Themed Party: family of desert nomad halflings wielding scimitars

[Draz74]

Sometimes I set myself challenges to create themed parties of PC builds. In this case ... well, you already read the title. Halfling nomads are kind of a classic archetype, desert nomads with scimitars are definitely a stereotype, so I'm combining the two ... and seeing how much variety / how well-balanced a party I can end up with in spite of the theme.

Fulaw Quv has always enjoyed poking around in ancient ruins. He's traditionally kept the clan afloat financially by taking knicknacks he finds in dungeons, and whatever else he can find, to bazaar to sell. He's a very good haggler at the market. With his strong personality and wanderlust, he's kind of the linchpin of the clan.

His Aunt Draska Ydrey is starting to age a bit, but even in her younger years she was never as robust as the other three, physically. But she's mighty mentally and magically, wise and spiritual. The family's religious leader and the one who actually makes the difficult decisions. Also the best caravan driver.

His brother Omari Quv is on the autism spectrum, which rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Not animals though; they seem to love Omari, and he often wrangles down a dinosaur to use as a mount for crossing the desert. His autism also gives him minor telepathic abilities. He's naturally in tune with the wilderness and a talented warrior.

And Fulaw's bride, Fekri Tinni, is from the far side of the massive desert, near the Gnollish lands. She's exotic and therefore draws a lot of looks, even before she shows off her prodigious strength that seems impossible to fit within her small frame. Fulaw met her some years ago on a merchant expedition far across the desert, and fell in love immediately.

[Draz74]

Fulaw Quv
Lightfoot Halfling, Archaeologist, Swords Bard 15

HP 108; AC 16 (studded leather armor)
Str 10 (+0); Dex 18 (+4); Con 14 (+2); Int 12 (+1); Wis 8 (-1); Cha 18 (+4)
Saves: Dex +9; Con +7; Cha +9
Languages: Halfling, Common, Primordial
Acrobatics +6
Animal Handling +1
Arcana +3
Athletics +5
Deception +6
History +11
Insight +9
Intimidation +6
Investigation +3
Medicine +1
Nature +3
Perception +1
Performance +6
Persuasion +14
Religion +3
Sleight of Hand +6
Stealth +6
Survival +9
* * *
TOOLS
Cartographer's Tools +6
Flute, Drum, Viol +9
Cantrips: friends, light, prestidigitation, vicious mockery
1st level (4/day): comprehend languages, disguise self, feather fall, identify, longstrider, shield, unseen servant
2nd level (3/day): enhance ability, mirror image, spiritual weapon, warding wind
3rd level (3/day): Leomund's tiny hut, major image, sending
4th level (3/day)
5th level (2/day): holy weapon, Rary's telepathic bond, steel wind strike
6th level (1/day): mass suggestion
7th level (1/day)
8th level (1/day): glibness
Originally: Str 10 (+0); Dex 18 (+4); Con 14 (+2); Int 12 (+1); Wis 8 (-1); Cha 18 (+4)
Athletics, Insight, Persuasion proficiency; Cartographer's Tools, Flute, Drum, Viol proficiency; Primordial language; light, mending, comprehend languages, feather fall, identify, sleep
unseen servant
Insight, Persuasion expertise; fighting style: Two-Weapon Fighting; lose sleep, learn enhance ability, warding wind
boost Charisma +2; prestidigitation, longstrider
lose longstrider, learn major image, sending
Leomund's tiny hut
longstrider
boost Dexterity +2; mirror image
disguise self
History, Survival expertise; friends, spiritual weapon, steel wind strike
mass suggestion
Resilient (Constitution) feat; lose mending, learn vicious mockery
Rary's telepathic bond
shield, holy weapon
glibness


