Least MAD Most Optimized Evil Hunter?

[Ravinsild]

I've been reading over the PHB, Volo's, Unearthed Arcanas and basically all of the official non-homebrew resources to figure out the best way to build an "evil hunter"

Certain classes have certain features I like but I realize I can't have it all so what I want from the build is the follow:
- Able to sense/track evil creatures (Werewolves, Fiends, Undead, etc..)
- Able to deal increased damage to such creatures
- Able to protect against such creatures
- Two-Handed Weapon boosts

Classes with features I like:
UA Revised Ranger
- Favored Enemy/Greater Favored Enemy (able to sense/track undead creatures, able to deal increased damage to such creatures)
- Primeval Awareness (able to sense/track undead creatures)

Paladin
- Divine Sense (able to sense/track evil creatures)
- Great Weapon Fighting (Two-handed Weapon Boosts)
- Divine Smite (able to deal increased damage to such creatures)
- Spells (Divine Favor to enchant your blade with holy damage, Protection From Evil, Dispel Evil, Smite Spells, Destructive Wave, Crusader's Mantle etc..)
- Oaths (Devotion, Vengeance)

Cleric
- Spellcasting (Guiding Bolt, Sacred Flame, Flame Strike, Bless, Detect Evil, Protection from Evil, etc...)
- Domains (War, Light spells and benefits)
- Channel Divinity Turn Undead (Able to deal increased damage to or outright destroy such creatures)
- Destroy Undead (Able to deal increased damage to or outright destroy such creatures)

Other Possible Classes:

Favored Soul Sorcerer?
Undying Light Warlock?

The idea is for a melee Greatsword user who uses his spells to buff/debuff like enchanting his blade with radiant damage, protecting from evil, sensing evil and otherwise being an exterminator of Werewolves, Undead, Fiends and other such things. Much like the Fighter's Guild in Elder Scrolls Online.

I'm not sure the least MAD and most optimized way to accomplish this is. Cleric/Ranger seems like it gets no support for Greatswords and I'm not sure how good the AC will be in general or how many problems the character would have surviving going toe-to-toe with such foes. Paladin gives greatsword support and great features but seems to be mad in and of itself. I'm also not sure which race even goes will with any of these.

[tieren]

really sounds like you are describing a paladin.

Paladin is a bit more MAD than say a rogue or a cleric, but not terribly so. You'll want max strength for your greatsword attacks and decent cha for your spells (and aura).

There are plenty of guides to look at for which races fit well, Vhuman could be a good choice to boost Str, Cha, and Con and pick up a feat for the greatsword (GWM).

[Ravinsild]

really sounds like you are describing a paladin.

Paladin is a bit more MAD than say a rogue or a cleric, but not terribly so. You'll want max strength for your greatsword attacks and decent cha for your spells (and aura).

There are plenty of guides to look at for which races fit well, Vhuman could be a good choice to boost Str, Cha, and Con and pick up a feat for the greatsword (GWM).

So just a pure Devotion or Avenger Paladin? Hm, I suppose it seems too obvious but I wasn't sure if the Ranger features might be useful with Favored Enemy and such things. Especially Hunter Conclave with Colossus Slayer and two fighting styles (Defensive and Great Weapon) etc. Is Ranger just redundant at this point?

[MinotaurWarrior]

You're only MAD if you actually rely on the features.

Hunter 6 (FE: Undead, FS: Defense GFE: Fiends)
Paladin 2 (FS: GWF)

Boom. Primeval awareness, detect undead and fiends from five miles away. Then pinpoint them within 60ft. +4 damage against 'em. Advantage on saving throws against their abilities. Divine smite.

Your spells known don't call for saves or spell attacks. You wear plate armor. You're basically SAD.

Variant human: 16STR, 13DEX, 12Con, 8Int, 13Wis, 13Cha. GWM Feat.

After that point, I'd go:

Hunter-> 8
Paladin-> 4 (Your choice on how you order the STR bumps and getting PAM)
WM Sorc 1
Cleric (life?) 5
WM Sorc -> 3

Full caster levels are for more smites, WM advantage, Spirit Guardians, and then buff metamagic & sorc point manipulation of smiting slots. You could also go the more martial route and take Fighter 4 / Barb 4 (BM, Bear totem).

