Better Together Builds?

[Alistaroc]

Myself and another player are looking to build a pair of characters that are optimized to work in tandem. What are some builds that would complement this?

AFAIK there would be a pair of rogues for lots of sneak attacking.
Or a rogue and a flanking-buddy tank...
Alternatively a crit build like Elven Accuracy Champion paired with a Mastermind Rogue

I don't like that they're all rogues... help me out please!

[Destroyer_Bravo]

Maybe GWF paladin with fat smites alongside a shield master sentinel tank fighter which shoves the enemies to the ground for them to be dunked by the big smites of the paladin?

[Eldariel]

Two Wizards or like a Wizard and a Lore Bard can do so much together. Lore Bard's Cutting Words goes perfectly with many Wizard spells (Telekinesis, Bigby's and any summons come to mind) and two casters combining Concentration can like Sickening Radiance + Wall of Force or Cloud of Daggers/Conjure Bonfire + Thunderwave (or other knockback effect: Druid would be nice here with Thornwhip and Spike Growth) or Haste and Tenser's or just cast something and double Counterspell or whatever. Honestly, it's pretty darn easy to come up with spells that synergise and take Concentration. Even simple Fly + Invisibility is a rather potent scouting setup so early and takes two casters with the ability to Concentrate on one.

[Lunali]

Since you obviously wanted more rogue pairings, battlemaster with commander's strike plus rogue.

[CheddarChampion]

Moon Druid and Wolf Totem Barbarian with Mounted Combatant or Sentinel. You can swap the Barb out for something else.
If Level 7+, Sorcerer and Rogue for twinned greater invisibility. If it is just the two of you, you might get a full minute of attacking before enemies can properly retaliate.

[CTurbo]

Wolf Totem Barbarian + any other melee class especially something that specifically benefits more from crits like Rogues and Paladins.

To be a little more specific, a Wolf Totem Barb + an Elf Rogue or Paladin with Elven Accuracy.

Any Paladin + any other class lol

[MaxWilson]

Myself and another player are looking to build a pair of characters that are optimized to work in tandem. What are some builds that would complement this?

AFAIK there would be a pair of rogues for lots of sneak attacking.
Or a rogue and a flanking-buddy tank...
Alternatively a crit build like Elven Accuracy Champion paired with a Mastermind Rogue

I don't like that they're all rogues... help me out please!

Shepherd Druid + Mounted Combatant GWM Fighter. The Shepherd Druid conjures up a bunch of pets and then wildshapes into e.g. a Brown Bear, which the Fighter then mounts. Mounted Combatant protects the bear from attacks (so very few Concentration saves needed) and grants the Fighter advantage on GWM attacks. Bear can attack with claws while commanding summoned animals, and can summon a Bear Spirit when necessary to give everybody temp HP.

Can use a Paladin instead of a Fighter if you want +saves more than lots of attacks at level 11+.

[Fynzmirs]

Oathbreaker and a necromancer is another classic combo if you don't mind being a Disney villain.

[Waazraath]

I'm pretty sure you can do nice stuff with 2 melee builds that give disadvantages when attacking somebody else (ancestral guardian barbarian, protection fighting style, fighter cavelier, sentinel feat)...

[Neoh]

A Gnome Cavalier Fighter using a Lance and Shield, Protection fighting style, mounted on his Goliath friend.

A Gnome Wizard mounted on his Goliath friend.

A Gno- alright alright, enough.


Try to pair up classes that share the same rest efficiency, a Fighter and a Sorcerer don't go really well together because one is short-rest based and the other is long-rest based.


You could have the same kind of playstyle, like 2 ranged, 2 sneaky, 2 beefy melee bois, and so on.

It could be annoying playing a dex-sneaky character just for your full-plate buddy to ring the alarm with his armour.
Playing a melee character with a ranged one could be dangerous for the melee, taking the brunt of the enemy's attacks.

I'm not giving any specific combination, just tips to figure things out.

[Contrast]

Try to pair up classes that share the same rest efficiency, a Fighter and a Sorcerer don't go really well together because one is short-rest based and the other is long-rest based.

