I’m joining a new group; help me choose what to play!

[Klorox]

I was told to make a level 4 character for a Curse of Strahd campaign. I haven’t played 5e in a couple of years. I should have very good stats, because they want me to roll 5d6, rerolling 1’s.

The party has a fighter, a monk, two clerics (one twilight, one trickster) and a barbarian.

I tend to like spellcasters, and this group has no wizard or sorcerer.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great. I don’t need to dominate this game or anything, I just want to make sure I play something that’ll fit well and be fun.

[J-H]

Arcane caster sounds good!
Bard lets you buff everyone's saving throws, but may lack a bit of oomph.
Sorcerer lets you Twin Haste at 5th level, which is great as long as you can maintain Concentration.
Wizard gives you more flexibility. Pick your subclass based on what you want. Diviner for save buffs/debuffs, Conjuration for escaping, etc.

It's 5e...pick what you want and you will be able to contribute.

[RogueJK]

Party seems to be lacking AoE damage and utility casting, and has plenty of frontliners.

Consider an Evocation Wizard who focuses on AoE spells (sculpting out melee allies) as well as out of combat rituals and similar utility spells.

[da newt]

Scorching Ray Bugbear Sorcerer w/ Alert and Quicken.

Shadar Kai Evocation or Abjuration Wizard.

The party could use some full caster blasting / control and INT and CHA skills too.

[Mastikator]

I'm not seeing any intelligence or charisma based characters. Sorcerer, wizard, artificer, bard, warlock are all great options. Actually a sorcerer who can twin cast haste on the fighter and the barbarian would be incredible.

I'd probably go for clockwork soul if I were you. And pick up the feat metamagic adept, it is fantastic for a sorcerer. Clockwork soul has a few protective spells, so I'd rely on those and grab some buffs/support and a bit of blasting.

[Keravath]

If you want to cover a variety of roles then 2 hexblade / X lore bard works well. Alternatively, you could go with 1 knowledge cleric/ X lore bard.

The hexblade or cleric levels are for armor+shield and some additional spells or invocations. Agonizing blast gives you a decent ranged attack that will last the entire adventure for example. It also fills the need for a character with skills - both social and thieves tools type skills. Expertise in perception and investigation will help in finding things for example. Magical secrets will let you pick up fireball and counterspell as one option.

Sorcerer X or hexblade 1 or 2/sorcerer X would be another option with a greater emphasis on spell casting support.

Another option might be either evoker or bladesinger wizard, possibly with a level of artificer to start for con saves and better armor+shield. Evoker is always good for dropping fireballs on your front line fighters.

[KorvinStarmast]

Suggest Knowledge Cleric.
Mine was doing fine in CoS when the party had to disband due to DM RL issues.

OK, fine, you have two clerics.

(Divine Soul) Sorcerer:because you want some spells that do radiant damage.
Celestial Warlock (tome): because it works. (Mine is alive and well in a second Strahd campaign)

The party has a fighter, a monk, two clerics (one twilight, one trickster) and a barbarian.

A reason to choose wizard: there are some spells that allow you to make one of the weapons magical for the duration of a battle.
Your melee characters may need that for some of your battles.
And some AoE is usually nice.

Wait a sec, can you twin the magic weapon spell?

[RogueJK]

Suggest Knowledge Cleric.

OK, fine, you have two clerics.

(Divine Soul) Sorcerer:because you want some spells that do radiant damage.
Celestial Warlock (tome): because it works. (Mine is alive and well in a second Strahd campaign)

Since they already have two Clerics, I don't think that they need more healing, or significant additional Radiant damage (though it can't hurt). A Wizard can get two of the best Radiant spells anyway: Sickening Radiance and Dawn.



Wait a sec, can you twin the magic weapon spell?

RAW, no. It doesn't have a range of Self, but it doesn't target a creature... It targets an object.

This is further clarified in the Sage Advice Compendium that if a spell does - or could - target an object, it can't be Twinned. (Thus even something like Fire Bolt or Enlarge/Reduce isn't Twinnable, even when you cast it on creatures, because the spell can target an object.)

