Foolwise
2021-08-02, 09:50 PM
Fizban has me excited to play D&D again! October can't arrive soon enough. Hopefully I will have at least found a group to play with by then. That said, I haven't rolled stats for this build or know what the party composition will become.
I plan to use the UA Ascendant Dragon tradition as is, with the expectation that my character may need to be tweaked post FToD release. On the flip side, I am trying to persuade my DM to allow me to optimize the Trickery Domain a bit to achieve the play style of using the melee advantage from Invoke Duplicity to become a stunlocking nightmare in combat.
The main change is of course to Invoke Duplicity. I want to eliminate the BA to move the illusion as well as its 30ft limit. I propose that the character and duplicate share the same speed for the duration of the CD. A player can freely move both evenly (reducing their own speed in half for the round) or can choose to move one more than the other. If the character's speed gets reduced to 0 (say, from a grapple), the dupe also cannot move. I think this is a very elegant solution to both the terrible action economy of needing a BA to move the illusion and the 'perfect' illusion having a different speed from the character (which is only more pronounced with a monk MC). The reduced movement for the character also fits thematically as the intense concentration of maintaining the perfect illusion takes its toll.
I looked at other homebrews online and I feel this is really all that is needed to change to Invoke Duplicity. Concentration isn't a big deal for a monk (besides getting hit) as it is for a full cleric. But you also don't want a player to be able to drop a remote antimagic field either (cherry picking, I know). Some have suggested allowing the cleric to swap places with the dupe a number of times per rest. I liked the potential of this idea, but ultimately felt the loss of my action economy was too great. Other brews suggested swapping the adv to attack when within 5ft to disadv for the enemy's attack. I feel when its time for the enemy to attack, it will pick one target and won't hold back, so disadvantage there doesn't seem proper. Plus, that change would completely break the build I have in mind.
Other small changes I would request are not as consequential to the play style. If my DM agrees, they are nice ribbons to assist in the social pillar.
---bonus cantrip of Minor Illusion at 1st level (seriously how did the illusionist cleric not get the only illusion cantrip that also happens to not be available to clerics?)
---bonus proficiency at 1st level, choose one of Deception, Stealth, or Sleight of Hand. DM may also decide to add Deception and Sleight of Hand to the DEX checks from Blessing of the Trickster. Still pretty niche use.
So that's the gist of the changes. Build is extremely MAD as all monk MCs are. Primary stat will be WIS, followed by DEX. I want CON to start at 14 and may bump DEX down if the rolls are unkind. I should mention here that I plan to play a Half Elf with Drow lineage. The DM has warned to expect NPCs to be antagonistic or even openly hostile, so the Trickery domain spells are of extra importance as she navigates through the campaign. If I went Point Buy I would be deciding between 8/16/14/8/16/12 or 10/14/14/8/16/14 after racial modifiers.
To help turbocharge the build, I am also trying to convince the DM to give each player a free feat or magic item at the start of the campaign. I think this build could really use three feats in particular, but my stat rolls will determine if I can take them early or if at all.
First feat- Magic Initiate: Sorcerer.
As the only melee spell attack cantrip in the game, this build needs Shocking Grasp (avoiding the headache with the SCAGtrips) and since INT is my lone dump stat, Sorc it is. As far the other spells, Shield is the obvious choice for the 1st level spell. Absorb Elements pairs nicely with Ascendant Dragon, but I know Shield will get used every single day. For the 2nd cantrip, I really want Mind Sliver for that 1d4 reduction to the target's next ST (aka how to stunlock without Hex) but there's also Friends that I can pair with Disguise Self out of combat.
Second feat- Elven Accuracy
The build is based around getting advantage of every attack thanks to the perfect illusion, so let's triple down on that. All of her attacks will be either DEX, WIS or CHA based so we are good there. And if I end up with an odd score in any of those stats, the +1 is an added bonus.
Third feat- Resilient (CON), Lucky, War Caster
This is a no brainer if I have an odd score in CON, but Lucky can be useful for any situation. War Caster is out if DM rules the adv only applies to spells, but if I can use the reaction to cast from the character's dupe.... oh the trickery. Leaning toward Resilient as I expect she will become the focus of the enemies' attention once they are smart enough to figure out they gotta break her concentration.
Level progression is a mess. No matter which class I take, I am delaying something. Monk 5 / Cleric 2 is the optimal opener, but I may go Monk 3 / Cleric 1 / Monk 2 / Cleric 1 if the party lacks heals. After 7th level it gets tough. Monk gives me flying speed (applies to dupe w/ ID change) and magical strikes with Evasion coming online next. Or Cleric adds Mirror Image to the shenanigans with another ASI/feat next level. I know I want to end up Monk 12 / Cleric 8, but figuring how is the tough part.
