WalkingFist
2017-11-16, 05:46 PM
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post ever on Giant ITP. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on the topic. Many have discussed this specific multi class idea already, and to most conclusions it isn't the best. The following is something I have been kicking around for a bit and wanted your opinions about. This is obviously not a power character, but I think would be a lot of fun. Send me your thoughts, and thanks in advance for the constructive criticism!
This character would be good for a seasoned player playing with noobs. You are not a power player so you won’t be able to steal all of the fun, yet are still a valuable asset to the team.
The idea behind this character is to make a “Protos Archon”. Essentially it’s a spell caster with a regenerating shield and maybe a potential cloak. This is done with combining ‘armor of shadows’ from Warlock, with the ‘protective ward’ from the Abjuration Wizard. You can repeatedly recast armor of shadows to regenerate the ward 1 hp at a time, or cast greater Abjuration spells to regenerate it faster if needed. 3 Levels of Warlock, and everything else into Abjuration Wizard. This combination will only be of use starting at the character level of 5.
Note: Although I mention darkness a lot in this, it is not necessary for my end product. If darkness is not in play, then ‘devil’s sight’ is not needed either.
Potential Races (in order of interest)
Tiefling
Boost to both CH and IN, darkvision, and infernal legacy (Thumaturgy, hellish rebuke, and darkness)
Human - Variant
Minor boost to all, start with one feat, and start with one skill.
Elf - Drow
CH boost, Superior Darkvision, and can cast Darkness once a day,
Half-Ef
CH boost and minor boost to 2 other abilities, darkvision, and 2 skill proficienties.
Halfling - Lightfoot
CH boost, good at hiding, can reroll crit 1’s, and has advantage against being frightened.
Classes
Wizard - Abjuration
Straight forward
Warlock
Potential Pacts (in order of interest)
Familiar
Used for different vantage points, and can act as your ‘protoss
interceptor’. Making the familiar an imp will give it ‘devil's sight’, making it able to
see in magical darkness (such as casting darkness on yourself, and having the
imp stay with you to attack anything that enters the darkness). The imp can also
turn invisible for additional surprise attacks.
Blade
You never have to carry a melee weapon again, and you are always proficient
with the weapon that you summon. This works wonders if you were to cast
darkness on yourself. No one else can see you at close range while you beat on
them. This is very useful, saving spell choices for longer range (no need for
cantrips like ‘shocking grasp’).
Potential Patron (in order of interest)
Great Old One
Can communicate telepathically with anyone that you can see within 30 feet of
you. The creature only has to know one language. Cast Darkness on yourself,
and now you can tell allies within your shroud (such as a rogue) where to position
themselves for a sneak/surprise attack. This also allows meta-gaming level
communication.
Phantasmal Force as a spell option which will work well with an imp
helping you or beating things with your pact weapon.
Fiend
Every time you reduce an enemy to 0 hp you gain temp hit points aka a
secondary shield.
Blindness/Deafness in case someone uses magic light on your cloaking system.
Detect thoughts for silent spying.
Potential Eldritch Evocations (in order of interest, can only pick 2)
Armor of Shadows - this is necessary to regenerate your shield/ward.
Devil's Sight - a must to see in any magic darkness that you cloak.
Potential Backgrounds (in order of interest)
Sage - This makes a lot of sense, strictly for study reasons as this is mostly a
wizard
Charlatan - If I wanted the character to be even more spy/espionage like. Would
work well with the Old One ability to communicate via telepathy.
Guild Artisan variant, Merchant - I think a networking character would work well with this set up.
Criminal - This would be good depending on the character’s alignment
At the end of the day, it now boils down to which of 3 types of combinations that the player wants to lean towards with all of these options: Melee/Close, Sneaky/Hiding, or All ranged attacks. They all have pros and cons which I’m going to go through…
Melee
Pros = Two shields for higher protection. (Fiend bonus and Abjuration Ward)
Cons = Low HP for a melee character.
Race = Half-Elf or Human.
Background = Folk Hero (Reputation would add to your character atmosphere)
Pact = Blade (Always proficient with your weapon)
Patron = Fiend (Gain temporary HP per kill aka a secondary shield. Kill the weakest before taking on the strongest.)
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Fiendish Vigor (Add to your secondary shield)
Ideal Spells = Since melee and defences are covered, you can now pick whatever you want. Just make sure to have some Abjuration spells for faster ward regeneration when needed.
Suggested Strategy = Kill the weakest, to build up your secondary shield. When that is no longer an option you will have to start using abjuration spells to regenerate your ward.
Sneaky
Pros = Protected by your magic darkness and allows for medium ranged field control/communication. Only devils, non-sighted, and casters of light can compromise your darkness defence.
Cons = Lower HP so you are vulnerable if your darkness defence is compromised.
Race = Tiefling, Drow, or Halfling (Halfling is the easiest for blending in as a charlatan, but the least effective IMO)
Background = Charlatan for Halfling, Criminal/Spy for the other two.
Pact = Familiar (Good for distractions within your darkness. It will have to be an Imp in order to see within your darkness.)
