What Class for Storm King's Thunder? (no spoilers please)

[Rakoa]

It is looking like I will be taking part in an upcoming game of Storm King's Thunder, maybe possibly, but I want to get the ball rolling here as soon as I can.

What class would be recommended for the module, and what type of thing should I build toward? More combat or more social or something else?

Advice greatly appreciated.

[ProsecutorGodot]

SKT is heavily combat focused. As far as viable class choices, just about anything is good. Ranger (revised specifically benefits a lot more in this aspect) is a very solid choice.

The only class build I would avoid is a grappler build.

[Callak_Remier]

Wizard is good
Druid is just as good

[krugaan]

It's no secret that SKT has a bunch of giants.

Giants have tons of hp, STR, and CON.

Giants have terrible DEX, and in most cases, pretty junk INT and WIS (although there are exceptions).

Also, pay attention to areas of effect: a lot of AOE spells that work great against medium size creatures suddenly become pretty lackluster against huge creatures, like forcecage, wall of force, etc.

Lastly, giants do copious amounts of damage in melee *AND* and range, and have a pretty high +hit too. Don't expect to plink away from range.

All things to think about.

[No brains]

Never played SKT, but I would gamble on being a Dwarf Fighter and hoping I find a dwarven thrower.

If there were ever a time for a specific magic item to find its way into the hands of a person who could make the use out of it, this would be the perfect time for it to happen.

[Anderlith]

Giant Slayer Ranger?
Ancients Paladin or BattleMaster Fighter would be great options as well

[SVamp]

Sorlock hexblade hiding inside his own darkness with 3x advantage tossing quickened eldritch blasts and using hypnotic patterns and such CC when needed sounds pretty useful. Pretty high AC, disadvantage to be attacked, etc. Might need to go shadow sorc to have both agonizing and repelling blast though.

[CTurbo]

You want to play a US Revised GWM Str Ranger

Vhuman gets you 16 Str, 14 Con, 16 Wis

Take Defense style and GWM feat at level 1
Humanoids as favored enemy at level 2
Hunter Conclave at level 3 and choose Giant Killer
+2 Str at level 4
Giants as greater favored enemy at level 6
Multi-attack Defense at level 7
+2 Str at level 8
War Cleric 1 at character level 9
Just take Cleric from there


You'd have 19 AC in Plate, get 2 attacks per attack action, but have a pretty reliable bonus action attack as well as a pretty reliable reaction attack when fighting giants. Greatsword or Maul would be hitting giants for 2d6+19 damage per attack and Sacred Flame would be a reliable ranged attack since giants would suck at making that save.

[mephnick]

Anything with Hypnotic Pattern.

If your DM doesn't bother to change the rest rules, any long rest class.

[Corran]

Giants have high to-hit bonuses and deal tons of damage. So avoid playing a melee dpr, and if you go for a melee tank, well, be sure to stack lots of defensive bonuses. Avoid shield master and grapple/shove builds too. If you go for a caster, have a look at spells like slow, banishment, phantasmal force, suggestion, polymorph, web, grease, synaptic static and lightning bolt.

[Rebonack]

STK has very very VERY few opportunities for short rests. I would strongly advise against playing a Warlock, Monk, or Battlemaster.

You'll feel way more productive with a Long Rest focused class.

[sithlordnergal]

As a person who played through Storm King's Thunder, I'd go with Paladin. While giants do have low dex, they hit like a truck. I started that adventure as a Wizard...died instantly due to a giant rock being thrown at me. Then I became a Cleric...died instantly from a crit. My Paladin came in and managed to survive the rest of the encounter. Personally, I went Ancients for Misty Step, and it was very handy.

No matter what, you'll want someone who can survive a minimum of 3d10+5 rock damage.

[ProsecutorGodot]

STK has very very VERY few opportunities for short rests. I would strongly advise against playing a Warlock, Monk, or Battlemaster.

You'll feel way more productive with a Long Rest focused class.

This is actually a very good point. This seems safe to bring up, since it's not really spoiler territory, but the adventure involves travelling across a large part of the Savage Frontier. Depending on what you choose to do, you can travel for days or weeks at a time.

Thinking back on my SKT Campaign (which is sadly on hiatus while the DM preps for the final encounter) we didn't have many scenarios where a short rest was going to be a priority. It was usually a bloodbath where we came out licking our wounds after slaughtering a couple dozen enemies in the span of under an hour.

[Skylivedk]

A long rest class! We changed our resting system in my group while playing SKT; that's how few short rests you'll come across naturally.

[Man_Over_Game]

The Ranger has a lot of support for dealing with Large creatures, and can even have bonuses against specific types of creatures (like giants). You'll also be travelling a LOT, dealing with boss monsters that generally lack ranged attacks that don't rely on Dex or AC.