I think this frames part of the problem - does better together mean that they share the same strengths and weaknesses or does it mean that you cover for each others weaknesses?

A duo of a fighter and a wizard could be highly effective, the wizard novaing when appropriate and the fighter covering when the wizards starts to run out of resources.

Is a paladin buddy a better compliment for a barbarian because they back them up on the front lines or is a sorc because they cover the things requiring magic solutions that the fighter couldn't otherwise handle?

To OP are you looking for strictly direct mechanical interactions? Big dumb fighter and intelligent but weak magic user best friend duo is a great combination even if there isn't necessarily a lot of immediate mechanical interrelation.

[Alucard89]

Grave Cleric with Paladin, especially with crit-fish Vengeance Hexadin EA or BB EA Arcane Trickster.

Ready action - CD when Paladin/Rogue Hits: Huge Alpha strike.

Some other ones:

Plant Growth + Repelling Strike Warlock is also good combo.

Classic Wolf Totem Bard + EA Paladin.

Shep Druid using Conjure Animals + Ancients Druid Aura, giving conjure beings double HP vs AOE spells (Which is great for them).

GOO Warlock giving constant advantage to Expertise Social Bard in party due to telepathy with Help Action. Expertise + Advantage = huge social scores!!

Classic Twinning Divine Sorcerer with two melee characters- Twin that Haste or Holy Weapon or Greater Invisibility on them.

[Joe the Rat]

Hammer and Anvil is one of my favorites.
- Melee Fighter with Protection Style - Paladin or BattleMaster Fighter is good.
- Rouge with Sentinel

If you attack the rogue, you do so at disadvantage.
If you attack the tank, the rogue stabs you for your trouble.

[Sception]

I'll second Oath Breaker Paladin + Necromancy Wizard. Lot's of fun for an edgelord/antihero/outright villain crew.

Paladin + anybody works, everyone likes the save bonus aura.

Shadow Sorcerer + Warlock with Devil's Sight is nice, as both can see out of the sorcerer's subclass feature Darkness bubbles, which lets the warlock use their extremely limited spell slot pool on spells other than Darkness. If the warlock dips a level of bard, they can pick up bane to return the favor by lowering multiple enemy's saving throws against the sorcerer's spells.

[nickl_2000]

Rogue and anything that gives Rogues an attack off turn

Battlemaster Fighter, Order Cleric, someone who can haste so they can ready an attack.

[DrKerosene]

I’m a fan of a mounted combatant wolf totem barbarian riding a druid, I was going to suggest half-orc for the druid for critical dice.

Also, anything that can combine Polymorph+Flesh To Stone.

[NaughtyTiger]

we enjoyed the war-wizard gnome riding his bound servant barbrian orc (riding in an orc sized howdah...)
bf/gf players, he buffed the orc, she mauled everything.

[Tes]

Hammer and Anvil is one of my favorites.
- Melee Fighter with Protection Style - Paladin or BattleMaster Fighter is good.
- Rouge with Sentinel

If you attack the rogue, you do so at disadvantage.
If you attack the tank, the rogue stabs you for your trouble.

My current party of beginners came up with that on their own, Paladin with Protection Style, Samurai GWM with Sentinel, gotta admit it's simple but effective. Especially since the Paladin can just LoH on demand for a good chunk of HP or remove a nasty status effect.

For both offense and defense Frontline synergy I'd prefer
Order Cleric 1 + X with Sentinel

Order Cleric takes 1 level of Fighter (to start with Proficiency in Con saving throws) or 2 Paladin levels to get Protection Fighting Style.
Then starts every fight by moving up to his buddy and casting Bless or something along those lines. You're pretty much done with Order Cleric after taking that one level and can go anywhere you want from there as long as you get Spellslots and buffs. Sticking with Cleric is obviously still a very viable option.

Both can use their Reaction to assist each other during turns when the Cleric isn't buffing. Or you can just cast Bless on a 3rd target, ideally a ranged DPS and save the Sentinel's Reaction.
Protection FS/Sentinel Combo minimizes/maximises damage on the two Frontliners and stops things from getting away. Even better if the "Cleric" gets Warcaster + Booming Blade and makes the pair extra sticky.

