Tasha's Tantalizing Triclass Challenge

[AncientOne]

It's time to build something exotic, something exciting! Show us your best multiclass builds you have been waiting to use somewhere.

And, as we all have seen hexadins and bearbearians and sorlocks, and as they say, 'Restrictions breed creativity'. Here are some rules:
* Point buy or standard array
* Tasha's customizing allowed
* Use 3 classes
* At least 1 full caster
* Up to 1 Cha-based class in build (Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock)
* No Fighter and Wizard in same build

[AncientOne]

And to start, I present 2 example builds:


Sweet talker
Bartholomew von Schmetterling
Half-elf Noble
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 13+1, Int 8, Wis 15+2, Cha 15+1
Eloquence Bard 3, Fey Wanderer Ranger 3, Samurai Fighter 7
ASI: Cha +2
ASI: Telepathic, Skill expert or Elven accuracy
Bartholomew is social butterfly. He knows both elven and human courts inside out, and has even been in the Summer Court, working as a diplomat.
At 13th level, when build is fully active, when he needs to persuade someone, his Silver Tongue ensures that minimum he can roll is 10. Then as an Elegant Courtier he adds his wisdom modifiers, and thanks to Otherworldly Glamour he can add it again.
This means 10 (silver tongue) + 10 (expertise in persuasion, proficiency +5 at this point) + 4 (cha) + 4 (wis) + 4 (wis), totaling 32, minimum.


Wisdom grappler
Yuan-Ti Pureblood Guild artisan (both irrelevant in this build)
Str 8, Dex 15, Con 15+1, Int 8, Wis 15+2, Cha 8
Astral monk 3, Stars druid 2, Rogue 1
Grap expertise to athletics. Now, thanks to astral self, you can use wisdom in Strength checks, Strength saving throw and attacks. Druids starry form (dragon) ensures that your minimum in wisdom checks (and concentration saves) is 10.
That means that when you grapple, you get 10 (starry form) + 3 (wis) + 6 (athletics expertise), totaling 19 minimum. Takes 2 bonus actions, though, so first turn in combat activate starry form, cast a spell, and second turn manifest arms, and grapple one or two enemies


Edit: Thanks MaxWilson

[Pandamonium]

And to start, I present 2 example builds:

Yuan-Ti Pureblood Guild artisan (both irrelevant in this build)
That means that when you grapple, you get 10 (starry form) + 3 (wis) + 6 (athletics expertise), totaling 19 minimum. Takes 2 bonus actions, though, so first turn in combat activate starry form, cast a spell, and second turn manifest arms, and grapple one or two enemies

This is the most impressive multiclass theorycrafting I have read to date :D! What a cool concept!

[Pandamonium]

Angriest Goblin
Stabbytooth
Goblin Noble (KING OF KINGS!)
Str 15+1+2, Dex 10, Con 12+2, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 14
Cleric 2 (Grave), Fighter (Battle Master) 3 & Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 5
ASI: Str +2
Plan is to use Action Surge to apply Path to the Grave Channel Divinity to enemy, bonus Action apply hunters mark and then use Precision attack maneuver+Divine smite with everything you've got.
Throw in Fury of the small for fun.
Hopefully hitting for 2*(3d8 smite + 10 fury of small + 4str + d6 Hunters mark + whatever weapon)
Efficient? No. Fun? Yes!

[Rukelnikov]

Intelectual Author

Halfling (Lightfoot)

8 / 13 / 9 / 16 / 16 / 13

Beastmaster 3
GOOChainlock 3
Battlesmith 6

Canny: Stealth
Key Invocations: Investment of the Chain Master, Voice of the Chain Master.
Key Feat: Inspiring Leader (Res CON, Mounted Combatant or Bountiful Luck could be useful in the future)
Key Spells: Aid, Warding Bond, Sanctuary.
Key Infusions: Enhanced Arcane Focus, Cloak of Elvenkind, Mind Sharpener

So the idea is that we are gonna be mounting either the Steel Defender of the Primal Companion and using Naturally Stealthy to hide on it, and using Awakened Mind to communicate and command our little army. With our Stealth check being at +9 with advantage, and enemies having disadvantage to spot us, its pretty decent. Our Familiar can be mounting the other pet unless its a sprite where it would probably be better off just flying.

During our turn, we'll take the the Attack action, forgoing one attack so that the Familiar can make one attack as a Reaction, and forgoing our second attack to command the beast to attack, and our bonus action will be used to command the steel defender to attack.

The familiar should use its action to turn invisible every turn, so that it attacks with advantage when we command it to. And the Defender would be using its reaction to protect the Beast.

We use Aid and Inspiring Leader to boost the HP of our minions since they are pretty low on that department, and Warding Bond on one of them to further increase their survivability.

So basically each of our 3 minions can attack each turn, while we remain hidden on our mount, and since we are not attacking or talking we remain hidden the whole time.

Depending on our spell and companion/familiar selection we can do weird **** like Enlarging the Defender so the Beast of the Sea can mount it, for grappling purposes, have us mount the Beast, and an invisible Imp or Quasit mounting us.