Small Size
Lucky: reroll 1s on d20 rolls
Brave: advantage vs frightened
Halfling Nimbleness: move through bigger creatures' spaces freely
Naturally Stealthy: hide behind bigger creatures
Historical Knowledge: automatically know stuff about dungeons and appraise old objects
Bardic Inspiration (d12)
Magical Inspiration: bardic inspiration can be applied to damage or healing of a spell
Jack of All Trades
Song of Rest d10
Bonus Proficiencies: use melee weapons as spellcasting foci for bard spells
Two-Weapon Fighting: deal +Dex damage on off-hand attacks
Blade Flourish: +10-ft speed when Attacking; 1/turn, apply Bardic Inspiration die to damage of one weapon hit, plus either (a) your AC until start of next turn, (b) how far you push opponent (base 5 ft) and pursue them, or (c) damage of another creature adjacent to you
Font of Inspiration: recharge Bardic Inspiration on short rest
Countercharm
Extra Attack
Master's Flourish: apply a free d6 in place of a Bardic Inspiration die to Blade Flourishes
I was too interested in Feats to cap out any of these builds' ability scores. Probably not optimal, but giving them Feats seemed more fun and flavorful. Maybe the DM will let them find a whole lot of ability-boosting Ioun Stones.

That said, Fulaw does worry about his ability scores the most, as (without cheesy Hexblade depths) Swords Bards are rather MAD. So he manages to get both Dex and Cha up to 18, and Con up to 14. Not too bad.

Skills-wise, he's the party specialist in History and Persuasion (haggling, remember?), as well as the overall party face. ALL FOUR builds had to have Survival really good to fit the desert nomad theme. Fulaw also is the best in the party at Insight and Sleight of Hand (which no one specializes in).

Spells List: Fulaw is definitely supposed to be slashing things with scimitars most of the time rather than casting spells at them. Therefore, most of his spells list is for utility (especially early on, spells useful for excavating ruins), or social-influence purposes to enhance his Party Face role. But there's a few combat spells mixed in there: shield (which is a reaction, doesn't interfere with scimitar fighting), longstrider (which he'll often iup-cast at Level 4 to buff the whole party, since movement speed is a halfling general weakness), mirror image, spiritual weapon (which of course will take the form of a scimitar), warding wind (which is mostly just thematic, not very powerful), holy weapon (which is at least a bonus action buff), and steel wind strike.

It's kind of a shame that, with two TWF builds, this party didn't end up with the Dual Wielder feat anywhere. But it just didn't seem good enough, compared to just boosting primary ability scores by +2.

[Draz74]

Draska Ydrey
Mark of Healing Halfling, Hermit, Land Druid 13 / Ranger 2

HP 95; AC 15 (bone-studded leather armor)
Str 8 (-1); Dex 16 (+3); Con 12 (+1); Int 13 (+1); Wis 18 (+4); Cha 10 (+0)
Saves: Int +6; Wis +9
Languages: Halfling, Common, Celestial, Druidic
Acrobatics +3
Animal Handling +4
Arcana +6
Athletics -1
Deception +0
History +1
Insight +4
Intimidation +0
Investigation +6
Medicine +9
Nature +1
Perception +4
Performance +0
Persuasion +0
Religion +6
Sleight of Hand +3
Stealth +3
Survival +9
* * *
TOOLS
Herbalism Kit +6
Land Vehicles +4
i.e. what she usually Prepares, plus her few Ranger spells

Cantrips: druidcraft, guidance, mending, mold earth, thorn whip
1st level (4/day): absorb elements, detect magic, healing word, hunter's mark, zephyr strike
2nd level (3/day): augury, blur, darkvision, healing spirit, silence
3rd level (3/day): create food and water, dispel magic, elemental weapon, protection from energy, revivify, wall of sand
4th level (3/day): blight, giant insect, guardian of nature, hallucinatory terrain
5th level (2/day): dawn, greater restoration, insect plague, wall of stone
6th level (1/day): druid grove, investiture of wind, wind walk
7th level (1/day): whirlwind
Originally: Str 8 (-1); Dex 16 (+3); Con 12 (+1); Int 13 (+1); Wis 16 (+3); Cha 10 (+0)
Druid: Arcana, Survival proficiency; Land Vehicles proficiency; Celestial language; guidance, thorn whip
Ranger: Investigation proficiency; Favored Foe variant; keep Natural Explorer
Ranger: fighting style: Two-Weapon Fighting; alarm, zephyr strike
Druid: desert theme (duh); mold earth
Druid
Druid: War Caster feat; druidcraft
Druid
Druid
Druid
Druid: boost Wisdom +2
Druid
Druid: mending
Druid
Druid: Defensive Duelist feat
Druid: with a long rest, swap out Ranger spell alarm for Ranger spell absorb elements; stop preparing it as a Druid spell


