I need a character most likely to survive Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

[Klorox]

All I know about this is it’s based on an old school AD&D adventure, and is filled with deadly traps and stuff like that.

I’m thinking yuan-ti pureblood might be my best racial option, but the stats don’t line up with rogue at all, which I thought might be best for traps.

I am thinking about having a level of knowledge cleric dip for a more Indiana Jones “expert” feel but I’m not sure.


I’m very open to any ideas or suggestions here.

[Eldariel]

Honestly, in this edition Rogue isn't particularly much better than anybody else in traps (though they can get Expertise in Thieves' Tools). Level scope is of course the big question here. A class that puts high points into Int or Wis generally gives you optimal perceptive capabilities a bit down the line. This is Wizard, Artificer, Druid, Cleric. Bard gets Expertise and Lore Bard gets really good at anything down the line, but on low levels I'd say Wizard actually probably gives you the best set of abilities; familiar for perception and Int + Investigation for Investigation. Of course, it has the issue that you can't actually superboost Perception with Expertise and Observant down the line - but starting with 18 Passive Perception is pretty amazing. Wizard list natively lacks Enhance Ability, but the spell was added to the list in the class feature variant UA.

If you can't get that, I do recommend looking into Lore Bard. You get Expertise in Perception and Investigation and Enhance Ability on level 3. You can also start with Observant as a Vuman and maybe take Alert on level 4. Of course, this is massively MAD as you need Dex and Con in addition to Wis, Int and Cha. Alternatively, Knowledge Cleric gets all the skills in the game and Enhance Ability and is Wis-based innately with a good excuse for putting points into Int so that might be a natural way to get high Wis and Int. Artificer is the joker option with a good set of options and Int focus and a good spell list to this end. So in short:

Wizard
+ Int-focus (great Investigation)
+ Familiar (safe scout and great Perception)
- No innate Enhance Ability (without UA)
- Worse user of Observant (due to familiar generally having superior passive perception and not benefitting of the feat)

Cleric (Knowledge)
+ Wis-focus (great Perception)
+ Expertise in Knowledges
+ Enhance Ability
+ Guidance
- No familiar

Bard (Lore)
+ Expertise in two skills on level 3
+ Enhance Ability
+ Bardic Inspiration for boosting allies' checks
- Cha-focus
- No familiar
- Worst defensive options of the bunch (no Shield, no Absorb Elements, only light armor)

Artificer
+ Int-focus
+ Guidance
+ Enhance Ability
+ Tool Expertise [on level 6]
- No familiar
- Slow casting progression

[B]Rogue
+ Expertise (skills and Thieves' Tools)
- No casting (no familiar, no enhance ability, no guidance)
- Poor defensive options (until level 5)
- Dex-focus


Far as race goes, it's hard to ignore Variant Human when the following feats all give you a ton of survivability value:
- Observant (significantly reduces your likelihood of getting surprised)
- Alert (able to use reactions like Shield/Absorb Elements in the face of surprises)
- Lucky (significantly reduces the likelihood of getting hosed by a bad roll at a critical point)
- Prodigy (Expertise for non-Expertise classes)

It also gives you an extra skill proficiency and optimal stats for any class. Overall, I'd probably lean that way unless the game started on a much higher level (I generally pick Alert first on caster chassis since getting your reaction on the first round always is just massive, not only in combat but also when a wall breaks or some other surprising thing happens).

[KorvinStarmast]

Rogue
+ Expertise (skills and Thieves' Tools)
- No casting (no familiar, no enhance ability, no guidance)
- Poor defensive options (until level 5)
- Dex-focus


Far as race goes, it's hard to ignore Variant Human when the following feats all give you a ton of survivability value:
- Observant (significantly reduces your likelihood of getting surprised)
- Alert (able to use reactions like Shield/Absorb Elements in the face of surprises)
- Lucky (significantly reduces the likelihood of getting hosed by a bad roll at a critical point)
- Prodigy (Expertise for non-Expertise classes)

It also gives you an extra skill proficiency and optimal stats for any class.
I'd toss in the feat 'Magic Initiate' as a nice option since it offers up find familiar for non casters like Rogue.

