Bring your lvl20 crazy builds

[MightyDog16]

I'm about to play in a one shot session at a con labor day weekend. I'd like to have a few lvl 20 character choices with me. So bring your bat**** craziness to the table!

I don't need level by level lists, just an idea will suffice, I can build it out myself.

[JNAProductions]

Bladesinger 20. Go baller with Shield at will and Bladesong.

Barbarian 20, for those tasty, tasty 24s in Strength and Constitution.

Fighter 20, because you can finally get 4 attacks.

Paladin 20, because those capstones... Mm. Tasty.

[Giant2005]

The only level 20 classes I'd consider would be Barbarian, Fighter, and Druid.

As for muticlass:
Paladin 12/Monk 8 (Heavy Armor, 2h or SnB, with two 1D8+6 damage bonus action attacks for 8 rounds each short rest. Vengeance Paladin kicks ass with it a lot more due to Hunter's Mark).
Paladin 6/Monk 14 (Never fail a save... Ever).
Warlock 2/Sorc 18 (The highest DPR you will find).
Warlock 2/Eldritch Knight 7/Rogue 11 (Better than most at almost everything).
Wizard 18/Anything 2 (Seriously, Wizards are amazing at level 18. Personally, I think the best combination is Necromancer/Fiendlock, so you become immune to armies of mooks of up to infinite size).

[Hrugner]

crazy good, or crazy crazy?

If it's just crazy crazy, I highly recommend the double slinger. Go fighter, get two slings, take brawler, sharpshooter and dual wielder. Now you're swinging two slings as melee weapons getting you sharpshooter several times. You could give up the second sling and actually use the grapple from brawler, but that seems slightly less silly.

Bonus points if your DM says you can use magic stone to key the improvised attacks off of a casting stat instead, but then you should do a slingblade lock.

[MightyDog16]

crazy good, or crazy crazy?

A little of both preferably, I don't want to be "that guy" at the table who is just quirky and not pulling his weight.

I do like the slingblade idea though, might be fun lulz

[tieren]

I can't find it now, but there was a crazy level 20 build on the forum, like bard/cleric/rogue/fighter, that was literally proficient in every skill and had expertise in 10 of them, not sure what you would do in combat but you'd be the ultimate skill monkey.

[Gtdead]

Sorlock is a nasty build at lvl 20.
Flight (drac sorcerer), Wish->Simulacrum
Grab eldritch spear and spell sniper
Greater invis yourself and your simulacrum and throw 4 EBs per turn from half a mile away with advantage.

Bladesinger 20 or Bladesinger 18/Fighter 2 is fun.
Combine bladesinging with shapechange and free shield. Pit fiend is great for this.

Ancients Paladin is amazing too. His capstone makes him effectively immortal in combat.

[Corran]

Nothing fancy for me. Just an OoA paladin, or an oathbreaker, for the capstone in both cases. Especially in the case of the ancients paly, I would love to test if elder champion combined with command, BB and warcaster, behaves in practice as well as in paper.

[MightyDog16]

Right now I have a blue dragonborn, 16 storm sorcerer, 4 tempest cleric to abuse all the lightning synergy, twinned spells, max dmg from channel divinity, flying cheese, heavy armor, and melee Cantrips from SCAG.

[bid]

Barbarogue. Master grappler with 3 attacks for rage bonus. Best as half-elf swashbuckler for Cha14 +2 initiative. And elk for 55' speed (25' drag speed!).

There's 2 other MC I find nice for rogue:
- shadow monk can reach AC20 (need magic +3 armor otherwise),
- draconic sorcerer has twin BB cheese and AC18.


If you want crazy, shadow monk / tomelock is a weird beast. You can leave Wis14 and use armor of shadow instead. Monk 8 / lock 12 for evasion and 3 slots, but you can sacrifice your 5th ASI for a quick dip in cleric/druid and some utility slots.

Barbalock works as a shaman, AoA while raging. Guidance (tomelock) and plant growth (fey) go well with spirit seeker.

