Character Advice (Descent into Avernus Endgame Spoilers)

[Dr.Samurai]

I'll try to keep this short but give all the salient points. My group finished Descent into Avernus about a year and a half ago, and we're about to wrap up Against the Giants. Our other DM wants to run Chains of Asmodeus as a continuation of Descent into Avernus.

In DiA, I played Grexes, a leonin barbarian. Eventually I multiclassed into paladin, and ended the game as a Barbarian 8/Paladin 6 (bear totem/watchers). This DM likes stronger characters so he has us roll for stats, and over the course of 14 levels we received two bonus feats. Various quests also provided an ability score bump (for Grexes it was +1 Strength, +1 Wisdom, +2 Constitution).

Anyways, his stats are as follows:

Strength 21
Dexterity 14
Constitution 22
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 16
Charisma 14

Feats are Polearm Master, Dual Wielder (bonus feat) and Resilient: Wisdom (bonus feat).

In addition, Grexes recovered the Sunspear, a relic item from his tribe/lineage. It was found broken, but through the course of the game he's been able to repair it unlock certain features. Currently, it's a +2 spear that adds 2d6 radiant damage on a hit. He also has the Shield of the Hidden Lord, though that has been integrated into a Devil's Ride by Mad Maggie and fuels it without the use of soul coins. I'm not sure if it will be kept that way given his new fly speed, but also the DM rules that it only provides a +2 ac bonus as a shield, not the +4 bonus which I am almost certain it is meant to provide.

So that's the normal character and I have the option of returning with this character to the new Chains game. However, the DM also let me know that he made an error at the end of DiA. My character recovered Zariel's sword and attuned to it, and it transformed him, granting a bunch of buffs and changing his personality (though honestly the traits were similar). Anyways, this was a surprising and crazy buff at the time, but when Grexes gave Zariel back her sword to redeem her, the transformation ended. Except the DM has said that the change is permanent and irrevocable, so if I choose to play Grexes, it'd be this celestial version. Among other things, he'd have a 90ft fly speed, truesight out to 60ft, and a 20 charisma, which would grant him +5 to all saves due to his paladin aura (currently +2 to all saves).

This seems like a lot. As the end resolution to a character, it's okay. But to continue a campaign with it, I feel like I'd overshadow people. Bear in mind, I don't normally play overpowered characters, the barbarian is my favorite 5E class, and I take feats like Charger or choose Polearm Master and then decide I'm going to Dual Wield and invalidate half the polearm master feat lol. So maybe I'm overthinking this. But my group is not a high-powered group. To that end:

The reason Against the Giants is winding down is partly because the DM thinks we've become too powerful to realistically challenge. He allowed one player to switch over to the new 1D&D monk. The power boost was immediate and very noticeable. Another player started to grumble about how much the monk could do. Another player is a moon druid, and when he transforms into a fire elemental he's damaging enemies (and lighting them on fire) with his move action, his normal attack, and when they start their turn in his space. Coupled with damage resistance, he struggles against this as well. (This druid player also has trouble keeping track of his resources and I and the DM have to monitor him to make sure he's not using stuff he doesn't have access to.)

Anyway, point being is I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to play a flying lion angel with buff stats zipping around through hell fighting devils. It seems awesome. But given my group, I suspect it might be too much. Since my normal power level is baseline (IMO) I wonder if forum goers think I'm fretting over nothing, or if I should come to the game with a new character. (The DM likes the sacrifice the character made to recover the sword, so his preference is that if I play Grexes, I play the transformed Grexes.) (I should also note, the other party members have similar stats and magic items, so the part that is separate is the transformation from Zariel's sword that I feel is too much. Though it's no guarantee that they come with the same characters, and I'm not sure how the DM will handle character creation re magic items/bonus feats/etc. One player is for sure coming in with a new character and wants me to return with Grexes, presumably for roleplaying reasons.)

Please let me know your thoughts.

As an aside, I think we will be switching over to 1D&D during the campaign when the PHB is released. If this occurs, I won't be able to rage and smite at the same time, which sort of kills a big part of my combat strategy. Any thoughts on what to do if and when that happens? I've already cursed the devs in Seattle for terrible design choices; I mean other than that.

[Skrum]

Power-wise, I would trust the DM's judgement on this. They're starting a game with level 14 characters - ones with an entire campaign of loot and rewards under their belt to boot! I presume they know what they're getting in to.

In terms of what character to play, *always* play the heart pick. Any time I've made mechanical choices about playing character A over B, I've regretted it. I wanna RP what I wanna RP, and that's that.

If you're really into picking up Grexes again, go for it*. If not, roll up a new character.

*although, the switch to One sounds troublesome if you know it's going to mess with the mechanics of his build. That would strongly disposition me towards making a new character with the new rules in mind.

[Dr.Samurai]

Power-wise, I would trust the DM's judgement on this. They're starting a game with level 14 characters - ones with an entire campaign of loot and rewards under their belt to boot! I presume they know what they're getting in to.

In terms of what character to play, *always* play the heart pick. Any time I've made mechanical choices about playing character A over B, I've regretted it. I wanna RP what I wanna RP, and that's that.

If you're really into picking up Grexes again, go for it*. If not, roll up a new character.

Thanks Skrum.

Trusting the DM seems like a good point to make, since he is the one implementing this and would like to see Grexes return as well. That's half the party between him and the other player.

*although, the switch to One sounds troublesome if you know it's going to mess with the mechanics of his build. That would strongly disposition me towards making a new character with the new rules in mind.

Yeah, so I think it might be worth playing Grexes and waiting to see what the final iteration of the classes look like when the books come out. Then I may swap characters, or talk to the DM about allowing smites as is now.

[J-H]

I'd definitely ask the DM if any other characters are getting a similar buff.

[Dr.Samurai]

I'd definitely ask the DM if any other characters are getting a similar buff.

Thanks J-H!

I spoke with the DM and he's not too concerned about the power level difference, however he did forget the ability score boons and the bonus feats, so that was a good reminder for him that there would be an initial difference for new characters and he should take that into account during character creation and offer them something.

That said, we did sort of a pre-session 0 to get everyone's temperature on what characters they'd want to play for Chains. So it seems like 2 of the other 3 players want to bring back their original characters, so that makes it more a moot point. The 3rd player is not reprising his character (since I believe his arc was to discover that he's actually an evil SoB), but he is also the one that wants me to play Grexes, even with the power up.

Also, another player mentioned he didn't really see any interest in playing a 1D&D version of his character, so the DM is thinking about allowing us to sort of pick and choose, which might mean I can still do Barb/Paladin without losing smites while raging.

Any thoughts on progression going forward for the character? I'm strongly leaning towards the rest of the levels in paladin to get Prof bonus to Initiative and immunity to Frightened. However the idea of dipping warlock for Eldritch Blast and shooting laser beams out of my eyes while I fly around is incredibly tempting as well.