Can you guys help me with a couple of character build ideas?

[Wanderer]

Hey guys. I'm trying to make a new character for an upcoming campaign. My group's approach to party balance tends to be very lax: basically "everyone make what you want and we'll try it." Sometimes that bites us in the butt, sometimes it doesn't, but we generally all have fun.

So. I have a few ideas for my next character, but two of the less standard ones are things I'm not sure if they would work, nor am I certain how to pull them off.

First idea is based off of what is clearly a cheese build: The Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass. The idea of being able to spam a bunch of eldritch blasts sounds nice to me, but I wondered if maybe this just doesn't go far enough, and thought maybe adding a couple levels of fighter in there so I could do it again with action surge would be even cooler. I should mention that I've never actually multiclassed in 5e before, so I have no idea if this is as simple to pull off as it seems in my head. Anyone have any ideas if this is viable, and if so what I need to do to pull it off?

My second idea also relies on spamming a lot of ranged attacks, but otherwise goes in a different direction. The Thrown Weapon Fighting style in Tasha's made me think about making a pure thrown-weapon character. I was thinking start with a variant human ranger (maybe Horizon Walker or perhaps Swarmkeeper just for experimental fun) and either multiclass into fighter for a second fighting style, or use the fighting initiate feat. Either way, I would want to have both the archery style (since I plan to use a whole ton of darts) and the thrown weapon style. I'd probably have to multiclass, because I think in order to make darts really viable I'd also need the sharpshooter feat.

So... what do you folks think? Are either of these viable? Are they viable, but not the way I have them currently? Can they work if I change something? Do they have huge potential drawbacks? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Aett_Thorn]

I’ll let others weigh in on the Warlock build, but for the thrown weapon build you’re looking at, I might be inclined to throw in a few levels of Artificer in order to get the Returning Weapon infusion. This will allow you to keep throwing your weapon without running out of “ammo”. Considering the relative lack of magical throwing weapons, even if you do get one, once you throw it your next few shots are going to be with regular ammo again. Against many enemies, this could significantly reduce your damage output.

You can still mainly go Fighter (recommended) or Ranger (with the weird multiclass requirements), with two levels of Artificer. You can always pick up any additional support through Feats.

[Vogie]

It all depends on the type of character that you want to play.

The Sorlock with a fighter dip, for example, (Presuming Fighter 2/ Warlock 2 /Sorcerer X) could be a great analog to some sort of "Magic Gunslinger" - provided you only use your spell slots to fuel spell points, to quicken more eldritch blasts - that's actually really cool. If you just act as though you're a full caster who is using multiclass cheese to make you more powerful at the cost of making your turn take forever... I mean that works but... Blech.

As for the thrown weapon build, the best Ranger archetypes would be Swarmkeeper and Hunter. SK gives you a straight once/turn d6 damage bonus, while Hunter gives either a d8 damage bonus or increased attacks via Horde Breaker. You'd want to avoid Horizon walker, Monster Hunter, or any of the archetypes that sacrifice your bonus action for a one-time bonus.

You could do a combination of Horde Breaker Hunter Ranger and Kensei Monk, allowing you to make up to three attacks with a d4 bonus on each of the attacks, provided you have multiple targets. It'd also give you the ability to have, essentially, magic darts without having to purchase them, upgrade the base damage to d6, and use your ki points to smite with them. Hunter Ranger 3 / Kensei Monk 6+ would make each dart a base damage (using kensei shot) of 1d6+1d4+2+dex , which would then scale up the higher monk you go.

[Wanderer]

I’ll let others weigh in on the Warlock build, but for the thrown weapon build you’re looking at, I might be inclined to throw in a few levels of Artificer in order to get the Returning Weapon infusion. This will allow you to keep throwing your weapon without running out of “ammo”. Considering the relative lack of magical throwing weapons, even if you do get one, once you throw it your next few shots are going to be with regular ammo again. Against many enemies, this could significantly reduce your damage output.

You can still mainly go Fighter (recommended) or Ranger (with the weird multiclass requirements), with two levels of Artificer. You can always pick up any additional support through Feats.

I've definitely seen Artificer suggested for that. It just... feels somehow like I'm diluting the intention of the build by doing that. That said, in 5e I've never been in a situation where I lack a magic weapon against an enemy that requires one, so I don't know how much of an impact that will have. Probably a lot, if it cuts my damage in half. Hmm...

Anyone else have any suggestions for either build?

EDIT: You replied just as I was typing up my post! :)


It all depends on the type of character that you want to play.

The Sorlock with a fighter dip, for example, (Presuming Fighter 2/ Warlock 2 /Sorcerer X) could be a great analog to some sort of "Magic Gunslinger" - provided you only use your spell slots to fuel spell points, to quicken more eldritch blasts - that's actually really cool. If you just act as though you're a full caster who is using multiclass cheese to make you more powerful at the cost of making your turn take forever... I mean that works but... Blech.

As for the thrown weapon build, the best Ranger archetypes would be Swarmkeeper and Hunter. SK gives you a straight once/turn d6 damage bonus, while Hunter gives either a d8 damage bonus or increased attacks via Horde Breaker. You'd want to avoid Horizon walker, Monster Hunter, or any of the archetypes that sacrifice your bonus action for a one-time bonus.

You could do a combination of Horde Breaker Hunter Ranger and Kensei Monk, allowing you to make up to three attacks with a d4 bonus on each of the attacks, provided you have multiple targets. It'd also give you the ability to have, essentially, magic darts without having to purchase them, upgrade the base damage to d6, and use your ki points to smite with them. Hunter Ranger 3 / Kensei Monk 6+ would make each dart a base damage (using kensei shot) of 1d6+1d4+2+dex , which would then scale up the higher monk you go.

The magic gunslinger is basically what I was going for. I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of throwing out an AOE spell on rare occasions; I've seen too many cases where the ability to nuke a swarm of enemies is just too useful to pass up; but the primary intent would definitely be to focus almost exclusively on eldritch blasts.

Swarmkeeper was one of the ones I was looking at for the throwing build. It's odd enough I can imagine having a lot of fun playing it, and still has a damage bonus I can use. I admit I haven't looked closely at Kensei monk. I've had bad experiences with monks in prior editions looking cool but turning out less than effective, so I haven't paid a lot of attention to them here. I'll go dig into that option deeper.

[Lupine]

For your second idea, you go mostly monk, mc for fighting style.

If you want some really experimental fun, try artificer, monk, fighter.
You’re a techie teen who was sent to martial arts camp. You learned how to throw weapons from repeated hissy fits. The monks saw this and trained your throwing skillz.
This build can choose any weapon (thanks tasta’s) and give it the returning infusion (however that works) so you can chuck it, chuck it again, and make two unarmed strikes, before chucking two more times, and making two more unarmed strikes.