[HELP] I need a single-class build, firepower & survivability focused.

[Samiel_Fronsac]

Hello friends,

TL;DR: Title, plus mostly boss fights, must be primary caster, preferably Cleric/Druid. Details below.

My group is starting a new campaign next week, and our group is mainly optimizers / powergamers, except for me. I'm not good at number crunching. I tried an Oath of Vengeance Paladin last game and I couldn't keep up with my enthusiastic gaming peers, which caused a lot of frustration to both sides of the issue.

So I come asking for your help. Our group doesn't allow Multiclass, but Feats are fair game, as is any WotC official material that's not UA.

We roll for attributes, and I got VERY lucky: I've got 17, 17, 16, 15, 13, 11, to be assigned in any order I want.

The DM for this game uses short rests as little as possible, most fights are "boss fights", so, as I said in the title, my main concerns are firepower and survivability.

I'm on the market for a Cleric or Druid, but any single-class powerful build that's primary caster helps a lot.

Thanks for you help.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hello friends,

TL;DR: Title, plus mostly boss fights, must be primary caster, preferably Cleric/Druid. Details below.

My group is starting a new campaign next week, and our group is mainly optimizers / powergamers, except for me. I'm not good at number crunching. I tried an Oath of Vengeance Paladin last game and I couldn't keep up with my enthusiastic gaming peers, which caused a lot of frustration to both sides of the issue.

So I come asking for your help. Our group doesn't allow Multiclass, but Feats are fair game, as is any WotC official material that's not UA.

We roll for attributes, and I got VERY lucky: I've got 17, 17, 16, 15, 13, 11, to be assigned in any order I want.

The DM for this game uses short rests as little as possible, most fights are "boss fights", so, as I said in the title, my main concerns are firepower and survivability.

I'm on the market for a Cleric or Druid, but any single-class powerful build that's primary caster helps a lot.

Thanks for you help.

It's hard to make anything that's more optimized than a Shepherds Druid Summoner. Since numbers are powerful in 5e, swarming a boss is an incredibly powerful tactic.

With stats like those, you might want to focus on being some kind of front-liner caster. A back-line caster will only ever use about 2 stats (and ignore the other 4), but a melee caster uses at least 3. So utilize your stupidly high array and take some damage for the team.

Good examples of things that work for a front line, optimized caster are:

Order Cleric (Ravnica book), which grants allies extra attacks and stuns enemies in place. Great for an optimized party.
Life Cleric with Warding Bond and the Heavy Armor Master feat. Absorb damage for your allies, then mitigate the damage you take with Heavy Armor Master. Then heal your ally and yourself for massive healing as a level 1 spell.
Tempest Cleric. Tack on the Spell Sniper feat (grabbing Booming Blade), and now you can use a Whip to shock enemies into place. You can upgrade the combo by getting Polearm Master, and then finally War Caster to cast Booming Blade as a Reaction as enemies approach.



You are going to have a hard time finding any single-target, single class builds coming from Druid or Cleric. Neither are designed for straight damage. They both have a lot of tools at their disposal, and have spell lists specifically designed to help others shine (because they're already so versatile and any more "selfish" options would make them stand out too much).

Most builds that focus on dealing damage out of these classes rely on multiclassing, like Arcana Wizard + Hexblade for Magic Missile spam, or Storm Sorcerer + Tempest Cleric for lots of lightning blasts. But the Druid and Cleric specifically don't have much support in the "deal damage with magic" department.

[zinycor]

When you say you couldn't keep up, while playing a vengeance paladin, What do you mean by that? In my experience a vengeance paladin should have a pretty high damage and be able to tank quite a lot.

Anyway, I would go with totem (bear) barbarian, pick shield master as soon as possible, and then enjoy.

Edit: also pick the feat on xanathar that allows you to double your proficiency bonus on a skill of your choice and pick athletics. With all of that you should be able to knock over any large or smaller opponent.

[Potato_Priest]

With those stats, I’d give the GWM war cleric a try. It’s in all honesty one of the most fun combat builds I’ve ever played, boasting full spellcasting, excellent single target damage damage from GWM+bless+channel divinity + war god’s blessing, and it just feels exactly how a holy crusader should. Grab GWM early, then either war caster or resilient:constitution so that you can get full value out of your concentration spells while remaining a melee combatant.

[nickl_2000]

High Elf Eldritch Knight

Str 13
Dex 19
Con 16
Wis 15
Int 18
Cha 11

At level 4 you take Elven Accuracy to boost Dex and get triple advantage. Go sword and board, and with the shield spell you can have the highest AC in the entire game. To increase damage you get all kinds of extra attacks and you can pick up Shadow Blade to increase the damage per hit.

[Samiel_Fronsac]

You are going to have a hard time finding any single-target, single class builds coming from Druid or Cleric. Neither are designed for straight damage. They both have a lot of tools at their disposal, and have spell lists specifically designed to help others shine (because they're already so versatile and any more "selfish" options would make them stand out too much).

Most builds that focus on dealing damage out of these classes rely on multiclassing, like Arcana Wizard + Hexblade for Magic Missile spam, or Storm Sorcerer + Tempest Cleric for lots of lightning blasts. But the Druid and Cleric specifically don't have much support in the "deal damage with magic" department.

Yeah, I figured something like that, that's why I'm accepting any primary caster builds. Single-class puts a limit to optimization, I think that's what my DM intended.


