Optimized Builds

[ReaperChaos]

Hello everyone! New campaign we are gonna play soon, a high level one too! DM will have us start at level 8 and go well beyond 20. We know we will for various reasons. So a few weeks before we play we have time for our characters and we rolled stats. I rolled these:

18 18 15 14 14 9

Quite good stats indeed! So, i would like your opinion on an optimized build that promotes AoE power and survivability. Our party has a Bear Totem Barbarian, a Forge Cleric and a Gunslinger Fighter, so I believe AOE is the big thing we miss. But i always want a character that has high tankiness/ survivability. I believe i can achieve both with these goodies, just not sure how. So give me your best build ideas!

Ps: dont worry about the rp aspect. As a person i find it easier to make characters after setting mechanics aside.

[DMThac0]

Straight from the PHB, no extra content, I'd immediately suggest a Half-Elf Draconic Bloodline Sorc, Red Dragon, focus on fire spells. Nuke them all!

STR: 9 +1 racial modifier for 10
DEX: 18
CON: 15 +1 racial modifier for 16
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHA: 18 +2 racial modifier for 20

17 AC, 16 DC, +8 Spell Attack Bonus, 66 HP (avg)

If you slap the ASI into DEX you'll bump your AC to 18 and you'll have room for Warcaster or Elemental Adept as your Feat.

[Chad.e.clark]

With rolled stats like that and starting level 8, there aren't too many builds that you couldn't do. Play what you think would be most fun.

[ReaperChaos]

Thanks DMThaco. Ill keep it in mind :3

Chad.e.clark.
I am completely aware and i agree. Problem is, i am unsure of which one would be the most fun. That is why i made this after all, to have a more clear idea of various builds.

[Ganymede]

You should ask your DM to reroll your stats. I don't know how you can be optimal with only two 18s.

[Misterwhisper]

Hello everyone! New campaign we are gonna play soon, a high level one too! DM will have us start at level 8 and go well beyond 20. We know we will for various reasons. So a few weeks before we play we have time for our characters and we rolled stats. I rolled these:

18 18 15 14 14 9

Quite good stats indeed! So, i would like your opinion on an optimized build that promotes AoE power and survivability. Our party has a Bear Totem Barbarian, a Forge Cleric and a Gunslinger Fighter, so I believe AOE is the big thing we miss. But i always want a character that has high tankiness/ survivability. I believe i can achieve both with these goodies, just not sure how. So give me your best build ideas!

Ps: dont worry about the rp aspect. As a person i find it easier to make characters after setting mechanics aside.

With that group your aoe could be ok, a forge cleric is not bad.
You have plenty of front line power and a sort of archer.

What you need is a skills guy and face.

Half elf hexblade 2, lore bard 6.

Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 18
Int: 14
Wis: 14
Cha: 20

Asi at 4 bard: take warcaster
Invocations:
Agonizing Blast
Grasp of hadar

Half plate
Whatever melee weapon

For magical secret steal Spirit Guardians and whatever big aoe you want

Cast spirit guardians
Eldritch blast with grasp of hadar to pull them in, and keep them there for you to blast or your barbarian to grapple.

You will have many skills and expertise in 2 of them.

[Man_Over_Game]

Few people do AoE damage better than Evocation Wizards or Fiendlocks. Due to the fact that your team is very tanky and may find itself constantly in melee range, I'd REALLY recommend the Evocation Wizard.

Your team is also heavily lacking on the support aspect of things, so do consider what's going to help your team get to 20, and you'll feel more like a hero. A solid recommendation that also emphasizes AoE, tankiness and support is the Abjuration Wizard.

Druid has some solid defenses, and rocks AoE like a boss, and has plenty of support abilities that your team needs. The Wisdom/Religion aspect does kinda overlap with the Cleric, though.

Lastly, your team does lack a face character, so a Bard (Glamour/Lore) can fit a really strong niche, but you will substitute high damage for support abilities, but you'll have more HP than a Wizard or Sorcerer.

Something like this:


SUPPORT (Team preferred)
Glamour Bard
Lore Bard
Druid (Any)
Abjuration Wizard
Sorcerer (Any)
Evocation Wizard
Fiend Warlock
OFFENSE



DEFENSE (Player preferred)
Abjuration Wizard
Druid (Any)
Glamour Bard
Lore Bard
Fiend Warlock
Sorcerer (Any)
Evocation Wizard
OFFENSE

[Chad.e.clark]

Well, if you want tankiness and AoE, Sorcadin and Light Cleric both come to mind. I would probably lean Sorcadin if you are sure it is going to hit upper tier play.

