Themed Party: Genasi Quartet

[Draz74]

Starting with a recommendation from a friend, I got another party concept in my head: one Genasi of each type. The builds ended up being fun enough that I couldn't help taking them all the way to Level 20. Which produced some surprising high-level multiclassing results!

The Genasi Quartet
or, The Extended Story of Fedrick Fompswubble

Fedrick was an ordinary low-level human adventurer, with equal parts air, earth, fire, and water in his body, until he stumbled straight into The Portal. The Portal was unstably connected to all four Elemental Planes, and at the moment Fedrick came into contact, it happened to have the unique effect of tearing him, soul, body, and esssence, into four pieces. Miraculously, all of them survived and became independent beings, which all eventually found their ways back to the Material Plane and joined up, although they never found a way to merge back into Fedrick; their personalities had become too strong and independent in the meantime.

As Fedrick had masculine and feminine aspects of his original personality, his air and earth pieces ended up being male, his fire and water pieces female. All four of them gave themselves new names, inspired by their element (none of them had loved their original name anyway).

Although Zephrys, Mesarr, Cinder, and Torrent had different personalities that sometimes clashed, overall they agreed to cooperate and accomplished mighty deeds as a team. In later years when they had grown very powerful, this cooperation between elemental essences attracted the attention of higher powers, including a Djinni Lord who became the patron of the party.

[Draz74]

Zephrys
Air Genasi, Hermit, Scout Rogue 13 / Arcane Archer Fighter 7

HP 148; AC 17 (studded leather armor)
Str 10 (+0); Dex 20 (+5); Con 14 (+2); Int 14 (+2); Wis 14 (+2); Cha 8 (-1)
Saves: Dex +11; Int +8; Wis +8
Languages: Common, Primordial, Sylvan
Acrobatics +11
Animal Handling +2
Arcana +8
Athletics +0
Deception -1
History +2
Insight +2
Intimidation -1
Investigation +8
Medicine +14
Nature +14
Perception +14
Performance -1
Persuasion -1
Religion +14
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +17
Survival +14
* * *
TOOLS
Thieves' Tools +11
Herbalism Kit +8
Cantrips: druidcraft
2nd level (1/day): levitation
Originally: Str 10; Dex 16; Con 14; Int 14; Wis 13; Cha 8
Originally: Acrobatics, Investigation, Medicine, Perception, Religion, Stealth proficiencies; Herbalism Kit, Thieves' Tools proficiencies; Common, Primordial, Sylvan languages.
Rogue: Medicine & Perception expertise; (Thieves' Cant; Sneak Attack 1d6)
Rogue: (Cunning Action; Cunning Action: Aim)
Rogue: (Nature & Survival proficiency & expertise; Skirmisher; Sneak Attack 2d6)
Rogue: Healer feat
Fighter: Archery fighting style; (Second Wind)
Fighter: (Action Surge)
Fighter: Arcana proficiency; druidcraft; Bursting Arrow & Grasping Arrow arcane shots
Fighter: boost Dex +2
Rogue: (Uncanny Dodge; Sneak Attack 3d6)
Fighter: (Extra Attack)
Rogue: Religion & Stealth expertise
Rogue: (Evasion; Sneak Attack 4d6)
Rogue: boost Dex +2
Rogue: (Superior Mobility; Sneak Attack 5d6)
Rogue: Sharpshooter feat
Rogue: (Reliable Talent; Sneak Attack 6d6)
Rogue: Resilient - Wisdom feat
Rogue: (Ambush Master; Sneak Attack 7d6)
Fighter: Lucky feat
Fighter: Shadow Arrow arcane shot; (Magic Arrow, Curving Shot)


Public Service Announcement: not very many Backgrounds provide Medicine proficiency. :smallannoyed:

Air Genasi don't have a lot to work with as a foundation for a character concept. They do have levitate 1/day, which is not restricted to being used on themselves! It can be used to send an opponent sprawling into the sky! So my initial thought for this build was, "an evasive archer who has ways to get away from his/her opponent, including but not limited to casting Levitate on them." The "evasive" part evolved into Scout Rogue.

