Most MAD Build possible

[WaroftheCrans]

The dice gods blessed me with two 18s, and two 17s at character creation, so my thought is to take full advantage of that, and create the most Multiple Attribute Dependent character possible. What are the suggestions? First thoughts are going to Ranger, Barbarian, Monk and Paladin, but I'd love to hear a way to make the most out of these ridiculous stats in a way that wouldn't normally work otherwise.

If you've got a whacky build that you've never had the stats for, post it here. I'd love to use it.

[Man_Over_Game]

The dice gods blessed me with two 18s, and two 17s at character creation, so my thought is to take full advantage of that, and create the most Multiple Attribute Dependent character possible. What are the suggestions? First thoughts are going to Ranger, Barbarian, Monk and Paladin, but I'd love to hear a way to make the most out of these ridiculous stats in a way that wouldn't normally work otherwise.

If you've got a whacky build that you've never had the stats for, post it here. I'd love to use it.

I've been a big fan of Warlock + Ranger, as the Ranger has lots of means of enhancing his attacks, he just needs spell slots for fuel.

And Ancestral Guardian Barbarian + Drunken Master Monk is a really strong character that can jump in, hit a bunch of badguys for a ton of damage, taunt an enemy into only being able to attack the Barbarian, and then retreat back into your team to avoid retaliation.

[cutlery]

My first thought was ranger1/paladin1/wizard1 but I see you're thinking something else.


Three good stats might still fit in a monoclass; I can see reason to make a pure paladin (str or dex/con/cha) with those, or a pure bladesinger (int/dex/con), or a bladelock (str/con/cha).

A barbarian makes sense (str/dex/con), sorcerer (cha/con/dex), and so on.

Even a rogue might want a 3rd stat for social stuff (dex/con/cha) or investigation stuff (dex/con/int).

Even the much-vaunted "SAD" hexblade would like to have dex, con, and cha; you just have the luxury of going with light armor and having a decent stealth check in that case.


Really most pure classes (and a ton of multiclass builds) would benefit from three good stats. It's more a rarity to find builds that truly only want one

[sithlordnergal]

Dream Druid/Ancients Paladin, I currently have one and you make for an amazing support paladin. Snag Shillelagh and PAM for your Quarterstaff/Shield combo.

[heavyfuel]

Definitely some sort of gish.

"The skald" - Barbaran 2 / Eloquence Bard X
Half-elf with the cantrip variant for GFB/BB, start with 18 18 18 ?? ?? 20.
Hit hard, tank with high AC, be the party face, be the party supporter

[bid]

Half-elf monk / warlock. Dex18 Con18 Wis18 Cha20, AC18. Take inspiring leader at level 6.

Go bonk if you'd rather have long-rest slots.

[MinotaurWarrior]

Gloomstalker 5 / Echo Knight 3 / Assassin 3 / Paladin 2 / Hexblade 1 / Sword Bard 3 / War Cleric 3

Get surprise, high initiative (joat), autocrit on four attacks, smite, hexblade's curse, flourish.

[x3n0n]

I would play a Monk, since they actually use 2 of those scores for key class features and are rather vulnerable in combat without them. You can take a good Con plus max your unarmored AC with 1 or 2 ASIs instead of 4, leaving you space for at least 3 feats without trading off survivability. (So many choices!)

I'd go Dex/Wis/Con for highest scores.

You have a wealth of choices for the other high score:
* Str for grappling, with or without multiclassing
* Cha for face abilities, potential multi into Rogue or a Cha-career
* Int for Wizard, I guess? Unlikely to want many spells that would use your Int anyway.

The Monk as party "face" is something we don't see often in 5e, if that appeals to you.

[CMCC]

Ranger/ Paladin/ Bladesinger
You need 5 13s just to multiclass

I actually kind of like this build

[CTurbo]

Paladin/Monk requires 13 Str, Dex, Wis, and Cha and you want a decent Con as well.

Paladin 6/Monk 14 is a popular theoretical build that has proficiency in all saves as well as +Cha mod too.

I think it'd be great to play a mix of Paladin 6/Monk 2/Moon Druid X

Honestly, adding 2 levels of Barb or Monk to anything for the unarmored defense would be fun.

Monk 2/Bladesinger X could have a base unarmored AC of 20 and be up to AC25 during Bladesong.

Necromancer/Oathbreaker Paladin would be awesome too. Your undead army would be superpowered.

I always wanted to play a Wizard that had 2 levels of Barbarian. I'd play it like a straight Wizard that just had a really bad temper. I'd rarely rage, but make it an epic spectacle when I did.

