I had a build I made with 3 levels of swash / 6 of Dao Genie so far. @_@ Haven't had a chance to play her yet. DM is being nice and letting me have a double bladed scimitar for finesse weapon, despite being tabaxi. XD His logic is that, "Well, you do have a genie." - He also allows us 4 feats by level 9 though. So she is also probably a bit more than most people would allow. Focus uses repelling blast / lighting lure w/ Spikes and other AOE options to push and pull enemies through things. XD Gave her slasher instead of crusher though. :_: Granted, I should probably take crusher with her too since all her attacks do a little bit of bludgeoning.
TL;DR Sorlock Dao Genie push pull through Spiked growth a shit ton. Second build Warlock (Fiend/Efreeti) Barbarian (Bear) Reckless attack ups your damage while getting hit and dealing reliable GWM+PAM. Build 1: Warlock (dao) 3, Sorc (Any) 17 Take Dao Genie, invocation grasp of hadar or repelling blast and agonizing blast, cast spiked growth (Dao specific) and then on the next turn eldritch blast move them 10 ft towards or away depending on what you chose in the spiked growth. Add Sorc levels (maybe first for con save prof) to quicken eldritch blast after you cast spiked growth. Eldritch blast cannon in spiked growth. Honestly this is what I though this video was going to be about. Pros: All the blasting of Sorlock Combo is potentially AoE Cons: Combo weak to flying creatures Build 2: The other build I have would be similar to this video, Take Fiend Pact or Genie (Efreeti) pact (Both get AoA and Fire shield) Warlock 12-14, Barbarian 4, Fighter 2-4 Armour of Aagathys and/or fire shield + rage (bear totem), reckless attack (Bonus both ways) + any fighter (Action surge) Pros: You're a threat by attacking and getting hit Better action economy PAM + GWM Hurl through hell at higher levels (Fiend) or Limited wish (Genie Efreeti) Cons: Cant concentrate on spells while raging Does not ignore opponent's AC
A grappled archer actually does have disadvantage on their attack, not because their grappled but because there's a hostile creature within 5 ft of them.
I feel like 3 levels of fighter for Battlemaster would be worthwhile. If they miss you punish with Riposte for extra damage. If they hit you use Parry to lower the damage even more. Also, Grappling Strike could up your damage a bit on the round where you’d be using your action to grapple.
Point of note: Sculptor of Flesh unfortunately uses the precious warlock spell slot, so better go with something else. I would also propose some way to gain expertise in Athletics, either with 3 levels of Lore Bard or with Skill Expert feat instead of relying on Wild Magic Sorc feature. Though feat would be better, because there would be more levels for Sorcerer, and I would suggest to take 6 levels of Clockwork Soul for better spell options and Bastion of Law, to reduce incoming damage.
I made a build similar to this that was Bear totem barbarian 3 / Fiend warlock 17. Definitely the most fun build I've ever played. I would start the fight with Armor of Agathys and Fire shield up, then rage. With bear totem & choosing psychic for fiendish resilience, I had resistance to all damage types. I mostly used this set up as a deterrent for enemies to hit me while I recklessly attacked every round with great weapon master. Armor of Agathys would would run out in a few turns, but by that point I would have easily killed something, giving me new temporary hitpoints to protect me through the rest of the fight (can't recast spells while raging).
I submit that heavy armor master is more valuable than people think. The offensive scaling that plays into creatures design is split between subjecting players to save effects or making attacks. Concerning the creatures that make use of attack rolls, they are further split between large damage single attacks or many less damaging individual attacks. Creatures that make use of more attacks with multiattack would face that damage reduction and potentially resistance on each of those attacks. The defense impact is more pronounced with those multiattacks, and the thorns would also do substantially more total damage against creatures designed in that way against this thorn build. Each small increment of of damage would take off less temporary hitpoints, yet take the full damage reflected every time.
If they cannot even wear armor and fly, I'm pretty sure they cannot lift an opponent to drop them. If 75lbs of armor is too heavy there's no way your lifting a creature.
Playing a character that wants to be hit reminds me of a homebrewed cleric that worships the Gods of Pain. The Domain of Pain cleric which, every time they're struck, gets a d4 called a suffering die. They can store them the d4s up to their cleric level and can expend them on their own attack rolls. The max they can use at once though is equal to their wisdom modifier and they can only use the extra damage with melee attacks. As a newer player I don't know how broken that really is, but I do love the idea and flavor of the class.
It's a great concept, main problem I see is that the number of attacks can vary a lot from encounter to encounter, so the supply of D4 might vary a lot. For example, a Harm spell is just one instance of damage, but 5 hobgoblins might hit you 10 times. So it's not broken because the DM can choose or homebrew monsters that attack less often but for more damage. However, to make it more reliable, I would say you gain "Suffering die" for every 5 points of damage you take. Encourages you to have a lot of health and constitution (which for a follower of pain seems fitting).
PS: You don't have disadvantage from being grappled, but you do have disadvantage on ranged attacks if you're within 5 feet of an enemy, so in your example at 17:45 of an enemy being grappled shooting with bow and arrow at a wizard, they would have disadvantage.
When I saw the name I was so sure, it's a cheese grater, where you go warlock and move people around using eldrich blast, while having spike growth up (either genie warlock subclass or nature cleric multiclass), oh boy was I wrong
I think if I was running this, I would assume that my DM would not allow quite as many short rests. And I would cary a longsword and a heavy crossbow to keep my character relevant when I am out of spells and there are huge, flying, or ranged enemies. Then when I started taking my sorcerer levels I would pick up fire bolt or ray of frost. The fifth level spell slots also seem like a good opportunity to increase the flavor and utility of the build. Hopefully I am playing this in a party where the DEX and the WIS or INT based characters can plug my holes.
I remember talking about this with you! awesome! also I believe you can choose to allow creatures to hit you, just like you can choose to fail saves. also for the sorcerer dip, I would've gone with draconic. any time you deal damage relative to your type of dragon you add your charisma bonus to it for every instance. so armor of agyths does +5 and fire shields cold option also does +5 each time it procs
It sounds like a shield would be a good addition to this build. You can start combat without the shield and then once combat gets a little hairy and your health is low you draw the shield and raise your AC. If your DM is okay with it, you could eve have the shield in your hand and choose not to use it.
I'm playing around with something like this for my next character, and as an alternate Sorcerous Origin: Storm Sorcery, so you can use Tempestuous Magic to get out of melee when your HP is low. "You can use a bonus action on your turn to cause whirling gusts of elemental air to briefly surround you, immediately before or after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher. Doing so allows you to fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks."
@@lexmtaylor I can see the argument for that. I think some of the earlier 5e books were more protective of the ability to fly. In theory, a 60ft. flying speed should be worth a 3rd-level spell slot, right? Yeah, 10 feet isn't much, but it could be 10 feet up a small ledge, which could be huge tactically. That would normally be 20 feet of regular movement, assuming the Sorcerer typically wouldn't have a climbing speed couldn't move as a bonus action without a spell. I might be mistaken about this, but a quick Google search has lead me to believe that Storm Sorcerer (in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) came out only a few months before Aarakocra (in Elemental Evil Player's Companion), which is infamously one of the most-often-banned character options. That protectiveness of flight kind of ended quickly, I guess, which speaks to your point that the action economy cost of Tempestuous Magic is too high.