Small Size
Lucky: reroll 1s on d20 rolls
Brave: advantage vs frightened
Halfling Nimbleness: move through bigger creatures' spaces freely
Medical Instinct: +1d4 to Medicine and Herbalism Kit checks
Healing Touch: cast cure wounds (at level 1, using Wisdom) and lesser restoration 1/long rest
Spells of the Mark: can prepare prayer of healing, aura of vitality, mass healing word, aura of purity, aura of life as Druid spells
Discovery: DM-dependent plot hook built in
Favored Foe: 4/long rest, cast hunter's mark without a spell slot or concentration
Natural Explorer (desert): overland travel in desert ignores difficult terrain, can't get lost, forages double, remain alert to danger, enhance tracking ...
Two-Weapon Fighting: deal +Dex damage on off-hand attacks
Wild Shape
Wild Companion: use a use of Wild Shape to gain a temporary fey familiar
War Caster: advantage on concentration Con Saves, perform somatic components with scimitars, replace opportunity attack with single-target 1-action spell
Defensive Duelist: gain +5 AC to turn a melee hit into a miss using a reaction
I don't like including Marked Eberron races in other settings, but Mark of Healing just fit this build flavor-wise much better than any other Halfling subrace. Otherwise I suppose I could have gone Stout and not had a badly-needed Wisdom bonus ...

Has proficient saving throws on abilities where the other three builds don't.

I would have liked all four builds to have decent Acrobatics and Athletics, but I ended up not being able to fit decent Athletics on Draska. Oh well. Draska is the party's specialist in Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion. And of course she has great Survival too, but so do other party members.

My hope is that this build, although it's more of a caster than the other three, would often spend its turns slicing things with scimitars. Hunter's Mark should mean that attacks deal a tempting amount of damage. Other spells on her list, too, should be enhancing this melee damage, such as Elemental Weapon.

Draska doesn't have enough high-level spell slots to practically use druid grove much UNTIL level 15. At level 15, she starts routinely casting it most evenings to create a safe campsite for the clan, so she can stop having the Alarm spell. Which lets her change a Ranger spell up (thanks again, UA!) and save a Druid Prep slot. Also, once she learns Mending at Level 12, Fulaw doesn't need it anymore (he used to use it a lot on artifacts found in dungeons that he was going to sell), so he can learn something more combat-useful, vicious mockery.

Boosting Wisdom +2 again at Level 14 probably would have been optimal, but I really wanted one of these four to have Defensive Duelist, and Draska seemed like the best candidate. It's a way she can get good use out of her scimitar even if she's spending her turns casting spells, at least. It's a shame that her AC before Defensive Duelist is so poor that even after the boost a lot of CR 15 attacks will still hit her, but ... I think that's a problem common to most druids, right? Their AC is just a weak point?

[Draz74]

Omari Quv
Ghostwise Halfling, Outlander, Battle Master Fighter 4 / Kensei Monk 8 / Hunter Ranger 3

