Professor Gnoll
2016-05-12, 10:18 PM
Piledriver Master
We've all seen it. The luchador runs up to his opponent. He grabs him. He jumps up, high into the air, and slams his opponent down with a powerful piledriver! Cool, right? Now, what if I told you that YOU could do that in the 5th edition of D&D? You'd probably never play another character again.
The core of this build is simple: Run up to an opponent, grab them, jump as high as you can in the air, then slam them down while avoiding falling damage yourself. And when I say 'jump high', I mean 'jump 60ft into the air' high. Now, I've seen a few builds go for this concept using the Barbarian 14th level Eagle Totem: This is nice, but only comes online pretty late in the picture. The aim of this build is to allow piledrivers from as early as possible. You should be happily grappling and jumping from about level 3, and doing it safely by level 6.
The Build:
The build is pretty simple. We're going to start with a Goliath from the Elemental Evil Player's companion. This is for the Powerful Build feature, which will greatly increase the weight of creatures you can grab and jump with. Without it, we're pretty much stuck to pretty light creatures. Alternately, you could go for any other strength-boosting race, or perhaps Variant Human, and wait until your level 6 Barbarian Bear Totem feature, but that won't be for a while. With 27-point buy, you should look something like this:
STR: 17
DEX: 13
CON: 14
INT: 8/INT: 13
WIS: 13
CHA: 13/CHA: 8
So you're strong as hell, for grabbing fools. (17 because Athlete will give you +1STR). You're not amazing anywhere else, but you'll either be dumb as a rock (you'd have to be to try this tactic) or terrible at social interaction.
Now, these aren't set in stone. As long as you pump strength and make sure to have either minimum 13 CHA/13 INT for Bard/Wizard multiclassing(more on that later), you can mess with the stats as you like. Plus, you also need 13 WIS and 13 DEX for multiclassing out of Monk.
Starting the Character
Next up, we're going to start with the Monk base. It's not quite as good as the Barbarian base, but it means less MAD for the multiclassing requirements. At this point, you're... not great. You're a slightly weak monk with too much STR.
For second level, we're going to multiclass into either Bard or Wizard, for the spell that really makes this build work. This spell is Jump. What does it do? One minute of delicious, delicious triple jumping height. Plus some cantrips, if you can figure out a way to fluff them for a wrestler. (Vicious mockery! Taunt your foe! Dancing Lights! The wrestler's stunning entrance!) This spell will form the core of your suplexing strategy. Now which should you choose? I'll quickly give the pros/cons below:
Bard: Bard will get you Bardic Inspiration (PUMP UP YOUR TEAMMATES!), and you can level it a bit further to get Skill Expertise, which is very useful for grappling.
Wizard: Wizard means you have to have a book (THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR MASTER), and doesn't give that many great things for the build... except for Arcane Recovery. If your DM is the sort that lets you take Short Rests pretty often, this will ensure you never run out of Jump uses for your fights. You can level it a bit further if you like to get Divination pre-rolls.
I'd say the choice comes down to A. personal preference and B. How many fights your DM makes you go through in a day. Both will give you the same number of Jump uses at level 1, so it's really up to you.
But what about Arcane Initiate?
Well, this is the other option, but it only gives you one use of Jump a day. So if you're in the kind of campaign that only has one encounter a day, this is the way to go, and means more levels of Monk or Barbarian. Otherwise, though, you're going to need the extra uses.
Level 3 and Onwards
Now we're going to take a few more levels of Monk. Three more levels, in fact: Just enough to get you an ASI and Slow Fall. Now things are really starting to come together. Slow Fall will let you not kill yourself when you use your special move, which is nice. Your ASI can be spent on of two feats: Athlete, for better jumps, or Tavern Brawler, for better grapples. Both are good choices and you'll probably end up taking both. Use the bonus to get your Strength to 18. Your Monk Path can be whatever you like, because none of them are that useful. I'd probably go for Open Hand.
Level 6
Now it's time for Barbarian levels. This will get you Rage for better Grapples, even more movement speed, an Unarmoured Defence more suited to your statistics, and so on. Go Totem at level 3 and take the Tiger totem from the SCAG. It will give you EVEN MORE JUMPING.
