Need help Melee build

[athorod]

So I'm trying to create a character for storm king thunder, but have very little experience with 5e.

I was planning on playing a tanky celestial tomelock (had another post about that) with medium armor and shield, but now some in my party changed their plans.

So now we're a lore bard, champion sword and board fighter and draconic sorcerer (planning on melee) in the party.

I want to play a badass in melee with some utility (not pure martial class) and not dependant on nova damage. I wanted to play Hexblade, but wasn't allowed...

So I'm have 3 ideas, but not sure which will be most effective and durable. We're capping out on level 11, so I want him to be effective from lvl 6 at the latest.

Standard array stats. Lots of subclasses/races not allowed.

1. Celestial tomelock vuman with shillelagh. Doesn't really come online until 3 or 6th.
2. Paladin vuman with PAM and GWM. Oath of V (or devotion?). I am concerned being able to hit enough with GWM at level 6 with 16str? And only 14cha is a bummer. I am guessing giants aren't the hardest to hit, but still, -5 is severe.
3. Ranger Hunter Colossus slayer. Maybe dual wield if it's worth it? Will bring some wis-skills into the party.

I want to be able to use spells for some utility, and be most effective workout having to depend too much on such resources for damage/combat effectiveness.

Any advice?

[da newt]

Can you play a conquest paladin? Pick your favorite allowed race with +2 CHA and enjoy. Check out Ludic's Valkrie build for some good ideas for mounted awesomeness to add where you can. If you can YuanTi it could be great, but any old half elf or V Human would work too.

[Spiritchaser]

You want melee and don’t want to be about burst damage? Go for control.

As previously suggested, conquest Paladin is a fantastic pick. Some utility and great control, some spells... should work fine

Or... how about something completely different? You’ve got a bard and a sorcerer for magic so...

Echo knight is my new personal favourite. It’s arguably not as good as some other options but man... it’s fun. Vhuman is thrown about a bit as best for this, but without darkvision it’s a nonstarter in my book. Pick something with str and or con plus Darkvision.

Now: mix echo knight WITH 2 levels of barb and the sentinel and GWM feats and you have serious single target control and pretty decent damage

But for more tank and less spank... consider barb 3 and ancestral guardian plus echo knight. You get your third attack later but... you can make attack roll dependent foes (especially the melee ones) exceedingly miserable.

[nickl_2000]

High Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue (booming blade as racial cantrip). You are missing intelligence and a scout from this class. As an AT rogue you can get Find Familiar at level 3, as well as Mage Hand and two other cantrips (Minor Illusion and something else). With your illusion skills and out of combat spells you get some serious utility, plus a BB rogue can lay down some serious damage every round.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You won't need utility so much as either high mobility or powerful ranged attacks. If you go Ranger you should focus on archery. For a melee build, I would go Open Hand Monk, either Aarakocra or Wood Elf, with Str 12, Dex 14+2, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 15+1, Cha 10.

[Fryy]

Can you play a conquest paladin? Pick your favorite allowed race with +2 CHA and enjoy. Check out Ludic's Valkrie build for some good ideas for mounted awesomeness to add where you can. If you can YuanTi it could be great, but any old half elf or V Human would work too.

And to add... If you start out with Ludic's 2nd version Valkrie build (Spear & Shield), you would be more durable (by holding a shield) and still get the extra attack from PAM with the spear. You could switch to Glaive and add GWM later on if you get a strength belt.

[Man_Over_Game]

Your party has two charisma-characters, one tank, one squishy, one hybrid.

I always like to err on the side of having too much durability for a party, so I'd recommend something tanky that doesn't use Charisma.

Ranger sounds good, although my money is on the War Cleric. You already have a full-time tank, and adding a holy zealot would add a lot to the party.

[Nidgit]

Tanks...aren't particularly helpful for Storm King's Thunder. Giants hit really hard so it's better to play keep away when possible.

I think I'd suggest a Monk, Cleric, or Druid. Ancestral or Totem Barbarian could work well too. Your party would probably appreciate a Wisdom specialist; Cleric can be up close or far away depending on how things are going, while Druid can go Moon Druid for tankiness or Shepherd summons to mob enemies. A Monk makes for a fantastic skirmisher with some surprising durability if played right.

[CTurbo]

Vhuman Hunter Str Ranger with Defense style at level 2, Giant Killer at level 3 and GWM as free starting feat. Start 16 Str, and 14 in Dex, Con, and Wis. Max Str with 2 ASIs. Take Giant as Favored Enemy.


You want at least 5 Ranger levels obviously for 2nd attack, but you could make a case for going Ranger 7 since Multiattack Defense is pretty good.

You want anywhere from 1-5 levels of War Cleric. You get a lot of Cleric goodies. You're not going to be the best at holding concentration for spells but both Bless and Shield of Faith would be great.

You could add anywhere between 1-3 levels of Fighter(Champion) for GWF style, Second Wind, Action Surge, and extended crit range.


This is not a crit fishing build, but crits would help you get off the bonus action attack from GWM which is a good thing. You'll be able to attack with your reaction a lot too. There is a lot of healing and utility here as well as sustained damage. You have means of ensuring you land a hit when needed as well as ways to get an extra attack when needed too.

[athorod]

Great replies, thanks all.

I can't play conquest, nor wood elf or echo Knight.

I am considering ludicsavants paladin (start spear and shield) and his celestial tomelock generalist.

Will a GWM Stranger hit often enough with GWM...?

Could consider cleric, but wouldn't tempest be a more all-round option with both melee and blast? Could possibly get booming blade (high elf or half elf variant). I haven't studied clerics too much.

A crossbow expert ranger with sharpshooter could also be an option, just have to have a backup weapon when I run out of bolts...

But what about ludicsavants celestial tomelock (or something like it) compared to these other builds. Would that be a good option vs giants? It brings some utility, some healing, some range some melee...

[CTurbo]

Great replies, thanks all.

I can't play conquest, nor wood elf or echo Knight.

I am considering ludicsavants paladin (start spear and shield) and his celestial tomelock generalist.

Will a GWM Stranger hit often enough with GWM...?

Could consider cleric, but wouldn't tempest be a more all-round option with both melee and blast? Could possibly get booming blade (high elf or half elf variant). I haven't studied clerics too much.

A crossbow expert ranger with sharpshooter could also be an option, just have to have a backup weapon when I run out of bolts...

But what about ludicsavants celestial tomelock (or something like it) compared to these other builds. Would that be a good option vs giants? It brings some utility, some healing, some range some melee...


Most Giants have a relatively low AC except for Fire(AC18) and Stone (AC17) so I think a GWM Ranger wouldn't have any issue hitting when needed. You can use the War Cleric Channel Divinity to ensure a hit when needed or the Ranger spell Zephyr Strike. Of course you can't just use the -5/+10 every single attack all the time. You can still trigger the bonus action attack on each kill/crit though and the Giant Killer feature would have you attacking with your reaction quite often.

Clerics are strong in 5e. Tempest is my favorite and probably the best but your thunder/lightning spells would be useless against Storm Giants. I don't like War Cleric by itself but it's features assist a GWM character very well from the Channel Divinity to the War Priest bonus action attack per Wis mod.