Creating my Elder Scrolls Online main as a D&D character...

[samcifer]

So I also play The Elder Scrolls Online and decided to try re-creating my main character on there as a D&D character for 5e.

The ESO version is an orc 'Nightblade', which is the in-game rogue/assassin class. Each class gets 3 class-specific skill lines and each of those contains a set of 5 'active powers' which are like special moves (there's also an 'ultimate' move, but there's nothing like that in D&D), so I'll just try to re-create the basic premise of these powers and not all of them since there is limited choices to work with in comparison and many active powers don't translate over to D&D.

For the D&D build, I went with Half-Orc as real orcs are less useful for the build. I decided to multiclass, going with Swashbuckler Rogue (for much easier access to Sneak Attack) and Shadow Sorcerer for access to spells and the Darkness ability to grant advantage.

Dual-wielding daggers fits with my main ESO weapons (as well as a second chance to hit a foe to apply SA damage). A Short Bow allows for ranged attacks (in ESO you can swap between two weapons and I always enjoy having the choice between melee and ranged fighting in ESO).

Spells:

Misty Step (this mimics the 'Teleport Strike' active skill of teleporting a short distance to a foe and stabbing them as you reach them, assuming that I am allowed to use my bonus action to teleport to an enemy first, then follow up with a melee attack as my normal action afterwards).

(not really a spell, but...)Dodge Action: In ESO there's a move that increases your chance to dodge an attack. The dodge action is the closest I can get to replicating this active skill.

Invisibility/Greater Invisibility: In ESO there's a move that lets you become invisible to other pcs and npcs until you interact with something or attack someone. While the 'lesser; Invisibility spell mimics this better, only a fool would pass up Greater Invisibility.

Fear: In ESO, there's an active power called Aspect of Fear, which frightens all nearby foes and causes them to run away from you. Pretty much the same thing here, if only a single target.

Hold Person: In ESO there's an active power that immobilizes a single foe, so HP is a perfect stand in for that move.

The rest of the active skills don't really have any D&D counterparts as far as I can tell, but can anyone make further suggestions?

[Man_Over_Game]

I'd actually recommend just looking into the Gloomstalker for a Darkness-based caster assassin. It covers almost everything you're looking for in one fell swoop. Consider being a Tiefling, Drow, or Half-Elf Drow variant (in the Sword Coast book) to get yourself Darkness as a racial ability.

It's not 100% exactly like what your original character was like, but overall it'd match what you're looking for a bit better.

[Galithar]

Give us a rundown of the abilities your ESO character has that you have not worked out yet. I can spout of random things all day but they'll have a 1:1,000,000 chance of being helpful unless I know the base ability you're trying to replicate.

[Kadesh]

We are on a D&D Forum. Might be better if you explain what your abilities in ESO are first.

[Lord8Ball]

I think that a warlock would more faithfully replicate a nightblade. Though you lose some spell slots there are some more abilities that compliment the nightblade. Examples: Hex(mark), One with shadows(cloak), Eldritch smite(incapacitating strike),Accursed specter/hexblade(shadow image), eldritch blast(spectral bow), blur(blur), and staggering smite(off balance). A hexblade 7 assassin 3 could combo eldritch smite, booming blade, staggering smite and sneak attack as well as having an autocrit for all of it. Adding it all up would be 10d8 force +8d6 psychic +4d6 sneak attack +2d8 thunder +4d8 thunder (when getting up from prone)+2d8 + mod for the weapon, + 1d8 orcish fury. Average damage(138.5 + mod).

After that just add mobile feat for some maneuverability and not proccing opportunity attacks.

Ps. Pardon my bad formatting

[samcifer]

I need to do a mail run soon for my job (currently at work), but here's a link (see below) to the page that covers the nightblade class from the game. Partway down the page are three boxes labelled Assassination Skills, Shadow Skills, and Siphoning Skills. Clicking each box changes the list of active skills displayed below the boxes. Many skills are related to increasing your damage, lowering enemy defenses and restoring the 'Magicka' and 'Stamina' which fuel each active skill and again, do not translate over to D&D.

I know not a lot will translate over, but I'm curious to see how close I can get to the build. As for having chosen the orc race in the game, I took that race for boosts to health, Stamina to fuel my active skills and the boosts to speed, damage and the effectiveness of healing effects within the game. Those don't really have any relevance in D&D as such without going into potions and healing spells that are mostly class-based.

Here's the link to the nightblade class:

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Nightblade

...And the orc race abilities page for those who are curious:

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Orsimer+%28Orc%29

[Man_Over_Game]

Sounds to me like a Hexblade + Swashbuckler mix is pretty darn close for what you're looking for.

