5e Throwdowns #8: Boulevard of Broken Dreams

[Dork_Forge]

The concept: Boulevard of Broken Dreams

No I'm not skimming the board for my Green Day cover band, this time we're looking for builds and builds concepts that are widely regarded as sub par to say the least and what you would do to rectify that! Some examples of this are TWF and proactive healing that is worthwhile against the incoming damage.



Some rules for guidance:

-Please add a field at the start of your build for what you are aiming ro rectify with it

-In the interest of promoting creativity and diversity in these builds, Hexblade will be allowed, but requires a minimum of 5 levels as part of your overall build. If you choose any other Warlock patron this restriction is not applicable.

-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



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 wheat from the chaff 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 throwdown thread will run for 7 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 five 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).

Abserd build deadline/Voting opens: 08/10/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET

Voting deadline: 13/10/2020 @ 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


The Contestants

Chugger's 'The Mighty Dragon Rider' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24734002&postcount=4) Invalid build, submitter didn't vote

MinotaurWarrior's 'Bob the Builder' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24734458&postcount=5) 1 Vote JOINT WINNER

Lavaeolus' 'The Armored Monk' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24734685&postcount=8)

ftafp's 'The Merchant of Icewind Dale (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24735196&postcount=9)

Sithlordnergal's 'The Smallest Knight' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24736438&postcount=11) Invalid build, submitter didn't vote

Waazraath's 'Daemona - the winged fiendish chick with whip' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24743054&postcount=14) 1 Vote JOINT WINNER

Aett_Thorn's 'The Master of Dreams and Nightmares' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24743157&postcount=15) Invalid build, submitter didn't vote

The joint winners are: Minotaur Warrior's 'Bob the Builder' and Waazraath's 'Daemona - the winged fiendish chick with whip'

Previous winners:

Throwdown #1: The Gish - Sithlordnergal's 'The Undying Barbarian' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24497507&postcount=27)

Throwdown #2: The Terminator - Ludic Savant's 'The Regenerator' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24520668&postcount=51)

Throwdown #3: The Solo Tour - Ftafp's 'The Hex Spoon' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24536099&postcount=21)

Throwdown #4: Powergamer's Potluck - BobtheWizard's 'The Shadow Knight' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24549849&postcount=8)

Throwdown #5: The Do-Over (Magus Maximus) - Civis Mundi's 'Pompey Problemsolver' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24596826&postcount=5) and Nix inktongue (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24598011&postcount=10)

Throwdown #6: Hard Mode (An Abserd Difficulty) - JOINT WINNERS: Waazraath's 'Just a sort of regular smiting paladin' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24628334&postcount=11) and ftafp's 'The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24618861&postcount=4)

Throwdown #7: Against the Grain (unusual combinations) - MinotaurWarrior's 'Aziah Parakambahu' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24712757&postcount=11) and kalkyrie's 'The Grand Galactic Inquisitor' (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24710879&postcount=9)

[sithlordnergal]

So, are we able to use Tasha's new rules on moving around Racial Ability scores?

[Dork_Forge]

So, are we able to use Tasha's new rules on moving around Racial Ability scores?

That's a very good question! I'm going to say for now no, it's only present in an AL league document and this contest doesn't conform to AL rules. Once they're officially published in Tasha's then they will be available every now and then (since it's a variant and well, it takes a lot of the challenge part away imo).

[Chugger]

THE MIGHTY DRAGON-RIDER: My challenge is to make a deadly, high-damage-dealing beastmaster ranger. The solution is a kobold BM ranger that tames a Pterandon. It's medium and has the str to carry a light kobold + gear + some treasure (I might need to invest in a pack mule or a bag of holding later on). We use the pteranodon as a flying mount to either dive (screaming) out of the sun, stabbing w/ lance from 10' reach and then fly away to be hopefully out of range of enemy reprisals (no AoO if their reach is 5'). Or we use a short bow and go sharpshooter at lvl 4, and just fly around going pew pew pew. Use pack tactics to almost always hit - well, w/ SS to hit enough to do good damage. Use fog cloud (cast it over the battle, up in the sky) to blot out the sun if fighting outdoors in sunlight, or at least to shade enough so sunlight sensitivity is mitigated.

Level 20 level split: BM Ranger

Race: Kobold

Stats: Str 8 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 10

Background: urchin

Starting level: 3 (I used DM points to create this in AL)

Any guidance or commentary you want: In AL I can DM-award him Gauntlets of Ogre Power, meaning his Str is 19 (I did this) - and he can pick up giant str belt later. Before I gave him GooP he used a whip repurposed to look like a lance. I haven't played him in a while - I may switch to short bow and sharpshooter feat when I hit lvl 5 (AL lets you do that).

At 5th level:

Two lance stabs for 2d12 + 8 str + 2 (magic lance) +4 (dueling fs) = 27 average damage, often using pack tactics.

Two arrow shots for 2d6 + 6 dex +2 (magic bow) + 4 (bracers of archery) + 20 (ss) = 39 average damage, using pack tactics and f.s. archery to mitigate ss's -5 penalty - note this will miss a lot more than the lance attack and is rarely going to outdamage lance by as much as these figures show (they assume hits). Bracers of Archery are easy to get in AL; but I'd be getting them at lvl 6 probably.

At 11th level:

It's slowing down. I haven't even thought about this much - because knowing how I play I'm already bored with this character. It would have been tons of fun, but it's less useful and grows into less amazing things from here on, from what I can see. Oh heck, spam Plant Growth on everyone and make the party scream at you! Muhahahahaha - Death from Above? Forget dead from above. I'm talking PLANTS from Above!!! HAHAHAHAH! er yeah - well, this is a build that does surprisingly good damage for bm ranger - you use the mount only as a mount and use kobold pack tactics and be amazing.

At 17th level:

Swift Quiver or Steel Wind strike.

