mer.c
2017-11-14, 02:16 PM
Hello Playgrounders,
After two years of DMing 5e, I had my first session as a full-time player in a homebrew 5e campaign last week. I'm a very RP-focused guy who builds characters from the bottom up, meaning coming up with an RP concept and making a character that fits that concept. That of course means having unoptimized PCs, with odd race/class combinations and stat distributions. That said, I'm all for optimizing within the character's constraints, so I wanted to run him by you all and see what advice you have.
The PC in question is a forest gnome druid. He's extraordinarily large and remarkably uncoordinated for a forest gnome, which causes him a lot of difficulty given he comes from a distinguished clan of tricksters who expect him to take up the family vocation. He took up druidcraft in the hopes of learning how to turn into small, agile creatures (preferably squirrels) after his clumsiness ruined a prank, costing him and his family a lot of face. After leaving home in disgrace, he fell in with some druids in the nearby mountains who taught him druidcraft. His background is loosely based on tanuki folklore if that helps anyone with the thrust I'm going for.
He hit level 2 at the end of our session, and is going Mountain circle. As it stands, his stats (best 4d6) are 11 Str, 8 Dex, 14 Con, 13 Int, 15 Wis, 14 Cha. I actually adjusted his Dex down from 12 to play to the character, and bumped his Con up by one to compensate (with the DM's blessing). For cantrips he has Produce Flame (combat/utility), Guidance (help with those Deception checks), Mold Earth (very mountain-y), and Minor Illusion from Forest Gnome.
The other party members are:
A mostly caster-oriented bard who's the main face of the party (1st-time player)
A heavily optimized dual-wield fighter (insofar as that can be optimized; experienced player)
A sorcerer that I know almost nothing about other than that he has the friends cantrip and disguise self, so probably an enchanter type (1st-time player)
A monk, build unknown (experienced player)
A mystic (not sure which version) with insane rolls (18/18/16/14/12/10 or something nuts like that; followed D&D for years but first time on either side of the screen)
Our DM wants to run this without a dedicated healer-type and balance accordingly, which suits me just fine because I'd much rather not healbot. So my preferred role is a control caster with a side of duplicity. That being the case, how would you recommend running and advancing this character? By far the biggest challenge is going to be the sub-optimal stat array; Wis is a little lower than you'd hope, and the Dexterity is of course abysmal. So Wisdom advancement will obviously be important, as will probably something to boost the concentration checks from getting hit more because of low dexterity. So Resilient: Constitution would help a lot, and it would prime him for a +1 Con +1 Wis down the road. (War Caster really doesn't fit the character, and doesn't set him up for the later ASI.) Barkskin would of course bring his AC up to 16, but the point of getting higher AC is largely to help maintain concentration, so... yeah.
In terms of spell selection, these are the go-tos I'm looking at:
Charm Person
Detect Magic
Entangle
Faerie Fire
Goodberry
Enhance Ability
Flaming Sphere
Heat Metal
Moonbeam
Pass Without Trace
Spike Growth
Erupting Earth
Lightning Bolt
Sleet Storm
Freedom of Movement
Ice Storm
Wall of Fire
Wall of Stone
Move Earth
Sunbeam
Transport Via Plants
Wall of Thorns
Any specific spells, feats, equipment, etc. you'd recommend for him? I may see if I can swing some Spiked Armor - either fluffed as some kind of druidic armor made of twisted roots, or just non-metal spikes. That could get him up to 15 AC with a shield. I could even tie it into his background. That would alleviate the most immediate problems, and free him up to focus more on buffing his Wis to improve his saves rather than immediately going for Resilient: Con. My Xanathatar's Guide will be here next week, so I can peruse that as well for options. But for those who have it already, I'd love to hear your recommendations!
I think that's all I've got for now. Thanks much! :)
After two years of DMing 5e, I had my first session as a full-time player in a homebrew 5e campaign last week. I'm a very RP-focused guy who builds characters from the bottom up, meaning coming up with an RP concept and making a character that fits that concept. That of course means having unoptimized PCs, with odd race/class combinations and stat distributions. That said, I'm all for optimizing within the character's constraints, so I wanted to run him by you all and see what advice you have.
The PC in question is a forest gnome druid. He's extraordinarily large and remarkably uncoordinated for a forest gnome, which causes him a lot of difficulty given he comes from a distinguished clan of tricksters who expect him to take up the family vocation. He took up druidcraft in the hopes of learning how to turn into small, agile creatures (preferably squirrels) after his clumsiness ruined a prank, costing him and his family a lot of face. After leaving home in disgrace, he fell in with some druids in the nearby mountains who taught him druidcraft. His background is loosely based on tanuki folklore if that helps anyone with the thrust I'm going for.
He hit level 2 at the end of our session, and is going Mountain circle. As it stands, his stats (best 4d6) are 11 Str, 8 Dex, 14 Con, 13 Int, 15 Wis, 14 Cha. I actually adjusted his Dex down from 12 to play to the character, and bumped his Con up by one to compensate (with the DM's blessing). For cantrips he has Produce Flame (combat/utility), Guidance (help with those Deception checks), Mold Earth (very mountain-y), and Minor Illusion from Forest Gnome.
The other party members are:
A mostly caster-oriented bard who's the main face of the party (1st-time player)
A heavily optimized dual-wield fighter (insofar as that can be optimized; experienced player)
A sorcerer that I know almost nothing about other than that he has the friends cantrip and disguise self, so probably an enchanter type (1st-time player)
A monk, build unknown (experienced player)
A mystic (not sure which version) with insane rolls (18/18/16/14/12/10 or something nuts like that; followed D&D for years but first time on either side of the screen)
Our DM wants to run this without a dedicated healer-type and balance accordingly, which suits me just fine because I'd much rather not healbot. So my preferred role is a control caster with a side of duplicity. That being the case, how would you recommend running and advancing this character? By far the biggest challenge is going to be the sub-optimal stat array; Wis is a little lower than you'd hope, and the Dexterity is of course abysmal. So Wisdom advancement will obviously be important, as will probably something to boost the concentration checks from getting hit more because of low dexterity. So Resilient: Constitution would help a lot, and it would prime him for a +1 Con +1 Wis down the road. (War Caster really doesn't fit the character, and doesn't set him up for the later ASI.) Barkskin would of course bring his AC up to 16, but the point of getting higher AC is largely to help maintain concentration, so... yeah.
In terms of spell selection, these are the go-tos I'm looking at:
Charm Person
Detect Magic
Entangle
Faerie Fire
Goodberry
Enhance Ability
Flaming Sphere
Heat Metal
Moonbeam
Pass Without Trace
Spike Growth
Erupting Earth
Lightning Bolt
Sleet Storm
Freedom of Movement
Ice Storm
Wall of Fire
Wall of Stone
Move Earth
Sunbeam
Transport Via Plants
Wall of Thorns
Any specific spells, feats, equipment, etc. you'd recommend for him? I may see if I can swing some Spiked Armor - either fluffed as some kind of druidic armor made of twisted roots, or just non-metal spikes. That could get him up to 15 AC with a shield. I could even tie it into his background. That would alleviate the most immediate problems, and free him up to focus more on buffing his Wis to improve his saves rather than immediately going for Resilient: Con. My Xanathatar's Guide will be here next week, so I can peruse that as well for options. But for those who have it already, I'd love to hear your recommendations!
I think that's all I've got for now. Thanks much! :)