I said this in the video but edited it out due to length. Should have left it in! For those saying you can't use Eldritch Blast with War Caster because it can potentially target multiple enemies, I offer exhibit A: "The 3rd benefit of War Caster requires you to target only the moving creature. Eldritch blast works as long as all the beams target it." twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/908469121502736384?lang=en Also, Errata: Ranged attacks aren't made with disadvantage if the enemy is incapacitated, so we *would* have advantage still if using Hold Monster, as Paralyze incapacitates :).
Oh that’s great flavoring. Imagine your buddies not hearing that a fireball is being cast and you the target don’t have magic to counter spell it. Ouch.
@@nathanfivecoate5848You could multiclass to get it, or use a similar spell like hunger of hadar. He was giving an example of a cool situation. No need to be so nitpicky.
I've always thought of material component pouches to be a well organized belt with dozens of accessible pockets so a caster can quickly grab what they're looking for by muscle memory
For me is something like Goblin’s Slayer Pouch. Organized with a bunch of little bags with notch codes for tactile ID with all material components for the spell inside.
I always thought a good concept for a Goolock was the idea that "Dwarves always dig too deep", maybe customized origin (for that feat), a dwarven miner that encounters mindflayers in the deep underdark. Bald, with a massive scar around his head from brain removal and his beard ghostly tentacles instead of bristles. What madness has he survived, whose brain now dwells in his cranium?
I really like the preambles on these videos. They help build anticipation, as well as appreciation for your thought process behind the build. Plus, it's more time to enjoy the -ASMR- sound of your voice.
I’ve allowed features that are typically activated on a bonus action to be used as action since for many years. It started after the first 5e Eberron sourcebook was released and I had a shifter barb at my table that wanted to rage and shift in the same turn. Seemed fine to me and I’ve yet to run into any problems all these years later
41:45 Big Hold Monster Buff (and Shadow of moil buff potentially) that you didn't get into... So you know, you do not have disadvantage on ranged attacks with an enemy within 5 feet if they are incapacitated (paralyzed means incapacitated as well) or cannot see you (Heavily obscured/invisible). "Ranged Attacks in Close Combat" Section of PHB is where it is detailed!
1:00:32 I love that your reaction was recorded when you realised that you can't take War Caster before you are able to cast spells. Blew my mind as well. Too bad for Paladins and Rangers.
I played a warlock built around the war caster and pole arm master feat, with a reach pole arm you can be eldritch blasting anytime someone tries to get close to you and partnered with repelling blast it was based around getting things away from it
Ordercleric allows you to, at lvl 6 cast an enchsntment spell as a bonus action. This means dissonant whispers, which you can get from fey touched, combined with thornwhip and spiritguardians is pretty cool
alternatively mix it with this build to make this same idea, slightly lower damage perhaps, but way higher reliability. suddenly you get amazing nova and amazing sustain at the same time
Python, The Princess Bride, and Eddie Izzard references… sometimes I swear you make these videos just for me! Great episode Colby!! My “best” Warlock build… Dao Genie Warlock/Sorcerer/Fighter Warcaster Feat Polearm Master Feat Crusher Feat Repelling Blast Invocation Nova Round: (10th level) Enemy comes into range, trips Polearm Master for a Reaction hit, but using Warcaster Feat for Eldritch Blast. First blast adds Bludgeoning damage, triggering Crusher, moving them 5 feet in the air, Repelling Blast moving them 10 more feet in the air. Second blast sends them 10 more feet. Quickened Eldritch Blast= 20 more feet. Action Surge= 20 more feet…. Best case scenario: 6d10+34 Plus 6d6 falling damage Plus 6d6 for Hex spell. Super condensed explanation, lol, but I think the gist of it is there.
Great video as always! Regarding the Hold Monster and being within 5 feet situation at 41:43, this is what it says in chapter 9 of the PHB: "Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated." So if they are paralyzed, which means they are incapacitated, being within 5 feet of them wouldn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls. I would agree that it still wouldn't be better in this situation, so this is just for future reference.
Before I watch, I'm guessing that this build is going to be an eldritch blast build that uses warcaster, polearm master, and crossbow expert to great effect! (On thr basis the short this week was about warcaster)
The idea being that polearm master let's you make an attack of opportunity with your reaction when an opponent enters your melee range (note it does not specificy what attack you can make, you just need to hold a quarterstaff), then use warcaster to cast a spell using an attack of opportunity and choose eldritch blast, and with crossbow expert your ranged attack doesn't have disadvantage even if the enemy is in melee range!!! Combine this insanity with repelling blast and every time a nasty brute walks up to you for an attack you can push them back anywhere from 10~40 ft!!! Definitely deserves an episode
I 100% just always thought it was like the bag of holding. I mean this is MAGIC we're talking so delving deep into the practicality of it all is just a bit silly to begin with lol
I just started working with opportunity attack spell casting when your short for this episode went up. You often hit the same wavelength as my theory crafting and I always love your take on the same subject.
I just spent hours yesterday trying to optimize a build almost exactly like this, but couldn't figure out how to put it together. I hadn't considered dissonant whispers. Luckily for me you read my mind xD
in the big damage dice example. they are sacrificing AC to have a free hand when not attacking you can do that too if you wield one weapon and no shield.
Just wanted to drop a balance concern on bonus action as an action. Animate objects is a bonus action. So with action surge you could animate objects attack 3 times in a turn.
For the somatic gestures with the focus, i interpret it (as did 3e spells and in 3.5 if you had somatic weaponry feat) that the somatic components when holding a focus or material are done with the items (the priest swinging the censer or moving the holy symbol around to draw a holy sign, the wizard swinging the wand or staff in the air making glyphs that alter the weave, etc), not as doing air fingering while thumb gripping the object. As for the component pouch, i always saw it as a audio guys wire+mic bag or (one of the really old unsafe) chiefs knife wraps, where its essentially organized easy access pull pockets.
Work is beating me down today... Really enjoyed listen to this I'm one ear while slogging through the non-sense... Got a bard build I might play with this concept..
