New Character - Variant Human

[D&DRanga5e]

Hi everybody,
So I have now died for the sixth time (only 1 of which was my fault) and need a new character.
My DM has a chart will roll on for our race and I got Variant Human. I've played a bit of everything so I'm open minded but I want a character who can bounce back from damage easily or avoid it or death in general.

I'm allowed to use the UA but my DM also uses carry weight so I am considering taking the Brawny feat for the extra carry weight. We have to use standard array too.


Thanks for anything you have to offer and I'm looking forward to your input.

[nickl_2000]

What level and what is the rest of the party?

Are there any magical items available to the character?

[twomp01]

Are you starting at level 1? What level range are we talking about? If you're starting at low levels, I recommend playing a moon druid. Those are very hard to kill. You could add two levels of paladin for serious damage potential.

[D&DRanga5e]

Sorry, I forgot about level. I'm starting at 3 and everyone else has just reached level 4.
There are no magical items available.
There is a Ranger (Revised), Paladin, Cleric, Warlock and monk.

[DevilMcam]

Barbarian are very tough, Eldritch knight as well.

Best way to avoid damages is to never let the enemies the chance to hit you in the first place.
The mobile feat is often used to this end but swashbuckler rogue and Eagle totem Barb could get similar abilities via class feature and leave your feat open for the Brawny feat. A weapon with reach, or a ranged one could also help with hit and run tactics.
If you die out of bad luck the Lucky feat could also fix that.

I'm not very familiar with UA so i'm probably missing some good other options.

[nickl_2000]

I'm assuming the standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 given your interests good choices would be

1) Moon Druid - You get all kinds of crazy, crazy temp HP due to wildshape and then casting when you aren't in there. You are in the prime place here for Moon Druid wildshape power



2) Bearbarian
16 str (+1 VH)
14 dex (+1 VH)
14 con
13 wis
8 int
10 cha
This leaves you with potentially a huge HP pool due to the Barbs d12s, anywhere between 16-19 AC depending on whether you want a shield and you can afford a half plate.
While raging you resist all damage except psychic and you can lay some smack down.

If you take brawn you can put the other +1 into str to get your closer to 20 or you can drop it into Wis to get +2. Either one would be decent. GWM is always good for a barbarian as well. Shield Master is strong as well, gives you the ability to always use a bonus action and your athletics will b e pretty strong.

Also note at level 6 you can take the Bear totem and double your carrying capacity

[D&DRanga5e]

I have considered barbarian and druid but barbarian seems like a hack and slash with no real substance and my DM has his own set of rules for druid that I'm not a fan of so...

[nickl_2000]

I have considered barbarian and druid but barbarian seems like a hack and slash with no real substance and my DM has his own set of rules for druid that I'm not a fan of so...

Alright, then lets try this one and see how it fall

Immortal Mystic with Brawny
11 Str (+1 for brawny)
14 Dex (+1 VH)
16 Con (+1 VH)
12 Wis
14 Int
8 cha
AC 15 (kinda sucks, but hey there's only so much I can do here).
Gain 2 temp HP every round you are at 1+ HP.
Gain +1 HP every level
Mystic Recovery to regain HP

Can gain extra +1 AC through discipline or other stuff. You can also use talents to vary things, including hit things from a distance.

You can also buy yourself a donkey and skip brawny.

At level 4 you either boost Con by +2 to get +1 AC and +1 HP per level, or you boost INT by 2 and get +1 temp HP per round



Or you can look at Order of the Avatar and get a much higher AC (19) and lots and lots of other fun things to play around with outside of combat

[D&DRanga5e]

I might look into this one. Thank you.

[nickl_2000]

I might look into this one. Thank you.

The UA link for V3 https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf

[Easy_Lee]

Sorry, I forgot about level. I'm starting at 3 and everyone else has just reached level 4.
There are no magical items available.
There is a Ranger (Revised), Paladin, Cleric, Warlock and monk.

That party needs a Wizard. I suggest Abjuration. You appear to have a sadistic, killer DM. Abjurers are made for that sort of DM.

Teleportation, Absorb Elements, Shield, you have an answer for every hazard. Giant grappling you? Teleport away, no check required. Dragon Breath? Absorb half of the damage as a reaction. Falling for no reason? Feather Fall. Enemy casters? Counterspell and Dispel Magic. Need to flee? Gaseous Form. Need to kill something big? Haste a party member. Lots of annoying enemies? Stinking Cloud. No matter what it is, you've got it under control.

Just my two cents.

[Contrast]

Sorry, I forgot about level. I'm starting at 3 and everyone else has just reached level 4.


You've died 6 times by level 4? That's...impressive. How many times has everyone else died? Maybe have a chat with your DM to see if there's something you're missing/something else going on here. May also help if you tell us what you played before so we don't suggest the same thing (though they obviously turned out not to be that survivable I guess!).

Barbarian is the obvious choice but does put you front and centre when the damage is being dished out which may not be ideal if your main goal is to ensure your own survival. Offers some decent synergy with your team though.

I'll second that rogues are much more survivable than they look. Go swashbuckler, pick up booming blade and always be where the enemy is weakest and never stick around to get hit back (or just stay at range and plink away with a bow). Only potential problem is a number of their things which make them more survivable won't kick in for another few levels.

[Specter]

Bearbarian with Tough and eventually Resilient (WIS). If that dies, I don't know how you can make it.

[D&DRanga5e]

nickl_2000 - Thanks for the link.

Easy_Lee - He is running a campaign where magic is very disliked by almost everyone and using it around those people could have fatal repercussions.

Contrast - This is over a year period and two different campaigns. Most of the time I've died because my team has forgotten that I've been downed and they keep continuing combat. I've thought about rogue but being squishy hasn't worked well for me in the pass.

[Easy_Lee]

Easy_Lee - He is running a campaign where magic is very disliked by almost everyone and using it around those people could have fatal repercussions.

Then it sounds like A) your DM isn't even playing fifth edition with all of the different house rules you've told us about already, and B) a raging Half-orc Bear Totem Barbarian would be your best bet. Just kill everything and if your DM complains, tell him that's how your character feels about the world.

Edit: or you could play a Rogue / Sorcerer with the Subtle Metamagic and some melee capabilities. Blame all of your magic on disliked NPCs using your high charisma and Deception Expertise. That's what I would do.

[Contrast]

I've thought about rogue but being squishy hasn't worked well for me in the pass.

Rogues aren't great at taking damage but they're great at avoiding taking damage or simply being difficult to target with damage (being hidden, retreating, etc).

A fighter might have a couple more hit points but he's just going to stand there trading blows with the enemy. Meanwhile the rogue dodges out of melee with the dangerous looking opponent and darts off to stab the archer to the rear instead. Plus you are encouraged to boost dex which is very good all round. I suggested rogue as I'd actually rate them as one of the best classes for survivability - don't ignore them just because they have d8 hit die (if it bothers you that much, the Tough feat will give your rogue the hit points of a barbarian :smalltongue:).

Of course if you just don't fancy a rogue thats another matter entirely. If barbarian seemed a little too boring for you, you could spice it up with a shield master build. Buffs your defence in multiple ways while also giving you some potential battlefield control options (you could even sprinkle in a rogue multi-class for expertise in athletics but thats probably not necessary given the rage adv on str checks).

Other than that if you don't think casters are a good idea, paladin has solid healing options and synergises with charisma which makes inspiring leader a decent pick which is a very solid heath buff at lower levels given you can refresh whenever you have 10 mins to spare and will keep the rest of the party standing as well. Healer is also a decent source of renewable healing that the rest of the party will thank you for.