Operation Skill Monkey

[sithlordnergal]

So, seeing as I haven't really made a character revolving around this before, I am attempting to make a highly skilled character.

By that I mean I want as many skills as possible, and be somewhat competant in the remaining skills while following Adventure League rules. I don't have to be an expert in combat by any means, but I would like to at least be able to contribute something in a fight.

This is what I have so far, using Xanathar's as my +1.


Class: Rogue: 12 / Lore Bard: 6

Race: Human Variant

Background: Custom, 2 skills, 2 tools, 0 languages

--Abilities--

Str: 8

Dex: 16

Con: 12

Int: 10

Wis: 14

Cha: 14

VA Feat: Prodigy

So far I have started as a Rogue, and snagged Prodigy as my Feat so I could have 3 Expertise skills at level 1, an extra tool set, an extra skill, and an extra language.

I figure at level 4 I can grab the Skilled feat, then jump into Lore Bard.

That will give me +3 skills for the feat, +1 skill for multiclassing into Bard, and then +3 skills upon reaching level 3 Lore Bard on top of the 4 from Rogue, 1 from race, 2 from background, and 1 from Prodigy. Giving me a grand total of 15 skills I am proficent in, and about 4 I have expertise in.

What do you guys think? Is there any way I could gain even more skill proficencies while still being able to do something in combat?

Or maybe I should snag a few levels in Ranger to grab the bonuses from Favored Terrain? Though as an AL player, I have no idea what sort of terrain any given adventure will be.

[Easy_Lee]

You aren't going to start AL at level 18. You'll most likely start between levels 1 and 5. But the good news is most skills aren't very often useful. Perception comes up the most often. Stealth, athletics, and investigation are also common. Everything else is generally rare.

In short, take expertise in these (pure rogue can do it) and don't worry about the others. But, if you like, a scout rogue automatically gains expertise in Nature and Survival.

[Tiadoppler]

For a lark, a while ago I (with lots of help from this forum) put together a character that will be proficient in all skills by level 8, and will have Expertise in 8 skills by level 11. I hope any of this helps/provides some inspiration.

Optimized? Not for combat.
Fun? *shrug*
Slow to start? Absolutely.
You do eventually get 6 ASI/Feat choices to play with though, so by level 15+ you can optimize yourself decently.

You should be completely unable to fail a DC 15 skill check in any skill, no matter what your ability scores are.

Here you go:

Scout Rogue 12/Lore Bard 4/Warlock 4

Human (Variant): +1 Dex, +1 Cha
Human (Variant) Skill
Human (Variant) Feat (Skilled)
Background: Far Traveler: Insight and Perception

Level 1: Rogue 1: 4 skills, 2 mastered
Level 2: Bard 1: 1 skill
Level 3: Bard 2: (Jack of All Trades)
Level 4: Bard 3 (Lore): 3 skills, 2 mastered
Level 5: Warlock 1
Level 6: Warlock 2: Deception and Persuasion through invocation
Level 7: Rogue 2
Level 8: Rogue 3 (Scout): Nature and Survival (both mastered)
Level 9: Rogue 4: ASI/Feat
Level 10: Rogue 5
Level 11: Rogue 6: 2 mastered
Level 12: Rogue 7
Level 13: Rogue 8: ASI/Feat
Level 14: Rogue 9
Level 15: Rogue 10: ASI/Feat
Level 16: Rogue 11: Reliable Talent
Level 17: Rogue 12: ASI/Feat
Level 18: Bard 4: ASI/Feat
Level 19: Warlock 3
Level 20: Warlock 4: ASI/Feat

[Specter]

Take a level in Knowledge Cleric when you can. Two expertised skills is pretty good. Plus, Bless.

[Naanomi]

Rogue 3(Scout)/Cleric (knowlege) 1/Bard 3(Lore)

Variant Human, with Skilled feat... all proficiencies by level 7

From there, there are options. Reliable Talent would be my next target but plenty of choices

[JeenLeen]

Does Adventure League have a limit on how much multiclassing you can do?

There are 18 skills (if I counted right).

Bard, Rogue, and Ranger all give 1 skill proficiency via multiclassing, plus an instrument for bard and thieves' tools for rogue. Multiclassing into Knowledge Cleric gives you its power of 2 skills.