Patron = Great Old One (Speak to allies without needing to actually speak)
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Devil’s Sight (Needed for the darkness strategy)
Ideal Spells = Obviously Darkness. Obviously Abjuration Spells.
Suggested Strategy = You are the ‘midfielder’ of the group, where you aid in directing your offencive allies, while stopping any enemies from getting to your ranged allies.
Position yourself between your front lines allies and your ranged allies.
Use ranged attacks to do your part in combat.
If your front line allies begin to be overwhelmed, cast Darkness on yourself and approach the front line causing everyone to be blinded.
Ranged allies can ready their actions for the next opportunity to attack.
Your Imp/familiar has devil’s sight and can attack targets in the shroud.
You can now communicate to your blinded allies where to position themselves as you can also make attacks like your familiar. Get your melee allies to also ready their actions to attack when they can see a target again.
Walk behind the enemies revealing them to all of your allies. This will activate readied actions and do a lot of damage during your turn.
Remain where you are and continue to attack from your darkness.
If your melee characters get overwhelmed again, walk towards them with your already activated darkness and repeat the strategy.
Ranged
Pros = The lack of HP isn’t a concern, if nothing can get near you. Also 2 shields in case enemies actually can get close (Fiend bonus and Abjuration Ward).
Cons = Weak without allies
Race = Human (Spell Sniper Feat for double range, and an extra cantrip. Make the cantrip Eldridge Blast so it levels with your character, regardless of your class combination.)
Background = Sage
Pact = Chain
Patron = Fiend
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Repelling Blast (Keeping targets away from you, also provokes melee style allies to use opportunity attacks if you are moving their targets away from them.)
Ideal Spells = Eldritch Blast and Abjuration Spells.
Suggested Strategy = Attack the closest to keep enemies at bay, kill the weakest to build up your secondary shield. (This allows your allies to focus on the greater threats and regulates you from stealing all of the glory in combat). Although you are mostly a support character in combat, allies will for sure want you with them.
Suggested Priority of Abilities:
Charisma (Important for mostly the Eldridge Blast)
Intelligence (Mostly needed for a stronger Abjuration ward. Ironically it’s otherwise useless if most of your wizard spells are Abjuration spells used to cast on yourself or an ally. Arguably this could be a dump stat since max intelligence only adds 5 hp to your ward. Since you will have room for more than just available Abjuration spells, you may want this high.)
Dexterity (Dodging attacks)
Constitution (HP)
Wisdom (Potential Dump Stat)
Strength (Dump Stat)
This is my first post ever on Giant ITP. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on the topic. Many have discussed this specific multi class idea already, and to most conclusions it isn't the best. The following is something I have been kicking around for a bit and wanted your opinions about. This is obviously not a power character, but I think would be a lot of fun. Send me your thoughts, and thanks in advance for the constructive criticism!
This character would be good for a seasoned player playing with noobs. You are not a power player so you won’t be able to steal all of the fun, yet are still a valuable asset to the team.
The idea behind this character is to make a “Protos Archon”. Essentially it’s a spell caster with a regenerating shield and maybe a potential cloak. This is done with combining ‘armor of shadows’ from Warlock, with the ‘protective ward’ from the Abjuration Wizard. You can repeatedly recast armor of shadows to regenerate the ward 1 hp at a time, or cast greater Abjuration spells to regenerate it faster if needed. 3 Levels of Warlock, and everything else into Abjuration Wizard. This combination will only be of use starting at the character level of 5.
Note: Although I mention darkness a lot in this, it is not necessary for my end product. If darkness is not in play, then ‘devil’s sight’ is not needed either.
Potential Races (in order of interest)
Tiefling
Boost to both CH and IN, darkvision, and infernal legacy (Thumaturgy, hellish rebuke, and darkness)
Human - Variant
Minor boost to all, start with one feat, and start with one skill.
Elf - Drow
CH boost, Superior Darkvision, and can cast Darkness once a day,
Half-Ef
CH boost and minor boost to 2 other abilities, darkvision, and 2 skill proficienties.
Halfling - Lightfoot
CH boost, good at hiding, can reroll crit 1’s, and has advantage against being frightened.
Classes
Wizard - Abjuration
Straight forward
Warlock
Potential Pacts (in order of interest)
Familiar
Used for different vantage points, and can act as your ‘protoss
interceptor’. Making the familiar an imp will give it ‘devil's sight’, making it able to
see in magical darkness (such as casting darkness on yourself, and having the
imp stay with you to attack anything that enters the darkness). The imp can also
turn invisible for additional surprise attacks.
Blade
You never have to carry a melee weapon again, and you are always proficient
with the weapon that you summon. This works wonders if you were to cast
darkness on yourself. No one else can see you at close range while you beat on
them. This is very useful, saving spell choices for longer range (no need for
cantrips like ‘shocking grasp’).
Potential Patron (in order of interest)
Great Old One
Can communicate telepathically with anyone that you can see within 30 feet of
you. The creature only has to know one language. Cast Darkness on yourself,
and now you can tell allies within your shroud (such as a rogue) where to position
themselves for a sneak/surprise attack. This also allows meta-gaming level
communication.
