Trying to make the best Tentacle Witch

[werescythe]

So, as the title says, I am working on a Tentacle summoning witch themed character and I'm trying to make a good/fun build for it.

Now naturally we should start with the Fathomless Warlock, since they literally get to summon tentacles right out of the gate and get more as they go on... until they reach 14th level and have a crummy ability that has nothing to do with tentacles. So naturally, we will go warlock for 10-12 levels. However, where do we go from there. '

Assuming that the DM forbids Flexible Casting from Sorcerers being able to affect/interact with Warlock spells (which is fair and, in my opinion, prevents the whole coffeelock issue), which Sorcerer (I'm sure someone's going to suggest Aberrant Mind, but since I don't really feel the whole mental communication ability, I'd rather avoid it) or Bard subclasses would be good for 8-10 levels? Also, what would be some good feats that can be used to further build upon the tentacle theme?

Edit: when it comes to multiclassing, we will be sticking with either Bard or Sorcerer since this is a witch (therefore a caster). Will also be taking either Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Tome.

[TaiLiu]

How long is your campaign gonna go for? Most games take place solely in the first two tiers, so you don't really have to worry about 14th level.

Assuming that you are playing in the last two tiers: I don't think it's a good idea to multiclass into a caster as a Warlock. Your Warlock slots don't stack with your other caster levels.

[Coppertop]

Maybe Storm Sorcery if you want to lean into an oceanic vibe? Aberrant Mind is probably the most "tentacle-y" out of the box though, despite feeling a little redundant and illithid. I'm not sure what multiclasses are really going to add to the theme

That said, there's a lot of RP thematics that you can give spells. Lightning lure, mage hand (with our without telekinetic feat), hold person, hold monster earthbind, arms of Hadar, spider climb, enervation, blight, banishment, ray of enfeeblement; all of these can easily utilize tentacles in their spell description. And that's just from where I'm standing. Make the flavor yours. Heck, you can describe eldritch blasts as force tentacles, especially with Grasp of Hadar or Repelling Blast.

And if you really want to go all in, blade pact with a whip. Is it mechanically powerful? Who cares? I can't hear you over the crack of my Tentacle

[Mastikator]

+1 to Whip. See if you can use pact of the blade and improved pact weapon to get a whip reflavored/reskinned as a tentacle. If you multiclass to fighter and take battle master you can take some maneuvers like trip and menacing and disarm which you can apply to the tentacle

[Kane0]

So, as the title says, I am working on a Tentacle summoning witch themed character and I'm trying to make a good/fun build for it.

Now naturally we should start with the Fathomless Warlock, since they literally get to summon tentacles right out of the gate and get more as they go on... until they reach 14th level and have a crummy ability that has nothing to do with tentacles. So naturally, we will go warlock for 10-12 levels. However, where do we go from there. '


Well first thing you will want to do is find or make a Rod of Tentacles of course. Perhaps pick hermit as your background so you can have your bit of obscure lore be the recipe

[Unoriginal]

Well a Moon Druid could transform into a creature with tentacles.

[da newt]

Ursula the Sea Witch is your patron.
Your Imp familiar is an octopus centaur (just like your patron).
Every spell you cast looks like Evard's (EB are jets of ink, etc) - reskin everything.

[werescythe]

Now keep in mind that we can reskin the features of the other class/subclass we use, so feel free to look at the other sorcerer/bard subclasses as well.

Admittedly Lore Bard looks pretty good, since you can combo cutting words with evards, to keep enemies that are stuck inside stuck.

[Angelalex242]

Make sure you have illusions so you can add relevant legend of the overfiend scenes.

[SociopathFriend]

I've seen enough anime to know where this is going.

[werescythe]

Make sure you have illusions so you can add relevant legend of the overfiend scenes.

Overfiend scenes?

[follacchioso]

You can choose the Custom Lineage from Tasha to make a unique race, and customize your physical aspect as you want. As an alternative, Simic Hybrids from Ravnica may have tentacles, at lv 5; however, the racial abilities do not synergize much with the rest of the build. Another option is Vedalkens, who are partially amphibious; somehow I associate them with creatures with tentacles.

[tiornys]

First off, I think you want 13 Warlock levels. If you make it to 10, you're just one level away from one of the biggest raw power boosts to the class with the 3rd pact slot at Warlock 11, not to mention the L6 Mystic Arcanum. Then Warlock 12 is an ASI and an Invocation, and then Warlock 13 is Forcecage (which can easily be reflavored as tentacle based).

For the remaining 7(/9/10) levels, I think the best option for tentacle theming is College of Creation Bard. With any other Sorcerer/Bard subclass, it's a stretch to reflavor most of the abilities in terms of tentacles. Meanwhile, Mote of Potential can explicitly take the form of "(an)other symbol of art or life that you choose"--i.e. a tentacle. Animating Performance could either be used on a carving of a tentacle or could arguably be flavored as causing the enchanted item growing tentacles. It's not the highest raw power available (that would likely be Clockwork Soul, maybe Divine Soul or Eloquence) but it's far from the weakest, and you're already sacrificing power for flavor by multiclassing anything more than a 1-2 levels dip out of Warlock.

For feats, the easiest thematic link to tentacles is Telekinesis, although that competes for your bonus action with your Fathomless tentacle. A similar option that empowers your reaction instead of your bonus action is Gift of the Gem Dragon. Those are the only feats that I feel really fit the theme, but those plus Moderately Armored, Resilient: CON, and increasing your CHA give you plenty of things to fill your ASIs.