@@jamiepandaman Please don't think I hate it, but when I look at action economy and what you give up to move just ten feet and you've conceivably just cast a spell with your action. It also won't work with a Bonus Action spell. It's a very interesting ability that seems over costed and thus seldom used. If it had not action economy cost, I don't think it would hurt the game in the least and I could find more abilities to use the ability.
I am very happy to see this build and especially the Rune Knight announcement. Great and really interesting build. I've been theorycrafting the more martial/holier side of this build: a Paladin 10+/Hexblade 1+, Rune Knight 3+. maximizing charisma and nearly doubled effective range when enlarged for Protection and Courage aura, Interception, Aura of the Guardian, Sword Burst, Arms of Hadar. Enlarge/Reduce for a Sorcadin unfortunately takes up concentration and makes Rune Knight (for both rune passives and actives and the one time 1d6 for a class with only 2 attacks) looks so good as a dip.
Now this is a comical build. I first thought I knew where you were going with it until Unarmed Fighting Style. Pretty sure Talisman is your spell focus so all of your antics work out and the damage is certainly good enough to keep up with the party. I'm looking forward to other weird and wild builds and have been enamored with your Spore Beast I got to play on a one-shot. Edit: You mention grappling a dragon, and there's now way to do that since its just too big. You can only grapple one size larger and the smallest dragon is medium so that thing is going to be huge+ if your fighting only the dragon. Enlarge/Reduce would work but that concentration is a lot to ask from a caster to NOT use thier most powerful spell.
@@DnDDeepDive I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume that you forgot what you said in the video. You had stated, that at level 9, you could grapple a dragon. My response to that is no, an adult dragon is too big. The fact that a young dragon is large is irrelevant as, at level 9, your not fighting a young dragon. Any DM knows a single creature fight ment to challenge the party needs to be _at least _ 5 CR above the APL. A CR 9 isn't a fight, it's a slaughter. So you CAN grapple a dragon around level 4 as a young is large, however my statement is still correct as that isn't going to happen at level 9 when your fighting an adult dragon.
@@larstollefsen1236 I was simply using the "boss" fight that I use when testing survivability for my tank builds at level 9, which has always been a Young Blue Dragon - considered "Medium" difficulty for a party of 4 at that level as per the DMG - not interested in arguing about whether or not that's too easy (which I think would largely depend on your table - how many combats per long rest is your DM throwing at you? How "optimized" is the rest of your party? etc. etc.), just trying to be consistent. 43:20
Very cool concept, and I love that you included cloak of flies. (funny aside.. my original comment, which I made before I finished the episode, complained that you didn't include cloak of flies, hah). Also, I think this character concept would be perfect to use as a noble self-sacrifice in a later-level plot.
I thought for sure this was going to be Barbarian, Ancient so they can't really ignore you, for rage and reckless so enemies can hit you easier, then hex blade and a sorcerer. Spell slots used on armor of agathys and rage in combat to run by all enemies. When you are out of rage we can use blade ward
I *seriously* considered the Battlerager Barb and think there's potential there no question automatic resistance plus a decent bonus action attack and some extra grapple damage would have been perfect - the biggest reason I went a different route was the inability to reapply AoA while raging (not to mention concentrating on Bonfire etc.) - I have to believe that, even with resistance, that AoA just isn't going to last through most fights, and really wanted to be able to reapply it when necessary. I think Barb is a valid option for the build though, you'd just have to make due with losing a lot of your damage and tankiness if/when that AoA expired.
Casting a saving-throw-based spell is also not impeded by grappling, and neither is buffing allies. So if this warlock grabs a caster, the caster might simply laugh and decide to take the d4 while spamming heals on his allies and/or fireballs at your party
A tiny point about taking the Meta Magic Adept feat, technically RAW the quickened spell would have to be Fireshield and not the cantrip (if you wanted to do both in the same turn). If you use a bonus action to cast any spell, the only other spell you can cast that turn in a Cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. Not a huge deal and I think works out the exact same in this case (because we dont have any other sorcery points to work with), but it might be worth checking with a DM if you can do either/or!
I have done a build sort of like this. I used Mark of Warding Dwarf (which gives access to the critical AoA, as well as a lot of other relevant bennies) Then go with Abjuration Wizard for the arcane ward. The ward takes the damage before AoA, however you are still “hit” and return the damage. The higher your wizard level goes, the stronger your Ward and AoA gets. You have several options for your attacks like Vampiric Touch, Shocking Grasp, etc I dipped into tempest cleric to get heavy armor and wrath of the storm for 2d8 lightning damage as a reaction.
I should have mentioned AoA is an Abjuration spell so it recharges your Ward whenever you recast AoA. Shield is also Abjuration so it recharges the ward when you don’t “want” to get hit.
2 years later i will play this same idea in a west march server, 3 levels of rune knight from the start to be very good at grappling early on and then i'll go runechild sorcerer for the AoA and transmuted spell metamagic. Also for the race i choose earth genasi for the blade ward cantrip as a bonus action, thank you Cobi for this amazing idea of a build, i would love to see an updated version of this since it is one of my favorite videos of this channel
After seeing the episode name and the thumbnail, I was quite disappointed to not get a warlock build based around thorn whip, but I was happily surprised by the actual build. Great concept! Although genie/thorn whip for forced movement build would be awesome!
Custom lineageTiefling with heavy armor master and the barbed hide feat at level 5. An unavoidable 1d6 every round for a bonus action plus double proficiency in intimidation. +1 to charisma or Constitution. Also Flames of Phlegethos at level 9 helps with fire damage when they hit you (a 1d4 fire damage you don't roll for) and you reroll 1's on all fire damage. +1 to charisma.
I'm surprised you din't use the skill expert feat to pick up athletics expertise, but it is clear that there are lots of feats that end up being super useful so hard to spare one for it. It's definitely one of my favourite feats in Tasha's. Great video, super cool and unique build idea. I've been considering a similar concept in terms of melee warlock grapple build but takes archfey and focuses on using teleports to try and slam into enemies or drop them. Tomb of Levistus is kind of necessary to not wreck yourself but 100% worth it in my mind
Yes, definitely worth considering skill expert - it sort of depends how often you're failing your grapple checks, which is a little tough to anticipate, not knowing what monsters you'd be up against.