All in all MADness is the main problem of the build, CON 9 can be a problem too, but if everything goes right, foes shouldn't even realize we are present in the first place, and the Mind Sharpener will take care of what few Concentration checks we need to do.

The build can go many places from there, like 4/4/12 for 5 feats and lvl 10 infusions, 3/11/6 For Nondetection and a tankier Beast with extra attack, or even 11/3/6, se we can use 5th lvl Aid, and Create Undead + Animate Dead for even more minions to command from the comfort of being unseen while mounting one of them.

tl;dr: Do nothing every round, spend the whole combat hidden, have 3 attacks a turn from easily replaced cannon fodder that have no Conc CC riders (poison from most familiars, Grappled/Prone from Beast)

[MaxWilson]

Wisdom grappler
Yuan-Ti Pureblood Guild artisan (both irrelevant in this build)
Str 8, Dex 15, Con 15+1, Int 8, Wis 15+2, Cha 8
Astral monk 2, Stars druid 2, Rogue 1
Grap expertise to athletics. Now, thanks to astral self, you can use wisdom in Strength checks, Strength saving throw and attacks. Druids starry form (dragon) ensures that your minimum in wisdom checks (and concentration saves) is 10.
That means that when you grapple, you get 10 (starry form) + 3 (wis) + 6 (athletics expertise), totaling 19 minimum. Takes 2 bonus actions, though, so first turn in combat activate starry form, cast a spell, and second turn manifest arms, and grapple one or two enemies

I think you mean Monk 3. That means it comes online at level 6, so you might as well skip Rogue and just make it Skill Expert Monk 4/Druid 2.

[ftafp]

Dendar the Night Serpent
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood
Class: Twilight Cleric 6/Ssssshepherd Druid 7/Ssssssswarm Ranger 3 (Note: this is just the split, not the progression)
Stats: 8 STR, 14 DEX, (13+1) CON, 10 INT, (15+2) WISsssss, 12 CHA
ASI: Fey Touched (WISsssss +1, Dissssssonant Whisperssssss), WISssssss +2
Armor: Spiked

This build is all kinds of dangerous. Swarm Ranger gives you forced movement on any kind of attack once per turn. Mixed with Thorn Whip that's some serious battlefield control. Twilight cleric adds to that with Spirit Guardians, allowing you to keep enemies locked down in an ongoing hazard, and Steps of Night, which not only keeps you above the action but lets you drop the creatures you target with thorn whip 10 feet, doing an extra 1d6 and knocking them prone with no save. Twilight Cleric's channel divinity is also particularly useful when combined with Shepherd Druid, since not only are your summoned snakes stronger, but they get some massive temp HP every turn they're near you. Combined with the healing you get from unicorn spirit you can keep them around forever, and Dissonant Whispers just makes that better, causing enemies who run away to take AoO from the snakes swarming around them.

As a note: Spiked Armor is included because the actual armor itself is leather, meaning it's basically no different from studded leather. Technically the druid metal armor requirement is flavor text disguised as a rule (like the racial requirements on Sword Coast subclasses), but if you use them, it's the best option available

[Wizard_Lizard]

I did have an idea for a Psi-Warrior/Armourer/Beastmaster.
Not yet figured out the ratios.

[Galithar]

Warlord
Name: Finlan McElrath
Loxodon Custom Background
Str: 20(2 ASIs) Dex: 8 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 10 Cha: 14
Fighter Battlemaster 5 Eloquence Bard 5 Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 3
Both ASIs are used to boost Str to max. Frontline fighting is the key to the build as is the most important to get online.
The fully active build makes use of Commander's Strike and hopefully a Rogue ally. They also have Grappling Strike for a bonus action when you aren't using Bardic Inspiration through grappling strike (expertise from Bard). You can use sword and shield and grapple with your trunk thanks to Loxodon features. Ancestral Guardian allows you to protect the allies that you are built to work with. Commanding Presence allows you to add a superiority die to persuasion checks that are already high thanks to expertise from Bard.

More levels would take Bard up to 6 for unfailing inspiration and then fighter up to 8 for ASIs to boost CHA. Probably 1 more into Barbarian for the ASI and then finish off with two more fighter levels for more maneuvers and d10 superiority dice.. The build doesn't have much room for Feats because it wants high Strength and Charisma to do its thing. Spell choice early should be as stat independant as possible, you are never going to have high level slots and should focus on buffs or out of combat utility. The draw for Bard is the Bardic Inspiration, 5 levels to start to get short rest based, then one more for unfailing to make it go further, especially since you don't have many yet.

At level 20 you would be Battlemaster 10/Eloquence 6/Ancestral Guardian 4. And have 20 STR and 20 CHA Charisma could be lowered if you Feats are preferred. Also dropping the Barbarian ASI to get Extra Attack 2 at fighter 11 isn't a terrible idea, it just leaves you at 18 Cha instead of 20. Since this would be such a late game decision I would weigh the value of my Bardic Inspirations versus that attack. Attack is usually winning from optimization, but I like the roleplay of higher Cha on this leader type character.

