Keravath
2018-10-13, 09:57 AM
Hi All,
I have a character I have been playing in Adventurer's League. He is a bit of a darker character with strong beliefs about right and wrong.
Brief back story:
At the age of thirteen, his village was sacked by a band of orcs, his father quickly hid his sister and himself in the root cellar of their house before the orcs burst down the door. The floorboards didn't fit that well and it was possible to see into the house from the cellar. The orcs were not kind to the parents however while the orcs searched and looted the house before burning it, the shadows of the cellar seemed to solidify somehow and hid the children from the eyes of the orcs. As the house burned the children managed to flee through an escape tunnel in the cellar into a nearby copse of trees. They didn't flee sooner since they wished they could help their parents and something seemed to keep them in place in the cellar until they smelled smoke. They fled the village with other survivors. The character learned some martial skills like his father (who was a member of the village militia) and vowed to fight against marauding evil like the band of orcs. He considered swearing an oath of vengeance as a paladin but the lure of the shadow and the whispered promises of power with which to achieve his goals and counter the evils of the world lead to him forming a pact with a being from the plane of shadow.
He has always been persuasive and convincing, often achieving his goals through conversation rather than combat. However, he has learned that being as strong in fighting as possible makes it easier to achieve his longer term goals and fulfill his personal vows.
He is a variant human, taking Pole Arm Master based on his martial training with the glaive and staff. However, there is something about his spirit that attracted the attention of the shadow in the first place. Magic may flow in his blood but it isn't clear how that will be expressed.
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The character will have PAM and GWM.
Mechanically, I think I need proficiency in constitution saving throws in order to maintain spells more reliably while in melee range. His usual tactic would be to cast Darkness and use Devil's sight (or at higher levels Shadows of Moil) to engage with advantage and offset the -5. He will be a blade pact hexblade warlock.
For the con saving throw I am considering the following options:
1) Resilient con at some point though it needs PAM, GWM, 2 ASI for CHA, RESILIENT ... which is 5 feats which is all the build will have unless I go 16/4 Multiclass or pure warlock. RESILIENT would also need to be taken pretty early ... so I either bump the GWM to 8 and the ASIs afterward (taking resilient at 4). I won't get max cha until 16 or higher (if MC) this way.
2) Start 1st level as a Divine Soul Sorcerer. Possibly take up to 3 levels. This gives con saves, 4 cantrips, 2 1st level spell slots, 2 more spells known including the possibility of some backup emergency healing (it is AL and you can't rely on party composition), also the 2d4 bonus to save/to hit once/short rest. Going to 3rd level DS gives 4 first and 2 second level spell slots which offers a lot of utility since you don't need to burn a warlock slot on shield/misty step/mirror image.
3) Start 1st level as a fighter. More starting hit points (2 or 4 vs warlock or sorcerer). Second wind, fighting style (probably defensive for the +1 AC). Going to fighter 3 ... probably champion ... gets action surge and crits on 19 or 20 for every attack all the time. If I can get most of these with advantage then the chances of crits are substantially increased. (Action surge also allows for casting darkness or shadows of moil on the first turn of combat and still getting in all the attacks ... at least once/short rest).
Other options I am considering:
4) One level of Divine Soul sorcerer to start and then fit in two levels of rogue at some point. This is tempting from a roleplay perspective to take expertise in persuasion and deception. Also get cunning action which is very useful for closing range as a primarily melee combatant.
5) Take resilient con for the con save and take 3 levels of rogue somewhere ... probably swashbucker to allow for 2d6 sneak attack, add cha to initiative and mini-mobile, all of which could be good for this build.
The character will have Devil's Sight and eventually agonizing blast for decent ranged damage with a very small investment relatively.
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The problem is that I find good points with all of the options and can fairly easily fit them all into the character back story. (I could even go with something like 1 rogue/1 DS sorcerer/1 fighter + 17 hexblade) which also give a number of useful benefits.
Anything I am missing? Any suggestions? Any of these options clearly better than the others? :)
What would you take?