Zargon has quite a lot of tentacles (like 16, or something around it) himself, instead of arms. Also, forced movement is probably the term for enemy being pushed or pulled. When enemy is afraid, he moves on his own.
I see either a cowboy with a arcane focus size shooter that unloads his whole clip in a glorious round of damage. Or I see a flavored Gilgamesh from fate type of character who summons portals with floating swords (flavored eldritch blast) as as he gains levels can open more and more portals and throw more and more swords at the enemy. Swords shatter on hit and return to the ether which is why they do force damage instead of their normal damage
Ok so if you action surge(or use a regular action) and cast the dissonant whispers you can reaction cast scorching ray. With this model I'm pretty sure you should still be able to action surge and also quicken a cantrip, provided the quickened cast happens last.
I found your rant about not multiclassing sorcerer dripping with comical irony. I was going to congratulate you on sticking with one class and you preceed to explain you will be multiclassing to a different class hahaha
51:39 The bonus action spell rule only applies to actions. If you misty step and someone counter spells, you can counter-counter spell and get away as an example
I feel like the power from this build is its sustain. You can perform this nova damage every turn for a minute on just a single spell slot, which means you can go 2 encounters between short rests instead of the usuial 1
As a person who's been playing a mage his entire life of fantasy. I can tell you how the material component pouches work. They're basically Batman's utility belt. A little separate compartment for every single item that he needs to cast a spell with. And though 5E says it's an actual pouch I prefer to think of it as a series of pockets sewn into my robes cloaks hats bracers and boots As well as the affirmation pouch that holds everything I need in a convenient way I need to get to it and whatever just do I need to make is closest to.
For what it’s worth (in reference to your introductions), I really do feel welcome to this channel. Each build has great research and insight, while maintaining the emphasis on “this just A way, not THE way”. I’ve referenced multiple builds from this channel when exploring builds of my own, and I sincerely appreciate what you do here. Thanks Colby!
Given that rogues can off-turn sneak attack through a number of means, the turn demarcation has to be "the period in which the character is moving or taking actions" so the leveled spell as a reaction would be perfectly fine at my table.
My understanding of "the same hand that holds the material components can be the one that performs the somatic components" is that, on spells that have both, the somatic components are significantly simpler than spells that are only somatic, or somatic and verbal. Ie, when they were created, the creator had in mind that it would require both, and so the somatic components are able to be performed with materials in hand
During the time the caster uses to prepare after a long rest, he or she gathers the components for that spell together and bundles then in some object to hold them (a piece of cloth, or parchment). They then place that bundle in their component pouch. The caster uses the focus and draws the arcane symbols in the air as they are holding the bundle of components. Ta Da.
Posting this about halfway through vid but you could grasp of hadar when they leave your aoo and pull them back in to make sure they are taking the spirit shroud damage. If you have lance of lethargy, they move 10, provoke, pulled back 10, and reduce speed by 10, they end within reach range and took full damage.
It's been confirmed that action surge can allow you to ignore the one leveled spell per turn rule. So, that would allow for a BA blast, Dissonant whisper, Surge, Scorching Ray. But, personally, I'd forgo the whisper and just hit them with BA blast, Scorching Ray, surge Scorching Ray. Assuming, Spirit Shroud and lvl 17, that's 4d10+32d8+24d6+20. So, about ≈300 average just on statistics. Not including the exceptionally fancy math you use for yours.
Instead of using Warcaster on a Two-weapon or sword&board gish, you can also use a Ruby of the War Mage (common magic item in Xanathar's) which will turn any weapon into a spellcasting focus. Unfortunately it does require an attunement slot though.
Speaking of powercreep, if you stake Lorehold Student as your back ground (from Strixhaven) you get Dissonant Whispers added to your spell list, leaving you free to take one of the better warlock pacts. So you'll not only get a good feat as part of your background, you won't be handcuffed to GOO.
2:38 I would assume in the preparation of spells you have spots to get at quicker. So when preparing a spell you would rememorise the verbal and somatic aspects of the spell and place the material components in easier to reach spots that you can get at them without having to really even look cause how many different material components could you really need in the preparation of spells at early levels. 2 maybe 4 at most and thats pushing it
From a purely optimizational standpoint I would think that taking your 1st level in Sorcerer would be a superior choice. Even even if you went right into warlock after that. The Con Save proficiency, additional cantrips. Not to mention a couple of extra first level spell slots, with the ability to have Shield and Absorb Elements seems worth it in my opinion. As a wise man once said, you can't do damage if you're dead. 😁 This route substantially increases your survivability. Honestly I think I would try a Custom Lineage Aberrant Mind Sorcerer/ Hexblade Combination. I honestly believe it's a superior choice. I will just mention 3 things with regards to this build. Medium armor and shield proficiency as well as Con Save proficiency by level 2. Expanded Sorcerer Spell List. I understand you are building this with one of the expressed goals being to make a optimized GOO Lock. I'm also aware of your well known (& often commented on 😋) proclivity of using Hexblade. But upon hearing your build my Inclination was to think of how to optimize your build without that goal & self imposed limitation.
Correction: you only have a disadvantage on ranged attacks when an enemy who *isn't incapacitated* is within 5 feet of you. So hold monster eldritch blast for free advantage (and crit) is a working combo
Material components at my tables are not consumed upon spellcasting. The way I imagine it working is that when a spellcaster learns a new spell, they take the components and make a little talisman out of it, and the talisman becomes a part of their adventuring gear. So, a wizard learns Fireball. He may take the gum arabic, sulphur, and bat guano and put them all in a small leather pouch that he wears around his neck, or dangles it from his belt or spellcasting focus, and when he casts the spell, he manipulates the arcane talisman as part of the somatic component. In this way, the players get some control over the way their character organizes all of their stuff, and it gets them thinking about the actual processes behind spellcasting, without all the hassle and downtime work of continually refreshing their consumable components.