Alternate build: Scourge Aasimar for Radiant Consumption, and instead of Sorc and a very high level of Warlock, start going into Stars Druid. Cast Spike Growth and use Blade Ward and Heavy Armour Master to basically negate the damage you take from Growth. Grapple the target, light yourself up like a bonfire and start walking through the Growth, cheese grating the enemy into paste. Dragon form from Star means you can't ever lose Conc from the 1 or 2 damage you take per step. Just make sure you don't use Consumption when you are wanting Armor of Agathys to last a long time, as even with your resistance to it, you'll still eat through your temp HP. Plus side, you get higher level spell slots to cast AoA with. Assuming level 20 you'd want to end like Fighter 2/Warlock 5(or 6)/Druid 12(or 13) depending on if you want the Warlock level 6 feature or not. If you go Hexblade instead of Fiend (hear me out, it isn't for the reason you think) you can pick up Maddening Hex invocation to add to your damage, as it works off Hexblade's Curse (as the other ways to use it require Conc)
Barbarian (bear, probably) / Clockwork sorcerer. Use the bastion of law ability, font of magic, and clockwork soul spell list to get: - precast armor of agathys - convert all spell slots to sorcery points - convert all points to d8s of damage mitigation for about 15d8s (16 minus the slot to cast AoA) - during combat, rage on and keep applying your damage mitigation as needed to keep AoA going. And you can always use things like extended spell to cast things like Aid out of combat. Hmm... :)
I'm playing a warlock 3 genie chain pact / rogue X swashbuckler right now and it's actually pretty good. The extra genie damage makes up for about half to 2/3 of the lost sneak attack progression, and you get a really good familiar, 2 invocations, and 2nd level spells.
I like Thornlock, as 'lock' has a double meaning, because grappler is locking them down, (with the intention of stopping the target moving off and attacking your party members, and to hopefully encourage the target to attack us).
I would recognize that copy of Shadow's Edge anywhere! I love Brent Weeks and all of his books. The Night Angel Trilogy was a huge part of my youth and I'm glad to see others who own his works! There are some interesting ideas for characters in that series as well.
I love this build so much. Going forward can you add an objective measure of consistency? So during the Damage Report you could say: 1) on average this build kills "these sample creatures" in 4 rounds. 2) 95% of the time this build kills them in 6 rounds or less. The Maths is very "I hope you like binominal equations", but this reliable damage build is my favourite so far by a mile and I would love to see how future builds compare.
One cool thing about Genie Patron Warlocks is that one your Proficiency Bonus hits 4 (at 9th level) you can start taking long rests with Bottled Respite. Also, Sanctuary Vessel represents the ultimate middle finger to “8 hour short rest” DMs, along with the Catnap spell of course.
This is the way i went as well instead of warlock in my revenger build. Fire shield, armor of agathys are both on the clockwork soul list and you have more spell slots to work with there. Plus bastion of law to mitigate dmg.
@@iflickthings That feature is not available yet on Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind. In the forums, it was suggested that an easy fix was to homebrew the class yourself and change the spells that way.
I am actually playing a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer and will be dipping into Artificer (Armorer) now, so some Aspects here where a nice Addition to your Abjurer/Armorer video. (Allthough I still think Mark of Warding is coolrr then Warforged ;P) Keep up the good work!
As a somewhat related build to the topic, i have a grappler build with glory paladin. channel divinity gives advantage on athletic checks and therefore grapples and shoves. I get tavern brawler for improvised weapons and hit with the shield, while using the bonus action to make grapple checks with the empty hand. And of course getting atheltic expertise feat and maxing strengh. Advantage with the huge modifier makes it almost never fail a grapple check.
My moon druid covered himself in plant growthed thorny vines, and would cast speak with plants and fire shield. The fire shield did its 2d8 retaliatory damage and the DM had the plants do an extra d8 retaliatory piercing damage since speak with plants allows the plants to move themselves but not uproot themselves. The strategy paired well with a ring of regeneration and some health potions from my herbalism kit proficiency
I realised you were going to recognise wild magic just before you said it and I am so happy. Is the subclass clever? No. Will it cause shenanigans? Hell yes.
@@mrrodgers0 depends on how your DM feels about triggering the surge that they get from tides of chaos. If they're going to trigger it at every opportunity, then you have a fairly reliable source of advantage.
I would imagine for the last 3 levels of this character you would take 1 more warlock level for the ASI and cap Charisma and then take 2 more levels in sorcerer to get 3rd level spells and their 6th level subclass feature. Clockwork Soul could be another potential option for this build to get the Bastion of Law feature at level 6, the extra hit points absorbed from the ward could help your AoA Temp HP last longer
Hope you don't mind the Necro... So soon after this video came out we started a, well let's call it an "anti-hero" campaign. The party wasn't "evil" per se, but more or less took the "Deadpool" approach to "solving problems". The "lesser of two evils" for the local populace/world kind of thing. Well took this as the baseline for a wronged person looking to take out the evil organization which betrayed a previous group, thus leading to the Pact. Just hit level 10, so here is a brief "contact report": 1-4: Pretty much standard low level Fighter play. Ended up working with the DM and getting a nice Greatsword (which is cursed, fits very thematically though. Gift of the Patron type of thing). The Greatsword pretty much remained strapped to the back for most encounters after level 3 (we tend to have 2-3 encounters per short rest, so can't always have spells up) and only used for Intimidation checks. 5-7: Damage stays consistent, MC puts a little behind the curve until 7. Party quickly learned that a grappler with Fly is a godsend against aerial opponents (though Bonfire a "little" less useful and falling damage can take out AoA pretty quickly if not careful. (Though casting Bonfire on a saddle of a Wyvern Rider is quite hilarious. No damage to Wyvern per DM though, can't have it all) Basically become a "missile" that goes for the most obvious threat and let the party take care of everyone else. 8-10: Really comes into one's own, AoA already up, Quickened Cold Fire Shield, Grapple, Action Surge, Bonfire is more powerful than one may think. Another slight variation if AoA is not up, is to Quicken Fire Cold Shield, Grapple, Action Surge, drop a Fireball on oneself, with Cloak of Flies already up, well, it's not too hard to get 4+ within 5' of you IF Initiative is won (+0 to Initiative). The only "drawback" is that the character's reputation precedes them, so the DM has become a fan of nets, webs, and other movement hindering methods which tend to be targeted on the character. Most likely the 3rd spell slot will end being used for something like Misty Step, Dimension Door, or Thunderous Step to "get around" the impairment. At level 10, the range on the grapple check is 11 (all ones) with an average of 27 and a high of 40. Realistically it is rare that I see less than a 15 for a grapple check, which against casters is more than enough. Will most likely go the Rune Knight route for reliable size enhancement after getting the third spell slot. We might hit 17 in this campaign, so couple of levels of Sorcerer for more sorcery points so quickened isn't a once a day trick and get a couple of other options. Quickened and Subtle were my two, because sometimes, one needs to grapple two creatures and having not needing a hand to cast Blade Ward comes in handy. Apologize for the book, and the tardiness, but this campaign meets twice a month usually. But ya did ask for feedback. ;)
Would recommend posting a leveling breakdown in your description. It would help people follow along and not have to re-watch a 1 hour video to remember what to pick up at each level.
Right! As Max said, I *do* put out written “cheat sheets” for the builds, but it *is* actually the one thing I give as a benefit to members of the channel - here’s a little video I did explaining why if you’re at all interested - I’d love to have you as a member! (it’s pretty cheap : ) ) ruclips.net/video/op_QNygYv3E/видео.html
Wouldn't Celestial Patron work better than Fiend? You can heal yourself as a bonus action without spending a spell slot, (which is good for a punching bag like you,) you add Cha to Fire damage like your Create Bonfire, and if you go far enough you get an auto-res with free damage + debuff if you go down. Plus you can heal your friends, which is always nice to have.
