An Eclectic Collection of Fun and Effective Builds

[MagneticDragon]

Oh, there's a limit to the number of pages that can be found on a single thread?

I suppose that makes sense. Thank you for the advice, and bookmarked.

[CMCC]

that poisoner art is fantastic

[Ortho]

Oh, there's a limit to the number of pages that can be found on a single thread?

More of a forum tradition than anything. There isn't an actual upper limit; it just keeps the thread from becoming too cluttered.

[LudicSavant]

More of a forum tradition than anything. There isn't an actual upper limit; it just keeps the thread from becoming too cluttered.

As long as this thread keeps going, I'll keep organizing it on the first page.

[Meatgrinder]

I’m a DM, and I wanted to ask for some help in building a party of rival adventurers to throw at my group. These rivals, who have 4 level 8 dudes in their party, are expected to be punching up when facing the PCs. They’ll either be outnumbered or facing opponents who are higher level than them.

But Team Rocket (as the rivals will henceforth be called) have a couple of advantages: firstly, Team Rocket is always going to have a preparation edge on the PCs. Secondly, the PCs in my group are a bunch of filthy casuals. Team Rocket, on the other hand, will be hyper-optimized out the wazoo. (Don’t worry, everyone in the group has agreed to this. I’m not a monster.)

With that in mind, here are the builds that I am currently thinking of, taken mostly from this thread:

A Valkyrie Paladin (VHuman Oath of Vengeance 8, with gauntlets of ogre strength and 18 Charisma). This guy is here to boost the saves of the rest of the party and deliver brutal smites from the top of their summoned Steed.

A Regenerator (VHuman Life Cleric 8, with aberrant dragonmark and Azorius background). This one is for keeping the group alive when hit by massive burst-damage, tanking generally, emergency counter-spelling, and providing the all-important Spirit Guardians, which in this party is even stronger than usual. (We'll come back to that one later.)

A support bard (VHuman College of Eloquence Bard 8, with the Telekinetic feat and the Rakdos background). Here's where things get spicy. With the boosts to Bardic Inspiration that this guy gets, the party's saves (especially around the paladin) go from good to ironclad. They have all the traditional support spells, but Rakdos gets them Wall of Fire. As has been previously pointed out, this is one of the best boss-shredding spells in the game, and our simple bard plans to exploit it as much as possible. The Telekinetic feat lets them shove enemies through the wall, as well as being able to do general repositioning. Plus, they can be a dedicated Counterspeller.

An Ancestral Nightmare (Simic ancestral guardian barbarian 7/Rogue 1, expertise in athletics, Magic item tbd.) This guy right here makes the rest of the party work with brutal efficiency. They can:

• Knock opponents prone to give the paladin advantage
• Grapple foes to keep them inside the range of Spirit Guardians
• Force grappled opponents through the Wall of Fire to stack even more damage
• Target ranged enemies to mark them and force disadvantage when attacking anyone but the scary tentacle man

--------------------

That's what I've got so far. Here are my questions:
1. Should any of the above builds be replaced by a Nuclear Wizard? I worry that Team Rocket is lacking in ranged burst damage.
2. What uncommon magic items could be used to increase the effectiveness of the team?
3. Does anyone have a better plan than mine? I threw this together on a whim, I have no idea if it works or not

[RogueJK]

Half Orc Death Knight (Greataxe Edit)

Rule #1 of Crit-Fishing: Have Something Worth Fishing For!

So, like a crit-fishing Rogue or Paladin, this build is intended to leverage added damage dice for big critical hits, using the Half-Orc's Savage Attacks, supplemented by the Undead Bladelock's Grave Touched and Eldritch Smite, along with the Champion Fighter's Improved Critical, and possibly the Orcish Fury feat.


Half Orc Champion Fighter 3/Undead Bladelock X

Progression:
Fighter 1 -> Undead Pact of the Blade Warlock 6 -> Champion Fighter 3 or 4 -> Warlock X

Point Buy Stats:
STR 15+2
DEX 8 or 10
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 10 or 8
CHA 15+1

Wear Heavy Armor and wield a Greataxe.

Skills: Intimidation*, Perception, Athletics, Persuasion, Deception

ASIs: Slasher or Orcish Fury (18 STR) at Warlock 4, GWM next at either Fighter 4 or Warlock 8 (depending on progression), then +2 STR or +2 CHA at Warlock 8 or Warlock 12

Invocations: Eldritch Smite, Devil's Sight, and Thirsting Blade by Warlock 5, and then Eldritch Mind at Warlock 7, Agonizing Blast (or your choice of utility Invocation) at Warlock 9, and eventually Lifedrinker at Warlock 12.