Crawford has said that when you have a weapon with reach, you can't use that reach to spell thanks to the warcaster feat, the reach is only to be used by that same weapon that gives reach. In other words, we can only cast eldritch blast when we are within 5 feets and it generates an oportunity attack.
Great Old One Warlock was my first ever D&D Character so I'm happy to see you doing a video on it Colby! Should be interesting to see how you've built it compared to me (I went with more of a support and control playstyle with spells like Hypnotic Pattern)
A bit late but I'm pretty sure there's a tweet from Crawford saying that Quicken Spell only affects your action, if you have a 2nd action from Action Surge you can cast another levelled spell as the 2nd Action and you can also ise your Reaction to cast a levelled spell even if you've cast a Quickened levelled spell
You could do Tharizdun and have a chain whip theme. You could drag it behind you making spooky chain rattling noises and have it made from links of decreasing size with rusty hooks/blades on the end 😱
It's ruled that you can both cast a full spell, and counter spell another creatures counter spell on your own turn. So I don't see why we couldn't both cast dissonant whispers and take a reaction with scorching ray.
Casting a bonus action spell means you cannot cast another leveled spell on your turn. You can cast a spell as an action, and counterspell on same turn, but no bonus action spell+counterspell.
@@josephyungman9599 Sage Advice Compendium page 12 has this to say about casting reaction counterspell in addition to fireball on a given turn: "Can you also cast a reaction spell on your turn? You sure can! Here’s a common way for it to happen: Cornelius the wizard is casting fireball on his turn, and his foe casts counterspell on him. Cornelius has counterspell prepared, so he uses his reaction to cast it and break his foe’s counterspell before it can stop fireball."
@@Erothaur Right - I think the point is, Fireball isn't being cast with your Bonus Action. Casting a spell with your Bonus Action is the problem. So, theoretically, if you were to get Counterspelled on... Misty Step, you couldn't counter it because it's still your turn and you used your BA to cast a spell. I don't love the rule/interpretation, but I think it's a valid one.
I ruled for players that wanted to use components that 1. They would need to RP collecting certain materials, or at-least talk to a shop keeper/other magicians in the field about where to find certain materials. They don't necessarily have to, but they found it fun. 2. The Reason the Component Pouch itself is so expensive is because it is effectively a minature sized bag of holding. It contains a number of useful pockets inside, but can only fit small mundane items such as watches, gemstones, and maybe some coin if it's really required. They've sometimes tried to hide vast amounts of gold inside, but a little bit of a hint that as they stuff it to the gills, I tell them they start seeing the bag beginning to look fuller and stretching as the seems spread thinner. And Viola, they suddenly stop thinking it's a bag of holding.
Creative use for voice of the old one. While play rise of tiamat, I used voice and control fire to make a clan of kobold think that I wad a voice of tiamat and turned them against the human cultists. Was able to start a battle between the two groups that let our party easy sneak in and rescue some prisoners. Also I highly recommend 1 lvl Goo for any moon druid because then you have telepathy to talk with party when wildshaped.
55:12 yes, I allow that house rule in my games. Just looking at it from temporal technical issues, a bonus action takes less time to perform than an action does, therefore it makes perfect sense that a character should be able to sacrifice their action to instead take a bonus action. As to power balancing issues in that regard it honestly hasn't even been used very much in my games so I can't really make an authoritative statement on that at all. But I'm not aware of anything that would make it too overpowered.
On the subject of your rant I mostly agree. However a PC doesn't have to powerful in its own right - it is a team game so even a terrible PC on their own can be an excellent addition to the team. And in many cases its more important the PC is fun to play than it is strictly the most effective anyway - and lots of the most fun PCs are the ones with weird, niche or wide spread of skills, while they also tend to be good for the team as they have stuff nobody else has a good solution for.
41:54 actually, if your target is incapacitated, as they would be from hold monster, you don’t have disadvantage on your ranged attacks within 5 feet :)
Hang on... "When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated." - Eureka! Thanks for the reminder :).
We have always let players substitute bonus actions for actions if they want to use say bladesong and hex during the same round. I personally don’t see a issue with it, the same amount of resources are being expended but they usually miss their attacks so I believe it balances out.
In the PHB under opportunity attacks it states that "You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction.", so agreeing with Jeremy Crawfords ruling is not required, as it is right in the core rules. I am not sure of the page number, as I used Dnd Beyond to check the rules.
Here is what I'd likely do. I'd go Aberrant Mind Sorcerer first. All the way to getting Summon Aberration. Then I'd use Dissonant Whispers to force an enemy away from my summon, getting an extra hit in. Then I'd pick up two levels of Hexblade for Curse and Eldridch Blast with Agonizing Blast. This is a sustained damage build with some extra burst capability, you and your summon stand next to an enemy and you hit it with Dissonant Whispers to get an opportunity attack from both of you. You use the whip so you can make it at 10'. Both your summon and yourself also benefit from the curse. You can also quicken Eldridch Blast.
[RAW] [reaction] [leveled spell] Hi Coby, RAW leveled spell as reaction is okay (correct me if I am wrong): - Basicly all reaction spells are leveled spells! (shield, counter spell, feather fall, absorb el., ...). - Most of the time (PCs having better initiative than NPCs), reaction "turn" is after your turn, which means, you likely already cast a leveled spell, and you are always allowed to cast shield after your turn if you are attacked and have reaction (and slot). I dont see any doubt this is not RAW, so reaction Scorching Ray is fine.