Fighter1/Order Cleric1/Wizard (Abjurer) is a pretty good fit but MAD, so you might want to stick with straight up Cleric for Point Buy.
The Sentinel can be a lot of things, biggest benefit is going to be any sort of Rogue, Ancestral Guardian doubles down on protection while a Paladin can buff the Cleric's Saves.



The best support build I can think of just works with anything, Divine Soul Sorcerer 1/Order Cleric 1/Divine Soul Sorcerer 18.
Max Charisma>13Wis>Dex=Constitution.
Set up your concentration spell turn 1 (Bless for early levels, later on something like twinned Haste if **** hits the fan), if the fight is tough, cast Warding Bond turn 2 (unless it's still running, lasts an hour or two if Extended).
From there you're good to go casting Cantrips, Blade Ward makes sure you don't drop from having two Warding Bonds online. You can quicken Blade Ward to cast another Spell the same turn or just fire a Healing word + Blade Ward to trigger an extra attack. Of course you still have max CHA and your damage Cantrips are always an option. Warcaster is pretty mandatory to make sure you never drop Concentration on that twinned Haste because of your Warding Bond. Inspiring Leader is another great Feat for the build.
For the really really tough fights Aid is your default combat Spell after your Concentration is occupied.

To keep yourself alive you'll have Medium Armor and Shield Prof, Shield Spell and Absorb Elements + hopefully an active Bladeward.
The build is pretty spellslot efficient, but can "Nova" on demand to cast basically up to three Spells (Twin a Buff/Control Spell + Quicken a Cantrip) a turn +trigger a Reacton Attack.
There's something similar floating around that goes pure Divine Soul. Since you're going to buff with pretty much all your spellslot and lack armor proficiency, dipping the point in Cleric does a ton and also gets you access to more Cantrips and expanded level 1 Spell selection (which you're going to keep using for a very long time).

[DevilMcam]

Basically any build that provide support for other character Paired with a character that can leverage such advantage.
bonus points if each build can do both.
Our current party has a tank/support SnB Fighter, a tank/support Conquest paladin, a moon druid (jack of all trades basically), a ranged rogue and a gwm barbarian.

Basically you can't get the rogue unless the paladin/druide both give you the authorization to do so, you can hit anyone with a bad spell because of the paladin aura, Most attacks are irelevant because of all the disadvantaages (fighter's fighting style, frightened condition from paladin, or manouvers from the fighter) or the ridiculous ACs and temps HPs of the group.

And if you ever succomb to one of the source of disadvantages, get ready to some gwm/smites in your face.

Rogue isn't THAT good of a class to receive support. They'll get their sneak attack and even tough their crits hurt a lot, it's not realy much more than what a smiting paladin/bladelock or gwm fighter/barb would do

[Alistaroc]

I think this frames part of the problem - does better together mean that they share the same strengths and weaknesses or does it mean that you cover for each others weaknesses?

To OP are you looking for strictly direct mechanical interactions? Big dumb fighter and intelligent but weak magic user best friend duo is a great combination even if there isn't necessarily a lot of immediate mechanical interrelation.

IMHO better together means that they are at their strongest when they can work with each other. If covering a weakness in the moment makes them stronger, that's good, but in 5e it feels like it's more about enabling each other's strengths. I'm looking for mostly mechanical interactions, I find they're a good jumping off point for me, but RP combinations are also welcome, though those I feel are more hit-or-miss.

Moon Druid and Wolf Totem Barbarian with Mounted Combatant or Sentinel. You can swap the Barb out for something else.

Shepherd Druid + Mounted Combatant GWM Fighter.

I'm really liking these. Definitely Moon > Shepherd though, summoning creatures makes combat take forever. The way I see it, you could go Fighter for MC+GWM, or Barbarian for an interaction like Shove with a Giant Elk, or if shaped into a Dire Wolf, Wolf Totem becomes irrelevant. I'm thinking this pair would be great at Level 6. Thoughts?