[Eldariel]

I'd toss in the feat 'Magic Initiate' as a nice option since it offers up find familiar for non casters like Rogue.

And Ritual Caster as well. This also works for other casters who don't get it innately (similarly you can Magic Initiate for Guidance), but that of course comes at the price of your precious feats/ASIs, which postpones your Observant/Lucky/Alert/Prodigy; which I think are incredibly valuable in a scenario like this as well.

[KorvinStarmast]

And Ritual Caster as well. This also works for other casters who don't get it innately (similarly you can Magic Initiate for Guidance), but that of course comes at the price of your precious feats/ASIs, which postpones your Observant/Lucky/Alert/Prodigy; which I think are incredibly valuable in a scenario like this as well. I agree that Alert is probably a superb survival feat for that adventure. I am setting up our party to go there (they are level 3 now) and the 5e version of this adventure is kinda tough.

[Mister_Squinty]

All I know about this is it’s based on an old school AD&D adventure, and is filled with deadly traps and stuff like that.

I’m thinking yuan-ti pureblood might be my best racial option, but the stats don’t line up with rogue at all, which I thought might be best for traps.

I am thinking about having a level of knowledge cleric dip for a more Indiana Jones “expert” feel but I’m not sure.


I’m very open to any ideas or suggestions here.

The biggest deal with Tamoachan is the first half of the dungeon is full of poisonous gas which weakens the party. It also forces the pace which leads to running over traps you'd normally find with cautious exploration.

So, go with a Warforged and tell the gas to kiss your metal ass.

[Klorox]

The biggest deal with Tamoachan is the first half of the dungeon is full of poisonous gas which weakens the party. It also forces the pace which leads to running over traps you'd normally find with cautious exploration.

So, go with a Warforged and tell the gas to kiss your metal ass.

Yuan-ti pureblood achieves this as well.

Hmmmm...

Thanks all!

[Nagog]

I'm not too familiar with the module, but if traps are an issue, you can't go wrong with Battle Smith Artificer. Use your Steel Defender to trigger traps ahead of you (even once you wouldn't have noticed otherwise), then use your Mending cantrip to heal them. Mending takes 1 minute, but it's a cantrip so if you've got 5 minutes you can heal them for 10d6, or if they die you can revive them within an hour with a 1st level spell as an action, bringing them back to full hp after one minute. It's also an amazing combat ally, and the Artificer is a wonderful class choice for dungeon delving, as they have a plethora of utility abilities and Battle Smith is combat heavy. The only thing you're missing is Interaction based skills, which in a dungeon are more often than not useless.

[Pex]

It's a cheat, but do not rely on a class that is totally dependent on short rests. You will not get one for a long while once you enter. You will feel it. There is a point where you can short rest, but it will take forever to get there and not as soon as you arrive at the location. Otherwise conserve your resources. You will need to use some, but don't blow it all at once. Save some for later.

[Klorox]

Honestly, in this edition Rogue isn't particularly much better than anybody else in traps (though they can get Expertise in Thieves' Tools). Level scope is of course the big question here. A class that puts high points into Int or Wis generally gives you optimal perceptive capabilities a bit down the line. This is Wizard, Artificer, Druid, Cleric. Bard gets Expertise and Lore Bard gets really good at anything down the line, but on low levels I'd say Wizard actually probably gives you the best set of abilities; familiar for perception and Int + Investigation for Investigation. Of course, it has the issue that you can't actually superboost Perception with Expertise and Observant down the line - but starting with 18 Passive Perception is pretty amazing. Wizard list natively lacks Enhance Ability, but the spell was added to the list in the class feature variant UA.