[Giant2005]

Speaking of Rogues, a Str-based Rogue 18/Barb 2 is really good. You can use Reckless Attack with impunity and Rage + Uncanny Dodge makes for some powerful damage mitigation. You are probably better off taking Barb as your first level as medium armor is more valuable to the build than one extra skill.

Arcane Trickster 19/Barb 1 also makes for pretty much the best of the most straight forward tank builds in the game. Go Dex/Con based with a Shield for 22 AC, and use a combination of Blur plus Elusive to impose Disadvantage on all attacks that can't be overcome. Between that, and using the Shield spell when necessary will render you very nearly impervious to physical harm. Evasion plus Absorb Elements will render you extremely hardy against non physical harm. If you are using UA material, ditching a level of AT for Fighter in order to pick up the Mariner Fighting Style would be advisable.

[Gastronomie]

Vengeance Paladin 6/Shadow Sorcerer 14. Has Aura of Protection and Extra Attack, and can use Quickened Spell almost every turn to act as both the caster and the frontline warrior at the same time. Sorcery Points can also be converted into easy castings of Darkness, or summoning Dire Wolves (both abilities of the Shadow Sorcerer). Apart from the original 14 SP, he can convert his level 8 and 9 slots into Sorcery Points as well (he has the multicaster spell slot equivalent of a level 17 caster), giving him 31 Sorcery Points to start with (or, of course, he can increase the number of high-level spells he can cast).

The problem is that his HP will be lower compared to that of normal capstone paladins, so you will need to eventually max out Constitution, perhaps even grab a feat that increases your defenses (Tough, Heavy Armor Master) if you feel it's needed. But the concept screams badass.

[Foxhound438]

-hunter 17, battlemaster 3
-Half-orc
-starting stats: 16/13/15/8/15/8
-start fighter for con saves, heavy armor
-use ASI's to go Str+2, Str+2, con+wis+1, Great Weapon Master
-take horde breaker and whirlwind attack
-use a greatsword for damage
-take conjure animals
-battlemaster maneuvers should be trip attack and precision attack, both helping GWM

you have 2 "gimmicks", being a) run into a crowd and whirlwind twice (thanks, action surge) followed by hitting one guy a third time for free, still having a bonus action to get the GWM extra attack if one of 9ish attacks either crit or kill a thing, or else you can cast a bonus action spell like ensnaring strike; and b) conjure a pile of crocodiles and GWM a thing to death while it's being restrained by crocs.

past the gimmicks you still have a small few decent spell options, 19 AC (thanks, two options for fighting styles), maneuvers, a defensive tactic and super hunter's defense of your choice.

[RedMage125]

Well, one of my old character concepts from 3e (who ended up as an NPC in my campaign world) was a drow Monk 11/Assassin 9.

Funny enough, those exact same levels work for a neat character in 5e. Shadow Monk 11/Assassin Rogue 9. Nothing about the character necessitates the drow part.

[Naanomi]

What is available? UA opens a lot of potential insanity; we worked out a fighter/sorcerer/warlock/paladin that green fire blades 3-4 time a round and adds charisma to damage 5-7 times per attack, but it relies partially on UA material

[Foxhound438]

What is available? UA opens a lot of potential insanity; we worked out a fighter/sorcerer/warlock/paladin that green fire blades 3-4 time a round and adds charisma to damage 5-7 times per attack, but it relies partially on UA material

just ran through it in my head... it seems to me you could only do it 3 times a round consistently, and even there it's a one time deal with action surge and relying on a war caster OA for the fourth... As for cha -> damage, you would have one from draconic sorc on GFB, one from drac sorc on elemental weapon (only once),, one from radiant soul, one from oathbreaker, and as far as I can see that's it... you're paladin 7, fighter 2, sorc 3, so warlock can only get to 8, meaning no lifedrinker...

(also being UA it's reasonable to expect a finalized version of the radiant soul would follow suit with the PHB errata applied to the draconic sorc's damage boost, so it wouldn't apply to elemental weapon more than once.)