At 20th level and final thoughts: this probably needs a multiclass. But each lvl of MC makes my mount weaker. Could alter stats to get a 13 charisma and do 3 lvls of sorc to cast Dragon breath on the Pteranodon! Wheee … er, maybe not. Or 3 levels of battlemaster fighter to get precision, turn those -5 ss caused misses into hits.

[MinotaurWarrior]

Bob the Builder

Level 20 level split:

Race: Wood Elf

Stats: Str 8 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 10

Background: Guild Artisan (Builders)

Starting level:

You're a standard 1st level Monk. You have good DPR, and it's better than it looks because it's so consistent.

At 5th level:

Elemental discipline: Sweeping Cinder Strike
ASI: WIS

At 5th level, the way of the four elements Monk is at its peak. Burning hands 2x per short rest actually gives you great DPR against groups and stunning strike makes you great against bosses.

At 11th level:

Elemental Disciplines: Fist of Four Thunders, Shape the Flowing River, Mist Stance
ASI: WIS

You mostly do the same things as any other Monk during combat - it's all about that stunning strike. Fist of Four Thunders is just a panic button at this point to avoid OA's if you get swarmed.

But Mist Stance + Shape the Flowing River offer you an occasionally useful combo. You see, StFR isn't a spell, and so you can use it in your gaseous form. 210 cubic feet manipulated per hour. And remember, you can take non strenuous actions (including spellcasting) during a short rest.

So if your party ever takes a long rest in a dungeon, you can trance 4hrs, spend three hours finding cracks and exploiting them with expanding ice, and then 1hr genuinely resting. It's not like a universal insta-kill combo, but it is value-added. Occasionally you'll be able to cause cave ins that block monsters or create passages that

In downtime, you can create veritable ice cities, shaping 330 cubic feet of ice per hour, 18 hours a day.

At 17th level:

Elemental Disciplines: Fist of Four Thunders, Shape the Flowing River, Mist Stance, Wave of Rolling Earth.
ASI'S: DEX, DEX

In downtime, you're now 100% a city builder. You can cast wall of stone twice an hour 18 hours a day, 360 panels per day. If you go for thin panels, that's 72,000 square feet of stone paneling per day.

At 20th level and final thoughts:

At level 18, you got 3 walls per rest and a 9/9 sorlock gained the ability to do 2, so in exactly this one way you are 1.5 times as effective as a sorlock.

Your capstone let's you make ice palaces absurdly fast if you just get in a fight every 18 seconds.

Your final ASI should probably go to a normal feat. I'd personally recommend mage slayer at this point.

[TyGuy]

-In the interest of promoting creativity and diversity in these builds, Hexblade will be allowed, but requires a minimum of 5 levels as part of your overall build. If you choose any other Warlock patron this restriction is not applicable. Taking Cha from your race and down the line taking Hexblade is not considered valid for this Throwdown concept.
This seems like a holdover from the last throwdown. Is hexblade still minimum 5 levels?

[Dork_Forge]

This seems like a holdover from the last throwdown. Is hexblade still minimum 5 levels?

Good catch thank you, the last piece is still a holdover yes, however Hexblade is still a 5 level minimum to encourage creativity in builds.

[Lavaeolus]

The Armored Monk
A body honed for war, clad in plate

There once existed a secluded monastery, its inhabitants dedicated to training and honing their bodies for the ultimate war -- a war they knew would come, but not when, how or where. And one day that war did come. The Hidden Legion marched to the battlefield, bearing armour and axes the size of men.

Whereupon they, having not come to a decisive consensus on who exactly to support, immediately schismed and slaughtered each other en masse. I present to you their sole survivor.

----

Goal: Monks in heavy armour are, generally speaking, a bad idea. The Monk kit is deliberately based around running unarmored and mostly unarmed, only using a limited set of simple weaponry if that. Accordingly, they face a steep price for bucking this trend. A price we'll happily pay and see where it takes us; can we wear what we like and still build a viable character?

Overall, this is a pretty simple build that attempts to minimise the losses incurred, and tends to fluctuate a bit in how it compares to a regular Monk due to its mostly-fixed AC and unarmed damage. If your DM is big on handing magical armour and such, it'll be better at taking advantage, but you probably shouldn't take that for granted. And yes, if you do make this character you can swap out my dumb backstory for something actually sensible.

----

Level 20 level split: Cleric (War Domain) 1 / Monk (Way of the Long Death) 19

Race: Minotaur

Stats: Str 15 (17), Dex 13, Con 13 (14), Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 9
Race boosts in brackets.

Background: Soldier

----

What's so bad about armor, anyway?

A quick overview for those who don't remember all the rules off-hand. So, you're a Monk with proficiency in all armors, and you've decided to deck yourself out. What's gone?


Unarmored Defense: Shocking. What's it mean in practice? A normal Monk's AC would probably start at about 15 AC, eventually reaching 20 AC. Someone in heavy armor will be 16-18 AC, but can wear a shield.


Unarmored Movement: Monks get hefty movement boosts. Say goodbye to that. If you do a strict RAW reading, the ability to run along surfaces and water remains available.


Martial Arts: Oh dear. This is pretty core to the Monk's kit. Enables the use of DEX on unarmed strikes and your Monk weapons, lets you replace attack damage with your Martial Arts die, and gives you your bonus-action unarmed strike.

A promising start that turns off three of Monk's core features. But anything else stays online: Flurry of Blows, Stunning Strike, whatever else. Putting subclasses aside for now, none of your remaining features rely on a Monk weapon.
----

Starting level: War Cleric 1
HP 10, AC 16 (no-shield) / 18 (shield)
Proficiencies: Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Religion, Vehicles (Land), Playing Card Set

So, two important choices we make here that the rest of the build'll be founded on. The first, made before we even got here, was our race. Why minotaur? It has a stat spread useful for a Strength Monk, of course. It has a bonus-action 'shove', but sadly it can't knock people prone. Still potentially useful for disengaging, though.

