Good level 5 power characters?

[Great cthulhu]

My DM is running a "stretch the party to the limits" campaign where deaths are very common. He is a "by the book DM" So if i decided to make a powergamed character, he wouldn't mind. Im really good at making OP characters in other games but still having the time to work in lore for them, so I want to see what ridiculous combos i can achieve in my new character. It is level 5

[Man_Over_Game]

My DM is running a "stretch the party to the limits" campaign where deaths are very common. He is a "by the book DM" So if i decided to make a powergamed character, he wouldn't mind. Im really good at making OP characters in other games but still having the time to work in lore for them, so I want to see what ridiculous combos i can achieve in my new character. It is level 5


GMWSharpshooter+Elven Accuracy Samurai (x4 Super Advantage attacks with about 18 damage each, in one turn) (Works at level 6, due to Elf requirement)
Polearm Master Bear Barbarian (Deals lots of damage and doesn't care what you do in return)
Evocation Wizard (Fireball anywhere, always)
Life Cleric with Warding Bond and Heavy Armor Master (I take your damage for you, and I also take less damage)
Shadow Sorcerer 3/Warlock 2 (Super Darkness + Eldritch Blast Spam)
Shepherd Druid (Summon lots of things, then buff your small army)

[LudicSavant]

[LIST]
GMW+Elven Accuracy Samurai (x4 Super Advantage attacks with about 20 damage each, in one turn)

Elven Accuracy only works with Dex, Wis, Cha, or Int-based attack rolls. Not Strength.

[Great cthulhu]

Elven Accuracy only works with Dex, Wis, Cha, or Int-based attack rolls. Not Strength.

What about finesse weapons?

[Man_Over_Game]

Elven Accuracy only works with Dex, Wis, Cha, or Int-based attack rolls. Not Strength.

Ah, duh. I meant Sharpshooter, Not sure why I said GWM.


What about finesse weapons?

You need to use Dexterity as the attack stat. Additionally, GWM only works with heavy weapons, and there are no melee heavy weapons that can use Dexterity.

Technically, 3 levels of Hexblade Bladepact Warlock would allow you to attack with a two handed (heavy) weapon using Charisma, though.

[LudicSavant]

What about finesse weapons?

Those work fine, but won't benefit from Great Weapon Fighting.

Sharpshooter Samurai on the other hand is one of the standard "DPR core" builds and will work well with many parties. You'll have to wait to level 6 to actually have both EA and Sharpshooter though.

[jaappleton]

VHuman Barbarian with Polearm Master and GWM feats

Just get someone to cast Bless to boost your attack rolls.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Asimar(protector) hexblade 2/shadow Sorcerer 3 for MACHINE GUN!!!(blip and blop meme).

1 life cleric/3 shepherd druid for the super Healing Sprite.

Deep gnome Abjuration wizard with Svirfneblin Magic for super arcana ward.

Moon druid kobold/Goblin/protector asimar will be nice.
Maybe something with natural armor so your beasts with natural armor will be able to use your base race bonus.

[LudicSavant]

Evocation Wizard (Fireball anywhere, always)

Wizard 5 is never a bad choice.

One option for this is to go Hobgoblin and take Moderately Armored at 4, in which case you have 19 AC (a whopping 24 with Shield) and a +5 to saves 1/short rest, making your Evoker very safe without negatively impacting their ability to blast. And you can pick up Spirit Guardians from a GGtR background, and you can have that running on your Concentration for 10 minutes and still be free to cast Fireball (meaning you can get 11d8 or more AoE damage in a round).

You can also do something similar by going Light Cleric (they have a great level 5).


Life Cleric with Warding Bond and Heavy Armor Master (I take your damage for you, and I also take less damage)

I'm a big fan of Warding Bond.

+1 to AC and all saves is about as good as the bonus from Shield of Faith... except without Concentration, and an hour duration instead of 10 minutes. That alone would make it a worthwhile spell. Adding a damage split on top of that is just amazing. Also, unlike most damage splitting abilities, it lacks the "this damage cannot be reduced" clause.

If you can get access to Druid-compatible heavy armor ("unusual material" is a minor armor property in the DMG that can be applied to any armor), you could even go Life Cleric / Druid and pick up Warding Bond from a GGtR background (Selesnya), and use upcast Healing Spirit (2d6+5 healing per target per tick, can potentially activate on the same target multiple times per round, and your actions are kept free). And use "Greatberries." Remember that you can use your leftover spell slots before resting to make Goodberries for the next day, due to their 24 hour duration.