You're going to want at least 6 levels of Barb for Fast Movement and especially the 6th level Bear Totem ability. This will increase your movement speed to let you jump even higher, and give you the carrying capacity to easily heft even inordinately heavy foes, or even two foes at once. (DOUBLE DRAGON ULTRA SUPLEX.) Spend your ASI on either extra strength or whichever of the two feats you didn't take last time.
Past Level 11
What now? Well, it's up to you. More Barbarian levels will give you more rages and cool abilities, plus the 14th level Eagle totem ability which could be potentially hilarious depending on how your DM lets you stack it with jumps. More Bard or Wizard will give you extra spells slots for casting Jump or other buff spells plus a few cool abilities besides, and more Monk levels will give you more Ki points for Step of the Wind and a more martial-artsy flavour. Or I dunno, you could start levelling Fighter or Rogue or whatever for yet more shenanigans. Really it's up to you- once you've got Jump, Step of Wind and the Barb abilities you're basically ready. Get your strength to 20 and take whatever other feats you think will work.
So how does it all work?
Okay, so we've talked a lot about the build, but how does it all work? Well, it's simple: At the start of a combat, cast Jump. Make sure to cast it BEFORE you Rage, or you won't be able to use it. Now get real mad.
Next, run up to someone. Grapple them, using your superior strength and Athletics training (MAKE SURE TO HAVE TRAINING IN ATHLETICS, GOLIATH GIVES IT AUTOMATICALLY). Now, use the Step of Wind Monk ability to run 10/5ft (depending on if you have Athlete or not) using the Dash bonus action. Now use the Jump action. How high will you go?
Well, at level 5 with 18 Strength, you'll naturally jump an unimpressive 7ft. Factor in the Tiger Totem when you rage, and it's a still 'meh' 10ft. But with the Jump spell and Step of Wind ability, you'll have two abilities that multiply your jump height. Depending on whether your DM rules they add or multiply, you'll jump either 60 or 50 feet into the air. If you manage to get to almost an even multiple of 10, you can, according to the rules, raise your arms above your head for an extra 4ft of reach on a tall Goliath. When you fall, use the Monk Slow Fall to reduce the damage you take.
Here comes in another bit of DM fiat: The PhB says your DM can 'let you take an Athletics check to increase your jump height. With Rage giving you advantage on Strength checks plus your high strength and maybe Skill Expertise, you should regularly get pretty high results, which might let you tack on even more extra damage. Overall, you should be getting somewhere around the realms of 5D6-7D6 damage. Which is... not amazing. Unless, of course, you can grab two people at once- then you're dealing a highly respectable 6D6 damage to two targets every turn. Not bad. And how cool is it? The answer is very, very cool.
Here's the kicker, though: You're still a grappler! Check out the Grappler's Handbook (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-(2-0)-Grappling-in-5th-Edition) for all the cool stuff you can do with Grappling anyway. The Suplex is your signature move, but feel free to just pull off regular Grappling shenanigans anyway.
Magic Items: Okay. If you get the chance to choose your magic items, the build starts to move into the realms of sheer insanity. The Ring of Jumping is good, eliminating the need for the spellcasting component. But the really crazy item is the Boots of Striding and Springing. What do they do? Oh, nothing much, just triple your jumping distance. With these crazy little booties combined with what you've already got available, you'll be hitting your max jump height every single turn. If you manage to obtain them, your number one priority becomes increasing your movement speed to push up the cap. If your DM lets you use the Dash action to add to your max jumping height, you could potentially find yourself jumping 120ft with ease, for 12d6 damage to two targets every single turn. Have fun leaping into the stratosphere and reducing your opponents to a red paste. With the right magic items, the Piledriver Master moves from 'gimmicky and sort of effective' to 'gimmicky and hilariously strong'.
So why do this build? Well, first up, it's awesome. Secondly, it's damage that basically ignores AC, so long as you can get the Grapple off. It works on pretty much anyone who isn't two sizes above you, and you can have a go with Eagle Totem and Fly to try and get really sky-high piledrivers. Admittedly, it has drawbacks: It's less damaging than a 'proper' build, and also doesn't work against really big things or indoors. (Worth it, though.)
Lore is varied, too: You could be a Rock Lee-style Chi master tapping into forbidden arts that push you to the limit! You could be a Luchador travelling the lands looking to test your skills! Either way, it should be pretty damn fun.
Well, that's it for my first attempt at a weird build. Please leave comments, tell me if I made any maths mistakes or suggest ways it could be improved. Thanks for reading, and may your piledrivers be plentiful.
