level 30 character builds

[Danielqueue1]

So I am in a campaign where we have gone beyond level 20 using homebrew rules. The DM is doing an amazing job keeping fights relevant and such, but with the party going up against the in campaign equivalent of Vecna on death metal steroids, a new character may be necessary very soon.

so here are the rules.

Max level 30 (currently 24)

•no more than 20 levels in a class.
•Spell slot progression caps out at caster level 20.
•things that scale off character level (cantrips/proficiency bonus etc.) stop scaling at 20.
•Things that scale off hit dice (inspiring leader etc.) continue to scale.
•True polymorph, shape-change and simulacrum are limited to reasonable levels (no wish chain, no scaling past 20 etc)
•No UA or home-brew anything

I am currently a Sorcerer (celestial) 17, druid (shepard) 3, cleric (life) 1, fighter 2, warlock 1, bonkers level healer with blasting potential.
we have a moondruid 20, Totem Barbarian damage sponge extraordinaire
a kensei monk with levels in other things like war cleric (don't have the level numbers)
and an Arcane trickster 20, monk something. (newest character after illusion wizard died.

I am looking for character ideas and multiclass combos that are fun to play, have lots of options that can hold up in combat where ancient dragons are considered light cardio and have synergy actually continues to build up to level 30.

I built a Fighter 20 (champion), Warlock 5 (hexblade), Paladin 2, something 3. for a backup (nuclear crit fest with dual smites),

I am excited to see what the Playground thinks, and level 30 builds that come out of it.

[nickl_2000]

If you want to go crazy go Moon Druid 20, paladin 6, barbarian 2, rogue 2.

Sure you need wisdom, charisma, dexterity, strength, and constitution. But you have killer saves and smites from paladin, infinite hp from wild shaping, damage resistance and extra damage from barbarian, and bonus actions from rogue.

At level 22 paladin 2, moon druid 20

EDIT: just read the spoiler, you already have something similar so nevermind. I will come up with something in the morning.

[ccjmk]

I wouldn't go for anything overly fancy, simplicity is your friend. Abusing the spellcasting clause getting a closest-possible to 20th level caster while improving other areas would be best.

20 levels Eldritch Knight, 10 levels War Wizard. The 20 levels of fighter count as 6 caster levels, so you'd be a 16 level caster, with access to 8th level spells. Not that much slots, but yet, 8th levels spells on a full 20 levels of warrior chassis is nothing to shy about!

You have the elusive but extraordinary Extra Attack(3) from Fighter, and War Wizard at 10th level gives you Durable Magic, which between your high Heavy Armor AC, CON proficiency and the extra +2 to AC and *all saving throws* while you maintain concentration, will definitely make you into a beast. You still have Arcane Deflection to give you +2 AC or +4 to saving throws as a reaction, AND Shield for an additional +5 if abso-****ing-lutely needed.

Variant Human (Great Weapon Master) point buy gets to 16 str and con, 15 int and throughout those 30 levels you have 9 ASIs, 7 from Fighter and 2 from Wizard. Maxing STR and CON leaves you with 5 more. Observant for 16 INT and superb perception, 4 ASI to go. Maxing INT leaves you with 2 extra ASIs. One should probably be Alert (how about that +10 to Initiative from Alert + 20 INT on Tactical Wit?). The other one is hard.. With a greatsword leaving one hand open for casting, and all the War Magic goodies + heavy armor, War Caster doesn't sound that sexy, but you could swap GWM for Polearm Master and use a Spear & Shield, so War Caster would be both a must and actually a pretty sexy option overall for the OA spell.

.. though in your case, I'm tempted to pick Mage Slayer. Between Arcane Charge allowing you to teleport 30ft when you use Action Surge, and outright being a caster with access to Misty Step and beyond, it shouldn't be hard to get within 5ft to casters... which will probably be abundant in your campaign, and dispense 9th level spells like they are candy, so giving them disadvantage on Con saves to keep concentration on key spells it amazing, burning their slots for incomplete profit.