[Ravinsild]

You're only MAD if you actually rely on the features.

Hunter 6 (FE: Undead, FS: Defense GFE: Fiends)
Paladin 2 (FS: GWF)

Boom. Primeval awareness, detect undead and fiends from five miles away. Then pinpoint them within 60ft. +4 damage against 'em. Advantage on saving throws against their abilities. Divine smite.

Your spells known don't call for saves or spell attacks. You wear plate armor. You're basically SAD.

Variant human: 16STR, 13DEX, 12Con, 8Int, 13Wis, 13Cha. GWM Feat.

After that point, I'd go:

Hunter-> 8
Paladin-> 4 (Your choice on how you order the STR bumps and getting PAM)
WM Sorc 1
Cleric (life?) 5
WM Sorc -> 3

Full caster levels are for more smites, WM advantage, Spirit Guardians, and then buff metamagic & sorc point manipulation of smiting slots. You could also go the more martial route and take Fighter 4 / Barb 4 (BM, Bear totem).

Oh yeah you're right! I guess the Ranger spells might as well just be deleted for this sake and used to calculate overall spellcaster level for smite fuel. Also 5 levels of Cleric would give me more Channel Divinities but I wouldn't want to be using any of the spells like guiding bolt or anything because my wisdom would be low for spell attacks, correct?

Also: I don't have the book in from of me right now but a level 3 or 4 Sorcerer only has 3 or 4 metamagic points which equals basically 1 2nd level spell slot or 2 1st level....why not just go Warlock for 2 spell slots on a short rest reset for Smite burning? What are the wild sorcerer features compared to the Warlock ones?

[MinotaurWarrior]

Oh yeah you're right! I guess the Ranger spells might as well just be deleted for this sake and used to calculate overall spellcaster level for smite fuel. Also 5 levels of Cleric would give me more Channel Divinities but I wouldn't want to be using any of the spells like guiding bolt or anything because my wisdom would be low for spell attacks, correct?

Basically.

My spell list at level 8 would look like:

Ranger 1st: Longstrider, Hunter's Mark
Ranger 2nd: Pass Without Trace, Silence
Paladin 1st: Two of bless, divine favor, or shield of faith, depending on what you expect to face that day.

At cleric level five, you might pray for:
Cleric 1st: SoF + 3x Detect X
Cleric 2nd: Warding Bond
Cleric 3rd: Spirit Guardians
+ Domain spells.

Spirit guardians is probably the only spell I'd use with a saving throw, for the AoE damage. Most slots are just going to get used on smites, but you also want to know buffs, healing, and can feel free to learn utility spells in case they come up.

edit:

Also: I don't have the book in from of me right now but a level 3 or 4 Sorcerer only has 3 or 4 metamagic points which equals basically 1 2nd level spell slot or 2 1st level....why not just go Warlock for 2 spell slots on a short rest reset for Smite burning? What are the wild sorcerer features compared to the Warlock ones?

Wild magic 1: You get advantage on attack, ability, or saving throw. Regain this feature on rest, or casting a spell and getting a WM surge.

WM 3: spend 2 sorc points to add or subtract 1d4 from a roll.

Double-checking, I see that the math really isn't there for a 3rd level sorceror dip to do much slot manipulation.

[Naanomi]

Lots of options of course... I have a member in our group playling a VHuman revised ranger/hunter using magic initiate to use the Shillelagh and has a similar RP bent as you

[Ravinsild]

Basically.

My spell list at level 8 would look like:

Ranger 1st: Longstrider, Hunter's Mark
Ranger 2nd: Pass Without Trace, Silence
Paladin 1st: Two of bless, divine favor, or shield of faith, depending on what you expect to face that day.

At cleric level five, you might pray for:
Cleric 1st: SoF + 3x Detect X
Cleric 2nd: Warding Bond
Cleric 3rd: Spirit Guardians
+ Domain spells.

Spirit guardians is probably the only spell I'd use with a saving throw, for the AoE damage. Most slots are just going to get used on smites, but you also want to know buffs, healing, and can feel free to learn utility spells in case they come up.