RE: Dissonant Whispers Opp Attacks; you don't need to link a tweet, it's in the Official Sage Advice Compendium: *Similarly, dissonant whispers requires the target to move using its reaction (if available), so that activity also provokes opportunity attacks. In contrast, a creature that's pushed by a gust of wind spell does not provoke opportunity attacks.*
Totally unrelated, but seeing this video got me in the mood to type up some character creation! Been playing around with beast barbarians ever since your video last week. I thought, what is the best way to take advantage of the higher number of attacks with the BIG caveat that I can't use concentration? I settled on ghost slayer blood hunter, which allows for an extra 2d4 (at level 6, 2d6 for level 9, going up to eventually 3d8 for level 17) to our attacks. Starting off with the dual wielder feat to use our claws on a bonus action, at level 6 wed be barbarian 3/ blood hunter 3 that leaves us doing three attacks at advantage per turn, all of which do 1d6+2d4+5 damage. At level 9 wed continue with all blood hunter levels to be doing four attacks per turn doing 3d6+6. After this, pick up two levels in spore druid to get another 1d6 to our attacks, meaning at level 13 we'd be barbarian 3/ blood hunter 8/ druid 2 doing 4d6+7 per attack for four attacks per turn all at advantage. At 10 AC its low tier 1 high tier 2, but at 18 AC this is only outperformed ONLY by the Cheese grater. Finally at level 17 we'd be barbarian 3/ bloodhunter 11/ druid 3 to boost our hemocraft die and get another roll of it due to our subclass. that means were doing 2d6 + 3d8 + 7 for four attacks at advantage. This only gets outperformed by bladesinger and cheesegrater at almost all ACs. Of course you could pick up three levels here instead to get champion and crit fish with all these attacks and extra damage dice, but I didn't crunch the numbers to compare. Of course, there is a big bonus action dependency with this build. First a bonus action to rage. And then, a bonus action to activate crimson rite as we can't do it ahead of time because we have to have the claws out. Depending on your DM, they might make you activate it twice, one for each claw as RAW it only targets one claw. I do love the image of a wolverine type character that hunts ghosts with claws that glow brightly though...
Hey colby, first tings first, I love your videos, great job as usual ! Now, i'm here to nitpick a little : I follow your channel with assiduity, and i think i watch every video, and i know you used spirit shroud more than one time. And except if memory fails me, I don't think you EVEr considered that spirit shroud inflict damage to enemy within 10ft of you, so every time you use it and rush back an opponent, it will really rarely be better than hex, because you have disadvantage attacking a target within 5 ft, and a target after 10ft doesn't take the additionnal damage. Can you pleas precise it in your videos ? Here, rant over ! ^^ Still, i love your work (and Tales of Aneria rocks !) Edit: 49:12 ok you said it, nevermind (but maybe put a little more emphasis on it when you get the spell in your builds , so people like me can remember it ^^)
Good news😊 if you use hold monster they are incapacitated and therefore range spells don’t have disadvantage!! So go ahead and get all those eldritch blasts in with all the extra crit damage!!!
I said this in the video but edited it out due to length. Should have left it in! For those saying you can't use Eldritch Blast with War Caster because it can potentially target multiple enemies, I offer exhibit A: "The 3rd benefit of War Caster requires you to target only the moving creature. Eldritch blast works as long as all the beams target it." twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/908469121502736384?lang=en
Also, Errata: Ranged attacks aren't made with disadvantage if the enemy is incapacitated, so we *would* have advantage still if using Hold Monster, as Paralyze incapacitates :).
Yep. The wording is very specifically different from the wording of Twinned Spell’s requirement of being entirely unable to target multiple creatures
Different kind of question, is hex worth it over darkness at early levels since it could give disadvantage to wisdom for dissonant whispers
@@shorsetheoneandonly2095 Hex gives disadvantage on checks not saves.
Just a thought, u should Pin this comment so it stays at the top of the comment section
@@shorsetheoneandonly2095 alas - it wouldn’t affect Wisdom saves only Ability checks 😢
I love the idea of another character asking the warlock what the whip is for since the warlock never actually attacks with it.
Coolness factor, obviously. Big Indiana Jones fan.
@@DnDDeepDive *pulls out gun and shoots swordsman
Edit: the gun is EB
@@bigaj6901 rofl
'For Role Play'
@@Crestlinger2 oh shit that’s a good one 😂
We have the rule at our table that goo warlocks are allowed to use awakened mind for verbal components, so only your target hears you cast
I love this. It's sooooo sinister
Oh that’s great flavoring. Imagine your buddies not hearing that a fireball is being cast and you the target don’t have magic to counter spell it. Ouch.
@@knightghaleonGOO locks don't get fireball
Sorcerer multiclass@@nathanfivecoate5848
@@nathanfivecoate5848You could multiclass to get it, or use a similar spell like hunger of hadar. He was giving an example of a cool situation. No need to be so nitpicky.
I love Tuesdays because of this
This is literally the highlight of my Tuesdays at work
Theres a schedule!?
@@k0pstl939 Every Tuesday!
Same, Tuesdays are when I start work, so they used to be my mondays, now they’re awesome
I feel ya. I got laid off yesterday and this helped a lot.
I can already tell we'll have a blast with this build.
I shouldn't laugh.. haha
Hehe
Badum, tssss
Several, even.
Ba dum tss!
I've always thought of material component pouches to be a well organized belt with dozens of accessible pockets so a caster can quickly grab what they're looking for by muscle memory
For me is something like Goblin’s Slayer Pouch. Organized with a bunch of little bags with notch codes for tactile ID with all material components for the spell inside.
My head canon is now that spell component pouches are basically Batman's utility belt
@@JayskaTeag or a speed rack for a bartender
Spellcasters all have ziplock bags full of the appropriate amount of each spell's materials carefully measured for easy access.
The Eldritch Whisperer: d4 #113
Level 1:(see above) [warlock 1, patron & race]
Level 2:(see above) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations]
Level 3:(@19:39) [warlock 3 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@22:25) [warlock 4 & ASI]
Level 5:(@25:58) [fighter 1 & fighting-style]
Level 6:(@28:19) [fighter 2]
Level 7:(see above) [warlock 5]
Level 8:(@36:35) [warlock 6]
Level 9:(@37:10) [warlock 7]
Level 10:(see above) [warlock 8 & ASI]
Level 11:(@40:02) [warlock 9]
Level 12:(@43:53) [sorcerer 1 & sub-class]
Level 13:(@47:36) [sorcerer 2]
Level 14:(see above) [sorcerer 3]
Level 15:(@53:01) [sorcerer 4 & ASI]
Level 16:(@53:16) [sorcerer 5]
Level 17:(@53:34) [sorcerer 6]
I always thought a good concept for a Goolock was the idea that "Dwarves always dig too deep", maybe customized origin (for that feat), a dwarven miner that encounters mindflayers in the deep underdark. Bald, with a massive scar around his head from brain removal and his beard ghostly tentacles instead of bristles. What madness has he survived, whose brain now dwells in his cranium?