I tried to think of a build with almost every skill at low levels. I think it was something like:
EDIT: I forgot backgrounds: 2 skills from background
Half-Elf -- 2 skills.
Rogue 1 -- 4 skills + Thief Tools. Expertise with 2.
Cleric (Knowledge) 1 -- 2 knowledge skills with Expertise
Warlock 2 -- 2 skills (Deception/Persuasion)
Ranger 1 -- 1 skill
Bard (Lore) 3 -- 4 skills (1 multiclass, 3 Lore Bard), plus a musical instrument. Expertise with 2.

That's 13 at level 5. And then going into Bard for level 6-8 to get another 4 skills, giving you 17 out of 18. Expertise on 6 of them (or 5, if you put an Expertise on Thieves' Tools.) You also have Jack of all Trades, so you get half-proficiency on the 3 without proficiency. (This also makes it less painful if you drop something like Ranger for 16/18 skills.)

You also wind up with martial weapons, medium armor, and shields, which isn't shabby, and Eldritch Blast scales with character level, so you have at least that for decent blasting (and goes with the +2 Cha from half-elf).

For some reason, I thought starting Lore Bard gave you a net greater number of proficiencies, but I just tried the math and it wound up with 1 less. Someone please feel free to double-check my work in case I did miscalculate.

I believe such a character can be made with point-buy. You need a 13 in Dex, Wis, and Cha for the multiclassing.

[Naanomi]

V Human - 1
Bonus Feat: Skilled - 3
Background - 2
Rogue - 4
Subclass: Scout - 2
Bard Multiclass - 1
Subclass: Lore - 3
Cleric (Knowledge) - 2

Stats somewhere in the neighborhood of...
8/16/12/10/14/14

Moving that 16 to what you want to be attacking with (my model uses a ranged sneak attack for the most part)

That is all of them. If you are OK giving up expertise and being a level behind (but dropping the wisdom requirement), you can switch our Cleric 1 for Warlock 2; pick up the skill Invocation (Beguiling Word) and Agonizing Blast and be pretty combat worthy as well

[Millface]

Half elf Lore Bard 6/Rogue 4/Knowledge Cleric 1

you get...

2 Proficiencies (Half Elf)
3 Proficiencies (Bard)
3 Proficiencies (Lore)
3 Proficiencies (Skilled Feat @ 4)

These are your choice, then you get...

Move Silently (Rogue)
Knowledge (Cleric)
Arcana (Sage background)
History (Sage background)

So there's 15 skill proficiencies, 8 of which are whatever you want.

Then you get to double 4 of them (your choice) plus Knowledge and Nature, so double proficiency in 6 skills and half proficiency from bard in everything you aren't already proficient in.

The issue with this is that it's MAD as all get out. You need Dex, Cha, and Wisdom, and your best bet the whole way is to lean on Bard spells to try to help in combat with CC and inspirations. If you can get the 18 CHA and still have 13 dex and wisdom then this is a real beast of a scholar but you'll really, really strain to accomplish anything when swords are drawn.

[KorvinStarmast]

V Human - 1 / Bonus Feat: Skilled - 3 / Background - 2 / Rogue - 4 / Subclass: Scout - 2 / Bard Multiclass - 1 / Subclass: Lore - 3 / Cleric (Knowledge) - 2

Stats somewhere in the neighborhood of...
8/16/12/10/14/14
I'd put the 14 in Con and 12 in Ch since Proficiency, and Expertise/Proficiency, will tend to overwrite the single + for cha rolls.
8 / 16 / 14 / 10 / 14 / 12
For any spell casting, be it bard or cleric, that +1 to con for concentration saves will be worth more than one more plus where double proficiency is in action for deception/persuasion, etc.

Just an idea.

Edit: Xirhili has pointed out that an ASI into Cha is needed for the MC into Bard.

[Xihirli]

Can't multiclass into or out of bard without at least 13 CHA.

[History_buff]

Add a level of knowledge cleric for expertise in two of arcana, history, nature, or religion.

[KorvinStarmast]

Can't multiclass into or out of bard without at least 13 CHA.
Good point. Forgot that. I had figured that an ASI could solve that before MC.

