Dork_Forge
2020-07-24, 07:42 PM
There's been some request for more build competitions, specifically for during the voting period of the main throwdown competitions, so here we are! Credit for the general topics of these mini contests goes to ftafp for the bloopers and to Civis Mundi for the badlands.
How this will work:When the build submissions for the main throwdown closes, voting for it will open as will build submissions for that week's lightning round. The lightning round contests will rotate each voting period, this time it's BLOOPERS and the voting period of the next throwdown will see the debut of the badlands contest. These contests will exist entirely within the five day voting window, with three days for builds and two days for voting, the overall timeframe for this will likely not change but the ratio is open to shifting to what you guys find the best.
BLOOPERS: This lightning round is for your funny/meme builds, things that amuse you, are particularly tropey to the point of satire etc. A theme will be provided for you to build upon and votes will be cast on what playgrounders find the funniest build for the theme.
The Badlands: This is all about unofficial content, primarily UA but with things like Matt Mercer content thrown in, the aim here is to see what you guys can do with that sweet medium-less balanced material.
So without further ado, let's get into this!
The schtick: Since it's our first time doing this together, ftafp suggested we should have some ice breaker exercises! So what's your funniest builds based around cold/ice?
Some rules for guidance:
-Your build must be based around cold/ice
-No UA, only officially published materials
-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)
-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)
-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play
-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)
-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature
-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).
-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read, jokes are heavily encouraged, let's get some belly laughs in this one!
Suggested format:
Level 20 level split:
Race:
Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x
Background:
Starting level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 5th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 11th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 17th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Voting:
To sort the dynamite from the duds we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each BLOOPERS/Badlands thread will run for 3 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be two days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Ice breakers build deadline/Voting opens: 27/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 29/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS NOW ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN
ftafp
2020-07-24, 11:40 PM
https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/4/40/881Arctozolt.png
Arctozolt
Level 20 level split: Four Elements Monk 3/Silver Dragon Sorcerer 17
Race: Viashino (Bronze Dragonborn)
Stats: Str (8+2) Dex 14 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 13 Cha (15 + 1)
Background: Izzet Engineer
Slizz was many things, but sane was not one of them. As a member of the Izzet League Slizz was in like company. Like many of his compatriots, Slizz would go on to die doing what he loved: a Galvanice Weird carved into the shape of a dinosaur.
Look, I did say he was kind of nuts.
Anyway, when le petit morte became le bigass morte, the resulting explosion of raw elemental energies blew both their bodies to chunks, and in the process fundamentally altered the nature of his flesh. His coworkers would later do much the same in the process of reanimating him when they stapled his top to his weird's bottom (for obvious reasons Izzet is well known for its life insurance policy). Now a little bit more galvanice, and a lot more weird, Slizz would go on do great things in his life, most of which involved freezing and electrocuting test subjects at the same time.
Starting level: Silver Dragon Sorcerer 1
Spells: Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, Prestidigitation, Shape Water, Shield, Witch Bolt
We're starting off strong with a little electric and a little ice. At this level, your job as a sorcerer is to spam cantrips and try not to die. With 15 AC that can go up to 20 with shield we're doing pretty good in that department. Witch Bolt is a good early-level spell since you can use it once and repeat the damage. It won't hold up, but for now it's golden
At 5th level: Silver Dragon Sorcerer 5
Spells: Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, Prestidigitation, Shape Water, Mage Hand, Shield, Chaos Bolt, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Lightning Bolt, Counterspell
ASI: +2 Cha
Metamagic: Quickened Spell, Twinned Spell
At level 5 we're still keeping the sorcerer game up. Not much to talk about here, though keep an eye on Phantasmal Force as it's an excellent control spell, especially twinned. Two enemies get one Int Save each. If they fail, you have a swarm of spiders crawling on their face trying to burrow into their orifices. The 1d6 psychic damage isn't much but the fact that they'll be closing their eyes and mouth to keep the spiders out means they'll be blind, unable to use verbal components, and likely using their action to claw at the spiders.
At 11th level: Silver Dragon Sorcerer 8/Four Elements Monk 3
Spells: Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, Prestidigitation, Shape Water, Mage Hand, Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Shield, Chaos Bolt, Create/Destroy Water, Armor of Agathys, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Lightning Bolt, Counterspell, Blink, Polymorph,
ASI: Magic Initiate(Warlock)
Elemental Disciplines: Shape the Flowing River
Okay, level 11 is where things really start kicking into gear. Here's your process: First, use quickened spell to cast Create Water, making rain fall over you in a 30-foot cube. Immediately follow that up with Shape the Flowing River to build a fortification around yourself. Remember, Shape The Flowing Water specifies area, not volume, and you have exactly the area you need to encase yourself in ice armor. Depending on how you interpret the wording of the ability, Shape the Flowing River can either surround you on all sides but not restrain you, or you need to provide a way out. In the latter case, your best option is probably forming a spiral of ice walls around yourself with a ceiling, making it near impossible for enemies to reach you unless they're incorporeal or have dimension door. Next, spam power ups. Blink, Mirror Image and Armor of Agathys are all non-concentration buffs, so take them and then when your next turn comes, cast polymorph to turn yourself into a Half-Silver Dragon T-Rex. Now is the part where you squash everything
At 17th level: Silver Dragon Sorcerer 14/Four Elements Monk 3
Spells: At this point you can pick your own
ASI: +2 Cha
From here on out you're making your own choices but if I can make one recommendation add Crown of Stars to your spell list, as it's non-concentration and gives you a bonus action while you're polymorphed. that's a pretty decent deal.
