Good level 4 builds

[Skrum]

I really don't like playing at this level, but just for fun, I'm trying to make a build that would be interesting.

The core problem is I don't like builds that are just "class x" with no particular feat or tactic (heck call it a gimmick). I want something interesting to do.

Maybe a charger build? I know that feat is fairly terrible, but if the build isn't going higher than 4, there might be some mileage to be gotten out of it. Extra attack almost certainly is the end of charger's relevancy.

[LordShade]

Vuman Sharpshooter Gloomstalker 3/War Cleric 1 is supposed to be very strong at level 4.

The war cleric bonus attack can be used for a net throw, which you then pump 3x Advantage Sharpshooter attacks into.

[Skrum]

Vuman Sharpshooter Gloomstalker 3/War Cleric 1 is supposed to be very strong at level 4.

The war cleric bonus attack can be used for a net throw, which you then pump 3x Advantage Sharpshooter attacks into.

That does sound very strong!

TBC, I'm not strictly asking about strong builds (though that's good too). What I'm really after is uniqueness, or inventiveness. That build looks great though

[sambojin]

Not particularly inventive, but:

old-Kobold Moon Druid 3/ Wizard 1.
Tasha those stats for a +2/+1 any instead of a -2Str/+2Dex. 16 wis, dump Str, choose another stat or two to be high'ish (Dex for init and caster AC, Con for those "actually just casting" days, Int if you want actual wizard spells/ cantrips and skills instead of just buffs, Cha to be the face and the place of the party).
I like Pirate as a background. It lets you punch people or stuff with no regard, lets you get away with scary wildshape stuff, and explains away how you've seen all these creatures for wildshape before. Then....


Have your Summon Beast (land) ride around on you (give it the form of a monkey or something). Go smash face as a Bear or Deinonychus or whatever you think will be fun.

Plenty of attacks, all with pack tactics, plenty of magic and even rituals, wildshape for any exploration or movement tasks, Guidance or Enhance Ability to help with socials, pass-without-trace for stealth.

Just an incredibly well-rounded package. The Wizard dip isn't strictly necessary, you could go Monk for more AC, nearly any type of cleric, or just more Moon. But the ritual casting, slot progression, and a smidgen of Arcane Recovery is nice, alongside the cantrips and spell list. You can pretty much dump Int and still have it work, but you're a Moon Druid, so you don't really have to. Just as much of a ritual caster as it is a summon/ wildshape/ combat force, but you'll always have an answer to any sort of problem.

4+1 level 1 slots, 3 lvl 2 slots, 5 cantrips, ritual casting and potentially 2/Sr familiars from wildshape, means you actually can cast the day away and never even use your combat prowess. 6x lvl1 Wizard spells known, and 6x lvl1-2 Druid spells prepared, so you've got a lot of things you can do with those slots. But why wouldn't you do combat at lvl4? There's plenty of gimmick forms, even without Summon Beast giving you auto-advantage (a familiar or other party member turns your pack-tactics on as well). Expeditious Retreat gives you really fast forms, Mage Armour gives you armoured forms, Longstrider gives you less fast forms (but no concentration), etc etc. You could even slot in Jump sometimes for Female Steeder fun, or be a leaping Bear. So you can last all day as a beast, or as a caster, or as a bit of both. Choose your wizard spells wisely, your Druid spells as whatever, but, Go Wild!

(PS, there is a ridiculous amount of charging fun in Moon Druid. And jumping, and springing, and pouncing, and all kinds of stuff. Way more than is in that feat. Your average Warhorse is better than that feat, then you (previously) give it Mage Armour, and Longstrider, and a Summoned Beast for advantage, and it's way way better)

[tiornys]

Vhuman Fighter 1/Warlock 3, Celestial Patron. 16 Cha/14 Con/16 Str or Dex (your pick based on what kind of armor/weapon you want to use). Inspiring Leader feat, Interception fighting style, Pact of the Chain, Investment of the Chain Master, Devil's Sight. Take Shocking Grasp as one of your cantrips.

