Most Utility at Level 12?

[darbyotrill]

I am playing a short campaign in a few weeks where we are all starting at level 12. I thought about just building a crazy glass cannon, but now I was thinking of just making a true jack of all trades. I am not at all concerned with doing damage (although a little might be handy). Instead I want to have a spell or ability for every scenario. I know a bard is probably the best starting point, but should I multiclass? Get feats over ASI? We are allowing anything in the published books or Unearthed Arcana, so there are a lot of options. I'm thinking spells like Leomund's Tiny Hut, etc... Plus any abilities I could pick up that might be useful. I should mention that there will be almost no non-combat NPC interactions so social abilities are less desirable... Unless they can be exploited in some way for shenanigans.

Any ideas for this?

[twomp01]

Kinda depends. Are you expecting to gain any levels? If yes: play a single class caster. More spell levels is more better. If not, some multi-classing is fine.
My personal list for high utility classes:
- Bard
- Druid (wildshape is awesome for utility, not just combat)
- Wizard

Furthermore, if you choose not to play a wizard, the Ritual Caster feat may be worth it. I personally quite like it.

[Talamare]

Rogue 1
Knowledge Cleric 1
Bard 10

[darbyotrill]

Kinda depends. Are you expecting to gain any levels? If yes: play a single class caster. More spell levels is more better. If not, some multi-classing is fine.
My personal list for high utility classes:
- Bard
- Druid (wildshape is awesome for utility, not just combat)
- Wizard

Furthermore, if you choose not to play a wizard, the Ritual Caster feat may be worth it. I personally quite like it.

I don't think we will progress to any higher levels. It is planned for a short campaign. I was thinking multiclassing could be pretty interesting, but I wasn't sure the best breakup.

For ritual caster, I was considering being a bard and still picking up that feat just to gain access to a couple more rituals outside of my spell list.

[Zene]

Lore bard is great if you want skill utility, and can fill party gaps with magical secrets picks (Pass without trace is an awesome pick if noone else has it).

Personally, though, I find skill domination to be a kind of boring way to play. My choice for (mostly) non-skill utility is Moon Druid. The wild shape forms and druid spell list, used creatively, open up all kinds of options for utility.

Either way, though, the ritual caster (wizard) feat is a killer add-on. You probably want to ask the DM, though, if he’s willing to say you filled in some rituals on the way up to L12; since starting at that level means you’ll have missed the opportunity to fill it as you played.

[Hyde]

I'm gonna throw in for moon druid, too.

[Greywander]

It kind of depends on what sort of utility you're looking for. Wizards provide tons of utility through their magic while rogues provide utility through their skills and bards strike a balance between the two. Generally, if you prefer the wizard's sort of utility, you're better off going straight wizard, possibly with a single level dip into cleric (knowledge cleric is good for extra skills) for more cantrips (especially guidance) and 1st level cleric spells, not to mention that medium armor and shields will make you less squishy in combat.

While spells can provide a lot of powerful utility, they are also limited in the number of times you can use them, whereas cantrips and skills are not. So if we want utility all day long we might focus more on skills and cantrips. I would start as a rogue for the extra skill proficiency, then build as follows:

Rogue 3, Knowledge Cleric 1, Lore Bard 3, Warlock 3

This puts you at 10th level, with proficiency in 12 skills (2 from BG + 4 rogue + 2 cleric + 4 bard), expertise in half of those (2 rogue + 2 cleric + 2 bard) and 7 cantrips to choose from (3 cleric, 2 bard, 2 warlock).

Now you'll need to choose some subclasses for rogue and warlock. Knowledge cleric and lore bard are already forgone conclusions.

For rogue, your best choices are Scout for proficiency and expertise in Nature and Survival or Arcane Trickster for 3 more cantrips.

For warlock, Pact of the Tome gives you 3 additional cantrips from any spell list, while Pact of the Chain gives you an invisible, flying pet with hands. Great Old One patron lets you talk to people telepathically without needing to speak their language (although this is one-way, so you can't understand them).

As for what to do with the last two levels, I don't know. You could raise two classes to 4th level for two feats/ASIs (bard and warlock would give you one more cantrip each, while rogue gives you nothing else). You could take two levels in wizard (probably divination), or druid for Wild Shape. Or you could raise one class to 5th level, allowing you to get Uncanny Dodge (rogue), 1d8 Bardic Inspiration, Font of Inspiration, and 3rd level bard spells (bard), or one more invocation and 3rd level pact magic (warlock).

All told, you'll have proficiency in 12 skills (14 if Scout rogue), expertise in 6 (8 if Scout rogue), 7 cantrips (+1 if 4th level bard or warlock, +3 if Arcane Trickster rogue, +3 if Tome Pact warlock, +3 if wizard, +2 if druid). I'd recommend half-elf for two more skills. High elf also gets one cantrip and free Perception. Variant human gets a free feat, something you'll be short on.

If you want to single class, then Lore bard or wizard would be my recommendation. Less skills and cantrips, but higher level magic.

[Finger6842]

Half Elf Lore Bard 10/War Wizard 2/Spell Sniper Feat +Eldrich Blast
Magical Secrets x2, Shield spell, Familiar for advantage and scouting.

Or drop war wizard, go straight 12 bard for 3rd ASI instead of 2 and you get a 6th level spell such as Irresistible Dance or True Sight.

There will be lots of multiclass builds but you lose the high level spells that can be real game changers. In either case don't take less than Bard 10 for the second bite at magical secrets.

Bard and Gloom Stalker looks very nice though defense suffers a bit. Lore Bard and Thief Rogue is also a nice combo for the 2 extra expertise but you lose some spell capability with both.