I've also always wanted to play a UA Revised Beastmaster Ranger with at least 6 or 7 levels of Paladin. I'd be a Kobold with a Wolf companion and the Mounted Combat and Dual Wielder feats. I'd TWF 2 lances while riding the wolf. The Kobold/wolf combo would get 5 attacks per turn, all with advantage, and it'd be really hard to damage the wolf between the Mounted Combat feat and Aura of Protection.

[CMCC]

Paladin/Monk requires 13 Str, Dex, Wis, and Cha and you want a decent Con as well.

Paladin 6/Monk 14 is a popular theoretical build that has proficiency in all saves as well as +Cha mod too.

I think it'd be great to play a mix of Paladin 6/Monk 2/Moon Druid X

Honestly, adding 2 levels of Barb or Monk to anything for the unarmored defense would be fun.

Monk 2/Bladesinger X could have a base unarmored AC of 20 and be up to AC25 during Bladesong.

Necromancer/Oathbreaker Paladin would be awesome too. Your undead army would be superpowered.

I always wanted to play a Wizard that had 2 levels of Barbarian. I'd play it like a straight Wizard that just had a really bad temper. I'd rarely rage, but make it an epic spectacle when I did.

I've also always wanted to play a UA Revised Beastmaster Ranger with at least 6 or 7 levels of Paladin. I'd be a Kobold with a Wolf companion and the Mounted Combat and Dual Wielder feats. I'd TWF 2 lances while riding the wolf. The Kobold/wolf combo would get 5 attacks per turn, all with advantage, and it'd be really hard to damage the wolf between the Mounted Combat feat and Aura of Protection.

Paladin/monk seems like a solid start to a Jedi build.

[Tanarii]

Melee ranger, melee valor bard, or melee pact of the blade warlock (Infernal). With Ranger or Bard, you can afford an ASI for Medium Armor Master, and still take GWM and Sentinel to boot. I'd be inclined to do a Hunter Ranger if doing the latter, with Hoard Breaker and whirlwind attack.

[loki_ragnarock]

Artificer/Monk/Sorcerer

Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha.

Battlesmith Artificer, because adding int to attacks rolls in addition to spells makes it harder to ignore it in favor of buffing spells.

Monk, because you can generally force someone to use dex or strength thanks to armor rules, so why not force str or dex *and* wis? Way of the Open Hand generates saving throws that are reliant on wisdom so ignoring it is ill advised. Use a staff two handed to smack with intelligence, then use your martial arts to make dex unarmed bonus attacks. Why not just use dex all around? Because that would be less needlessly complicated.

Sorcerer lets you take advantage of the multiclass spell slot advancement, and gives a bunch of sorcerer points for enhancing your abundance of basically low level spells. You could try to ignore charisma in favor of buffing spells, but that's why you're a Storm Sorcerer; that 6th level feature only triggers when you do damage, and you wouldn't want to not use that feature, right?

So now you've got a character that can melee okay, cast spells okay, mobility okay, with a cool pet and with so many things competing for their bonus action that they'll always have something to do to fill out a round. I don't know that you'll be great at anything, but you'll be able to do many things? You could probably throw in bard instead of sorcerer, to be better at skills, but I can't think of a good thing to incentivize using spells on enemies instead of buffing.

So something like:
Battlesmith 3/ Open Hand 6/ Sorcerer 11

So... yeah, something like:
1)Run in. Attack with staff. Stun attempt.
2a) If no stun on two staff attacks (you whiff or they save), flurry of blows/martial arts bonus action attack, stun again.
2b) If stun, quicken empowered lighting bolt, laughing at their automatic failure. If you can stun a line, all the better. (Use Lightning Lure if you're lightning bolt light.)
2c) If no ki points or sorcery points (you can burn through these limited resources so freaking fast), you can always use your bonus action to command your pet.
3) Use your reactions to cast shield and your pet's to impose disadvantage. Be surprisingly tanky.

It's not everything, but it's barely playable eventually, so that's something.

If you start Artificer, then you have to rely on strength for melee attacks until you take up monk or hit artificer 3, so even strength gets it's moment in the sun.

[micahaphone]

In a build competition recently there was that Galactic Judge (or similar) from the Venture Bros that was a mix of Long Death Monk and Conquest Paladin, focused on getting into the thick of things, rooting enemies in place with fear, and being weirdly tanky and disruptive to the enemy. Seemed ridiculous and fun, depending on the starting level/how long a campaign.