I LOVE this idea!!!!
@@DerrickBarrows chur bro! feel free to use it and add more ideas, how deep can the dwarves go? all the way to the 9 layers of hell?
I love this so much!!!!
@@אלעדמנור chur!
Duergar is definitely the dwarf race to use for this
I really like the preambles on these videos. They help build anticipation, as well as appreciation for your thought process behind the build.
Plus, it's more time to enjoy the -ASMR- sound of your voice.
If you keep adding to your spreadsheets, they might become a Great Old One due to all the vast forbidden knowledge contained within
Spaghetti Code becomes Flying Spaghetti Monster
I’ve allowed features that are typically activated on a bonus action to be used as action since for many years. It started after the first 5e Eberron sourcebook was released and I had a shifter barb at my table that wanted to rage and shift in the same turn. Seemed fine to me and I’ve yet to run into any problems all these years later
41:45 Big Hold Monster Buff (and Shadow of moil buff potentially) that you didn't get into... So you know, you do not have disadvantage on ranged attacks with an enemy within 5 feet if they are incapacitated (paralyzed means incapacitated as well) or cannot see you (Heavily obscured/invisible). "Ranged Attacks in Close Combat" Section of PHB is where it is detailed!
truth! pinned an errata comment on this.
Dissonant whispers is SUCH an amazing spell. Just has so many things going for it.
1:00:32 I love that your reaction was recorded when you realised that you can't take War Caster before you are able to cast spells. Blew my mind as well. Too bad for Paladins and Rangers.
I played a warlock built around the war caster and pole arm master feat, with a reach pole arm you can be eldritch blasting anytime someone tries to get close to you and partnered with repelling blast it was based around getting things away from it
ELDRITCH BLAST IS LIFE, ELDRITCH BLAST IS LOVE.
Day 1 hoping to see a DPR Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger
Btw great job man, love your videos thanks for all the content ❤
Thanks - on the to do list!
Are counting the actual number of days or the number of videos? So will next Tuesday be day 8 or day 2?
@@HSuper_Lee day 2 I think
Ah yes the DDR build. The Death Dance Revolution build. Passion is definitely an intelligence skill.
Good timing! I'm just about to finish Treantmonks video from today. A solid 1hour 20minutes of D&D content!
saaaame
Literally the same here lol
Ordercleric allows you to, at lvl 6 cast an enchsntment spell as a bonus action. This means dissonant whispers, which you can get from fey touched, combined with thornwhip and spiritguardians is pretty cool
alternatively mix it with this build to make this same idea, slightly lower damage perhaps, but way higher reliability. suddenly you get amazing nova and amazing sustain at the same time
Yeah even without Order cleric, fey touched alone to get dissonant whispers seems much better than going into bard for it.
Hoping for Episode 117 we get a cool Spartan themed build (Masterchief ftw)
Colby, I need a weapon.
Shield master?
Honestly probably a monk fighter
Another build that uses a whip? The Great Pumpkin has heard my prayer!🎃
Python, The Princess Bride, and Eddie Izzard references… sometimes I swear you make these videos just for me!
Great episode Colby!!
My “best” Warlock build…
Dao Genie Warlock/Sorcerer/Fighter
Warcaster Feat
Polearm Master Feat
Crusher Feat
Repelling Blast Invocation
Nova Round: (10th level)
Enemy comes into range, trips Polearm Master for a Reaction hit, but using Warcaster Feat for Eldritch Blast. First blast adds Bludgeoning damage, triggering Crusher, moving them 5 feet in the air, Repelling Blast moving them 10 more feet in the air. Second blast sends them 10 more feet. Quickened Eldritch Blast= 20 more feet. Action Surge= 20 more feet…. Best case scenario: 6d10+34 Plus 6d6 falling damage Plus 6d6 for Hex spell. Super condensed explanation, lol, but I think the gist of it is there.
Great video as always!
Regarding the Hold Monster and being within 5 feet situation at 41:43, this is what it says in chapter 9 of the PHB:
"Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated." So if they are paralyzed, which means they are incapacitated, being within 5 feet of them wouldn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls. I would agree that it still wouldn't be better in this situation, so this is just for future reference.
Before I watch, I'm guessing that this build is going to be an eldritch blast build that uses warcaster, polearm master, and crossbow expert to great effect! (On thr basis the short this week was about warcaster)
The idea being that polearm master let's you make an attack of opportunity with your reaction when an opponent enters your melee range (note it does not specificy what attack you can make, you just need to hold a quarterstaff), then use warcaster to cast a spell using an attack of opportunity and choose eldritch blast, and with crossbow expert your ranged attack doesn't have disadvantage even if the enemy is in melee range!!! Combine this insanity with repelling blast and every time a nasty brute walks up to you for an attack you can push them back anywhere from 10~40 ft!!! Definitely deserves an episode
@@JFKwentAFK_ But so many more feats required! And you still only have one reaction per round :(.
@@DnDDeepDive Yeah it's definitely worse in the Nova damage comparison... bested again by Colby, your too smart!!!
Watching your vids during my lunch brake on Wednesday is one one of the best moment of the week.
Thanks Cory
I 100% just always thought it was like the bag of holding. I mean this is MAGIC we're talking so delving deep into the practicality of it all is just a bit silly to begin with lol
I just started working with opportunity attack spell casting when your short for this episode went up. You often hit the same wavelength as my theory crafting and I always love your take on the same subject.
I want a Colby meme in the khaaaaaaannnn style, yelling warcaster. Go!