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I also like your Smite build, but I'd suggest going 12 levels of Hexblade (for Lifedrinker, plus you want your Warlock slots to be 5th level, for maximum smiting), Paladin 12 too (11 for Improved Divine Smite and rounding up 6 spellcasting levels for multiclass) and the remaining 8 levels of Swashbuckler. With the Hexblade's short rest slots plus whatever you need from paladin you will have the smite you might want, and with Swashbuckler you add 4d6 of sneak attack, plus Swashbuckler gets you your CHA to initiative, Cunning Action, Evasion and Uncanny Dodge.

[dragoeniex]

20 Wizard, 6 Tempest Cleric, 4 Whatever.

Use your Channel Divinity twice per short rest to max out your Chain Lightning damage and become the holy taser. Live the dream.

[TyGuy]

Some classes have capstones that are simply too juicy to pass up.

My favorite is the paladin's. Oh there's such good things to pile on a level 20 paladin too.

Go crit fishing with vengeance paladin 20 champion fighter 3-4. Wrap it up with any of the three Cha casters for more slots and utility.

Or simply paladin 20 sorcerer 10 for a full 20 levels of spell slots to pump into divine smite, spell smites, and quickened spells.

Need more support than damage? Paladin 20 Bard 10. Full caster slots as well but with magic secrets and inspiration.

[Raimun]

Do you use Feats? Do you get Feats/Ability Score increases past level 20?

I would get level 20 spell casting, with all 9 spell levels. That's too good to pass up. After that, there's more freedom.

If the character has good fighting stats (high Str or Dex), I'd get some class levels that made him a better melee fighter. That could save spell slots for truly powerful enemies.

However, if I were playing a wizard, I'd just get a combination of class levels that improved survivability and toughness, since you don't even need good stats for most of that. Right now, I'm playing a wizard (high level but normal rules) who has Con 20 (got Int 20 already) along with other defense stuff and let me tell you it's good being a non-squishy wizard. Though two levels of Fighter would be must for Action Surge... actually Action Surge would be good, no matter who you are and what you are doing.

[TyGuy]

If you want to try something without a level 20, fighter 12 wizard 11 would be crazy with all the utility wizard can add but the crowning cheese is tenser's transformation with four attacks.

[nickl_2000]

So, something a little bit different.

Arcane Archer 20 (action surge, 4 attacks, an arcane shot every combat, extra damage on the shots, huge amounts of ASIs), Hexblade 1 (curse, hex), War Wizard 2 (int to init, reaction +2 AC/+4 saves, familiar, shield spells), Assassin Rogue 7 (4d6 sneak attack, evasion, expertise, skills, advantage on anyone who hasn't attacked yet + auto crit). Make sure you take an elven race and get elven accuracy, the sharpshooter feat, and Alert.

In your first round of combat you are pretty sure to go first between good dex, war wizard, and alert. Then you can get double advantage and auto-crit with an arcane shot, sneak attack, and hex. If you want to go really nuts you then action surge for a total of 8 possible crits in a round.

Assume it's got the HP and you hit every attack
16d8 + 40 (attacks) - 112 damage
8d6 (sneak attack damage) - 28 damage
8d6 (arcane shot damage) - 28 damage
16d6 (hex) - 56 damage

224 damage to a target in a single round. If you use sharpshooter and hit you could potentially add another 80 damage to that for a total average potential damage of 304 damage in one round to a single target. Also, this gets higher with a magical bow and/or magical arrows.


All this and the only resources you have used are

One Hex spell, which lasts an hour, you have two of, and comes back after a short rest
One Action Surge, which you have two of and get back after a short rest
One Arcane Shot, which you regain after a short rest and if you have no uses left you gain one when you roll initiative


You need 20 Dex, 20 Int, 13 Cha, Alert, and likely want the sharpshooter feat and lucky. However, you have 8 ASIs to work with.

So High Elf point buy initial
Str: 8
Dex: 15+2
Con: 12
Int: 15+1
Wis: 8
Cha: 13

Level 4 ASI Elven Accuracy, level 6 +2 Dex, Level 8 +2 Int, Level 12 + 2 Int, Level 14 Alert, Level 16 Sharpshooter, Level 19 Con
Level 20 Stats
Str: 8
Dex: 20
Con: 14
Int: 20
Wis: 8
Cha: 13

With 1 more ASI from Rogue 4 available for either Lucky or +2 more Con.