[MinotaurWarrior]

I'd drop War Cleric and go:

Gloomstalker 3 / Echo Knight 6 / Assassin 4 / Paladin 2 / Hexblade 1 / Swords Bard 4

4 Feats to use and of course you're going Half-Elf to start with a 20 Charisma and 3 18s...

The first issue there, though this could just be miscommunication, is that for a martial multiclass you almost always want to get one class to 5 first. So maybe Echo 6 / Gloom 3.

But the bigger issue to me is this - what feats does this guy need? A +2 ASI racial puts him at 20 in his main stat at level one. You get at least one feat at level 4, on your way to extra attack, and every extra feat is delaying a class feature like hexblade's curse.

I haven't actually mathed it out, but I think this guy might be best off as a half-orc with 20 strength and GWM. PAM does very little for you with so many other bonus actions (especially on your nova first round).

Actually though, if he has a 13+ to spare, it occurs to me that he might be better off swapping out war cleric for chronurgist, to get a bonus to initiative and rerolls.

[WaroftheCrans]

In a build competition recently there was that Galactic Judge (or similar) from the Venture Bros that was a mix of Long Death Monk and Conquest Paladin, focused on getting into the thick of things, rooting enemies in place with fear, and being weirdly tanky and disruptive to the enemy. Seemed ridiculous and fun, depending on the starting level/how long a campaign.

Do you have a link to this? It sounds pretty interesting, especially given its viable at low levels. I honestly doubt this campaign will go above 15, so looking for some sweet spots low in the build.

[KorvinStarmast]

The dice gods blessed me with two 18s, and two 17s at character creation, so my thought is to take full advantage of that, and create the most Multiple Attribute Dependent character possible. What are the suggestions? First thoughts are going to Ranger, Barbarian, Monk and Paladin, but I'd love to hear a way to make the most out of these ridiculous stats in a way that wouldn't normally work otherwise.

If you've got a whacky build that you've never had the stats for, post it here. I'd love to use it.
Did you already add the racial bonuses?
What are all six numbers. 18, 18, 17, 17, X, Y.
What are X and Y?

[micahaphone]

Do you have a link to this? It sounds pretty interesting, especially given its viable at low levels. I honestly doubt this campaign will go above 15, so looking for some sweet spots low in the build.


https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24710879&postcount=9

[WaroftheCrans]

Did you already add the racial bonuses?
What are all six numbers. 18, 18, 17, 17, X, Y.
What are X and Y?

Have not added racials, X and Y are 15 and 13 respectively. We were using a more favorable rolling method, (7x4d6d1, reroll all 1s) but this is still well above the norm.

[Menji]

Elf/half-elf Paladin2/Hexblade1/WizardX (War Wizard works well, as do Chronurgy/Diviner. Maybe bladesinger if into that.)

War Caster/Elven Accuracy/Lucky

Use two scimitars or shortswords for more chances to proc smite. 4 attacks with haste. Use Grease or Web/Greater invis (if not Hasted) to gain advantage for Elven Accuracy. Use Hexblade Curse on boss mobs to nova.

War Wizard makes this build very survivable, and the casting limitation is mitigated by melee capability.

But it's certainly MAD.

[WaroftheCrans]

Confirmed with the GM that this will be a low level campaign, probably will be around lvl 3-8. So far a couple of the builds look possible at low levels, but I have to admit I don't think a build with 4 or more classes will be effective for me. Even three is pushing it, as typically those come online towards the end of what this campaign will reach.

Re: the druid/paladin. Looks interesting, can you explain it a bit more? Also, why the shillelagh? No need to be SAD or even attempt that really.

[KorvinStarmast]

Have not added racials, X and Y are 15 and 13 respectively. We were using a more favorable rolling method, (7x4d6d1, reroll all 1s) but this is still well above the norm.18, 18, 17, 17, 15, 13

Ooh, tempting! :smallbiggrin:
18 18 17 17 15 13
Regular Human.
Sorcerer(Shadow) 5
Monk 15
19 19 18 18 16 14
Int 14 Str 16
Str 16 D 19 C 18 I 14 W 19 Ch 18
Build Sorc 1 Monk 6 {we are at level 7} Finish Sorc Finish monk.
Wear only a loincloth.
Trying to decide what path and I am tempted to go Kensei.
Run around in sandals, a loin cloth, with a great sword and a long bow. Dagger for the occasional things you need a dagger for.
Spells are for 'now and again' - slow the enemy down or keep them close or make them runaway (Fear really looks interesting here)
"What are you running away for? I'm almost naked!"

