JellyPooga
2018-07-27, 08:23 AM
So with all the dragon-related posts knocking around right now, it got me thinking about building a DragonSlayer. Thought I'd share the experience with the Playground, so here it goes (NB - I'm using PHB only for this build);
1) Race
This one is simultaneously a no-brainer and completely unintuitive. I got a chuckle out of it anyway.
Halfling.
Yeah, seriously. I went over it a few times and came up with the same answer. Advantage on Saving Throws against Fear, able to re-roll those natural 1's ('cos you don't want to fail anything when fighting a dragon), good Dex for dodging Breath Weapons and Wing Attacks...Make him a Stout Halfling and we've already got resistance to Poison (good vs. Green Dragons) and better Con (good for resisting Green, White and Silver Breath Weapons, plus the Sleep, Slow and Paralysing breath of Brass, Copper and Silver Dragons, not to mention the additional HP).
Being Small against a Dragon is also an advantage; finding a winged or otherwise flying mount is a lot easier when you're small, opening up some avenues/builds that aren't open to the Big-Folk. Having a mount also negates the penalty of being slower than average without recourse to spells to make up for that relative lack of mobility.
2) Ability Scores
To fight Dragons, we want Str (to resist the Breath Weapons of Bronze and Gold), Dex (for the Breath of about half the rest) and Con (for the other half). We also want Wis to resist Frightful Presence. Some of this could be covered with Save Proficiencies or, if we're lucky, resistance or immunity from class features and/or spells. That said, good all-round physical stats and good Wisdom gives us a nice platform to inform/guide the rest of the character build from.
So, using Standard Array (or 27 Point-Buy; I really couldn't work a significantly better starting line-up);
Str: 12, Dex: 14+2, Con: 15+1, Int: 10, Wis: 13, Cha: 8
3) Class
This one sort of surprised me, because while I thought this build might dabble in it, I didn't think it'd feature so prominently; Ranger.
Not just a level 1 dip and MC out, either, I'm talking taking this bad-boy to level 7 at least before even considering multiclass. Allow me to explain;
Level 1: Ranger (1) - We pick up Strength and Dexterity Saving Throw Proficiencies. Nice; both of these are going to be handy for resisting dragon attacks (which is largely speaking more than can be said for other Classes' starting proficiencies). Favoured Enemy (Dragons) [duh], Natural Explorer (take your pick)...meh, these are handy and thematic, but we won't shout about them. Medium Armour, Martial Weapons, d10 HD; it's all good. Three Skills from a decent list; nice. I'm grabbing Athletics, Perception and Stealth.
Level 2: Ranger (2) - Our first taste of magic; Hunters Mark is an obvious choice, my second pick would be Ensnaring Strike, if only because it's Ranger unique(-ish). For Fighting Style, I'm very tempted by Archery, but Defence is also a nice little perk. It doesn't make much odds either way, but we're certainly not going to bother with Dueling or Two Weapon Fighting (both of which are "trap" options, IMO). I'd probably end up going for Archery myself.
Level 3-7: Ranger (3-7) - We go Hunter Archetype, no question. At level 3, we take either Colossus Slayer for a little extra damage per turn, or Giant Killer for potential additional attacks. I'd probably lump for Colossus Slayer; the "within 5ft" clause of Giant Killer is an irritating condition to meet against a largely mobile foe with greater reach than you. Level 4 gives us an ASI and I'm going to immediately suggest Resilient (Wisdom); not only does it give us our third Save proficiency, but it bumps our Wisdom up to 14. Tidy. Level 5 and the inevitable Extra Attack. Level 6 gives us our second Natural Explorer terrain and literally nothing else we care about (urgh, I'd forgotten how unappealing PHB Rangers were after 5th). Level 7 is our goal, though, for that sweet sweet Defensive Tactics; Multiattack Defence. +4(!) AC against the second or subsequent attack in a turn? Yeah, this could be a life-saver! By this point, 2nd level spells are also on the table (nice!).
Level 8+: Here's where things start getting a bit fuzzier. Obviously taking level 8 in Ranger gives me an ASI, which is significant, but also adds an additional spellcasting level should we multiclass to another spellcasting class (it does not, however, grant us any increase to our current spellcasting). If we wanted to multiclass, our options are limited; Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk and Rogue are the only options open to our current stat-line.
- Monk is too heavily dependent on having lots of Monk levels to be effective quickly enough (bearing in mind that we're already fighting Young Dragons as a level appropriate Challenge), so that's out.
- Fighter doesn't really offer too much in the way of things we don't already have. Yeah, a second FS would be nice and Action Surge is awesome, but...those would be nice things, not essential ones.
- Rogue is a very tempting proposition; Uncanny Dodge and Evasion before Ranger would access them natively, plus Sneak Attack, Expertise and Cunning Action; Rogue is always a tempting multiclass.
- Cleric and Druid...either would offer very useful magical prowess (including Cantrips!), but the question is "would it come online too late?", bearing in mind that by level 13, Adult White Dragons have become level appropriate.
I just don't know where I'd take this build. Ranger 7 seems an obvious choice, though perhaps switching out before then (at 5th, perhaps?), but in building for that, it narrows down a lot of other options (e.g. access to almost any Arcane spellcasting). Where would you take this build? What if other books or UA were available?