When you say you couldn't keep up, while playing a vengeance paladin, What do you mean by that? In my experience a vengeance paladin should have a pretty high damage and be able to tank quite a lot.

Back-to-back "boss" fights with no rest. Smite spends spell slots pretty fast, and I wasn't optimized. I made some bad choices early on "the build", before I learned that I needed one.


With those stats, I’d give the GWM war cleric a try. It’s in all honesty one of the most fun combat builds I’ve ever played, boasting full spellcasting, excellent single target damage damage from GWM+bless+channel divinity + war god’s blessing, and it just feels exactly how a holy crusader should. Grab GWM early, then either war caster or resilient:constitution so that you can get full value out of your concentration spells while remaining a melee combatant.

What are your thoughts on the Death and Order Domains?


High Elf Eldritch Knight

Str 13
Dex 19
Con 16
Wis 15
Int 18
Cha 11

At level 4 you take Elven Accuracy to boost Dex and get triple advantage. Go sword and board, and with the shield spell you can have the highest AC in the entire game. To increase damage you get all kinds of extra attacks and you can pick up Shadow Blade to increase the damage per hit.

Nice! I'm gonna try this if I can't find any full caster builds.

[Nhym]

I direct you to my Shepherd Druid guide: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588987-Circle-of-the-Shepherd-Druid-Guide-to-Fuzzy-Fury

Not much beats the damage of mass summons.

[zinycor]

Back-to-back "boss" fights with no rest. Smite spends spell slots pretty fast, and I wasn't optimized. I made some bad choices early on "the build", before I learned that I needed one.

You sure you want a caster? If that situation happens again, any caster would run out of spells.

If that sort of thing happens often, I would recommend you to play a rogue, since most of their abilities need not to be recharged. Any archetype would work but personally I would go with assassin.

[Potato_Priest]

What are your thoughts on the Death and Order Domains?


The death domain is not nearly as good for damage or survivability, as it lacks heavy armor and its only great ability is turning toll the dead into a better acid splash, but I don’t know anything about the order domain. Where can you find it?

[Man_Over_Game]

Ugh, classic 5e mistake. Cutting out Short Rests is a recipe for disaster when it comes to class balance.

It makes it so that:

Monks < Fighters < Barbarians < Paladins
Warlocks < Bard < Any other Full Caster
Hit Dice are worthless as a resource (unless you're a Dwarf with the Dwarf-specific feat, still bad).
Many features becomes unusable (like Arcane or Natural Recovery), including several Subclass features.


For what you're describing, with damage being a major concern, just go Gloomstalker Ranger with Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter.

That's 60 range (Sharpshooter with a Hand Crossbow), 3x attacks per turn (Crossbow Expert), +1 attack on your first turn (Gloomstalker), +10 damage per hit (Sharpshooter), +1d6 damage per hit (Hunter's Mark, -1 attack on your first turn due to using your Bonus Action).

If you're worried about survivability, you have 60ft of range, 1d10 Hit Die, and medium armor. You can also use your crossbow in melee combat, so even being surrounded isn't a problem.

If you're fine not being a spell caster, you can do something similar as a Elven Samurai with Sharpshooter. Pick up Elven Accuracy, give all of your attacks Advantage for the round, take your Action Surge, and now you're rolling 3d20 for each of your 4-6 attacks on the first turn in combat, each with +10 damage on a hit.







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If we're being honest, the best single target build in the game, ever, is a Hexblade build. Not only is your subclass feature built around single target attacking, but your most used spell (Hex) also focuses around single targets, AND your primary damage spell (Eldritch Blast) happens to be a single-target spamming spell attack with lots of synergies in your Invocations.

The catch is that the Warlock is pretty bad without Short Rests. But it still kinda fits what you're looking for, and it wouldn't be too terrible for 1-2 fights in a day.

Combine Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast, and now you are dealing (1d6 + Proficiency + Modifier + 1d10 + knockback 5 feet)x2 every round at 120 feet away.

[Nidgit]

Any clue on what the rest of your party looks like? With those stats you could make a very nice Valor or Swords Bard too if you're interested in support. They're a bit more short-rest dependent but if your days are short anyway it shouldn't matter.

War or Forge Cleric are great options here too.

[Keravath]

I'd suggest Arcana Cleric with booming blade. There are some good builds for it on here.

Arcana Cleric Frontliner
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583957-An-Eclectic-Collection-of-Fun-and-Effective-Builds

[Samiel_Fronsac]

You sure you want a caster? If that situation happens again, any caster would run out of spells.

If that sort of thing happens often, I would recommend you to play a rogue, since most of their abilities need not to be recharged. Any archetype would work but personally I would go with assassin.

Yep. I'm kinda tired of playing with warriors. I entertained the idea of playing with a Rogue Assassin, but my DM is pretty strict with surprise, so it almost never happens. But if you got any other ideas for a rogue, I'm all ears.


The death domain is not nearly as good for damage or survivability, as it lacks heavy armor and its only great ability is turning toll the dead into a better acid splash, but I don’t know anything about the order domain. Where can you find it?

Order Domain is from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. It gives Command, Heroism, Hold Person, Zone of Truth, Mass Healing Word, Slow and other spells of the same kind, Proficiency with Heavy Armor and Persuasion, an ability to give an extra attack as as reaction to an ally you target with a spell of 1st level or higher, a channel divinity ability to charm people in a area and make them drop weapons/items, another to turn enchantments into bonus actions a few times, divine strike with psychic damage.


