How would one suggest building Wrath from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood?

[sage20500]

Like the title says, I'm looking to make a throwaway character to mess around with during the course of the current Adventures League season while the death curse is in effect, and I was trying to do a toss up debate between trying to build either Fate/Zeros Lancer, or Fuhrer King Bradley from FMA: Brotherhood, and from what I can tell, King Bradley is the less complicated version to work with. From the base idea I'm seeing, I'd be doing a mix of Swashbuckler Rogue and probably champion fighter to pick up the fighting style, and weapons would most certainly be dual Rapiers.

Main question is what levels of Rogue and Fighter to work with in order to be an effective character.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/23/3c/23/233c23c998fa571dc25bebe1e9e7d4b8.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FTya_31JUk

[Kejgar]

I would go with 5 levels into a Swashbuckler rogue to get a decent Sneak Attack, as well as Cunning Action with Fancy Footwork to be very mobile in battle. Tourjours l'Audace will help him get the jump on his enemies and Uncanny Dodge will help him avoid taking damage.

As for the fighter, I would go with Battle Master for the maneuvers to get an upper hand in battle and get enemies in situations to get advantage to use the Sneak Attack. Know Your Enemy could also act as his eye, except it takes a minute.

For feats, Dual Wielder would be needed to use the rapiers. I'm not sure what other feats to give him, but I suppose Defensive Duelist and Tough could let him stay in the battle longer.

It has been a while since I have seen the show so let me know if there is anything I might have missed with Fuhrer Bradley.

[ChampionWiggles]

I'd say maybe even go up to 7 lvls of Rogue to get Evasion. One thing I remember from Bradley is how he was jumping and evading almost everything. He was hard to hit. So Defensive Duelist would be a good feat to invest into as well.

One thing to consider would be to go into Barbarian instead of Fighter. Seems a bit odd, but with Bradley being the embodiment of Wrath, the flavor fits. Granted, you wouldn't get much benefit from Rage, other than resistance, but the seems like a good benefit in itself, tbh. You wouldn't benefit from Reckless Attack either, but you'd get Unarmored Defense and could stack DEX and CON and go with normal clothes (Like he does in the show). You'd also get advantage on DEX saves, which combined with Evasion means you'll rarely have to worry about taking damage from effects with DEX saves. If you dipped 3 lvls into Barb, you could go Bear totem and get resistance and be super hard to kill.

Just something to consider.

[TheUser]

Tough call.

I think everyone is on the right track with Rogue. But there is an untouchable element to Bradley I will expand on later that you want to embrace.

Human Variant with Dual Wielder feat is nice. It's thematic in that it allows you to dual wield rapiers and the +1 AC adds to that untouchable thing.

I see 1 level in Barbarian as mandatory. Preferably early on (probably after getting uncanny dodge or directly at level 1 if you want con saves). It will let you crank up your Con after pumping dex to achieve 21 AC in higher levels (did I mention your point buy needs to have 16 dex and 16 con to start? now you also need 13 str in there, oh well).

By Rogue 5/ Barbarian 1 your AC while dual wielding will be 18, not half bad.

The other big contender is a single level in fighter to pick up Two Weapon Fighting Specialization. Again it can be done after Rogue level 5 to just add +4/5 to your DPR.

Some people are saying battlemaster but in my opinion Arcane Trickster for 1 reason and 1 reason alone: The shield spell.

You can flavor it differently, but adding +5 to AC as a reaction makes you a huge pain in the ass to kill.

Additionally having rage + uncanny dodge means you can cut down big hits to 1/4 the damage.

By level 10 you're at 19 AC (with no magic items) and at level 12 (Rogue 10/Barb 1/Fighter 1) you are at 20 AC.

There are lots of neat possibilities but The Dual Wielder Feat and some form of Unarmored defense are going to be necessary.

[Kejgar]

Tough call.

I think everyone is on the right track with Rogue. But there is an untouchable element to Bradley I will expand on later that you want to embrace.

Human Variant with Dual Wielder feat is nice. It's thematic in that it allows you to dual wield rapiers and the +1 AC adds to that untouchable thing.

I see 1 level in Barbarian as mandatory. Preferably early on (probably after getting uncanny dodge or directly at level 1 if you want con saves). It will let you crank up your Con after pumping dex to achieve 21 AC in higher levels (did I mention your point buy needs to have 16 dex and 16 con to start? now you also need 13 str in there, oh well).

By Rogue 5/ Barbarian 1 your AC while dual wielding will be 18, not half bad.

The other big contender is a single level in fighter to pick up Two Weapon Fighting Specialization. Again it can be done after Rogue level 5 to just add +4/5 to your DPR.

Some people are saying battlemaster but in my opinion Arcane Trickster for 1 reason and 1 reason alone: The shield spell.