Spell Choice:
L1: Healing Word, Feather Fall, Longstrider
L2: Heat Metal, Invisibility, Warding Wind
L3: Stinking Cloud, Tiny Hut

Spell choice is to give good use of low Cha. Only Stinking Cloud relies heavily on it, and even then it's a fog cloud with a small chance to make someone within lose their turn if you have a bad DC.

[ezekielraiden]

Jane of All Trades, Master of Several

Name: Selena Evenstar
Standard half-elf (+Wis, +Dex), Entertainer
Str: 8, Dex: 16, Con: 10, Int: 12, Wis: 14, Cha: 20 (2 ASIs)
Rogue 1/Lore Bard 3/Knowledge Cleric 1/Lore Bard+15

Skill/tool proficiencies (by source):
Half-elf -- Perception, Stealth
Entertainer -- Disguise Kit, Acrobatics, Performance, instrument (lyre)
Rogue -- Thieves' tools, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Sleight of Hand
Bard MC -- Persuasion, instrument (flute)
College of Lore -- Insight, Nature, Religion
Knowledge Domain -- Arcana, History
Skilled feat -- Investigation, Medicine, Survival

Expertise (by source):
Rogue -- Stealth, Thieves' Tools
Lore 1 -- Persuasion, Perception
Knowledge Domain -- Arcana, History
Lore 2 -- Insight, Athletics or Acrobatics (your choice)

Born to a destitute family, she made ends meet by hook or by crook. One day, she finally got caught, but instead of it being the end of her short life (or the beginning of a criminal career), her would-be victim took pity on her, seeing that she was a bright and vivacious young woman who just needed a better opportunity in life. So her victim sponsored her education, seeing to her family's needs, as long as Selena agreed to work on his behalf until the money spent was made back. She readily accepted, and pursued a complete education at the nearest Bard college, working on her own to save up money to pay off her debts and doing official work for her patron between terms. In only three years, she paid off over a decade of education, and in a further two years, increased her patron's profits threefold, almost as much to prove to herself that she could as to make good on her promises (and ensure her family would have enough to keep them going once she went freelance).

All through this time, though, she felt something was missing. Her Bardic training had been excellent, opening her eyes to so much about the world around her, but somehow she knew there was something more. One day, she ran into priests of the Temple of Ioun, and knew what she'd been missing--knowledge was sacred to her, so she doggedly pursued opportunities with the temple just as she had her patronage and Bardic schooling. But even then, she felt dissatisfied--these priests were not as dedicated to Knowledge as they claimed, poo-pooing the skills she'd learned as a child and pushing her exclusively into academic pursuits, not the wider world of all things worth knowing. She never abandoned her faith, but she did abandon the rigid hierarchies of the church, expecting to find Ioun's face around every unexplored corner and hidden in every unexamined shadow.

She's got training in every skill except Animal Handling, she's got Expertise in almost half of all skills in the game, and even on things she doesn't have training she still gets half proficiency (Jack of All Trades). This lady is smooth as silk and craftier than a devil, so you'd better believe she's taking 20 Cha. Even taking Skilled isn't strictly necessary--it just fits with the fluff of the character. Throw on the Prodigy feat, and she can eventually be trained in every skill, have expertise in half of them, and get an extra tool proficiency to boot (I'd recommend Herbalism, to make potions with). Grab Elven Accuracy if you want to win at combat, or maybe take Ritual Casting (Wizard) if you want to diversify your ritual portfolio beyond your Bard/Cleric spells.

And yet, despite this hyperfocus on skills...she's not a Franken-build, nor gimped as a caster. She'll still get the equivalent of 19th level spellcasting thanks to how slots stack, and Magical Secrets will still give her access to a huge variety of options depending on what role befits her party. The Cleric also provides medium armor and shields, so she gets half the benefit of being a Valor Bard while still getting all the Lore benefits. The only things she misses out on are Superior Inspiration (yawn), the 19th level ASI (not really a big deal), and a single 7th level spell slot. I think 4x Expertise picks, Thieves' Tools, medium armor+shields, and 1st-level Cleric spells, among other benefits, are totally worth that loss.

[webyugioh]

Wild Barbarian Wild Sorcerer Paladin

Race: Simic Hybrid

Starting ASI:
Str: 17 (15+2)
Dex: 12
Con: 16 (15+1)
Int: 8
Wis: 8
Cha: 13

Sorcerer 1-->Paladin 2-->Barbarian 1-5-->Sorcerer 2+ and/or Barbarian 6+

Sorcerer: Wild Magic Sorcerer
Paladin: Just two for Smites
Barbarian: Wild Soul

Can start this build as early as Level 8, but gets better as you get more sorcerer slots.

Silly concept to try to combine the two "Wild Magic" classes. Flavor is that you were magically experimented on, which is why you can sprout weird appendages (Simic Hybrid) and have out-of-control magic.

Take two levels in Paladin so you have something to do with your spell slots while raging.
Between Tides of Chaos and Reckless Attack, you have advantage all the time (may have to ask your DM to let you roll on the wild magic table every once in a while).

Silly, but could be fun for a one-shot.