Ugh, classic 5e mistake. Cutting out Short Rests is a recipe for disaster when it comes to class balance.

-----------------------------------------

If we're being honest, the best single target build in the game, ever, is a Hexblade build. Not only is your subclass feature built around single target attacking, but your most used spell (Hex) also focuses around single targets, AND your primary damage spell (Eldritch Blast) happens to be a single-target spamming spell attack with lots of synergies in your Invocations.

The catch is that the Warlock is pretty bad without Short Rests. But it still kinda fits what you're looking for, and it wouldn't be too terrible for 1-2 fights in a day.

Combine Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast, and now you are dealing (1d6 + Proficiency + Modifier + 1d10 + knockback 5 feet)x2 every round at 120 feet away.

Yeah, sucks not being able to use Short Rests the right way.

Can you point me to some resource with details on this Warlock thing? I kinda like it.


Any clue on what the rest of your party looks like? With those stats you could make a very nice Valor or Swords Bard too if you're interested in support. They're a bit more short-rest dependent but if your days are short anyway it shouldn't matter.

War or Forge Cleric are great options here too.

I just got that information five minutes ago, the party supposedly is:

Goliath Fighter Champion,

Half-Elf Paladin Oathbreaker,

Human or Warforged Wizard Necromancer.


I'd suggest Arcana Cleric with booming blade. There are some good builds for it on here.

Arcana Cleric Frontliner
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583957-An-Eclectic-Collection-of-Fun-and-Effective-Builds

I'm going to give it a look, thanks!

[Iados]

Tiefling Draconic Sorcerer [Fire (for Firepower) or Lightning (for Survivability)]

STR: 13
DEX: 16
CON: 17
INT: 11
WIS: 15
CHA: 17

Choose Levistus as your Tiefling subrace ancestor; this improves your CON to 18 (+4) and your CHA to 19 (+4). It will also give you the means to cast Armor of Agathys 1/day at 3rd level, which is decent for punishing the first thing that dares to attack you in melee. Invest early in Shield, Absorb Elements, and False Life (for after you've spent your Armor of Agathys) to respectively improve your AC, reduce elemental damage, or give yourself additional hit points. For your first Feat, invest in Infernal Constitution, which will improve your CON to 19 and give you resistance to both cold and poison damage. If you chose a dragon that deals Lightning damage as your draconic ancestor, you're now innately resistant to fire, cold, and poison damage, and can spend a sorcery point to become resistant to lightning damage as well. You might not even need Absorb Elements if you choose this route. For your second ASI/Feat, split the ASI between CON and CHA to improve both to 20 (+5). You can also consider choosing Tough as a Feat, if the character still needs more hit points.

That should hopefully cover survivability. As for firepower, focus on cantrips/spells that align with your draconic ancestry. Fire is the optimal option in this regard, particularly if you use Elemental Adept to make your fire spells deal full damage to targets that can normally resist fire damage. Firepower shouldn't be difficult to develop, as it's something you have literally mastered. Also, don't overlook ability/spell combos that can make you dangerous independently of directly dealing damage. (At higher levels, cast True Seeing and then cast Darkness on yourself to become a roaming black hole of death: you get advantage on attacking anything that can't see you in the darkness, whilst they get disadvantage on attacking you.*) Tactical use of Subtle, Quickened, and Twin metamagics can be a game-changer (or at least, an encounter-changer), if optimally deployed.

*Greater Invisibility can achieve identical mechanics for fewer resources, I should note, but isn't nearly as amusing in my headcanon as a moving sphere of darkness emitting Fire Bolts and Fireballs every six seconds. :smallsmile:

[zinycor]

Your GM seems worse by the minute..

Anyway, what about cleric light domain? Tons of damage, utility, and several defensive measures.

[Cononsberg]

Use a ranger, beastmaster, and Sharpshooter feat. Fighting Style Archer obviously. It deals tons of damage, like this:
Use -5 +10 with feat
Make companion use Help
Voilà, death on a plate

[Man_Over_Game]

Yeah, sucks not being able to use Short Rests the right way.

Can you point me to some resource with details on this Warlock thing? I kinda like it.

I'm describing the Hexblade Warlock Patron, from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. It comes with:

Proficiency in Martial Weapons, shields and Medium Armor.
Shield (as in, the spell).
A Short Rest curse that afflicts a single target as a bonus action, no Concentration. It has these benefits:


Your attacks on the creature add your proficiency bonus to the damage.
Your attacks on the creature crit on a 19 or 20.
Slaying the creature grants you HP equal to your Warlock level.



You can use the Curse once per Short Rest.

Eldritch Blast shoots multiple beams instead of dealing more damage as it scales, so it works well with the Proficiency Bonus gain, as well as synergizing with other benefits like Hex or some of your Warlock invocations (Agonizing Blast = Charisma Modifier on your Eldritch Blast shots, Repelling Blast means 5ft knockback on each Eldritch Blast hit).

The classic build for this is to go 2 levels into Warlock, the invest solely into Sorcerer for the Quicken Metamagic, in order to cast Eldritch Blast twice on the same creature every turn. It's still feasible without the Sorcerer levels, though.