Definitely worth considering. Fiend and Genie were at the top of my list because they’re the only Warlocks who get access to Fire shield, but you could definitely explore other options.
One thing that this build could use is incentive for the enemy to hit you, grappling is one way to do remove that need (though if you find a way to knock them prone and grapple them it will take them they will be unable to get up while grappled) but it can also be achieved with the fighting style, going into battlemaster, the martial adept feat, or a mix of each, to grab bait and switch, goading attack, and perhaps grappling strike to keep them attacking you. Cavelier could also be a good subclass choice for fighter as their mark punishes enemies who try to escape you (couple that with your typical PAM/Sentinel basics and they aren't going anywhere) I'd suggest the Mark of Warding dwarf for Faithful Hound, and more thematic abjuration spells (while I know that the dodge action isn't optimal for this build, if you're low on health and need a turn to recharge, the dwarven fortitude feat allows you to spend hit die to regain hit points when you take the dodge action, and if I recall correctly there are ways to optimize your hit die regen) the Oath of Redemption is also basically all about getting it and punishing enemies for hitting you, so it might be worth taking a dip into for a more martial oriented build
Alright, you have inspired a combination of this build and the astral Monk! Though I think tiefling might be a better fit for the barbed hide feat (an extra d6 every turn)
Colby: I think this would be fun with the new Undead Warlock. At Level 10 you can use the Mortal Husk feature to take hits until you explode in a shower of maggots all over your grappled opponent, doing 2d10 + Warlock Level in necrotic damage. It fits well with the Cloak of Flies. Also, it would be hilarious to see a concept art depiction of this character with all the many buffs active. ☺️
Build idea: a DEX based paladin. I’ve wanted to see one done well and haven’t been satisfied with anything I’ve thought up. Recently I’ve just had the idea of starting Rogue and going swashbuckler multiclassing into Paladin and with enough a dip going Oath of Vengeance. If two weapon fighting is viable I think that’d be amazing. Not sure if going Drow, Vhuman, half elf or what race yet. Love the idea of pirates and dark backstories. Heck, oathbreaker may be a fun twist. Key point to hit is DEX paladin with a John Wick moment that makes him go slay those who wronged him.
Seems thematic to go oath of vengeance 5 for extra attack. Fighter 2 of course because he's an action hero. start with fighter for proficiencies. going with the theme assassin rogue 3. as long as you have a DM who's cooperative with surprise, you can have that surprise round john wick moment where you attack, action surge, attach divine smites to each attack, sneak attack to 1 hit and double all of those dmg since you auto-crit on the 1st round. bonus action another smite spell for more dmg dice doubling ot twf to have another attack to attach another divine smite to (yes burn all those spell slots). Custom lineage race as you will need the piercer feat (for more dmg dice per attack you dole out on that surprise round).
I feel like investiture of stone would be a good replacement for blade ward, as it then frees up that action for you to say... punch things, or use an attack cantrip, although, I feel like that might equalize out because you would lose create bonfire.
Regeneration Build • 3rd Level Warlock with the Pact of the Chain and the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Invocation. • 1st Level Life Cleric • 16th Level Bard Necessary Spells • Regenerate • Healing Spirit • Armor of Agathys • Absorb Elements • Hellish Rebuke • Healing Word • Cure Wounds Stats • Cast the Regenerate spell = 10hp regen every round for 1 Hour • Cast the Healing Spirit spell as a 9th Level Spell = 52hp regen every round for only 6 rounds on yourself and with no action required • Next round cast any Instantaneous healing spell as a Bonus Action and cast Eldritch Blast as your Action
One of my favorite things that came with Tasha's is the ability to attack or cast a spell as a bonus action more consistently, which I think is currently being underrepresented. I'm mainly talking about the Maneuver *Quick Toss* and the *Quickened Spell* Metamagic, both being now available by feats. First the obvious thing I did was combine it with the Grave Cleric, including Rogue or Wizard for burst. But there is a build I want to talk about more in detail, mainly because its more consistent and generally more effective. The build is also build around 2 "underdogs" that fit together thematically: *Daggers* and the *Assassin* subclass. Here is the build: *_The Mercenary_* (name pending) -*Class:* Fighter (Battle Master) 3 / Rogue (Assassin) 17. -*Race:* Any is fine, but I recommend Custom Lineage for the free feat. -*Recommended Feats:* Piercer, Alert, Mobile -*Point Buy Stats:* Str: 8 Dex: 18 _[15 + 2 + 1] (Custom Lineage & Piercer feat)_ Con: 14 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 10 -*Level break-down:* Lv. 1: Start Fighter 1, getting light armor & daggers for equipment and the *Blind Fighting* Fighting Style. Lv. 2: Fighter 2. Lv. 3: Fighter 3, picking the Battle Master subclass for the *Quick Toss* & *Ambush* Maneuvers. Lv. 4 to 20: Rogue 1 to 17, picking the Assassin subclass. Nothing special, just a standard Rogue route. *The Playstyle/Combat Approach* Now for how this build works: 1: Try to surprise your enemies as often as possible and be the first to strike with a high initiative using *Ambush* if necessary. 2: Get within 10 ft. of an enemy and use *Quick Toss* with a dagger, dealing Sneak Attack as a bonus action. 3: Walk up to the enemy and pick up your dagger using your Free Object Interaction, then Ready Action to attack _after_ your turn _ends._ 4: After your turn ends, use your reaction to release your Readied Action and make an attack, dealing Sneak Attack again. With this sequence you use *Quick Toss* proc Sneak Attack twice in a round, doubling our DPR. But not only that, because we are the Assassin subclass if the enemy is surprised *_both_* attacks auto-crit. If both attacks went to a single target it will most likely die instantly. The best part is that we can do this whenever we want as long as we have Superiority Dice, meaning we can double our DPR 4 times per short or long rest. Piercer is there for extra damage & rerolling pesky 1's, *Blind Fighting* cancels out most forms of disadvantage for more Sneak Attacks and Mobile helps us getting in & out easier. I'm sorry in advance for this wall of text =P, but I thought to share this build so the concept gets a bit more known. If you've any feedback or ideas about this build I'd love to hear it. Also can't wait for you to build a concept around this! Lovin the content so keep it up.
While this works, there's also a much more well known version of this that deals superior dmg at lower levels: the battlemaster gloomstalker assassin. Generates surprise easier too because of the gloomstalker's always on improved invis in darkness. in any case, i like the concept of using quick toss for your sneak attack. this frees up your action surge to do something else aside from readying an attack like casting a spell (assuming i trade out some rogue levels for a spellcaster class).
I've taken a liking to the dhampir and it's life stealing capabilities. do you have any ideas for a character based around life draining and healing themselves?
I'll put out a vid just as soon as they make it out of UA :). Haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about life-draining but would be a fun concept. Will add it to the list.