[Galithar]

Wild Barbarian Wild Sorcerer Paladin

Race: Simic Hybrid

Starting ASI:
Str: 17 (15+2)
Dex: 12
Con: 16 (15+1)
Int: 8
Wis: 8
Cha: 13

Sorcerer 1-->Paladin 2-->Barbarian 1-5-->Sorcerer 2+ and/or Barbarian 6+

Sorcerer: Wild Magic Sorcerer
Paladin: Just two for Smites
Barbarian: Wild Soul

Can start this build as early as Level 8, but gets better as you get more sorcerer slots.

Silly concept to try to combine the two "Wild Magic" classes. Flavor is that you were magically experimented on, which is why you can sprout weird appendages (Simic Hybrid) and have out-of-control magic.

Take two levels in Paladin so you have something to do with your spell slots while raging.
Between Tides of Chaos and Reckless Attack, you have advantage all the time (may have to ask your DM to let you roll on the wild magic table every once in a while).

Silly, but could be fun for a one-shot.

I like the idea, just had to point out it technically breaks the rules. You have 2 Cha-based classes in there. I came into the same issue. I wanted to make mine Paladin, Bard, Barbarian for the same reasons of smiting while raging.

[Rara1212]

Jane of All Trades, Master of Several
Doing something similar.
Jacko Alltrade
Mountain Dwarf 8/16/14/10/12/16 (Using Tashas to move +2str to dex & +2con to cha)
Rogue 1/Knowledge Cleric 1/Lore Bard 3/Scout Rogue X

Skills:
4 skills from rogue class list
2 from background
1 from Bard multiclass
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
3 from Lore Bard
Nature & Survival from Scout Rogue
3 from Skilled.

Expertise:
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
2 from Bard
Nature & Survival from Scout Rogue
2(eventually 4) from Rogue

Tools:
Thieves tools from Rogue
7 from Mountain Dwarf using Tashas.


Jacko gets 17 out of 18 skills, probably skipping Athletics. Expertise in 10 of them. 8 Tools. And eventually a minimum 10 on Ability checks where they can add their proficiency.

They are a bit behind on Rogue levels, but they still do respectable damage.



Had built Jacko as a Half-Elf before with the background that he had through some ritual inherited the memories of a lot of his ancestors. Could work for Dwarf Jacko as well.

[RedDew123]

And to start, I present 2 example builds:


Wisdom grappler
Yuan-Ti Pureblood Guild artisan (both irrelevant in this build)
Str 8, Dex 15, Con 15+1, Int 8, Wis 15+2, Cha 8
Astral monk 3, Stars druid 2, Rogue 1
Grap expertise to athletics. Now, thanks to astral self, you can use wisdom in Strength checks, Strength saving throw and attacks. Druids starry form (dragon) ensures that your minimum in wisdom checks (and concentration saves) is 10.
That means that when you grapple, you get 10 (starry form) + 3 (wis) + 6 (athletics expertise), totaling 19 minimum. Takes 2 bonus actions, though, so first turn in combat activate starry form, cast a spell, and second turn manifest arms, and grapple one or two enemies


Edit: Thanks MaxWilson

I don't think that this works. Astral self allows you to add Wisdom to Strength checks instead of your Strength bonus, but it is still a Strength check. Starry Form(Dragon) only applies to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Concentration checks.

[RedDew123]

Dice Support
Our goal is to influence combat by giving out dice for our friends to add and our enemies to subtract.

High Elf
Eloquence Bard 3 / Fighter 2 / Peace Cleric 1
Point buy w/TCE: Str 10, Dex 12+1, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 14+2

We pick High Elf for the free wizard cantrip (Mind Sliver).
Extra levels go into bard to make our inspiration better.
Bless is a very good spell even into high tier play. Most attacks miss a creature's AC by a small margin in a balanced encounter. We can help our allies get over that hurdle.
Bond of Peace is not quite as good as Bless, but still very strong. Also, the number of targets it can buff equals your Proficiency Bonus. So it still goes up even with just 1 level in Cleric.

Turn 1 we cast Bless, Action Surge, use Bond of Peace, and Inspire. After this we focus on trying to give advantage to our party members without breaking our concentration. Spells like Blindness or Sleep are good options. If the wizard wants to cast a big spell, we can help by using Mind Sliver and Unsettling Words(Eloquence Bard) to force an enemy to subtract multiple dice from their next Saving Throw. You can also pick up Bane if you want to focus on cursing you enemies rather than buffing your allies.

This build is nice because it enables other players with less optimized builds to shine. If you don't want to use 3 classes you can always drop the fighter levels and set up over 2 turns instead of 1.

