Making a Min/Max Monster Hunter

[urawhat]

Hi all!
My DM wants to go high level monster hunting.
So here is the rules...
Level 17
All 5e rules material is available(playtest and critical role included)
Stats are 18,18,18,17,16,15 (I had really good rolls)
Mark Max HP per roll
Allowed 1 legendary, 2 very rare, 3 rare, and 4 uncommon items. Unlimited common items

Already have a bag of holding, 1 Supreme potion, and 2 superior potions

Thats it. :) I'm still fairly new to Building characters but I would really like something powerful to have some fun with. If you send me a build please include some how-tos for the way I should be using the character in combat.
Ive already done a sorlock build in my other campaign so I want to stay away from that if possible. Thanks in advance to everyone who decides to help me out! 😊😊😊


* Edit to clarify this character wil be facing in a group of 3 facing off against monsters with >CR 23
So the more broken and powerful the better absolute degeneracy is needed just to survive.

[Daghoulish]

I'm going to go weird with this and say 4 elements monk. Now hear me out before you go "4e monk sucks" yeah it does, but I feel it's the early levels that really suck and it becomes much more fun later.

With those 3 18's you could easily start with dex/con/wis at 20 and easily get the others to 20 as well. At level 14 you'll get proficiency in all saving throws, giving you good con saves. As a 4E you could cast fly on yourself and likely keep it up. With those starting stats you could even grab some feats that would help for hit and running, like mobile. My idea is for you to not be able to contribute in most situations. Having the ability to make yourself fly,throwing out ranged prones/pulls, being able to deal(if everything hits and you use a lot of ki for Fangs of the Fire Snake, also being able to stunning strike on all of those for even more Ki) 8d10+(dex*4) at 20 foot reach.

[Rukelnikov]

Dude with that its more a matter of "how much are you willing to brake the game"

[urawhat]

I'm going to go weird with this and say 4 elements monk. Now hear me out before you go "4e monk sucks" yeah it does, but I feel it's the early levels that really suck and it becomes much more fun later.

With those 3 18's you could easily start with dex/con/wis at 20 and easily get the others to 20 as well. At level 14 you'll get proficiency in all saving throws, giving you good con saves. As a 4E you could cast fly on yourself and likely keep it up. With those starting stats you could even grab some feats that would help for hit and running, like mobile. My idea is for you to not be able to contribute in most situations. Having the ability to make yourself fly,throwing out ranged prones/pulls, being able to deal(if everything hits and you use a lot of ki for Fangs of the Fire Snake) 8d10+(dex*4).


I like this idea, thanks!

[urawhat]

Dude with that its more a matter of "how much are you willing to brake the game"

Completely if possible. This is just something to challenge our dm basically. He will be on bed rest for a little while so he wants to do something fun while he sits around. His idea of fun is breaking games and the occasional tpk 😂😂😂

[Galithar]

Is the book Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else allowable? I can't remember right now, but I don't think it was a WotC publication so I'm not sure if your DM would allow it.
I've got a build idea if you can use it though.

Edit: It should pretty thouroughly break the game. It will be a Barbarian Caster that heals your team with Fireballs and an AC around 27 while raging (plus the availability of shield spell when needed).

[zinycor]

level 17? Monk, is what you want.

As for feats, I say, Mobile and Athlete, then get your dex and wisdom to 20

Race is up to you, but anything should be allright. I would go with Warforged Envoy.

Shadow monk, would give incredible mobility, being able to teleport from shadow to shadow without even expending ki.

But maybe you are more into one punch man? If that's the case go for way of the open hand, level 17 gives you a save or die. Simply, amazing.

Remember that Ki points recharge at a short rest, so go all out and rest a lot.

Btw, stunning strike is your best friend. Abuse it.

[urawhat]

Is the book Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else allowable? I can't remember right now, but I don't think it was a WotC publication so I'm not sure if your DM would allow it.
I've got a build idea if you can use it though.

