-built Greatsword Birthblade. Thus, pumping your Channel Divinity/spell save DC and saving throw bonuses via Aura of Protection is one good way to differentiate yourself.
Extra Attack V.S. SCAG Sword Cantrips
Now, from here, let’t move on to the offense issue. Longsword’s damage die of 1d8 is okay. It’s not particularly interesting, but not bad either.
Here is where stuff get interesting, and builds start to differentiate themselves. If you’re interesting in dealing more damage, taking Dueling instead of Defense is a not-bad option, but do keep in mind that at high levels (level 11 and higher), Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade can be a possibly more damaging option than Extra Attack. This is especially evident with Draconic Bloodline Origin + Green-Flame Blade. On the other hand, if you are an Oathbreaker with Aura of Hate, Extra Attack can be more beneficial for you, and thus Dueling will become a more yummy, synergetic option. At the same time you can also say that Draconic Bloodline and Oathbreaker are sorta anti-synergetic at what they do (only “sorta”, but still).
...Stuff like that. Depending on your Oath and Origin, certain options may become stronger or weaker.
So, it can be said that, one thing to keep in mind when going S&B is - “What is your main attack option? Extra Attack or the SCAG Blade Cantrips?”
Extra Attack has a higher chance of hitting at least once per turn, and rarely ends his turn without doing anything. The SCAG Blade Cantrips are only once per turn with their attacks, so if you miss you might end your turn doing nothing, but depending on the level it has better damage than Extra Attack, and Booming Blade can also be Twinned for a semi-Extra Attack (it does cost a Sorcery Point, and can’t choose the same target for both attacks, though).
There’s no “right” or “wrong” option here. Choose whichever attack option you think is more cool. Your choice of Oath and Origin should be, at least to some extent, based on that decision.
Core Abilities
Here I will talk about abilities that are especially useful for the Longsword Birthblade. However, it should be noted that due to how “orthodox” and “simple” the Longsword build is, there are not many abilities that are especially or uniquely strong for Longsword builds.
Thus, there is honestly not that much to talk in here. If anything, we will talk about what options are especially strong with S&B - especially the CHA based options.
Paladin
Fighting Style: Take either Dueling (Extra Attack builds) or Defense (SCAG Blade builds). Protection does help your job as a tank, but is mediocre in how it uses up your Reaction. Your Reaction should be used for Booming Blade+War Caster (massive damage), or for the Shield spell.
Aura of Protection: Taking this requires 6-level progression in Paladin, despite how the levels 4 and 5 give you not much. However, this invest in Paladin is most definitely worth it.
The label does not lie, because Aura of Protection really protects you and your friends. This ability is insanely powerful for anyone, but it works better for STR S&B than it does for GWM or DEX S&B, because with STR S&B you can invest more heavily in CHA.
Sorcerer
Metamagic: Do keep in mind that you get only two options, and the options don’t increase till Sorcerer level 10. Thus you should choose these wisely. First, Quickened Spell is mandatory, so that’s that. Then you should go for either Heightened Spell (when you really want to kill someone) or Twinned Spell (use on stuff like Polymorph, Haste, or Booming Blade*). If you’re going level 9 Paladin, Extended Spell is another good option for the Aura of Vitality combo.
I generally would say Twinned Spell is the better option, since your DC is going to be already quite high with a lot of CHA investment.
Shield: I’m talking about the Level 1 spell.. It’s actually more of a class ability than a spell.
*NOTE-Some rulings by the creators say Green-Flame Blade cannot be twinned since it must choose two targets. However, as with all rulings, this depends on the DM, so ask beforehand.
Paladin Oath Evaluation
Oath of Devotion
This option is not bad, but not especially good either. Taking a look at what it has:
Oath Spells: A mixed bag of situational abilities that’s anyways extremely useful in how they’re free to take. All the Oath Spells options are good for you, considering how Sorcerers get so little spell selection, and you desperately need versatility .
Channel Divinity: Sacred Weapon: It increases your hit bonus and looks at your high CHA! Sadly it also uses an action. If you can activate it before combat it’s good, but even in that case this is more of a GWM ability than a S&B one.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Unholy: Too situational to be given an actual rating. It is certainly not bad when it can be used, though.
Aura of Devotion: Can’t be Charmed. Not “advantage”, you can’t be charmed. And sure it’s a nice ability, but it also sorta overlaps with racial abilities of an Elf or Half-Elf, and it’s also situational. A majority of Charming effects look at WIS, and with proficiency in WIS saves and Aura of Protection, chances are you’re gonna succeed on the save either way. If you’re going Devotion, level 6 is probably enough (unless you’re going level 9 for level 3 spells).