1) Race
This one is simultaneously a no-brainer and completely unintuitive. I got a chuckle out of it anyway.
Halfling.
Yeah, seriously. I went over it a few times and came up with the same answer. Advantage on Saving Throws against Fear, able to re-roll those natural 1's ('cos you don't want to fail anything when fighting a dragon), good Dex for dodging Breath Weapons and Wing Attacks...Make him a Stout Halfling and we've already got resistance to Poison (good vs. Green Dragons) and better Con (good for resisting Green, White and Silver Breath Weapons, plus the Sleep, Slow and Paralysing breath of Brass, Copper and Silver Dragons, not to mention the additional HP).
Being Small against a Dragon is also an advantage; finding a winged or otherwise flying mount is a lot easier when you're small, opening up some avenues/builds that aren't open to the Big-Folk. Having a mount also negates the penalty of being slower than average without recourse to spells to make up for that relative lack of mobility.
2) Ability Scores
To fight Dragons, we want Str (to resist the Breath Weapons of Bronze and Gold), Dex (for the Breath of about half the rest) and Con (for the other half). We also want Wis to resist Frightful Presence. Some of this could be covered with Save Proficiencies or, if we're lucky, resistance or immunity from class features and/or spells. That said, good all-round physical stats and good Wisdom gives us a nice platform to inform/guide the rest of the character build from.
So, using Standard Array (or 27 Point-Buy; I really couldn't work a significantly better starting line-up);
Str: 12, Dex: 14+2, Con: 15+1, Int: 10, Wis: 13, Cha: 8
3) Class
This one sort of surprised me, because while I thought this build might dabble in it, I didn't think it'd feature so prominently; Ranger.
Not just a level 1 dip and MC out, either, I'm talking taking this bad-boy to level 7 at least before even considering multiclass. Allow me to explain;
Level 1: Ranger (1) - We pick up Strength and Dexterity Saving Throw Proficiencies. Nice; both of these are going to be handy for resisting dragon attacks (which is largely speaking more than can be said for other Classes' starting proficiencies). Favoured Enemy (Dragons) [duh], Natural Explorer (take your pick)...meh, these are handy and thematic, but we won't shout about them. Medium Armour, Martial Weapons, d10 HD; it's all good. Three Skills from a decent list; nice. I'm grabbing Athletics, Perception and Stealth.
Level 2: Ranger (2) - Our first taste of magic; Hunters Mark is an obvious choice, my second pick would be Ensnaring Strike, if only because it's Ranger unique(-ish). For Fighting Style, I'm very tempted by Archery, but Defence is also a nice little perk. It doesn't make much odds either way, but we're certainly not going to bother with Dueling or Two Weapon Fighting (both of which are "trap" options, IMO). I'd probably end up going for Archery myself.
Level 3-7: Ranger (3-7) - We go Hunter Archetype, no question. At level 3, we take either Colossus Slayer for a little extra damage per turn, or Giant Killer for potential additional attacks. I'd probably lump for Colossus Slayer; the "within 5ft" clause of Giant Killer is an irritating condition to meet against a largely mobile foe with greater reach than you. Level 4 gives us an ASI and I'm going to immediately suggest Resilient (Wisdom); not only does it give us our third Save proficiency, but it bumps our Wisdom up to 14. Tidy. Level 5 and the inevitable Extra Attack. Level 6 gives us our second Natural Explorer terrain and literally nothing else we care about (urgh, I'd forgotten how unappealing PHB Rangers were after 5th). Level 7 is our goal, though, for that sweet sweet Defensive Tactics; Multiattack Defence. +4(!) AC against the second or subsequent attack in a turn? Yeah, this could be a life-saver! By this point, 2nd level spells are also on the table (nice!).
Level 8+: Here's where things start getting a bit fuzzier. Obviously taking level 8 in Ranger gives me an ASI, which is significant, but also adds an additional spellcasting level should we multiclass to another spellcasting class (it does not, however, grant us any increase to our current spellcasting). If we wanted to multiclass, our options are limited; Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk and Rogue are the only options open to our current stat-line.
- Monk is too heavily dependent on having lots of Monk levels to be effective quickly enough (bearing in mind that we're already fighting Young Dragons as a level appropriate Challenge), so that's out.
- Fighter doesn't really offer too much in the way of things we don't already have. Yeah, a second FS would be nice and Action Surge is awesome, but...those would be nice things, not essential ones.
- Rogue is a very tempting proposition; Uncanny Dodge and Evasion before Ranger would access them natively, plus Sneak Attack, Expertise and Cunning Action; Rogue is always a tempting multiclass.
- Cleric and Druid...either would offer very useful magical prowess (including Cantrips!), but the question is "would it come online too late?", bearing in mind that by level 13, Adult White Dragons have become level appropriate.
I just don't know where I'd take this build. Ranger 7 seems an obvious choice, though perhaps switching out before then (at 5th, perhaps?), but in building for that, it narrows down a lot of other options (e.g. access to almost any Arcane spellcasting). Where would you take this build? What if other books or UA were available?