Edit: It should pretty thouroughly break the game. It will be a Barbarian Caster that heals your team with Fireballs and an AC around 27 while raging (plus the availability of shield spell when needed).
As much as I want it to be its not. 😭 That sounds bonkers though. 😍
I'd be interested in the build for a separate campaign if you would pm it to me.

[urawhat]

level 17? Monk, is what you want.

As for feats, I say, Mobile and Athlete, then get your dex and wisdom to 20

Race is up to you, but anything should be allright. I would go with Warforged Envoy.

Shadow monk, would give incredible mobility, being able to teleport from shadow to shadow without even expending ki.

But maybe you are more into one punch man? If that's the case go for way of the open hand, level 17 gives you a save or die. Simply, amazing.

Remember that Ki points recharge at a short rest, so go all out and rest a lot.

Btw, stunning strike is your best friend. Abuse it.
That's 2 for monk sounds interesting thanks for the advice.!!!

[Rukelnikov]

Completely if possible. This is just something to challenge our dm basically. He will be on bed rest for a little while so he wants to do something fun while he sits around. His idea of fun is breaking games and the occasional tpk 😂😂😂

Then just do chain Simulacra

[urawhat]

Then just do chain Simulacra

I'm not familiar with this build could you explain it to me?

[Rukelnikov]

I'm not familiar with this build could you explain it to me?

1. Be a Wizard

2. Memorize Wish, and Simulacrum

3. Cast Simulacrum on yourself

4. Have your last created Simulacrum use its Wish to duplicate Simulacrum creating another copy of you.

5. Repeat 4 ad infinitum

[Galithar]

As much as I want it to be its not. 😭 That sounds bonkers though. 😍
I'd be interested in the build for a separate campaign if you would pm it to me.

I'll put it together and post it here in a spoiler so anyone interested can see. It's broken as hell (I am usually a DM and I banned the entire book from my table when I saw this Barbarian Subclass lol)

The build normally isn't that bad, because it's hard to pull off. But with your creation rules it would be insane.

[urawhat]

I'll put it together and post it here in a spoiler so anyone interested can see. It's broken as hell (I am usually a DM and I banned the entire book from my table when I saw this Barbarian Subclass lol)

The build normally isn't that bad, because it's hard to pull off. But with your creation rules it would be insane.

Thanks !!!!

[zinycor]

As for magical Items

Legendary: Cloak of Invisibility
Very Rare: Amulet of the Planes, Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments
rare: Iron Bands of Bilibarro, Dimensional Shackles, necklace of fireballs
Uncommon: Winged Boots, Googles of night, Dust of Dissapearance, Driftglobe.

Just as a Suggestion.

[urawhat]

As for magical Items

Legendary: Cloak of Invisibility
Very Rare: Amulet of the Planes, Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments
rare: Iron Bands of Bilibarro, Dimensional Shackles, necklace of fireballs
Uncommon: Winged Boots, Googles of night, Dust of Dissapearance, Driftglobe.

Just as a Suggestion.

Never heard of most of these and just looked them all up.😊😊😊😊
I really like the pigments it seems like that can be super powerful!

[zinycor]

Never heard of most of these and just looked them all up.😊😊😊😊
I really like the pigments it seems like that can be super powerful!

If you want you could replace the Amulet of the planes for a Nine Lives Stealer (Short sword). But as Monk you might want to keep to your fists.

[zinycor]

having said that, Sword of Sharpness is the absolute best.

[Arelai]

You want all your magic items to be Horn’s of Valhalla. So you can summon like 50 Beserkers. They have enough hitpoints to survive a round or two at least. They provide 50 actions the round you summon them-so it could be 50d12’s of damage. Or they can all each try to grapple the monster, etc. It’s great.

[urawhat]

You want all your magic items to be Horn’s of Valhalla. So you can summon like 50 Beserkers. They have enough hitpoints to survive a round or two at least. They provide 50 actions the round you summon them-so it could be 50d12’s of damage. Or they can all each try to grapple the monster, etc. It’s great.
Thanks for the idea, I'd rather a build of some sort though not just item spam.👍

[urawhat]

1. Be a Wizard

2. Memorize Wish, and Simulacrum

3. Cast Simulacrum on yourself

4. Have your last created Simulacrum use its Wish to duplicate Simulacrum creating another copy of you.

5. Repeat 4 ad infinitum
I'm gonna build this toon and see what my DM says :).

[Ganymede]

Be a fighter.