Perhaps the key thing it offers is a 1d6 unarmed strike; currently the only other race with that is the Lizardfolk. This puts your unarmed strikes on par with a normal Monk from level 6 to 10. That said, the main reason we want a good unarmed strike is for Flurries, and you're only one damage dice behind until Monk 17; after that, however, it'll sting more. It's nonetheless a weakness with the build.

Next, our class choice. We needed a source of heavy-armour, of course. Paladin was right-out, but Fighter would've had its benefits: Second Wind and a Fighting Style, which probably translates to +1 AC (Defense). An alternative to this build could take Fighter further for Action Surge + a subclass, but I wanted to minimise our time spent outside Monk.

As far as one-level dips go, War Cleric likely has the edge. We can pick up some spells, including the War-exclusive Divine Favor. It'll be particularly nice to have on when you Flurry, but it is Concentration. You can pick up Guidance for use out of combat, and you may as well pick up Healing Word.

As far as features go, you get War Priest: twice per long rest you'll be able to make a bonus-action weapon attack. This'll get better as your Wisdom modifier goes up, but for now it's not a great replacement for Martial Arts' BA-attack. However, it can be used on any ol' weapon, which brings us to my final point...

You have three approaches to combat you can use:


Two-handed: The offensive option, perhaps using a maul or a greataxe. Unlike other Monks, you don't care about keeping Martial Arts online, so you don't care about using martial or heavy weapons.


Free hand: Most likely, if you're going this route you intend on grappling things. A versatile weapon like the battleaxe is useful here; you can make d10 attacks when both hands are available, then switch once you've got someone in your hands. Being Strength-based, you're better at this compared to a standard Monk, but there are stronger grappling builds out there.


Shield: An extra 2 AC. Completely gives up a hand, but can be a trade worth making.



Level 5: War Cleric 1 / Long Death Monk 4
HP 38, AC 16 / 18
New feats: Heavy Armor Master

Ah, good. After first-level we actually become a Monk, but we do pay a price. We're a level behind on progression and we sort of turned Monk 1 into a dead level. Look, you went in knowing fashion came with a price.

Our subclass choice is surprisingly open. First, let's go over what's different than a normal Monk. Kensei is odd in that, otherwise freed from the tyranny of Monk weapons, having to rely on a kensei one imposes restrictions on you. Drunken Master and Open Hand could be used on a Minotaur, especially if you weren't going to level 20, but at the higher levels your Flurry is worse than most Monks'. Otherwise, you're probably in the clear. Sun Soul is based around DEX, of course, so it's not an option for this armoured Monk. Some classes also use your 'Martial Arts die', but that's not the same as actually relying on the Martial Arts feature, right?

Well, we'll be sidestepping the debate with a Long Death Monk. At this stage, it's a bit of extra temp HP (7) when you kill something. If you did want to grapple a bit, you might later get some extra use out of Hour of Reaping.

Our feat is Heavy Armor Master, mainly to get our STR to 18, but hey, we may as well stretch any benefit we can get out of HA.

Level 11: War Cleric / Long Death Monk 10
HP 80, AC 18 / 20, 16 WIS

Alas, from here out I don't have much to tell you. You're a Long Death Monk, and here on out we're going to be focusing on raising our stats over picking any feats. Either max your STR, or finally begin increasing that WIS to improve your Stunning Strike DC and to get more out of War Priest.

Which reminds me, hey, good news: your Extra Attack and Stunning Strike are all online. Throw yourself off buildings, evade fireballs, yadda yadda. You're at heart a Monk, just with much lower speed and potentially a higher-than-usual AC.

Level 17: War Cleric 1 / Long Death Monk 16
HP 122, AC 18 / 20, STR 20, WIS 18

If you didn't max your STR before, you should definitely have done it by now. Anything else? You have proficiency in all saving throws now, which is neat-o. Among other things, should help with keeping up any Concentration spells.

Level 20: War Cleric 1 / Long Death Monk 19
HP 143, AC 18 / 20, WIS 20

Here we are. All grown up. In terms of valuable feats, if you want to eye them up or if just spending all your ASIs on stats doesn't appeal to you, you could consider grabbing Tough for the extra HP or Mobile for the extra speed. I've gone the simplest route, but it's not out of the question to leave your WIS at 18.

----

Alternatives: Just as a fun sidenote, are there any alternative ways to try and make Armored Monks? A Hill Dwarf with a Nature Cleric dip can dump STR entirely while grabbing shillelagh, essentially paying a very steep price to turn themselves SAD. Or perhaps you could keep the DEX focus but go with a Sun Soul Monk, either using medium armour or, again, dwarfing their way around STR requirements; but then, if you went with a DEX focus there'll probably come a time where you'll be better off taking off your armour.

[ftafp]

https://i.imgur.com/ksdplOH.png
The Merchant of Icewind Dale

The Alchemist is a subclass full wonderful features, but unfortunately their combination of randomness and poor us of action economy mean that your party will rarely benefit from using them. That's not to say they're useless however; these are magic items, no more, no less. What better to do with magic items you don't need than to sell them. In the world of marketing, the Alchemist is King

Level 20 level split: Alchemist 17 / Eloquence Bard 3

Race: Dragonwrought Kobold (Red Draconblood Dragonborn)

Stats: Str 8 Dex 13 Con 12 Int (14+2) Wis 10 Cha (15 + 1)

Background: Customized Charlatan (Persuasion instead of Sleight of Hand)

Starting level: Artificer 1
Solomonder King was a master trapsmith who dreamed of something more than endless squabbling with the other 11 tribes in the desert. He wanted to end the violence, unite the tribes, and form a civilized society where their trapmaking skills were put to use as skin and fur traders. It would be an uphill battle, King knew that, but it would be worth it. If only for his people's survival.

