Rune Knight 4 / Daolock 1 for Christmas 1-shot

[Bilbron]

Google Doc of sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-WXXPEy4fctoXbGJqvyPSq2xG00CEnmt1WGdFcqSGWs/edit?usp=sharing

Parameters:
Evil characters taking on North Pole (anticipate Santa BBEG with elves, reindeer, snowmen)
5th level, 1st level equipment, +1 armor or weapon, 1x Potion of Healing
Wanted to make my first martial using Tasha’s subclasses
Note: probably wouldn't dip Warlock if continuing to play this character, and build around Extra Attack instead of Crusher/BB
Also been informed that JC says in Sage Advice that Shield Master Shove comes AFTER attack, of which I was unaware and seems {scrubbed}, my DM not on board.

Name: Oliver Kelvin Boomer (goes by “Boomer”)
Race: Custom (darkvision, Crusher)
Class: Fighter (Rune Knight) 4/Warlock (Dao) 1

STR: 18 Saves: Str +4
DEX: 10 Dex +2 (Shield Master)
CON: 14 Con +2
INT: 8 Int -1
WIS: 10 Wis +0
CHA: 14 Cha +2
Note: would bump Con and lower Dex if not one-shot

Skills: Perception (+3), Athletics (+7), Deception (+5 at adv), Intimidation (+5 at adv), Smith’s Tools
Deception, Intimidation, Animal Handling, and Sleight of Hand at advantage

Feats: Crusher (+1 Str; 5’ push on hit; target attacked at advantage until start of next turn on critical)
Shield Master (bonus action Shove Attack; +2 Dex save; no damage on successful Dex save)

AC: 22 (Full Plate +1, Shield, Defensive Fighting Style)
HP: 43 (2nd Wind - bonus action d10+4 heal)

Special Abilities:
Action Surge; Second Wind
Giant’s Might 3x/day (L size, Adv to Str/Con checks, +d6 damage to attack)
Rune Magic (Cloud, Frost)
Bottled Respite (Ring)
Genie’s Wrath (+3 Bludgeoning to 1 attack/turn)

Attack Rolls: +7 with War Hammer or Shield Shove Attack; +5 with Eldritch Blast
+2 on Shove Attack with active Frost Rune
Advantage on Shove Attack with active Giant’s Might
60% hit rate vs. AC 16; 84% at advantage
75% hit rate vs. AC 13; 94% at advantage

Melee Damage: 28.5 total - 2d8 +d6 +7 (19.5) +2d8 BB rider (9)
War Hammer: d8 +4
+d8 with Booming Blade
+d6 1x/turn for Giant’s Might
+3 1x/turn for Genie’s Wrath
+5’ Push and Critical rider with Crusher
+2d8 if they move with BB rider
Could also add +d6 if casting Hex

Ranged Damage: 14 total (2d10+3)
Eldritch Blast: 2d10
+3 1x/turn for Genie’s Wrath
+5’ Push and Critical rider with Crusher

Spells (2 cantrips, 3 1st known, 1 slot, DC 13, +5 attack)
Booming Blade, Eldritch Blast, Expeditious Retreat, Hex

Runes (2 known, 2 uses, DC 13):
Cloud Rune: Advantage on Deception and Sleight of Hand checks
Reaction to divert any attack roll within 30’ to a different target
Frost Rune: Advantage to Intimidation and Animal Handling checks
Action for 10 minutes of +2 to Str/Con checks and saves

Final Character Build Assessment
Notes:
Put magic item into armor to gain Plate (otherwise unaffordable)
Mitigate no magic weapon by adding lots of magic riders
Passed on Extra Attack as BB plus riders superior damage
Kites well with Shove (Prone halves their movement) and Crusher Push (free Disengage)
Genie Vessel (ring) is sneaky and cool bodyguard schtick

Interactions: Excellent Intimidation and Deception with Runes

Terms of Engagement: nothing (poor) but being carried in ring mitigates somewhat

Maneuverability: Genie Vessel (ring), Expeditious Retreat

Resource Management: Primary Offense/Defense always on or many uses; 2 Runes; 1 spell; HP

Efficiency: Strong bonus action economy with Shove and Expeditious Retreat

Melee Offense: bonus action Shove at advantage; Booming Blade Crush at advantage; Hex for BBEG

Ranged Offense: Eldritch Blast Crush (bludgeoning damage from Genie’s Wrath)

Defense: High AC, Cloud Rune to divert criticals, Shield Master, ER to close or cover, retreat into
Genie Vessel if near death

Weaknesses: ToE, Wisdom Saves, can’t Fly

Also discussed on my youtube channel, link in sig.