"You can make a fighter quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Strength or Dexterity your highest ability score, depending on whether you want to focus on melee weapons or on archery (or finesse weapons). Your next-highest score should be Constitution, or Intelligence if you plan to adopt the Eldritch Knight martial archetype."

If you follow that advice, you will have a potent and valuable character that will contribute mightily to your party's goals.

[ProsecutorGodot]

I'm playing a Bloodhunter/Wizard with 13/18/18/18/18/14. Bloodhunter's are designed Thematically to work as Monster Hunter's. Order of the Ghostslayer does a pretty decent job of it as a solo class.

For building a Bloodhunter, avoid TWF as activating your rite on two weapons is poor action economy. Choose between Dex (Longbow) or Str (Greatsword) for what kind of weapon you want to be using (SnB is a viable melee option as well, either Rapier or Longsword) then prioritize Con>Wis. Your abilities scale of wisdom to an extant but having a higher health pool is more valuable for making use of your Crimson Rite.

Since you're starting at level 17 you get access to a lot of cool features. Supernal Surge allows you to become spectral (walk through walls or creatures) for a turn (either as part of the attack action or as a bonus action) and gives you 3 attacks that turn if you take the attack action. You can see 30ft through magical darkness and through invisibility. You deal 1d10 extra damage when your Rite is active (Radiant in the case of Ghostslayer) and then additional Radiant damage equal to your Wisdom Modifier.

Downsides to Bloodhunter:
-You die easily, dealing damage to yourself. Ghostslayer mitigates this somewhat.
-Poor action economy. Unless your DM is kind enough to forego the limitations of Crimson Rite, it's hard to have it prepped before a fight meaning your Bonus action is going to be eated on the first turn of combat. First two turns of combat if you choose to dual wield of use Polearms.
-Blood Maledicts are cool, but not very good. Curse of the Eyeless is just about the only universally useful one.
-For as dark, edgy and cool as you are, you're a worse Fighter. As much as I like the Bloodhunter I've made, he would be leaps and bounds stronger if he was an Eldritch Knight instead.

[Daphne]

Monster hunting huh? I'd go with the Monster Hunter (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf) Fighter, it's good and simple but still has some interesting options and is pretty effective. Or maybe the Monster Slayer from XGE.

A really good legendary weapon for a Fighter is Wave, a +3 weapon that deals half the target's maximun HP as necrotic damage on a critical hit. Other good weapons: Flame Tongue, Frost Brand, Scimitar of Speed, Dwarven Thrower and Oathbow

Belt of Giant Strength is also very powerful, as is simple +x armor and shield.

[Rukelnikov]

I'm gonna build this toon and see what my DM says :).

Have fun :D

[urawhat]

Have fun :D

How does this look?
This is a dnd beyond character link

https://ddb.ac/characters/9439398/3xBGqy

[Man_Over_Game]

It's important to note that, with Adventure League rules, a Wizard is subject to the penalties from Wish if the Simulacrum casts the spell. If your Simulacrum casts Wish, and is penalized for it in any way, the Wizard receives the same effects.

[urawhat]

It's important to note that, with Adventure League rules, a Wizard is subject to the penalties from Wish if the Simulacrum casts the spell. If your Simulacrum casts Wish, and is penalized for it in any way, the Wizard receives the same effects.




This is a home game

[Man_Over_Game]

This is a home game

That's fair, but a DM may have the same requirements.

What's being described is an infinite loop, and official games have an explicit rule to prevent it from being infinite. Don't be surprised if your DM decides to go in the same direction.

[urawhat]

That's fair, but a DM may have the same requirements.

What's being described is an infinite loop, and official games have an explicit rule to prevent it from being infinite. Don't be surprised if your DM decides to go in the same direction.