[Naanomi]

Attacks: normal, quicken, action surge, warcaster

Charisma to damage Damage: shillelegh (X1), elemental weapon (x2), green fire (x2+1 base), pally aura (X1), and if desired searing smite instead of quicken (for another x2, and ongoing x2 from burn)

[NewDM]

Just go Wizard 20 and use all slots from 4th to 8th on Polymorph and 9th on either True Polymorph or Shape Change. If you go True Polymorph you'll want to setup your contingency to cast dispel magic on yourself so when you reach 0 hp, you'll turn back into your wizard form instead of being a magically dead creature.

If you cast 2 polymorphs per encounter and go T-Rex or Mammoth you'll have around 400 hit points per encounter. Lower spell slots can be used on non-concentration spells that will buff your polymorphed form. Such as Blink, Mirror Image, Fire Shield, and others.

[Foxhound438]

Attacks: normal, quicken, action surge, warcaster

Charisma to damage Damage: shillelegh (X1), elemental weapon (x2), green fire (x2+1 base), pally aura (X1), and if desired searing smite instead of quicken (for another x2, and ongoing x2 from burn)

searing smite would compete for concentration with elemental weapon and only applies to the first hit, but okay. burns a lot of resources in a short time, but it's quite a nuke.

[Foxhound438]

another idea is to go the ultimate porcupine route: 2 warlock, 18 abjuration wizard.

cast armor of agathys at whatever level you think is reasonable, as well as fire shield, and chose an abjuration spell for one of your free wizard spells so you can recharge your ward. arcane lock works, you just need to find a box to carry at all times. Shield also works, although the idea is that you want to get hit to trigger backlash damage. When things seem to not want to engage in melee, teleport next to them with whatever spell, or possibly forcecage yourself in with a melee foe. Take hellish rebuke as your other warlock spell, and use that to punish ranged attackers and things that deal AOE damage.

[Gtdead]

Another build I'm toying around with is
Fighter 1/Cleric 19

Fighter 1 is for Tunnel Fighter fighting style.
Cleric is mainly for Command and Spirit Guardians.

Tunnel Fighter/Pam/Sentinel, STR ASIs
Starts combat with spirit guardians

The main playstyle is joining a battle and casting an upcasted Command: Approach followed by Defensive Stance.
On their turn, the enemies are forced to enter SG, taking damage.
You make opportunity attacks against everyone that enters your reach and immobilize them.

Then you can take a step back and enter defensive stance again. It's easy to get at least 2 hits of spirit guardians with it.

Against melee enemies with 5 feet reach, you are basically invincible. Of course it's easy to counter, it can't do much against ranged attacks, but I'm working on improving it because we need the concept for our upcoming games (he will probably be an NPC).

It can also work the other way around. Warcaster, booming blade and tunnel fighter (which is better for a PC character).

[RulesJD]

another idea is to go the ultimate porcupine route: 2 warlock, 18 abjuration wizard.

cast armor of agathys at whatever level you think is reasonable, as well as fire shield, and chose an abjuration spell for one of your free wizard spells so you can recharge your ward. arcane lock works, you just need to find a box to carry at all times. Shield also works, although the idea is that you want to get hit to trigger backlash damage. When things seem to not want to engage in melee, teleport next to them with whatever spell, or possibly forcecage yourself in with a melee foe. Take hellish rebuke as your other warlock spell, and use that to punish ranged attackers and things that deal AOE damage.

Just an FYI:

AoA doesn't trigger off the Abjuration Ward, because nothing is actually hitting you until the Temp HP of AoA trigger.

[RickAllison]

Wizard 9/Warlock 11. You combine the darkest corners of arcane and Eldritch lore to perfect your abilities. They shall all fear your industrial capabilities!

This build is based around being able to churn out multiple Fabricates and Wall of Stones every short rest. This concept can build and stock an entire store in a day, or create entire castles over weeks instead of years. Very mundane, but very useful.