HP 101; AC 17
Str 10 (+0); Dex 18 (+4); Con 13 (+1); Int 12 (+1); Wis 16 (+3); Cha 8 (-1)
Saves: Str +5, Dex +9; Con +6
Languages: Halfling, Common, Draconic, Thri-Kreen
Acrobatics +9
Animal Handling +8
Arcana +1
Athletics +5
Deception -1
History +1
Insight +3
Intimidation -1
Investigation +1
Medicine +3
Nature +1
Perception +3
Performance -1
Persuasion -1
Religion +1
Sleight of Hand +4
Stealth +9
Survival +8
* * *
TOOLS
Shawm +4
Calligrapher's Supplies, Glassblower's Tools +9
1st level (3/day): absorb elements, animal friendship, detect magic, ensnaring strike, speak with animals
Originally: Str 10; Dex 16; Con 13; Int 12; Wis 16; Cha 8
Fighter: Acrobatics, Animal Handling proficiency; Shawm proficiency; Draconic language; fighting style: Duelist
Monk: variant where he gets to choose his own Monk weapons list: club, dagger, quarterstaff, sickle, dart, flail, scimitar, whip
Monk
Monk: Calligrapher's Supplies proficiency; Kensei Weapons: scimitar, shortbow
Monk: Athlete feat (Dex +1)
Monk
Ranger: Stealth proficiency; Favored Enemy (two humanoids: Halflings, Thri-Kreen); Thri-Kreen language; Tireless variant feature replaces Natural Explorer
Monk: Kensei weapon: dagger
Fighter
Fighter: Glassblower's Tools proficiency; maneuvers: Evasive Footwork, Maneuvering Attack, Menacing Attack
Ranger: fighting style: Interception; absorb elements, animal friendship
Ranger: Horde Breaker Hunter option; Primal Awareness variant feature; ensnaring strike
Fighter: Resilient (Dexterity) feat
Monk
Monk: Mage Slayer feat


Small Size
Lucky: reroll 1s on d20 rolls
Brave: advantage vs frightened
Halfling Nimbleness: move through bigger creatures' spaces freely
Silent Speech: 30-ft telepathy, one target, does not trump language barriers
Wanderer: remember maps; forage x5
Dueling Fighting Style: +2 damage to single one-handed weapon wielded
Second Wind: 1/short rest, heal 1d10+4 hp as a bonus action
Unarmored Defense: AC = 10 + Dex + Wis
Martial Arts: unarmed/monk weapons: use Dex instead of Str for attack & damage; replace base damage die with d6; bonus action unarmed attack after Attack action
Ki (8/short rest): Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, Step of the Wind, and from UA: Ki-Fueled Strike, Distant Eye, Quickened Healing
Unarmored Movement: speed +15 ft
Deflect Missiles: reaction to reduce incoming damage by 1d10+12; use a ki to redirect fully-blocked attack
Agile Parry: attack with unarmed strike as part of Attack action while wielding Kensei melee weapon, +2 AC until start of next turn
Kensei's Shot: bonus action to add +1d4 to ranged Kensei Weapon attacks for the rest of the turn
Athlete: stand up or "running jump" with just 5 ft of movement; Climb at full speed
Slow Fall: Reaction to reduce fall damage by 40
Extra Attack
Stunning Strike: 1 ki to turn hit into stun until end of next turn (Con save DC 16 negates)
Favored Enemy: advantage on tracking or knowing stuff about Halflings and Thri-Kreen
Tireless: 3/long rest, use an action to gain 1d10+3 temporary hp; lose one exhaustion level each short rest
Action Surge: 1/short rest, take an additional action during turn
Superiority Dice: 4d8
Evasive Footwork: add superiority die to AC for one movement
Maneuvering Attack: add superiority die to hit's damage; ally can move half speed as reaction without opportunity attacks from victim
Menacing Attack: add superiority die to hit's damage; target is frightened of you until end of next turn (Wis save DC 17 negates)
Interception: when ally within 5 ft is hit by an attack, use weapon or shield and reaction to reduce damage by 1d10+5
Horde Breaker: once per turn, make extra attack against different target within 5 ft of "original" target
Primal Awareness: 1/long rest each, cast detect magic and speak with animals without spending spell slots
Evasion: take no damage on successful Dex save, half damage if failed
Stillness of Mind: lose charmed or frightened effect as an action
Mage Slayer: reaction to attack a creature who casts a spell within 5 ft; impose disadvantage on concentration Con saves provoked by your damage; advantage on saves vs spells cast by creatures within 5 ft
It was kind of fun that I ended up with four different halfling subraces for this party. Re-flavoring should make it no problem that they're all in one family, e.g. with the unique mind of Omari giving him minor telepathic power.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a PC pick up the Thri-Kreen language, and Favored Enemy seemed like a rare opportunity to do so. It was the best desert-themed enemy I could think of. I'm not sure a halfling is physically capable of making the sounds or smells involved in the language, but at least he'll understand what's going on ...