Artificers start off strong and King here is no exception. At level one Magic Stone and Guidance are going to his cantrips of choice. Fire Bolt is a great spell, don't get me wrong, but at this level Magic Stone offers more reliable damage. What sets King apart at this level is his cash returns when selling items. Magical tinkering allows you to make what amounts to three common magic items out of ordinary junk, and your high persuasion and deception mean you'll be quite effective at selling them. The Draconblood racial trait Forceful Presence will give you advantage once per rest on persuasion checks which will make you an even better salesman, and the combination of Disguise and Forgery Kits means you can more easily sell fake magic items without getting caught.

At 5th level: Artificer 2/Eloquence Bard 3

The dragon's blood that ran through King's veins gave him traction among his people, and his skilled trapsmithing gave him respect. It was arduous, but King managed to pull the tribe together into a small trading post, and he ran it well. The other tribes didn't join him as intended, but slowly they began to follow his example in competition. This didn't bother him. The ground beneath them had already shifted in ways his ancestors would not have comprehended. He'd have his city soon enough. Until then he only had to be patient and wait for that day. However, despite King's best efforts, that day never came

At level 5 this build starts to come online. Artificer 2 means you can now reliably produce Uncommon magic items, and assuming you are using Xanathar's rules Eloquence Bard 3 will make you exceptionally effective at both buying and selling. With your persuasion rolls now ranging from 20 at worst to 33 at best (assuming you use guidance and take expertise in deception and persuasion), you'll be able to reliably find rare magic items, and sell them for full price. For your bard spells Dissonant Whispers and Suggestion are nice picks, but for your build you're going to want Distort Value and Gift of Gab from Acquisitions Incorporated. The former will let you sell your wares for twice the price, and the latter will let you cast the former in front of merchants to half the price of their sales. Quite a package deal.

In combat, you're going to be relying on firebolt as your cantrip of choice as this level, but eloquence bard can give you some reasonable options. Dissonant whispers is great for triggering attacks of opportunity and Suggestion is even better in that you can use it to turn an enemy to your side as long as you're convincing, and boy howdy are you convincing. At this level your save DC is lower than normal because you missed your ASI but Unsettling Words will more than make up for it

At 11th level: Alchemist 8/Eloquence Bard 3

ASI: Int +2, Int +2

A wicked Brass Dragon named Nahushtan was the cause. The beast's pride had strayed it far from its natural path and when he set his eyes upon the kobolds he decided to demand their worship. They would do his bidding, give him their gold, and make sacrifices to him as a god demands. King was outmatched in this battle. One breath could reduce his tribe to ashes. That said, as a trapmaster King was had fought many greater foes. The key was cleverness, not strength. So with his silver tongue he ingratiated himself to the dragon, and slowly set his plan in motion.


At level 6, you get your experimental elixirs. These may not be very useful in combat, but with your silver tongue you can easily convert your spell slots at the end of the day directly into potions to sell (or keep). Level 9 is when you get your 6th level artificer infusions, and you're going to want to take Resistant Armor which you can now easily sell as Armor of Resistance for 12,000 gold a pop using a combination of Distort Value and Persuasion. Level 10 gives you Flash of Genius, meaning you can now add your Int bonus to your skill checks, which means that at level 11 your persuasion rolls will range from 27 to 37 making you both a master diplomat and able to reliably buy Very Rare magic items (Or even legendary if you spend enough time or money) . At this level, you can just start buying Tomes and Manuals to increase your stats further. It will take some time but with enough downtime you can have a 30 in every stat.

At 17th level: Alchemist 14/Eloquence Bard 3

ASI: Warcaster

The sacrifices could not be avoided, so King saw to it that they were put to use. Before they were fed to the dragon they were first fed themselves a small dose of poison. It was not enough to kill them, nor was it enough to kill Nahushtan. But as he fed more and more the poison built up. Nahushtan discovered the deceit far too late to prevent his death, and so he created a phylactery in secret using his sacrifices and waited until the poisons killed him and he was reborn as a dracolich to raze the village to the ground. King barely escaped with his life, and nothing else.

Level 12 is when you get Tiny Servant. You're getting it later than most, but yours are infinitely more powerful considering you can arm them with all manner of magic items you can buy, critically breaking the action economy. Remember to choose items that don't require a command word as your tiny servants can't talk, though a generous DM might allow you to cast magic mouth on them so they can say the command words. Off the top of my head, Necklace of Fireballs is an absolutely devilish thing to have them use. On top of that your potions grant temp HP. You can now sell your elixirs of boldness as potions of heroism meaning your spell slots are now worth 3000 gp each. Level 13 gives you another attunement slot which you can make exceptional use of due to your wealth of magic items. Level 14 gives you a spell-storing item, which you can hand over to your tiny servants allowing them to send a barrage of acid vials towards your enemy or pen them in with flaming spheres. 15 gives you warcaster, 16 gives you 4th level spells, and then finally at 17 you get five attunement slots and the ability to ignore race/class restrictions

At 20th level: Alchemist 14/Eloquence Bard 3

ASI: Lucky

Years later, a wandering King befriended an agent of the Harpers, and soon found that this was a like mind who fully understood the goal of creating a civilized world, and saw the dracoliches and their cults as an obstacle. He soon fell in with with them and was indoctrinated into the group. As a kobold, he was an ideal agent for infiltrating tribes of the most vulnerable race. This led to his deployment to Ten Towns, where rumors were brewing of a kobold vampire having killed a fisherman

Finally, we come to our fifth level spells, though at this level they're kind of redundant. You have 6th level spell slots so you can theoretically use Creation to conjure a cannon and have your tiny servants fire it repeatedly for 8d10 damage a shot, but let's be honest: at this level you'd be better off just giving them magic items and letting them go hog-wild.