I'm a fan of the level 8 "Fleet Footed" ability for the Ranger as it lets you Dash and Attack so it feels like a "Charge" from...various games (Warcraft Warrior, ESO Templar/Two-Handed Weapon Line, and so many more. It's basically a staple :P)

Thanks for the help! If my DM doesn't let us use humans (he's trying to create a world where there are no humans for some reason) what's the next best race?

[Naanomi]

For ranger/paladin... Half Elf? If that isn't available... not sure the next step down. Are you rolls for stats or?

[Ravinsild]

For ranger/paladin... Half Elf? If that isn't available... not sure the next step down. Are you rolls for stats or?

Yeah we're rolling for stats and he feels like a world without humans is more interesting. Using meta-knowledge I know they're off on a tiny island isolated by mountains for the campaign, but in game people think they don't exist anymore.

[MinotaurWarrior]

I'm a fan of the level 8 "Fleet Footed" ability for the Ranger as it lets you Dash and Attack so it feels like a "Charge" from...various games (Warcraft Warrior, ESO Templar/Two-Handed Weapon Line, and so many more. It's basically a staple :P)

Thanks for the help! If my DM doesn't let us use humans (he's trying to create a world where there are no humans for some reason) what's the next best race?

I love bugbears for pretty much anything. And they have the stat bonuses to work. 15ft reach with your pike, an extra 2d6 on your first turn, and free stealth. Yeah, it's an evil race, but the picture in the book is a half-orc Paladin. Rebel against your evil kin.

Pretty much any race with +STR and +Dex, Wis, or Cha works. Triton, Dragonborn, Half-elf. Of these, I think I'd be most likely to go silver dragonborn.

[Ravinsild]

I love bugbears for pretty much anything. And they have the stat bonuses to work. 15ft reach with your pike, an extra 2d6 on your first turn, and free stealth. Yeah, it's an evil race, but the picture in the book is a half-orc Paladin. Rebel against your evil kin.

Pretty much any race with +STR and +Dex, Wis, or Cha works. Triton, Dragonborn, Half-elf. Of these, I think I'd be most likely to go silver dragonborn.

Oh sweet, thanks! Also I don't think Pike gets the benefits of Polearm Master for the blunt weapon damage attack, only the benefits of the bottom line.

[King539]

If you DM is fine with homebrew, you could try Matt Mercer's Blood Hunter.

[Specter]

Definitely Deep Stalker/Cleric 1. Cleric just for Life domain, Detect Good and Evil and a better level 1 selection (Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, etc.). Deep Stalker pairs nicely with GWM and Stalker's Flurry (if you miss with -5, just try again), and gives you James Bond extra spells.

And starting Ranger, you will have proficiencies in STR, DEX and WIS saves by level 8. Add Resilient (CON) to that and you're Rambo.

[Ravinsild]

Definitely Deep Stalker/Cleric 1. Cleric just for Life domain, Detect Good and Evil and a better level 1 selection (Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, etc.). Deep Stalker pairs nicely with GWM and Stalker's Flurry (if you miss with -5, just try again), and gives you James Bond extra spells.

And starting Ranger, you will have proficiencies in STR, DEX and WIS saves by level 8. Add Resilient (CON) to that and you're Rambo.

Woah, this does seem super good. I had never really paid much attention to the Deep Stalker Conclave before. Do most Undead, Lycanthropes, Fiends, etc have Darkvision? Iron Mind and Stalker's Flurry seem quite strong too. Why life domain though? Then you're MAD with needing good WIS for decent healing spells and damage, and need good Strength for weapon attacks and probably decent Con or Dex for armor/HP and initiative and so forth. Seems like only Cha and Int don't matter to such a build :/ 0 levels of Paladin with this combo? Just lots of Ranger and a little dabble of Cleric?

These are all good suggestions lol it's hard to pick one.

[Specter]

Woah, this does seem super good. I had never really paid much attention to the Deep Stalker Conclave before. Do most Undead, Lycanthropes, Fiends, etc have Darkvision? Iron Mind and Stalker's Flurry seem quite strong too. Why life domain though? Then you're MAD with needing good WIS for decent healing spells and damage, and need good Strength for weapon attacks and probably decent Con or Dex for armor/HP and initiative and so forth. Seems like only Cha and Int don't matter to such a build :/ 0 levels of Paladin with this combo? Just lots of Ranger and a little dabble of Cleric?

