5e Throwdowns #9: Spooky Circumstances (Halloween Edition)

[Dork_Forge]

The concept: Spooky Circumstances

It's that time of year as we roll into our first seasonal edition of 5e Throwdowns! This time we're looking for anything Halloween-y, this can be something you find creepy/scary, it can be replicating something from a horror movie or game etc. Whatever tickles your skeletal fancy!

A slightly shorter turn around for submissions this time around, I just thought it be fitting that the votes opened on Halloween!

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Some rules for guidance:

-Please add a field at the start of your build for what you are aiming for (what horror character etc.)

-In the interest of promoting creativity and diversity in these builds, Hexblade will be allowed, but requires a minimum of 5 levels as part of your overall build. If you choose any other Warlock patron this restriction is not applicable.

-No UA, only officially published materials

-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)

-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)

-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play

-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)

-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature

-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).

-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read

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Suggested format:

Level 20 level split:

Race:

Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x

Background:

Starting level:

Any guidance or commentary you want

At 5th level:

Any guidance or commentary you want

At 11th level:

Any guidance or commentary you want

At 17th level:

Any guidance or commentary you want

At 20th level and final thoughts:

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Voting:

To sort the wheat from the chaff we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.

-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.

-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid

-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)

-You cannot vote for yourself

-Each throwdown thread will run for 7 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be five days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).

Build deadline/Voting opens: 31/10/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET

Voting deadline: 05/11/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET

PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS NOW ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.

I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN

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Previous winners:

Throwdown #1: The Gish - Sithlordnergal's 'The Undying Barbarian'

Throwdown #2: The Terminator - Ludic Savant's 'The Regenerator'

Throwdown #3: The Solo Tour - Ftafp's 'The Hex Spoon'

Throwdown #4: Powergamer's Potluck - BobtheWizard's 'The Shadow Knight'

Throwdown #5: The Do-Over (Magus Maximus) - Civis Mundi's 'Pompey Problemsolver' and Nix inktongue

Throwdown #6: Hard Mode (An Abserd Difficulty) - JOINT WINNERS: Waazraath's 'Just a sort of regular smiting paladin' and ftafp's 'The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'

Throwdown #7: Against the Grain (unusual combinations) - MinotaurWarrior's 'Aziah Parakambahu' and kalkyrie's 'The Grand Galactic Inquisitor'

Throwdown #8: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - JOINT WINNERS: Waazraath's 'Daemona - the winged fiendish chick with whip' & MinotaurWarrior's 'Bob the Builder'

[Lavaeolus]

You know, I never actually thought to ask about these two before but, Halloween spirit and all, seems like a good time to check: the DMG has two Villainous Class Options that can be used when creating NPCs, although "a player can choose one of these options with [the DM's] approval".

Death Domain Cleric and Oathbreaker Paladin: available for builds?

[Dork_Forge]

You know, I never actually thought to ask about these two before but, Halloween spirit and all, seems like a good time to check: the DMG has two Villainous Class Options that can be used when creating NPCs, although "a player can choose one of these options with [the DM's] approval".

Death Domain Cleric and Oathbreaker Paladin: available for builds?

You bet your skull goblet they are!

All I'd say about those is include a disclaimer line in the build highlighting that those are DMG options.

[Lavaeolus]

The Hag
A rather witchy creature from the Feywild



The Feywild: a terrific, terrible place of wonder and horror, where the natural is twisted into the spectacular. And there, just behind the glass, in that distorted little carnival mirror of reality, lies the hag: a corruption of any ideal you ever held, formed by every little feeling of spite, of hate, of malevolence you've ever felt squirm around your greasy little heart. To see the mighty made low, and the low forsake all hope: nothing less is the aim of the hag.

Thought it'd be fun to get the ball rolling with something pretty classicly Halloween-y. Of course, while this is a pretty simple build, starting it sure made realise that D&D has a whole lot of ways to build 'a witch'. Warlock, Land Druid, Alchemist Artificer, Glamour/Whispers Bard -- all good options just off the top of my head. So now that I've made this, I hope someone comes and outdoes me with some other more inventive take on the concept.

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Goal: You're a hag! Like in the Monster Manual! What does that mean? In terms of your stereotypical D&D Hag, well, there's actually a fair few of them. The most common is the Green Hag, which is our primary reference, although others can be more out there. If you feel like switching things up consider, as an example, swapping out Eladrin for Triton, to make a Sea Hag. Ultimately the hag build'll offer an eclectic array of dark information and opportunities to mess with people's minds using fear, trickery and illusions.

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Level 20 level split: Warlock (The Archfey) 3 / Bard (College of Lore 17)

Race: Eladrin (Tome of Foes)

Stats: Str 8, Dex 13 (15), Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 15 (16)
Race boosts in brackets.

