unusual PCs

[ominak]

what interesting/unusial PC you have seen, like a dex based cleric or dex based cleric, and cool class/race combo, etc

[Dualight]

Does a kobold grappling-focused fighter count?

[Sigreid]

Kobold lawful good strength paladin 100% dedicated to defeating the God of his people and redeeming his people.

[sithlordnergal]

I played a Fairy Rune Knight/Forge Cleric once. It was really fun, I had the Unarmed Fighting Style, and was focused on Grappling. It was always fun to see the Small Fairy suddenly turn Huge in a single turn, then start beating people's faces in.

I also have a Paladin/Druid/Sorcerer that's surprisingly effective. I took one level of Sorcerer for Shield, then went in as a Wisdom based Paladin.

Then there's my Tabaxi Monk/Barbarian/Fighter who's only ability is having a movement speed of "Yes".

[Snowbluff]

I had a monk sorc at one of my tables. I cannot for the life of me remember what the point of the combo was. Maybe they were trying to use stunning fist to make something sorcerer work. Unclear.


Also dex based clerics and paladins aren't really unsual. Clerics get their heavy armor profs from domains, so not all of them have much incentive to go into strength unless they really want to use a greatsword.


Kobold lawful good strength paladin 100% dedicated to defeating the God of his people and redeeming his people.

I had a rogue paladin pack tactics kobold in AL. My crits were absolutely brutal.

[Skrum]

Idk how unusual this is, but I'm playing a dex-based yuan ti rune knight currently. Shield and rapier, primarily melee. The original concept was to be a tanky character that has good general defenses and skills; a kind of all-rounder commando type. His personality and backstory has changed but the mechanics are the same and are pretty solid.

I had a barb/warlock too. Armor of Ag + rage is solid, and she also had the classic darkness/devil's sight combo. She kinda worked, but didn't scale all that well...once she got into t2, she needed to use rage just to survive so her other features became less useful/prominent.

[Dalinar]

I had a monk sorc at one of my tables. I cannot for the life of me remember what the point of the combo was. Maybe they were trying to use stunning fist to make something sorcerer work. Unclear.

Believe it or not, I actually played a Monk 2/Sorc 1 not all that long ago.

Long story short, we were making characters for a oneshot and basically everybody independently decided to run Monk, as we don't have a lot of those at our table normally. The party ended up being three Monks and a Barbarian. Naturally, that left us in need of spellcasting in general and Charisma in particular, so I thought, "how can I get 14 Charisma while still being the most effective Monk I can pull off at this level?"

Between the DEX/CON/WIS that a Monk already wants, I figured at this level WIS was the weakest link, as it contributed mainly AC and not much else yet, so I went for 13 WIS 14 CHA. I could then take a level in Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer to have my AC be 13+DEX (so equivalent to a 16 WIS Monk), and I also made that my first level so that we weren't all good at the same saving throws either. I went vhuman to get Gift of the Metallic Dragon for a defensive reaction and a way to know Cure Wounds for emergencies, and then took a bunch of utility cantrips, Shield, and Grease.

I played him as a gritty cowboy wanderer type, think the Man With No Name, but also having had something happen to him that made him a little supernatural as well.

Anyway, the oneshot ended up being two oneshots with a third on the way, and we'll be level 4 next time (I took Ascendant Dragon Monk, gotta stay on theme--Mercy would probably be best though, partially because its Wisdom reliance is minimal on top of the usual reasons Mercy is good), so we'll see how that pans out.

[Quietus]

I've seen the aforementioned dex cleric - wood elf arcana cleric, made for an extremely aggressive damage build. Rapier scagtrips, with shillelagh for the long game. War caster. All the cleric goodies. She was our dps.

In the same game, I played a control barbarian. Dragonborn ancestral guardian, with dragon roar for fear aoe on a short rest, and skill expert : athletics. Played as sword and board. Ran into the thick of things, shaped the battlefield/took advantage of spirit guardians, used fear to hold back mobs.

:edit: Forgot to add, his dragon fear was flavored not as a roar, but as blowing his breath weapon through his bagpipes, like something out of mad max.

[J-H]

The premise: You're in a gladiatorial arena as part of being prison. Escape, or win your way out.