Most Warlock Guides on here are kinda bad, but I'll give you all that you need to know, just follow this flow chart:


Deal Damage

Weapon Attack

Hexblade OR Fiend

Darkness (the spell) + Devil's Sight (the invocation) for Advantage to hit everything, and Disadvantage to be hit back. Just move away from your team so they aren't in the Darkness.


Spells

Fiend Patron

Doesn't really matter how you build it. Just burninate everything like you're a pyromaniac. Focus on AoE over single target damage, and convince your team that they don't need an Evocation Wizard. Pick up the Elemental Adept feat.



Hexblade Patron

Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast + Repelling Blast. Not much more to do here. Repeat this pattern for 20 levels, and you're done! Be a flying race if you want to spice things up a bit.



Use Utility

Archfey OR Celestial OR Great Old One OR Undying Patrons

Grab Tome with the Ritual invocation, or grab the Chain Pact and focus on manipulating/scouting. Take special interest in the Mask of Many Faces invocation, or the one that gives you Silent Image. Pretty hard to go wrong here, as Warlocks make excellent utilitarians.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

So I come asking for your help. Our group doesn't allow Multiclass, but Feats are fair game, as is any WotC official material that's not UA.
We roll for attributes, and I got VERY lucky: I've got 17, 17, 16, 15, 13, 11, to be assigned in any order I want.
The DM for this game uses short rests as little as possible, most fights are "boss fights", so, as I said in the title, my main concerns are firepower and survivability.
I'm on the market for a Cleric or Druid, but any single-class powerful build that's primary caster helps a lot.



Hill Dwarf
Tempest cleric
16,15,19,13,18,11
Background: Izzet Engineer (access to shocking grasp as a cleric spell)
You are very tanky, High HP, Heavy Armor, and Healing.
Damage is a little more of an issue on a cleric Chassis but is still more then doable. The main thing with a cleric is you can own the action economy.

Level 1: Everyone's damage sucks and no one has enough spell slots, You have the armor and HP to get into the middle of the action with Inflict Wounds. You also have your wrath of the storm to use as a reaction 4 times per long rest.
Level 2: You get another spell slot and your damage bread and butter which is an automatic max damage lightning based spell. Thunderwave is now amazing for you.
Level 3: Now we're talking. Spiritual Weapon and Shatter. Turn one cast spiritual weapon, and either make a weapon attack or use a cantrip. On your second turn you hit again with Spiritual weapon and then hit them with a maxed out shatter.
Level 4: I would use your ASI to up your wisdom to 20, The main benefit to this is increasing your spell save DC and attack bonus.
Level 5: You get access to both Spirit Guardians and Call Lightning, You have the AC and HP to be up front in the mainlines running spirit guardians. Turn 1 Spiritual weapon and a cantrip, Turn 2 Spiritual weapon and Spirit guardians, Turn three stack those and maximized shatter.
This would basically be your bread and butter for sheer damage. you could also grab magic initiate and grab either booming blade or something like thorn whip to keep people inside your spirit guardians bubble.
On an ideal round three at level 5 your dealing 9.5 with your bonus action 13.5 on their turn and 32 damage with an upcast shatter. you could also do an additional 9 damage with your wrath of the storm if they hit you.

The biggest issue with this build is resource expenditure, you burn through resources at an absurd rate, but if you are only doing 1 encounter per long rest then it gets mildly absurd.

At Level 8 I would grab the dwarven racial feat from Xanathar's this gives you a +1 con and allows you to sit their taking the dodge action while beating people up with your spiritual weapon/guardians.
At 12 I would grab resilient Dex.

[Rukelnikov]

What lvl are you starting? That is very relevant so we can give you proper advice, for instance some builds RULE after lvl 10, but are kinda sucky before that.

And also, if you have any idea or guess as to what level you think its likely to be played, that would also be relevant (not as much as what lvl you start though)

[GorogIrongut]

Lots of good advice in here so far. I personally prefer Cleric to Druid, but druids can be very successful at the things your looking for. I won't however be the one mentioning them... (side point, one of your party members is already going to be a necromancer... that means your DM may very quickly get tired of Minionmancy... Which could adversely impact an aspect of Druid play)

So, Clerics are awesome. There are loads of variants which make them supremely customizable depending on what you want to do. For your purposes, I would personally recommend either Light (already mentioned), Tempest (already mentioned) or Forge.

I've never seen anyone complain about their Tempest Cleric. If anything they have ridiculous amounts of fun with them. They can be very damage oriented if used well, while still simultaneously being tanky.

Light Clerics get to burn stuff. They're definitely melee oriented, but won't be as damage oriented as the Tempest Cleric.

The Forge Cleric is perhaps my favourite cleric. They are the very definition of a tank. You will get strong use out of most of their abilities throughout all of your 20 levels (helping you or helping your party members). Interestingly, you still get to burn a lot of stuff (alla Light Cleric) but are MUCH more combat oriented.

p.s. Your party isn't heavy on skill monkeys. If this is because your DM doesn't use that aspect, then great. If he does... then a Knowledge Cleric is a viable option.
p.s.s. Death Clerics can SLAY. They aren't the best necromancers, but when tweaked properly they are very offensive. Going Cleric of Death would also give you and the Necromancer a shared interest which could theoretically bond the party more.