The entire thing screams for an archery Ranger.

[GlenSmash!]

Archery Ranged attacker is a good bet. Ranger with Giant as favored enemy is a good bet too.

Moon Druid for soaking up Giant attacks is also great. Battlefield control and AoE damage spells are great too.

I when with a Melee Heavy Hitter, because that's the guy I am. Probably the second worst build for SKT after grappler. Still there are some great melee weapons in the campaign.

Though I did actually grapple and shove someone off of a cloud and it was epic.

[Kejgar]

I'm running Storm King's Thunder right now for my players, and the only requirement is one person is able to speak Giant. It definitely has quite a bit of combat focus so make sure your character is capable of going up against giants, whose attacks hit often and hit very hard. My two players who have been the most well-off through the campaign have been Fighters: and Arcane Archer and an Eldritch Knight.
Someone with a high and reliable damage output will make quick work of the enemies, and Stealth can be a useful skill to have in general. Being able to resist attacks with a high AC and a good amount of hit points is also important against giants. I would recommend a social and knowledge skill proficiency just because not everything is done through killing. My last recommendation would be to have a way to deal with large groups of enemies, which is why the Arcane Archer has been so useful for the odd encounter with many weaker enemies.
It is a fun adventure from my experience, so just make the character you want to play and keep in mind there will be fighting.
Edit: btw I played with the rule that sleeping with improper accommodations (pretty much a quick camp in the wild) would be a short rest, not a long rest so Warlocks and other Short Rest based classes were more useful

[djreynolds]

You want to play a US Revised GWM Str Ranger

Vhuman gets you 16 Str, 14 Con, 16 Wis

Take Defense style and GWM feat at level 1
Humanoids as favored enemy at level 2
Hunter Conclave at level 3 and choose Giant Killer
+2 Str at level 4
Giants as greater favored enemy at level 6
Multi-attack Defense at level 7
+2 Str at level 8
War Cleric 1 at character level 9
Just take Cleric from there


You'd have 19 AC in Plate, get 2 attacks per attack action, but have a pretty reliable bonus action attack as well as a pretty reliable reaction attack when fighting giants. Greatsword or Maul would be hitting giants for 2d6+19 damage per attack and Sacred Flame would be a reliable ranged attack since giants would suck at making that save.

This looks AWESOME

[Samayu]

I played a sorcerer all the way through it. It was good. My only complaint was that AoE is difficult with groups of large or huge creatures, since they're so far apart. Still, you'll fight a lot of creatures that aren't giants.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

I'm playing a Bladesinger in SKT right now and I'm probably tied for effectiveness with our V.Human Sharpshooter rogue. I'm better at large groups of enemies due to fireball, able to mix it up in melee with spread out creatures, and have enough ranged (between a bow and Cantrips) to not get close to things that want to hurt me. I took Elven Accuracy as my first feat and with Mage Armor, my starting AC is 20, up to 25 with Shield, so I can Dodge a lot between getting out of range and my AC.

The Rogue hides for Advantage, then shoots from, like, the other side of the continent with Sharpshooter for Sneak Attack+Sharpshooter damage and has been killing it with single target damage. I throw Haste on him every now and again for funsies.

So far, our TWF dex fighter seems the least happy and is actively looking for build changes. Our Conquest Paladin also isn't doing so hot, but mostly 'cause her mobility is a bit of a problem, even with her steed.

Our Warlock is middle of the road (EB+AB cannon with imp scout) along with our Moon Druid/Life Cleric 1, though he seems content to just have people ride him around and feed people good berries once combat ends.

[Rakoa]

It looks like there is some debate between a Long Rest class and a Ranger for this one. I think a Dwarf Ranger could be pretty fun, and I have some artwork for one that I have been holding on to for just such an occasion. Some say to go Archery, others say Melee. I'll do some more thinking on it and decide.

Thanks for the help, guys!

[djreynolds]

A melee dwarven ranger with twf and dual wielder could be very fun.

I would take hunter archetype, but the new rangers horizon and monster slayer deserve a look

Obviously revised ranger would be great

You use any weapon layout, remember stuff like hail of thorns works with spears, javelins, axes, etc

Good luck, would like to see what your build is finally

[CTurbo]

I'd definitely go Ranger with a single level of War Cleric. (note: if TWF, a different Cleric domain would be better like Nature, Tempest, Life, Arcana, or Light). Obviously Revised Ranger is better. One level of Cleric adds so much though, and Rangers don't really have important things to gain at every level like a lot of other classes so you don't lose much from dipping.


A Mountain Dwarf Hunter Str Ranger would be great. Pretty much any fighting style would work. Archery is good even for Str builds so you can have a decent longbow attack too.