At 20th level: Silver Dragon Sorcerer 17/Four Elements Monk 3
At this point, you can add True Polymorph to your spell list and become a true dragon. No more silly little games. The world is your oyster. Destroy it
Civis Mundi
2020-07-25, 05:13 AM
🎶...Do you want to build a snowfiend?...🎶
MEIRA, QUEEN OF WINTER
(Art by Anako (https://www.deviantart.com/anako-art))
https://i.imgur.com/QOWz3im.jpg
"The cold never bothered me anyway."
Level 20 Split: Hexblade 5/Abjurer 15
Race: V. Human (+1 INT/+1 DEX, Crossbow Expert, Infernal, Acrobatics)
Starting Stats: STR 8 / DEX 13 (14) / CON 12 / INT 15 (16) / WIS 12 / CHA 13
Starting Level: Warlock (Arcana, Nature)
Background: Custom ("Princess," Retainers feature from Knight, History, Stealth, Dwarven, thieves' tools)
I was at a crossroads when I made this build. Who to base it on, Elsa or Mei? Then I found the image above and I decided, why not both?
Princess Meira was stillborn, cold as ice, but her parents cut a deal with Levistus to bring her to life. She came of age shortly after her parents’ own death, and was meant to inherit the kingdom—but on her coronation day, Levistus came to collect. Her younger sister would have to rule as her patron sent her out to destroy the servants of his sworn enemy Asmodeus.
If you play Overwatch, then you already know that Mei is in league in with the devil (https://i.redd.it/b4id8vqqcj5x.jpg).
@5th level: Hexblade Chainlock 3/Abjurer 2
Features: Hexblade’s Curse, Hex Warrior, Pact of the Chain, Armor of Shadows, Voice of the Chain Master, Arcane Recovery, Arcane Ward
Pact Magic: blade ward, booming blade, prestidigitation, armor of agathys, shield, invisibility, misty step
Spellcasting: light, frostbite, ray of frost, absorb elements, chromatic orb, detect magic, feather fall, floating disk, fog cloud, grease, magic missile
At 5th level, Meira has everything she needs to function, though she’s got a ways to go. The centerpiece of the build is a particular combo: the armor of Agathys spell, the Arcane Ward ability, and the Armor of Shadows Invocation. Armor of Agathys “manifest[s] as a spectral frost that covers you and your gear,” granting 5 temp HP per spell level. It also deals the same amount of retributive cold damage when a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have those hit points. Our Arcane Ward from the Abjurer subclass also absorbs damage, and it’s pretty much always on. It’s got HP equal to 2(Wizard level) + INT bonus, so that’s 7 HP right now. That’s not great, but once it hits 0, it sticks around. The best part is, the Ward takes damage before the temp HP, but the damage from armor of Agathys still procs.
Each time we cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, we recharge the Ward by 2 HP per spell level. Armor of Shadows lets us cast mage armor at will, which we use for the sole purpose of recharging the Ward. We’re in scale mail and a shield, which puts us at 18 AC, 23 with the shield spell. We’ve only got 31 HP, but we’ve also got 10 HP from armor of agathys and 7 from the Arcane Ward, for an equivalent 48 HP. As long as we still have the 10 temp HP, we deal 10 retributive cold damage every time someone hits us with a melee attack. For reference, a 5th level Fighter with 14 CON would have 44 HP. Just under 15% of that HP recharges at will.
You might be wondering why we picked up Crossbow Expert. We have no intention of using crossbows, but we do want to cast cold spells right into people’s faces. Crossbow Expert will let us do just that—make ranged attacks in melee without doing so at Disadvantage. That said, this is not a tank that deals a lot of damage on its own turn right now. 2d8 cold with ray of frost is far from awe-inspiring, but at least we can do it with INT. Yeah, I could’ve made this build a lot better as a Battle Smith/Abjurer with a Warlock dip…but I have my reasons. I don't wanna hit people with weapons. I wanna keep it chill.
It hurt me a little to go with Hexblade, but we're not using the CHA-to-attack-and-damage. The main purpose for Hexblade is just the medium armor + shield proficiency, though Hexblade's Curse never hurts. That extra damage applies to all of your damage rolls, and the self-heal on a kill synergizes well with your general style of tanking. It sure goes to show how OP Hexblade is though. Even disregarding its most powerful feature, it's still often the most optimal choice.
Because of our focus on INT, we also have a good variety of spells. Feather fall, invisibility, and misty step are all always nice to have. Chromatic orb is a higher damage option than our usual pathetic cantrips. We’ve also got some good control in the way of grease (read: ice slick). Magic missile and other such force spells have an icy appearance. Floating disk means we never have to carry our own stuff, which is important as a princess. It's also made of ice, of course.