Skill-wise, Omari is the team's specialist in Animal Handling, Acrobatics, and Stealth. His Athletics is also decent. The rest of his skills, mostly not great ...

Interesting to have a musical instrument proficiency as his only Charisma-based proficiency, with a low Charisma. Maybe he's better at communicating to people by playing his shawm than by talking ...

I'm really glad I managed to fit Glassblower's Tools proficiency onto at least one party member in a desert-themed party.

I'm not sure he'll ever use Ensnaring Strike with how much competition Monks have for their bonus actions. Zephyr Strike was considered, but would have had the same problem, and I liked the picture of this guy wrapping a foe up in dry, brown, thorny, desert-compatible roots.

So this guy's main mode in combat is to fight with one scimitar and his unarmed strike. I think that should still allow Dueling Fighting Style to function, right? Because technically everyone with that fighting style is always wielding their Unarmed Strike, so why should a monk be excluded from using Dueling just because their unarmed strike happens to not suck?

Longbow would have probably been a strictly better choice than shortbow for a Kensei Weapon, but historically, the scimitar-wielding folk of Turkey were also known for their excellent compound shortbows, and definitely not for their longbows ...

With how much Monks already use all their actions, I had to be careful when multiclassing this guy to find features to give him that wouldn't interfere too much with his action economy. Amazingly, Horde Breaker qualifies, giving him an extra attack on top of the many that Monks already do, as long as he has more than one target to strike at. Finding Battle Master Maneuvers that don't use up actions isn't too hard; I went for ones that would enhance the mobility of the party, as well as one that lets a low-Charisma character still effectively scare the daylights out of a foe.

Mage Slayer is just a fun feat. Underused IMO.

[Draz74]

Fekri Tinni
Stout Halfling, Far Traveler, Storm Herald Barbarian 12 / Rogue 1 / Fighter 2

HP 163; AC 16
Str 16 (+3); Dex 14 (+2); Con 18 (+4); Int 10 (+0); Wis 8 (-1); Cha 13 (+1)
Saves: Str +8; Con +9
Languages: Halfling, Common, Gnoll, Thieves' Cant
Acrobatics +7
Animal Handling -1
Arcana +0
Athletics +13
Deception +1
History +0
Insight +4
Intimidation +6
Investigation +1
Medicine -1
Nature +10
Perception +9
Performance +6
Persuasion +1
Religion +0
Sleight of Hand +2
Stealth +2
Survival +9
* * *
TOOLS
Dice Set +5
Originally: Str 15; Dex 14; Con 15; Int 10; Wis 8; Cha 13
Barbarian: Athletics, Intimidation proficiency; Dice Set proficiency; Gnoll language
Barbarian: Survival Instincts variant feature (Nature, Survival)
Rogue: Performance proficiency; Athletics, Perception expertise
Barbarian: Storm Theme: Desert (duh)
Barbarian: Squat Nimbleness feat (Str +1, Acrobatics proficiency)
Barbarian: Instinctive Pounce variant feature
Fighter: fighting style: Unarmed Fighting
Barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian: Second Chance racial feat (Con +1)
Barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian: boost Constitution +2
Fighter