Ive been in contact with my DM its fine lol

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

A really good legendary weapon for a Fighter is Wave, a +3 weapon that deals half the target's maximun HP as necrotic damage on a critical hit. Other good weapons: Flame Tongue, Frost Brand, Scimitar of Speed, Dwarven Thrower and Oathbow

Belt of Giant Strength is also very powerful, as is simple +x armor and shield.

Basically what he said. make it a crit fishing machine with wave.

Half orc Champion Fighter 15/Barbarian 2
HP: ~255
AC: 25
25,18,20,16,18,15
Main magic items: Wave, +2 Plate, +2 Silver Dragon shield, Belt of fire giant strength, Winged boots, Periapt of proof against poison.
Feats: Sentinel, Alert, Resilient wisdom, lucky.
Fighting styles: defense, Tunnel fighter

You have a +14 to initiative. 6 attacks on the first round of combat and a 27.75% crit chance per attack. When you crit you deal necrotic damage equal to half the creatures max hp. With those 3 luck points you can turn 3 attacks into a 38.59% crit chance, or 1 attack into 47.8% Crit chance.

[Galithar]

Ive been in contact with my DM its fine lol

Well you might as well tell the rest of the party you don't need them. Infinite Simulacrum loop is literally unstoppable. Lol

[Man_Over_Game]

Well you might as well tell the rest of the party you don't need them. Infinite Simulacrum loop is literally unstoppable. Lol

Fighter with +3 armor and weapons
Paladin with Belt of Fire Giant Strength
Wizard with 99 Wishes.

Seems fair.

You might not be able to Wish for more Wishes, but you can definitely Wish for more genies.

[urawhat]

Basically what he said. make it a crit fishing machine with wave.

Half orc Champion Fighter 15/Barbarian 2
HP: ~255
AC: 25
25,18,20,16,18,15
Main magic items: Wave, +2 Plate, +2 Silver Dragon shield, Belt of fire giant strength, Winged boots, Periapt of proof against poison.
Feats: Sentinel, Alert, Resilient wisdom, lucky.
Fighting styles: defense, Tunnel fighter

You have a +14 to initiative. 6 attacks on the first round of combat and a 27.75% crit chance per attack. When you crit you deal necrotic damage equal to half the creatures max hp. With those 3 luck points you can turn 3 attacks into a 38.59% crit chance, or 1 attack into 47.8% Crit chance.
Thank you for the explanation I'm still really new to a lot of this so some obvious things won't jump out to me

[urawhat]

Fighter with +3 armor and weapons
Paladin with Belt of Fire Giant Strength
Wizard with 99 Wishes.

Seems fair.

You might not be able to Wish for more Wishes, but you can definitely Wish for more genies.

It's a good thing this campaign isn't about Fair it's nice to be able to try this stuff in a vacuum

[Ganymede]

Well you might as well tell the rest of the party you don't need them. Infinite Simulacrum loop is literally unstoppable. Lol


Yeah, it's literally, "You use your clone army to take over the planet and now rule the world. He becomes an NPC. Roll a new character."

[urawhat]

Yeah, it's literally, "You use your clone army to take over the planet and now rule the world. He becomes an NPC. Roll a new character."

Really depends on how you role play it, I'm pretty proud of my back story.

[WeaselGuy]

Be a Wizard. Be level 17. Cast True Polymorph. Be anything you want. Concentrate for 1 hour. Become that creature permanently.

I'm fond of dragons, personally. Especially Adult Silver Dragons, who can also cast 9th level spells. But that's just me.

That's also what my High Elf War Mage is planning on doing, as soon as he gets to level 17.

[urawhat]

Be a Wizard. Be level 17. Cast True Polymorph. Be anything you want. Concentrate for 1 hour. Become that creature permanently.

I'm fond of dragons, personally. Especially Adult Silver Dragons, who can also cast 9th level spells. But that's just me.

That's also what my High Elf War Mage is planning on doing, as soon as he gets to level 17.