These are all good suggestions lol it's hard to pick one.

I can't think of one of those creatures that doesn't have Darkvision.

The thing about Life Cleric is that you can add at least 3 to any healing spell, plus creating Goodberries that heal 4hp instead of 1. Superheal. 14WIS is good enough. But if you do find some other great domain, by all means go for it.

If you don't care about STR, grab a bow and use the same strategy with Sharpshooter. I figured you wanted to use a greatsword.

[Ravinsild]

I can't think of one of those creatures that doesn't have Darkvision.

The thing about Life Cleric is that you can add at least 3 to any healing spell, plus creating Goodberries that heal 4hp instead of 1. Superheal. 14WIS is good enough. But if you do find some other great domain, by all means go for it.

If you don't care about STR, grab a bow and use the same strategy with Sharpshooter. I figured you wanted to use a greatsword.

I definitely want to use a Greatsword I'm just not sure my stats are so great. I rolled a 16,15,12,11,11,10 So basically two good stats and then very...mediocre lol.

Edit: I thought War Domain or Light Domain might be decent. War Domain gives many paladin spells like Divine Favor, Crusader's Mantle and so forth in addition to +10 to hit with an attack and the level 8 feature to add damage to an attack, Light has an AoE Radiant burn for a channel divinity and "holy spells" even though apparently Undead don't have vulnerability to Radiant damage. Light maybe seems a bit less than War domain but those seem the most offensive in terms of being a hunter who slays monsters.

I guess Vampire Hunter D, Van Helsing, The Witcher, and stuff like that, even Buffy and Valla the Demon Hunter from Diablo are all sort of the concept/idea. Except no crossbows. Just giant swords. Giant Holy blessed swords.

(I would do Crossbows and Greatsword...but that is surrendering to MADness and I didn't roll for those kinds of stats)

[Specter]

I definitely want to use a Greatsword I'm just not sure my stats are so great. I rolled a 16,15,12,11,11,10 So basically two good stats and then very...mediocre lol.

Yeah, not so great. What I'd suggest is grabbing V. Human with Resilient (CON) so you can start with 16 16 14(con) 11 11 10. If you want to cast anu concentration spells like Hunter's Mark you want that feat. But look at the bright side, at least you got no negative stats.

[Ravinsild]

Yeah, not so great. What I'd suggest is grabbing V. Human with Resilient (CON) so you can start with 16 16 14(con) 11 11 10. But look at the bright side, at least you got no negative stats.

I was thinking that or Half-Elf possibly if Humans aren't allowed (my DM has his...ideas...for his story)

[Specter]

I was thinking that or Half-Elf possibly if Humans aren't allowed (my DM has his...ideas...for his story)

Half-Elf only works for CHA-based classes. If no humans are allowed, you could go Paladin 2/Sorcerer (or Valor Bard) X. A very nice package.

[djreynolds]

What about the UA fighter archetype (monster Hunter)?

A nice addition to either the paladin or ranger.

[Ravinsild]

What about the UA fighter archetype (monster Hunter)?

A nice addition to either the paladin or ranger.


What about the UA fighter archetype (monster Hunter)?

A nice addition to either the paladin or ranger.

Hmmm something like 8 Hunter/Deep Stalker Conclave Ranger/4 Vengeance or Devotion Paladin/8 Monster Hunter Paladin could bring in some serious damage.

Something like Hunter's Mark + Greatsword damage for normal situations is good but then you get ridiculous if you do something like Hunter's Mark + Greatsword + Divine Smite + Monster Slay two dice max damage + Colossus Slayer (?) you might could one shot a vampire or something. Monster slayer gives good bonuses with the Superiority Dice against saves, when trying to hit with an attack, when you hit and want extra damage, plus trying to see invisible things or if a vampire is lying about being a vampire.

Plus you get a free cast of Protect from Evil every long rest and a ritual for detect magic! Yeah this Monster Hunter class is insane! Which combo is the best out of Deepstalker/Hunter Ranger + Vengeance or Devotion Paladin + Monster Hunter Fighter? This seems very SAD also mostly just a melee guy who is super good at identifying and tracking and fighting said monsters and enough spell slots to use when you REALLY need it. Between all the free spells you would get as a Deep Stalker, Monster Hunter and your Oath spells there's a big variety for finding, identifying, tracking and protecting yourself (and friends) from all kinds of nasty things.