Gains resources upon killing enemies: Check.
Does best with melee but can swap to range: Check.
Has multiple means to afflict enemies with magic: Check.
Can have "Shadow Skills" by creating a literal shroud of darkness on yourself: Check.

Half-Orc does surprisingly well with this build, because Hexblade and Swashbuckler are both known for being really easy to kill when Half-Orcs make anyone much harder to kill.

[GlenSmash!]

It's a little complex to map an eso class to a D&D class since weapon and Armor proficiencies don't exist in eso.

I play a Nord Nightblade that uses 2-handed handed weapons, and is a werewolf, and focuses on stamina abilities rather than Magicka abilities. He's more of a Stealthy Barbarian than a rogue, or Shadow Sorcerer, or Warlock. Like a Rogue 1/Barbarian Totem Warrior X.

[samcifer]

It's a little complex to map an eso class to a D&D class since weapon and Armor proficiencies don't exist in eso.

I play a Nord Nightblade that uses 2-handed handed weapons, and is a werewolf, and focuses on stamina abilities rather than Magicka abilities. He's more of a Stealthy Barbarian than a rogue, or Shadow Sorcerer, or Warlock. Like a Rogue 1/Barbarian Totem Warrior X.

Mine's a werewolf too, but I rarely make use of it. Mostly 2H, DW and Bow with class abilities, Vigor and Razor Caltrops.

[GlenSmash!]

Mine's a werewolf too, but I rarely make use of it. Mostly 2H, DW and Bow with class abilities, Vigor and Razor Caltrops.

I also rarely use wolf form. It's the stamina regen bonus that makes it so good for a stamina NB.

Edit: I really only go wolf for World Bosses.

[Kadesh]

Mine's a werewolf too, but I rarely make use of it. Mostly 2H, DW and Bow with class abilities, Vigor and Razor Caltrops.
See, if you write down what that does, perhaps we can help? 2H is obvious. Any class with Great Weapon Fighting, or Archery depending on what you want to focus on. Razor Caltrops sounds like simply using a Bag of Caltrops at range: Mage Hand seems appropriate. Vigor is an AoE Heal: nearest to that is Healing Spirit at low levels. If you need the Bag of Caltrops to be a wide area, Druid 3 gets you Healing Spirit and Spike Growth.

So far, this sounds like Eldritch Knight/Druid.

[samcifer]

See, if you write down what that does, perhaps we can help? 2H is obvious. Any class with Great Weapon Fighting, or Archery depending on what you want to focus on. Razor Caltrops sounds like simply using a Bag of Caltrops at range: Mage Hand seems appropriate. Vigor is an AoE Heal: nearest to that is Healing Spirit at low levels. If you need the Bag of Caltrops to be a wide area, Druid 3 gets you Healing Spirit and Spike Growth.

So far, this sounds like Eldritch Knight/Druid.

Werewolf skill line:

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Werewolf+Skills


And even though these won't really translate to D&D, here's the weapon skill lines. I use primarily Bow and Dual Wield, but sometimes use 2-Handed as well. You can only have two different weapon types at a time:

https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapon+Skills

[Kadesh]

I am not translating everything, sorry.

[samcifer]

I am not translating everything, sorry.

No worries. Also, a lot of ESO abilities don't translate to D&D like regaining magicka and/or stamina to fuel active skills as well as effects that reduce enemy defenses.

[Kadesh]

Land Druid again can reclaim Spellslots, which given magicka powers abilities, abilities are powered by spell slots, and recovering magicka/spell slots means you can use your abilities more often..

[OverLordOcelot]

IMO, translating characters works better if you pick a few major abilities and a few neat tricks, rather than trying to replicate everything the character does. Also a lot of abilities are really 'MMO combat needs to have you pushing buttons so there are a variety of swings you do', which are covered by doing a regular attack action with flavor (and the occasional maneuver) in D&D. When you try to replicate every single ability, you end up with a jumbled mess that requires multiclassing to a bunch of characters. For example, if the caltrop attack is a thing you love about the character, then do try to duplicate it - but if it just happens to be a thing you've got because it's a default, then either don't bother with it or occasionally throw a bag of caltrops. Linking whole sheets of MMO moves just tends to get people to tune out.

[samcifer]

IMO, translating characters works better if you pick a few major abilities and a few neat tricks, rather than trying to replicate everything the character does. Also a lot of abilities are really 'MMO combat needs to have you pushing buttons so there are a variety of swings you do', which are covered by doing a regular attack action with flavor (and the occasional maneuver) in D&D. When you try to replicate every single ability, you end up with a jumbled mess that requires multiclassing to a bunch of characters. For example, if the caltrop attack is a thing you love about the character, then do try to duplicate it - but if it just happens to be a thing you've got because it's a default, then either don't bother with it or occasionally throw a bag of caltrops. Linking whole sheets of MMO moves just tends to get people to tune out.