Small Size
Lucky: reroll 1s on d20 rolls
Brave: advantage vs frightened
Halfling Nimbleness: move through bigger creatures' spaces freely
Stout Resilience: advantage on saves vs poison, poison damage resistance
All Eyes on You: get a lot of attention by being exotic
Rage 4/day, +3 damage
Unarmored Defense: AC = 10 + Dex + Con
Reckless Attack: advantage on Strength-based attacks on her turn, then grants advantage to others' attacks until start of next turn
Sneak Attack +1d6: works with Strength-based scimitar attacks too
Thieves' Cant
Storm Aura (Desert): bonus action deal 4 fire damage to all creatures within 10 ft while raging
Squat Nimbleness: advantage on Acrobatics or Athletics to escape an ongoing grapple
Extra Attack
Instinctive Pounce: when creature ends turn within 15 ft, move closer to it (half her speed max) without provoking opportunity attacks as a reaction
Unarmed Fighting: unarmed strike base damage is 1d6, or 1d8 with two hands; starting a grapple or hitting grappled creature with melee attack deals +1d4 bludgeoning
Second Wind: 1/short rest, heal 1d10+2 hp as a bonus action
Storm Soul (Desert): resist fire damage; immunity to extreme heat conditions; set unheld flammable object on fire as action (touch)
Feral Instinct: advantage on initiative; act in surprise round (rage first thing)
Second Chance: 1/combat, force creature who hits her with an attack roll to reroll it
Brutal Critical: +1 damage die on critical hit
Shielding Storm: while raging, allies within 10 ft have resistance to fire damage
Relentless Rage: DC 10 Con save to drop to 1 hp instead of 0 while raging; DC increases by +5 each time until short rest
Action Surge: 1/short rest, take an additional action during turn
I picked out Far Traveler as a good Background for a desert nomad, and Storm Herald Barbarian according to theme as well. The way the rest of the party went, they went together. And I thought, how much fun would it be for the raging barbarian to be the exotic girl that everyone looks at (as per the Far Traveler feature) in a belly dancer outfit? Especially when she ended up being something of a grapple build (more on that below). So I had to go for it, and make the wife of the family the Barbarian build. And I had to fit the Performance proficiency into her build. And I also can't put her in armor, that would ruin the effect. She's gotta count on the Unarmored Defense of the Barbarian, even if wearing armor would be better mechanically.

Btw, the order that these builds took their classes was mostly determined by what saving throw proficiencies they would end up with. Druid levels came before Ranger levels because it was the only way for the party to have a Proficient Wisdom save, etc. And I thought Constitution save proficiency was flavorful for the desert nomads, even though this build eventually becomes immune to heat exhaustion a different way. So I went with Barbarian first, even though Rogue first would have meant yet another skill proficiency. (This build still does pretty well in that arena.) I managed to end up with Constitution proficiency on three of the four, between starting as a Barbarian, starting as a Fighter, and Resilient.

I almost went with this build ending up with Strength 18 and Constitution 16 instead of the other way around, but you know what? Barbarians are already generally strong enough, with their Raging advantage and so forth, and I thought it would be more fun to get +1 AC, more hp, and +5% chance to stay conscious forever.

The Rogue level is mostly in the build to explain why this character is wielding a scimitar instead of a battleaxe or something. Sneak attack still functions with a barbarian's features, as long as you use a suboptimal weapon. But once I added the Rogue level ... well, I'm kind of a sucker for grapple builds in 5e, if there's a good way to get Athletics Expertise and Rage together. So I decided to go with it, figuring it would be funny on a 3-ft tall character, and that meant I wanted the new Unarmed Fighting Style from November's UA. So that ended up meaning a Fighter dip. It's a huge shame that, being small, Fekri can't (IIRC) successfully Shove or Grab Large opponents, as that would be even funnier. But I guess she can just hit those foes with fire and swords, and save the grabbing and shoving for Medium opponents.

For a while, I had this build as Barbarian 11 / Swashbuckler Rogue 3 / Fighter 1, but I ended up deciding that the last two levels of Rogue weren't giving the build much, and that an ASI and Action Surge would be way better.

Skill-wise, I've already kind of discussed Performance and Athletics, but Fekri is also the team's specialist in Nature and Perception. And sort of Intimidation. She fits right in with an excellent Survival skill.

I like to imagine that Dice Set proficiency deals with a really complex, awesome dice game, rather than something dead simple and fully luck-based.

Squat Nimbleness is just an overpowered feat, no two ways about it. Which is good, because Instinctive Pounce is a lot better on a build with at least 30 ft speed, so it can actually reach the intended target. So I kind of needed to find a speed boost ability for Fekri, and it wasn't very painful when that same feat also gave her Str +1, Acrobatics proficiency, and (incidentally) advantage to escape grapples.

I suppose Defensive Duelist would have been a better justification for this build wielding a scimitar than Sneak Attack is, but I ended up going with Second Chance instead because it gave an ability score bonus as well.