Wolf Totem Barb + an Elf Rogue or Paladin with Elven Accuracy.

I like it, would their be a rogue/paladin archetype that works best with this?

Oathbreaker and a necromancer is another classic combo if you don't mind being a Disney villain.

As in School of Necromancy Wizard? Might be a little too edgy but it's certainly intriguing!

I'm pretty sure you can do nice stuff with 2 melee builds that give disadvantages when attacking somebody else (ancestral guardian barbarian, protection fighting style, fighter cavelier, sentinel feat)...

Hammer and Anvil is one of my favorites.
- Melee Fighter with Protection Style - Paladin or BattleMaster Fighter is good.
- Rouge with Sentinel

If you attack the rogue, you do so at disadvantage.
If you attack the tank, the rogue stabs you for your trouble.

Grouping these for melee pinball, loving the mental image!

... Order Cleric ...

... Order Cleric ...

You both had a lot fo good input, but I can't seem to find the domain you're referring to. What would the source be?

Thank you to everyone who's replied, I appreciate all the help! We've got some classes/subclasses we've picked out on our own, we'll put these through the gauntlet and see what we come up with!

[nickl_2000]

SNIP


You both had a lot fo good input, but I can't seem to find the domain you're referring to. What would the source be?

SNIP

It's in Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.

[MaxWilson]

I'm really liking these. Definitely Moon > Shepherd though, summoning creatures makes combat take forever. The way I see it, you could go Fighter for MC+GWM, or Barbarian for an interaction like Shove with a Giant Elk, or if shaped into a Dire Wolf, Wolf Totem becomes irrelevant. I'm thinking this pair would be great at Level 6. Thoughts?

It's a great pairing, my only quibble is that I didn't want to suggest Moon Druid for a Better Together thread because frankly the Moon Druid isn't really getting much out of the deal, since Moon Druid already has tons of HP anyway. Shepherd Druids normally are kind of squishy and my thinking was that getting protection out of the deal was worthwhile. BTW if you hate big swarms of minions, Shepherd Druids are still good for buffing the party with temp HP and summoning Quicklings or elementals (all of them are excellent, but Fire is probably the best at damage).

Also, some of the Moon Druid's best forms at high level aren't very amenable to riding, e.g. Air Elementals are humanoid-ish and probably should not be eligible to be ridden as a mount, although it's DM's call.

Anyway, if you're going to go the Moon Druid route, give it Sentinel so that you get a free attack every time an attack gets diverted to the rider. It doubles the damage output of certain forms, e.g. Brontosaurus.

Sentinel Moon Druid + Mounted Combatant GWM PAM Paladin of Devotion = double attacks and +saves, immunity to charm for Brontosaurus, advantage on attacks for paladin. (Prior to level 15 you'll be using something like a Giant Constrictor Snake or a Giant Subterranean Lizard or whatever instead, just make sure it's something with one big attack instead of lots of littles.)

[CTurbo]

Half-Orc Wolf Totem Barb with GWM and PAM
Half-Elf Vengeance Paladin with Sentinel and Elven Accuracy

The Barb attacks recklessly all the time drawing attacks from the enemy in the process. The Paladin gets the reaction attack from Sentinel when the Barb is attacked.

If you have a 3rd character or possibly replacement for the Paladin, go with Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue with Sentinel, Elven Accuracy, and Warcaster. Use Booming Blade on your turn and with your reaction attack from Sentinel if the Barb gets attacked. If you get attacked, use Uncanny Dodge.

Optional 3rd character to fit nicely next to a Wolf Totem barb would be a Half-Orc Battlemaster Fighter with GWM and Sentinel. Between Sentinel and Riposte, you would be attacking with your reaction nearly every round.


I think a Paladin with a Cleric buddy would be a great combo. I'd want a front line warrior Cleric like War, Tempest, or Nature. Throw stealth out the window and both wear full plate and clank around destroying enemies loudly haha

[Warlush]

A Pact of the Chain Warlock could have his sorcerer or wizard pal cast Dragon's Breath on their invisible familiar.