Fighting Style: GWF if you want to squeeze every last drop of potential damage out of your Greataxe hits, otherwise Defense for +1 AC.


This is a more melee-focused Bladelock build, sacrificing a little spellcasting prowess for harder-hitting weapon attacks, Action Surge, and more frequent (and bigger) critical hits. Starting with Fighter 1 gets you Heavy Armor, martial weapon, Fighting Style, and CON(centration) save proficiency right out the gate, and would be necessary anyway on an Undead Bladelock build, even if you weren't planning to go all the way to Fighter 3 for a subclass, since the Undead subclass doesn't get any additional armor or weapon proficiency. So a Fighter 3/Warlock X is effectively only 1 spell level behind a Fighter 1/Warlock X.

The Slasher feat would be more useful over the course of the day, with rider effects that apply to one hit every turn, as well as every critical hit. But if you're going for straight critical hit nova damage numbers, the Orcish Fury feat presents a means to stack on more crit dice once per short rest, if you wait to trigger it until you crit.

Thanks to Undead Warlock, you have built-in access to stuff like Darkness + Devil's Sight, Blindness/Deafness, and Greater Invisibility to generate Advantage to double your crit chances (although each use of those is one less Eldritch Smite available that short rest). And once you hit Character Level 9 with Champion 3/Undead Warlock 6, you're twice again as likely to land a critical hit, critting on a 19-20, which means 4x as likely when rolling with Advantage. (Beating out even Elven Accuracy's 3x.)

Likely not as optimized in the long run as a Sorcadin for single-round nova or overall daily melee damage output, due to only having 2x spell slots at a time, but would still be putting up some impressive damage numbers, and seems like a fun build to play, with the fistful of dice on a critical hit feeling really, really good. Once you run out of spell slots for Eldritch Smite, you're still rolling 5d12 on a crit (or up to 7d12 with Orcish Fury), plus damage rerolls. And even when you don't crit, you're doing 2d12+14 on a GWM hit, plus damage rerolls.


For example, a damage comparison...

A critical hit at Level 7 (Fighter 1/Undead Warlock 6) could be doing:
1d12 base
1d12 Grave Touched
(+1d12 if Orcish Fury)
4d8 3rd Level Eldritch Smite
All of which is doubled on a crit = 4d12+8d8 (or 6d12+8d8 with Orcish Fury), then...
+1d12 Savage Attacks
+4 STR



For a grand total of 5d12+8d8+4, or an average of 72.5 damage without Orcish Fury, or 7d12+8d8+4 or 85.5 if using Orcish Fury. Plus a Prone enemy thanks to Eldritch Smite's rider. Plus potentially -10 speed and Disadvantage on all their attacks until your next turn if taking Slasher. Plus you can reroll 1s and 2s on the damage dice thanks to Great Weapon Fighting Style, which pushes the average damage even higher.


Compare that to a similarly built Half Orc Paladin 7 with a Pike and Piercer:
1d10 base
3d8 2nd Level Divine Smite
Doubled on a crit = 2d10+6d8
+1d10 Piercer
+1d10 Savage Attacks
+4 STR


For a total of 4d10+6d8+4, or an average of just 53 damage (pushed similarly a bit higher by the rerolls).

[strangebloke]

Pretty solid. Nice thing about Warlocks is that they basically always end up good.

Though I can't help but feel here that the classic bladelock route of MCing to fighter for armor always ends up worse than a basic hexblade. Granted, this build is able to get way more consistent crits, but its a steady 4x crit rate while hexblade gets bigger weapons and 3x normal crit rate, able to burst up to 6, without MCing.

honestly.

Sorta wonder about the lance? It feels like a really good weapon specifically for piercer synergies here. d12 piercing weapon that can be wielded in one hand if mounted (or two if unmounted)

[RogueJK]

Is the Lance's +1 of average damage on each weapon dice (d12 vs d10) worth having Disadvantage on all attacks within 5'?

Personally, I don't think it is. There's too many situations where you'd be stuck with the losing proposition of either accepting the Disadvantage, or sucking up 1 or more OAs to get 10' away to remove the Disadvantage, or wasting your Advantage just to counteract it.

It also isn't a Heavy weapon, so it doesn't qualify for GWM's -5/+10... That alone is a big drag on your overall damage output.

[strangebloke]

Is the Lance's +1 of average damage on each weapon dice (d12 vs d10) worth having Disadvantage on all attacks within 5'?

Personally, I don't think it is. There's too many situations where you'd be stuck with the losing proposition of either accepting the Disadvantage, or sucking up 1 or more OAs to get 10' away to remove the Disadvantage, or wasting your Advantage just to counteract it.