An Imp has a pretty good attack for this level range with +5 to hit for 1d4 + 3 base damage and another 3d6 poison damage with a save for half against your spell save DC. That's an average of around 12-13 damage on a hit depending on how good the target's Con save is, which is comparable to Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast + Hex without having to concentrate on Hex. Imps also have innate Devil's Sight so you can use Darkness to give them advantage. You can get two Imp attacks off per round, one on your turn (take the attack action and forgo your attack to let the Imp attack with its reaction) and one on the Imp's turn after you take a bonus action to command the Imp to attack on its turn. The damage per hit isn't quite at Great Weapon Master levels, but you don't have to take -5 to hit and you can always access the bonus action attack (as long as the Imp survives, of course).

The Imp is sturdy for a familiar with 10 HP, resistance to non-magical/silvered S/P/B damage and cold damage and immunity to fire and poison damage. Inspiring Leader gives it (and your party) a buffer of temp HP coming out of every rest and you can use your reaction to either give it resistance if it takes damage of a type it doesn't already resist or to reduce any damage it might suffer by 1d10+2 with Interception, and you have decent healing between Healing Light and access to Cure Wounds. If it's too dangerous for the Imp to hang out in melee even with Darkness and Interception, you can just act normally with your action and still get the bonus attack with the Imp doing a pseudo-flyby using its 60' fly speed (raven form, and yes, it can still see through magical darkness and use their sting attack in raven form) to move in, attack, and move away. If you can't or don't want to use Darkness, then you can Shocking Grasp and have the Imp come in to attack if you hit and go invisible if you miss (at a significant cost in DPR).

This build is a little over-invested in the Imp, but that's part of the fun.

edit to add: to balance the build out a little, take Agonizing Blast instead of Devil's Sight. You can put Darkness on a pebble that the Imp carries and have it swoop in and out on its turn while you Eldritch Blast on yours. Interception isn't as good in this case, so swap it out for Defense or maybe Blind Fighting if you still want to get in on Darkness exploitation.

[RogueJK]

Lizardfolk Monk 1/Beast Barbarian 3 is nice at Level 4. Attack Action with Beast Claws + BA Martial Arts Lizardfolk Bite gets you three attacks each turn, each attack doing 1d6+STR+2 Rage bonus damage. Nearly everyone else is making a single attack per turn at this level. Plus you can have both hands full by grappling two enemies at a time (at Advantage) and still continue to make Bite attacks against them.

A STR-based Soulknife Rogue 3/Barbarian 1 is also handy for a Level 4 build. Gets you 2x thrown or melee Psychic Blades attacks per turn, with each attack doing 1d6+STR+2 Rage bonus damage, along with +2d6 Sneak Attack each turn. Plus Athletics Expertise and Advantage from Rage combine to make you a fantastic grappler.

Tortle Monk 1/Rune Knight Fighter 3 would also be fun at Level 4, if you can deal with the MADness (High STR and CON, and 13+ DEX and WIS). Take the Unarmed Fighting style, which when combined with Martial Arts lets you make 2x 1d8+STR attacks each turn, with another +1d6 damage from Giant's Might. Giant's Might also makes you Large and gives you Advantage on Grappling, so you can effectively grapple up to Huge creatures, with +1d4 added damage each turn to a grappled foe from the Unarmed Fighting Style. Plus you can continue to make Unarmed Strikes against enemies when with both your hands full.

A VHuman or CLineage Stars Druid 3/Arcana Cleric 1 with the Spell Sniper feat would be an effective WIS-SAD long ranged magical attacker at this level. You'd have 2x attacks per turn, using your Action to fire off either a free Guiding Bolt or a cantrip like Fire Bolt/Chill Touch/Ray of Frost that you picked up from Arcane Initiate, and then making a Bonus Action Archer Form ranged attack too. And you have other spellcasting as well, so you can do combos like casting Moonbeam then using your Action to move the Moonbeam around while using your BA to make Archer Form ranged attacks.