Sounds fun 😊

[Ganymede]

Really depends on how you role play it, I'm pretty proud of my back story.

No. It doesn't.

[zinycor]

If you are going with the simulacrum build, pick magic missile as a level 1 spell, That way you and your infinite copies get to destroy anything in your way, no saving throw, no attack roll, and force isn't a widely resisted element.

Also, since you picked divinitation, I would recommend for you to pick more control spells, since you can guarantee their success, spells like: Hold person, hold monster, Blidness/Deafness, Fear and Evard's black tentacles.

[GlenSmash!]

I would go with a Zealot Barbarian. At that High a level you are immune to death (with a few exceptions) while raging and as long as you get a single point of healing before your Rage ends you're good as new.

Aasimar even comes with self healing that will work while raging. Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master for damage. ASIs in Dex and Con for max unarmored AC if you like, but not really necessary for a Zealot. lucky might be better for Disintegrate defense, and hold person defense. Resilient Wisdom is great too.

For items I would shoot for: Legendary: Belt of Storm Giant Strength, Very Rare: +3 halberd or Glaive, Rare: Bracers of Defense, Figurine of wondrous power(bronze griffon).

[ChildofLuthic]

With those stats, you could go MAD and do something really creative. I'm thinking Paladin/Druid, so you can smite while you wildshape.

[zinycor]

I agree going wizard with those stats seems like such a waste

[urawhat]

If you are going with the simulacrum build, pick magic missile as a level 1 spell, That way you and your infinite copies get to destroy anything in your way, no saving throw, no attack roll, and force isn't a widely resisted element.

Also, since you picked divinitation, I would recommend for you to pick more control spells, since you can guarantee their success, spells like: Hold person, hold monster, Blidness/Deafness, Fear and Evard's black tentacles.

That makes sense, only issue is with the tarrasque. Works on everything else though. Also I like the idea for field control. Thanks for the advice.

[urawhat]

With those stats, you could go MAD and do something really creative. I'm thinking Paladin/Druid, so you can smite while you wildshape.

For sure Id like a creative build. I'm not familiar with alot of the builds at this high level. Could you give me some more details on this build?

[urawhat]

I agree going wizard with those stats seems like such a waste

Im working on your suggested build to I just havnt had time to build the backstory yet. I might run that one to start I want to have a few of these type of toons built incase one dies during a fight.

[Rukelnikov]

Be a Wizard. Be level 17. Cast True Polymorph. Be anything you want. Concentrate for 1 hour. Become that creature permanently.

I'm fond of dragons, personally. Especially Adult Silver Dragons, who can also cast 9th level spells. But that's just me.

That's also what my High Elf War Mage is planning on doing, as soon as he gets to level 17.

It would be awesome, but sadly it doesn't work like that. Once you cast True Polymorph you lose your spellcasting abilities, and feats, and skill proficiencies, and raciels, etc.

Your stat block is essentially replaced by the creature in the MM (except for legendary and lair actions)

Of course you can still equip items, which makes a lot of difference, and once you are fed up with a particular form you can have someone dispel it.

[zinycor]

That makes sense, only issue is with the tarrasque. Works on everything else though. Also I like the idea for field control. Thanks for the advice.

If what you want is to kill the tarrasque, then one of you pick divination wizard, the other one pick open hand monk.

Then the monk uses stunning strike on the tarrasque until you have wasted its legendary resistances, then the open hand monk uses Quivering palm, and the divination Wizard forces it to fail. Tarrasque is now dead.

[GlenSmash!]

If what you want is to kill the tarrasque, then one of you pick divination wizard, the other one pick open hand monk.

Then the monk uses stunning strike on the tarrasque until you have wasted its legendary resistances, then the open hand monk uses Quivering palm, and the divination Wizard forces it to fail. Tarrasque is now dead.

There is a good lesson in this. Party effectiveness is so much more than everyone just min-maxing the most powerful character they can.

[zinycor]

There is a good lesson in this. Party effectiveness is so much more than everyone just min-maxing the most powerful character they can.