Oath of the Ancients
WARNING: This rating specifically refers to when you go 7 levels in Paladin instead of 6. If you plan on going only Paladin 6, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS OATH.
Oath Spells: Constantly having Misty Step prepared is good. Speak With Animals is also useful for when you need it in RP situations. Ensnaring Strike is not something you will be constantly using, but it’s a very good control spell that doesn’t use up your action and is great when you need it. “Restrained” is quite a menacing condition.
Channel Divinity: Nature’s Wrath: It’s not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s that Ensnaring Strike is generally the better option. At least this one doesn’t require concentration. It’s not bad when it can be pulled off, so better than nothing.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless: Same as Turn the Unholy - too situational to be given an actual rating, but certainly not bad when it can be used.
Aura of Warding: The selling point of this Oath. Now, sadly, not a good number of the monsters in the MM have spellcasting, and even if they have magical powers, this ability doesn’t work on magical damage that doesn’t come from spells (like a dragon’s breath weapon or a Mind Flayer’s Mind Blast). It’s heavily campaign/DM dependent, and not as amazing as it seems in paper.
However, even with that said, it’s still good. Very good, and can save your neck (and the necks of your friends) when needed, especially given how enemy spells tend to deal extremely high damage. Besides, anything that improves your capacities as a tank is a good ability to have.
Oath of Vengeance
Clearly this oath is designed to be an offense build, and a good one at that too. It’s a very strong Oath, but not one that synergizes well with S&B Birthblades, since you want more versatility than extra offense.
Oath Spells: This doesn’t give you much extra spell options when you compare it to the Sorcerer spell list. What it does is freeing up Sorcerer spell options and allowing you to choose more Sorcerer spells. That’s a pretty good thing.
Channel Divinity: Abjure Enemy: Not bad as means to keep someone from escaping or running towards the backrow casters. It’s easy to forget, but unlike you, most casters are fragile.
Channel Divinity: Vow of Enmity: It’s a Bonus Action, and doesn’t require a save either. Pretty nice, I reckon, but as already mentioned, it’s not your ideal ability. Does probably deserve a Blue rating for when you need it though, since it’s only a Bonus Action.
Relentless Avenger: Not bad. Not something worth the extra Paladin level either.
Oath of the Crown (SCAG)
This oath is often overlooked, but IMO it’s actually one of the, if not the best Oath(s) for a S&B Birthblade in how it offers you a lot of extra options and increases your versatility. It’s also the Oath that’s best suited for tanking, and synergizes well with the core concept of S&B.
Probably very close to Sky Blue, and does become Sky Blue for those who want to go Paladin 9, due to the yummy level 3 spells in its Oath Spell list.
Oath Spells: Blue for builds that go Paladin more than 9 levels due to Spirit Guardians, Black for builds that go only 6 or 7. Not a bad list, but not as good as the other ones.
Channel Divinity: Champion Challenge: Is it just me, or does this not use up an Action, or even a Bonus Action? I mean, all the other Channel Divinity abilities state “As an action...” or “As a bonus action...” but this one doesn’t. In which case this is Sky Blue as an ability that protects all your backrow friends. And remember how you have amazing AC? Feel free to take on the entire frontline by yourself.
Careful Spell is very synergetic with this ability. Drop a Web (normally Blue, but Sky Blue for you) or Hypnotic Pattern on the entire area (including yourself) without fear of failing the save.
Channel Divinity: Turn the Tide: A situational version of Mass Healing Word is better than it seems on first glance. Being able to restore the consciousness of several friends at a time is amazing, and is truly something you can call “Turning the Tides”. The way it’s written is the same as spells like Healing Word, so pretty sure you can include yourself in the targets you heal, but you should ask your DM beforehand about those rulings at your table.
Divine Allegiance: Using up your reaction is generally something you want to keep away from, and the 5 feet radius makes it even worse. Could be worth using if the friend next to you is going to faint, in which case this is a good use of your reaction, but generally, I would stop at Paladin 6.
Oathbreaker (DMG)
This Oath (or rather, the state of “Breaking an Oath”) specifically requires DM permission in how many associated characters will be evil. Some DMs may also allow this to be re-fluffed to be some sort of a really Dark Hero-ish or Fanatic Cultist-ish “Oath”, depending on the setting (in a particular game I’m joining, my character - who derives her Paladin powers from the Goddess of Death - is scheduled to become an “Oathbreaker” when she hits Paladin level 3). Whatever the case, it’s part of player manners to be cooperative to the team, so do keep that in mind, even when playing an Evil character.