Then, at some point I was forgetting that Alchemist Artificers are a healer class, and thinking it would be interesting if the only healing came from the Healer feat. Then I remembered about the Artificer, but I had latched onto the idea of using the Healer feat anyway. Putting it on the Water Genasi seemed cliche, so I decided it should be the elusive Air Genasi, whose general mobility would help him (the healer should be male to break stereotypes) get to targets who needed healing, and who (as a Rogue) had native ways to gain Medicine Expertise for flavor.

I thought about going pure Rogue, but getting some Fighter or Ranger levels was just too big of a boost to Archery, due to (a) proficiency with the longbow instead of the shortbow, (b) the Archery Fighting Style, and (c) ways to get multiple attacks per turn, making Sneak Attack much more likely to go off every round.

So I decided to go with Arcane Archer just because it's archery-themed and rarely used. Ranger would probably be stronger, but I've already built a few Ranger builds recently, and Arcane Archer shouldn't be too bad if it's a dip rather than the main class.

Moving the 5th level of Fighter to Level 10, instead of after Reliable Talent, is a recent change to the build. But I think getting a way besides Action Surge to "try again" to Sneak Attack is just too important.

I'm still considering changing the last two levels from Rogue to Fighter levels, but I'm not sure what feat or ASI Zephrys would go with at this point, when he already has 20 Dex and Sharpshooter and Lucky. So for now, I'm leaving him with Wis save proficiency and +1d6 Sneak Attack instead. (The Level 7 Arcane Archer features are pretty insignificant; Curving Shot is ok but nothing to write home about.)

I could have switched Intelligence and Wisdom to make the Grasping Arrow DC stronger, and open up the possibility of one more feat being Resilient (Wisdom) at Level 19, but I thought it was more true to Zephrys's presumed personality to have Wisdom the higher of the two at levels 1-18. I'm still hesitating about that, though.

Zephrys is "elusive" in personality as well as tactically; one might even use the term antisocial. His skill specialties (and low Charisma) reflect this.

[Draz74]

Mesarr
Earth Genasi, Outlander, Stone Sorcerer 19 / Genie Warlock 1

HP 182; AC 17
Str 16 (+3); Dex 10 (+0); Con 18 (+4); Int 8 (-1); Wis 12 (+1); Cha 20 (+5)
Saves: Con +10; Cha +11
Languages: Common, Primordial, Giant
Acrobatics +0
Animal Handling +1
Arcana -1
Athletics +9
Deception +5
History -1
Insight +7
Intimidation +5
Investigation -1
Medicine +1
Nature -1
Perception +1
Performance +5
Persuasion +11
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +0
Stealth +0
Survival +7
* * *
TOOLS
Dulcimer +10
Cantrips: booming blade, chill touch, green-flame blade, lightning lure, mending, message, mold earth, ray of frost
1st level (4/day + 1/short rest): absorb elements, armor of Agathys, detect evil and good, searing smite, shield, thunderous smite
2nd level (3/day): darkvision, misty step, pass without trace (1/day racial, CON-based)
3rd level (3/day): counterspell, elemental weapon, fly, tongues
4th level (3/day): banishment
5th level (3/day): synaptic static
6th level (2/day)
7th level (1/day): plane shift, teleport
8th level (1/day)
9th level (1/day): wish
Originally: Str 16; Dex 10; Con 15; Int 8; Wis 12; Cha 14
Originally: Athletics, Insight, Persuasion, Survival proficiencies; Dulcimer proficiency; Common, Primordial, Giant languages.
Sorcerer: mold earth, mending, green-flame blade, message; sleep, thunderous smite; (Bonus Proficiencies; Metal Magic; Stone's Durability)
Sorcerer: shield; (Font of Magic; Font of Magic Options)
Sorcerer: darkvision, sleep => misty step; Elemental Spell & Quickened Spell metamagics
Sorcerer: booming blade; searing smite; boost Cha +2
Sorcerer: sleet storm, searing smite => fly
Sorcerer: tongues; (Stone Aegis)
Sorcerer: counterspell
Sorcerer: absorb elements; Durable feat
Sorcerer: elemental weapon
Sorcerer: ray of frost; banishment, sleet storm => synaptic static; Heightened Spell metamagic
Sorcerer: searing smite
Sorcerer: boost Cha +2
Sorcerer: plane shift
Sorcerer: (Stone's Edge)
Sorcerer: teleport
Sorcerer: boost Con +2
Sorcerer: wish; Empowered Spell metamagic
Sorcerer: (Earth Master's Aegis)
Sorcerer: boost Cha +2
Warlock: djinni pact; chill touch, lightning lure; armor of Agathys, detect evil and good; (Genie's Vessel - Bottled Respite; Genie's Wrath)


