My deathbuild character.

[NecroDancer]

My current character started out dangerous close to edgelord territory so thanks to some retcon and roleplaying I've avoided edglordom.

For my death build I want to make a character who is the complete opposite of my current character so here is my idea. The only restrictions I had was to be from the forgotten realms and be a cleric (a class I had never played before and wanted to try).


Izzy Orcbourne, the divine bard.

Izzy is a trickery cleric who works for the local secret thieves guild (everyone knows the theives guild exists). Izzy worships the goddess Leira and is currently pretending to be a bard at a local tavern that the guild plans to acquire. The thieves guild is strictly non-lethal (that's the assassin's territory) and often helps finance orphanages, new businesses, and soup kitchens as a way of gaining the support of the people and keeping the local (but slightly corrupt) law off their backs. The theives guild also never steals from those who can't afford it.

Izzy's parents (2 half orcs) met while working at a local backery that Izzy's mother's family owned for generations. After one year they got married and gave birth to Izzy. In his teens Izzy was given a good education by the local bard college and later became faithful to Leira for the theology credit but soon found that Leira was actual a pretty nice goddess and actually became faithful to her (the high priest stills teases Izzy about this). Izzy soon joined the theives guild to help fund the temple and to find adventure. Izzy later dated a fellow guild member named David and they are enjoying s happy healthy relationship. David's sister (Joan) was a semi-talented bard and offered to teach Izzy the basics of "the music with rocks in it (blatantly stolen from Terry Pratchett's Soul Music), Izzy agreed and stared to put his talent to uses his music to sing songs about his goddess and entertain local orphans for volunteer work.

Izzy's parents are happily retired and are pleased that Izzy has a stable job at the guild and a nice relationship.

[Biggstick]

Sorry, but what is a death build?

If you're from Forgotten Realms, what city are you operating out of? Operating out of Waterdeep or Silverymoon would be much different then operating out of Longsaddle or Triboar.

I personally never like the idea of "The theives guild also never steals from those who can't afford it." It's hard to really judge who can afford to lose what you're stealing. Are you playing along the idea of Robin Hood and his band of merry men? Again, knowing the city you plan on operating out of would be helpful in trying to establish this sort of story.

While your character might view Leira as a pretty nice deity, she is a goddess of illusion and deception. How does this translate for your character? She would prefer telling a lie over the truth; will this sort of idea bleed over into your character? How would your party feel about such a character?

I like that you're doing a bit of mold breaking here with a Half Orc (assumed because of your parents) Trickery Cleric. Have you considered adding 1-3 levels of Rogue? Even a single level of Rogue adds quite a bit to the character.

[GPS]

Wait, Izzy is back? Honestly, at this point, the party is up for whatever. It's all good, it'll be different next week. I can't keep track.

[NecroDancer]

Sorry, but what is a death build?

If you're from Forgotten Realms, what city are you operating out of? Operating out of Waterdeep or Silverymoon would be much different then operating out of Longsaddle or Triboar.

I personally never like the idea of "The theives guild also never steals from those who can't afford it." It's hard to really judge who can afford to lose what you're stealing. Are you playing along the idea of Robin Hood and his band of merry men? Again, knowing the city you plan on operating out of would be helpful in trying to establish this sort of story.

While your character might view Leira as a pretty nice deity, she is a goddess of illusion and deception. How does this translate for your character? She would prefer telling a lie over the truth; will this sort of idea bleed over into your character? How would your party feel about such a character?

I like that you're doing a bit of mold breaking here with a Half Orc (assumed because of your parents) Trickery Cleric. Have you considered adding 1-3 levels of Rogue? Even a single level of Rogue adds quite a bit to the character.

I haven't decided what city yet. Waterdeep seemed like the best option or maybe Comyr (Djared Thymar would be cool but would require a very good reason). My character enjoys disguises (aka he will pretend to a noble, bard, ranger, stereotypical cleric, etc) and he views disguises as a way of honoring Leira (she's the goddess of illusions as well).

As for the thieves guild they are more of a very independent government branch made to keep rampant thievery under control (the same logic with the assassin's guild). The theives guild is an effective but poorly disguised way to redistribute wealth from the those who gain there money illegally to those who would need the money and a way to stop Independent theives from becoming a problem.

I'm thinking of maybe 1 level of Rogue but I would hate to delay spellcasting (even if one level of Rogue is better in the long run).

[Biggstick]

I'm thinking of maybe 1 level of Rogue but I would hate to delay spellcasting (even if one level of Rogue is better in the long run).

I have just such a character in mind, that goes three levels Arcane Trickster and then 17 levels Trickery Cleric. Three levels of Arcane Trickster nabs me an invisible Mage Hand, BB or GFB, and another flavor cantrip, Cunning Action, and a little extra damage should I decide to attack an enemy. The spell I take for sure is Find Familiar, as there are tons of fun shenanigans I can do with a Familiar and Cleric spells.

Now I know this massively delays spell casting in the grand scheme of things, but that's not how I look at it. This character is meant to be an Arcane Trickster Rogue. I'm simply upping the magical capability of said Rogue. Just because I'm primarily a Trickery Cleric with all those Cleric levels, my mindset is still that of an Arcane Trickster.

It feels much better when I look at it in that fashion. All of a sudden my need to ensure optimization fades away. It feels good to pick up the Trickery Cleric levels, as I'm upping my casting potential while picking up a ton of support spells for my teammates and myself (Bless, Disguise Self, Pass w/o Trace, Enhance Ability, Silence, etc. etc). I'm still definitely acting like a Rogue, I just have a way stronger casting potential then most Rogues, with a focus on buffs and party enhancement.

[NecroDancer]

I might take a level of Rogue at level 10, the campaign ends at level 10 so having a Cleric 9/Rogue 1 and have sneak attack, expertise, and an extra skill be my capstone would be really nice.