Background: Hermit

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Starting level: Archfey Warlock 1
HP 10, AC 13
Proficiencies: Arcana, Deception, Medicine, Perception, Religion, Herbalism Kit
Starting cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion
1st-level spells: Armor of Agathys, Hex

Spoiler

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They're not quite hags, but the Feywild connection Eladrin have felt like a good thing to play into. The real racial benefits will come later, but for now I'd set my season to 'winter'. Unfortunately this race doesn't come with natural weapons, so you don't have any spiffing Hag's Claws; you can pick up spells to replicate them later on, but frankly I'd just use a DEX-based dagger to substitute them.

Speaking of Feywild connections, ancient hags are one example of who the Archfey patron might be, so all the more appropriate to co-opt the subclass in our quest to be one. You get some ability to charm or frighten people, and you have Minor Illusion to play about with, although for now we're moreorless a normal level-1 Warlock.

Level 5: Archfey Warlock 3 / Bard 2
HP 38, AC 13, Pact of the Chain
Invocations: Mask of Many Faces, Agonizing Blast
Important new spells: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Vicious Mockery, Mage Hand, Friends

Spoiler

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Mask of Many Faces! For a hag, that's a very important level-2 pick-up, what with you being shot on sight and all. A bit of herbology is so much more appreciated when you play the loving grandmother. Your other invocation is Agonizing Blast. At Warlock 3 we pick up the Pact of the Chain for a familiar. Cats would be the traditional pick, of course, although the Imp is likely the best call. Still, consider swapping to the cat-form if you know you'll have any visitors or if you want to head into town.

Why go into Bard? Bards carry odd bits of knowledge and can be geared around distorting people's minds -- which is pretty much exactly what we want for our hag. For flavour you should probably be casting with a component pouch rather than a violin, but otherwise it's a pretty good match. Spell-wise, on the utility side of things, I'd recommend picking up Unseen Servant, Speak with Animals and Identify. For control, I'd pick up Dissonant Whispers. For our first 2nd-level spell, let's go with Phantasmal Force.

Doing a Warlock/Bard multiclass delays our spellcasting progression, but it lets us shift in and out of hag form without hassle, nets us a familiar, and lets us Eldritch Blast like mad. So it's not all a loss.

At this point, Eladrin's Fey Step now has a chance to inflict fright to anyone nearby; other seasons can change the effect. Not a gamechanger, but who doesn't love teleporting behind people and spooking them.

Level 11: Archfey Warlock 3 / Lore Bard 8
HP 80, AC 14, DEX 16, CHA 18
Important new spells: Bane, Heat Metal, Dispel Magic, Detect Thoughts, Bestow Curse, Fear, Polymorph
New feats: Actor

Spoiler

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Lore Bards, more skills than they know what to do with. Take proficiency Insight, Persuasion and Animal Handling. Our ordinary Bard Expertise is reserved for Deception and Arcana. At level 6 we'll steal Counterspell and Conjure Animals.

As far as other Bard spells go, Heat Metal will be situational but useful for dealing with your typical gallant knight. Detect Thoughts is something we can use to probe into people, and we can combine it with Encode Thoughts to store blackmail and secrets on people. Otherwise our spells are geared towards debuffing and instilling fear on people. Aside from the important spells I listed, I'd generally go for anything you can use to alter people's perceptions, such as Hallucinatory Terrain. Our plan for polymorphing largely involves turning people into newts, toads and the like. But you can turn monsters into those too.

For your ASIs, first bump up Dexterity and Charisma by a point each; we'll then round-up with the Actor half-feat at Bard 8. So, why get Actor rather than just beelining better Charisma? Actor will let us replicate the hag's power of mimicry. Traditional uses include making the sounds of a baby crying to lure a trap, causing chaos by impersonating people, and making spooky animal noises to unsettle people in a forest.

Level 17: Archfey Warlock 3 / Lore Bard 14
Important new spells: Dream, Geas, Animate Objects, Scrying, Mass Suggestion, Eyebite, Contact Other Plane, Finger of Death
HP 122, AC 14, CHA 20

Spoiler

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At this point, our hag has grown pretty strong in power and is picking up spells that would otherwise be limited to a hag coven. Must be nice to have friends -- but even if you couldn't find any, your objects and creatures will keep you company. As mentally-dominated servants, admittedly, but you know, you're a hag. Geas will let you force people into your service, which is useful if you feel you'll need to magically bind someone into keeping their end of the deal. Dream lets you invade people's dream night-hag-style.

For your Magical Secrets at Bard 10, pick up Contact Other Plane and Wall of Force. At Bard 14, Finger of Death and Etherealness.