Not to mention Deep Stalker gives great benefits like on your first round you gain +10 movement speed and an extra attack when you make the attack action...for free. With that and Action Surge and Monster Slayer and Smite you could probably put out giant Nova damage in an opening round totally crushing a strong creature like a Werewolf or Vampire or Mummy Lord or maybe even a Devil or Demon :D

Deep Stalker gives Stalker's Flurry which gives consistency against missing but it's a level 11 Conclave Feature which is really deep, Darkvision to a race like Dragonborn or Human who doesn't get it for a Strength type race, extra movement speed and an extra attack on your first round of combat for free, free will saving throws proficieny, then paladin gives divine sense, plus smite, plus awesome buff spells like Divine Favor for even MORE damage or Bless for accuracy or Crusader's Mantle etc, plus Channel Divinity Turn Undead if Devotion or Abjur Enemy if Vengeance plus some free spells, and all the Fighter goodies.

Now it's just like...how do you level it and when does it come together?

At full power level 20 when you meet this guy if you're an Undead, Fiend or other such evil creature you're going to have a really bad day. But how soon will they start having bad days as you play in a regular setting? As soon as level 6? Level 8? 12?

[MinotaurWarrior]

I definitely want to use a Greatsword I'm just not sure my stats are so great. I rolled a 16,15,12,11,11,10 So basically two good stats and then very...mediocre lol.

Those stats are fine on their own, but they really mess up MCing. If you like paladin / ranger, and want to be a physical contender, I think you basically have to go Protector Aasimar.

16 Str, 15 Dex, 11 Con, 13 (11+2) Cha, 10 int, 13 (12+1) Wis

If you like deep stalker, I'll second a fighter dip, but I'm not so sure about monster hunter. I'd also consider taking assassin.

Something like:

Deep Stalker 6
Paladin 2
Fighter 2 (You nova with three attacks dealing 1d6+2dGWF+3+10+4+2d8=36.8 and three dealing 1d6+2dGWF+3+10+4+3d8=41.3)
Assassin 3 (Double all those die. If you want to be super cheesy I believe there's a convoluted path towards using a rapier for one attack, dropping it, and continuing with a 2-hander.)

Then probably just rounding up ASIs. (DS 8, Devotion 4, MH 4, Assn 4). 1st ASI went to GWM, then +2Str, +2Str, +1 Cha / Wis, and something else - maybe skulker.

The problem with this is that you lack staying power, and your nova isn't the best, but it's still great.

At level 20, you can fairly reliably sneak up on a Balor you've magically tracked, and then here's how your explosion looks:

To hit: +7 v.s. AC 19, with advantage = 1-(11/20)^2 = ~70%
6 attacks, ~ 4 should hit. Three 3rd level smites, one 2nd level smite
3x(2d6+4dGWF+5+10+4+8d8=78.6) 1x(2d6+4dGWF+5+10+4+6d8=69.6)
Total: ~305.5 > 262 (Balor HP)

So, you can reasonably expect to kill a Balor in surprise rounds!

But then you're nearly spent. You've got two more level 2 slots, and 3 more level one slots. After burning those level 2 smites, for most of the day, your sustained damage is more like:

2 Attacks at +6 to hit, dealing 2dGWF+1d6+5+10= 26, maybe 30 if you're fighting fiends or undead. So, about equal to a single class warlock spamming EB.

[Ravinsild]

Those stats are fine on their own, but they really mess up MCing. If you like paladin / ranger, and want to be a physical contender, I think you basically have to go Protector Aasimar.

16 Str, 15 Dex, 11 Con, 13 (11+2) Cha, 10 int, 13 (12+1) Wis

If you like deep stalker, I'll second a fighter dip, but I'm not so sure about monster hunter. I'd also consider taking assassin.

Something like:

Deep Stalker 6
Paladin 2
Fighter 2 (You nova with three attacks dealing 1d6+2dGWF+3+10+4+2d8=36.8 and three dealing 1d6+2dGWF+3+10+4+3d8=41.3)
Assassin 3 (Double all those die. If you want to be super cheesy I believe there's a convoluted path towards using a rapier for one attack, dropping it, and continuing with a 2-hander.)

