Starting New Campaign - Unsure what to play

[Kamalotus]

Hello! So, i am new to this forum (though i read the d&d Forum daily, it's really great!), and i decided to ask here for some help from the more experienced players out there.
I just joined a new campaign about to be played with some friends, and i have to choose what to play. Been playing since 3.5 pretty intermittently, but it's only on 5e that i got serious with it. Most of the campaigns i've played have been on a more utility/support side of things (in the mechanical aspect, at least), playing a Druid and a Bard in the last campaigns.

So, ontopic, starting a new character, the party already stated theirs as following: A ranger (bm), a rogue (thief), a Wizard (Abjuration), and a Warlock (Goo).

We are starting at lvl3, and are using the stats: 16/14/13/12/11/9.

I've been struggling on what to play, since i keep having this "pc rpg" mind of trying to fill the role (Healer/Tank/Support seems to be lacking here), so i firstly decided to play a Paladin. I generally dislike paladins, both flavourwise and mechanically, but i can get on board with the Vengeance Oath, and creating more of a "grey" paladin (morally speaking, for example). I thought of a cool idea, to play a Levistus Tiefling Paladin 2/Hexblade 1, with the blade and the oath devoted to the "raven queen". It seemed interesting, and a little refreshing with the mechanics. But i find it REALLY hard to get to a consistent backstory that justifies this (particularly, the hexlbade dip), and doesn't make it seem like just a mechanical optimization (which isn't, i don' really care about minmaxing, just seems very flavourful combination). My story would be (to keep it short) that i swear an oath against Levistus itself, for disrupting my "family" with devil's blood, and turn to the raven queen for "aid" on the task for power to defeat it (my DM allowed this, and even found it interesting). But there are a LOT of links in the story that i cant get to make sense, and i really don't want to play an "edgelord" character on that regard either...

Other than that i've been considering something else, like a Cleric (but, again, it's hard to make the character part of it good), or a Stone Sorcerer (sort o a ...tanky? caster), but can't really focus on what to play. Don't really want to play a fighter, and a Barbarian doesn't seem fit to my playstyle either...It's hard to really focus on a character creation from the story/rp side, and not take into account the (party comp, role to fit, etc).

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Reevh]

Well for one thing, your backstory/personality doesn't necessarily have to match the class. If you want your paladin to be devoted to the Raven Queen you can just do that, without the need for Hexblade. If you want Hexblade for the mechanics of it, that's cool too, but don't feel bound by the mechanics of class. Hell, you could choose to be a Fallen Aasimar and have a dark Aasimar guide that comes to you in your dreams.

If you're looking to be healer/tank/support, Paladin is very good at it, but so is Cleric, if that sort of thing interests you. Clerics are very powerful and versatile, and can really pump out damage in the form of Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon with Toll the Dead. You can even make the Raven Queen the god you support.

[Mikaleus]

Yeah I’ll second paladin and Cleric.

Specifically oaths of the ancients, Vengeance, or conquest for an even darker badass tilt on a paladin.

For Cleric, the Forge Domain is amazingly tanky (hill dwarf makes for a great race), life Domain has heavy armor prof and is obviously a great healer. Both of those options I feel would be good for a Cleric in that party.

But if you’re wanting to keep that levistus Tiefling character, you could always just swear the oath of vengeance on the fiend, as it’s your faith to your oath that empowers you, not any god or patron. Paladins are so much more flexible in 5e.
That’s a really cool background story you’ve made I like it.

[Reevh]

I second all those archetypes mentioned by Micky. It's important to note that for a Forge Cleric your melee attack will probably never do all that much damage, but that's OK because you can Toll the Dead in melee range, and your have plenty of spells that do great damage.

[J-H]

Agreed... plenty of melee options (it looks like the party needs a main melee character). Hexblade, Paladin, Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter... you could try Monk but it's probably less optimal (or do Lizardfolk get 13+dex+wis?).

[Guy Lombard-O]

I notice you have both a rogue and a fighter in the party. If you play a wolf totem barbarian, they’ll both love you for giving them advantage (especially if the fighter is a GWM). Maybe that interaction will make barb work for you?

Take sentinel for added love.