@@DnDDeepDive I'd wish they made the bite finesse, so that rogues can heal themselves on their sneak attack. Hap (Dutch onomatopia for taking a bite), ''I heal myself for 10d6, thank you onto sneaking to the next target. Hé let me say hello'', hap.
One thing you could do to get decently reliable damahe resistance without being so acrion-heavy is to convince your party cleric to cast Warding Bond. It requires a source of temp hp for the cleric and limits their concentration capabilities, but it might be worth it, especially since Heavy Armor Master reduces the damage taken AFTER you halve it (I'm like 85% sure that's how it works RAW) Calculation would work this way: - enemy strikes for 13 damage - you halve it, for 7,5~~ 7 - you reduce it to 4 damage - both your armor of agathys and the cleric take 4 points of damage. It would obviously work best on a twilight cleric, but any cleric with good con save and War Caster would do if they cast heroism on themselves. Alternatively, at 6-th level the artificer can give them the infusion that makes you auto-succeed on concentration saves if you fail (mind-sharpener, was it?). Hell, the artillerist artificer can cast Warding Bond too, and use the protective shield construct to give themselves a bunch of temp hp to withstand that damage they take from the bond. I personally use such technique on my paladin with Heavy Armor Master, and it does wonders for my tanking! :D
I feel like cloud of daggers should have at least an honorable mention. It serves the same purpose as create bonfire, except it deals more damage and has no saving throw, great! It also takes a spell slot, which are in short supply, which is not so great. Its probably worth taking as just another tool in the box so to speak.
Right, the only reason I didn't mention it (and I did consider it several times) was the spell slot thing - we don't get Sorc spell slots until very late, and actually, at that point, our Bonfire is doing 3d8 or 4d8 - comparable to the Cloud damage. What's more, as a cantrip, it's a little easier to cast multiple spells in a turn as a BA with Quickened blade if we're casting, say, AoA or Fire Shield *and* this with Quickened Spell...
@@DnDDeepDive Cloud is on the warlock list too. I'd pick it up much earlier, like 4 or 5 Warlock. Not to use a lot but just for niche scenarios (mostly when resistances/ immunties come into play).
If you took Draconic for sorcerous origin (either white or silver) you could get +CHA mod to the damage of AoA AND to Fire Shield if you choose chill shield, giving you up to +10dmg per hit on you assuming 20 charisma. You have to be sorcerer 6 for this to work (Elemental Affinity) so you might need to change the order you take certain levels but their level 1 abilities pair nicely with this build as well: +1 hp per sorcerer level and auto mage armor if you don't already have armor.
I seriously considered doing this, for reals. In the end I decided on Wild Magic just because it gave us a nice bump to our grapples AND so I could say I did a Wild Magic sorc and now don't have to touch it again :P. Definitely worth considering!
@@thomasgeppi6762 I actually *did* use Draconic Sorc before to pretty good effect, I think, in an almost as weird build... ruclips.net/video/ulGy19-G7MU/видео.html
Hey I had something for a build I wanted to tell you about. It pretty much is a tank Wizard with healing. They way you do this is Level 1 Cleric / Level 19 Wizard. You will get Heavy armor + Shield + Martial Weapons Proficiency depending on what Cleric subclass you go. From here you will have access to the entire Cleric first level spell book which gives you Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Bless, and Guidance. You wont be able to get higher level healing spells, but from what I looked at, Cure Wounds Scales pretty well compared to the other High level healing spells. Not as good, but definitely not bad either. From here you will be at a permeant 18 AC at level 1, + Shield of faith for +2 AC for 10 minutes, and +5 AC as a reaction with Shield. From here the idea is pretty much that, if your DM lets you put your arcane focus on your neck like a cleric does with their sigil, you can cast with a sword and shield in your hand. If not then you would need to get a Ruby of the war Mage, which is an uncommon magic item. So then you pretty much have a frontline wizard with Booming / Green flame blade. To further the build, War Mage + Sentinel + Tough, then +2 +2 Int. So far I have not gotten hit in the entire 3 sessions I have played (only level 2/3), and Warcaster + Sentinel will let you use your reaction to attack an enemy with a spell whenever they go in to attack your party member. One of the problems with this though is how hard you have to split your stats. Because you need atleast 15 Strength, Max Int, and then as high a constitution as you can get (along with some wisdom preferably or else you will only be able to prefer 1 Cleric spell + the static base 2 from your subclass).
@@DnDDeepDive Yeah for sure. I don't remember if the Abjuration Wizard had Heavy armor + shield Proficiency. But throwing in the 1 Level of Cleric to that build I think could be helpful, since you will still have the same level of spell slots as a level 20 wizard since Cleric is a full caster class.
I don't see a tank here. where's the threat redirection? I see a very sturdy characted that's DM ignore bait. Tanks are threat redirection 1st, survival 2nd.
Subtle spell should be your 2nd option, it lets you initiate combat with a "surprise" round. Most DMs will rule that if you try to start combat by attacking or fighting, the other side is keyed up and you roll initiative to see who gets the drop on the other. With subtle spell, there is no contest to see who gets the drop on the other, your spell just occurs with no outward warning. It also makes you immune to counterspell, which is a huge vulnerability to this build. On spell slots, if you believe all of your in combat spells are going to be used on armor of agathys/fire shield (which I wouldn't assume) pick non-combat utility spells that you will be inclined to use OUT of combat. I think honestly you really should assume you won't always have 2 spells available for the first half of the build. Things ALWAYS come up.
I think for that feat at 5th level, it may be actually a good idea to take Grappler. I know, you're not doing any attacking, but the ability to restrain an opponent for no resource, giving advantage to allies while giving them disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone (except you who is also restrained), while ALSO giving them disadvantage on the dex save against bonfire. Not saying cha boost is a bad choice, but this is an insane control ability that also increases your dps more than a cha boost
I am 30mins into the video... I was working on a similar build with Pact of the Talisman and using Rebuke of the Talisman in combo with Cloud of Daggers
Piercing is the most common damage type out of the 3 basic types. Most things you fight have Bite and Claws, or shoot Arrows. Feel free to double check check those numbers, I'm working off 3.5 memory. If your city based you'll see a lot more slashing, due to the abundance of weapons, ie: swords. While bludgeoning is mostly reserved for the large scaled humanoids that finding weapons their size would be troublesome, or the poorest that have clubs/sticks as their best option.
@@DnDDeepDive Just got there! Very interesting build. Small correction though, the ten minute short rest, you can only do once per day. You can only enter your genie vessel once per day.
I'm waiting to get back to my tempest domain cleric genie chainlock.... it's not nearly as thorns focused as this but between AoA and Wrath of the storm he doesnt like to get hit and will let you know it
my only request was a warlock that wasn’t a hexblade, in return i got the strangest and most interesting build in the game
;)
3 levels of rogue swashbucler + starting level up a fathomless warlock. (Custom Lineage or Variant Human)
- Polearm Master
- Sentinel
@@9xkysR what polearm are you using that is a finesse weapon? Or are you just getting 2d6 sneak attack and then not using it.