[fert1g]

*Alpha Striker*

Custom Lineage:
Ability Score Increase: DEX+2
Feat: Crossbow Expert
Variable Trait: Darkvision

STR: 10
DEX: 14 (+2)
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 10

Progression and key features:
Fighter 1: Constitution saving throw proficiency, Archery fighting style.
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 1-5: Hunter's Mark, Dread Ambush, Extra Attack.
Rogue (Assassin) 1-4: Sneak Attack, Cunning Action, Assassinate.
Fighter 2: Action Surge
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 6-8: Iron Mind
Rogue (Assassin) 5-10: Uncanny Dodge, Evasion

Ability Score Increases:
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 4: DEX +2
Rogue (Assassin) 4: Sharpshooter
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 8: DEX +2
Rogue (Assassin) 8: Alert
Rogue (Assassin) 10: Lucky

The point of this build is to combine Hunter's Mark, Dread Ambush, Action Surge, Assassinate, on a stealthy, high initiative hand crossbow wielder for a 'surprise' round of 8 attacks that all crit on a hit for significant damage.

[Damon_Tor]

Back when I was trying to make the greatest grappler in all the land, I nearly laughed myself to death with the following concept:

A Moon druid/Astral Self monk.

Consider: You have the speed, size and movement modes of whatever animal you desire, but you STILL HAVE ARMS. Glowing spectral arms, yes, but arms you can grapple with, and using Wisdom to do it. Terrifying.

Add in 7 levels of Psi Warrior for the Jedi Jump ability that gives you a fly speed double your movement speed. Start as a riding horse, so you won't even need many levels in druid. With a tabaxi as your race that's a flying speed of 240 without even really trying very hard.

Imagine, you're some goblin warboss, minding your own business, when all of a sudden a horse with arms leaps out of the woods at Mach 5, grabs you, leaps 200 feet into the air then punts you to the ground.

[AncientOne]

*Alpha Striker*

*snip*

Fighter 2: Action Surge
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 6-8: Iron Mind
Rogue (Assassin) 5-10: Uncanny Dodge, Evasion


The point of this build is to combine Hunter's Mark, Dread Ambush, Action Surge, Assassinate, on a stealthy, high initiative hand crossbow wielder for a 'surprise' round of 8 attacks that all crit on a hit for significant damage.

This build is invalid, as it is missing full caster.

[Damon_Tor]

*Alpha Striker*

Custom Lineage:
Ability Score Increase: DEX+2
Feat: Crossbow Expert
Variable Trait: Darkvision

STR: 10
DEX: 14 (+2)
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 10

Progression and key features:
Fighter 1: Constitution saving throw proficiency, Archery fighting style.
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 1-5: Hunter's Mark, Dread Ambush, Extra Attack.
Rogue (Assassin) 1-4: Sneak Attack, Cunning Action, Assassinate.
Fighter 2: Action Surge
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 6-8: Iron Mind
Rogue (Assassin) 5-10: Uncanny Dodge, Evasion

Ability Score Increases:
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 4: DEX +2
Rogue (Assassin) 4: Sharpshooter
Ranger (Gloomstalker) 8: DEX +2
Rogue (Assassin) 8: Alert
Rogue (Assassin) 10: Lucky

The point of this build is to combine Hunter's Mark, Dread Ambush, Action Surge, Assassinate, on a stealthy, high initiative hand crossbow wielder for a 'surprise' round of 8 attacks that all crit on a hit for significant damage.

You'll want at least one more level in fighter for Echo Knight, though really your goal should be fighter 11. When I build for this combo I like to take one level of war cleric as well. Precast Divine Favor in place of Hunter's Mark, then use your first bonus action for an attack. Total of 11 attacks during the opening round, and the lack of reliance on Hunter's Mark means you can open combat from outside the 120 foot truesight radius some monsters have. Piercer is also very valuable on this build (it adds 11d10 damage on that first round) and the fighter's extra ASI lets that happen.

[qube]

this is an interesting idea. One of my main characters actually is a fighter/sorlock, but as that's not allowed ... would perhaps the nature variant work?

Half-orc
Barbarian / Paladin / druid.

as barbarian you're proficient in con saves = great concentration spells (boost spell (shield of faith, protection from evil, ....) + wildshape)
the point of a paladin/spellcaster was never to cast high DC spells - but to have a lot of smites. So the fact druids doesn't cast on charisma is not that relevant
rage + wildshape + lay on hands + relentless endurence should be more then enough to open a few spellslots one would have used for healing. Considering you can smite with unarmed attacks, I can only presume you can do the same for claws

I'm thinking
Barbarian 3 (zealot: extra damage) / Paladin 6 (glory: temp hp) / moondruid 11.

[someguy]

Self hosting Order Cleric
This build requires Wildfire Druid to get Fireball as a circle spell as they did in UA, which is how it should have been imho.
Ranger Drakewarden 3, Order Cleric 1, Wildfire Druid 5
Str 8 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 8 Cha 8 Wis 16
Vhuman with +1 Dex, +1 Wis and Resilient Con

Level order doesn't matter much, it comes online at 9 with the levels shown. At that point you have a Drake and Wildfire Spirit whose damage and to hit scale with prof bonus, and are both immune to fire. So you can fireball them plus some enemies to give them both attacks from voice of authority, and of course to fireball damage. For progress from here you have some options, Ranger gets Extra Attack and Drake boost at 7, Cleric gets aid at 3, and Druid gets conjure elemental at 9. Aid is nice because it targets allies of choice to trigger Voice of Authority, and it shores up the max hp of your minions. Conjure elemental gives you another fire immune minion to fireball for VOA.