[SirGraystone]

With a vengeance oath paladin, I would start by asking what or who are you trying to get vengeance against. Since the Raven Queen description in UA talks of her hate of "intelligent" undead, a paladin who for some reason hunt let say vampires, could get the Raven Queen support in his hunt.

[Kamalotus]

Well, thank you very much to everyone who answered and is helping me with this!

Just thinking again in Cleric, i think i could get onboard the Forge Domain. It seems fun. Was thinking of a possible build, using the stat array our DM gave us:

Hill Dwarf would be the race. Stats like 14/13/16/11/17/9. Weilding a Warhammer, heavy armor, etc. Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, Heat metal I guess it's a different approach on the subject, since it's a fullcaster , but could fit the same role on the party i intend to fullfill. ¿What do you think about it?

[Reevh]

Well, thank you very much to everyone who answered and is helping me with this!

Just thinking again in Cleric, i think i could get onboard the Forge Domain. It seems fun. Was thinking of a possible build, using the stat array our DM gave us:

Hill Dwarf would be the race. Stats like 14/13/16/11/17/9. Weilding a Warhammer, heavy armor, etc. Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, Heat metal I guess it's a different approach on the subject, since it's a fullcaster , but could fit the same role on the party i intend to fullfill. ¿What do you think about it?

Seems good to me! Like I said, though, just be aware that you'll probably be more likely to want to Toll the Dead on enemies rather than swing your warhammer, especially after level 5. So your STR attribute only really needs to be high enough to wear that plate armor.

With that array, I'd go 14 STR (if your Hill Dwarf background gives you +2 to this score, take 13 here. Otherwise, I'd use Chain Mail until I get my first ASI +1 STR and +1 WIS, then switch to plate). 11 DEX, 16 CON, 9 INT, 17 WIS, 13 CHA (Maybe put the 14 here if 13 is enough for your STR score).

If your DM tends to use more INT saves than CHA (Synaptic Static, Psychic Scream), maybe bump your INT instead of CHA. Or, just adjust depending on how you want to play the character. I played my Forge Cleric as a low charisma player, which was fun for me, but if you want to multiclass into Paladin down the line, you'll need that CHA.

[Dessunri]

Piggybacking on what a lot of other people have said, I think an Oath of Vengeance paladin devoted to the raven queen makes a lot of thematically. If you really want to work the Hexblade into your backstory work in something about how you felt your powers weren't coming fast enough so you made a pact with the raven queen for additional powers. If paladin/hexblade isn't your style you could go a cleric route. There are a few good options for tanky clerics: Light, War, Tempest, Forge are all ones I've played around with for a mainliner spell caster/healer. Get yourself some splint or plate armor and a shield and you're sitting at 19/20 armor respectively.
However, with your backstory, which I love by the way, paladin2/hexblade1 makes the most sense.

[nmitchell890]

May I suggest a build I have played in AL that was extremely successful and I found it really fun to RP. I was a Hill Dwarf Fighter 2/Arcana Cleric X (started Fighter for Con save proficiency to keep concentration) who picked up Magic Initiate: Druid for Shillelagh. This made me Wis SAD, enabling me to invest more into Con and/or feats. I was a frontliner with high HP courtesy of Hill Dwarf and decent damage output courtesy of a combination of Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon and Booming Blade. I also had high AC thanks to heavy armour and shield proficiency but this felt a bit cheesy as I used a Dwarf racial trait to bypass the only drawback to wearing full plate (which normally has a Str requirement of 15) with 10 Str, you could easily just buy 14 Dex and wear medium armour instead at the cost of 1 AC if you don't like cheese.

In terms of RP I was a Cleric of Mystra who campaigned for magic to be studied freely by everyone. Every time I was opposed to a magic user I wasn't opposed to them using magic, I was opposed to the purpose for which they used their magic. For example, I wasn't opposed to a necromancer because they practiced necromancy, I was opposed to the danger that innocent lives were put in by allowing unrestrained undead to exist in or near to a civilization. He enjoyed seeing the effects of magic. He would regularly cast Detect Magic just to see magic.