It also isn't a Heavy weapon, so it doesn't qualify for GWM's -5/+10... That alone is a big drag on your overall damage output.

Well if you're mounted you get a free shift (decide which of your mount's squares you inhabit) which allows you to basically never be in 5' on your turn. As it stands you're not getting to GWM until level 9 or 10 anyway and there's no cost to having a lance as an option. Not intended as a critique of the build really, just a way that it could be used.

[RogueJK]

Unlike a Paladin, or even something like a Beastmaster Ranger, a Fighter/Warlock doesn't have a way to (re)generate a mount.

So in order for you to plan around being constantly mounted, your adventuring group would need to travel with a herd of Warhorses to constantly replace the ones that are getting murdered every battle. They have an AC of 11, 19 HP, and a mere +1 to AoE damage spell saves. Outside of Tier 1, the survivability of store-bought mounts is negligible.

[strangebloke]

Unlike a Paladin, or even something like a Beastmaster Ranger, a Fighter/Warlock doesn't have a way to (re)generate a mount.

So in order for you to plan around being constantly mounted, your adventuring group would need to travel with a herd of Warhorses to constantly replace the ones that are getting murdered every battle. They have an AC of 11, 19 HP, and a mere +1 to AoE damage spell saves. Outside of Tier 1, the survivability of store-bought mounts is negligible.

Well, you do have phantom steed as an option, lol. Not a great option but its there.

Anyway, between THP, barding, and dodging I typically find HP loss is the least of the mount's worries. CC is way worse, since most of the higher level mounts have that problem too.

Obviously its not practical in every campaign, its just a thought, and I didn't mean it as criticism.

[Caldwhyn]

I was playing around (in my head mostly) with the wood elf commando allllll the way from page one and ended up with a very different build, going to BM 7 and then picking up swashbuckler 5 before going back into bm. Maybe even getting a whip for that sweet reach and sneak attack reactions all around me. The lesser damage of the whip being nicely compensated by my 3D6 sneak attack once per turn.

As I am not very used to this theorycrafting, am I missing some pitfalls here?

[Xoronis]

Half Orc Death Knight

...neat build stuff truncated for clarity...

For example, a damage comparison...

A critical hit at Level 7 (Fighter 1/Undead Warlock 6) could be doing:
1d10 base
1d10 Grave Touched
4d8 Eldritch Smite
All of which is doubled on a crit = 4d10+8d8, then...
+1d10 Piercer
+1d10 Savage Attacks
+4 STR

Bolded the relevant parts, but Grave Touched and Piercer don't stack since Piercer requires piercing damage and Grave Touched changes it to necrotic

[RogueJK]

Ah... I can't believe we missed that. Good eye.

So you're looking at an either/or situation. Subtract 1d10 from the calculations, because you can choose either +1d10 Necrotic or +1d10 piercing. Necrotic would be the better option unless fighting Necrotic-resistant enemies, since it would be doubled (+2d10) on a crit instead of just +1d10 from Piercer.


In that light, unless you just want the 10' reach, I believe Piercer + Pike is less useful overall than Slasher (or Orcish Fury) + Greataxe. Give me a minute and I'll re-edit the post.

[MisterD]

You can replace the damage type. NOT, you replace the damage type with necrotic.
Also where did the +1D10 grave touched damage come from?

[RogueJK]

You can replace the damage type. NOT, you replace the damage type with necrotic.

I'm not sure I understand your point. The wording of Grave Touched is (bold emphasis mine):

"In addition, once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack roll and roll damage against the creature, you can replace the damage type with necrotic damage. While you are using your Form of Dread, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the necrotic damage the target takes."

Or are you just reiterating that it's optional ("can"), and not mandatory?

Also where did the +1D10 grave touched damage come from?

From the last sentence of Grave Touched. When using your Form of Dread, and switching to Necrotic damage, you can roll one additional damage die (+1d10).


But that does bring up a thought: The wording could be read to imply that you choose whether to replace the damage type with Necrotic after you roll damage. So when the damage is initially rolled, would it technically still be Piercing damage at that point? Then you would choose whether to switch to Necrotic after that, and add another die at the end.

Probably not RAI, though.

Another way of reading is that the Necrotic switch happens simultaneously with the damage rolling, and therefore wouldn't trigger Piercer. That's likely RAI.