I have a character I have been playing in Adventurer's League. He is a bit of a darker character with strong beliefs about right and wrong.
Brief back story:
At the age of thirteen, his village was sacked by a band of orcs, his father quickly hid his sister and himself in the root cellar of their house before the orcs burst down the door. The floorboards didn't fit that well and it was possible to see into the house from the cellar. The orcs were not kind to the parents however while the orcs searched and looted the house before burning it, the shadows of the cellar seemed to solidify somehow and hid the children from the eyes of the orcs. As the house burned the children managed to flee through an escape tunnel in the cellar into a nearby copse of trees. They didn't flee sooner since they wished they could help their parents and something seemed to keep them in place in the cellar until they smelled smoke. They fled the village with other survivors. The character learned some martial skills like his father (who was a member of the village militia) and vowed to fight against marauding evil like the band of orcs. He considered swearing an oath of vengeance as a paladin but the lure of the shadow and the whispered promises of power with which to achieve his goals and counter the evils of the world lead to him forming a pact with a being from the plane of shadow.
He has always been persuasive and convincing, often achieving his goals through conversation rather than combat. However, he has learned that being as strong in fighting as possible makes it easier to achieve his longer term goals and fulfill his personal vows.
He is a variant human, taking Pole Arm Master based on his martial training with the glaive and staff. However, there is something about his spirit that attracted the attention of the shadow in the first place. Magic may flow in his blood but it isn't clear how that will be expressed.
------------------------------
The character will have PAM and GWM.
Mechanically, I think I need proficiency in constitution saving throws in order to maintain spells more reliably while in melee range. His usual tactic would be to cast Darkness and use Devil's sight (or at higher levels Shadows of Moil) to engage with advantage and offset the -5. He will be a blade pact hexblade warlock.
For the con saving throw I am considering the following options:
1) Resilient con at some point though it needs PAM, GWM, 2 ASI for CHA, RESILIENT ... which is 5 feats which is all the build will have unless I go 16/4 Multiclass or pure warlock. RESILIENT would also need to be taken pretty early ... so I either bump the GWM to 8 and the ASIs afterward (taking resilient at 4). I won't get max cha until 16 or higher (if MC) this way.
2) Start 1st level as a Divine Soul Sorcerer. Possibly take up to 3 levels. This gives con saves, 4 cantrips, 2 1st level spell slots, 2 more spells known including the possibility of some backup emergency healing (it is AL and you can't rely on party composition), also the 2d4 bonus to save/to hit once/short rest. Going to 3rd level DS gives 4 first and 2 second level spell slots which offers a lot of utility since you don't need to burn a warlock slot on shield/misty step/mirror image.
3) Start 1st level as a fighter. More starting hit points (2 or 4 vs warlock or sorcerer). Second wind, fighting style (probably defensive for the +1 AC). Going to fighter 3 ... probably champion ... gets action surge and crits on 19 or 20 for every attack all the time. If I can get most of these with advantage then the chances of crits are substantially increased. (Action surge also allows for casting darkness or shadows of moil on the first turn of combat and still getting in all the attacks ... at least once/short rest).
Other options I am considering:
4) One level of Divine Soul sorcerer to start and then fit in two levels of rogue at some point. This is tempting from a roleplay perspective to take expertise in persuasion and deception. Also get cunning action which is very useful for closing range as a primarily melee combatant.
5) Take resilient con for the con save and take 3 levels of rogue somewhere ... probably swashbucker to allow for 2d6 sneak attack, add cha to initiative and mini-mobile, all of which could be good for this build.
The character will have Devil's Sight and eventually agonizing blast for decent ranged damage with a very small investment relatively.
------------------------------
The problem is that I find good points with all of the options and can fairly easily fit them all into the character back story. (I could even go with something like 1 rogue/1 DS sorcerer/1 fighter + 17 hexblade) which also give a number of useful benefits.
Anything I am missing? Any suggestions? Any of these options clearly better than the others? :)
What would you take?