[RogueJK]

Since Shield Master doesn't work the way you want/thought, you could consider swapping it out for Telekinetic to get Bonus Action 5' Shove. Telekinetic is also a CHA half-feat, so you could potentially drop something like WIS or DEX to 8 and then have a 16 CHA for +3 CHAMOD.

This would let you do stuff like Booming Blade Warhammer hit with 5' Crusher push + Telekinetic Shove for another 5' away. If they then want to close to melee with you or another ally on their turn, they have to move 10' or more and eat the BB rider. This now is useful even against foes with Reach, since they're shoved a total of 10' away.

Also sometimes works in conjunction with Crusher Dao Eldritch Blast, for 10' total shove there too, provided they're within 30 feet for Telekinetic to apply.

Not something I'd use for an entire campaign, but a nifty gimmick for a one-shot.

(But you may still want Shield Master for the other benefits.)

[Bilbron]

Since Shield Master doesn't work the way you want/thought, you could consider swapping it out for Telekinetic to get Bonus Action 5' Shove. Telekinetic is also a CHA half-feat, so you could potentially drop something like WIS or DEX to 8 and then have a 16 CHA for +3 CHAMOD.

This would let you do stuff like Booming Blade Warhammer hit with 5' Crusher push + Telekinetic Shove for another 5' away. If they then want to close to melee with you or another ally on their turn, they have to move 10' or more and eat the BB rider. This now is useful even against foes with Reach, since they're shoved a total of 10' away.

Also sometimes works in conjunction with Crusher Dao Eldritch Blast, for 10' total shove there too, provided they're within 30 feet for Telekinetic to apply.

Not something I'd use for an entire campaign, but a nifty gimmick for a one-shot.

(But you may still want Shield Master for the other benefits.)Nah, I'm cancelling this and going in a different direction, since apparently you can't use Shield Master bonus action Shove until AFTER your attack, and it won't work with Booming Blade anyway since you have to use the Attack Action to proc the bonus action Shove.

Back to the drawing board...

All right, thoughts on this one?

Parameters: Evil characters taking on North Pole (anticipate Santa BBEG with elves, reindeer, snowmen)
5th level, 1st level equipment, +1 armor or weapon, 1x Potion of Healing
Wanted to make my first martial using Tasha’s subclasses
Wanted to stay away from standard Fighter tactics like PAM or GWM

Name: Bilbron Bloodhorn
Class: Fighter (Rune Knight) 5
Note: Must leverage Giant’s Might (Large size, advantage on Str/Con checks)
Therefore must somehow optimize for Shoving/Grappling

Race: Amonkhet Minotaur
+2 Str; +1 Con
Natural Weapon: Horns d6+4 Piercing
Relentless Endurance (drop to 1 instead of 0 1x/day)
Savage Attacks (extra damage die on criticals)
Intimidation Proficiency
Note: Natural weapons eliminate need for Unarmed Fighting Style and opens up Blindfighting
Savage Attacks is leveraged by Shove/Grapple to often attack at advantage
Other Minotaur types add bonus action 10’ Push and Dash Attack if preferred to RE/SA
Good option if synergy with allies AOE options

STR: 18 Saves: Str +4 (+2 w/active Frost Rune)
DEX: 14 Dex +1
CON: 16 Con +3 (+2 w/active Frost Rune)
INT: 8 Int -1
WIS: 8 Wis -1
CHA: 10 Cha +0

Skills: Perception (+3), Athletics (+7), Deception (+3 at adv), Intimidation (+3 at adv), Animal
Handling (+3 at adv), Smith’s Tools
Deception, Intimidation, Animal Handling, and Sleight of Hand at advantage

Feats: Tavern Brawler (+1 Str, bonus action Grapple after hitting with unarmed strike on my turn)
Note: Unlike Shove attack, you want to Grapple at the end so works w/ “bonus action after action” rule