If you can't get that, I do recommend looking into Lore Bard. You get Expertise in Perception and Investigation and Enhance Ability on level 3. You can also start with Observant as a Vuman and maybe take Alert on level 4. Of course, this is massively MAD as you need Dex and Con in addition to Wis, Int and Cha. Alternatively, Knowledge Cleric gets all the skills in the game and Enhance Ability and is Wis-based innately with a good excuse for putting points into Int so that might be a natural way to get high Wis and Int. Artificer is the joker option with a good set of options and Int focus and a good spell list to this end. So in short:

Wizard
+ Int-focus (great Investigation)
+ Familiar (safe scout and great Perception)
- No innate Enhance Ability (without UA)
- Worse user of Observant (due to familiar generally having superior passive perception and not benefitting of the feat)

Cleric (Knowledge)
+ Wis-focus (great Perception)
+ Expertise in Knowledges
+ Enhance Ability
+ Guidance
- No familiar

Bard (Lore)
+ Expertise in two skills on level 3
+ Enhance Ability
+ Bardic Inspiration for boosting allies' checks
- Cha-focus
- No familiar
- Worst defensive options of the bunch (no Shield, no Absorb Elements, only light armor)

Artificer
+ Int-focus
+ Guidance
+ Enhance Ability
+ Tool Expertise [on level 6]
- No familiar
- Slow casting progression

[B]Rogue
+ Expertise (skills and Thieves' Tools)
- No casting (no familiar, no enhance ability, no guidance)
- Poor defensive options (until level 5)
- Dex-focus


Far as race goes, it's hard to ignore Variant Human when the following feats all give you a ton of survivability value:
- Observant (significantly reduces your likelihood of getting surprised)
- Alert (able to use reactions like Shield/Absorb Elements in the face of surprises)
- Lucky (significantly reduces the likelihood of getting hosed by a bad roll at a critical point)
- Prodigy (Expertise for non-Expertise classes)

It also gives you an extra skill proficiency and optimal stats for any class. Overall, I'd probably lean that way unless the game started on a much higher level (I generally pick Alert first on caster chassis since getting your reaction on the first round always is just massive, not only in combat but also when a wall breaks or some other surprising thing happens).

Thanks for all this. I think I’m going to go artificer. The “campaign” will only last a few sessions so I’m going to try something new.

And I get a familiar if I go battle smith!

[Dork_Forge]

Honestly, in this edition Rogue isn't particularly much better than anybody else in traps (though they can get Expertise in Thieves' Tools).
Rogue
+ Expertise (skills and Thieves' Tools)
- No casting (no familiar, no enhance ability, no guidance)
- Poor defensive options (until level 5)
- Dex-focus


You keep mentioning Enhance Ability which is a 2nd level spell, at that point a Rogue can natively have casting (including a familiar) with Arcane Trickster (a subclass which can use Mage Hand to disarm traps). It's a bit odd that being Dex focused would be a negative, I'd have assumed that Dex was the most common save targeted by traps.

You seem to be evaluating the core Rogue chassis, but in doing so you're selling Rogue a bit short:

-Thief can use a bonus action to disarm traps and unlock doors, I'm assuming enhanced climbing and long jumps are probably useful in a trap heavy dungeon too.
-Inquisitive can use a bonus action to spot hidden objects and traps (and has a general Wis sub focus)


I have no idea what levels this adventure would take place at (it seems to be 3+ though), Expertise in Thieve's Tools and a skill relevant to spotting traps would seem to be very valuable and depending how high it goes Evasion is probably pretty great too.

[Lupine]

Consider the dungeon delver feat, to avoid traps.

[Pex]

Consider the dungeon delver feat, to avoid traps.

The traps are very easy to spot and deal with once you know the trick. Deal with meaning spring them safely instead of having to disarm them. Not all follow the trick, but most do. PM for anyone interested in knowing.

[Bobthewizard]

Make a wizard and take rope trick and leomunds tiny hut. You're party will love you.

[stoutstien]

Thanks for all this. I think I’m going to go artificer. The “campaign” will only last a few sessions so I’m going to try something new.

And I get a familiar if I go battle smith!

Solid option. don't forget that you also get access to all the common magic items in xanathar's at lv 2. there's quite a few of those items that with a little creative thinking can solve a lot of problems in a campaign like this. Collapsing pole, unbreakable arrow, mystery key, and all kinds of goodies to consider.