Peace Cleric 1/Lore Bard 3 is a great Level 4 support option. Bless, Guidance, Emboldening Bond, Bardic Inspiration, Cutting Words, and access to a plethora of healing and buff spells.

[MisterD]

Artificer (Any) With infusions Magic weapon/armor at level 2

[sambojin]

Lizardfolk monk1/barb3 gets three attacks each turn (!!!)
Paraphrased. And I like it, but...
(And yeah, I'm just pointing out that this isn't an uncommon thing by this level, if you build for it)


The Moon Druid build above gets 3-5 attacks(!!!), with advantage from your summon, and reasonable damage, depending on if you're a Bear, a Frilled Deathspitter, or a Deinonychus (and your pounce sticks). Or whatever really. You get free HP/ "will-they-attack-summon-or-me?" instead of Rage resistance, and free movement/ combat styles instead of ?, But it's essentially a draw. Plus you're a full/ ritual/ cantrip caster as well, which opens the doors to plenty of pillars and extra gimmicks.

I actually love this area of design-space. And all the amazing builds available there with 5e as it is now. Cheers for all the above posts and ideas. RogueJK's post just made me laugh 🤣

[Skrum]

These are all great builds!!

And here's my contribution, the dumbest rogue in the history of the world
Swashbuckler Rogue 4, variant human (feat: charger). Rogue 4 gives you +2 Dex from the ASI, which is good for landing attacks. Could also drop in something else if your table plays with flanking and you think you'll be able to get it most of the time. Would probably work best w/ sorcerer (synergy w/ Rakish Audacity); it'll give some utility. Shield alone is very strong.

Yeah the strategy is simple. Use Fancy Footwork to move in and out of combat, use Rakish Audacity to add your sneak attack on to your regular melee attacks, and use your movement and action to rocket around the battle field. Bonus action attack at some point in your travels for 1d8+2d6+5+dex (about 20 damage. Pretty lame haha)

[Eldariel]

Just simple Vuman Moon Druid 3/Life Cleric 1 is a completely absurd build for the level. Lifeberries for northwards to 310 HP from all your slots in Goodberries, many hundreds of HP of wildshape HP (Giant Rocktopus in particular worth mentioning at 52 HP) per short rest, lots of the control spells and such, complete Wis SAD. Healing Bear God,Life Incarnate.

The feat could be Eldritch Adept for Armor of Shadows, Mobile to abuse Deinonychus and grapple + Spike Growth even more or just Ritual Caster:Wizard for familiar and such or Res: Con to maintain Concentration.

[Kane0]

I really don't like playing at this level, but just for fun, I'm trying to make a build that would be interesting.

The core problem is I don't like builds that are just "class x" with no particular feat or tactic (heck call it a gimmick). I want something interesting to do.

Maybe a charger build? I know that feat is fairly terrible, but if the build isn't going higher than 4, there might be some mileage to be gotten out of it. Extra attack almost certainly is the end of charger's relevancy.

Rogue 1 + Genielock 1 + Fighter 1 + Ranger 1

Favored Foe + Sneak attack + Genie damage + Fighting Style

Bonus points for being a bugbear, goblin or variant human for poisoner or martial adept.

[Bobthewizard]

As others have mentioned, a moon druid probably fulfills what you are looking for.

Another option would be a variant human rune knight with skill expert (athletics) and tavern brawler feats, and the unarmed fighting style. Punch someone, then grapple as a bonus action with +8 on the athletics check. Then they are restrained and take additional damage from the grapple. You get 2 runes per short rest, and twice per day you get to become a giant for advantage on the checks. Even if grappling isn't the best option for a particular fight, their unarmed attacks still do 1d8+STR.