Transmutation makes the most thematic sense for an Arcane Tradition unless the UA Artificer is available. For warlock, Fey seems like the best patron and Chain Pact gives someone who can deliver or retrieve items for you. Eldritch Blast invocations give you a passable ranged attack when you must be in combat.

[Naanomi]

Wizard 9/Warlock 11. You combine the darkest corners of arcane and Eldritch lore to perfect your abilities. They shall all fear your industrial capabilities!
Go necromancer with this build, so you can be swimming in laborers for tasks magic alone can't accomplish

[RickAllison]

Go necromancer with this build, so you can be swimming in laborers for tasks magic alone can't accomplish

I like the way you think!

[Hrugner]

Wizard 9/Warlock 11. You combine the darkest corners of arcane and Eldritch lore to perfect your abilities. They shall all fear your industrial capabilities!

This build is based around being able to churn out multiple Fabricates and Wall of Stones every short rest. This concept can build and stock an entire store in a day, or create entire castles over weeks instead of years. Very mundane, but very useful.

Transmutation makes the most thematic sense for an Arcane Tradition unless the UA Artificer is available. For warlock, Fey seems like the best patron and Chain Pact gives someone who can deliver or retrieve items for you. Eldritch Blast invocations give you a passable ranged attack when you must be in combat.

That sounds hilarious to play. "So before we rest for the night, I build a small villa, some furniture, a stocked kitchen and turn the crows into valets"

[RickAllison]

That sounds hilarious to play. "So before we rest for the night, I build a small villa, some furniture, a stocked kitchen and turn the crows into valets"

I would love to play him! Essentially, he makes Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, but permanent!

[Foxhound438]

Just an FYI:

AoA doesn't trigger off the Abjuration Ward, because nothing is actually hitting you until the Temp HP of AoA trigger.

demonstrably wrong.

arcane ward: whenever you take damage, the ward takes damage instead.

armor of agathys: if a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these HP's, that creature takes (5x slot level) cold damage.

you still get "hit" by an attack, even though you don't take the damage, and you don't have to take damage for AoA to trigger. you just need to be hit.

[RaynorReynolds]

Right now I have a blue dragonborn, 16 storm sorcerer, 4 tempest cleric to abuse all the lightning synergy, twinned spells, max dmg from channel divinity, flying cheese, heavy armor, and melee Cantrips from SCAG.

Have you considered Tempest 6 / Storm sorc 14? Otherwise I would do Tempest 2 / sorc 18.

[RulesJD]

demonstrably wrong.

arcane ward: whenever you take damage, the ward takes damage instead.

armor of agathys: if a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these HP's, that creature takes (5x slot level) cold damage.

you still get "hit" by an attack, even though you don't take the damage, and you don't have to take damage for AoA to trigger. you just need to be hit.

Except, you know, I'm not. You are wrong.

The ward is getting hit, not you. That's why there's no concentration save from the Ward taking damage, etc. They aren't hitting you, they are hitting the Ward. Demonstrated wrong. Take your synergy elsewhere.

It would, however, work with various Resistance granting abilities like Barbarian Rage, Blade Ward, etc.

[X3r4ph]

Half-orc Fighter (Monster Hunter) 12, Ranger (Hunter) 4, Barbarian (Bear) 4 could be fun.

6 ASI's: (PAM, GWM, Sentinel, Resilient Wisdom, 2x ASI to max out strength)

4,5 attacks. 3 from fighters extra attacks, 1 PAM and 0.5 from horde breaker. All benefiting from GWM. You can reckless attack for precision, bear rage for added durability, superiority dices for extra precision or life saving bonuses to Wis, Int and Cha saves.

[dev6500]

I am currently trying to figure out a good prismatic wall grappler build where you move out from the wall and drag enemies back in repeatedly forcing them to make saves for all 7 layers of the wall. so bard or wizard are the only options. From reading prismatic wall, it appears that you can force the effects on the wall each time you force them through a layer. So every 5 ft of movement used should force 7 saves on the target vs 50d6 damage, blindness, petrification, and other effects. Bard is better because it gets you expertise without multiclassing. Working on the rest...