My character: A sneaky thief who can escape instead of having to stay the whole time. He pretends to be more of a barbarian or fighter type in combat to disguise that he actually has magic. Also, he started in the military but bailed because stealing was way easier.

My build: A Goliath Fighter 1/Celestial Warlock X. Blade Pact.

He got his powers from stealing a vial of angel blood and then chugging it to remove the evidence when he thought he was going to get caught. Full plate, battleaxe, Armor of Agathys with Goliath DR to keep it up longer. I think he had Str 16 and Cha 16, and maybe took the Skilled feat or had the Urchin background. Very good at most typical rogue skills, could swing his weapon pretty well, and then also had Warlock magic in battle and the time when he got the guards distracted and used Disguise Self on himself to make it look like his antimagic collar was turned back on when it really wasn't. Also, he could heal in combat as a BA to help himself and others stay up.

[JellyPooga]

I have long wanted to play a "Shapeshifter" Rogue. Even split Rogue/Druid with a splash of Warlock, with no Str or Dex to speak of (outside of Wild Shape) and relying on cantrips and spells for ranged attacks when out of Wild Shape.

Whilst the obvious Druid Circle would be Moon (Wild Shape being the characters primary combat feature), I'd be more inclined to go for Land to add an extra Cantrip and some clutch spells to the list, or perhaps Shepard for Speech of the Woods and Spirit Totem (mostly).

Arcane Trickster is probably the best option for Rogue Archetype, to enhance utility (and more Cantrips!) but a mind toward Mastermind or perhaps Inquisitive might not be a bad shout.

Fathomless Warlock offers an interesting additional adaptability with Gift of the Sea and (if pushed to 6th lvl.) Oceanic Soul. Good utility options from Invocations, such as Beast Speech and Mask of Many Faces round out the character.

The character would focus on utility, scouting and survival more than combat, but would be very good at it.

[Beelzebub1111]

Mountain Dwarf Full Plate Knight that was actually an abjuration wizard. Also Dwarf Strength rogue that dual wielded handaxes.

[Vogie]

The Support Barbarian - Ancestral Guardian Barb with a hand crossbow, all dex and minimal Strength. The idea is that you use the Ancestral Protectors feature (which is based on "the first creature you hit with an attack on your turn" - notably, not a melee attack) to give all of your targets disadvantage on hitting people who aren't you (and you are running around away from them. When you're out of range of a creature to target with the crossbow, you use an unarmed attack to strike yourself, dealing yourself unarmed damage (1+Str) to keep the rage going (which is halved because of rage).

My other thing to do would be to add 2 levels of War mage Wizard to just about anything. Arcane Deflection, Tactical Wit, the Shield and Expeditious Retreat spells, and any amount of ritual spells for utility. I've flavored it as being supernaturally fast, having preternatural luck, as having high technology, as just general hero stuff. If you ever have a build that can spare 2 levels (even if your intelligence is 0 or negative), 2 levels of War Wizard are 100% worth it.

[Polyphemus]

I played a Simic Hybrid Fathomless Warlock once. Which wouldn’t be too odd, except this was in a custom setting with no Simic Combine to immediately justify the race choice—here my DM and I worked it out where my PC’s being a Simic Hybrid was a consequence of making the Warlock pact with her patron, so she’s turning into a fish person, Davy Jones style.

Another PC I have is a Human Ancestral Guardian Barbarian, which is only unusual in that he’s got the Noble background, and not in a “thane of a Viking-ish kingdom” kind of way, in a “poncy landed aristocracy straight out of a Jane Austen novel” kind of way. His family line is cursed, so he’s constantly haunted by the ghosts of many generations of upper-class twits.

[CTurbo]

LG Monk who died, but made a pact with a fiend to live. The fiend restored his life, but left him blinded, but eventually gave him sight via an Imp familiar who constantly tried to corrupt him. (Long Death Monk 5 with 3 levels of Fiend/Chain Warlock and then back to Monk from there. The character could only see out of the eyes of the Imp. (DM houseruled Blind Fighting Style for the character)(high rolled stats made this character work)

Currently a Wild Magic Barb with a level of Wild Magic Sorcerer. It took high rolled stats and a few houserules about spells while raging to make it work, but this character is a blast to play especially with expanded wild magic tables happening simultaneously all the time.