[tiornys]

(no one expects) The Imp-uisition



This build seeks to optimize chain pact Imp familiar attacks as much as possible while still being a strong contributor without the Imp. The core components--Investment of the Chain Master, Magic Stone, Darkness, and Devil's Sight (technically doesn't help the Imp, but if you're casting Darkness you may as well benefit too)--are available from three levels of Warlock and can work with any subclass (weakest on Fathomless but you can pull the tentacle out whenever the Imp gets popped). You can use this as part of a Warlock-primary build, or you can staple the 3 level dip onto any Cha-based build. Of course, this isn't as strong as the standard Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast + Repelling Blast dip plan, but it can still be fun. Just watch out for bonus action conflicts. Be aware of how Darkness might impact your party and use the Imp's maneuverability and item interactions to help mitigate any issues. See also the Know Your Spell Tactics! section of this LudicSavant post for more tips on party-friendly Darkness use.

Assuming a target that doesn't resist poison damage and can't see through magical darkness, the Imp's sting attack averages 9-11+ DPR from your bonus action (assumes advantage, target 13-18 AC, and a 55% chance to save vs. your spell save DC). This is competitive with the DPR contribution from a CBE + SS or PM + GWM bonus action attack.

Against foes immune to poison--or if melee is too dangerous for the Imp--we have a backup plan of supplying Magic Stones for the Imp to throw. The bonus action to cast Magic Stone conflicts with the bonus action to command the Imp, so it can only fire 3 out of every 4 rounds. This drops the contribution to 4-7 DPR depending on target AC, advantage, and whether or not you can enter combat with a precast set of magic stones.

Whenever practical, have the Imp use its raven form for its melee attacks since this gives it a fly speed of 60 vs. the base Imp form's fly speed of 40 (assuming the DM is ok with the raven carrying a pebble bearing Darkness). I'd expect most DMs to rule that a raven can't cover/uncover the pebble or throw Magic Stones, so plan on using the standard Imp form for these options.

The Imp's primary defenses are the one-way obscurement from its ability to see in magical Darkness--forcing most opponents to attack at disadvantage and allowing it to disengage freely--plus its innate resistances and immunities. We can supplement by using Mage Armor (or certain magic items) to improve its AC, the Investment of the Chain Master's reaction to give it resistance against any type of damage, temp HP from sources like Inspiring Leader, and extra base HP from Aid.

The build benefits greatly from certain magic items. A game where you can expect some ability to purchase magic items and/or influence what the DM drops is a great candidate for trying this out.

Core build components: Warlock 3, Pact of the Chain (Imp familiar), Investment of the Chain Master, Magic Stone, Darkness, Devil's Sight
Primary enhancements: Inspiring Leader, Aid, Mage Armor

Spoiler: Notable magic items

Show

For you: Lapis Lazuli Spell Gem allows you to pre-cast Find Familiar into the gem so that you can later get your Imp back with a single action.

For the Imp: talk to your DM about chain pact familiars a) using magic items, b) attuning magic items and whether that uses their own attunement slots or your attunement slots, and c) what kinds of magic item actions your familiar can use on their own. IMO the most straightforward interpretation from RAW is also the most liberal (yes they can use and attune them, with their own attunement slots, and they can cast offensive spells/abilities that don't involve attack rolls) but expect table variance here. Most of the items are situational effects that are better when the action to use them is "free", and several give the Imp offensive options for use when you have to use your bonus action on something other than giving them an attack.

Highest priority item: Ring of Spell Storing^A -- let your Imp cast and concentrate on its own Darkness spells; toss in a Shield for good measure

Protective items that your party may not want/need: Barrier Tattoo^A, Elven Chain

Non-attunement items:

• Bag of Tricks
• Beads of Force
• Cape of the Mountebank
• Eversmoking Bottle
• Gem of Brightness
• Horn of Blasting (the Imp is immune to the potential explosion damage)
• Necklace of Fireballs
• Wand of Magic Missile
• Wind Fan

Attunement items:

• Amethyst Lodestone
• Coiling Grasp Tattoo
• Ring of Obscuring
• Ring of Shooting Stars
• Wand of Fear
• Wand of Winter

Custom Lineage Fiend 5 / Clockwork Soul 1 / Fiend X
Background: Selesnya; this gives us Aid and Plant Growth which are nice but not necessary. If setting specific background aren't available the build remains functional
Starting Stats (Point Buy + half feat): 17 Cha / 15 Con / 14 Dex
ASIs: Moderately Armored (Dex) @1, Fey Touched (Cha) @4, Inspiring Leader @9, Resilient (Con) @13, +2 Cha @17, Lucky @20
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Agonizing Blast --> Investment of the Chain Master, Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, Eldritch Mind, Voice of the Chain Master/Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, Chains of Carceri, Witch Sight
Cantrips: Magic Stone, Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Mind Sliver, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand
Sample Warlock spells known (replaced): Command, (Hex), (Hellish Rebuke), Aid, Darkness, (Shatter), Blindness/Deafness, (Fireball), Plant Growth, Hold Person, Wall of Fire, Dimension Door, Banishment, Synaptic Static, Fly, Dispel Magic, Scrying
Sample Mystic Arcanums: Mass Suggestion, Forcecage, Maddening Darkness, True Polymorph
Spells (Fey Touched): Misty Step, Gift of Alacrity
Spells (Sorcerer): Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements, Protection from Evil and Good