Level 1 Hill Dwarf HP: 13 AC: Heavy Armour/Shield and +1 from Blessing of the Forge=loads
Str 15
Dex 16
Con 17+2= 19
Int 13
Wis 17+1=18
Cha 11

ASI 4 goes to +2 Wisdom for maxed out casting and saves.
ASI 8 goes to Warcaster (maxes out your Con and makes you an unparalleled melee caster... if you can find a way, get booming blade). At this point you get +6 hp for EVERY level. Considering the sick AC you will have, melee will be a walk in the park.

[Nidgit]

I'm tempted to be vindictive and say go Shepherd Druid for maximum minion synergy. Drop a Bear Totem and at Level 7 each of your Necromancer's skeletons has 31 hp and hits for 1d6+8 damage when near your Paladin. Summon your own wolves and prone your enemies to make up for the undeads' atrocious attack bonus.

If you don't want to make your DM cry, Cleric, Bard, or Dreams Druid is the way to go.

[Fable Wright]

I'm tempted to be vindictive and say go Shepherd Druid for maximum minion synergy. Drop a Bear Totem and at Level 7 each of your Necromancer's skeletons has 31 hp and hits for 1d6+8 damage when near your Paladin. Summon your own wolves and prone your enemies to make up for the undeads' atrocious attack bonus.

Having played a Shepherd druid:

On paper, it's great if you can summon velociraptors reliably. BUT...

1. Anything with an aura screws you badly. Fighting a Narzugon was miserable. I'm basically incapable of fighting most of the seasonal Eladrin from Tome of Foes. Retributive damage on hit is bad if I can't resupply my totem via short rest.

2. Flying + too small to summon many minions onto + Poison Immune = a bad time. The flying snakes just absolutely require poison damage to make aerial combat work.

3. You need Korred to ground dragons to fight them. Just... AoE + flight = a bad time.

4. If your minions lose LoS, targeting blindly is going to mess you up more than someone whose minions have a higher proficiency bonus. On a related note, your damage goes down dramatically when you get into > 20 AC foes unless you're going with Planar Bound Hags & Korreds.

If I was going for a sustainable full caster who is never screwed out of relevance, I'd throw in with a Tempest cleric. You're the one cleric with good long range damage via Channel Divinity + Call Lightning; you still have Spirit Guardians + Spiritual Weapon to be a melee all-star (add in Magic Initiate: Wizard for Booming Blade + Find Familiar for advantage on your almost-sneak-attack-damage standard melee attack); and you're the one with (Mass) Healing Word. Oh, and you can occasionally drown nearby settlements with Control Water.

I have never seen a single person dissatisfied with their Tempest Cleric. Ever. Melee battlefield control (Spirit Guardians). Ranged battlefield control (Sleet Storm). Melee damage (Spirit weapons + Spirit Guardians + Booming Blade + Familiar). Ranged Damage (Maximized call lightning). Ranged AoE (Maximized Shatter). Melee AoE (Spirit Guardians). Out of combat utility (Augury, Divination, Commune, maybe Clairvoyance). Survivability from heavy armor + your high Con for spellcasting.

Oh, and starting at level 10, early access to 9th level spells, albeit unreliably.

[CTurbo]

I say Tempest Cleric all the way. With stats like that you'd be a beast and you could afford both Warcaster and Res(Wis)

Just prioritize Wis>Con>Str>Dex>Int=Cha

[Samiel_Fronsac]

What lvl are you starting? That is very relevant so we can give you proper advice, for instance some builds RULE after lvl 10, but are kinda sucky before that.

And also, if you have any idea or guess as to what level you think its likely to be played, that would also be relevant (not as much as what lvl you start though)

You're right, I'm sorry, I could swear I put the level in the original post... Level 10.

[Nhym]

Having played a Shepherd druid:

On paper, it's great if you can summon velociraptors reliably. BUT...

1. Anything with an aura screws you badly. Fighting a Narzugon was miserable. I'm basically incapable of fighting most of the seasonal Eladrin from Tome of Foes. Retributive damage on hit is bad if I can't resupply my totem via short rest.
2. Flying + too small to summon many minions onto + Poison Immune = a bad time. The flying snakes just absolutely require poison damage to make aerial combat work.
3. You need Korred to ground dragons to fight them. Just... AoE + flight = a bad time.
4. If your minions lose LoS, targeting blindly is going to mess you up more than someone whose minions have a higher proficiency bonus. On a related note, your damage goes down dramatically when you get into > 20 AC foes unless you're going with Planar Bound Hags & Korreds.


I'm afraid I'm going to have to come to the defense of the Shepherd Druid.

Druids have so much utility baked in that they ALWAYS have something productive to do. Just because it may not be optimal in a current circumstance to use a Conjure spell doesn’t mean that Shepherd Druids are any less useful, if anything it just means you are less OP in that circumstance. Druids as a class are still full casters and have so many options. You don't have to always use your concentration on summons, and sometimes it’s better to not. Either way, Druids are powerful regardless.