ASI first get Dex and Wis to 20, then Cha to 20.

The spells are mostly to augment various fun things that the Monk does and toss up a shield spell now and again.

I can also see going Sorc 6 Monk 14 to get the dog/hound.

[dopl]

Are you allowed UA? If so allow me to introduce you to possibly the silliest grapple build.

Stats: Max STR and CON (I would actually put a 17 in con in your case and bring it to 20 with res CON in your case), next best stat is INT. Have DEX and WIS at at least 13, prioritizing WIS. Dump CHA

Race: Loxodon. It gives some crazy benefits.

Background can be anything.

Level 1, take fighter. Unarmed fighting style. You can grapple with your trunk so you can deal 1d8+1d4+STR damage, and your unarmored defense scales with CON.

Level 2: Grab monk. You get an unarmed strike with your bonus action, and since you deal more damage to grappled creatures, using your action to grapple and BA to attack is more effective than if you went variant human for tavern brawler or were a simic hybrid. The fact you can't wear armor and likely wont have that great of a dex and wis mods are why being a loxodon is so important to not die, though unconditional third limb grappling makes me unwilling to part with the race even if you did have a good monk defense.

Level 3: Back to fighter an never looking back. Get action surge.

Level 4: You are now a Rune Knight. You can use a bonus action to get a +1 STR mod for 10 minutes a SR or LR. Twice per SR/LR you get advantage on your grapples for a minute alongside +1d6 damage. You now deal 1d8+1d6+1d4+STR per attack.

Level 5: ASI. Grab Brawny to get expertise in athletics and ideally bump your STR mod.

Level 6: Extra Attack a turn later than other martials. Not that it matters since you've basically had it since level 2. So think of this as your 11th level fighter feature.

Level 7: Another ASI, grab resilient CON to max CON and thus your AC, or bump STR and INT to max the former and get the latter to +4. You'll do the other option later but I would suggest getting str and int here because...

Level 8: You now can cast psuedo shield 3 times per rest, on either yourself or a friend. If you took the int bump last time this is on par with shield.

Level 9: Grab the ASI you hadn't before.

Level 10: Fighter 9, pretty much a dead level.

Level 11: other fighters get their third attack, you get giant mights damage increased from 1d6 to 1d8. You now deal 2d8+1d4+STR per attack. You also get another casting of shield

Level 12: Extra Attack.

Level 13: ASI, whatever suits your fancy.

Level 14: The necessary bits are all done now, so lets go Ranger from here.

Level 15: Take Mariner for your fighting style. You now have a respectable AC of 18. If your enemy is otherwise to far to hit, cast zephyr strike with your bonus action instead of growing big to get a free dash and deal only 3d8 less than you normally would (that small decrease is nothing for being able to go for a grapple and land some hits though)

Level 16: Gloomstalker. Thats two free extra attacks for a combat with action surge, each of the bonus attacks dealing 3d8+1d4+STR. This is why you wany a low DEX, as if someone casts haste on you before your turn in initiative, you get not only the normal 3 attacks you would gain but a third gloomstalker attack as well. If you feel this burst isn't worth it, just keep taking fighter instead and grab mariner through the fighting style feat at the same level you would get it as a ranger. At this level you would jump from 4 castings of shield per rest to 10, and if you get INT to 20, its an upgraded shield offering 1 more AC.

Level 17: from here your options really spread out, if your DM ignores race requirements and you got Fighter to 15, Bladesinger can put you at base AC 23 before you spam your shields for 1 minute. This takes your bonus action though so I would prioritize getting the 10 shield casts if you went gloomstalker. Its really just a choice between offense and defence.





Another build given your stat spread...that would be far less pleasant and abusing some dumb stuff in the new sage advice:

Elven Bladesinger 2, Forge Cleric 2, Monk 1. The scaling of the build won't be as solid as the above, but you basically become untouchable. Max your DEX, WIS, and INT in that order you get AC 20 from Monk and can make attacks while using patient defense, or take the dodge action and spam bonus action spells. Shield of faith yourself to get a +2 to AC (you can replace this with haste if you continue taking wizard levels). Bladesing to get an additional +5 to AC. Most importantly...Hold, but do not don a shield. You give this shield a +1 bonus with your forge cleric ability. The newest Sage Advice Rules that you benefit from the magical properties of a shield while holding it, rather than wielding it, which is an important distinction because it lets us benefit from the magic +1 without getting in the way of bladesinging or monk features, putting your total AC at 28(33 with shield), with disadvantage to hit if we can see the enemy. Non-concentration spells like Spiritual Weapon are an amazing use of your bonus action every turn, and Spiritual Guardians is phenomenal burn ifnyou are willing to take the hit to AC. If you find a shield with a better bonus than +1, you could use that and put your forge bonus on something else. I would recomend not going with this build as funny as it is though, since it is rather munchkiny, abusing a ruling that a lot of people are not liking, and is going to be a mess in the early levels.