Use typical Hex + Eldritch Blast/Magic Stone tactics for the first couple of levels (Magic Stone is better than unenhanced Eldritch Blast when you have the spare bonus action for it), then drop Hex since your bonus action plan is all Imp all the time (maybe scribe some scrolls for emergency use if the Imp goes down early in a fight). At levels 3 and 4 the Imp's attack is likely stronger than your cantrips. You can leverage this by using (or Readying) the Attack action and giving up the attack to let the Imp attack with its reaction, in addition to ordering it to attack with your bonus action. At level 5 the second Eldritch Blast beam (and your proficiency bump) pushes it above the Imp's attack so it's back to blasting with your own actions.

Whenever practical, have Darkness cast on a pebble before battle (you can always keep it covered up until fighting starts); thanks to its 10 minute duration, in a dungeon crawl or similar you may be able to have it last across multiple fights. Since concentration on Darkness is assumed, the rest of the spell list is weighted towards impact spells that don't need concentration. If you get access to a Ring of Spell Storing or other way to have the Imp concentrate on Darkness (e.g. an Artificer's SSI or Chronurgy Wizard's Arcane Abeyance) consider swapping in a few more concentration spells. Note that the Imp's immunity to Fire lets it fly through a Wall of Fire or have Fireballs dropped on its head with impunity.

Final note: if you happen to do this with a Druid multiclass, this build DOES synergize in one key way: you can use the summon familiar variant use of wildshape to summon an Imp for an hour.

[Eriol]

Builds created by other posters in this thread:

1. The Eldritch Blast Knight by Bloodcloud
2. The Tiefling Masochist by Story_Optimized
3. The Fey Knight by SithLordNergal

I have a request for the OP, LudicSavant: Can you please put in your linked builds you didn't make yourself (an extremely cut down version of which is quoted above) a tag on each that says which Classes/subclasses are involved? It's rather difficult to skim for builds for a certain class when the names often do not have class names in them! Your builds are far more useful to peruse because they have that. The linked ones are just a needle in a haystack. Even with the 3 above, I have little-to-no idea which classes are involved (without going to the actual page), whereas yours are clear.

If you want assistance with this (ie: have me research my own summaries, and post it for you to edit in) then OK, I can do that and post for the backlog (when I have time), but I can see others wanting this too.

[Caldwhyn]

I was pointed here to inquire, if the tanky glamour bard that LudicSavant hinted at in another thread was ever fleshed out?

Bard can get tanky as heck too. They've got the same HD as a Cleric, are only ever one half-feat away from medium armor and a shield, and they have access to some pretty crazy defensive abilities, like Mantle of Inspiration (Glamour Bard), Cutting Words (Lore Bard), or Defensive Flourish (Swords Bard). And nothing's stopping them from picking out some of the best defensive tools from all spell lists with Magical Secrets.

Like seriously, look at Mantle of Inspiration. LOOK AT IT. With 15 uses of Bardic Inspiration in a “standard adventuring day,” it’s up to 120 temporary hit points at level 6, 165 thp at level 11, and 210 thp at level 15. Per Party Member.

This would already be enough to make you a hard target if it was only affecting you alone, but affecting allies (and dramatically improving their mobility) means you can rotate people in and out as you please, forcing enemies to spread damage around and controlling the engagement. What's that mean? It means I've seen situations where enemies would offload enough punishment to kill a Barbarian without taking a single party member below half.

And that's just getting started. That same Glamour Bard could have Shield, or bloody Contingency. They could have bonus action Commands locking enemies down. They could have Unbreakable Majesty requiring enemies to make a saving throw to even attack you. They could have Synaptic Static, and Aid, and Lesser Restoration, and Mind Blank, and Heroes' Feast, and Forcecage, and Silvery Barbs, and so, so much more.

If not, I will simply pin down a few of my thoughts, since I would really like to give this concept a go.

As said, we will need a half feat to get moderately armored for shield and medium armor proficiency. Other ways to acquire this could be the infamous hex blade dip (also making us SAD), a dip in Paladin or a dip into dex (?) fighter. Going the feat way will probably mean taking vhuman as race which will barr us from taking some of the very interesting races from MotM such as kobold (getting us booming blade), earth genasi or githzerai (or the always welcome Shadar-kai or Eladrin). Talking races, hill dwarf would ofc also be an option or legacy gith, giving us armor proficiencies as well.