Go Paladin 2 for armor, defense fighting style, and smites, then Sorceror all the way.

Or maybe Hexblade 1, Divine Soul sorcerer to 5, then whatever floats your boat. Access to Medium Armor and shields, metamagic, no shortage of AoE, Mirror Image for non - concentration tanking help, Spirtual Weapon and Spirit Guardians access for more offense options.

You could also go a different route and go Fighter 2, Swords Bard 5, then Battlemaster 3 for Manuevers on top of Flourishes. Go Archery for your primary tactics and Dueling fighting style for when they manage to close in on you. +10 ft movement when you attack and longbow proficiency means you can kite with the best of them. All resources refresh on short rest. Goading manuever for helping your melee eith some psuedo-tanking ala fisadvantage. Slashing flourish for some (albeit minor) AoE. Toss in Sharpshooter and Precision attack for good measure. Also, you will have access to level 3 spells. Hypnotic pattern to open with, healing word for anyone who goes down.

[Benny89]

With stats like that I would go for Socradin V-uman:


STR: 19, DEX 14, CON 15, INT 9, WIS 14, CHA 19. Same level 1 ASI +1 STR and +1 CHA for 20s. GWF style if Smites rerolls are allowed or Defense for +1 AC. Then level 4 RES (CON) and level 8 GWM or Warcaster. Here you would use Greatsword. Either Paladin 2/Sorc 18 or P6/S14

Or go pure Paladin because with that stats you would be unstoppable.

You can also go half-elf: Vengeance Paladin + Hexblade (Pact of Blade) + Elven Accuracy for crit fishing.

You go with stats:

STR: 9, DEX 15, CON 18, INT 9, WIS 14, CHA 18 = STR 15 (+1), DEX 14, CON 19 (+1), INT 9, WIS 15, CHA 20. Duelist style + Shield.

Go Vengeance Paladin 1/Hexblade 1/Rest Paladin for total Hexblade 1/Paladin 19.

Level 4: Take Elven Accuracy (reroll on advantage from attacks using CHA). Use Hexblade for attacking wit CHA instead of DEX with your rapier. When you use VoE you have advantage + Curse you have 19-20 crits + when you have advantage with Elven accuracy you can reroll one die. Means a lot of crit fishing. And we can still use Plate Armor.

Level 8: RES (CON) for haste. Then whatever you want really :).

[LudicSavant]

Hello everyone! New campaign we are gonna play soon, a high level one too! DM will have us start at level 8 and go well beyond 20. We know we will for various reasons. So a few weeks before we play we have time for our characters and we rolled stats. I rolled these:

18 18 15 14 14 9

Quite good stats indeed! So, i would like your opinion on an optimized build that promotes AoE power and survivability. Our party has a Bear Totem Barbarian, a Forge Cleric and a Gunslinger Fighter, so I believe AOE is the big thing we miss. But i always want a character that has high tankiness/ survivability. I believe i can achieve both with these goodies, just not sure how. So give me your best build ideas!

Ps: dont worry about the rp aspect. As a person i find it easier to make characters after setting mechanics aside.

Sure, here's one.

Hexblade 1 / Evoker 19

Evokers are tough to beat when it comes to the AoE department thanks to Sculpt Spells (vastly better than Careful spell when it comes to AoE damage), Empowered Evocation, and Overchannel (especially overchanneling spells that last multiple rounds). But with 1 level of Hexblade, they also get Hexblade's Curse (and also some other things like medium armor + shield, a regenerating low level spell slot, and access to some good spells like Armor of Agathys).

One of the upshots of this setup is that your Magic Missiles are brutal. Empowered Evocation applies +Int to every bolt (due to a quirk of the rules that Magic Missile's damage is all determined by 1 roll, which has been confirmed to work on sage advice), and Hexblade's Curse further augments that with +Proficiency to every bolt. This permits you to deal triple digit damage that cannot miss or be affected by Magic Resistance or legendary saves at mid-levels. On top of all the usual Wizarding goodness like using Contingency and whatever.

A single level dip of Hexblade also grants us access to a regenerating level 1 spell slot, medium armor, and a shield. Which means that you're rocking a 19 base AC and have a regenerating spell slot for Shield and Endure Elements. Very survivable right from the get-go.