For example:
For Damage, you can still cast/upcast Moonbeam, Call Lightning, Insect Plague, etc…

1. Narzugon don’t have great dex so you can make use of Sleet Storm, Bones of the Earth and Reverse Gravity. For Eladrin, if you really want to use summons most Fey have Magic Resistance and the Yeth Hound is immune to both Charm and Fear.
2. Whirlwind works really well against fliers in confined spaces. Alternatively, Pixies and Sprites are both tiny and can fly so a group of them can fit almost anywhere.
3. For Dragons, if you have a reliable team, you can cast Earthbind on it and spam Erupting Earth while your party goes ham. Otherwise, dragons don’t have high dex or wis so Sleet Storm and Polymorph can work well. Actually, if you summon Pixies and have them spam Polymorph, you can turn the dragon into an insect and put it somewhere dangerous like through a portal to whoknowswhere.
4. Most snakes have blindsight and since summoning Giant Poisonous Snakes is a good default against non-poison resistant enemies, it can be a great counter to low visibility.

Pack Tactics work well against high AC enemies and you can upcast to get a bunch of Dire Wolves with both Pack Tactics and a +5 to hit.
But it is true, usefulness does drop off against really high AC enemies. Fortunately, damage is only a small portion of what you can do. No matter what you are up against, you can always support your party by healing with Unicorn Totem, setup multiple types of walls to split enemies up, cast any of the multitudes of combat-shifting, battlefield shaping CC, or literally just use an earth elemental to tank a bunch of damage for the party.

Basically, if you are playing ANY druid and run out of things to do to effectively support your party, you are doing it wrong.

[Kane0]

Seconding orbital laser Moonbeam druid.

[Wildarm]

Goblin Barb1/Shadow Monk X

16 Str, 19 Dex, 18 Con, 13 Int, 15 Wis, 11 Cha
Max Dex and bump Wis at level 4, Max Con at 20

You're a nasty monk assassin. Silence + Rage then Teleport + Grapple. You have the AC and HP to ignore your foes blows till you choke them out. Serves as an excellent Rogue/Scout as well.

Regular fights you're a highly mobile spear wielding skirmisher and your stunning fist DC is not too bad.

[Fable Wright]

Druids have so much utility baked in that they ALWAYS have something productive to do. Just because it may not be optimal in a current circumstance to use a Conjure spell doesn’t mean that Shepherd Druids are any less useful, if anything it just means you are less OP in that circumstance. Druids as a class are still full casters and have so many options. You don't have to always use your concentration on summons, and sometimes it’s better to not. Either way, Druids are powerful regardless.

Oh, I 100% agree. My DM has conniptions based on the fact that my summons annihilate any single target, so when he threw an encounter of... I think it was two Orthons, two Volo's Guide Fiend Pact Warlocks, a Narzugon, six Fire Elementals and three Volo's Guide Archers at my T3 Shepherd and a T2 Tempest Cleric (plus one planar bound Annis Hag) when we were on a solo mission.

It was utterly crushed without any summons and only 3-4 spells expended, leaving the DM completely confounded.

(For reference, the party was pre-buffed with Water Walk, and the Druid's Transmute Rock basically locked everyone in place... except the party. Then the Tempest Cleric caught two archers, the Narzugon, and two Orthons in a Sleet Storm, making it even harder to move and breaking ranged LoS. Round two, Tidal Waves were used to wipe out the fire elementals due to the number of gallons in a 30' by 10' by 10' area, and we just one by one solo'd people who made it out of the Sleet Storm after the Annis Hag made mincemeat of the archers.)

Spell endurance? Check. Productive use of slots? Check. Firepower?

Hard no. I think I used a Thorn Whip... twice, over the eight round combat? That and clearing out the fire elementals were basically all the damage I did.

And OP is asking for firepower, which the Tempest Cleric had in spades despite burning Concentration on Sleet Storm... and being T2. If you don't think ahead and plan for when you don't use summons as a Shepherd druid, you're going to have a Bad TimeTM, and it didn't seem like the OP was in that mindset.

[sithlordnergal]

So, sounds like you may need a class that doesn't rely fully on expendable resources. Though I'll toss in a Caster too if you really wanna play one.




Race: High Elf

Subclass: Swashbuckler

---Ability Scores---
Str: 11

Dex: 19

Con: 17

Int: 14

Wis: 15

Cha: 16
---

Snag Booming Blade as your High Elf Cantrip from Sword Coast Adventures Guide, move in and attack with it, then bonus action dash to move back out of reach. Thanks to the Swashbuckler's abilities a target you make a melee attack against can't make opportunity attacks on you, and you can get sneak attack if you're the only one next to the target as long as they don't have an ally next to them. If they lack ranged attacks they'll be forced to move, setting off the Booming Blade.

This build gives you pretty much everything you'd need for pure damage without requiring you to spend any resources. Make sure you get your Charisma to 18 though, or maybe even maxed out. You get a bonus to your initiative equal to your charisma modifier, and eventually you can use the persuasion skill to either Charm a target or give them disadvantage when attacking anyone but you and they can't make an opportunity attack against anyone but you. The only requirement for this to work is that you speak the same language.


If you really insist on being a Caster, Shepard Druid is where its at. Normally I would recommend Moon Druid, but without Short Rests you'll be in a lot of trouble. Go Shepard Druid, cast Conjure Animals, watch the DM fall to your waves of CR 1/4ths.

[zinycor]

Level 10? Rogue is absolutely the way to go, specially since you have a GM who does allow you to rest. In my opinion you would be crippling yourself by picking a caster under these conditions.

[Nhym]

Oh, I 100% agree. My DM has conniptions based on the fact that my summons annihilate any single target, so when he threw an encounter of... I think it was two Orthons, two Volo's Guide Fiend Pact Warlocks, a Narzugon, six Fire Elementals and three Volo's Guide Archers at my T3 Shepherd and a T2 Tempest Cleric (plus one planar bound Annis Hag) when we were on a solo mission.

