Clockwork soul Gish. With Battlesmith?

[Hiro Quester]

I want to make a Gish. Clockwork soul seems a great base for access to armor of agathys, bastion of law, etc. making your rather resilient.

Am I crazy for thinking that a battlesmith artificer 3 would be a good multiclassing for this? (I’m trying to avoid hexblade. Paladin 2 would also be good for smites and heavy armor, but the party has a paladin,so I’m looking for different.)

Thematically the two fit well together. It’s little MAD (max int, and keep cha and con high?). Many of the CS’s spells can be buffs that don’t depend especially on a high CHA.

I’d make an argument to my DM that. clockwork soul, revering logic and intricate mechanisms, should cast off INT, but that’s perhaps a hard sell.

Battlesmith adds to the CS’s awesome spell list and spells known, medium armor, martial weapon proficiencies, INT to attack and damage with magic weapons, a magic weapon infusion, a mind sharpener infusion (reaction auto success on a failed concentration check) and a steel defender tank animal that imposes saving throw disadvantage and that heals with a mending spell.

Battlesmith 5 gets extra attack.

Battlesmith 7 gets the ability to add your INT bonus to a saving throw, kind of like the paladin’s aura.

But that’s sacrificing a lot of sorcerer casting, and the 14th level ability to auto succeed on ability checks and saving throws.

is this a crazy idea? What. Better works with CS?

[nickl_2000]

What about 1 level Order Domain Cleric? It is certainly fitting with the Modron feel of the clockwork soul.

It gives you the armor that you need to get in there and is pretty helpful if you are focusing on buffs with the CS Sorcerer. Doesn't help much with your attacks, so you would still need Strength/Dex, Wis 13, Cha, and Con.

[kaervaak]

Maybe ask your DM if you can swap clockwork soul to an Int class? Thematically it makes a lot of sense and would make this build a lot more viable.

You need dex, con, int, and cha for this build, which is just...a lot.

[Willie the Duck]

If you want the extra attack (and want to avoid the eyerolls and shouts of 'another one?' you might receive of paladin or hexblade), battlesmith or EK (ignore Int) seem like good choices. If you can get by with SCAGtrips, I might just suggest Hobgoblin who goes for Moderately Armored at level 4.

[CMCC]

What about 1 level Order Domain Cleric? It is certainly fitting with the Modron feel of the clockwork soul.

It gives you the armor that you need to get in there and is pretty helpful if you are focusing on buffs with the CS Sorcerer. Doesn't help much with your attacks, so you would still need Strength/Dex, Wis 13, Cha, and Con.

You’ve made the 5e god wizard.

[Hiro Quester]

You’ve made the 5e god wizard.

That is actually a pretty cool build. A couple of tweaks and it might suit my purposes quite well.

[Kvess]

If you wanted to get really weird, you could go Clockwork Soul / Wild Magic Barbarian.

You take half damage from piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage while raging, which gives you more mileage out of Armor of Agathys’ temporary HP. Since Armor of Agathys is not concentration, Rage does not interfere with it.

You could go Bear Totem to get resistance to more damage types but I like the idea of a character representing duality between order and chaos. If you have the power to impose order, would it not also make sense to be able to suspend it?

[CMCC]

That is actually a pretty cool build. A couple of tweaks and it might suit my purposes quite well.

Treantmonk did a full build video. Check it out. It’s insanely good - especially for a sorcerer.

[Hiro Quester]

Yeah. I figured that this was what you were referring to.

The order domain ability to give an ally a free attack when you target them with a (buff or careful) spell is really beneficial (especially for a sneak-attack rogue). And it fits well with the character’s focus on maintaining order by controlling the battlefield.