Thanks for reading all this. What do you think of the build? Is it playable using point buy and using the first ASI to take MI:Sorc? How would you progress past 7th level?
I plan to use the UA Ascendant Dragon tradition as is, with the expectation that my character may need to be tweaked post FToD release. On the flip side, I am trying to persuade my DM to allow me to optimize the Trickery Domain a bit to achieve the play style of using the melee advantage from Invoke Duplicity to become a stunlocking nightmare in combat.
The main change is of course to Invoke Duplicity. I want to eliminate the BA to move the illusion as well as its 30ft limit. I propose that the character and duplicate share the same speed for the duration of the CD. A player can freely move both evenly (reducing their own speed in half for the round) or can choose to move one more than the other. If the character's speed gets reduced to 0 (say, from a grapple), the dupe also cannot move. I think this is a very elegant solution to both the terrible action economy of needing a BA to move the illusion and the 'perfect' illusion having a different speed from the character (which is only more pronounced with a monk MC). The reduced movement for the character also fits thematically as the intense concentration of maintaining the perfect illusion takes its toll.
I looked at other homebrews online and I feel this is really all that is needed to change to Invoke Duplicity. Concentration isn't a big deal for a monk (besides getting hit) as it is for a full cleric. But you also don't want a player to be able to drop a remote antimagic field either (cherry picking, I know). Some have suggested allowing the cleric to swap places with the dupe a number of times per rest. I liked the potential of this idea, but ultimately felt the loss of my action economy was too great. Other brews suggested swapping the adv to attack when within 5ft to disadv for the enemy's attack. I feel when its time for the enemy to attack, it will pick one target and won't hold back, so disadvantage there doesn't seem proper. Plus, that change would completely break the build I have in mind.
Other small changes I would request are not as consequential to the play style. If my DM agrees, they are nice ribbons to assist in the social pillar.
---bonus cantrip of Minor Illusion at 1st level (seriously how did the illusionist cleric not get the only illusion cantrip that also happens to not be available to clerics?)
---bonus proficiency at 1st level, choose one of Deception, Stealth, or Sleight of Hand. DM may also decide to add Deception and Sleight of Hand to the DEX checks from Blessing of the Trickster. Still pretty niche use.
So that's the gist of the changes. Build is extremely MAD as all monk MCs are. Primary stat will be WIS, followed by DEX. I want CON to start at 14 and may bump DEX down if the rolls are unkind. I should mention here that I plan to play a Half Elf with Drow lineage. The DM has warned to expect NPCs to be antagonistic or even openly hostile, so the Trickery domain spells are of extra importance as she navigates through the campaign. If I went Point Buy I would be deciding between 8/16/14/8/16/12 or 10/14/14/8/16/14 after racial modifiers.
To help turbocharge the build, I am also trying to convince the DM to give each player a free feat or magic item at the start of the campaign. I think this build could really use three feats in particular, but my stat rolls will determine if I can take them early or if at all.
First feat- Magic Initiate: Sorcerer.
As the only melee spell attack cantrip in the game, this build needs Shocking Grasp (avoiding the headache with the SCAGtrips) and since INT is my lone dump stat, Sorc it is. As far the other spells, Shield is the obvious choice for the 1st level spell. Absorb Elements pairs nicely with Ascendant Dragon, but I know Shield will get used every single day. For the 2nd cantrip, I really want Mind Sliver for that 1d4 reduction to the target's next ST (aka how to stunlock without Hex) but there's also Friends that I can pair with Disguise Self out of combat.
Second feat- Elven Accuracy
The build is based around getting advantage of every attack thanks to the perfect illusion, so let's triple down on that. All of her attacks will be either DEX, WIS or CHA based so we are good there. And if I end up with an odd score in any of those stats, the +1 is an added bonus.
Third feat- Resilient (CON), Lucky, War Caster
This is a no brainer if I have an odd score in CON, but Lucky can be useful for any situation. War Caster is out if DM rules the adv only applies to spells, but if I can use the reaction to cast from the character's dupe.... oh the trickery. Leaning toward Resilient as I expect she will become the focus of the enemies' attention once they are smart enough to figure out they gotta break her concentration.
Level progression is a mess. No matter which class I take, I am delaying something. Monk 5 / Cleric 2 is the optimal opener, but I may go Monk 3 / Cleric 1 / Monk 2 / Cleric 1 if the party lacks heals. After 7th level it gets tough. Monk gives me flying speed (applies to dupe w/ ID change) and magical strikes with Evasion coming online next. Or Cleric adds Mirror Image to the shenanigans with another ASI/feat next level. I know I want to end up Monk 12 / Cleric 8, but figuring how is the tough part.
Thanks for reading all this. What do you think of the build? Is it playable using point buy and using the first ASI to take MI:Sorc? How would you progress past 7th level?