[KorvinStarmast]

Use fog cloud (cast it over the battle, up in the sky) to blot out the sun if fighting outdoors in sunlight, or at least to shade enough so sunlight sensitivity is mitigated. Fog cloud doesn't do that, but I can see a DM ruling favorably on that if you stay under the cloud and don't move (more than a few feet), which your build is not built to do with its hit and run motif.
On the bright side (pun intended) fog cloud does get bigger as upcast so you can do some local hit and run under its umbrella probably. (I love fog cloud and your idea has some merit).
PS: nice all around build.

[sithlordnergal]

The Smallest Knight

This build is mostly meant to make Two-Weapon Fighting a lot more viable. We'll be doing this with two very important mechanics. The first is the fact that a Lance is not a Two-Handed Weapon, nor is it a Heavy Weapon, the second is the Paladin's Find Steed spell.


Level 20 level split: Oath of Vengeance Paladin: 6 / Fighter: 2 / Draconic/Divine Soul Sorcerer: 12

Race: Lightfoot Halfling

Stats: Str: 14 | Dex: 10 | Con: 14 | Int: 8 | Wis:12 | Cha:16

Background: Noble, Knight Variant

ASIs

1st ASI: Dual Wielder
2nd ASI: +2 Str
3rd ASI: +2 Charisma
4th ASI: +2 Str





Starting level: Fighter

You'll want to start out as a Fighter immediately in order to take the Two Weapon Fighting Style. You'll be stuck with Light Weapons for now, but that'll change soon enough. Next you'll want three levels of Paladin. It won't really matter what Paladin Oath you take, just know that you won't be getting the 7th level Aura. Instead you'll be stuck with the Paladin's Channel Divinity, so make sure you choose a good one. Personally I like the Oath of Vengeance's Channel Divinity, advantage on all attacks for 1 minute is really nice. Also, since you took Two Weapon Fighting for the Fighter's Fighting Style, I'd suggest taking the Defense Fighting Style for Paladin. You'll see why soon.


At 5th level:

Take two more levels of Paladin, this'll get you your first ASI, Extra Attack, and 2nd level Paladin Spell Slots. Use your ASI to take the Dual Wielder feat, that way you're no longer bound by the Light Weapon requirement for Two-Weapon Fighting and you gain +1 to AC. Next use Find Steed to summon a Medium sized Steed for yourself, and buy two Lances. And here's where we get into the fun, strange, mechanics of the Lance and this build:

The Lance is technically not a Two-Handed weapon or a Heavy weapon, and it deals 1d12 damage. This means you can, technically, dual wield a pair of Lances as a Halfling without disadvantage on attacks due to your size. However, in order to wield a Lance in one hand you need to be mounted. This is where Find Steed and your Small size comes in. Since you're Small, you can use Medium creatures as your Steed, meaning you avoid the problems that normally come with bringing a Large creature indoors. Find Steed lets you summon an intelligent mount that you can use as a scout and can speak, meaning even if your steed dies you can easily resummon it. Finally, thanks to Dual Wielder and the Defense Fighting Style you have +2 to AC while you're dual wielding weapons. Meaning you basically have the AC of someone using a sword and a shield.

You can round out this tier by taking your last level of Paladin, then three levels of Sorcerer. You have a choice between Draconic Sorcerer and Divine Soul Sorcerer. Draconic Sorcerer nets you a bit more HP than what you'd normally have as a Sorcerer, while Divine Soul nets you Cleric spells and is a bit more thematic. Personally I'd go with Divine Soul, since it lets you cast spells like Guiding Bolt, Sanctuary, and, eventually, Spirit Guardians. Guiding Bolt is one of the best 1st level ranged spells in the game, Sanctuary lets you protect your mount, and Spirit Guardians is Spirit Guardians.

By now you'll be Paladin 6 / Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 3, and will have 3rd level spell slots to Smite with.


Levels 11-20:

I'd take Sorcerer for your level 11 in order to get your next ASI. This will help your spell casting a fair bit and boost your and your mount's saves. I find that a 16 Strength will work well enough for attacks for now. Go ahead and buy some Barding for your mount to make it a bit tankier, and then continue to use that d12 Lance. Make sure you have some backup weapons if your mount does die, like a pair of longswords. Leveling wise...its really simple now. Keep taking Sorcerer levels, and you can toss in an extra level of Fighter in for good measure to get Action Surge. If you don't want Action Surge then I would suggest another level of Paladin to get your Aura feature. I'd make sure to boost your Strength to 18, though its teeechnically not a requirement. I've played a Paladin with a 16 Strength at level 20 and they were passable, but an 18 Strength really makes it better.


At 20th level and final thoughts:

By now you've been fully built and doing your thing for a while. Thanks to dual wilder shenanigans, you're able to dual wield a pair of d12 weapons. Meaning you're now putting out more damage then a Paladin with a Greatsword. Now, you won't out damage someone using a Greatsword with Great Weapon Master, but then again few people can. On the flip side, you're doing about 31.5 damage per round without spending resources and without a -5 penalty. Thanks to your Sorcerer levels, you have an 8th level spell slot, and can cast 6th level spells. Your AC is pretty decent as well, comparable to a Paladin with a sword and shield while also doing far more damage.

Now, the big thing to consider is how you're casting while dual wielding. You have a few options, if you keep your strength or Charisma on the low end you can take Warcaster. As I said above, 16 strength works acceptably at all levels. However, dropping a weapon is a free action, and so is picking it up. Since you're riding a Medium creature, and you have a reach of 5 feet, you can technically pick up your lance if you drop it to cast a spell.

[Chugger]

Fog cloud doesn't do that, but I can see a DM ruling favorably on that if you stay under the cloud and don't move (more than a few feet), which your build is not built to do with its hit and run motif.
On the bright side (pun intended) fog cloud does get bigger as upcast so you can do some local hit and run under its umbrella probably. (I love fog cloud and your idea has some merit).
PS: nice all around build.

