Greywander
2021-12-09, 12:18 AM
A while back, I posted (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?620884-Evil-Overlord-build-(Conquest-paladin)) a character concept where the character was a former BBEG who had been defeated by a group of heroes, and as a result had lost most of his power (hence why he starts at 1st level). The idea was to go straight Conquest paladin and take the Noble background with the retainer variant feature, giving me three goblin lackeys: a pack mule, a steward/scribbler, and a jester/herald. Alignment is obviously LE. It's been a little while since I posted that, so I wanted to revisit the concept to see how this build might be improved since Tasha's and Fizban's, as well as seeing what I could do with a simple custom race (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636942-Simple-Custom-Race), one of my own homebrews that is very effective at leveraging racial traits to help fill a concept. (As I've done in the past, I'm going to bold some important words for no other reason than to break up the monotony of the text, improving readability.)
Now, the good news is that we get almost everything we want from our class, so the simple custom race isn't really needed to fill out missing parts of the concept. This means we can focus more on "nice to haves" instead of "need to haves". There's the obvious power-gamer traits to spring for, such as Pack Tactics, Magic Resistance, or any kind of flight, but none of those really fit the theme that well (Magic Resistance sort fits for a powerful dark lord, but Aura of Protection covers the same area), and besides, those will probably reduce the odds that a DM would permit that custom race. Moving on, we might look toward racial traits that inflict the frightened condition, as that is central to the Conquest playstyle. Leonin and fallen aasimar both have racial traits that cause fear, but the most interesting one isn't a racial trait, but a racial feat: Dragon Fear. And part of the rules for the simple custom race is that we get access to any racial feat without needing to be that race, so we can get Dragon Fear without needing to be a dragonborn.
...Except that we kind of do. Dragon Fear is an alternate use for your breath weapon; no breath weapon means no fear effect. Here's where FTD comes into play; Fizban's introduced new versions of the dragonborn that are substantially better than the PHB dragonborn, particularly with regards to their breath weapon. If a simple custom race wasn't permitted, then FTD dragonborn would be one of the top choices for a Conquest paladin. The breath weapon isn't a bad idea for a paladin anyway, as the lack of AoE is a traditional weakness for paladins. TBH, I'm not sure this is worth worrying about, though, so I may as well pick whatever is the most thematic fit.
There are a couple of things that make the FTD breath weapon so much better than the PHB version: First of all, instead of being an action, it replaces one of your attacks. This means that after 5th level, you can use your breath weapon and still make one attack. In fact, I think you could actually use your breath weapon twice. The damage is also higher than the PHB. The other thing that makes it so much better is that you get multiple uses of it, equal to your proficiency bonus. The trade off is that you no longer get it back on a short rest, but how many short rests do you really expect to take? Now, not only is this great with regards to the AoE damage, but this also applies to using Dragon Fear: instead of an action, it replaces one attack, and you have multiple uses of it. This is amazing for a Conquest paladin.
As for which damage type to choose for the breath weapon, necrotic or psychic would be thematic but not necessarily the best option. After cross referencing enemies that are immune to fear, it looks like the number of fear-immune enemies that are resistant/immune to force damage is the lowest, with thunder close behind, while necrotic and psychic are comparatively high, and about the same as fire, cold, etc. Obviously radiant wouldn't really make sense for this concept.
If we were permitted to use a simple custom race, then one of the FTD breath weapons would be an obvious pick, setting us up to take Dragon Fear at 4th or 8th level. (Technically, we would also need the Draconic Ancestry trait, but I kind of don't count that as a trait since it does nothing by itself. If I were the DM, I'd bundle it with any trait that relies on it.) A simple custom race allows us to take two more racial traits, plus the variable trait. I'd really like to get Thaumaturgy on this build (without needing to spend a fighting style on it), as I think it would be highly thematic for a spooky dark lord. Tiefling and its variants provides a few different racial spellcasting options that give us Thaumaturgy, and there's also the custom innate spellcasting. Not sure which 1st and 2nd level spells I'd want. We can also pick up Thaumaturgy using the variable trait, but we might want darkvision instead. Finally, something that's not particularly powerful but would certainly be on brand is the aasimar's Celestial Resilience. Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage isn't likely to come up often, but makes sense for a dark lord.
So that's our race, but what about the rest of our build? Tasha's introduced some new fighting styles, and I think Blind Fighting is probably the best option for us, as it will insure we can always see our target to attack it, and can get advantage on our attacks if our target can't see us. Then there's the question of feats. We need to get CHA to 20, as Conquest is highly reliant on CHA for their fear effects. Thanks to Tasha's, we can start with a 17 in CHA regardless of race, and then use Dragon Fear to boost that to 18, meaning we only need to spend one more ASI pushing CHA to 20. Or, Tasha's also added some new half feats that can boost CHA, but let's consider what other feats we might want.
I would definitely want HAM (puny hordes can't defeat us; synergizes beautifully with Armor of Agathys and Scornful Rebuke), which allows us to boost our STR. We're probably going to leave STR at 16 and hope for Gauntlets of Ogre Power/Belt of Giant Strength. So with HAM, Dragon Fear, and +2 CHA, we're down to two remaining ASIs. We could boost STR to 20, but lets consider what other feats we might get. Warcaster is important if we want to cast with our hands full, and helps us maintain concentration on spells like Fear or Wrathful Smite. Sentinel encourages enemies to attack us instead of our allies, which again synergizes with Armor of Agathys and Scornful Rebuke. From FTD there's also Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, which let's us boost our damage 1/day and use what is basically Absorb Elements prof/day. Simple custom race allows us to take a second racial feat as well, so options like Elven Accuracy or Infernal Constitution are also appealing.