AC: 21 (Full Plate +1, Shield)
HP: 49 (2nd Wind - bonus action d10+4 heal)
Initiative: +2

Special Abilities: Action Surge; Second Wind; Extra Attack
Fighting Style: Blindfighting (offense/defense if obscured)
Synergy with ally who creates Heavy Obscurement
Giant’s Might 3x/day (L size, Adv to Str/Con checks, +d6 damage to attack)
Rune Magic (Cloud, Frost)

Attack Rolls: +7 with Horns, Shove/Grapple Attack; +5 with Longbow
+2 on Shove/Grapple with active Frost Rune
Advantage on Shove/Grapple with active Giant’s Might
60% hit rate vs. AC 16; 84% at advantage
75% hit rate vs. AC 13; 94% at advantage

Melee Damage: 18.5 total if both hit (3d6+8)
Horns x2: d6 +4
+d6 1x/turn for Giant’s Might
Extra d6 on critical
Note: PAM would do 29 if all 3 hit; but worse defense and doesn’t fully leverage Giant’s Might

Ranged Damage: 16.5 total if both hit (2d8 +d6 +4)
Longbow x2: d8+2
+d6 1x/turn for Giant’s Might

Runes (2 known, 2 uses, DC 13):
Cloud Rune: Advantage on Deception and Sleight of Hand checks
Reaction to divert any attack roll within 30’ to a different target
Frost Rune: Advantage to Intimidation and Animal Handling checks
Action for 10 minutes of +2 to Str/Con checks and saves

Final Character Build Assessment
Notes: Put magic item into armor to gain Plate (otherwise unaffordable)
Build is intended to work with allies who also benefit from Prone/Grappled enemy
Defensive oriented so invested in good AC and condition imposition; did not sell out for damage
Interactions: Good Intimidation and Deception with Runes
Terms of Engagement: decent (+2 initiative; Blindfighting)
Maneuverability: poor
Resource Management: Primary Offense/Defense always on or many uses; 2 Runes; HP
Efficiency: Strong bonus action economy with bonus action Grapple
Melee Offense: Shove at advantage; unarmed Horns; bonus action Grapple to set up self and colleagues;
Blindfighting if obscured
Ranged Offense: Longbow
Defense: High AC, Shove/Grapple, Cloud Rune to divert criticals, Relentless Endurance, Blindfighting
Weaknesses: Maneuverability, Wisdom Saves, can’t Fly

[Ir0ns0ul]

I have actually played a similar Rune Knight back in UA times — Hill Rune was available since level 3, which was pretty neat.

One thing that bugged me a little was how convoluted my bonus actions were across Giants Might, enable 2 Runes, leverage the bonus action from Tavern Brawler and occasional but useful Second Winds.

Looking for Tasha’s option and trying to optimize as an effective grappler, I suggest the following:

- Change to vHuman and grab Tavern Brawler since day 0 to take the most of action economy in low levels, important to keep your STR at 17
- Don’t hesitate, Unarmed FS is great and will slightly weaponize your grapples
- Select both Cloud and Stone runes to give very useful battlefield control to your reactions. Stone Rune will grant you 120 ft Darkvision, nailing one of the common weakness of vHumans. Fire Rune is nice, but requires weapon attacks, my DM didn’t allow to use with unarmed strikes
- Grab Skill Expert (Athletics) at level 4 and go crazy with unmissable shove + grapple. You’ll be the MMA King from Neverwinter.
- Get Mage Slayer and Res WIS among levels 6 and 8. Order to taste. Do you think Sleet Storm is the best way to disable casters? Put your BJJ master to grapple the squishy evil sorcerer with Mage Slayer on top of it, it’s brutal

At level 7 you’ll have access to good Runes that requires bonus action. And you can still leverage the Frost Rune nevertheless, the duration is good and if you can manage to enable it prior to combat its fine, but when the battle already started, I don’t think it’s a good use of a bonus action compared to others, but it’s up to you. Remember you can grapple always two targets (unless you are a Symic Hybrid or a Loxodon).

Edit: Forgot to mention, try to get an Eldritch Claw Tattoo ASAP!