You have 2 Warlock Cantrips, 1 High Elf Cantrip, Prestidigitation/Druidcraft from Arcane Archer, and 3 Wizard Cantrips for a total of 7 Cantrips.
Wizard Level 1 Rituals
A consistent Bonus action in Hex, Curving Shot, or Cunning Action
A consistent reaction in uncanny dodge/shield/absorb elements/war wizard.
Expertise in 4 skills and a bunch of other skill with Prof

[Danielqueue1]

20 levels Eldritch Knight, 10 levels War Wizard. The 20 levels of fighter count as 6 caster levels, so you'd be a 16 level caster, with access to 8th level spells. Not that much slots, but yet, 8th levels spells on a full 20 levels of warrior chassis is nothing to shy about!

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I also like your Smite build, but I'd suggest going 12 levels of Hexblade (for Lifedrinker, plus you want your Warlock slots to be 5th level, for maximum smiting), Paladin 12 too (11 for Improved Divine Smite and rounding up 6 spellcasting levels for multiclass) and the remaining 8 levels of Swashbuckler. With the Hexblade's short rest slots plus whatever you need from paladin you will have the smite you might want, and with Swashbuckler you add 4d6 of sneak attack, plus Swashbuckler gets you your CHA to initiative, Cunning Action, Evasion and Uncanny Dodge.

a point of clarification. multiclass spellcasting is still normal. you would have an 8th level spell slot, but only 5th level spells (even though Eldritch knight pulls from the Wizard list)

for the other build looks like paladin is the only Spellcasting class in the build (warlock is held separate in multiclassing rules) so one could stop at paladin 11 because multiclass spellcasting wouldn't be in effect. I like where this one is going though.


Do you use Feats? Do you get Feats/Ability Score increases past level 20?

I would get level 20 spell casting, with all 9 spell levels. That's too good to pass up. After that, there's more freedom.


ASIs and feats are given by the class, so yes they do continue. I was thinking of going something a little more martial oriented (as per example) but at the same time, I've been playing a caster so long, I think I may be addicted to powerful spell combos. thank you for your ideas


If you want to try something without a level 20, fighter 12 wizard 11 would be crazy with all the utility wizard can add but the crowning cheese is tenser's transformation with four attacks.

wouldn't fighter 12 only grant 3 attacks since tenser's transformation specifically doesn't stack with extra attack? or are you counting BA attacks like polearm master or dual wielding?

[CTurbo]

So many fun ideas here

Fighter 11/Paladin 11 would be awesome add in 8 levels of practically anything... Barbarian, Warlock, Sorcerer,...

[TyGuy]

wouldn't fighter 12 only grant 3 attacks since tenser's transformation specifically doesn't stack with extra attack? or are you counting BA attacks like polearm master or dual wielding?

Yes, BA for the fourth

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Fighter 20 (Cavalier)/Hexblade 6+
GWM+PAM+Sentinel
Bonus action Curse
4 attacks 4d10+28+40+5=95 damage
action surge 4 attacks another 95 damage
Bonus action Hex
4 attacks 4d10+4d6+28+40+5=109 damage
action surge 4 attacks another 109 damage

This total's 408 damage without any reactions and everything resets on a short rest.

You just solo'd demogorgon in 12 seconds.


Illusion wizard 19/Warlock 5+This is a caster with some staying power you have your standard 19+ spell caster levels and then pact magic for 2 short rest 3+ level spell slots.



Abjuration Wizard 20/Warlock 1/Bear Totem Barbarian 3
Cast Armor of Agathys at a high level then Rage your 40 Temp HP is now worth 160 HP and hits back at 40 damage per strike taken. on top of this you have all that wizard goodness. Highly recommended to grab elemental adept to ignore resistance.


Scout Rogue 11/Lore Bard 19
This is more of a skill monkey with a good focus on charisma skills. You get 10 skills and all of them are expertised, drop in skilled and you have 13/18 skills and can't roll lower then 17 in some and 24 in others.
At your next level with a +5 modifier and a +16 from expertise your minimum roll on some things will be 31

Edit: I forgot background and race +2 background take 1/2 elf for another 2 and viola you have 17/18 skills