Awakened mind or any telepathic ability + charm person and other stuff like that makes it work on a wide range of creatures.
I just spent hours yesterday trying to optimize a build almost exactly like this, but couldn't figure out how to put it together. I hadn't considered dissonant whispers. Luckily for me you read my mind xD
in the big damage dice example. they are sacrificing AC to have a free hand when not attacking you can do that too if you wield one weapon and no shield.
Just wanted to drop a balance concern on bonus action as an action. Animate objects is a bonus action. So with action surge you could animate objects attack 3 times in a turn.
For the somatic gestures with the focus, i interpret it (as did 3e spells and in 3.5 if you had somatic weaponry feat) that the somatic components when holding a focus or material are done with the items (the priest swinging the censer or moving the holy symbol around to draw a holy sign, the wizard swinging the wand or staff in the air making glyphs that alter the weave, etc), not as doing air fingering while thumb gripping the object.
As for the component pouch, i always saw it as a audio guys wire+mic bag or (one of the really old unsafe) chiefs knife wraps, where its essentially organized easy access pull pockets.
Work is beating me down today... Really enjoyed listen to this I'm one ear while slogging through the non-sense... Got a bard build I might play with this concept..
Zargon has quite a lot of tentacles (like 16, or something around it) himself, instead of arms.
Also, forced movement is probably the term for enemy being pushed or pulled. When enemy is afraid, he moves on his own.
I see either a cowboy with a arcane focus size shooter that unloads his whole clip in a glorious round of damage. Or I see a flavored Gilgamesh from fate type of character who summons portals with floating swords (flavored eldritch blast) as as he gains levels can open more and more portals and throw more and more swords at the enemy. Swords shatter on hit and return to the ether which is why they do force damage instead of their normal damage
Ok so if you action surge(or use a regular action) and cast the dissonant whispers you can reaction cast scorching ray.
With this model I'm pretty sure you should still be able to action surge and also quicken a cantrip, provided the quickened cast happens last.
I found your rant about not multiclassing sorcerer dripping with comical irony. I was going to congratulate you on sticking with one class and you preceed to explain you will be multiclassing to a different class hahaha
51:39 The bonus action spell rule only applies to actions. If you misty step and someone counter spells, you can counter-counter spell and get away as an example
*Talks about somatic components 'On the one hand...' good one!
I totally thought you'd be blasting with goo
I feel like the power from this build is its sustain. You can perform this nova damage every turn for a minute on just a single spell slot, which means you can go 2 encounters between short rests instead of the usuial 1
As a person who's been playing a mage his entire life of fantasy. I can tell you how the material component pouches work. They're basically Batman's utility belt. A little separate compartment for every single item that he needs to cast a spell with. And though 5E says it's an actual pouch I prefer to think of it as a series of pockets sewn into my robes cloaks hats bracers and boots As well as the affirmation pouch that holds everything I need in a convenient way I need to get to it and whatever just do I need to make is closest to.
This whip/tentacle thing is looking like Slaanesh worship!
I don't know how it took me so long to find this channel. Will definitely binge your other videos.
Don't necessarily love Colby yelling at me every time I say "Hang on a minute...". This guy is good.
For what it’s worth (in reference to your introductions), I really do feel welcome to this channel. Each build has great research and insight, while maintaining the emphasis on “this just A way, not THE way”. I’ve referenced multiple builds from this channel when exploring builds of my own, and I sincerely appreciate what you do here. Thanks Colby!
Given that rogues can off-turn sneak attack through a number of means, the turn demarcation has to be "the period in which the character is moving or taking actions" so the leveled spell as a reaction would be perfectly fine at my table.
My understanding of "the same hand that holds the material components can be the one that performs the somatic components" is that, on spells that have both, the somatic components are significantly simpler than spells that are only somatic, or somatic and verbal. Ie, when they were created, the creator had in mind that it would require both, and so the somatic components are able to be performed with materials in hand
During the time the caster uses to prepare after a long rest, he or she gathers the components for that spell together and bundles then in some object to hold them (a piece of cloth, or parchment). They then place that bundle in their component pouch. The caster uses the focus and draws the arcane symbols in the air as they are holding the bundle of components. Ta Da.
Posting this about halfway through vid but you could grasp of hadar when they leave your aoo and pull them back in to make sure they are taking the spirit shroud damage. If you have lance of lethargy, they move 10, provoke, pulled back 10, and reduce speed by 10, they end within reach range and took full damage.
It's been confirmed that action surge can allow you to ignore the one leveled spell per turn rule. So, that would allow for a BA blast, Dissonant whisper, Surge, Scorching Ray. But, personally, I'd forgo the whisper and just hit them with BA blast, Scorching Ray, surge Scorching Ray. Assuming, Spirit Shroud and lvl 17, that's 4d10+32d8+24d6+20. So, about ≈300 average just on statistics. Not including the exceptionally fancy math you use for yours.
Instead of using Warcaster on a Two-weapon or sword&board gish, you can also use a Ruby of the War Mage (common magic item in Xanathar's) which will turn any weapon into a spellcasting focus. Unfortunately it does require an attunement slot though.
I’d like to see you what you can pull off building a character around the catapult spell. Throwing nets or throwing vials of acid etc.
Speaking of powercreep, if you stake Lorehold Student as your back ground (from Strixhaven) you get Dissonant Whispers added to your spell list, leaving you free to take one of the better warlock pacts. So you'll not only get a good feat as part of your background, you won't be handcuffed to GOO.
Yes, i completely agree, that is the perfect spot for a Monty Python reference...
2:38 I would assume in the preparation of spells you have spots to get at quicker. So when preparing a spell you would rememorise the verbal and somatic aspects of the spell and place the material components in easier to reach spots that you can get at them without having to really even look cause how many different material components could you really need in the preparation of spells at early levels. 2 maybe 4 at most and thats pushing it
I allowed replacing an action with a bonus action once, but the bonus action power my player was using was really powerful.