Powergaming is so much better, when we all powergame together

[urawhat]

If what you want is to kill the tarrasque, then one of you pick divination wizard, the other one pick open hand monk.

Then the monk uses stunning strike on the tarrasque until you have wasted its legendary resistances, then the open hand monk uses Quivering palm, and the divination Wizard forces it to fail. Tarrasque is now dead.
Right on. Your definately right though. This campaign really only works as a collab with everyone being degenerate. To give you a little more backstory. My DM is having the characters that we're creating in this campaign be the gods of another campaign. In the campaign that they would be God's there are a lot of new players so we were trying to find an interesting way to introduce them into high level min/max. That's why it's okay to have the infant wizard combo. Thematically it makes sense to have something that's over the top for a normal character. In his backstory he doesn't enjoy using that ability though for reasons. Hopefully it's going to inspire the new players to become more creative and do their own research and finding characters to build. I've built a lot of level 5 to 10 characters but I've only built two other high-level characters and I don't think they are as good as they could have been. This honestly has been a really fun thing to work on.

[urawhat]

There is a good lesson in this. Party effectiveness is so much more than everyone just min-maxing the most powerful character they can.

For sure Max CR monsters weren't designed to be taken on alone

[urawhat]

I would go with a Zealot Barbarian. At that High a level you are immune to death (with a few exceptions) while raging and as long as you get a single point of healing before your Rage ends you're good as new.

Aasimar even comes with self healing that will work while raging. Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master for damage. ASIs in Dex and Con for max unarmored AC if you like, but not really necessary for a Zealot. lucky might be better for Disintegrate defense, and hold person defense. Resilient Wisdom is great too.

For items I would shoot for: Legendary: Belt of Storm Giant Strength, Very Rare: +3 halberd or Glaive, Rare: Bracers of Defense, Figurine of wondrous power(bronze griffon).

Sounds cool thanks!

[urawhat]

Basically what he said. make it a crit fishing machine with wave.

Half orc Champion Fighter 15/Barbarian 2
HP: ~255
AC: 25
25,18,20,16,18,15
Main magic items: Wave, +2 Plate, +2 Silver Dragon shield, Belt of fire giant strength, Winged boots, Periapt of proof against poison.
Feats: Sentinel, Alert, Resilient wisdom, lucky.
Fighting styles: defense, Tunnel fighter

You have a +14 to initiative. 6 attacks on the first round of combat and a 27.75% crit chance per attack. When you crit you deal necrotic damage equal to half the creatures max hp. With those 3 luck points you can turn 3 attacks into a 38.59% crit chance, or 1 attack into 47.8% Crit chance.


Here is the build on paper does it look right?

https://ddb.ac/characters/9560612/4WgTzt

[BrusLi]

I can't help but wonder, how do you guys perceive Supernal Surge?

By becoming spectral, do you assume attributes of a Spectre with resistances and immunties ? Or you are just able to move through objects and take regular dmg as if you were in regular form?

[JackPhoenix]

I can't help but wonder, how do you guys perceive Supernal Surge?

By becoming spectral, do you assume attributes of a Spectre with resistances and immunties ? Or you are just able to move through objects and take regular dmg as if you were in regular form?

An ability does exactly what it says it does, nothing less, nothing more.

[BrusLi]

An ability does exactly what it says it does, nothing less, nothing more.

To be honest, isn't it weird tho?
Until the end of your next turn you are this spectral figure, able to move through stuff, but when people hit you, you are rock solid :D

But, I guess that's what Matt intended.

Btw. Action Surge and Supernal Surge interaction, how do those work, 5 or 6 attacks?

[JackPhoenix]

To be honest, isn't it weird tho?
Until the end of your next turn you are this spectral figure, able to move through stuff, but when people hit you, you are rock solid :D

But, I guess that's what Matt intended.

Btw. Action Surge and Supernal Surge interaction, how do those work, 5 or 6 attacks?

Assuming you'll spend a Supernal Surge use on both actions (normal and the one granted by Action Surge), 6.