Anyhow, the reason this Oath is Blue is because a lot of its abilities (all of them very strong!) rely on CHA. S&B Builds can get higher CHA than GWM builds, so it’s obvious that this Oath is a really good option for S&B Birthblades in general.
Whether to go Oathbreaker 7 or not is up to you. It does increase your damage by 3 or 4 per turn (double that with Extra Attack), but you’ll lag behind another level in spellcasting, and it also robs you of the level 14 Sorcerer ability (if you’ll actually ever get there, that is). If you want your build to go Extra Attack - like for instance, if you picked up a Flame Tongue or something during Paladin progression - you should probably go to Oathbreaker 7 since you want to be good at Extra Attacks, but otherwise, it’s not a requirement at all. Both the stuff you gain and the stuff you lose are quite heavy.
Oathbreaker Spells: Every class needs something to balance itself out, and in the Oathbreaker’s case that appeared in its Spell List. The spells in here are not necessarily bad, but not the sort of stuff you will be using frequently either. Very situational and overall meh.
Channel Divinity: Control Undead: It’s situational, but also as broken as hell when it goes off. Sky Blue in the right campaign.
Channel Divinity: Dreadful Aspect: The selling point of Oathbreakers in Birthblade builds. The super-superb part of this ability is that the targets can’t re-attempt saves unless they get over 30 feet away from the Oathbreaker - there is no other way to escape the Frightened condition bestowed by this ability. But if you’ve already locked the targets into melee range, the targets must risk being hit by opportunity attacks to get over 30 feet away from you. And when that’s triggered, you use War Caster+Booming Blade to zap them to a crisp. Combine with Tunnel Fighter to do this to everybody. This combination is absolutely devastating.
If you want to troll the hell out of your enemies, combine with Wall of Fire - encircle your enemies with the wall, and they are forced to fight you while they’re constantly afraid of you. Either that, or they need to jump through a burning wall.
Aura of Hate: Your good CHA score now boosts not only your spellcasting and saves, but also your weapon damage. Way to go, I mean, like, there’s now nothing you can’t do with your dazzling sexiness. For reasons mentioned, it isn’t for everybody, especially since it doesn’t synergize well with GFB and BB, but if you need it it’ll be good. If your party includes a Necromancer, this ability becomes awesome beyond belief.
This ability can become detrimental for you if you face Fiends or Undead, but by RAW Divine Smite somehow still works with Oathbreakers (I really think they should change the damage type to Necrotic and change the preferred targets to other monster-types for Oathbreakers, but anyways), so you can Smite them harder to kill them first before they kill you (and don’t forget that powerful undead can become best friends with Control Undead). That, or you can utilize your high CHA and spellcasting capabilities to simply slink back into the backrow and fling Fireballs until your evil friends have all been extinguished from the battlefield.
Sorcerer Origin Evaluation
Draconic Bloodline
Gives you extra tanking and improves your damage. It’s a really solid choice.
Draconic Ancestor: Extremely campaign-dependent but can be useful in certain situations.
Draconic Resilience: Your job is to be a tank. This ability makes you a better tank. The part about not needing Mage Armor, you can really just skip over, because your DEX is going to be either 8 or 10.
Elemental Affinity: And now here’s what’s really amazing. The obvious choice is Fire, improving the damage of Green-Flame Blade as well as amazing AoE spells such as Fireball.
There has been some rulings that this ability can work only once per spell, so like for instance, it improves the damage of only one of the rays created by Scorching Ray, and so on. By the same logic, if you’re to abide by these rulings, you need to choose which to buff, Green-Flame Blade’s “main slash” or the “leaping fire”. However, there is a lot of fan debate over whether this ruling is to be followed or not. When it comes to ruling interpretation, the power level goes like Sage Advice/Twitter Rulings < Official Printed Material <<<<< DM judgment, so ask your DM beforehand about how he will rule this.
Dragon Wings: So like, you can fly. Isn’t that fascinating? Do keep in mind that you can never gain this benefit if you go Paladin 7 or higher, though.
Wild Magic
In terms of how entertaining it is as a class, Wild Magic Sorcerer is Sky Blue. Sadly, that isn’t really the main purpose of this guide.
The powers of this class largely depend on how often your DM is willing to activate Tides of Chaos. Depending on the DM, this can become possibly upgraded to Blue, but in general it has little to synergize with S&B and is overall a mediocre option in terms of optimization. However, it is better than most people assume on first glance.
This option and Oath of the Ancients mesh together rather uniquely and humorously. Even if you Fireball yourself, you will be able to mitigate the damage. That said, this sort of thing rarely happens, so it’s not like it’s a really big deal. It will be fun when it goes off though.