Thanks! I think fog could works but I need to explain it a bit more. If my kobold casts it so that it will shade the target and himself when he dives in to stab it, it should work. By RAW sunlight sensitivity kicks in when target or kobold (or drow) are in _direct_ sunlight. Of course it'd still be bright, but if its sunny out and my kobold is fighting something under a leafy tree, we're not in _direct_ sunlight. What I typically do is dive down, staying in shade, stab, and go back up into the cloud. Or if I go SS/shortbow come out of cloud (by going down), shoot down at the target, and go back up. Target could move out of the shade, but it'd have to be smart enough to know to do that - and it would either have to waste a turn disengaging or give my allies AoOs. So it won't always work. Thx for pointing out it is bigger if upcast.

And yes I have to position the cloud just right for it to work - it isn't huge.

[KorvinStarmast]

Thanks! I think fog could works but I need to explain it a bit more. If my kobold casts it so that it will shade the target and himself when he dives in to stab it, it should work. By RAW sunlight sensitivity kicks in when target or kobold (or drow) are in _direct_ sunlight. Of course it'd still be bright, but if its sunny out and my kobold is fighting something under a leafy tree, we're not in _direct_ sunlight. I'll not comment on that loophole since I think somewhere there was dev support for that ruling, and I do thank you for further explaining the application of fog cloud. (I love that spell, so neat uses of it always interest me).

[Waazraath]

Daemona - the winged fiendish chick with whip


Here I'll try to optimize a build with a single one handed weapon. Even more, I’ll use a specific weapon that had some strong optimization options in days gone by (3.5), where it could be used for trip or opportunity attack builds: the whip.

And really, this has nothing to do with optimizing a super cheesy high charisma female winged demon wielding a whip, something that (in the boulevard of broken dreams from my teens) would have gotten some laughs in a beer & pretzel game, where my current me would only harvest some rueful looks, and most likely a disapproving glance from my wife who’s also at the gaming table.


https://i.pinimg.com/236x/6a/52/d3/6a52d3b4f6604bb4991ed99c1c4c44f6.jpg

"Come here, dragon - I'm gonna tickle you a little bit with my whip. And when 'm done with you, you'll beg me to ride you. Hihihi!"


Ahum, enough of this sillyness. To the crunch!

Level 20 level split: Sorcerer 1 / Hexblade Warlock 8 / Sorcerer + 3 / Warlock + 4 / Sorcerer +1 / Paladin +2 / Sorcerer +1

Race: variant tiefling (winged)
Stats: Str 10 Dex 14 Con 13 Int 9 Wis 12 Cha 17 (standard array + racial bonuses)
Background: Entertainer (dancer, fire-eater, singer)
Skills: performance, acrobatics, deception, persuasion

Starting level: Draconic origin sorcerer 1
This allows us to start with an acceptable AC (15) with shield as panic button (AC 20), proficiency in constitution saves and one extra hp (8). We already have a winged half-demon female with a high charisma and an appropriate background and skillset – we’ll get to an eindhander fighting style in a few levels, though she can use a dagger with greenflame blade, of course, when opportune. At this level, she mostly will fly around and burn stuff though.

Cantrips known: booming blade, fire bolt, greenflame blade, prestidigitation. Spells known: burning hands, shield.

At 5th level: Sorcerer (draconic) 1, Warlock (hexblade) 4
Key features are: Hex warrior (cha as attack stat, martial weapon proficiency, Hexblade’s curse (bonus action extra damage), Spell Sniper feat (gives the SCAG-cantrips a range of 10 ft). For the following attack routine: bonus action (hex / hexblade’s curse), move (fly if possible) to opponent, attack from 10 ft with a whip with Booming Blade, for 1d4 + 1d6 (hex) +1d8 (booming blade) + 3 damage, move back. If said opponent follows you, that’s another 2d8 damage.

Invocations known: mask of many faces & devil’s sight (look however you want to, good for use with good social skills; have devil’s sight so you can use Darkness as a panic button, or when you won’t hinder your party).
Cantrips known: mage hand, eldritch blast. Spells known: hex, armor of agatys, hellish rebuke, darkness, misty step.
Pact: blade, as a prereq for the right invocations.

To stay in style we ignore the armor and the shield. Aside from skin armor being flavorful for the concept, mechanically this also has some advantages: no jumping through hoops to aquire an armor fit for wings, and never worrying about somatic or martial components when needing to cast.

Basicly, the concept of the build is finished at this level. At later levels, all we need to do is to make Daemona stay relevant.

At 11th level: Sorcerer 1 / Hexblade 8 / Sorcerer +2 (3)
Key features are: 3 extra invocations to increase damage (improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, life drinker); 3 sorcery points and 2 metamagic options (quicken spell & subtle spell). Assume Hex being cast in the morning, immediately after that a short rest is taken (during breakfast). ASIs: +1 cha / +1 con, improve attack, damage, hp and con save (also for concentration).

Combat routine consists of: round 1) put Hex on target, 2 attacks at +9 (for 1d4 + 1d6 + 5) with 1 optional smite for 5d8 + prone (no save). Round 2 is the same, except for a bonus action booming blade for 1d4 + 1d6 + 5 + 2d8 damage, and another 3d8 if the target moves. Add some minor damage when you have an (accursed) spectre companion.
Alternative option (if your reach isnt’t long enough to hit & run, for example): Darkness at self + hexblade curse at enemy, move to a good spot, next turns hit & run attacks. The added mobility of flying should prevent you from hindering your party too much.

Spells sorcerer: absorb elements, invisibility. Spells warlock: counterspell, major image, dimension door, staggering smite.
Assume spells spent on Hex, Shield & Absorb elements; optionally counterspell (when really needed) or Armor of agatys (when low on hp and no chance to heal); turn other spells into Eldritch Smite and sorcery points (for quickened booming blade). Advantage can be granted by Darkness, especially with Hexblade’s Curse (crit on 19/20) and 3 attacks there’ll be plenty of crits for lots of (extra) d8’s.