We've all seen it. The luchador runs up to his opponent. He grabs him. He jumps up, high into the air, and slams his opponent down with a powerful piledriver! Cool, right? Now, what if I told you that YOU could do that in the 5th edition of D&D? You'd probably never play another character again.
The core of this build is simple: Run up to an opponent, grab them, jump as high as you can in the air, then slam them down while avoiding falling damage yourself. And when I say 'jump high', I mean 'jump 60ft into the air' high. Now, I've seen a few builds go for this concept using the Barbarian 14th level Eagle Totem: This is nice, but only comes online pretty late in the picture. The aim of this build is to allow piledrivers from as early as possible. You should be happily grappling and jumping from about level 3, and doing it safely by level 6.
The Build:
The build is pretty simple. We're going to start with a Goliath from the Elemental Evil Player's companion. This is for the Powerful Build feature, which will greatly increase the weight of creatures you can grab and jump with. Without it, we're pretty much stuck to pretty light creatures. Alternately, you could go for any other strength-boosting race, or perhaps Variant Human, and wait until your level 6 Barbarian Bear Totem feature, but that won't be for a while. With 27-point buy, you should look something like this:
STR: 17
DEX: 13
CON: 14
INT: 8/INT: 13
WIS: 13
CHA: 13/CHA: 8
So you're strong as hell, for grabbing fools. (17 because Athlete will give you +1STR). You're not amazing anywhere else, but you'll either be dumb as a rock (you'd have to be to try this tactic) or terrible at social interaction.
Now, these aren't set in stone. As long as you pump strength and make sure to have either minimum 13 CHA/13 INT for Bard/Wizard multiclassing(more on that later), you can mess with the stats as you like. Plus, you also need 13 WIS and 13 DEX for multiclassing out of Monk.
Starting the Character
Next up, we're going to start with the Monk base. It's not quite as good as the Barbarian base, but it means less MAD for the multiclassing requirements. At this point, you're... not great. You're a slightly weak monk with too much STR.
For second level, we're going to multiclass into either Bard or Wizard, for the spell that really makes this build work. This spell is Jump. What does it do? One minute of delicious, delicious triple jumping height. Plus some cantrips, if you can figure out a way to fluff them for a wrestler. (Vicious mockery! Taunt your foe! Dancing Lights! The wrestler's stunning entrance!) This spell will form the core of your suplexing strategy. Now which should you choose? I'll quickly give the pros/cons below:
Bard: Bard will get you Bardic Inspiration (PUMP UP YOUR TEAMMATES!), and you can level it a bit further to get Skill Expertise, which is very useful for grappling.
Wizard: Wizard means you have to have a book (THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR MASTER), and doesn't give that many great things for the build... except for Arcane Recovery. If your DM is the sort that lets you take Short Rests pretty often, this will ensure you never run out of Jump uses for your fights. You can level it a bit further if you like to get Divination pre-rolls.
I'd say the choice comes down to A. personal preference and B. How many fights your DM makes you go through in a day. Both will give you the same number of Jump uses at level 1, so it's really up to you.
But what about Arcane Initiate?
Well, this is the other option, but it only gives you one use of Jump a day. So if you're in the kind of campaign that only has one encounter a day, this is the way to go, and means more levels of Monk or Barbarian. Otherwise, though, you're going to need the extra uses.
Level 3 and Onwards
Now we're going to take a few more levels of Monk. Three more levels, in fact: Just enough to get you an ASI and Slow Fall. Now things are really starting to come together. Slow Fall will let you not kill yourself when you use your special move, which is nice. Your ASI can be spent on of two feats: Athlete, for better jumps, or Tavern Brawler, for better grapples. Both are good choices and you'll probably end up taking both. Use the bonus to get your Strength to 18. Your Monk Path can be whatever you like, because none of them are that useful. I'd probably go for Open Hand.
Level 6
Now it's time for Barbarian levels. This will get you Rage for better Grapples, even more movement speed, an Unarmoured Defence more suited to your statistics, and so on. Go Totem at level 3 and take the Tiger totem from the SCAG. It will give you EVEN MORE JUMPING.
You're going to want at least 6 levels of Barb for Fast Movement and especially the 6th level Bear Totem ability. This will increase your movement speed to let you jump even higher, and give you the carrying capacity to easily heft even inordinately heavy foes, or even two foes at once. (DOUBLE DRAGON ULTRA SUPLEX.) Spend your ASI on either extra strength or whichever of the two feats you didn't take last time.