I had a build I made with 3 levels of swash / 6 of Dao Genie so far. @_@ Haven't had a chance to play her yet. DM is being nice and letting me have a double bladed scimitar for finesse weapon, despite being tabaxi. XD His logic is that, "Well, you do have a genie." - He also allows us 4 feats by level 9 though. So she is also probably a bit more than most people would allow. Focus uses repelling blast / lighting lure w/ Spikes and other AOE options to push and pull enemies through things. XD Gave her slasher instead of crusher though. :_: Granted, I should probably take crusher with her too since all her attacks do a little bit of bludgeoning.
TL;DR Sorlock Dao Genie push pull through Spiked growth a shit ton. Second build Warlock (Fiend/Efreeti) Barbarian (Bear) Reckless attack ups your damage while getting hit and dealing reliable GWM+PAM.
Build 1:
Warlock (dao) 3, Sorc (Any) 17
Take Dao Genie, invocation grasp of hadar or repelling blast and agonizing blast, cast spiked growth (Dao specific) and then on the next turn eldritch blast move them 10 ft towards or away depending on what you chose in the spiked growth.
Add Sorc levels (maybe first for con save prof) to quicken eldritch blast after you cast spiked growth. Eldritch blast cannon in spiked growth.
Honestly this is what I though this video was going to be about.
Pros:
All the blasting of Sorlock
Combo is potentially AoE
Cons:
Combo weak to flying creatures
Build 2:
The other build I have would be similar to this video, Take Fiend Pact or Genie (Efreeti) pact (Both get AoA and Fire shield)
Warlock 12-14, Barbarian 4, Fighter 2-4
Armour of Aagathys and/or fire shield + rage (bear totem), reckless attack (Bonus both ways) + any fighter (Action surge)
Pros:
You're a threat by attacking and getting hit
Better action economy
PAM + GWM
Hurl through hell at higher levels (Fiend) or Limited wish (Genie Efreeti)
Cons:
Cant concentrate on spells while raging
Does not ignore opponent's AC
A grappled archer actually does have disadvantage on their attack, not because their grappled but because there's a hostile creature within 5 ft of them.
Good point! :) I guess the could instead attack someone else standing next to them if it were a melee attack, which still seems silly...
I feel like 3 levels of fighter for Battlemaster would be worthwhile. If they miss you punish with Riposte for extra damage. If they hit you use Parry to lower the damage even more. Also, Grappling Strike could up your damage a bit on the round where you’d be using your action to grapple.
Point of note: Sculptor of Flesh unfortunately uses the precious warlock spell slot, so better go with something else.
I would also propose some way to gain expertise in Athletics, either with 3 levels of Lore Bard or with Skill Expert feat instead of relying on Wild Magic Sorc feature. Though feat would be better, because there would be more levels for Sorcerer, and I would suggest to take 6 levels of Clockwork Soul for better spell options and Bastion of Law, to reduce incoming damage.
Good catch. I preferred the Protection anyway.
Your comment should be on top. Everything I could have said, and I'm glad I spent the time to look for this.
The new earth genasi might work well with this build. You don't get a free feat but you can cast blade ward as a bonus action
year late but, this sounds superr op, even if the build is coming online later
Level 1:(see above) [fighter 1, fighting-style & race]
Level 2:(see above) [warlock 1 & patron]
Level 3:(@25:36) [warlock 2 & eldritch invocations]
Level 4:(@26:34) [warlock 3 & sub-class]
Level 5:(@29:52) [warlock 4 & ASI]
Level 6:(@31:09) [warlock 5 & eldritch invocation]
Level 7:(see above) [fighter 2]
Level 8:(@36:46) [warlock 6]
Level 9:(@37:42) [warlock 7 & eldritch invocation]
Level 10:(see above) [warlock 8 & ASI]
Level 11:(@49:16) [warlock 9 & eldritch invocation]
Level 12:(@50:34) [warlock 10]
Level 13:(@51:57) [warlock 11]
Level 14:(see above) [sorcerer 1 & sub-class]
Level 15:(@1:00:04) [sorcerer 2]
Level 16:(@1:00:58) [sorcerer 3 & meta-magic]
Level 17:(@1:03:35) [sorcerer 4 & ASI]
I made a build similar to this that was Bear totem barbarian 3 / Fiend warlock 17. Definitely the most fun build I've ever played. I would start the fight with Armor of Agathys and Fire shield up, then rage. With bear totem & choosing psychic for fiendish resilience, I had resistance to all damage types. I mostly used this set up as a deterrent for enemies to hit me while I recklessly attacked every round with great weapon master. Armor of Agathys would would run out in a few turns, but by that point I would have easily killed something, giving me new temporary hitpoints to protect me through the rest of the fight (can't recast spells while raging).
So did you always cast AoA before combat or round 1?
Get a buddy enchanter to start hurling Suggestion spells out: "Hit that guy."
Your thornlock sounds like a fun build if you can get it going
That's a brilliant combo
I submit that heavy armor master is more valuable than people think. The offensive scaling that plays into creatures design is split between subjecting players to save effects or making attacks. Concerning the creatures that make use of attack rolls, they are further split between large damage single attacks or many less damaging individual attacks.
Creatures that make use of more attacks with multiattack would face that damage reduction and potentially resistance on each of those attacks.
The defense impact is more pronounced with those multiattacks, and the thorns would also do substantially more total damage against creatures designed in that way against this thorn build. Each small increment of of damage would take off less temporary hitpoints, yet take the full damage reflected every time.
Use an Aarakocra! Utilize your movement while you've grappled them to pull them into the air. If they break the grapple they'll take fall damage too!
Tulok already made this video 😤
@@burnpisces7733 did he? I must've missed it.
What bird character did he build?
@@Mithrandork it’s his most recent lol. He just built a birb who picks people up and drops them.
If they cannot even wear armor and fly, I'm pretty sure they cannot lift an opponent to drop them. If 75lbs of armor is too heavy there's no way your lifting a creature.
@@larstollefsen1236 logically, yes. Rules as written, no.
Playing a character that wants to be hit reminds me of a homebrewed cleric that worships the Gods of Pain. The Domain of Pain cleric which, every time they're struck, gets a d4 called a suffering die. They can store them the d4s up to their cleric level and can expend them on their own attack rolls. The max they can use at once though is equal to their wisdom modifier and they can only use the extra damage with melee attacks. As a newer player I don't know how broken that really is, but I do love the idea and flavor of the class.
It's a great concept, main problem I see is that the number of attacks can vary a lot from encounter to encounter, so the supply of D4 might vary a lot. For example, a Harm spell is just one instance of damage, but 5 hobgoblins might hit you 10 times. So it's not broken because the DM can choose or homebrew monsters that attack less often but for more damage. However, to make it more reliable, I would say you gain "Suffering die" for every 5 points of damage you take. Encourages you to have a lot of health and constitution (which for a follower of pain seems fitting).