Sounds like your DM is a jerk. He must be afraid of you :D


And OP is asking for firepower, which the Tempest Cleric had in spades

Fair enough. Blasting is pretty much the only thing a Shepherd Druid can't do well as Druids just don't have near the blasting capabilities of other classes.

Also as you are well aware, Druids are very difficult to play well. So if the OP just wants to sit back and melt faces, I would agree. That channel divinity is probably the best thing a blaster could ask for and, depending on subclass, Clerics are very capable in any combat situation. (Cleric is one of my favorite classes seconded only by Druid)

[BoringInfoGuy]

High Elf Eldritch Knight

Str 13
Dex 19
Con 16
Wis 15
Int 18
Cha 11

At level 4 you take Elven Accuracy to boost Dex and get triple advantage. Go sword and board, and with the shield spell you can have the highest AC in the entire game. To increase damage you get all kinds of extra attacks and you can pick up Shadow Blade to increase the damage per hit.

Small problem trying to go Sword and Board and use the shield spell.

Without the Warcaster feat to prevent your weapons and shield from interfering with using Somatic components, you won’t be able to cast Shield as a reaction.

Many DMs will allow you drop a weapon for free during your turn, but Reactions normally take place on another's turn.

So for Sword & Board & Shield Spell to work, you need either a Feat or a DM with an extra lax approach to the spell casting rules.

[LudicSavant]

Small problem trying to go Sword and Board and use the shield spell.

Without the Warcaster feat to prevent your weapons and shield from interfering with using Somatic components, you won’t be able to cast Shield as a reaction.

Many DMs will allow you drop a weapon for free during your turn, but Reactions normally take place on another's turn.

So for Sword & Board & Shield Spell to work, you need either a Feat or a DM with an extra lax approach to the spell casting rules.

There are a few other ways to handle it besides getting Warcaster (not that getting Warcaster is in any way a bad thing; I'd take it on an EK in a heartbeat even if Somatic components were a non-issue).

For example, XGtE gives us the Ruby of the War Mage, which resolves the somatic component issue. It's only a "Common" magic item, which puts it in the same category as stuff like "Potion of Healing."

[BoringInfoGuy]

There are a few other ways to handle it besides getting Warcaster (not that getting Warcaster is in any way a bad thing; I'd take it on an EK in a heartbeat even if Somatic components were a non-issue).

For example, XGtE gives us the Ruby of the War Mage, which resolves the somatic component issue. It's only a "Common" magic item, which puts it in the same category as stuff like "Potion of Healing."
The EK does not have the feature to use a Spellcasting Focus like a wizard.

[LudicSavant]

The EK does not have the feature to use a Spellcasting Focus like a wizard.

That's irrelevant, because you can actually use the Ruby as a spellcasting focus even if you don't have the Spellcasting Focus feature.

The devs even say they designed the item specifically for characters like Eldritch Knights, and that the magic item creates an exception to the general rule that EKs can't use a focus. (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/958068645493538821?lang=en)

Compare the wording:


You can use a holy symbol (found in Chapter 5) as a spellcasting focus for your paladin spells.


Etched with eldritch runes, this 1-inch-diameter ruby allows you to use a simple or martial weapon as a spellcasting focus for your spells

All of the Spellcasting Focus features are basically worded like that: "You may use X item as a spellcasting focus for your spells." Ruby of the War Mage is no different.

Essentially Ruby of the War Mage is granting you a version of the Spellcasting Focus feature (just with a different object being used as a focus).

[Man_Over_Game]

That's irrelevant, because you can actually use the Ruby as a spellcasting focus even if you don't have the Spellcasting Focus feature.

The devs even say they designed the item specifically for characters like Eldritch Knights, and that the magic item creates an exception to the general rule that EKs can't use a focus. (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/958068645493538821?lang=en)

This is unambiguous in the RAW, as well. Compare the wording:





Essentially Ruby of the War Mage is basically granting you a version of the spellcasting focus feature (just with a different object being used as a focus).

The awkward thing is, Shield doesn't have a material component. It has a Somatic component, and somatic components can ONLY be replaced by a Focus is the Focus is being used to cast the spell. If the Focus isn't being used (as in, the Focus isn't being used in place of material components), then you can't use the Focus to replace the Somatic Components.

Materials: Good.
Materials + Somatic: Good
Somatic: Bad.

And since Shield doesn't have the material cost, Ruby of the War Mage does not help with casting it.

War Caster happens to get rid of the need for Somatic components, so Ruby + War Caster will let you cast any spell while your hands are occupied.

This RPG.SE question has a lot of official references that might help if someone needs it: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/46201/how-do-foci-and-somaticmaterial-components-interact-when-it-comes-to-occupying?noredirect=1&lq=1

[LudicSavant]

The awkward thing is, Shield doesn't have a material component. It has a Somatic component, and somatic components can ONLY be replaced by a Focus is the Focus is being used to cast the spell. If the Focus isn't being used (as in, the Focus isn't being used in place of material components), then you can't use the Focus to replace the Somatic Components.

That's right. In that case you just would need War Caster or the usual swapping method.