[Man_Over_Game]

One I forgot about is the Tripping Battle Master.

GWM + Polearm Master. Use your first attack to Trip the target, then make your next attack be Precise with -5/+10, then make a Bonus Action Attack with -5/+10.

Next turn, do it again.

[LudicSavant]

VHuman Sharpshooter / Crossbow Expert Battle Master is good at 5. Not just because of their Precision Attack DPR, but also because things like Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, and Pushing Attack are even better lockdown when you're at range.

You can also still benefit from Tripping Attack (or other sources of prone) since you don't suffer Disadvantage at close range. (Prone only requires an attack to be made within 5 feet, not for it to actually be a melee attack).

[Rukelnikov]

If you don't care for future proofing and just wanna be good at lvl 5, the following could work reasonably well:

Anything
Barbarian1/Lock(Any but Undying)1/Druid(Moon)3

Str 13(5)
Dex 8
Con 14(7)
Int 8
Wis 13(5)
Cha 13(5)

I didn't even spend all the points, or applied racials, you can distribute them as you wish as long as you meet the MC criteria, it doesn't matter much.

Cast Armor of Agathys before combat with your 2nd lvl slot (lasts 1 hour) turn into a bear also before combat (also lasts 1 hour), when combat starts rage and go to town.

You get an outstanding amount of HP per short rest, and with Rage on top of AoA you will likely get to return damage at least 3 times.

You can be any Lock, since all get you something, GOO allows you to communicate in WS, Fiend allows you to recharge your temp HP when AoA runs out (but requires pumping Cha, so maybe not the best), Hexblade allows you to curse people while in WS for better crits and damage, Fey grants you a 1/sr control spell (but again requires to pump Cha for an effective DC)

For race you can do almost anything, your physical stats don't matter much, so you can go Vhuman for some feat, Goliath for the block, Eladrin for the Fey Step 1/sr (works in WS), Lizardfolk for the temp HP BA bite 1/sr, or almost anything cool you can cook up.

[Fryy]

LudicSavant posted a good Arcana Cleric build on his 'effective builds' thread. You could have Revivify with Cleric 5.

Alternatively, just go Paladin 5 followed by Paladin 6. Longsword & shield, dueling fighting style. STR, CHA > CON > DEX, WIS, INT.

[CTurbo]

Solo class is definitely the way to go for the "best" possible 5th level character. Level 5 is a big level for every class.

There's also not a lot of room for "powergaming" at this point, but you can still build some very strong builds.

Vhuman is going to be strictly superior in most cases since it's the only race that can get you two feats or one feat plus 18 in your main stat by level 5.


Other than that just choose your favorite class, choose a relevant feat or 2 /or feat + 18 in main stat, and BAM you have a very very strong level 5 character.

Barbs, with reckless attack, are best at overcoming having "only" 16 in your attack stat so is the best choice for a two feat combo of any combo of GWM, PAM, and Sentinel.

[Nidgit]

Sheperd Druid X/Life Cleric 1. Go VHuman or Hill Dwarf and take Res (Con) and/or Warcaster. With 19-20 AC, proficiency in Con saves, and advantage on Concentration checks, your buff summons are there to stay. Spend your lower level slots on enhanced Goodberries and Healing Spirits and endlessly summon everything else.

[Dork_Forge]

I like a hand crossbow build at level 5. Go Variant human, take crossbow expert as your racial feat and go gloomstalker Ranger all the way. Take Sharpshooter with your 4th level ASI and reign death from a safe distance.

[Bobthewizard]

Probably not what you're looking for, but wizards get good at level 5.
Diviner or Enchanter are probably best at that level. If you want OP, go Diviner with the Lucky Feat.
If everyone else in the party is doing these GWM,PAM,SS combos, wizard will help more.
You'll have 9 spell slots total, at least 5 of which can each virtually end an encounter.

Cantrips - Minor Illusion, Ray of Frost, Toll the Dead, ??
Level 1 - Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements, Tasha's Laughter (Detect Magic, Find Familiar)
Level 2 - Web, Misty Step, Mirror Image
Level 3 - Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern