Roll a crit fail? NOT TODAY!

[that_one_kobold]

So i'm thinking of a character, (possibly halfling) that just messes with the dice! Divination wizard? what do you guys think? Is the build just done at level 2 when I pick up divination wizard?

[Rysto]

I'm partial to the Wild Magic Sorcerer's Bend Luck ability, which lets you see a roll and then apply +/- 1d4 to it as a reaction. And there's always the Lucky feat.

[Mortheim]

Halfling, wizard 2 (divination), rogue 3 (criminal mastermind), sorcerer 6 (wild magic), bard 5 (lore), feat lucky, feat Bountiful Luck. Maybe something else.

[MrFahrenheit]

Halfling divination wizard with the luck feat. Reasonably functional by level 2, fully functional by level 4 - assuming luck is your first feat - and turbocharged by level 14. Don't worry about MCing, aside from a max 1-2 level dip (rogue comes to mind for lightfoot halflings...cast, hide behind buddy, meta dice rolls, repeat).

You bite the bullet with your stat array/int score if the game goes standard point buy, but your meta-dice abilities will make up for that.

Portent alone is nasty for a DM. I've seen it in play. Portent plus halfling luck plus lucky feat is insane. Wonderfully, beautifully insane.

[Elminster298]

I have played this character. Trastor Foamfollower, lightfoot halfling Diviner 2/Lore Bard X. We was a pirate ship's mage for a (mostly) benevolent and fatherly pirate until rival pirates boarded and killed the entire crew. Between halfling luck, lucky feat, portent, and bardic inspiration there were almost no rolls made that he couldn't change. Insanely fun character to play. I personally went bard 5 first for short rest inspiration, then Diviner 2, then back to bard the rest of the way. Diviner 2 first would work also I just feel bard has a slightly better early game than wizard.

[MrFahrenheit]

Diviner 2 is a great dip for anyone with an int of 13. Portent is almost always worth it. There's a gnome beastmaster in my current game who plans to do this after he hits ranger 5.

[Oramac]

I actually did this with an entire party once.

3x Halfling Divination Wizards with the Lucky Feat
1x Halfling Tempest Cleric 2 / Div Wizard X with Lucky
1x Halfling Bard 3 / Div Wizard 17 with Lucky.

The one player took Tempest 2 for Destructive Wrath, since with 10 d20 from Portent it's very likely we'll get a 20 for him to crit some max damage on, and the Bard was for a small amount of healing and some skill monkey stuff.

So overall, we had:

10x Portent dice per long rest
15x Lucky dice per long rest
Reroll all 1's

Our DM hated us. :smallbiggrin:

[jaappleton]

Diviner 2 is a great dip for anyone with an int of 13. Portent is almost always worth it. There's a gnome beastmaster in my current game who plans to do this after he hits ranger 5.

Open Hand Monk 17 / Diviner 2

It's cruel. It really is.

How does that interact with Legendary Resistance? What trumps what?

[jaappleton]

I actually did this with an entire party once.

3x Halfling Divination Wizards with the Lucky Feat
1x Halfling Tempest Cleric 2 / Div Wizard X with Lucky
1x Halfling Bard 3 / Div Wizard 17 with Lucky.

The one player took Tempest 2 for Destructive Wrath, since with 10 d20 from Portent it's very likely we'll get a 20 for him to crit some max damage on, and the Bard was for a small amount of healing and some skill monkey stuff.

So overall, we had:

10x Portent dice per long rest
15x Lucky dice per long rest
Reroll all 1's

Our DM hated us. :smallbiggrin:

"NEW CAMPAIGN! HALFLINGS ARE BANNED!"

And we'd all understand why.

[MrFahrenheit]

Open Hand Monk 17 / Diviner 2

It's cruel. It really is.

How does that interact with Legendary Resistance? What trumps what?

Legendary resistance is turning a failure into a success...so if the BBEG succeeded naturally, then failed due to portent, they could then succeed anyhow. But they're down one of three legendary resists when they otherwise wouldn't be.

EDIT: If the BBEG failed naturally and then used legendary resistance, portent wouldn't matter since there's no die roll involved.

[jaappleton]

Legendary resistance is turning a failure into a success...so if the BBEG succeeded naturally, then failed due to portent, they could then succeed anyhow. But they're down one of three legendary resists when they otherwise wouldn't be.

EDIT: If the BBEG failed naturally and then used legendary resistance, portent wouldn't matter since there's no die roll involved.

Got it. Makes sense.

Still, its a good way to force usage of Legendary Resistance.

[MrFahrenheit]

Got it. Makes sense.

Still, its a good way to force usage of Legendary Resistance.

Absolutely.

You know what else is a great way to force usage of legendary resistance? Conjure woodland beings out of an 8th level slot to get two dozen sprites against a BBEG with legendary resists but without sleep immunity. The party Druid did that last campaign. Sure, the ancient black dragon they were fighting wrecked those little bastards, but not before they forced all three legendary resistance usages. After they were killed, the Druid did it again from a 6th level slot, and that was all she wrote...

[KorvinStarmast]

You know what else is a great way to force usage of legendary resistance? Conjure woodland beings out of an 8th level slot to get two dozen sprites against a BBEG with legendary resists but without sleep immunity. The party Druid did that last campaign. Sure, the ancient black dragon they were fighting wrecked those little bastards, but not before they forced all three legendary resistance usages. After they were killed, the Druid did it again from a 6th level slot, and that was all she wrote... *Golf Clap* Dragons versus sprites/pixies, seems hilarious.

[EdenIndustries]

I created a thread a while back about a character all about manipulating dice: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526665-Ultimate-Dice-Manipulator-(character-concept)

Perhaps there's something in there that'll inspire you!