I could easily see a DM allowing it, though.

[XmonkTad]

Unless that fighter is going Dex, you may find yourself needing some ranged options as well. A Warlock can be a credible ranged threat, and there are lots of ways to build for even more range. This also covers the charisma deficiency of the rest of the party.
Nothing wrong with a wizard though. I'm partial to War, but Diviner is still a reliable powerhouse, and there really aren't any wrong answers.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I should have very good stats, because they want me to roll 5d6, rerolling 1’s.

5d6? Not 3d6, not 4d6b3, not 5d6b3, not 5d6b4, but actually 5d6, per stat, and reroll any 1's? So your average stat will be a 20, in a game where that's usually the maximum even for a lvl 20 character, and your maximum stat is a 30, before racial bonuses? Wow.

Or am I just wildly misunderstanding you?

[Skrum]

5d6? Not 3d6, not 4d6b3, not 5d6b3, not 5d6b4, but actually 5d6, per stat, and reroll any 1's? So your average stat will be a 20, in a game where that's usually the maximum even for a lvl 20 character, and your maximum stat is a 30, before racial bonuses? Wow.

Or am I just wildly misunderstanding you?

Haha I kinda glossed over that, assuming they meant 5d6b3. 5d6 straight would be *crazy*

If they're actually playing 5d6, there's only one answer here: paladin. Preference for ancients. Idk that any other class benefits from having across the board high stats like a paladin does, and the auras with sky-high cha means you basically removed spells as a threat to the party.

edit: just rolled for fun and got 22 19 22 17 19 20. Lol. Imagine a paladin with those stats. I'd probably boost Cha to 22 and Dex to 20 for 22 20 22 17 19 22. I hope your background is "I'm an angle sent to Earth" because that sure ain't human.

If it's the far more reasonable 5d6b3, I would vote sorcerer. Doesn't really matter what subclass; the point is to pick up twinned haste, fireball, vortex warp; spells that will either do AoE or immensely boost the party's effectiveness.

[Klorox]

LOL, no guys. Sorry for the misunderstanding. It’s 5d6, reroll 1s, take the three highest dice.

It should still make very high stats, I’d think.

I am definitely going to play a sorcerer, a wizard, or a warlock.

I’ve played wizard several times in D&D, and it’s always been my favorite class. That being said, since I’m joining this game after it’s already started the campaign, I just don’t feel as invested as I would in a character I’m starting at level 1 and advancing to a higher level than Curse of Strahd will bring me to (which I read will be level 10). So I think it’s a great time to try a class I am not very familiar with, to see if I like it.

I want to stay single classed, and I’m not interested in any overly complicated mechanics.

I’m leaning towards wild magic sorcerer. I liked the wild magic specialist mage in 2e. I’ve read amazing things about the clockwork soul sorcerer, and I read the description and think it’s awesome. Going back to the “invested” thing I said above, I’m thinking if I like the sorcerer mechanics, it’s kinda cool to go from the chaos of wild magic and then play the absolute law of a clockwork sorcerer next. That campaign will go from level 1-14.

Anyway, sorry about the rant, and if you’re still reading this, I thank you.

[CTurbo]

Your party is lacking a skill guy and a high Cha face. I'd go Lore Bard and at level 6 you can grab ANY 2 spells you want, and you'll know what you want by then. Lore Bards are crazy good anyway so you'll love it.

[Aimeryan]

Paladin. Your party is basically a bunch of melee (well, the Fighter might not be) - everyone is likely going to be in the aura and you might as well throw another melee in there to share the love rather than go ranged. You can buff them with bless, and if you grab something like a Ring of Storing you could give them all flying mounts. Curse of Strahd is also going to be quite favourable for Smite.

Your stats are also going to be quited suited to a MAD class. Further, you are lacking a party face so this solves that too.

Honestly, the Aura alone is the reason to go Paladin here.