Racially the best option is probably Custom Lineage since the Simic Hybrid tentacles are so mechanically bad for this build. An interesting alternative might be (MotM) Githzerai, flavored as stealing/using illithid powers. Thematically the free Mage Hand is a great tentacle proxy, and power-wise having access to Shield is always nice for a caster.

[werescythe]

So I should probably mention that while the witch uses tentacles, that doesn't mean I'm going to have her be a race that has tentacles. Currently just leaving the race options open.

Though I am definitely considering going to Warlock 13 and then multiclassing after.

[Kane0]

Definitely second at least warlock 11 for that third pact magic slot

[werescythe]

One thought I had considered was taking the Strixhaven Initiate feat (Quadrix or Witherbloom) so that I could take the Entangle spell and reflavor it to be tentacles, while still having it use Charisma.

I guess one thing to ponder is, if I took it another step and took the Strixhaven Mascot feat, would the mascot familiar benefit from pact of the chain?

[Kvess]

How long is your campaign gonna go for? Most games take place solely in the first two tiers, so you don't really have to worry about 14th level.

Assuming that you are playing in the last two tiers: I don't think it's a good idea to multiclass into a caster as a Warlock. Your Warlock slots don't stack with your other caster levels.

There’s always Fighter 2 for Action Surge, Sorcerer for Quicken Spell. The best way to get the most out of Hex and Agonizing Blast is to attack with 9 rays.

And while other class slots don’t stack with your pact magic slots, it is a way to power shield, mage armor, and utility spells that you don’t want to burn a 5th level spellslot on.

[BerzerkerUnit]

I kind of feel like my time has come. Here's a build for "the thing in the lake."

A changeling child is left to fend for themselves and makes a home near a lake. The people see the changeling in its strange featureless form and tell stories. Over time they come to know nature, their changeable form draws them to the circle of the moon. But over the years, the stories the villagers tell of the mysterious creature that lives in the lake take on a life of their own and the changeling, as the inspiration for this tale, can adopt more and more of its power.

Moon Druid 2, Fathomlock +. Most games don't go past 13, so let's say 11.

As a Moon Druid 2 you can (with DM approval) take the form of the Giant Rocktopus (https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/273525-giant-rocktopus).

(Note: even if the DM insists running with the stupid Typo you still have several minutes of combat viability in this form).

From there, you go Fathomlock, Chain pact- Inkling (https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2160307-inkling-mascot) or Pest (https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2160317-pest-mascot)Mascot, Gift of the Everliving.

With Gift of the Ever-Living, your quickened beast mode healing is always maximized. You could take a 3rd level of Druid just for 2nd level slots, but you can just as readily burn your Warlock slots which will continue to provide better and better bumps.

This build is viable from 1 but is fully realized by level 5. Let's have a look:

Moon Druid goodness, works as a bear too but the Rocktopus is on brand. Your bonus action fathom tentacle only makes this better from level 3+

At level 5 you can regen guaranteed 8 or 16 hp as a bonus action by expending slots. At level 7 this becomes 8 or 24, and so on. You could also take Voice of Chain master to speak freely while in animal form.

At level 7 you'll have 5th level invocations, Cloak of Flies and Relentless Hex are my preferences. Cloak of Flies meshes well with the grappling focus of the Rocktopus. The Relentless Hex can be used on your familiar (Hex its Charisma, it won't care either way) and allow you bonus action 30 ft teleports at will.

At level 12, your Grasping Tentacles grant you some serious options for tanking since Damage can't break your concentration. As the Rocktopus your grapples are still amazing. a 1 level dip in fighter or a feat for the Unarmed Fighting Style also presents some options, particularly if you choose a goofier form like velociraptor for lots of attacks. Swap your natural weapons for unarmed strikes (with DM approval).

A tattoo of Eldritch Claws can bypass a lot of the issues with not taking Druid 6 since many of your effects are either very long duration or at will even while wildshaped.

You could also give up the superior regen of Chainpact for Bladepact. Since Pact Blades can be "any melee weapon" I don't see why you couldn't create a longsword you can wield with your tail etc. Take improved pact weapon and have a heavy crossbow mounted on your bear's shoulder like a turret you can load with your mouth and fire with a butt twitch.

Good luck!

[TaiLiu]

There’s always Fighter 2 for Action Surge, Sorcerer for Quicken Spell. The best way to get the most out of Hex and Agonizing Blast is to attack with 9 rays.
Yeah, I think Fighter and Sorcerer are the best choices. You can pick up Quicken and more sorcery points with Metamagic Adept.


And while other class slots don’t stack with your pact magic slots, it is a way to power shield, mage armor, and utility spells that you don’t want to burn a 5th level spellslot on.
Yes, that's a good point! I was too hasty in dismissing a spellcaster multiclass. I still think a 10/10 split is a bad idea, but taking some Sorcerer levels isn't.

[tiornys]

One thought I had considered was taking the Strixhaven Initiate feat (Quadrix or Witherbloom) so that I could take the Entangle spell and reflavor it to be tentacles, while still having it use Charisma.

I guess one thing to ponder is, if I took it another step and took the Strixhaven Mascot feat, would the mascot familiar benefit from pact of the chain?
Yes, a Strixhaven mascot benefits from Pact of the Chain. Sadly they're generally weaker than the main Chain forms, but you can do this if desired.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Yes, a Strixhaven mascot benefits from Pact of the Chain. Sadly they're generally weaker than the main Chain forms, but you can do this if desired.

Notably, tagging your Inkling Mascot with Sign of Ill Omen @ 9th level (no concentration) giving it Invis, and then Maddening Hexing it while it hangs out invisibly floating over foes is just great. Like real “solo most of the dungeon” stuff.