A Wood Elf Archer Hunter Ranger with a single level of War Cleric and Sharpshooter would be great too.


But yeah go Hunter Ranger and choose Colossus Slayer or Giant Killer.

If you go Archer Ranger, you could stop at Ranger 5 and then take Rogue levels. Assassin or Scout would be great.

[Tawmis]

This may sound like a crazy idea, coming from left field...

But - now follow me here - it's going to sound outrageous at first...

Why not... (clears throat)... Why not... Bob, can I get a drum roll, please?

(drum roll)

Thanks, Bob!

Why not... play what you WANT to play? Don't "META" game the adventure by asking what's a good class to play. You're saying "No spoilers" - but then asking for things that would be good to play. :)

Roll up a character you will enjoy playing - the DM should be able to make it enjoyable no matter the race and class you play! :)

[mephnick]

I think it's good he asked. Unless the DM actually takes the time to rewrite the dumb thing or change the rest system, a short rest class is going to feel very weak.

None of these WotC adventures are designed particularily well, so knowing some tips going in isn't a bad thing.

[Randomthom]

This may sound like a crazy idea, coming from left field...

But - now follow me here - it's going to sound outrageous at first...

Why not... (clears throat)... Why not... Bob, can I get a drum roll, please?

(drum roll)

Thanks, Bob!

Why not... play what you WANT to play? Don't "META" game the adventure by asking what's a good class to play. You're saying "No spoilers" - but then asking for things that would be good to play. :)

Roll up a character you will enjoy playing - the DM should be able to make it enjoyable no matter the race and class you play! :)

Maybe he wants to play something effective? Maybe he derives his fun that way and doesn't want to pick a weak option. This is a perfectly legitimate way to have fun, he's not doing fun wrong...

To chip in, I'm having enormous fun with my Hill Dwarf Forge Cleric. It isn't particularly optimised for the module but has been very effective nonetheless. Lots of good suggestions above but I'd throw my hat into the pile that say to avoid short-rest-based classes. You'll likely feel short-changed and it won't be the DM's fault.

An elemental blaster wizard/sorceror could work well too, Giants don't tend to fare well vs Dex saves, just sayin' :)

[Rakoa]

Well, we are a party of four. I have it on good knowledge that we're going to have a very frontline Barbarian and a Wizard. If we don't have a healer of some sort, that's what I'll be doing. Probably Grave Cleric, maybe Light Cleric, maybe War Cleric. But if our third player ends up going Druid or Cleric or something that can heal, I'll be playing a Dwarf Ranger and tearing these giants a new one.

One thing that bothers me about War Cleric is that it feels too difficult to get 3 stats to respectable levels (Str, Con, and Wis). Does anyone have advice for that, should I end up going that route?

It is for that reason my preference is usually something like Light Cleric or Grave Cleric that can dump Str and focus just on Wis, more similarly to a Wizard.

As for a Str Ranger, would it be better to go TWFing or to go with a big two-hander?

[CTurbo]

Well, we are a party of four. I have it on good knowledge that we're going to have a very frontline Barbarian and a Wizard. If we don't have a healer of some sort, that's what I'll be doing. Probably Grave Cleric, maybe Light Cleric, maybe War Cleric. But if our third player ends up going Druid or Cleric or something that can heal, I'll be playing a Dwarf Ranger and tearing these giants a new one.

One thing that bothers me about War Cleric is that it feels too difficult to get 3 stats to respectable levels (Str, Con, and Wis). Does anyone have advice for that, should I end up going that route?

It is for that reason my preference is usually something like Light Cleric or Grave Cleric that can dump Str and focus just on Wis, more similarly to a Wizard.

As for a Str Ranger, would it be better to go TWFing or to go with a big two-hander?



Keep in mind that for any pure Cleric, even War Cleric, you're not going to be wanting to make very many weapon attacks. I only recommend War Cleric for small dips for Fighters, Barbarians, and Rangers. If you want to play a pure Cleric, I REALLY recommend Tempest as I feel like it's head and shoulders above the other domains overall. It is the most well rounded and probably the most damaging domain IMO. Light or Forge would probably be fighting for second place. I would never build around being a healer. Clerics can do so much more. If you want to play a Dwarf, just start 14 Str, 16 Con, and 16 Wis and pump Wis and your concentration checks via Warcaster and/or Res(Con). Any other race, assuming you want heavy armor, start 16 Str, 14 Con, and 16 Wis and still pump Wis and your concentration checks. A medium armor Cleric can dump Str.

But yeah I would go for the GWM Ranger build I mentioned above if it were me. The only thing I would possibly change from what I mentioned above is take Archery instead of Defense. You're not going to have a very good Dex but you still want to be decent with a longbow.