Earth Genasi are interesting. Strength +1 and ignoring difficult terrain push them in the direction of a tough melee combatant, while pass without trace mildly pushes them away from heavy armor. In any case, I decided to go with the "tank" role, but not by building a standard Fighter, Barbarian, or Paladin. Instead I decided to go for a Stone Sorcerer, embracing the elemental theme of the race and running with it. I've only ever used Stone Sorcerer once before, so it was kind of refreshing. Stone Sorcerer is UA, but it seems pretty balanced to me.

The personality I envisioned for this guy (and I did decide to make him male) was a very chill, tranquil, peace-loving individual. Mostly to contrast my antisocial Air Genasi and (below) my feisty, angry Water Genasi. So I picked Background and skills that would take advantage of high Charisma while being compatible with tranquility, i.e. Insight/Persuasion.

War Caster and a shield would have been nice, but with Str/Con/Cha-dependencies, this build was way too MAD for such a feat. So he'll go with just a warhammer, which he can switch between one hand and two hands as a free action according to most DMs AFAIK. Even if they rule that requires an object interaction, hitting for 1d8 base damage isn't the end of the world after casting a spell.

As the party's only full caster, I picked out major "change the world" spells first: wish, plane shift, teleport, counterspell, and (strangely enough) darkvision, which three of our Genasi lack. But I knew that, being a front-line combatant sorcerer, he would need to majorly rely on spells to be any good in his role - first and foremost, booming blade and green-flame blade, as Stone Sorcerers don't get Extra Attack or any other major boosts to their melee damage output. A bit of crowd control, a bit of mobility, and a few more melee damage buffs and defense buffs, and the spell list was complete. I was a little bit sad to skip hold monster and (the most recent change) sleet storm, but I figured banishment and synaptic static can fulfill similar roles even better. With just those two painful omissions, the spell list was easier to narrow down than usual, for a Sorcerer build.

Elemental Spell is great on booming blade, green-flame blade, thunderous smite, searing smite, sleet storm, absorb elements, ray of frost, lightning lure, armor of Agathys. Quickened Spell is great on booming blade, green-flame blade, sleet storm, elemental weapon, banishment, wish, lightning lure, armor of Agathys. Heightened Spell probably won't be used much for anything except banishment or spells cast via wish.

Nobody ever uses the Durable feat, but I'm curious if it's good on a high-but-odd-numbered-Con build that already has Con Save proficiency.

So when I decided to expand the party to Level 20, I got to Sorcerer Level 20 and discovered that it, as always, was disappointing. So I decided to multiclass one level on this otherwise single-class build. Hexblade dips are against my principles, and one level of Kraken Warlock was similarly too cheesy, so the search was on. Bard 1? Fighter 1, to pick up a Maneuver as a UA-based Fighting Style? But eventually my search came upon Genie Warlock. It obviously was thematic for a Genasi party, and +6 damage per round isn't too shabby for a 1-level dip either! So it became the surprising (for me) conclusion to the build. Djinni was the best of the four genie types for Mesarr's mechanics (mostly what damage type it provided +6 of), so the interesting story about the party being "adopted" by a djinni at high levels was born.

[Draz74]

Cinder
Fire Genasi, Hedge Witch, Alchemist Artificer 20

HP 182; AC 18 (breastplate, shield)
Str 8 (-1); Dex 14 (+2); Con 12 (+1); Int 20 (+5); Wis 13 (+1); Cha 14 (+2)
Saves: Con +7; Int +11
Languages: Common, Primordial, Goblin
Acrobatics +2
Animal Handling +7
Arcana +11
Athletics -1
Deception +2
History +11
Insight +1
Intimidation +2
Investigation +5
Medicine +1
Nature +5
Perception +1
Performance +2
Persuasion +2
Religion +5
Sleight of Hand +8
Stealth +2
Survival +1
* * *
TOOLS
Herbalism Kit +13
Thieves' Tools +14
Tinker's Tools +17
Alchemist's Supplies +17
Woodcarver's Tools +14
i.e. what she typically prepares at Level 20; low levels are generally a subset of these same choices:

Cantrips: guidance, mage hand, prestidigitation, produce flame (racial, CON-based), shocking grasp
1st level (4/day): absorb elements, alarm, burning hands (1/day, can't be upcast, CON-based), detect magic, faerie fire, healing word, longstrider, ray of sickness, sanctuary
2nd level (3/day): enhance ability, flaming sphere, heat metal, Melf's acid arrow, web
3rd level (3/day): catnap, dispel magic, gaseous form, mass healing word, revivify
4th level (3/day): arcane eye, blight, death ward
5th level (2/day): cloudkill, greater restoration, raise dead, skill empowerment
Originally: Str 8; Dex 12; Con 12; Int 16; Wis 13; Cha 14
Originally: Animal Handling, Arcana, History, Sleight of Hand proficiencies; Herbalism Kit, Thieves' Tools, Tinker's Tools, Alchemist's Supplies proficiencies; Common, Primordial, Goblin languages.
guidance, prestidigitation; (Magical Tinkering)
Enhanced Defense & Enhanced Weapon & Repeating Shot & RMI - Sending Stones infusions
Woodcarver's Tools proficiency; (Alchemist Spells healing word & ray of sickness; Experimental Elixir 1/day; The Right Tool for the Job)
Ritual Caster - Wizard feat: initial ritual choices find familiar & unseen servant
(Alchemist spells flaming sphere & Melf's acid arrow; Alchemical Savant)
Boots of the Winding Path & RMI - Bag of Holding infusions; (Experimental Elixir 2/day; Tool Expertise)
(Flash of Genius)
boost Int +2
(Alchemist spells gaseous form & mass healing word; Restorative Reagents)
shocking grasp; Repeating Shot infusion => Helm of Awareness & RMI - Cloak of the Manta Ray & RMI - Gauntlets of Ogre Power infusions; (Magic Item Adept)
(Spell-Storing Item)
boost Int +2
(Alchemist spells blight & death ward)
mage hand; RMI - Gauntlets of Ogre Power infusion => RMI - Belt of Hill Giant Strength & RMI - Ring of Free Action & RMI - Ring of Protection infusions; (Magic Item Savant)
(Experimental Elixir 3/day; Resist acid & poison damage; Immunity to poisoned; cast greater restoration & heal 1/day each)
Lucky feat
(Alchemist spells cloudkill & raise dead)
Resistant Armor & RMI - Amulet of Health infusions; (Magic Item Master)
boost Dex +2
(Soul of Artifice)


There aren't a lot of classes that can really benefit from Fire Genasi's INT +1, and Wizard's been done to death, so my mind went immediately to Artificer. Alchemist, I'm not sure why, but it worked out. A "balance my creativity with my arson habit" personality.

Personality-wise, I also wanted the character to be somewhat rural (that was true of all four, just because they're Genasi), not a sophisticated urbane scientist. But what I wanted the build to be was still a vague concept, so it ended up adapting to the other three builds for a while, particularly with the goal that the party be Proficient with every skill.

Animal Handling was one that the other three builds couldn't fit, and I thought it would be interesting for a Fire Genasi and an Artificer to be an animal-friend. But Animal Handling would have to come from a Background, and there aren't exactly many options for that. There's Folk Hero, but I didn't want my Artificer to be quite that ordinary, and the party already had at least two Survival proficiencies anyway. The other published Animal Handling backgrounds (few as they were) didn't fit my concept either. So ... it was time for a custom Background.

I named it Hedge Witch as the best I could think up for the "village witch-doctor who's friends with all the animals" concept. And I gave it Arcana as its other skill, a bonus language, Herbalism Kit proficiency, and stole the Feature from the Haunted One background. Voila.

History and Sleight of Hand were its skills from Artificer, just because the party was lacking them. I was torn about whether I wanted Nature or Medicine or both on the build to help explain the alchemical talent, but I decided Arcana was enough, partly because I already knew Zephrys would be better at both skills than Cinder anyway (thanks to Expertise).

Relatively low Constitution in favor of relatively high Wisdom and Charisma was a purely personality-driven choice. Not optimal, but I think the build is still survivable enough.