Honestly the build isn't that strong, it piles on too many bonus actions, VOA competes the the Drake's built in reaction, Druid brings down the AC of the other two classes, your minions really don't do all that much damage on VOA. But it should hold it's own quite well, and be fun and thematic.

[Nidgit]

Psionic Assailant

Race: Half-Elf
Order Cleric 6/Gloomstalker 5/Aberrant Mind Sorcerer X
STR: 8
DEX: 14
CON: 12+1
INT: 8
WIS: 15+1
CHA: 14+2

Feats/ASIs: Resilient (Con), Cha+2, Cha+2, Warcaster or Metamagic Adept or Wis +2

The point of this build is to exploit the Order Cleric's 6th level ability, which allows you to cast an enchantment spell as a bonus action. Quickened Spell can't typically be combined with other Metamagics, but because this is a different ability, you have the opportunity to toss out a Twinned Dissonant Whispers, Hold Person, or Charm Monster as a bonus action in additional to a nice cantrip or Attack action a few times per day. Aberrant Mind Origin is selected for its ability to swap out known spells for any enchantment ones.

Order Cleric/AM Sorcerer is probably fine on its own, but this is about triclassing so Ranger is included. Ranger gives the option to grab Shillelagh via Druidic Warrior for more accurate attacks and gives us an 8th level spell slot at 20th level, and Gloomstalker capitalizes on a first turn nova round to add an extra attack. An ideal opening round might include pre-casting Shillelagh, casting Twinned Hold Person as a bonus action and then hitting for three crits. Rune Knight was also considered as a martial alternative, with Frost and Fire Runes being taken, but the additional bonus actions required and low STR/DEX made it the secondary option. Paladin or Hexblade would also be strong options, of course, but they're against the rules here.

[someguy]

Psionic Assailant

Nice take on order cleric.

[JackalTornMoons]

11 Battlemaster/3 Gloomstalker/1 Peace

CBE/SS

Pre-fight peace bond yourself

1st turn Bonus Action Quick Toss Net +1d4 to hit, Action Surge, 8x sharpshooter attacks at advantage w/ Precision Attack

Bye bye BBEG

[Gignere]

11 Battlemaster/3 Gloomstalker/1 Peace

CBE/SS

Pre-fight peace bond yourself

1st turn Bonus Action Quick Toss Net +1d4 to hit, Action Surge, 8x sharpshooter attacks at advantage w/ Precision Attack

Bye bye BBEG

Dread ambusher only applies for the turn. So you don’t get 8 attacks with action surge 7 attacks is what you get.

[Galithar]

Dread ambusher only applies for the turn. So you don’t get 8 attacks with action surge 7 attacks is what you get.

Dread Ambusher triggers "If you take the attack action on that turn". Action surge allows you to take the attack action twice and trigger Dread Ambusher twice because it doesn't specify that it only happens once, just "If you take the attack action..."

Also means an extra 1d8 of damage on a second of the attacks.

All of this happens on your first turn.

[Nidgit]

Here's another, basically a Bardbarian with a twist:

Feral Manipulator

V. Human w/ Fighting Initiate for Unarmed Fighting Style

Beast Barbarian 5+/Talisman Fiendlock 3/Mastermind Rogue 3

STR 15+1
DEX 13+1
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 9
CHA 13

Invocations: Rebuke of the Talisman, Mask of Many Faces or something else

Yep, it's a Grapple build. Rage + Claws' extra attack + Unarmed Fighting means you're doing a solid 22 damage per turn by level 3, but the real fun here is that Mastermind gives you a ranged bonus action Help. Jump on some poor enemy and claw them to death while giving helpful tips to an ally! Warlock here adds versatility, durability, and control. Abuse Rage with Armor of Agathys to make your victim take extra damage if they even think about fighting back. If an Opportunity Attack is unlikely, use your reaction to blast an enemy away from your Talisman-wearing ally. I'd suggest pocketing a short sword too to add in some Sneak Attack damage, or just plead with your DM to allow your claws to trigger it.

[Bphill561]

Doing something similar.
Jacko Alltrade
Mountain Dwarf 8/16/14/10/12/16 (Using Tashas to move +2str to dex & +2con to cha)
Rogue 1/Knowledge Cleric 1/Lore Bard 3/Scout Rogue X

Skills:
4 skills from rogue class list
2 from background
1 from Bard multiclass
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
3 from Lore Bard
Nature & Survival from Scout Rogue
3 from Skilled.

Expertise:
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
2 from Bard
Nature & Survival from Scout Rogue
2(eventually 4) from Rogue

Tools:
Thieves tools from Rogue
7 from Mountain Dwarf using Tashas.


Jacko gets 17 out of 18 skills, probably skipping Athletics. Expertise in 10 of them. 8 Tools. And eventually a minimum 10 on Ability checks where they can add their proficiency.


I have been looking at a similar Unearthed Arcania build. Of course you need permission to run with UA in your game.