Phantasmal Force as a spell option which will work well with an imp
helping you or beating things with your pact weapon.
Fiend
Every time you reduce an enemy to 0 hp you gain temp hit points aka a
secondary shield.
Blindness/Deafness in case someone uses magic light on your cloaking system.
Detect thoughts for silent spying.
Potential Eldritch Evocations (in order of interest, can only pick 2)
Armor of Shadows - this is necessary to regenerate your shield/ward.
Devil's Sight - a must to see in any magic darkness that you cloak.
Potential Backgrounds (in order of interest)
Sage - This makes a lot of sense, strictly for study reasons as this is mostly a
wizard
Charlatan - If I wanted the character to be even more spy/espionage like. Would
work well with the Old One ability to communicate via telepathy.
Guild Artisan variant, Merchant - I think a networking character would work well with this set up.
Criminal - This would be good depending on the character’s alignment
At the end of the day, it now boils down to which of 3 types of combinations that the player wants to lean towards with all of these options: Melee/Close, Sneaky/Hiding, or All ranged attacks. They all have pros and cons which I’m going to go through…
Melee
Pros = Two shields for higher protection. (Fiend bonus and Abjuration Ward)
Cons = Low HP for a melee character.
Race = Half-Elf or Human.
Background = Folk Hero (Reputation would add to your character atmosphere)
Pact = Blade (Always proficient with your weapon)
Patron = Fiend (Gain temporary HP per kill aka a secondary shield. Kill the weakest before taking on the strongest.)
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Fiendish Vigor (Add to your secondary shield)
Ideal Spells = Since melee and defences are covered, you can now pick whatever you want. Just make sure to have some Abjuration spells for faster ward regeneration when needed.
Suggested Strategy = Kill the weakest, to build up your secondary shield. When that is no longer an option you will have to start using abjuration spells to regenerate your ward.
Sneaky
Pros = Protected by your magic darkness and allows for medium ranged field control/communication. Only devils, non-sighted, and casters of light can compromise your darkness defence.
Cons = Lower HP so you are vulnerable if your darkness defence is compromised.
Race = Tiefling, Drow, or Halfling (Halfling is the easiest for blending in as a charlatan, but the least effective IMO)
Background = Charlatan for Halfling, Criminal/Spy for the other two.
Pact = Familiar (Good for distractions within your darkness. It will have to be an Imp in order to see within your darkness.)
Patron = Great Old One (Speak to allies without needing to actually speak)
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Devil’s Sight (Needed for the darkness strategy)
Ideal Spells = Obviously Darkness. Obviously Abjuration Spells.
Suggested Strategy = You are the ‘midfielder’ of the group, where you aid in directing your offencive allies, while stopping any enemies from getting to your ranged allies.
Position yourself between your front lines allies and your ranged allies.
Use ranged attacks to do your part in combat.
If your front line allies begin to be overwhelmed, cast Darkness on yourself and approach the front line causing everyone to be blinded.
Ranged allies can ready their actions for the next opportunity to attack.
Your Imp/familiar has devil’s sight and can attack targets in the shroud.
You can now communicate to your blinded allies where to position themselves as you can also make attacks like your familiar. Get your melee allies to also ready their actions to attack when they can see a target again.
Walk behind the enemies revealing them to all of your allies. This will activate readied actions and do a lot of damage during your turn.
Remain where you are and continue to attack from your darkness.
If your melee characters get overwhelmed again, walk towards them with your already activated darkness and repeat the strategy.
Ranged
Pros = The lack of HP isn’t a concern, if nothing can get near you. Also 2 shields in case enemies actually can get close (Fiend bonus and Abjuration Ward).
Cons = Weak without allies
Race = Human (Spell Sniper Feat for double range, and an extra cantrip. Make the cantrip Eldridge Blast so it levels with your character, regardless of your class combination.)
Background = Sage
Pact = Chain
Patron = Fiend
Eldritch Invocations (2 max)= Armor of Shadows (Mandatory for shield regeneration)
Repelling Blast (Keeping targets away from you, also provokes melee style allies to use opportunity attacks if you are moving their targets away from them.)
Ideal Spells = Eldritch Blast and Abjuration Spells.
Suggested Strategy = Attack the closest to keep enemies at bay, kill the weakest to build up your secondary shield. (This allows your allies to focus on the greater threats and regulates you from stealing all of the glory in combat). Although you are mostly a support character in combat, allies will for sure want you with them.
Suggested Priority of Abilities:
Charisma (Important for mostly the Eldridge Blast)
Intelligence (Mostly needed for a stronger Abjuration ward. Ironically it’s otherwise useless if most of your wizard spells are Abjuration spells used to cast on yourself or an ally. Arguably this could be a dump stat since max intelligence only adds 5 hp to your ward. Since you will have room for more than just available Abjuration spells, you may want this high.)
Dexterity (Dodging attacks)
Constitution (HP)
Wisdom (Potential Dump Stat)
Strength (Dump Stat)