Then probably just rounding up ASIs. (DS 8, Devotion 4, MH 4, Assn 4). 1st ASI went to GWM, then +2Str, +2Str, +1 Cha / Wis, and something else - maybe skulker.

The problem with this is that you lack staying power, and your nova isn't the best, but it's still great.

At level 20, you can fairly reliably sneak up on a Balor you've magically tracked, and then here's how your explosion looks:

To hit: +7 v.s. AC 19, with advantage = 1-(11/20)^2 = ~70%
6 attacks, ~ 4 should hit. Three 3rd level smites, one 2nd level smite
3x(2d6+4dGWF+5+10+4+8d8=78.6) 1x(2d6+4dGWF+5+10+4+6d8=69.6)
Total: ~305.5 > 262 (Balor HP)

So, you can reasonably expect to kill a Balor in surprise rounds!

But then you're nearly spent. You've got two more level 2 slots, and 3 more level one slots. After burning those level 2 smites, for most of the day, your sustained damage is more like:

2 Attacks at +6 to hit, dealing 2dGWF+1d6+5+10= 26, maybe 30 if you're fighting fiends or undead. So, about equal to a single class warlock spamming EB.

With 8 DS/4 Devo/8 MH I get 6 ASI jumps which is a lot. Is that better than dipping Rogue? What feats would I want if feats are allowed?

I noticed you said to get the Skulker Feat with the Assassin dip. Is this build generally just going to put out poor sustained damage no matter how you build it?

[MinotaurWarrior]

With 8 DS/4 Devo/8 MH I get 6 ASI jumps which is a lot. Is that better than dipping Rogue? What feats would I want if feats are allowed?

I noticed you said to get the Skulker Feat with the Assassin dip. Is this build generally just going to put out poor sustained damage no matter how you build it?

3 ASIs are going to STR 20, GWM

Other feats I'd strongly consider with that build:

1) Polearm master & sentinel - the classic combo. However, it's not that exciting at higher levels when everything has ranged options and / or reach, and you will do slightly lower damage. You can get a little hit&run-y as a ranger and your super senses make it easier to plan encounters to exploit terrain plan to maximize your return on these features, but it's rarely going to swing a fight.
2) Resilient (con)
3) Observant (wis) - this is either great or useless, depending on DM. Passive perception 23 makes you very hard to sneak up on.

You can also just pump CHA to make channel divinity better, or pump CON for survivability.

What you get from an extra 4 levels of monster hunter:

A dead level
An ASI
+3.5 Damage / die on fiends, the ability to spend one more die per attack, and one more die.
An ASI

What you get from assassin 4

Expertise Stealth and another expertise (Perception? Athletics?) & 3.5 damage per round
Cunning action
Another 3.5 damage per round, and nearly doubling your damage on the first round when you get surprise
An ASI

In net, assassin gives you better sustained damage (Sneak attack versus nothing) and better novas (assassinate versus slightly better superiority die), and costs you an ASI. I think it's worth it.

[Ravinsild]

3 ASIs are going to STR 20, GWM

Other feats I'd strongly consider with that build:

1) Polearm master & sentinel - the classic combo. However, it's not that exciting at higher levels when everything has ranged options and / or reach, and you will do slightly lower damage. You can get a little hit&run-y as a ranger and your super senses make it easier to plan encounters to exploit terrain plan to maximize your return on these features, but it's rarely going to swing a fight.
2) Resilient (con)
3) Observant (wis) - this is either great or useless, depending on DM. Passive perception 23 makes you very hard to sneak up on.

You can also just pump CHA to make channel divinity better, or pump CON for survivability.

What you get from an extra 4 levels of monster hunter:

A dead level
An ASI
+3.5 Damage / die on fiends, the ability to spend one more die per attack, and one more die.
An ASI

What you get from assassin 4

Expertise Stealth and another expertise (Perception? Athletics?) & 3.5 damage per round
Cunning action
Another 3.5 damage per round, and nearly doubling your damage on the first round when you get surprise
An ASI

In net, assassin gives you better sustained damage (Sneak attack versus nothing) and better novas (assassinate versus slightly better superiority die), and costs you an ASI. I think it's worth it.