I picked Woodcarver's Tools proficiency just so Zephrys would have a built-in supply of arrows, but my friend pointed out that a Fire Genasi working with wood is also somewhat ironic, in a good way.

Early levels, the build is going to have to rely on a Simple Weapon (like a Sickle) and/or a low-DC Produce Flame cantrip to attack with when her spell slots run out. That's probably ok, since she's a support build, not supposed to be the damage-dealer. She'll be doing amazing things like getting the party access to sending and magic weapons at Level 2.

It's kind of weird how the Artificer can't use all the Infusions it knows. Very strange design decision. But I guess the Artificer is supposed to be cycling through the Infusions she knows, changing them up each day just for variety? Anyway, which Infusions will actually get used will have to adapt to what actual magic items the party finds. If everyone's got a Ring of Protection, for example, then the RMI - Ring of Protection Infusion will obviously be dormant.

But assuming there isn't any interference from real magic items, I picture Cinder at high levels giving Zephrys a Ring of Free Action and a Longbow +2; giving Mesarr a Helm of Awareness (it's UA, but I thought it seemed cool and balanced) and a Belt of Hill Giant Strength; giving Torrent a Ring of Protection; and wearing some kind of Resistant Armor herself, depending what the party expects to face. But there are lots of options: making Zephrys super tough with Amulet of Health; providing a Bag of Holding if the party is lacking extradimensional space; giving Torrent a Whip +2 ...

EDIT: Now boosts Dex instead of Con at Level 19. Not an intuitive choice for Artificer, but I think it's better overall, especially since the CON boost is wasted if she ever attunes her Amulet of Health infusion.

[Draz74]

Torrent
Water Genasi, Criminal, Zealot Barbarian 5 / Drunken Master Monk 14 / Trickery Cleric 1

HP 175; AC 17
Str 10 (+0); Dex 20 (+5); Con 16 (+3); Int 8 (-1); Wis 14 (+2); Cha 12 (+1)
Saves: Str +6, Dex +11, Con +9, Int +5, Wis +8, Cha +7
Languages: Common, Primordial, all others through Tongue of the Sun and Moon
Acrobatics +11
Animal Handling +2
Arcana -1
Athletics +6
Deception +7
History -1
Insight +2
Intimidation +7
Investigation -1
Medicine +2
Nature -1
Perception +2
Performance +7
Persuasion +1
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +11
Survival +2
* * *
TOOLS
Thieves' Tools +11
Playing Card Set +7
i.e. what she typically prepares:

Cantrips: guidance, shape water (racial, CON-based), thaumaturgy, toll the dead
1st level (2/day): bless, charm person, command, create or destroy water (racial, 1/day, CON-based), disguise self, shield of faith
Originally: Str 10; Dex 15; Con 16; Int 8; Wis 14; Cha 12
Originally: Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Stealth proficiencies; Thieves' Tools, Playing Card Set proficiencies; Common, Primordial languages.
Barbarian: (Rage 2/day; Unarmored Defense)
Monk: Monk Weapons dagger & javelin & spear & dart & flail & scimitar & whip; (Martial Arts 1d4)
Monk: (Ki; Flurry of Blows; Patient Defense; Step of the Wind; Ki-Fueled Strike; Distant Eye; Quickened Healing; Unarmored Movement +10 ft)
Monk: (Performance proficiency; Brewer's Supplies proficiency; Drunken Technique; Deflect Missiles)
Monk: Acrobat feat; (Slow Fall)
Monk: (Martial Arts 1d6; Extra Attack; Stunning Strike)
Monk: (Unarmored Movement +15 ft; Ki-Empowered Strikes; Leap to Your Feet; Redirect Attack)
Monk: (Evasion; Stillness of Mind)
Monk: boost Dex +2
Monk: (Unarmored Movement - vertical surfaces & liquids)
Monk: (Unarmored Movement +20 ft; Immunity to diseases and poison)
Monk: (Martial Arts 1d8; Drunkard's Luck)
Monk: Skulker feat
Monk: (Tongue of the Sun and Moon)
Monk: (Unarmored Movement +25 ft; Diamond Soul)
Barbarian: Danger Sense; (Reckless Attack)
Barbarian: (Rage 3/day; Divine Fury; Warrior of the Gods)
Barbarian: boost Dex +2
Barbarian: Instinctive Pounce
Cleric: guidance, thaumaturgy, toll the dead; (Divine Domain Spells; Blessing of the Trickster)


I knew immediately somehow that I wanted the Water Genasi to be a Monk ... but not a Katara, or otherwise a Four Elements style Monk. Looking through the Monk options, I seized on Drunken Master. It's underused, and I found the concept of an "Alcohol Genasi" hilarious.