We’ve also got great utility in our imp Snolaf, the unholy combination of Mei’s Snowball and Elsa’s Olaf. An invisible and expendable scout with unlimited telepathy is a powerful tool. We also have some other servants following us around and doing menial labor for us from the Retainers background feature.
@11th level: Hexblade 3/Abjurer 8
ASI: +2 INT (Wizard 4th, INT 18), Elemental Adept (Wizard 8th, cold)
Features: Projected Ward
Wizard Spells: shape water, blindness/deafness, dragon’s breath, hold person, snilloc’s snowball swarm, counterspell, phantom steed, slow, tiny hut, conjure minor elementals, dimension door, fire shield, resilient sphere
Here’s where the build starts to shine. The more Abjurer levels we get, the stronger our Ward is, and the higher level we can upcast armor of Agathys, the longer it can last and the more damage it can deal. We’ve also got Projected Ward now, which could help in a pinch. For the most part though, we want to save the Ward’s HP to proc that retributive damage.
Elemental Adept helps cut through any cold resistance, and raising INT to 18 makes us stronger in all respects. We gain a lot of fun and flavorful spells at this level. We travel in style on a phantom steed that looks like a cool ice horse (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOmRfrpU0AEcOCc?format=jpg&name=small). Dragon’s breath is the perfect way to spend our concentration. Cast it on Snolaf, and he can use his action to breathe cold upon our enemies, using hit-and-run tactics. If you really want to keep him safe, you can even have him turn invisible between rounds and move into a new position. Between prestidigitation and shape water, there’s a lot of fun stuff we can do with ice—maybe make some ice sculptures for weddings in your downtime. Snowball swarm is not really a great spell, but it adds another cold blast to our repertoire. Hold person, slow, and resilient sphere are all great control spells with icy flavor, along with blindness/deafness, which is non-concentration, and can be upcast to multiple targets. Let’s say it’s icing over their eyes. Fire shield (cold) is a huge boon to your defenses, another non-concentration that complements armor of Agathys well, dealing an additional 2d8 retributive cold damage. I also love the idea of creating a magical igloo with tiny hut.
@17th level: Hexblade 5/Abjurer 12
ASI: +2 INT (Warlock 4th), War Caster (Wizard 12th)
Features: Tomb of Levistus, Improved Abjuration
Wizard Spells: arcane hand, cone of cold, hold monster, wall of force, contingency, freezing sphere, soul cage, wall of ice
At this point, everything truly comes together. We’ve got 19 AC in half-plate and shield, plus a bunch more great blasting and control options, all ice-flavored. We already added counterspell to our repertoire last tier, but Improved Abjuration makes us particularly good at it. When we do run out of our Ward and temp HP, we can pop Tomb of Levistus as reaction, encasing ourselves in a block of ice (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4PA2mDWMAAfz0Z?format=jpg&name=small) and instantly gaining 50 more temp HP. Handily, fire shield (cold) negates the fire vulnerability. We can even create a wall of ice, just like everyone’s least favorite hero. The soul cage spell only deepens the uncanny similarity to Mei. Even after our enemy dies, we don't just let them play the @#!%ing game of life. Instead, we trap their souls in an icy silver cage. Then we leech off their energy until we finally release them to the other side. Sorry about that! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3az4eQPmX8)
@20th level: Hexblade 5/Abjurer 15
Features: Spell Resistance
Wizard Spells: etherealness, forcecage, simulacrum, teleport, mighty fortress, mind blank
At this point, an 8th level armor of Agathys means 40 temp HP, and the Ward has 35. That brings our effective HP from a piddling 108 to a much more respectable 183. Better yet, we can recharge 35 of that HP in under 2 minutes without expending any resources (just under 20% of our total). Each time something hits us with a melee attack while we have those temp HP, they take 40 cold damage, +2d8 from fire shield. We've also got Spell Resistance as a nice pseudo-capstone, and it's pretty darn good.
Most of these new spells are just gravy, but I have a particular fondness for simulacrum—you fashion a duplicate of yourself out of snow! How perfect is that? We can also make sure we stay in the luxury we deserve even as we trek deep into the unknown, constructing an icy palace (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/ef/93/15ef93dade58a25661fa650860d6f5d4.jpg) with mighty fortress. Sure, it's expensive, but I figure we can afford the expense at this point. The spell even specifies, "After 7 days or when you cast this spell somewhere else, the fortress harmlessly crumbles and sinks back into the ground, leaving any creatures that were inside it safely on the ground." We'll just say the fortress is melting, which is just adorable. We could also just hunker down and cast it in the same spot for a year.
This build is not the first place my mind would go when it comes to exploiting Arcane Ward + armor of Agathys. The build might be a bit of a fixer-upper, but it’s brimming with style, and most of its abilities fit in perfectly with the theme. The hardcore optimizer on my shoulder is whispering sweet nothings in my ear—but for the first time in forever, I’m going to let it go.
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