[CTurbo]

Confirmed with the GM that this will be a low level campaign, probably will be around lvl 3-8. So far a couple of the builds look possible at low levels, but I have to admit I don't think a build with 4 or more classes will be effective for me. Even three is pushing it, as typically those come online towards the end of what this campaign will reach.

Re: the druid/paladin. Looks interesting, can you explain it a bit more? Also, why the shillelagh? No need to be SAD or even attempt that really.

Probably not making it past level 8?

Monk 6/Bladesinger 2. Have 20AC regularly and add Int mod(+4 or +5) to AC while in Bladesong.

Monk 6/Moon Druid 2. Massively improve the AC of most beast forms while also boosting damage.

Bladesinger 6/Moon Druid 2. Bladesong in beast form.

Cleric 6/Moon Druid 2. Beast form with Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians.

Paladin 6/Moon Druid 2. Beast smites and Aura of Protection.

Paladin 6/Monk or Barb 2. I still think an unarmored Paladin would be great.

[KorvinStarmast]

Confirmed with the GM that this will be a low level campaign, probably will be around lvl 3-8. OK, let's try again.
18, 18, 17, 17, 15, 13
Normal Human
Sorcerer(Shadow) 5 / Monk (Kensei) 3
19 19 18 18 16 14
Int 14 Str 16
Str 16 D 18 C 18 I 14 W 19 Ch 19
Build Sorc 1 Monk 3 {we are at level 4} Finish Sorc to 5.
ASI at level 7 )Sorc 4) to make (Wisdom or Dexterity) and (Charisma) 20.

Wear only a loincloth (or a robe if it gets chilly outside). Run around in sandals, a loin cloth, with a quarterstaff at first, but later a great sword and a long bow. Always have a dagger for the occasional things you need a dagger for.
Spells are for 'now and again' - slow the enemy down or keep them close or make them runaway. (Fear really looks interesting here) "What are you running away for? I'm almost naked!"

I can also see going Sorc 6 Monk 2 to get the dog/hound and have just enough ki to Step of the Wind as needed. Sorc 1, Monk 2, Sorc to the end and ASI at 6.
---------------------
Alternatively: Half Elf Monk Redemption Paladin.
Monk 1 / Paladin 7
18, 18, 17, 17, 15, 13
13 17(+1) 17(+1) 15 18 18(+2)
S 13 D 18 C 18 I 15 W 18 Ch 20
or
S 15 D 18 C 18 I 13 W 18 Ch 20
ASI at 5 to boost DEX to 20, or, leave DEX at 18 and grab Mobile feat.

Wear a Robe, or pants and a nice shirt/blouse.
Weapons: Quarterstaff, Dagger, long bow.
Skills (we went half elf to get a few extra): Insight, Athletics, Medicine, Religion, Stealth, Perception
Background: Hermit
Languages: add Celestial to whatever else you pick, as it seems to fit both Hermit and Redemption paladin theme
Musical Instrument: pipes

Have a tatoo somewhere on one arm that says "Blessed are the peacemakers" or something like that.

[nickl_2000]

Barbarian 6/Warlock 3/Rogue 11

Expertise in Athletics to be a grappler. Your warlock spells are used for AoA and you take Fiendish Vigor invocation. Pact of the Tome and the invocation for Ritual casting outside of combat to have even more tricks up your sleeve.

If you want to double down on THP go with fiend warlock or Hexblade to crit more often.

For Barbarian add to the AoA and THP whammy with Path of the Ancestral Guardian to make them even more likely to want to attack you and get hurt in the process. Or Battlerager to do damage while grappling, or Tundra Storm Herald for even more THP possibilities, or totem to resist even more damage types.

For Rogue for Swashbuckler to go sooner in combat and have a better chance of landing a sneak attack.


Personally I would for Half Elf Totem Barbarian 6/Fiendish Warlock 3/Swashbuckler 11.
Strength 18
Dex 17+1 (18)
Con 17+1 (18)
Cha 18+2 (20)

As soon as you have a level in barbarian you run around completely naked to attract attention to you for them to attack you since you look like the weak choice compared to the tin can.