Wild Magic Surge: Entertainment, which at times come with a price. It’s really fun and a good class, but not exactly the sort you look for in optimization.
Tides of Chaos: Advantage on anything, once per short rest! Which is good for both offense and defense, and also recharges whenever the DM “feels like it”. This is largely dependent on the DM, but with the right DM, can be abused to hell.
Bend Luck: It’s like Bardic Inspiration, except you don’t need to give it beforehand. 1d4 might not seem like a large amount, but it’s very versatile in both boosting your friends and weakening your enemies. Using up your Reaction is what sorta hurts, hence the Blue rating, but still an actually pretty good ability.
Controlled Chaos: Avoid turning into a potted plant by accident. That’s pretty nice.
Storm Sorcery (SCAG)
This is a wonderful Sorcerous Origin option that is both thematic and powerful. Sadly, it doesn’t synergize well with Birthblades.
Wind Speaker: Great, so now you can speak with that raging Elemental that’s coming after the party to kill you! Better than nothing, but this ability will be important once in every, like, several hundred sessions (unless your DM is a good, creative DM who knows his job well, and specifically creates moments where this ability can be useful).
Tempestuous Magic: Your spells are generally going to be cast using Bonus Actions, and even if it’s cast with an Action, you don’t need to run away from your opponents.
Heart of the Storm: This ability is more important for Birthblades than it is for pure Sorcerers in how you’re on the frontlines, and having a lot of enemies within 10 feet of you is a good thing, not a bad thing. Sadly, there are not many spells that deal Thunder or Lightning damage, and even when there are, dealing damage using spells is the least of your priorities.
Storm Guide: This is one of those abilities that can become Sky Blue with the right situations but is otherwise too, and I mean too situational to be considered an actual class ability. If your campaign is going to be about a bunch of adventuring pirates, your party needs a guy with this ability, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be you, given how almost nothing this Origin offers is beneficial for a Birthblade.
Storm’s Fury: It’s like you have an unlimited supply of Hellish Rebuke, except with a less resisted damage type. Which is good. It also uses up your reaction, and thus robs you of opportunity-Booming-Blading and Shielding. Which is meh. Overall not bad, I mean, it’s still useful, but not something to get really excited over either.
Favored Soul (UA)
It’s a running joke how WotC introduced a Sorcerer Origin with an expanded spell list in the exact same guide in which they specifically stated that the spell list of the Sorcerer is heavily restricted on purpose. However, despite how it’s a powerful Sorcerer Origin, it’s not that much of an option for Birthblades.
This is, for one, because the level 1 and 6 abilities of the Favored Soul are complete wastes for Birthblades.
And for another, a majority of the spells you can get from the Cleric Domains are already in the Paladin spell list.
If you’re going to go Favored Soul, the reason for that should be because you really want a particular spell on your list, or because you think having more selection of Sorcerer spells is more important than the level 1 and 6 abilities of the Sorcerer Origins. It’s difficult to justify, and probably not optimized, but who knows? Maybe you could find an insane combo or something.
Chosen of the Gods: Read this as “bit more spell versatility”. Not that it makes you as versatile as you hope. Let’s look at the Domain candidates.
Knowledge prominently gives us Command, Suggestion, Arcane Eye and Scrying. Not bad, but more of out-of-combat stuff than in-combat. Having Suggestion constantly ready gives us the freedom to take 1 extra Sorcerer spell. Not bad. Not the sort of stuff you expect from being a “Chosen of the Gods” either.
Life has honestly not much to give us, which is not a surprise, since all the important spells are already on the Paladin list, and we don’t need that many Paladin spells to make a strong Birthblade.
Light is not bad, freeing up Sorcerer spell selection with Fireball and Wall of Fire. It also has Faerie Fire and Scrying, which are good spells.
Nature is a bag of situational spells that is not really that bad, but not the sort of stuff you would trade the level 1 and 6 abilities of the other Origins for.
Tempest has nothing special about it.
Trickery is an actually pretty good list, and is probably the best choice, since it has Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Polymorph and Dominate Person, allowing you to choose a lot more Sorcerer spells.
War has spells like Spiritual Weapon, Magic Weapon, Spirit Guardians, and Hold Monster, so it’s an okay choice.
Death (DMG) is honestly bad.
Arcana (SCAG) is likewise meh.
Bonus Proficiencies: It’s not really a “bonus” proficiency when you already have it.
Extra Attack: It’s not really an “extra” attack when you already have it.
Divine Wings: Same as the Draconic Bloodline ability.