You're even decent at stabbing people in the face with a Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade rapier if you're into that sort of thing. Your high stat rolls, Empowered Evocation, and Hexblade's Curse all boost it. You can even grab War Caster, throw on a defensive spell like Armor of Agathys, and help lock people down because you're genuinely durable, despite your d6 hit die (thanks to defensive spells, Medium Armor+Shield, and the fact that your stat rolls are good enough to fit a 20 Con into this build). Just to get an idea of how versatile this is.

[Trustypeaches]

Just play a Cleric 1 / Wizard 19.

Tons of bulk with medium armor and shields and access to good Cleric spells like Inflict Wounds, healing Word, bless, etc.

[CTurbo]

Hello everyone! New campaign we are gonna play soon, a high level one too! DM will have us start at level 8 and go well beyond 20. We know we will for various reasons. So a few weeks before we play we have time for our characters and we rolled stats. I rolled these:

18 18 15 14 14 9

Quite good stats indeed! So, i would like your opinion on an optimized build that promotes AoE power and survivability. Our party has a Bear Totem Barbarian, a Forge Cleric and a Gunslinger Fighter, so I believe AOE is the big thing we miss. But i always want a character that has high tankiness/ survivability. I believe i can achieve both with these goodies, just not sure how. So give me your best build ideas!

Ps: dont worry about the rp aspect. As a person i find it easier to make characters after setting mechanics aside.


ok despite there already being a Forge Cleric in the group, if you want AOE damage, I would make a Tempest Cleric. Don't worry the two domains are different enough that you wouldn't be stepping on each other's toes. You'd want to grab Healing Word, but you could otherwise leave the healing to the Forge.

With stats like that, I would take a +2 Cha race and become the party face as well. Tempests get heavy armor and are tough as nails, but I'd probably make this a Dex build and stick to medium or light armor and shield and play back off the line a little.

Half-Elf would get you 9+1 Str, 15+1 Dex, 18 Con, 14 Int, 18 Wis, 14+2 Cha

Aasimar would be a great race for this too. I've played a Protector Aasimar Tempest Cleric that used a whip + Spell Sniper + Booming Blade.


If you don't like the face idea you could go with your standard heavy armor warhammer wielding Dwarf Tempest Cleric

Mountain Dwarf 17 Str, 14 Dex, 20 Con, 14 Int, 18 Wis, 9 Cha
Hill Dwarf 15 Str, 14 Dex, 20 Con, 14 Int, 19 Wis, 9 Cha

Just add Warcaster and max Wis and you'd have an excellent blaster character that would be tough as nails, and rarely fail a concentration check.

Tempest Clerics are AWESOME AOE blasters though being able to max thunder/lightning damage 2-3 times per short rest.


With stats like that, take one of the +2 Cha races and mix in some Storm or Draconic Sorcerer levels for more lightning spells and cantrips.

[Foxhound438]

if you're looking for AOE, usually I'd lean towards light cleric for friendly safe, efficient options in spirit guardians and their channel: Radiance of the Dawn. You do have a forge cleric, which brings the prior half of that, and multiple clerics works a little unfavorably since SG won't stack. With that in mind, you aren't at a total loss of AOE in the other party members in the first place, but if you're sure that's what you want to go for, an evoker wizard would probably do best due to the ability to not hit friendlies.

gnome could do pretty well with advantage on mental saves and a mage armor for AC. be a rock gnome with stats something like this: 9/18/15(+1)/18(+2)/14/14. Starting with a 20 in Int as a wizard means you're pretty much free to take feats, so you can pick up war caster, and you have enough charisma to take inspiring leader which gives the whole team a boost to health.

I'm not sure you super need to go evocation for your school, but it does play nicely around allies. If you do well in terms of not having your party surrounded by the time you get a chance to blast, or if your barbarian is fine taking damage from your spells, an abjuration wizard still brings all the AOE you really need, and has some extra tankiness in the arcane ward.

[djreynolds]

Paladin bladesinger. Place the 9 in wisdom, with wisdom saves proficiency and aura of protection, your wisdom saves are fine.

It would be awesome. You have the stats to do this.

[Petrocorus]

To my understanding,
In Combat, you lack an AoE DPR, but also a controller, and maybe a buffer (depending on how the Cleric plays).

Out of Combat, you lack maybe a scout (does the gunslinger have Stealth?), a face, a utility caster, and maybe a tracker.

A Sorcerer / Warlock or a Bard / Warlock would do a lot of this. Pact of the Chain will give you a scout, Tome will give you ritual casting.