To make the best non-caster team.

[Misterwhisper]

Long story short, I am running a game that will essentially be like Shadowrun D&D style.
Group of 4 with a 5th partial character.
I am building the characters for the group to start then they can run from there.

Builds:

No full or 1/2 casters. 1/3 casters are ok like a Eldritch Knight or an Arcane Trickster
Point buy of 33 points, can buy a 16 to start for 11 points.
No uncommon races, race must be able to blend in in a city like Waterdeep
Starting feat at first level, but I am also making some custom feats based on the weapon used by the person.
HP maxed at every level.
Starts out with no magic items but any mundane gear within reason.

Race Options:

Dwarf except durgar
High elf or wood elf
Human
Halflings of any type
Gnome except deep gnome
Half-Elf but no variant
Changling but it would be VERY dangerous to get outed.

Class options:

Barbarian
Fighter
Monk
Spell Less ranger (not revised, only spell less)
Rogue

Multiclassing is fine.
No UA.

So how to make a group of 4 that could run the shadows and do all the shady illegal things that upstanding people can't be seen associated with.

I am thinking:

Mountain Dwarf Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with an warhammer and shield
- Str based abilities
- Great Tank
- Blends in with lots of dwarves
- 1st level feat of Shield Master

Changling Swashbuckler Rogue with a Shortbow and a rapier
- Party Face
- Stealth and B&E guy
- Charisma and dex skills
- 1st level feat of Medium Armor Training or something, could be a lot of things

High Elf Eldritch Knight Longbow and rapier/shield
- Small casting backup
- Int skills
- Well rounded abilities
- Secondary tank and front liner
- First level feat,

Wood Elf Open Hand Monk
- High Mobility
- Very subtle with no weapons or armor
- Controller and anti-caster
- Wisdom skills
No first level feat, uses the ASI for stats

Ranger for the 5th slot for the guy who is only sometimes there
- Just some well rounded guy who has good nature skills.


Wo what doe you think would make the best well rounded Shadowrunish kind of mundane party?

[Man_Over_Game]

You need some kind of medic.

If the Banneret is on the table, this would be a good time to implement it. Tack on the Healer Kit and a few levels into Rogue for the Thief, and it'd be a solid non-magical healer.

I'd say that the Rogue should focus strictly on rogue things (melee combat in this party wouldn't be anything worth mentioning). And nobody does that better than an Arcane Trickster. Tack on Ritual Caster, and he'd be the equivalent of a Decker for the party. An Eldritch Knight is just a Fighter with Shield. An Arcane Trickster is enough of a magic utility specialist to be all you need for a whole team.

So my ideal team would be:

Ancestral Guardian with Mobile (Take it from me, you want to be running away as an Ancestral Guardian, not standing in place. Leave that to Bear tanks).
Dexterity Banneret X/Rogue 3 with Healer.
Arcane Trickster with Ritual Caster
Long Death Monk with Sentinel (Hard to kill, can be wherever he needs to be and makes a big presence)
Gloomstalker Ranger Drow with Skulker. Can move in undetected in most areas, being turning invisible to Darkvision effects and be able to stay well out of lit areas.

[ChildofLuthic]

I've often that that an arcane trickster with expertise in arcana would be great as a sort of "magic understander in a pinch." If the campaign had a lot of magic but the players wanted to be more mundane, I feel like it slides into that roll really well. Besides, booming blade+sneak attack is so much fun.

[Kyutaru]

To make a great A-team you need the following:

A Hannibal - Fighter with Battle Master that acts as both leader and strategist using tactical maneuvers
A Faceman - Rogue with high Charisma that can handle any situation solo short of straight on combat
A Bad Attitude - Barbarian with Tiger Totem raging might to handle any heavy combat situation
A Howling Mad - Ranger with various imaginary pets that can dominate any terrain and get you around

[Misterwhisper]

You need some kind of medic.

If the Banneret is on the table, this would be a good time to implement it. Tack on the Healer Kit and a few levels into Rogue for the Thief, and it'd be a solid non-magical healer.

I'd say that the Rogue should focus strictly on rogue things (melee combat in this party wouldn't be anything worth mentioning). And nobody does that better than an Arcane Trickster. Tack on Ritual Caster, and he'd be the equivalent of a Decker for the party. An Eldritch Knight is just a Fighter with Shield. An Arcane Trickster is enough of a magic utility specialist to be all you need for a whole team.

It was more of the fact the rogue is the only one who has a reason to have a good charisma.

[Man_Over_Game]

It was more of the fact the rouge is the only one who has a reason to have a good charisma.

You could replace that with the Banneret.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Builds:

No full or 1/2 casters.
Barbarian
Fighter
Monk
Spell Less ranger (not revised, only spell less)
Rogue

Ranger for the 5th slot for the guy who is only sometimes there
- Just some well rounded guy who has good nature skills.


I think I'd avoid building any rangers. They're half-casters, with half the abilities cut out. A bow-fighter or a scout rogue would probably be better.

I think a four elements monk might shine in this setting, in a way he rarely otherwise can. Unless leaving that level of magical ability in the options is just an oversight.

[Misterwhisper]

I think I'd avoid building any rangers. They're half-casters, with half the abilities cut out. A bow-fighter or a scout rogue would probably be better.

I think a four elements monk might shine in this setting, in a way he rarely otherwise can. Unless leaving that level of magical ability in the options is just an oversight.

I was talking about the UA spell less ranger, they are not bad at all really.

4 elements is fine but I really doubt that anyone would play one.

[stoutstien]

not a build for say but if one member of the party takes the healer feat and another takes inspiring leader you have a solid way of staying alive for the first few levels. are magic casting feats banned as well?

[Misterwhisper]

not a build for say but if one member of the party takes the healer feat and another takes inspiring leader you have a solid way of staying alive for the first few levels. are magic casting feats banned as well?

Casting feats are fine

[Ventruenox]

Pity you said no uncommon races or UA. A Gnomish Arcane Trickster armed with Modern Magic UA riding atop a reskinned Half Orc or Goliath Barbarian could pull off a Master Blaster character combo with a Decker/Rigger feel. Shadowrun was known for Orcs and Trolls as playable races. This article (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/my-new-d20-modern-campaign) is also pretty relevant.

[CTurbo]

Dex Battle Master with decent Cha and Inspiring Leader and maybe squeeze in Magic Initiate

Arcane Trickster with Healer feat

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with Ritual Caster(Wizard)

Monk (Open Hand, Shadow, or Long Death) with Magic Initiate (Cleric for Guidance, Sacred Flame, Bless)


I agree with Spell less Ranger as 5th part time character


Races don't mean quite so much

[Tallytrev813]

Is there little-no magic in the city or just your party?

[Naanomi]

Banneret with inspiring Leader; maybe go all out and use Magic Initiate to get a Charisma based Magic Stone

Either a Sunsoul Monk (for some AoEs and elemental damage types) or Shadow Monk (for Pass Without Trace)

Hunter Ranger (for martial AoE)

Ancestral Guardian; although Arctic Storm Herald would not be awful and would serve a similar damage mitigation function

A rogue of some kind, they are all good

[Tallytrev813]

My party of choice would be:

1.) V. Human totem Barbarian - Start with Sentinel + MageSlayer feats, but only if there actually is magic in this city. If not, I’d change this to a Mountain Dwarf Totem Barbarian with Sentinel.

2.) Lightfood Halfling Rogue Arcane Trickster

3.) Gloomstalker Halfelf Ranger

4.) Shadow Monk of some kind