Yeah, that's why I focused on the skill that grants temporary invisibility (that's the only skill that grants invisibility. All other classes have to use potions for that effect and potions have a 'cool down' time that prevents you from spamming potions) the skill that immobilizes a foe and the one that lets you teleport a short distance to a foe to attack them. There's the one medium armor skill (only one active skill each for light, medium and heavy armor skill lines) that increases your chance to dodge are really translatable imo, but was curious as to if anyone else would catch something I might have missed that could work as an equivalent ability.

The only other one I've been able to come up with is taking 3 levels of Divine Soul Sorc to gain the Spiritual Weapon spell which can kind of mimic the Shadow skill line active power that makes a shadowy duplicate of you to fight with you for a few seconds.

[Man_Over_Game]

Yeah, that's why I focused on the skill that grants temporary invisibility (that's the only skill that grants invisibility. All other classes have to use potions for that effect and potions have a 'cool down' time that prevents you from spamming potions) the skill that immobilizes a foe and the one that lets you teleport a short distance to a foe to attack them. There's the one medium armor skill (only one active skill each for light, medium and heavy armor skill lines) that increases your chance to dodge are really translatable imo, but was curious as to if anyone else would catch something I might have missed that could work as an equivalent ability.

The only other one I've been able to come up with is taking 3 levels of Divine Soul Sorc to gain the Spiritual Weapon spell which can kind of mimic the Shadow skill line active power that makes a shadowy duplicate of you to fight with you for a few seconds.

For getting the same essence that you're looking for after what you've described, I really can't help but recommend the Gloom Stalker Ranger again.

Becomes Invisible to enemies who rely on Darkvision to see you as early as level 3.
Can use both dual wield weapons and bows with equal effectiveness.
Literally gains Fear and Greater Invisibility as bonus spells.
Can hold people in place with Ensnaring Strike.
Can "Teleport Strike" using Zephyr Strike.

As early as level 3, you'll be playing a character that will feel a lot like your ESO character.

[samcifer]

For getting the same essence that you're looking for after what you've described, I really can't help but recommend the Gloom Stalker Ranger again.

Becomes Invisible to enemies who rely on Darkvision to see you as early as level 3.
Can use both dual wield weapons and bows with equal effectiveness.
Literally gains Fear and Greater Invisibility as bonus spells.
Can hold people in place with Ensnaring Strike.
Can "Teleport Strike" using Zephyr Strike.

As early as level 3, you'll be playing a character that will feel a lot like your ESO character.

Okay, I'll look over that class and subclass.

[samcifer]

Okay, I'll look over that class and subclass.

After looking over the Gloomstalker, I have a major concern over how late in the class's progression you get the good stuff (spells). If I were to go Rouge + Sorc, I could get everything I wanted by character level 6 at the soonest (preferably lvl. 10 with 5 levels in each class). If Rangers were full casters instead of half-casters (I think), I'd go that route. My group is about to hit lvl. 12 for the first time in two years of playing through 3 campaigns (homebrew ones), so I'm unlikely to ever get to play a high level character with my group, meaning the sooner I can get my character to where they're doing the things I want them to be able to do, the better.

[Man_Over_Game]

After looking over the Gloomstalker, I have a major concern over how late in the class's progression you get the good stuff (spells). If I were to go Rouge + Sorc, I could get everything I wanted by character level 6 at the soonest (preferably lvl. 10 with 5 levels in each class). If Rangers were full casters instead of half-casters (I think), I'd go that route. My group is about to hit lvl. 12 for the first time in two years of playing through 3 campaigns (homebrew ones), so I'm unlikely to ever get to play a high level character with my group, meaning the sooner I can get my character to where they're doing the things I want them to be able to do, the better.

An alternate solution to the same end would be two levels into Ranger (for the combat and basic casting portion), followed by several levels into Druid, preferably Land Druid for Grassland (Invisibility, Pass Without Trace, Haste) or Coast (Mirror Image, Misty Step)

One of the added benefits of combining Ranger with Land Druid is the fact that the Ranger has a lot of powerful and effective low level spells, and the Land Druid can help fuel those low level spells with their level 2 passive spell recharge.


The Sorcerer/Rogue will be good at hiding, but it'll be stuck having to choose between casting or attacking without much synergy between the two parts. Ranger and Druid will provide almost all of the same things you're looking for but allow both parts (martial combat and spells) to work together.