I play a lot of Call of Cthulhu, the idea of stealing a great old one's tentacule terrifies me 😂
Faced Cthulhu and escaped with your life? We need a backstory that is believable! 🤣
He was feeling generous :)
Respectfully, don't bring this character to my table. But you are always welcome at my table.
because im nocturnal, episodes always come out like an hour before i end up going to sleep. always nice to listen to while i drift off
From a purely optimizational standpoint I would think that taking your 1st level in Sorcerer would be a superior choice. Even even if you went right into warlock after that. The Con Save proficiency, additional cantrips. Not to mention a couple of extra first level spell slots, with the ability to have Shield and Absorb Elements seems worth it in my opinion. As a wise man once said, you can't do damage if you're dead. 😁 This route substantially increases your survivability.
Honestly I think I would try a Custom Lineage Aberrant Mind Sorcerer/ Hexblade Combination. I honestly believe it's a superior choice. I will just mention 3 things with regards to this build. Medium armor and shield proficiency as well as Con Save proficiency by level 2. Expanded Sorcerer Spell List.
I understand you are building this with one of the expressed goals being to make a optimized GOO Lock. I'm also aware of your well known (& often commented on 😋) proclivity of using Hexblade. But upon hearing your build my Inclination was to think of how to optimize your build without that goal & self imposed limitation.
Correction: you only have a disadvantage on ranged attacks when an enemy who *isn't incapacitated* is within 5 feet of you. So hold monster eldritch blast for free advantage (and crit) is a working combo
Material components at my tables are not consumed upon spellcasting. The way I imagine it working is that when a spellcaster learns a new spell, they take the components and make a little talisman out of it, and the talisman becomes a part of their adventuring gear. So, a wizard learns Fireball. He may take the gum arabic, sulphur, and bat guano and put them all in a small leather pouch that he wears around his neck, or dangles it from his belt or spellcasting focus, and when he casts the spell, he manipulates the arcane talisman as part of the somatic component. In this way, the players get some control over the way their character organizes all of their stuff, and it gets them thinking about the actual processes behind spellcasting, without all the hassle and downtime work of continually refreshing their consumable components.
Crawford has said that when you have a weapon with reach, you can't use that reach to spell thanks to the warcaster feat, the reach is only to be used by that same weapon that gives reach. In other words, we can only cast eldritch blast when we are within 5 feets and it generates an oportunity attack.
Great Old One Warlock was my first ever D&D Character so I'm happy to see you doing a video on it Colby! Should be interesting to see how you've built it compared to me (I went with more of a support and control playstyle with spells like Hypnotic Pattern)
A bit late but I'm pretty sure there's a tweet from Crawford saying that Quicken Spell only affects your action, if you have a 2nd action from Action Surge you can cast another levelled spell as the 2nd Action and you can also ise your Reaction to cast a levelled spell even if you've cast a Quickened levelled spell
You could do Tharizdun and have a chain whip theme. You could drag it behind you making spooky chain rattling noises and have it made from links of decreasing size with rusty hooks/blades on the end 😱
Just got called out for skipping the preamble 😬Sorryyyy, I'll play this one from the beginning, I promise
Ha ha - you are forgiven! :)
Shields come in both held and strapped-on varieties and DND 5e doesn’t specify. So a strapped-on shield would leave your hand free!
Another great build!
The tentacle whip idea reminds me of Eberron. I think there was a similar magic item in one of the books
It's ruled that you can both cast a full spell, and counter spell another creatures counter spell on your own turn. So I don't see why we couldn't both cast dissonant whispers and take a reaction with scorching ray.
Casting a bonus action spell means you cannot cast another leveled spell on your turn.
You can cast a spell as an action, and counterspell on same turn, but no bonus action spell+counterspell.
@@josephyungman9599 Sage Advice Compendium page 12 has this to say about casting reaction counterspell in addition to fireball on a given turn:
"Can you also cast a reaction spell on your turn?
You sure can! Here’s a common way for it to happen: Cornelius the wizard is casting fireball on his turn, and his foe casts counterspell on him. Cornelius has counterspell prepared, so he uses his reaction to cast it and break his foe’s counterspell before it can stop fireball."
@@Erothaur Right - I think the point is, Fireball isn't being cast with your Bonus Action. Casting a spell with your Bonus Action is the problem. So, theoretically, if you were to get Counterspelled on... Misty Step, you couldn't counter it because it's still your turn and you used your BA to cast a spell. I don't love the rule/interpretation, but I think it's a valid one.
@@DnDDeepDive Interesting. I think I would allow it, but I can see why someone wouldn't.
I ruled for players that wanted to use components that
1. They would need to RP collecting certain materials, or at-least talk to a shop keeper/other magicians in the field about where to find certain materials. They don't necessarily have to, but they found it fun.
2. The Reason the Component Pouch itself is so expensive is because it is effectively a minature sized bag of holding. It contains a number of useful pockets inside, but can only fit small mundane items such as watches, gemstones, and maybe some coin if it's really required. They've sometimes tried to hide vast amounts of gold inside, but a little bit of a hint that as they stuff it to the gills, I tell them they start seeing the bag beginning to look fuller and stretching as the seems spread thinner. And Viola, they suddenly stop thinking it's a bag of holding.
Hang on a minute: Starting at 5th level, Eldritch Blast is no longer a specifically one target spell.
I agree, I'm confused on this...
Creative use for voice of the old one. While play rise of tiamat, I used voice and control fire to make a clan of kobold think that I wad a voice of tiamat and turned them against the human cultists. Was able to start a battle between the two groups that let our party easy sneak in and rescue some prisoners.
Also I highly recommend 1 lvl Goo for any moon druid because then you have telepathy to talk with party when wildshaped.
that makes a good pitch for going Custom Lineage Moon Druid and picking up Telepathic feat at level 1
Metamagic Adept answers the question of "Would you take Action Surge if it was a feat?" but for spellcasters. yes, yes I would.