Sculptor of Flesh
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast polymorph once using a warlock spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
PS: You don't have disadvantage from being grappled, but you do have disadvantage on ranged attacks if you're within 5 feet of an enemy, so in your example at 17:45 of an enemy being grappled shooting with bow and arrow at a wizard, they would have disadvantage.
Good point! :) I guess the could instead attack someone else standing next to them if it were a melee attack, which still seems silly...
When I saw the name I was so sure, it's a cheese grater, where you go warlock and move people around using eldrich blast, while having spike growth up (either genie warlock subclass or nature cleric multiclass), oh boy was I wrong
Ha ha, I've got something like that on my "to do" list - will get there eventually :)
@@DnDDeepDive juicy, looking forward to that!
I love the story arch of this character. I have been craving warlock that doesn't take eldritch blast or hexblade. Well done sir.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)
I think if I was running this, I would assume that my DM would not allow quite as many short rests. And I would cary a longsword and a heavy crossbow to keep my character relevant when I am out of spells and there are huge, flying, or ranged enemies. Then when I started taking my sorcerer levels I would pick up fire bolt or ray of frost. The fifth level spell slots also seem like a good opportunity to increase the flavor and utility of the build. Hopefully I am playing this in a party where the DEX and the WIS or INT based characters can plug my holes.
The most maniacal laugh after you kill your hobgoblin in the damage report.
It couldn't be helped!
The explosion after he said "wild magic" was so funny, it was just a beautiful touch
;)
Heavy armor master would be nice if instead of a flat 3, it was proficiency bonus (or twice proficiency)
100% - non-scaling abilities make me sad :(
@@DnDDeepDive As opposed to making you SAD, which makes you happy!
I remember talking about this with you! awesome! also I believe you can choose to allow creatures to hit you, just like you can choose to fail saves. also for the sorcerer dip, I would've gone with draconic. any time you deal damage relative to your type of dragon you add your charisma bonus to it for every instance. so armor of agyths does +5 and fire shields cold option also does +5 each time it procs
Unfortunately it can only be used on one damage roll for the spell so AoA is out cause there is no roll and Fire shield only benefits once
It sounds like a shield would be a good addition to this build. You can start combat without the shield and then once combat gets a little hairy and your health is low you draw the shield and raise your AC. If your DM is okay with it, you could eve have the shield in your hand and choose not to use it.
I'm playing around with something like this for my next character, and as an alternate Sorcerous Origin: Storm Sorcery, so you can use Tempestuous Magic to get out of melee when your HP is low.
"You can use a bonus action on your turn to cause whirling gusts of elemental air to briefly surround you, immediately before or after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher. Doing so allows you to fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks."
I love Storm Sorcerer, but this ability should not be an action, even a bonus action is too much.
@@lexmtaylor I can see the argument for that. I think some of the earlier 5e books were more protective of the ability to fly. In theory, a 60ft. flying speed should be worth a 3rd-level spell slot, right? Yeah, 10 feet isn't much, but it could be 10 feet up a small ledge, which could be huge tactically. That would normally be 20 feet of regular movement, assuming the Sorcerer typically wouldn't have a climbing speed couldn't move as a bonus action without a spell. I might be mistaken about this, but a quick Google search has lead me to believe that Storm Sorcerer (in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) came out only a few months before Aarakocra (in Elemental Evil Player's Companion), which is infamously one of the most-often-banned character options. That protectiveness of flight kind of ended quickly, I guess, which speaks to your point that the action economy cost of Tempestuous Magic is too high.
@@jamiepandaman Please don't think I hate it, but when I look at action economy and what you give up to move just ten feet and you've conceivably just cast a spell with your action. It also won't work with a Bonus Action spell. It's a very interesting ability that seems over costed and thus seldom used. If it had not action economy cost, I don't think it would hurt the game in the least and I could find more abilities to use the ability.
I am very happy to see this build and especially the Rune Knight announcement.
Great and really interesting build.
I've been theorycrafting the more martial/holier side of this build: a Paladin 10+/Hexblade 1+, Rune Knight 3+. maximizing charisma and nearly doubled effective range when enlarged for Protection and Courage aura, Interception, Aura of the Guardian, Sword Burst, Arms of Hadar.
Enlarge/Reduce for a Sorcadin unfortunately takes up concentration and makes Rune Knight (for both rune passives and actives and the one time 1d6 for a class with only 2 attacks) looks so good as a dip.
Now this is a comical build. I first thought I knew where you were going with it until Unarmed Fighting Style. Pretty sure Talisman is your spell focus so all of your antics work out and the damage is certainly good enough to keep up with the party.
I'm looking forward to other weird and wild builds and have been enamored with your Spore Beast I got to play on a one-shot.
Edit: You mention grappling a dragon, and there's now way to do that since its just too big. You can only grapple one size larger and the smallest dragon is medium so that thing is going to be huge+ if your fighting only the dragon. Enlarge/Reduce would work but that concentration is a lot to ask from a caster to NOT use thier most powerful spell.
Glad you enjoyed it :). Young Dragons are large size! www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/young-blue-dragon
@@DnDDeepDive I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume that you forgot what you said in the video. You had stated, that at level 9, you could grapple a dragon. My response to that is no, an adult dragon is too big. The fact that a young dragon is large is irrelevant as, at level 9, your not fighting a young dragon.
Any DM knows a single creature fight ment to challenge the party needs to be _at least _ 5 CR above the APL. A CR 9 isn't a fight, it's a slaughter. So you CAN grapple a dragon around level 4 as a young is large, however my statement is still correct as that isn't going to happen at level 9 when your fighting an adult dragon.
@@larstollefsen1236 I was simply using the "boss" fight that I use when testing survivability for my tank builds at level 9, which has always been a Young Blue Dragon - considered "Medium" difficulty for a party of 4 at that level as per the DMG - not interested in arguing about whether or not that's too easy (which I think would largely depend on your table - how many combats per long rest is your DM throwing at you? How "optimized" is the rest of your party? etc. etc.), just trying to be consistent. 43:20
Very cool concept, and I love that you included cloak of flies. (funny aside.. my original comment, which I made before I finished the episode, complained that you didn't include cloak of flies, hah). Also, I think this character concept would be perfect to use as a noble self-sacrifice in a later-level plot.
I thought for sure this was going to be Barbarian, Ancient so they can't really ignore you, for rage and reckless so enemies can hit you easier, then hex blade and a sorcerer. Spell slots used on armor of agathys and rage in combat to run by all enemies. When you are out of rage we can use blade ward
I *seriously* considered the Battlerager Barb and think there's potential there no question automatic resistance plus a decent bonus action attack and some extra grapple damage would have been perfect - the biggest reason I went a different route was the inability to reapply AoA while raging (not to mention concentrating on Bonfire etc.) - I have to believe that, even with resistance, that AoA just isn't going to last through most fights, and really wanted to be able to reapply it when necessary. I think Barb is a valid option for the build though, you'd just have to make due with losing a lot of your damage and tankiness if/when that AoA expired.