Half-Elf 8/15/12/10/14/17 (+2 Cha, +1 Dex, +1 Wis)

Original Revived Rogue 3/ Original Undying Light Warlock 2/Knowledge Cleric 1/ Rogue 14

Rogue 4: Friendly Face (+1 Cha)
Rogue 8: Skill Expert (+1 Dex)
Rogue 10: +2 Cha
Rogue 12: +2 Dex
Rogue 16: +2 Dex

Skills:
4 skills from rogue class list
2 from background
2 from Half-Elf
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
Warlock Invocation Beguiling Influence: Deception and Persuasion
1 from Skill Expert

Expertise:
Arcana & History from Knowledge Cleric
Deception and Persuasion from Friendly Face
1 from Skill Expert
4 from Rogue

Very Blasty and can pick up extra skills on the fly with class abilities. The one I am going to play is a little different because of rolled ability scores. Not as many skills as your build though.

[AncientOne]

Wow, no builds with Artificer or Wizard yet. Anyway, here's few more:

Initiativester
When you absolutely need to go first.

Wizard 2, Revised Gloom stalker ranger 3, Swashbuckler Rogue 3
Variant human for Alert.
8/13+1/13/13+1/14/13

Revised Gloom stalker let's you get advantage on initiative rolls and advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
Gloomstalker brings us Dread ambusher, which adds your wisdom modifier to your initiative. We also get handy Umbral sight that let's us see in dark.

Wizard 2 you pick either War or Chronurgy to add your intelligence to your initiative. If you picked Chronurgy, you can also reroll your initiative roll twice per long rest.

Rogue 3 you pick Swashbuckler to add your charisma to your initiative.


This adds together +2 (dex) + 2 (int) + 2 (wis) + 1 (cha) + 5 (alert) = +12, with (triple) advantage

You should probably use your first ASI in +1 con, +1 cha. Later levels pump ranger to 5 to get extra attack, and put rest in either rogue or wizard, depending on your preferences for stabbing and/or casting.


Ultimate Wingman
We're going with Aarakocra, of course.

8/15+2/14/8/15+1/10
Peace cleric 1, battle master 3, mastermind 3

Start combat with Emboldening Bond to give your allies +1d4, action surge to bless them with another +1d4 and as a bonus action use your Tactics to help them with your helpful tips like 'hit them where it hurts'.
After that you are free to use your manouvers like Bait and Switch, Commander's Strike, Distracting Strike, Goading Attack, Maneuvering Attack or Rally.

At level 20 you are probably looking something like Cleric 2, Rogue 5, Fighter 13

[xyianth]

This is a far less optimal version of my build, but here goes:

name: The little one's with me
race: vhuman
27pt: 8 str, 14 dex, 10 con, 13 int, 12(13) wis, 15(16) cha [technically this is also the standard array]
feat: inspiring leader
build: peace cleric 1/celestial warlock 3/peace cleric +2/bladesong wizard 6/peace cleric +1
ASIs: +2 cha @ bladesong wizard 4 and peace cleric 4
warlock pact: pact of the chain
invocations: investment of the chain master, misty visions
spells of note:

warlock: mind sliver
cleric: bless, aid, warding bond
wizard: haste

familiar of choice: sprite or pseudodragon

Choose the sprite to maximize the defensiveness of your trick, choose the pseudodragon if you really need to knock people unconscious frequently

How this all works:

You use your action to mind sliver. Once you get bladesong wizard 6, you also trade your attack to allow your familiar to make an attack as a reaction. Sprites normally do a +6 to hit arrow attack with a DC 10 con save vs poisoned for 1 minute. This poison also knocks a target unconscious if the save result is 5 or less. There is no save against the effect after it lands, so you can't end the poisoned condition early with a save. Investment of the chain master changes this DC to your spellcasting DC which is based on your charisma (8+5+5=18 @ level 13) You have two options available for your bonus action: emboldening bond or commanding your sprite to attack. You also have two in combat buffs you can apply depending on the situation: bless and haste. You should maintain as high a level of aid as you can on yourself and your sprite, and use your warlock slots to maintain warding bond between yourself and your sprite. This will make your sprite much more survivable. If you need the sprite to be even harder to harm, have it use its action to turn invisible instead of attacking.

The net result is that you have a somewhat durable, potentially invisible, flying, ranged attacker that can make attacks at +6+2d4 to hit that force a DC 18 con save vs being poisoned for 1 minute.
And you can tank that save even lower by landing mind sliver first for some psychic damage and a 1d4 penalty to the save. To make this even better, most creatures are not good at both int and con saves, so the likelihood of succumbing to this trick is pretty decent. You also have 5th level slots for your cleric/wizard spells for general utility; your free healing words from warlock; your channel divinity healing from cleric; and at-will silent images from misty visions.

The more optimal version of this build uses more multiclassing: clockwork soul sorcerer 1/celestial warlock 3/peace cleric 1/clockwork soul sorcerer +5/bladesong wizard 6/eloquence bard 4
but as you can see, this wouldn't be rules legal for the challenge presented.

[LumenPlacidum]

Draconic Shroud
White Draconic Sorcerer 6 / Order of Scribes Wizard 14, in that order.