I am pretty unsure, which way would be the best here. The goal would be a frontliner who builds up enough pressure towards the opposition to block them from simply running through whatever tactic they had in mind using his spells and the glamour skills. This should probably rank the melee skillset less important except for using stuff like booming blade. It also would make feats like warcaster highly desirable, which I would hate to delay to 8.

Nonetheless, a vhuman Fighter 2/ Glamour Bard 18 is the first thing that comes to my mind as I write this. But any and each idea is welcome at this point.

[animorte]

Nonetheless, a vhuman Fighter 2/ Glamour Bard 18 is the first thing that comes to my mind as I write this. But any and each idea is welcome at this point.

I might take 3 levels of Paladin instead. Watchers or Crown perhaps? Still leaves you that 17 needed levels for 9th level spells. The only real value you’re missing out on is Action Surge. I think it gives better front-lining tanky (and knight in shining armor) vibes though. Also Charisma!

[LudicSavant]

I have a request for the OP, LudicSavant: Can you please put in your linked builds you didn't make yourself (an extremely cut down version of which is quoted above) a tag on each that says which Classes/subclasses are involved? It's rather difficult to skim for builds for a certain class when the names often do not have class names in them! Your builds are far more useful to peruse because they have that. The linked ones are just a needle in a haystack. Even with the 3 above, I have little-to-no idea which classes are involved (without going to the actual page), whereas yours are clear.

Sounds like a reasonable idea. I'll see what I can do next time I update the first page.

If you want assistance with this (ie: have me research my own summaries, and post it for you to edit in) then OK, I can do that and post for the backlog (when I have time), but I can see others wanting this too.

That would be quite helpful!

[Telesphoros]

Sounds like a reasonable idea. I'll see what I can do next time I update the first page.



That would be quite helpful!

51 pages and still going strong, congrats Ludic!

I think they close threads some time after 50 pages so soon time to start a new thread methinks.

[Eriol]

That would be quite helpful!

/cracks knuckles - Let's do this. I'm going to reply in-line with your stuff, so it's all in this post, rather than "quoted" here. Please take the re-edit the 1st page as necessary! I'll try and use the descriptions of the posters themselves usually, unless I find it unclear for some reason, and will re-edit as I see fit, but fortunately it's mostly them!

Builds created by other posters in this thread:

1. The Eldritch Blast Knight by Bloodcloud
   VHuman fighter (eldritch Knight) 7 Warlock (Infernal/Tome) 13 - An unconventional gish build.
2. The Tiefling Masochist by Story_Optimized
   Cleric (Storm) 1, Warlock (Fiend/Tome) 11 - A melee warlock based around passive damage
3. The Fey Knight by SithLordNergal
   Paladin (Oath of the Ancients) 8, Druid (Circle of Dreams ) 11, Sorcerer (Divine Soul) 1 - This is mostly a support build, you're be pretty tanky on top of all that
4. The Passive Soul by Ritorix
   Sorcerer (Divine Soul) 20 - Passive combat support to boost your party from 1 to 20
5. The Battle Valkyrie Life Cleric by Man_Over_Game
   Cleric (Life) 17, Sorcerer (3 options listed) 3 - Make a durable frontline healer that relies on synergies revolving around Warding Bond, Heavy Armor Master, and the Life Cleric's Blessed Healer feature
6. King Leonidas by Tallytrev813
   Barbarian (Bear) 8-14 - You're going to abuse the damage resistance and add a few Feats to become the stickiest, and IMO best, single target tank available.
7. The Warlord Halfling by Mjolnirbear
   Fighter (Battlemaster) 3+ - Support fighter, and a likely contender for a leader-type build too.
8. Dragonriders by Mjolnirbear
   Paladin, Artificer (Battlesmith), and Druid (Shepard) - 3 different builds, see post for details.
9. The Dilettante by Mjolnirbear
   Warlock, Sorcerer, Paladin, Bard, Cleric or Druid - Heavy caster multi-class, no higher than 3rd level of any
10. The Dabbler by Mjolnirbear
    Fighter (Battlemaster), Rogue (Any), Barbarian (Any), Monk (Any) - Heavy melee multi-class, no higher than 3rd level of any.
11. The Stab of All Trades by Skylivedk
    Warlock (Hexblade) 5, Paladin (Conquest) 7, Bard (Whisper) 5, Fighter (Battlemaster) 3 - Character concept is to leverage most of the different Cha-based classes for a character that can do pretty well across the board: skills, tanking and nova.
12. The Tank of All Trades by Skylivedk
    Warlock (Hexblade) 1, Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 9, Bard (Whisper/Lore) 10 - The idea here was for a tanking rogue (with Armour of Agathys + Uncanny Dodge) that has an extreme amounts of skills and expertise along with good saving throws.
13. The Never-Ending Ward by Skylivedk
    Gnome (Svifnerblin), Paladin (Conquest) 3, Wizard (Abjuration) X - The idea here being combining Smites with AoA with the sexiness of being a Wizard and the combined anti-magic might of abjuration wizards and gnomes.
14. The Kinetic Blaster by AtomicWrath
    Fighter 2, Warlock (Hexblade) 5, Sorcerer (Storm) 1 - The Kinetic Blaster runs through battlefields and shapes them manually to his will, by knocking enemies around like pinballs, or yanking them into melee where they don’t want to be.
15. The Flying Tank by AtomicWrath
    Barbarian (Ancestral Guardian) 5, Artificer (Battle Smith) 3 - This build is about taking the heat and debuffing the BBEG.
16. Yeti, PhD by AtomicWrath
    Bugbear, Fighter (Battlemaster) 6, Artificer 2 - This build is about doing big DPS while not on the frontline.
17. Jedi Tank by AtomicWrath
    vHuman, Fighter (Battlemaster) 4, Warlock (Great Old One) 3, Cleric (Tempest) 1 - This build is a tough frontliner with plenty of utility out of combat.