Oh, yeah that is definitely worth it! That's my biggest problem, I have an issue evaluating worth and how strong things are. The "you do max damage against fiends/undead/lycanthropes/etc." thing seemed so good like oh just automatic +16 damage right there but it's pretty resource heavy and it's situational. Then Sneak Attack is just always there. As long as 1 other melee is near the thing then boom +2d6 every time all the time.

So yeah I think the 8/4/4/4 build seems best. Is this going to be a slow starter? Seems like once it gets rolling it might hurt really bad against the types it's good against. Could a nonspecialized Ranger or Paladin or whatever just do way better in general without going out of their way to get all the special senses and so forth?

[MinotaurWarrior]

Oh, yeah that is definitely worth it! That's my biggest problem, I have an issue evaluating worth and how strong things are. The "you do max damage against fiends/undead/lycanthropes/etc." thing seemed so good like oh just automatic +16 damage right there but it's pretty resource heavy and it's situational. Then Sneak Attack is just always there. As long as 1 other melee is near the thing then boom +2d6 every time all the time.

So yeah I think the 8/4/4/4 build seems best. Is this going to be a slow starter? Seems like once it gets rolling it might hurt really bad against the types it's good against. Could a nonspecialized Ranger or Paladin or whatever just do way better in general without going out of their way to get all the special senses and so forth?

For six levels, you're just an Aasimar ranger. Revised ranger is pretty fun IMO. Especially if your campaign is fairly PC-driven. Primeval awareness just awesome for planning things out.


Then, when you start MCing, you're picking up impactful class features very quickly. Divine sense at character level 1 cements you as the supreme hunter of evil, paladin 2 gives you smite, two levels of fighter gives you action surge, your 11th level, rogue 1, gives you expertise, then you get cunning action, then you get assassinate, and then you're just picking up feats left and right.

I think this character should be fun from 1-20

[Ravinsild]

For six levels, you're just an Aasimar ranger. Revised ranger is pretty fun IMO. Especially if your campaign is fairly PC-driven. Primeval awareness just awesome for planning things out.


Then, when you start MCing, you're picking up impactful class features very quickly. Divine sense at character level 1 cements you as the supreme hunter of evil, paladin 2 gives you smite, two levels of fighter gives you action surge, your 11th level, rogue 1, gives you expertise, then you get cunning action, then you get assassinate, and then you're just picking up feats left and right.

I think this character should be fun from 1-20

Ah great! Yeah he will be a badass, plus I've been looking for a reason to play an Aasimar. I'm just glad my concept isn't inert and will be competitive at least with an Eldritch Blast spammer, which is one of the better builds out there right?

Thanks for the help man :)

Edit: Would it be a huge hit if I forgo having a Polearm in favor of a greatsword? By the time I get Rogue Cunning Action my bonus action could be spent doing Hide which is really great with the Deep Stalker level 1 feature (You
are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. Such creatures gain no benefit when attempting to detect you in dark and dim conditions. Addition ally, when the DM determines if you can hide from a creature, that creature gains no benefit from its darkvision.) I'm typically a more damage is always better kind of player though. If Polearm Master gives the greatest damage and Hiding isn't very good then I'm going full damage lol

[MinotaurWarrior]

Ah great! Yeah he will be a badass, plus I've been looking for a reason to play an Aasimar. I'm just glad my concept isn't inert and will be competitive at least with an Eldritch Blast spammer, which is one of the better builds out there right?

Thanks for the help man :)

Edit: Would it be a huge hit if I forgo having a Polearm in favor of a greatsword? By the time I get Rogue Cunning Action my bonus action could be spent doing Hide which is really great with the Deep Stalker level 1 feature (You
are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. Such creatures gain no benefit when attempting to detect you in dark and dim conditions. Addition ally, when the DM determines if you can hide from a creature, that creature gains no benefit from its darkvision.) I'm typically a more damage is always better kind of player though. If Polearm Master gives the greatest damage and Hiding isn't very good then I'm going full damage lol

Yeah, I think Greatswords are the way to go for most of the game. You'll probably want to have both on your body so you can switch it up when you want though.

And thanks for making this thread. It's been fun for me to help!