Now, with November's UA, monks can pick which weapons they want to be Monk Weapons without going Kensei. So I've wanted to abuse that to make a whip-wielding Monk who gets to apply their Martial Arts die to improve the whip's base damage, while still enjoying 10-ft reach. Granted, their Flurry of Blows or other unarmed attacks won't enjoy that same reach, but it's still a good flexibility tool. And a drunk whipping her opponents just seemed extra appealing, so I decided it was time to try the whip build.

But there's a catch: the monk has to be proficient with the weapon before they can declare it a Monk weapon. That meant a dip in something with Martial proficiency. I considered Cleric with certain Domains, but Barbarian just seemed funnier to combine with the drunk concept.

Now, I've seen speculation about Barbarian/Monk combinations before, but they always seem to get written off. One Unarmored Defense will override the other, and Rage Bonus Damage and Reckless Attack aren't compatible with making your attacks Dex-based. But I was OK with using the Barbarian's Unarmored Defense over the Monk's considering I didn't plan to prioritize Wisdom super highly on this build, and Rage is still good for its other two features. And Reckless Attack ... I wasn't planning to include it in the build at all, but I ended up doing so at high levels after all. But I'm ok with it being a useless ability. So, Barbarian/Monk combo it shall be.

Criminal (re-flavored) seemed like the best Background for a "ne'er-do-well-drunkard." Stealth can represent just going unnoticed, or can be useful for stealing more alcohol. Athletics is a skill that pretty much all Monks and all Barbarians want, and Intimidation seemed very compatible with the raging whip-wielder this build was turning into, so those were the choices for Barbarian skill proficiencies.

Things were pretty straightforward from there until I decided to upgrade beyond Level 15. After adding Diamond Soul to the build, I realized the character didn't really care to have the rest of the Monk features. So that left me with five levels to fiddle around with! I looked at a few options like Fighter and Ranger and Tempest Cleric, but you can see that more Barbarian (Zealot specifically) and Trickery Cleric ended up being the most appealing options.

I wanted 3 levels of Trickery Cleric, but I didn't have room on the build. Those two levels just aren't as good as an ASI and Instinctive Pounce from Barbarian, especially when you consider how valuable Level 20 characters' actions are and how low-impact Mirror Image or Invoke Duplicity are. And the party already has access to Pass without Trace through Mesarr's race, albeit only 1/day. I considered dropping two levels of Monk to replace with Cleric levels, but Diamond Soul is just too strong. And a drunk speaking in tongues and having superb mental saving throws is just too funny.

I went with female because it's less expected for the drunk archetype, and angry drunk males specifically aren't very funny - too many real-life abusive situations invoked.

The Level 5 feat ... I'm not fond of the UA that gives all the skill-Expertise-feats. But I wanted a Dexterity half-feat since the build had 15 in its primary ability score, and there are not many Dexterity half-feats available to a Genasi. Weapon Master is entirely redundant with a Barbarian dip; Athlete is mostly redundant with the Drunken Master Leap to Your Feet and the Monk's ability to run up walls; Resilient (Dex) is redundant with Diamond Soul. So I kind of arrived at the skills UA by elimination. I debated between Acrobat and Stealthy, but ended up going with an additional proficiency rather than an additional expertise.

The Level 13 feat is from the PHB, but no less controversial, just because no one ever uses Skulker. I thought it was a fun addition though. Just abuse it by throwing 1d8-damage darts from the shadows, I guess?

Warrior of the Gods is amazing considering that Cinder has not only Revivify, but also Raise Dead prepared. (She doesn't have a choice about the latter, it will always be there at Level 17+.)

EDIT: Just switched Torrent's Strength and Charisma scores to fit better both mechanically and personality-wise. Rage gives her enough effective Strength.