Out of combat: Daemona can make liberal use of subtle spell (in combination with illusions, for example) & eh, her social graces.

At 17th level: Sorcerer 1 / Hexblade 8 / Sorcerer +3 / Hexblade + 4 / sorcerer + 1 (5)
Key features are: more and higher spell slots, more sorcery points, more Eldritch Smite damage, more booming blade damage, more damage from Hexblade’s Curse, added damage from Thirsting Blade invocation. Armor of hexes is a strong defensive reaction (50% miss chance). Two more ASI’s, one to get charisma up to 20, and one spend on resilience (wisdom). Yeah, the +1 is wasted, but up til now a bad wisdom save was this builds obvious weakness, so that needs fixing.

Spell sorcerer: thunder step. Spells warlock: conjure fey (Mystic Arcanum), Cone of cold, Scrying, trade Staggering smite for Banishing Smite.

In combat: basically the same as previous, but with (much) higher numbers and with less chance to run out of power, even when the adventuring days are long. Assuming Hexblade’s curse with a bonus action on round 1, the regular attacks are : +12 (1d4 + 18 / 1d4 + 18) crit @ 19/20, and on subsequent rounds an extra attack at +12 (1d4 + 18 + 3d8) / 4d8 extra when moving, with on each round the option to smite for another 6d8 (prone no save). With some extra damage from the Specter pet. In an ideal situation (assuming all hits + smite + forced move) that would be an average of 120 damage in round 2.

There are plenty of options, depending on the opponent(s) and tactics required by the situation. Hex instead of Hexblades curse, darkness, immediately start with booming blade as bonus action, or greenflame blade if 2 opponents are adjecent. Maybe use Banishing smite on one opponent and eldritch smite on another, for more control (2 debuffs on 2 different opponents), or, if attack doesn’t seem efficient, cast a cone of cold or conjure some fey.

At 20th level and final thoughts: Hexblade Warlock 12 / Draconic Sorcerer 6 / Paladin 2
Final stats: Stats: Str 10 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 9 Wis 13 Cha 20

Add 1 level of sorcerer, and 2 levels of paladin for More Smite and +2 damage per attack with duelling fighting style. The ability to add another 3 smites in the attack routine (for another 12d8 damage) makes a pretty impressive nova. To summarize:

- Attack: a lot of melee damage, with lots of nova potential. Over 150 damage should be easily attainable. High crit chance is easy to get (19/20 with advantage), potentially giving much bigger big damage spikes. Lack of SS/GWM means this is accomplished without a to hit penalty.
- Defense: AC isn’t great (15), but there’s shield for a +5, there are several ways to get temporary HP (hexblade curse and armor of agathys), resistance to fire (racial), and several other strong defensive effects (armor of hexes, absorb elements, cast darkness). Besides, Daemona isn’t meant to duke it out with a giant or dragon – she’s hit & run – but if needed, she can take the role of primary melee buffed with the right spells. HP are decent (154) even without temporary HP. Saves are decent, with proficiency in con and wis.
- Action economy: very good, lots of options for bonus actions, lots of options for reactions.
- Mobility: very good, with a fly speed from level 1, and misty step and thunder step as short range teleportation options.
- Out of combat / utility: plenty to do, with social skills and several spells, that can be cast without it being obvious (due to subtle spell).

To conclude: we have an effective einhander build! With benefits. Hurray!

[Aett_Thorn]

The Master of Dreams and Nightmares: This build relies a bit on using RAW over RAI, but given that it is a bit of a niche build, I don't think that any DM would have many problems with it. While not all that great at combat, it can hold its own through a combination of Druid and Bard spells to control the battlefield and assist allies. But the build shines in out-of-combat situations and is focused on using telepathy to increase the abilities that it already has.

Level 20 level split: Circle of Dreams Druid 6/College of Whispers Bard 14

Race: Kalashtar - this is important, as their Mind Link ability is going to come into play a lot with this build

Stats: Str 8 Dex 13 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 14+2 Cha 15+1

Background: Criminal. Deception and Stealth are going to be useful here.

Starting level: Bard 1, 9 HP, AC 13

We're going to start off a bit weak for combat, but we're a level 1 Bard, so that's not really surprising. Since we have Deception and Stealth Skills from Background already, we're going to pick up Insight, Persuasion, and Perception skills to round out our suite of abilities. Not too much going on here.

At 5th level: Bard 5: 29 HP, AC 14

At level 4, we're going to use our ASI to give +1 to Dex and Cha. Not too important right now, but wanted it for completeness.

The main draw of going straight Bard so far here is two-fold: we're going to get Bardic Inspiration back on a short rest, and more importantly, we're going to pick up our Bard College and get Words of Terror. Here is where we're going to get into a bit of a RAW vs RAI discussion most likely regarding Bard features and Kalashtar traits. The Mind Link ability gives us the ability to


You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided the creature is within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times your level. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.

And Words of Terror allows us to:


If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia in its mind.

So why is this important for this build? Well, quite simply, I see no reason why these abilities would necessarily wake someone up from their sleep. If you don't need a response from them, then you could seed paranoia telepathically into their minds while they sleep. Wake them only when you're ready for them to feel the effects that you want, making them afraid of either you or anyone else that you want them to be afraid of. Stealthing into a bedroom at night allows you to make someone afraid of their own spouse, advisor, or other target that you want. Sure, it only lasts a short time, but it's fun.

At 11th level: Druid of Dreams 6, Bard of Whispers 5 (at Druid 4, take the Actor feat to boost Cha to 18)

So, mainly this is just thematic. However, this does allow us to give some additional healing to the team, and gives us the Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow. This is somewhat useful when performing the tactics above for sneaking when people are asleep. Gaming the system a bit, you can announce a short rest, set up your dome, and now you have bonuses to Stealth and Perception while you're carrying out your nefarious deeds. In addition, the Actor feat allows you to gain bonuses to Deception checks when trying to pass yourself off as someone else. So while interfering with someone else's dreams, you can pretend to be their close friend or ally to really sell the story. End the "rest" as you see fit, since nothing that you're doing should otherwise break a rest.