This build would make an amazing bbeg
55:12 yes, I allow that house rule in my games. Just looking at it from temporal technical issues, a bonus action takes less time to perform than an action does, therefore it makes perfect sense that a character should be able to sacrifice their action to instead take a bonus action. As to power balancing issues in that regard it honestly hasn't even been used very much in my games so I can't really make an authoritative statement on that at all. But I'm not aware of anything that would make it too overpowered.
Straight from Teantmonk to you! What a treat!
Batman Utility Bag, basis for Wizard Component Bags.
On the subject of your rant I mostly agree. However a PC doesn't have to powerful in its own right - it is a team game so even a terrible PC on their own can be an excellent addition to the team. And in many cases its more important the PC is fun to play than it is strictly the most effective anyway - and lots of the most fun PCs are the ones with weird, niche or wide spread of skills, while they also tend to be good for the team as they have stuff nobody else has a good solution for.
Power Creep is real... those new supplements aren't gonna sell themselves.
41:54 actually, if your target is incapacitated, as they would be from hold monster, you don’t have disadvantage on your ranged attacks within 5 feet :)
Hang on... "When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated." - Eureka! Thanks for the reminder :).
You really need to release your own cover of All The Stars.
You better take polearm master war caster. And this man be evil
We have always let players substitute bonus actions for actions if they want to use say bladesong and hex during the same round. I personally don’t see a issue with it, the same amount of resources are being expended but they usually miss their attacks so I believe it balances out.
In the PHB under opportunity attacks it states that "You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction.", so agreeing with Jeremy Crawfords ruling is not required, as it is right in the core rules. I am not sure of the page number, as I used Dnd Beyond to check the rules.
"I'm not going to spoil it[the cantrip]" in the title or the video description or the character name
shhhhhh - some people don't read the title!
Notably, with just one invocaton change, this build can get infinite spell slots.
Here is what I'd likely do. I'd go Aberrant Mind Sorcerer first. All the way to getting Summon Aberration. Then I'd use Dissonant Whispers to force an enemy away from my summon, getting an extra hit in. Then I'd pick up two levels of Hexblade for Curse and Eldridch Blast with Agonizing Blast. This is a sustained damage build with some extra burst capability, you and your summon stand next to an enemy and you hit it with Dissonant Whispers to get an opportunity attack from both of you. You use the whip so you can make it at 10'. Both your summon and yourself also benefit from the curse. You can also quicken Eldridch Blast.
Man I love coming home
[RAW] [reaction] [leveled spell]
Hi Coby, RAW leveled spell as reaction is okay (correct me if I am wrong):
- Basicly all reaction spells are leveled spells! (shield, counter spell, feather fall, absorb el., ...).
- Most of the time (PCs having better initiative than NPCs), reaction "turn" is after your turn, which means, you likely already cast a leveled spell, and you are always allowed to cast shield after your turn if you are attacked and have reaction (and slot).
I dont see any doubt this is not RAW, so reaction Scorching Ray is fine.
RE: Dissonant Whispers Opp Attacks; you don't need to link a tweet, it's in the Official Sage Advice Compendium:
*Similarly, dissonant whispers requires the target to move using its reaction (if available), so that activity also provokes opportunity attacks. In contrast, a creature that's pushed by a gust of wind spell does not provoke opportunity attacks.*
Totally unrelated, but seeing this video got me in the mood to type up some character creation! Been playing around with beast barbarians ever since your video last week. I thought, what is the best way to take advantage of the higher number of attacks with the BIG caveat that I can't use concentration? I settled on ghost slayer blood hunter, which allows for an extra 2d4 (at level 6, 2d6 for level 9, going up to eventually 3d8 for level 17) to our attacks.
Starting off with the dual wielder feat to use our claws on a bonus action, at level 6 wed be barbarian 3/ blood hunter 3 that leaves us doing three attacks at advantage per turn, all of which do 1d6+2d4+5 damage. At level 9 wed continue with all blood hunter levels to be doing four attacks per turn doing 3d6+6. After this, pick up two levels in spore druid to get another 1d6 to our attacks, meaning at level 13 we'd be barbarian 3/ blood hunter 8/ druid 2 doing 4d6+7 per attack for four attacks per turn all at advantage. At 10 AC its low tier 1 high tier 2, but at 18 AC this is only outperformed ONLY by the Cheese grater.
Finally at level 17 we'd be barbarian 3/ bloodhunter 11/ druid 3 to boost our hemocraft die and get another roll of it due to our subclass. that means were doing 2d6 + 3d8 + 7 for four attacks at advantage. This only gets outperformed by bladesinger and cheesegrater at almost all ACs. Of course you could pick up three levels here instead to get champion and crit fish with all these attacks and extra damage dice, but I didn't crunch the numbers to compare.
Of course, there is a big bonus action dependency with this build. First a bonus action to rage. And then, a bonus action to activate crimson rite as we can't do it ahead of time because we have to have the claws out. Depending on your DM, they might make you activate it twice, one for each claw as RAW it only targets one claw.
I do love the image of a wolverine type character that hunts ghosts with claws that glow brightly though...
Best Fake Cockney Accent I have heard. Sincerely a Brit.
Hey colby, first tings first, I love your videos, great job as usual ! Now, i'm here to nitpick a little : I follow your channel with assiduity, and i think i watch every video, and i know you used spirit shroud more than one time. And except if memory fails me, I don't think you EVEr considered that spirit shroud inflict damage to enemy within 10ft of you, so every time you use it and rush back an opponent, it will really rarely be better than hex, because you have disadvantage attacking a target within 5 ft, and a target after 10ft doesn't take the additionnal damage. Can you pleas precise it in your videos ?
Here, rant over ! ^^ Still, i love your work (and Tales of Aneria rocks !)
Edit: 49:12 ok you said it, nevermind (but maybe put a little more emphasis on it when you get the spell in your builds , so people like me can remember it ^^)
Good news😊 if you use hold monster they are incapacitated and therefore range spells don’t have disadvantage!! So go ahead and get all those eldritch blasts in with all the extra crit damage!!!