[Substitution]

Wouldn't it be best to go for every useful skill with expertise over every skill? I will add-on in the morning but there are a few skills that overlap and see few to little use and I've been thinking of the best list based on that.

[djreynolds]

As crazy as it sounds, 1 level of ranger gives you basically expertise in all your proficient wisdom/intelligence skills, albeit, in 1 terrain and an extra skill to boot

[Naanomi]

As crazy as it sounds, 1 level of ranger gives you basically expertise in all your proficient wisdom/intelligence skills, albeit, in 1 terrain and an extra skill to boot
Well... all of them that ‘relate to the favored terrain’. Some (medicine, Insight) are less likely to be justifiable. If you knew the campaign was going to be highly focused on a single terrain type it may be worth it

[Arkhios]

In my eyes, nothing beats a Variant Human Rogue (any; although swashbuckler has a decent synergy) 11/Bard (lore) 9 when it comes to skill monkeys. definitely with Skilled as the extra feat. proficiency in all skills and expertise with 8 of them.

plus, it's relatively SAD as you don't absolutely need more than CHA. DEX is obvious for a light armored character so it doesn't count, IMHO.

[Naanomi]

In my eyes, nothing beats a Variant Human Rogue (any; although swashbuckler has a decent synergy) 11/Bard (lore) 9 when it comes to skill monkeys. definitely with Skilled as the extra feat. proficiency in all skills and expertise with 8 of them.
Unless I’m missing something that is only 14 proficiencies

[Arkhios]

Unless I’m missing something that is only 14 proficiencies

Errr... naturally, I forgot the minutiae, because that build just is my go-to choice if I ever get the chance to play the skill monkey. So, I admit I forgot how many skills you would learn from the combination, but I think you may have forgotten to take background skills into account. From memory, that has proficiency in 16 skills. So, indeed, a few of them would have to rely on Jack of all Trades (at the very least it wouldn't be a completely redundant feature!)

[Naanomi]

From memory, that has proficiency in 16 skills. So, indeed, a few of them would have to rely on Jack of all Trades (at the very least it wouldn't be a completely redundant feature!)
No, 14...
2 Background
4 Rogue
1 Race
3 Feat
1 Multiclass
3 Lore

Scout subclass can give 2 more

Even with all 18 Jack of All Trades still helps... tool checks, initiative, counterspells, dispels, telekinesis, raw stat checks...

[Arkhios]

No, 14...
2 Background
4 Rogue
1 Race
3 Feat
1 Multiclass
3 Lore

Scout subclass can give 2 more

Even with all 18 Jack of All Trades still helps... tool checks, initiative, counterspells, dispels, telekinesis, raw stat checks...

Welp, you "win". Happy? :smallamused:

Edit: Also, as demonstrated by DBZ below, those 4 non-proficient skills could easily be the the least useful skills, and the loss is vanishingly small. Rogue/Bard might not be as K.I.S.S. as pure bard, but close enough.

[DivisibleByZero]

So, seeing as I haven't really made a character revolving around this before, I am attempting to make a highly skilled character.

By that I mean I want as many skills as possible, and be somewhat competant in the remaining skills while following Adventure League rules. I don't have to be an expert in combat by any means, but I would like to at least be able to contribute something in a fight.

Half-elf (2), pick any BG you want (2), Bard (3), College of Lore (3), Skilled feat (3)
That's 13 of the 18, single classed, with one feat, by level 4.
There you go. Half-elf Lore Bard (level 3) with the Skilled feat (either at level 4 or via multiclassing out and waiting until level 7 for the feat). Do whatever you want after Bard 3.
(Variant Human to get the Skilled feat gets one less prof, but gets them all without needing an ASI for it later)
Simple, to the point, no crazy multiclassing, gets you everything that you'll actually be using.
And for the random stuff that you never actually use/roll, Jack of All Trades has you covered with half proficiency in the extremely rare circumstance that you do actually need to roll it. And seeing that you're single classed, you didn't gimp yourself multiclassing a bunch of times trying to get proficiency in a bunch of skills that you'll never actually need... like... ever.
K.I.S.S.

[Naanomi]

Oh, for sure a character doesn’t need all proficiencies... and is probably better without trying... but if that is your design goal, may as well go for it