At 17th level: Druid of Dreams 6, Bard of Whispers 11 (at Bard 8 go +2 to Cha)

So from level 11 to here, we're not gaining too much to round out our abilities. However, if we do need to murder someone along our infiltration path, we do gain Mantle of Whispers, allowing us to take on their appearance and persona, and gain information that they would share with friendly acquaintances, which may help us as we try to deceive others along our path. In addition, at Bard 9 we're going to be able to pick up the Dream spell, which is just great for this concept. While Kalashtar are specifically immune to being the target of a Dream spell, I see no reason why they couldn't be the one entering the trance and sending the message. Being able to do our schtick at basically any range allows for a great deal of flexibility. Plus, I guess if you want to send a beneficial dream or a message to a friend, you could do that, too.

At 20th level and final thoughts: Druid of Dreams 6, Bard of Whispers 14, ending stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 20 (+2 to a stat at Bard 12)

Here we gain our last ability to help us truly be a master of nightmares and dreams: Shadow Lore. Now we can manipulate people more easily even when they are awake, but we can do it in their sleep just as easily. But now we're becoming the target's friend through fear, which is just fine with us. We know their secrets (such as that time they dreamed about the scullery maid), or at least they think that we do, so we've got ourselves a friend in high or low places. From here on out, we can be the evil vizier for the sultan, or an enforcer for a mob boss. It doesn't matter. Once per day, someone is going to be doing our bidding. And maybe they really, really want to go take a nap.


Maybe not a great adventuring character, but I'm sure that any party could make good use of their infiltration and influence skills. And being mostly Bard and Druid, they've got some good team abilities and spells to help any party.

[Dork_Forge]

Build submissions are now closed and voting is now OPEN

[ftafp]

Oof, tough call. I want to vote for Bob the Builder but I think the submission is invalid since I don't actually see the level split anywhere.

I think I'm going to have to go for The Master of Dreams and Nightmares for an interesting use of telepathy

[kalkyrie]

I'll vote for Daemona - it's a good optimisation of a weak feature (1 handed weapon attacking).
The armoured monk and smallest knight are also good, fitting the brief well.

[Waazraath]

My vote goes to Bob The Builder - optimizing a single class 4e monk is a nice challenge, and I like the building concept.

[Warlush]

The Mighty Dragon Rider!!!!!!!

[Lavaeolus]

Lot of fun builds, but my vote is torn between the Smallest Knight, and the Master of Dreams and Nightmares. Running around dual-wielding lances on a halfling is a pretty fun idea (at the end of the day I'm a simple man). One downside is that I've always found the dropping/picking-up weapons thing a little clunky, as a player. I like the Dreammaster's unusual use of Kalashtar's Mind Link, and how it builds on it with Actor and Whisper Bard.

I think, though, I'll give it to The Smallest Knight, partly because I think it fits my impression of the brief a little better:

The Smallest Knight

[ftafp]

Given the distinct possibility that this will end in a four-way tie, should we maybe start implementing a rule where the Dork_Forge can cast a tie-breaking vote?

[Waazraath]

Given the distinct possibility that this will end in a four-way tie, should we maybe start implementing a rule where the Dork_Forge can cast a tie-breaking vote?

Ah, it's the last day already. Yeah. Though I can imagine Dork_Forge wants to remain a neutral gamemaster/arbiter. Maybe we have 4 winners :) Or maybe, just maybe, dozens of people who read this show up and start voting!!

You don't need to participate to vote, do you?

[MinotaurWarrior]

I vote for the mightiest dragon rider

[Lavaeolus]

You don't need to participate to vote, do you?

Anyone can vote, yeah, regardless of whether they submitted a build. The only stipulation is that if someone did submit a build, they have to vote for their build to count. I assume that's there so people who submit builds don't feel encouraged to just sit back, boost their chances of winning.

So, you know, come-one-come-all. It's the final day now, but there's a few hours yet and with how split the votes are you could still get an upset. Or it could somehow end up a four-way tie again.

[Dork_Forge]

Voting is now closed

The mandatory voting stipulation is because initially we saw a lot of builds but very few votes, so this stops submit and forget and trying to boost chances of winning like you say.

In terms of myself casting tie breaks, that is something I would like to avoid (hence why we have had tied winners), but if it is something contestants would like then okay.

I am also open to any ideas on how to improve voter turn out :)

[kalkyrie]

One option would be leveraging last competitions idea of an art reward for the winner.
All voters could get a copy of the art reward.
(And potentially a random voter could choose the design of the art reward if the winner doesn't want to).

However that would be putting pressure on Dork_Forge...

[Waazraath]

edit: oops too early

[Aett_Thorn]

Frick, I missed the voting requirement. Oh well, the dragon rider was going to win anyways, so congrats to them!

[Dork_Forge]

Good showing everyone thank you all for submitting your builds, unfortunately I've had to disqualify three builds this time due to not meeting the voting requirement. So to everyone wanting to compete in the Throwdowns, please read and comply with all the rules, I hate to see all your work (and people's votes' going to waste!

So without further ado, the joint winners are: Minotaur Warrior's 'Bob the Builder' and Waazraath's 'Daemona - the winged fiendish chick with whip'

If either of the winners are interested in art of their winning build, then please just PM me that you would like it along with all the necessary descriptive details.

Thanks everyone and stay tuned for the next, spookier, throwdown!

[Waazraath]

Ah, I missed the voting requirement rule. As for the art: normally I'd love to take the offer, but with the cheesy concept I used this time, I'll pass. Enough of this kind of art on the internet already :)