Past Level 11
What now? Well, it's up to you. More Barbarian levels will give you more rages and cool abilities, plus the 14th level Eagle totem ability which could be potentially hilarious depending on how your DM lets you stack it with jumps. More Bard or Wizard will give you extra spells slots for casting Jump or other buff spells plus a few cool abilities besides, and more Monk levels will give you more Ki points for Step of the Wind and a more martial-artsy flavour. Or I dunno, you could start levelling Fighter or Rogue or whatever for yet more shenanigans. Really it's up to you- once you've got Jump, Step of Wind and the Barb abilities you're basically ready. Get your strength to 20 and take whatever other feats you think will work.
So how does it all work?
Okay, so we've talked a lot about the build, but how does it all work? Well, it's simple: At the start of a combat, cast Jump. Make sure to cast it BEFORE you Rage, or you won't be able to use it. Now get real mad.
Next, run up to someone. Grapple them, using your superior strength and Athletics training (MAKE SURE TO HAVE TRAINING IN ATHLETICS, GOLIATH GIVES IT AUTOMATICALLY). Now, use the Step of Wind Monk ability to run 10/5ft (depending on if you have Athlete or not) using the Dash bonus action. Now use the Jump action. How high will you go?
Well, at level 5 with 18 Strength, you'll naturally jump an unimpressive 7ft. Factor in the Tiger Totem when you rage, and it's a still 'meh' 10ft. But with the Jump spell and Step of Wind ability, you'll have two abilities that multiply your jump height. Depending on whether your DM rules they add or multiply, you'll jump either 60 or 50 feet into the air. If you manage to get to almost an even multiple of 10, you can, according to the rules, raise your arms above your head for an extra 4ft of reach on a tall Goliath. When you fall, use the Monk Slow Fall to reduce the damage you take.
Here comes in another bit of DM fiat: The PhB says your DM can 'let you take an Athletics check to increase your jump height. With Rage giving you advantage on Strength checks plus your high strength and maybe Skill Expertise, you should regularly get pretty high results, which might let you tack on even more extra damage. Overall, you should be getting somewhere around the realms of 5D6-7D6 damage. Which is... not amazing. Unless, of course, you can grab two people at once- then you're dealing a highly respectable 6D6 damage to two targets every turn. Not bad. And how cool is it? The answer is very, very cool.
Here's the kicker, though: You're still a grappler! Check out the Grappler's Handbook (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-(2-0)-Grappling-in-5th-Edition) for all the cool stuff you can do with Grappling anyway. The Suplex is your signature move, but feel free to just pull off regular Grappling shenanigans anyway.
Magic Items: Okay. If you get the chance to choose your magic items, the build starts to move into the realms of sheer insanity. The Ring of Jumping is good, eliminating the need for the spellcasting component. But the really crazy item is the Boots of Striding and Springing. What do they do? Oh, nothing much, just triple your jumping distance. With these crazy little booties combined with what you've already got available, you'll be hitting your max jump height every single turn. If you manage to obtain them, your number one priority becomes increasing your movement speed to push up the cap. If your DM lets you use the Dash action to add to your max jumping height, you could potentially find yourself jumping 120ft with ease, for 12d6 damage to two targets every single turn. Have fun leaping into the stratosphere and reducing your opponents to a red paste. With the right magic items, the Piledriver Master moves from 'gimmicky and sort of effective' to 'gimmicky and hilariously strong'.
So why do this build? Well, first up, it's awesome. Secondly, it's damage that basically ignores AC, so long as you can get the Grapple off. It works on pretty much anyone who isn't two sizes above you, and you can have a go with Eagle Totem and Fly to try and get really sky-high piledrivers. Admittedly, it has drawbacks: It's less damaging than a 'proper' build, and also doesn't work against really big things or indoors. (Worth it, though.)
Lore is varied, too: You could be a Rock Lee-style Chi master tapping into forbidden arts that push you to the limit! You could be a Luchador travelling the lands looking to test your skills! Either way, it should be pretty damn fun.
Well, that's it for my first attempt at a weird build. Please leave comments, tell me if I made any maths mistakes or suggest ways it could be improved. Thanks for reading, and may your piledrivers be plentiful.