Level 20: Archfey Warlock 3 / Lore Bard 17
HP 163, AC 14, CON 16
Important new spells: Magnificent Mansion, Mirage Arcane, Feeblemind, Mass Polymorph

Spoiler

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Here we are, level 20. Our familiar came at the cost of Bard 18's Magical Secrets, but we'll still cap things off with access to 9th-level Bard spells. I've put my final ASI in CON, to match the somewhat-beefy hags in the Monster Manual, but this isn't key to the build.

Your spells will give you some final ways to mess with people's heads, to the point of potentially destroying their minds, and if all else fails you can try your hand at just turning everyone into toads. Magnificent Mansion gives you a home away from home, but in your case it's probably something of a horror show unless you know you'll be trying to trick guests into trusting you.

All in all the hag build isn't an amazing combat powerhouse, beyond being able to chuck around Eldritch Blasts and certain psychic-damage spells if it suits them, but they're nonetheless a real terror to deal with. Which is fine. You might be stronger than you appear, but hags prefer playing helpless and trying to cajole/bargain their way around more dangerous threats. And you have all the tools needed, both in magic and in silver tongue, to turn an adventuring party against itself if they find their way to your home unprepared.

[Dork_Forge]

Surprisingly thin turn out for the Halloween edition?

Last couple days for submissions, so hopefully that turns around!

[jojosskul]

The Zombie

Level 20 level split: 14 Zealot Barbarian/6 Undying Warlock

Race: Half Orc

Stats: Str 16 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 9 Cha 14

Background: Haunted One

Starting level: Barbarian 1

Your goal here is to be as close to a monster manual zombie as possible, only scarier. Half-Orc gives us Relentless Endurance, and we're green! Rage makes us take hits that look like they should knock us out, but they don't. Scariest part of a zombie is you keep hitting them, and they JUST... KEEP... COMING. Basic Level 1 Half-Orc Barbarian starts our journey to being the living dead nicely. On top of that, rage gives automatic advantage on grappling. Once the zombie gets hold of you, they aren't letting go.

At 5th level: Zealot Barbarian 4/Undying Warlock 1

So one of the things about zombies is they leave other zombies alone, right? So for once we will be using Undying Warlock. With one level here to start other undead will have a hard time targeting you. The zealot barbarian is chosen here for it's ease with which they can be brough back from the dead. You could wait to take this first level of Warlock until you get extra attack, but I like getting the flavor going earlier rather than later. Armor of Agathys is also great for this build, make those who would dare to strike down the Zombie feel the chill of the grave!

At 11th level: Zealot Barbarian 5/Undying Warlock 6

As you go into Tier 3 you come more fully online with the one feature we really wanted from Undying Warlock. Once a day when you pass a death saving throw, you just STAND BACK UP. This, on top of Barbarian damage resistance and relentless endurance, gives you a couple of good "Oh no it's not staying down oh god oh god oh god what do we do," moments.

With Warlock focus on buffs like Armor of Agathys, which you'll be casting at level 3. Pact I'd likely go Chain because blade doesn't make sense. If Talisman is on the table (sometimes zombies are animated by odd cursed objects) I'd go that route.

At 17th level: Zealot Barbarian 11/Undying Warlock 6

Inspire bloodlust in your fellow members of the zombie hoard with Zealous Presence. You've had a few ASIs by now, probably wanted to Max strength and boost Con. Mostly these levels you're just becoming a better zombie barbarian on the way to our capstone....

At 20th level and final thoughts: 14 Zealot Barbarian/6 Undying Warlock

Rage Beyond Death. Our capstone means that no matter what they do to us, we won't go down. Hell, once a day we could spare the dying on OURSELF after the zombie had killed everyone else from 0 HP and bring ourselves back up from 0 HP. T his zombie will NEVER be stopped.

EDIT: My bad, briefly forgot absolutely no casting while raging, and once rage drops you're done. Except odds at some point you'll pass a death saving throw and get back up from 0 anyway.

Is this build optimal? Hell no. Is this build a fun way to pretend to be a zombie for Halloween? I like to think so. We check the following zombie boxes:

1. Don't go down when you hit 0 HP (Relentless Endurance, Rage Beyond Death, Defy Death)
2. Ignored by other undead and can walk amongst the horde. (Among the Dead)
3. Can let out a primal zombie roar (Zealous Presence) to inspire bloodlust in the rest of your "horde."
4. Eats people (More of a roleplay choice, but nothing RAW prevents it :P)
5. Good at grabbing people (Rage advantage, can take prodigy for athletics expertise if you want.)

There's a couple other ways you can go if you don't want Rage Beyond Death. A single level of shadow sorcerer gives you an extra bounceback ability. Only problem is you either need to give up Defy Death or Rage Beyond Death to get it. Which in my opinion is not worth it. Enjoy!

[Waazraath]

2 contestants, are we going to vote?