And holy hell, I'm only up to 17 builds. Well, that's a start for tonight. I'll continue to chip away at it in the coming days (I hope!). I discovered some interesting things just reviewing those. Which is part of the fun! Please copy-n-paste as you need to Ludic! I have a new appreciation for how long this can take!

[CMCC]

/cracks knuckles -
-snip-

This is very helpful! Great addition.

[Caldwhyn]

I might take 3 levels of Paladin instead. Watchers or Crown perhaps? Still leaves you that 17 needed levels for 9th level spells. The only real value you’re missing out on is Action Surge. I think it gives better front-lining tanky (and knight in shining armor) vibes though. Also Charisma!

Well charisma and strength for paladin, that's what irks me about going this way. I would need 13 STR to multiclass out of it. I could go with a complete STR/CHA build though but I was more thinking of going the DEX/med armor route to keep the MADness at bay since the Char would need some dex anyways.

[animorte]

Well charisma and strength for paladin, that's what irks me about going this way. I would need 13 STR to multiclass out of it. I could go with a complete STR/CHA build though but I was more thinking of going the DEX/med armor route to keep the MADness at bay since the Char would need some dex anyways.

I can certainly see the concern here. I personally attempt to avoid the Strength stat wherever possible.

[1Pirate]

Ludic, I think there's a tiny little mistake in the Ever-Living Generalist build: The build has 9 cantrips, not 8. It looks like Sacred Flame from the Celestial Warlock's bonus cantrips was left out.

[LudicSavant]

Ludic, I think there's a tiny little mistake in the Ever-Living Generalist build: The build has 9 cantrips, not 8. It looks like Sacred Flame from the Celestial Warlock's bonus cantrips was left out.

So it was. Fixed! And thanks!

[Eriol]

Continuing where I left off...

Builds created by other posters in this thread:

1. Nature is Magical by Mercurias
   VHuman, Cleric (Arcana) 6, Druid (Land Coast) 14 - This is a build that essentially gives you as many day-to-day options as I can imagine for a caster.
2. The Advokist Tomb Raider by AtomicWrath
   Veldeken (Orzhov), Artificer (Battle Smith) 9, Cleric (Forge) 1, Wizard (War) 2 - The gist of this build is to be an int-based tank who uses Spiritual Guardians, dual attacks and great defenses to survive in the middle of melee.
3. The Shadow Whip by ThatDuckGrant
   vHuman, Warlock (Hexblade) 1, Sorcerer (Shadow) X - This build focuses on a specific weapon I find extremely fun and eclectic, the Shadow Whip.
4. Whippy the Wonder Goblin by Amechra
   Goblin, Bard (Sword) 5, Monk (Kensei) 15 - Blade Flourishes actually work pretty well with the Monk's whole combat schtick of being ultra mobile.
5. Mr. Disintegration Pistol by Amechra
   Shifter (Swiftstride), Ranger (Hunter) 3, Monk (Kensei) 17 - Making 3-4 attacks per round that deal 1d8+16 damage each sounds pretty OK to me.
6. The ZombieNaught by Skylivedk
   Half-orc, Monk (Long Death) 12, Rogue (Thief) 5, Barbarian (Zealot) 3 - Your combination of Rage and Uncanny Dodge make you neigh unkillable and if you do get to dance with your cold mistress, it takes nothing but a ki-point to stay on your feet.
7. 4 Arms of Grappling Death by Skylivedk
   Fighter (Battlemaster) 12, Warlock (Hexblade) 1, Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 4, Rogue (Thief) 3 - So this is a DPR and grappling machine for first round damage in the range of 200+ using only short rest resources.
8. Swift Blade & Bottle by Skylivedk
   Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 11, Warlock (Hexblade) 1, Sorcerer (Any) 5, Rogue (Thief) 3 - This take uses SAD from Hexblade and combines it with more spell-casting to take advantage of the EK level 10 ability.
9. Spider-Man by Skylivedk
   Wood-Elf or Simic Hybrid, Fighter (Battle Master) 3, Rogue (Thief) 3-6, Monk (Open Hand) 9-14 - This class should mirror a good Spider-Man feel; you can be anywhere on the battlefield, control fairly well with maneuvers+stunning strike+open hand maneuvers.
10. Monsieur DeLafleur, Cook Extraordinaire! by Amechra PREVIOUS LINK INCORRECT - Use this one! I found the actual named post!
    V. Human Bard 2 - Short-Rest Non-Magical Healer.
11. The Booming Trickster by BarneyBent
    Wood Elf, Cleric (Trickery) 4, Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 4 - A magical rogue that can deliver melee sneak attacks without ever leaving cover.
12. The True Skill Monkey by Amechra
    Half-Elf (Skill Versatility) Charlatan, Rogue (Scout) 6, Bard (Lore) 14 - Maximum skill monkey.
13. Arcie the ridiculously lucky Arcane Trickster by GorogInput
    Halfling (Stout), Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 8, Wizard (Divination) 2 - Get as many 'luck-bending' effects packed into one character for the benefit of yourself and the rest of the party.
14. YEET by Trickery
    Halfling (Lightfoot), Warlock (Any/Hexblade) 2+, Sorcerer (Any) 4+ - Comprehensive take on the ever-popular repelling blast Sorlock, but with some enhancements.
15. Tesla Coils by FableWright
    Gnome, Cleric (Tempest) 2, Wizard (Evocation) 18 - The build is about the maximum abuse of two abilities: Overchannel and Destructive Wrath.
16. The UberMage by Story_Optimized
    Tiefling (Feral Winged), Cleric (Tempest) 2, Warlock (Hexblade), Wizard (War) 17 - Combination of ideas from nuclear wizard, the iron-hobgoblin wizard, the tiefling masochist, and the tesla coil.
17. The Divine Conduit by RingoBongo
    Rogue (Inquisitive) X, Cleric (War) 1 - 4 - It's important to try to control the edges of combat. No one gets away or is able to hide.
18. Vesselyth, the Clockwork Bandit by Mjolnirbear
    Artificer (Alchemst) X - A non-rogue thief. You can build a monk without levels in Monk, or a fighter without levels in Fighter. Here's my take on a thief.
19. The God of Lightning by bendking
    VHuman, Cleric (Tempest) 2, Sorcerer (Storm) 18 - Based on the new Elemental Spell Metamagic, you can practically max damage every damaging spell in your list. Editor's Note: Elemental Spell became Transmuted Spell in Tasha's, so no longer requires Unearthed Arcana.
20. Building Iron Man by AgenderAcree
    VHuman, Artificer (Artillerist) 20 - Build Iron Man as a full Artificer.
21. The Feywarden by Justin Sane
    Rogue (Scout) 3+, Ranger (Fey Wanderer) 3+ - The Ranger side of the build gives some really useful magic tricks and the Rogue side can easily cover for those long days where you spent all your slots on Goodberries.
22. The Grease Trap by Citadel97501
    Sorcerer (Shadow or Storm) 3+ (Sorcerer 4+ if not Variant Human), Fighter 5+, Rogue 1+ - Permanent Proning an enemy.
23. Celestial Dragonforge Cleric, Master of the Searing Smite, by AgenderAcree
    Cleric (Forge) 8, Warlock (Celestial, Tome) 6, Sorcerer (Draconic, Fire) 6 - Master of the Searing Smite, a build that adds Cha to damage FOUR times per hit.
24. Zealot of Death, by Benny89
    Warlock (Hexblade) 1, Barbarian (Zealot) 12 - Your job is to stick to main target in every fight, Curse and challange them into glorious duel to the death! No mercy allowed!

There's another 24 of them.

[animorte]

Would it be worth it to note how many times each class is represented and provide shortcuts to the builds based on each class?

Might save some time for folks seeking out something specific. And there would be cross-over for many of these...