[BoringInfoGuy]

That's irrelevant, because you can actually use the Ruby as a spellcasting focus even if you don't have the Spellcasting Focus feature.

The devs even say they designed the item specifically for characters like Eldritch Knights, and that the magic item creates an exception to the general rule that EKs can't use a focus. (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/958068645493538821?lang=en)

Compare the wording:





All of the Spellcasting Focus features are basically worded like that: "You may use X item as a spellcasting focus for your spells." Ruby of the War Mage is no different.

Essentially Ruby of the War Mage is granting you a version of the Spellcasting Focus feature (just with a different object being used as a focus).
I see.

Going by tweets, the Ruby of the War Mage creates two exceptions to the normal rules. It turns a non focus into a focus, and add the ability to use a focus to classes that lack that feature.

Sadly, the Rule as Written could be read as a single exception, only increasing the types of items that can become a spellcasting focus instead of adding a class feature.

And JC’s tweets have been downgraded to no longer be official rulings. If it hasn’t made it into Sage Advice or an errata, it is just an opinion.

That being said, after reading the tweets and your follow up argument, I would use the intended dual exception interpretation as well.

Hopefully, there will be a XGtE errata that will make the RAI come across more clearly in the RAW.

As noted below, it still won’t help you cast Shield or any reaction Spell (besides Feather Fall - VM)

[Foxydono]

With those stats I would make a zeal cleric (if allowed). Variant human starting with warcaster and two hander, probably strength based: 18str/wis, 16con. You can take GWM/sentinal/PAM etc as you progress. You basicly have everything you need, haste, fireball, full plate, smites, bonus attacks and healing.

[Aaron Underhand]

Hello friends,

TL;DR: Title, plus mostly boss fights, must be primary caster, preferably Cleric/Druid. Details below.
...
We roll for attributes, and I got VERY lucky: I've got 17, 17, 16, 15, 13, 11, to be assigned in any order I want.


Non variant Human War Cleric

Feats: 4 GWM, 8 Resilient Con

Stats: Str 18 Dex 14 Con 17+1, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 12
Medium Armour and Greatsword

Or Valor Bard Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 18

[LudicSavant]

Hopefully, there will be a XGtE errata that will make the RAI come across more clearly in the RAW.

I don't think it really needs one.

Both game features use the same wording and therefore do the same thing. Seems pretty straightforward to me. *Shrug*

[GreyBlack]

Cleric 20.

Step 1: don't build for firepower. Clerics can do it, and can do it well, but you will end up feeling disappointed and underwhelmed.

Step 2: Build for buffing and debuffing. While Clerics are not overwhelming damage machines, they can be overwhelming support. They also have a huge number of buffs they can use without Concentration, so you can maintain that easily.

Step 3: Always keep the following spells in your repertoire: Guiding Bolt, Bless, Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians. Those 4 spells form the core of all Clerics, and allow you do do massive assistance.

If I may be so bold, however, might I recommend the Divine Soul sorcerer? If what you're looking for is survival and raw power, the Sorcerer gets this in spades, _and_ can do fun stuff like Twin, Empowered, Maximize, and so on.

[Rukelnikov]

You're right, I'm sorry, I could swear I put the level in the original post... Level 10.

Lvl 10, theres a pretty safe one, go Moon Druid, once combat starts, with your first Action cast Moonbeam, with your Bonus Action turn into an Earth Elemental, with your move burrow underground, now just stay underground and use the orbital cannon to annihilate opposition.

[Azgeroth]

ok, so i'm going to go a completely different direction.

build 1!

half elf swashbuckler rogue..

str 11
dex 17+1
con 15+1
int 16
wis 13
cha 17+2

your going to have ridiculously high initiative, very reliable sneak attack, and great skill utility.

build 2!

firbolg horizon walker ranger

str 16+1
dex 17
con 15
int 11
wis 17+2
cha 13

you get extra force damage on 1 hit per round, haste, can be melee/ranged with ease, at 11 you get a great teleport ability, grab GWM AND Sharpshooter.. ensnaring strike, lightning arrow, zephyr strike, pass without a trace, and go to town my friend. medium armor, maul/longbow.

build 3!

half elf draconic sorcerer

str 11
dex 17+1
con 15+1
int 13
wis 16
cha 17+2

you get really good AC, can convert sorcery points into spell slots, giving you more slots than the wizard without short rests, concentrate on blasting, id go empowered and either twin, or distant (greater invis on the barb!)

build 4!

rock gnome evocation wizard
str 11
dex 17
con 15+1
int 17+2
wis 13
cha 16

co-ordinate with the necromancer, so you can optimise spell picks, so only one of you takes shield, feather fall, find familiar, counterspell. then copy from one anothers books.

[GreyBlack]

ok, so i'm going to go a completely different direction.

build 1!

half elf swashbuckler rogue..

str 11
dex 17+1
con 15+1
int 16
wis 13
cha 17+2

your going to have ridiculously high initiative, very reliable sneak attack, and great skill utility.

build 2!

firbolg horizon walker ranger

str 16+1
dex 17
con 15
int 11
wis 17+2
cha 13

you get extra force damage on 1 hit per round, haste, can be melee/ranged with ease, at 11 you get a great teleport ability, grab GWM AND Sharpshooter.. ensaring strike, lightning arrow, zephyr strike, and go to town my friend. medium armor, maul/longbow.

Needs to be a full caster.

I like it though...