You start with Draconic Sorcerer, giving you some solid offensive cantrip options and acceptable armor class for a caster, as well as some ok hitpoints. You're not sexy at levels 1 and 2.
At level 3, you use pretty typical sorcerer antics of using Quicken Spell to cast multiple cantrips (typically Rays of Frost) in a round for offensive options. You want to take the Scorching Ray spell, which will be the mainstay of your damage for the foreseeable future. I recommend taking the Transmute Spell metamagic so as to be able to convert Scorching Ray to cold damage when it is cast. Feel free to focus on sorcerer spells that are a little more fun and creative. When you get to level 6 sorcerer, you gain the ability to apply your Charisma bonus to spells of your element. Fire is a good element for you, but isn't strictly necessary.

Then, you proceed with Wizard. Going Wizard all the way is a little controversial after having spent 6 levels following another progression, especially when I mention that you want to pick up Scorching Ray for your spellbook also, but the goal here is to get Spirit Shroud, which isn't on the Sorcerer list. Order of Scribes Wizard at level 2 is going to let you convert spells into spells of your element to more reliably gain access to your bonus damage. Magic Missile will multiply that damage by the number of missiles, if you play with that interpretation. At 9th level (3rd level Wizard), Scorching Ray will, of course, apply that bonus damage on each attack. Magic Missile will multiply it by the number of missiles. Don't forget that you can't modify the Sorcerer spells by element -- only your Wizard spells.

11th level is pretty high, but at this point you explode outwards in combat presence and damage dealing. Casting Spirit Shroud as a 5th level spell gives you +2d8 cold damage per attack. That's not per weapon attack -- it's per attack. Now, you can convert Scorching Ray (cast as a Wizard spell) to cold damage, and add Spirit Shroud damage for each ray, which is a separate spell applying damage, and earning you your Charisma bonus to damage again. Now, you have been improving Charisma instead of Intelligence, so your attack bonus per ray will be a little low, but make sure to take advantage of any Advantage situations (you could even have gone with Elven Accuracy if you want). At 11th level, you have +7 to-hit with your Wizardly Scorching Ray, each of which does 2d6+5 plus 2d8+5 cold damage (average is 26 per ray). When you want to deal a ton of damage, you cast quickened Scorching Ray as a 6th level spell while under the effects of a 5th level Spirit Shroud. This you follow up with a Ray of Frost. Scorching Ray is 7 rays as a 6th level spell. At 11th level, you have +7 to-hit with your Wizardly Scorching Ray, each of which does 2d6+5 plus 2d8+5 cold damage (average is 26 per ray, for a total damage of 182 damage if they all hit). The extra Ray of Frost could be +9 to-hit (casting as a Sorcerer since it already deals the appropriate energy damage) and do 3d8+5 plus 2d8+5 (average 32.5 damage). Again, assuming hits, that's over 200 damage in that round, and there isn't really any set-up other than casting Spirit Shroud, which takes a bonus action.

The damage scales upwards dramatically from 11th level. Your nova round at 13th level is a 6th level Scorching Ray under a 7th level Spirit Shroud, followed by a Ray of Frost. That's 7 scorching rays for 2d6+5 plus 3d8+5 cold damage each and 1 ray of frost for 3d8+5 plus 3d8+5 damage (average of ~250 damage assuming hits). Your nova round at 15th level sees an 8th level Scorching Ray for 9 rays at 2d6+5 plus 3d8+5 cold damage each, and 1 ray of frost for 3d8+5 plus 3d8+5 damage (average of ~311). At 17th level, you upgrade to a 9th level Spirit Shroud and now each attack is dealing +4d8+5 cold damage. Your 9 scorching rays and ray of frost are doing a whopping (2d6+5 plus 4d8+5)x9 + (4d8+5 plus 4d8+5), which comes to an average of 361 damage.

If you can fit in taking a feat for Eldritch Blast, then you get a lot from that, too. There are a lot of high damage builds, and some outdo this, but there is very little set-up to being able to do this.

In the end, you have 20 levels of spellcasting slots, but only have level 7 wizard spells. You're doing damage like a full wizard blaster, but probably more consistently, since you've taken options to bolster your damage dealing with lower level slots as well as your creme de la creme. In terms of utility, Order of Scribes wizards are chock full of utility, with the ability to have the most expansive spellbook of any wizard, cast a ritual without expending extra time, get the spellbook scouting shenanigans, cast remotely, pretty much whatever.

The special sauce is mixing Elemental Affinity with lots of spell attacks and Spirit Shroud. This can be done using Bard (who can Magical Secrets Spirit Shroud) or Cleric (who get it natively) and each advances spellcasting fully, but I think Wizard is as good as any option here, and probably better.

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The Celestial Order

Circle of Stars Druid with a splash of Order Cleric, likely taking two druid levels first. Casting friendly spells on allies becomes more fun when you have two separate rider effects from the Chalice constellation and Order domain. You! Take Healing Word! Also, regain a fair number of HP! Also... attack! Now! It's an excellent opportunity for a battlefield control druid with some extra tactical goodies to hand out, just to feel special and make your party love you more.