I think in the end, Dragon Fear, HAM, +2 CHA, Sentinel, and one more feat would probably be ideal. Alternatively, we could get two more half feats that boost CHA. Some tables give out a free feat at 1st level (HAM is the obvious choice here), which would allow us to pick up one additional feat, or focus on boosting STR to 20.
I think that's about it. Anything else interesting I could do with this concept?
Now, the good news is that we get almost everything we want from our class, so the simple custom race isn't really needed to fill out missing parts of the concept. This means we can focus more on "nice to haves" instead of "need to haves". There's the obvious power-gamer traits to spring for, such as Pack Tactics, Magic Resistance, or any kind of flight, but none of those really fit the theme that well (Magic Resistance sort fits for a powerful dark lord, but Aura of Protection covers the same area), and besides, those will probably reduce the odds that a DM would permit that custom race. Moving on, we might look toward racial traits that inflict the frightened condition, as that is central to the Conquest playstyle. Leonin and fallen aasimar both have racial traits that cause fear, but the most interesting one isn't a racial trait, but a racial feat: Dragon Fear. And part of the rules for the simple custom race is that we get access to any racial feat without needing to be that race, so we can get Dragon Fear without needing to be a dragonborn.
...Except that we kind of do. Dragon Fear is an alternate use for your breath weapon; no breath weapon means no fear effect. Here's where FTD comes into play; Fizban's introduced new versions of the dragonborn that are substantially better than the PHB dragonborn, particularly with regards to their breath weapon. If a simple custom race wasn't permitted, then FTD dragonborn would be one of the top choices for a Conquest paladin. The breath weapon isn't a bad idea for a paladin anyway, as the lack of AoE is a traditional weakness for paladins. TBH, I'm not sure this is worth worrying about, though, so I may as well pick whatever is the most thematic fit.
There are a couple of things that make the FTD breath weapon so much better than the PHB version: First of all, instead of being an action, it replaces one of your attacks. This means that after 5th level, you can use your breath weapon and still make one attack. In fact, I think you could actually use your breath weapon twice. The damage is also higher than the PHB. The other thing that makes it so much better is that you get multiple uses of it, equal to your proficiency bonus. The trade off is that you no longer get it back on a short rest, but how many short rests do you really expect to take? Now, not only is this great with regards to the AoE damage, but this also applies to using Dragon Fear: instead of an action, it replaces one attack, and you have multiple uses of it. This is amazing for a Conquest paladin.
As for which damage type to choose for the breath weapon, necrotic or psychic would be thematic but not necessarily the best option. After cross referencing enemies that are immune to fear, it looks like the number of fear-immune enemies that are resistant/immune to force damage is the lowest, with thunder close behind, while necrotic and psychic are comparatively high, and about the same as fire, cold, etc. Obviously radiant wouldn't really make sense for this concept.
If we were permitted to use a simple custom race, then one of the FTD breath weapons would be an obvious pick, setting us up to take Dragon Fear at 4th or 8th level. (Technically, we would also need the Draconic Ancestry trait, but I kind of don't count that as a trait since it does nothing by itself. If I were the DM, I'd bundle it with any trait that relies on it.) A simple custom race allows us to take two more racial traits, plus the variable trait. I'd really like to get Thaumaturgy on this build (without needing to spend a fighting style on it), as I think it would be highly thematic for a spooky dark lord. Tiefling and its variants provides a few different racial spellcasting options that give us Thaumaturgy, and there's also the custom innate spellcasting. Not sure which 1st and 2nd level spells I'd want. We can also pick up Thaumaturgy using the variable trait, but we might want darkvision instead. Finally, something that's not particularly powerful but would certainly be on brand is the aasimar's Celestial Resilience. Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage isn't likely to come up often, but makes sense for a dark lord.
So that's our race, but what about the rest of our build? Tasha's introduced some new fighting styles, and I think Blind Fighting is probably the best option for us, as it will insure we can always see our target to attack it, and can get advantage on our attacks if our target can't see us. Then there's the question of feats. We need to get CHA to 20, as Conquest is highly reliant on CHA for their fear effects. Thanks to Tasha's, we can start with a 17 in CHA regardless of race, and then use Dragon Fear to boost that to 18, meaning we only need to spend one more ASI pushing CHA to 20. Or, Tasha's also added some new half feats that can boost CHA, but let's consider what other feats we might want.
I would definitely want HAM (puny hordes can't defeat us; synergizes beautifully with Armor of Agathys and Scornful Rebuke), which allows us to boost our STR. We're probably going to leave STR at 16 and hope for Gauntlets of Ogre Power/Belt of Giant Strength. So with HAM, Dragon Fear, and +2 CHA, we're down to two remaining ASIs. We could boost STR to 20, but lets consider what other feats we might get. Warcaster is important if we want to cast with our hands full, and helps us maintain concentration on spells like Fear or Wrathful Smite. Sentinel encourages enemies to attack us instead of our allies, which again synergizes with Armor of Agathys and Scornful Rebuke. From FTD there's also Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, which let's us boost our damage 1/day and use what is basically Absorb Elements prof/day. Simple custom race allows us to take a second racial feat as well, so options like Elven Accuracy or Infernal Constitution are also appealing.
I think in the end, Dragon Fear, HAM, +2 CHA, Sentinel, and one more feat would probably be ideal. Alternatively, we could get two more half feats that boost CHA. Some tables give out a free feat at 1st level (HAM is the obvious choice here), which would allow us to pick up one additional feat, or focus on boosting STR to 20.
I think that's about it. Anything else interesting I could do with this concept?