Shadow (UA)
Also known as the Emo Sorcerer. The “Quirks” list included in the UA article is really fascinating, and IMO a list that should be added to any new supplements WotC publishes, but that’s not really relevant to this guide. What is relevant to this guide is that Shadow Sorcerers are a pretty strong - if not overpowered - choice of Origin that can both tank and attack nicely.
Eyes of the Dark: At level 1 it’s a Darkvision ability. From level 2 it allows you to cast an uber-empowered version of an extremely versatile Level 2 spell at the cost of 1 Sorcery Point, which is honestly nuts. It’s a badly designed ability, so you might want to ask your DM beforehand if it’s really okay to use this. My suggestion is to make it cost 2 Sorcery Points, in my games. And even then, it’s still strong.
This ability works most with GWM, but advantage on all your attacks, disadvantage on all your enemies’ attacks, and not getting targeted by enemy spells is so yummy an ability that basically anyone can benefit from it.
Strength of the Grave: Emergency button for when you’re going to faint. Which is very useful for a tank like you.
Hound of Ill Omen: Spending 3 Sorcery Points as a Bonus Action to summon forth a CR 1 creature that also bestows an enemy disadvantage on the saving throws of your spells. While a bit costly, this is a strictly better version of Heightened Spell. And Heightened Spell was already good...
Shadow Walk: While a bit situational, bonus action teleport of 120 feet is an extremely juicy ability for a frontline martial character who constantly wants to be in melee range of someone in the enemy team. Use this to teleport next to the enemy caster while you’ve got Darkness on your weapon, and the enemy becomes blinded, becoming unable to cast Spells that target. Hell amazing, if not broken. IMO this should have a cost, like 1 or 2 Sorcery Points or something.
Level Progression
Since this is a mutliclass build, there are certain levels at which your build may not work as good as it is supposed to. To minimize that problem, I’ve created this section that will hopefully be helpful for those who wish to go Paladin/Sorcerer.
The first thing to mention is that you need War Caster as quickly as possible, since otherwise, unless your DM is willing with component issues (I honestly don’t care much as a DM, but some people do), you cannot cast a majority of your spells while holding both a Longsword and a Shield. Since Variant Human does not net you War Caster (assuming you start Paladin), going to Paladin 4 and getting War Caster as soon as possible is a must.
Thus, the real question here will be - “After Paladin 4, do you keep on going Paladin or do you go Sorcerer?”
1. Go Paladin 6 or 7, and go Sorc all the way from there
This is for those who want to prioritize Extra Attack and/or get Aura of Protection as fast as possible. It’s also a really solid choice, since Paladins are known to be top-tier classes at low levels, and you’ll probably have absolutely no problem with this path, aside from the fact it’s mostly a normal Paladin till level 7 or 8 and higher.
Oathbreakers are especially suited for this progression path, being good Extra Attackers and having an awesome level 7 ability. But really, if in doubt, this might be actually the most safe choice. Especially given how your CHA bonus is going to be good.
2. Go Paladin 4, then to Sorc 3, then to Paladin again to 6 or 7, and go back to Sorcerer
“If you’re gonna go that many levels first in Paladin, why not just straight jump to Extra Attack and Aura of Protection!?”
The answer is because you want the Sorcerer spells quick for extra protection - which can be especially said for Crown Paladins, with their ability to get all the enemies near you and never leave your side. Going Paladin 4 first gives you War Caster, which is the reason you want to go Paladin 4 as fast as possible.
However, while losing Extra Attack is honestly not that much of a problem (with the SCAG Blade Cantrips being so powerful), losing Aura of Protection for several levels is very painful indeed. Do think carefully about that.
HOWEVER, the above stands only if you start at a low level and know the campaign is eventually going to get to high-level, OR if you start level 12 or higher (level 12 is where you get Aura of Protection and the level 6 Sorcerous Origin ability).
If your game starts at level 6 or higher, and if you know you will never get over level 12 (perhaps because it’s a one-shot campaign), and you want to experience the unique powers of Birthblades, in that case, starting Paladin 2 and going Sorcerer 4 or higher for War Caster may be the better choice (or Paladin 3, if it’s level 7 or higher, and so on). (I wrote “starts at level 6 or higher” because otherwise, you cannot get War Caster at the beginning of character creation.)
For instance, if you’re joining a short campaign that starts at level 8 and only gets to level 10 (the DM declares this when he explains the campaign to the players), you might want to go Paladin 2/ Sorcerer 6. Paladin 6 / Sorcerer 2 is honestly not a competent Caster, since you don’t have Metamagic nor level 2 or higher spells. Aura of Protection is good, but if you want to experience the sheer “power” of Birthblades, you might want to pursue faster spell progression.