Character Building/Guide for high damage optimization

[ajrockstarr]

Trying to create a character that can reliably put out lots of damage, this character will get pushed to level 20 and beyond and the DM im running it with is fine with all the standard rules and expansion for 5e like Xanathars and stuff, im also open to multiclassing however any reliance on magic items would probably be a big negative for me. TL;DR High Damage (maybe bursty) character for a long campaign.

[KillingTime]

Sorcadin is difficult to beat in this sort of scenario.
Possibly with a dip into hexblade to get less MAD and grab eldritch blast.

Paladin 6
Hexblade 2
Sorcerer 12

[Quoxis]

Sorcadin is difficult to beat in this sort of scenario.
Possibly with a dip into hexblade to get less MAD and grab eldritch blast.

Paladin 6
Hexblade 2
Sorcerer 12

For pure damage i‘d alter this to paladin 2/hexblade 5/shadow sorcerer 13 for the following reasons:

- divine smite and lvl1 smite spells from paladin
- warlock gives you the „thirsting blade“ invocation for a second attack AND the „eldritch smite“ invocation for two smites per attack
- shadow sorc allows you to cast darkness with sorcery points with the addition that you can see inside your own darkness, basically instant advantage on your attacks against anything without blindsight, allowing crits to happen more often, and gives you a „hound“ that gives enemies disadvantage on saving throws against your magic (for example your smites‘ additional effects)

Notice that the darkness thing may be inconvenient for teammates.

Alterations to this build: more warlock levels for better eldritch smites (by RAW those need warlock slots, but it wouldn’t be game breaking to overlook this and i think the wording of divine smite is similar...), two levels of fighter for action surge (burn ALL your slots in one round by attacking 4 and smiting 8 times!), different sorcerer subclass (wild for one advantage per day or surge, storm for bonus damage when using thunderous smite and added mobility when casting it, divine soul for heals and bonus to saving throws and missed attacks).

[Mortis_Elrod]

You’re gonna be hard pressed to find a build that doesn’t involve a charismatic class. Just letting you know. Not that they don’t exist in large number but smiting is just really good and so is metamagic.

Do you have any preferences ? Character ideas ? Anything to base this off of?

[nickl_2000]

It really depends on what you are looking for, but archers actually make incredibly effective high damage characters.

A Rogue with Crossbow Expert can get two attacks for more chance at that sweet sneak attack damage
A Champion Fighter with Sharpshooter and Crossbow expert gets 5 attacks per round at level 20 each one with 1d6+10(ss)+5(dex) damage and 18-20 crit range.

[ZorroGames]

Trying to create a character that can reliably put out lots of damage, this character will get pushed to level 20 and beyond and the DM im running it with is fine with all the standard rules and expansion for 5e like Xanathars and stuff, im also open to multiclassing however any reliance on magic items would probably be a big negative for me. TL;DR High Damage (maybe bursty) character for a long campaign.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502248-Ultimate-Optimizer-s-Multiclassing-Guide

Inside of this guide are a few good MCs for damage production.