You can flavor it differently, but adding +5 to AC as a reaction makes you a huge pain in the ass to kill.

Additionally having rage + uncanny dodge means you can cut down big hits to 1/4 the damage.

By level 10 you're at 19 AC (with no magic items) and at level 12 (Rogue 10/Barb 1/Fighter 1) you are at 20 AC.

There are lots of neat possibilities but The Dual Wielder Feat and some form of Unarmored defense are going to be necessary.
Which primal path would be best for Wrath?

[Sexyshoeless]

Which primal path would be best for Wrath?

Well, let's look at what the paths give us:

Berserker - the main benefit is that extra bonus action attack. But guess what? Your bonus actionis taken up by your off hand weapon, or your rogue dash/disengage abilities. NOPE.

From UA -ancestral guardian NOPE (too focused on helping others, not the Fuhrer's 1v army badassness).
Storm Herald and Zealot are fun but are a little too magic-y for Wrath.

I think your good old bread and butter Bear totem is the best path. Adds to that unkillable, keep coming at you feel. Alternatively if you really want you could go Elk or Tiger totems for that extra movement/jumping.

[Lombra]

Swashbuckler/battlemaster looks like the most functional and flavour-adaptable multiclass, dual wielder is mandatory and martial adept isn't bad. Observant and alert would fit the theme but we want to keep some ASIs for actual scores don't we?

On the barbarian: I can even see it working going strength and picking swashbuckler for just a flavour dip, in the form of rogue 3/barbarian x. Not a very high AC (likely caps at 17) but you will have HPs to spare.

It depends I guess on where you want to take the damage output from: sneak attack or extra attack?

[JackOfAllBuilds]

Well it really depends on what level you are starting as, and what level you'll be ending off on.

For the embodiment of wrath, I'm gonna say Half-Orc instead of human to have savage attacks. And relentless endurance helps with the undying homonculus.

Options are of course Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, (Ranger?,) and funnily Paladin. A mix of any two or three of these.
Champion or Eldritch Knight, Swashbuckler, (Hunter?,) Oath of Vengence, Berserker or Totem (Bear)

The Berserker would work if you go Duelist instead of TWF. He does fight with one weapon as much as dual-wielding.

Soldier or Noble for background

[Easy_Lee]

Wasn't his whole shtick the fact that he had an unbeatable eye that could see weaknesses in enemy defenses? I also remember him having implausible speed, acrobatics, and similar. And I know he was dodging constantly. And he didn't wear armor.

I recommend Kensei monk. Higher damage than other monk options, you can use a rapier or longsword or similar as a monk weapon, dodge as a bonus action for 1 ki, extreme mobility, high AC and good damage for a monk, powerful unarmed strikes for kicks and whatnot, and so on.

And you can take two levels of warlock for Eldritch Sight and Devil's Sight so that you see everything. A few thematic spells like Hex and True Strike never hurt anybody.

[mephnick]

Wasn't his whole shtick the fact that he had an unbeatable eye that could see weaknesses in enemy defenses? I also remember him having implausible speed, acrobatics, and similar. And I know he was dodging constantly. And he didn't wear armor.

Kensai works for this, or the Inquisitive Rogue. They get bonus action Perception/Investigation checks and an ability as a bonus action to see through opponents defenses for auto-sneak attacks and the ability to sense illusions and shapechangers. With the natural combat ability of the Rogue, fluffed right, you get a pretty good Wrath with his Eye.

[sage20500]

Wasn't his whole shtick the fact that he had an unbeatable eye that could see weaknesses in enemy defenses? I also remember him having implausible speed, acrobatics, and similar. And I know he was dodging constantly. And he didn't wear armor.

I recommend Kensei monk. Higher damage than other monk options, you can use a rapier or longsword or similar as a monk weapon, dodge as a bonus action for 1 ki, extreme mobility, high AC and good damage for a monk, powerful unarmed strikes for kicks and whatnot, and so on.

And you can take two levels of warlock for Eldritch Sight and Devil's Sight so that you see everything. A few thematic spells like Hex and True Strike never hurt anybody.

Definitely something to think about, how ever currently Kensai is not Adventurers League legal (only published sources, no unearthed arcana) till at least the end of November if it gets printed in the new book coming out. I might try this out for a non AL game though if I ever have some friends that decide to play 5e.

[JackOfAllBuilds]

Wonder if the Eye and Hand of Vecna will be rewards in the Tomb of Annihilation?
True sight
Regeneration
Cold damage on melee weapon attacks held by the hand (2d8)

[GlenSmash!]

What I mostly remember about Bradly is his ungodly ability to attack so many times in a very brief moment. I'd almost consider going 11 levels into fighter for the next extra attack. Action Surge would help emulate this, but it just might not be enough.

Shield Spell, Uncanny Dodge, or Defensive Duelist feat could all be good ways to emulate that untouchable quality he had.