[Reevh]

May I suggest a build I have played in AL that was extremely successful and I found it really fun to RP. I was a Hill Dwarf Fighter 2/Arcana Cleric X (started Fighter for Con save proficiency to keep concentration) who picked up Magic Initiate: Druid for Shillelagh. This made me Wis SAD, enabling me to invest more into Con and/or feats. I was a frontliner with high HP courtesy of Hill Dwarf and decent damage output courtesy of a combination of Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon and Booming Blade. I also had high AC thanks to heavy armour and shield proficiency but this felt a bit cheesy as I used a Dwarf racial trait to bypass the only drawback to wearing full plate (which normally has a Str requirement of 15) with 10 Str, you could easily just buy 14 Dex and wear medium armour instead at the cost of 1 AC if you don't like cheese.

In terms of RP I was a Cleric of Mystra who campaigned for magic to be studied freely by everyone. Every time I was opposed to a magic user I wasn't opposed to them using magic, I was opposed to the purpose for which they used their magic. For example, I wasn't opposed to a necromancer because they practiced necromancy, I was opposed to the danger that innocent lives were put in by allowing unrestrained undead to exist in or near to a civilization. He enjoyed seeing the effects of magic. He would regularly cast Detect Magic just to see magic.

Booming Blade would certainly help make up for the Cleric's shortfall in melee damage, and also help a bit with keeping enemies from running past you as a tank. Even better with Warcaster so you can use it in Opportunity attacks to deal both the main booming blade damage and the subsequent move damage at the same time.

But you still need the 15 STR to use plate armor without a movement impairment, unless you get mithril, so even with Shillelagh, you'll still be slightly MAD.

[Tallytrev813]

May be to late for this post,

But i've really been enjoying Ludic's Arcana Cleric.

Snatch Booming Blade + 1 Wizard Cantrip (Greenflame Blade maybe?)

At level 4 you pick up Magic Initiate (Druid) taking Shillelagh+Thorn Whip + Goodberry or Absorb Elements.

You wind up needing only high Wisdom for your casting AND your melee. Your melee keeps up with standard melee players, especially with Potent Spellcasting later. You're a viable tank, as Booming Blade can keep these guys in place - especially later when you pick up Warcaster to use BB again on your attack of Opportunity (This would all come on line faster if you can take Variant Human, btw).

*To illustrate how good this becomes in Melee - when you get potent spellcasting and Warcaster at level 8 - You use Shilellagh as a bonus action and cast booming blade: Wisdom is your attack mod, your damage is 1d8(Magical)+Wis+1d8(Thunder)+Wis and you sheath them in thunder. Now, if they move, they take 2d8(Thunder)+Wis and your attack of opportunity is to Booming Blade AGAIN for all of the above AGAIN (1d8+Wis+1d8+Wis+2d8+Wis). Meaning, you do 2d8+2xWis as your attack if they dont move, 4d8+3xWis if they disengage, and 8d8+6xWis if they move and you get an AoO.

In addition to using your ACTION to wack people with booming blade, you get to utilize Bonus Actions to heal with Healing word or DPS with Spiritual Weapon, and concentration to do things like Spirit Guardians, Bless, Shield of Faith, etc. At level 6 you get spellbreaker, which is allowing you to remove magical effects from the party members as you heal. Another VERY fun move you get access to is Thorn Whip, which i've been using frequently to do things like pull Melee off of my party's warlock and yank them next to me.


I've been really enjoying the combat prowess of this character, his solid damage, great battlefield control, Support, AoE, and healing all at once. You get a TON of cantrips to use (I have Guidance, Word of Radiance, Toll the dead, Booming Blade, Greenflame Blade, Light, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip). Out of combat it's a fun RP with high Perception/Insight and being the "goodguy priest" role.

Drawbacks include - Few skills you're good at, i have good Insight/Perception, and moderately good things like Religion, Persuasion. Also, for being a "Tank type" role (You seem like you'd be THE frontline guy here) you dont have great HP or AC. Tough to get over 18/19 AC without casting something like Shield of Faith or something. You're in Scale Mail with a Shield. So, you'll need to be looking for items for defense, like Ring of Protection/Cloak of Protection/+1 Shields, etc.