Bard also nets you lots more magical secrets so depending on party makeup, you can be buffing the whole party with crusader's mantle or doing other things. Bard 18/warlock 2 also helps the bard force the effects on enemies that may be too large to grapple using repelling blast. Knock possibly 4 enemies through the wall in 1 turn is not bad.

[Vorpalchicken]

Except, you know, I'm not. You are wrong.

The ward is getting hit, not you. That's why there's no concentration save from the Ward taking damage, etc. They aren't hitting you, they are hitting the Ward. Demonstrated wrong. Take your synergy elsewhere.

It would, however, work with various Resistance granting abilities like Barbarian Rage, Blade Ward, etc.

I think Fox is right on this one. Concentration saves aren't triggered by being "hit." They are triggered by taking damage. That's why arcane ward prevents them. The ward is described as magic weaved around yourself, not as a separate entity.

So you are still being hit, just not taking damage.

I realize some may see it differently. Actually I would be okay with either ruling, so long as it was consistent.

[Oramac]

Otherwise I would do Tempest 2 / sorc 18.

This. I'm currently playing this exact build (albeit not at 20th level) and it is crazy fun. I've literally one-shot Big Bad Guys on a maximized crit. Fair warning: you tend to piss off the DM when you do that. :D

EDIT: Do you get to choose any magic items and such? This build gets you heavy armor and martial weapons as well. Grab +3 plate and a +3 shield, use the Shield spell and you can get to a 31 AC on a reaction.

===================

Other than that, I'd probably play a straight Vengeance Paladin for Avenging Angel. Just because it's so ****ing cool.

EDIT AGAIN: so.....talk to the other players and couple the two builds above. The Vengeance Paladin has Hold Person as an Oath spell, and you can pick up Hold Monster to cover all the bases. Cast a Heightened Hold Monster for auto-crits for the pally. If the bad guy fails the second save, get into melee with him for an auto-crit on your own attack and maximize the damage dealt. Then use Tempestuous Magic to fly 10 feet away at the same time.

[RulesJD]

I think Fox is right on this one. Concentration saves aren't triggered by being "hit." They are triggered by taking damage. That's why arcane ward prevents them. The ward is described as magic weaved around yourself, not as a separate entity.

So you are still being hit, just not taking damage.

I realize some may see it differently. Actually I would be okay with either ruling, so long as it was consistent.

I am, indeed, demonstrated wrong. I did not fully appreciate the distinction between "on hit" and "on damage" between AoA, Abjuration Ward, and Concentration saves.

[HoodedHero007]

lvl 20 wizard with spell recall, boon of high magic, wish, plane shift, and true polymorph
the wizard true polymorphs himself into a dragon that can shapeshift, then plane shifts to the feywild, wishing in a simulacrum giving it commands that I will explain later, droping a personal item, wishing the time to anything they want (this is just so they don't come back and it isn't a couple months later), then plane shifting away.
Meanwhile, the simulacrum wishes in 3 simulacrums, and each of thoes wish in 3 simulacrums, until about 3 more repetitions, when one wishes the time to 1 day=1 minute, then some plane shift out with the personal item that they won't take with them, in the form of a gnat or something, so the wizard has a self replicating army of dragons

[zylodrizzt]

Goliath bearbarian 8 swash rogue 12. With this build you about always go first can sneak attack all day even with lets say a horse out wrestle a dragon or charm one can move like the wind withstand a truly powerful attack or dodge a fireball though I'm also using stats my group always use so results may vary since it gives me a bit of wiggle room for feats. Truly a Versitile and fun build.

[Roughishguy86]

Halfling elk barbarian3/monk of the open palm17
with mobile, tavern brawler, and grapple master.

Run through enemy squares to the backline squishies and then pick them up and carry them far far away with your insane move speed and headbutt them to death/

Maybe not the strongest build I've played but one of the most fun.