Casting a saving-throw-based spell is also not impeded by grappling, and neither is buffing allies. So if this warlock grabs a caster, the caster might simply laugh and decide to take the d4 while spamming heals on his allies and/or fireballs at your party
Man, that build is awesome! For sure, it's the most strangest, original and highly interesting build I never see. Wonderful !
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)
My my what an excellent and fun build, perfect for roleplaying a follower of Loviatar. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks! And yes!
A tiny point about taking the Meta Magic Adept feat, technically RAW the quickened spell would have to be Fireshield and not the cantrip (if you wanted to do both in the same turn). If you use a bonus action to cast any spell, the only other spell you can cast that turn in a Cantrip with a casting time of 1 action. Not a huge deal and I think works out the exact same in this case (because we dont have any other sorcery points to work with), but it might be worth checking with a DM if you can do either/or!
Right! Thanks!
I have done a build sort of like this. I used Mark of Warding Dwarf (which gives access to the critical AoA, as well as a lot of other relevant bennies)
Then go with Abjuration Wizard for the arcane ward. The ward takes the damage before AoA, however you are still “hit” and return the damage.
The higher your wizard level goes, the stronger your Ward and AoA gets.
You have several options for your attacks like Vampiric Touch, Shocking Grasp, etc
I dipped into tempest cleric to get heavy armor and wrath of the storm for 2d8 lightning damage as a reaction.
I should have mentioned AoA is an Abjuration spell so it recharges your Ward whenever you recast AoA. Shield is also Abjuration so it recharges the ward when you don’t “want” to get hit.
Yep! combined them both with great effect here: ruclips.net/video/NiZI5u6I2YA/видео.html
@@DnDDeepDive doh! I didn’t see this video. Lol.
@@chrisframe2227 no worries!
2 years later i will play this same idea in a west march server, 3 levels of rune knight from the start to be very good at grappling early on and then i'll go runechild sorcerer for the AoA and transmuted spell metamagic. Also for the race i choose earth genasi for the blade ward cantrip as a bonus action, thank you Cobi for this amazing idea of a build, i would love to see an updated version of this since it is one of my favorite videos of this channel
After seeing the episode name and the thumbnail, I was quite disappointed to not get a warlock build based around thorn whip, but I was happily surprised by the actual build. Great concept! Although genie/thorn whip for forced movement build would be awesome!
Thanks! Yep, I've got that build on my "to do" list ... will get there eventually (though now I have to think of a better name...)
You are absolutely correct about the pushing. By RAW, you do not have to move them. I have looked into this in depth.
Im so happy I found this channel , your content is amazing.
Me too! Thanks!
Yes! Super excited for this build!
Custom lineageTiefling with heavy armor master and the barbed hide feat at level 5. An unavoidable 1d6 every round for a bonus action plus double proficiency in intimidation. +1 to charisma or Constitution. Also Flames of Phlegethos at level 9 helps with fire damage when they hit you (a 1d4 fire damage you don't roll for) and you reroll 1's on all fire damage. +1 to charisma.
If your DM is ok with UA, I'd say go for it!
Taking proficiency in intimidation could be a good idea as a way to convince enemies to hit you that are too big to grapple or too strong.
Rly fun gauntlet on the 10k vid! Keep it up :)
I'm surprised you din't use the skill expert feat to pick up athletics expertise, but it is clear that there are lots of feats that end up being super useful so hard to spare one for it. It's definitely one of my favourite feats in Tasha's. Great video, super cool and unique build idea. I've been considering a similar concept in terms of melee warlock grapple build but takes archfey and focuses on using teleports to try and slam into enemies or drop them. Tomb of Levistus is kind of necessary to not wreck yourself but 100% worth it in my mind
Yes, definitely worth considering skill expert - it sort of depends how often you're failing your grapple checks, which is a little tough to anticipate, not knowing what monsters you'd be up against.
Might be my next one shot build. This seems like a blast!
After the Bladesinger this is my favorite character build. Love the idea of just grappling any and every enemy
This looks super fun. I have to try it.
Enlarge/Reduce can be twinned, so you could conceivably get both benefits at once.
ooo... nice!
Alternate build: Scourge Aasimar for Radiant Consumption, and instead of Sorc and a very high level of Warlock, start going into Stars Druid.
Cast Spike Growth and use Blade Ward and Heavy Armour Master to basically negate the damage you take from Growth.
Grapple the target, light yourself up like a bonfire and start walking through the Growth, cheese grating the enemy into paste. Dragon form from Star means you can't ever lose Conc from the 1 or 2 damage you take per step.
Just make sure you don't use Consumption when you are wanting Armor of Agathys to last a long time, as even with your resistance to it, you'll still eat through your temp HP.
Plus side, you get higher level spell slots to cast AoA with.
Assuming level 20 you'd want to end like Fighter 2/Warlock 5(or 6)/Druid 12(or 13) depending on if you want the Warlock level 6 feature or not.
If you go Hexblade instead of Fiend (hear me out, it isn't for the reason you think) you can pick up Maddening Hex invocation to add to your damage, as it works off Hexblade's Curse (as the other ways to use it require Conc)
Barbarian (bear, probably) / Clockwork sorcerer. Use the bastion of law ability, font of magic, and clockwork soul spell list to get:
- precast armor of agathys
- convert all spell slots to sorcery points
- convert all points to d8s of damage mitigation for about 15d8s (16 minus the slot to cast AoA)
- during combat, rage on and keep applying your damage mitigation as needed to keep AoA going.
And you can always use things like extended spell to cast things like Aid out of combat.
Hmm... :)
Would probably do less damage but definitely ensure that AoA lasts a lot longer! I like it :)
This is very fun to use an encounter enemy. Like a puzzle gimmick enemy, good stuff.
would love to see a genie chain pact warlock build
I'm playing a warlock 3 genie chain pact / rogue X swashbuckler right now and it's actually pretty good. The extra genie damage makes up for about half to 2/3 of the lost sneak attack progression, and you get a really good familiar, 2 invocations, and 2nd level spells.
Hide in your lamp, take a short rest, while your familiar flies you along with the party, invisibly!
@@adamkaris my little warlock does this constantly. The party isn’t even sure she’s real.
I submit that "The Warspike" or "The Warthorn" would have been awesome as a name
With the grappling and spikes, my mind goes to... iron maiden?
I like Thornlock, as 'lock' has a double meaning, because grappler is locking them down, (with the intention of stopping the target moving off and attacking your party members, and to hopefully encourage the target to attack us).
They do sound cool though ^^
I would recognize that copy of Shadow's Edge anywhere! I love Brent Weeks and all of his books. The Night Angel Trilogy was a huge part of my youth and I'm glad to see others who own his works! There are some interesting ideas for characters in that series as well.
Loved the series - need to check out his other stuff :)
@@DnDDeepDive The Lightbringer series is fantastic, would definitely recommend if you enjoyed Night Angel!
I love this build so much.
Going forward can you add an objective measure of consistency?
So during the Damage Report you could say:
1) on average this build kills "these sample creatures" in 4 rounds.
2) 95% of the time this build kills them in 6 rounds or less.
The Maths is very "I hope you like binominal equations", but this reliable damage build is my favourite so far by a mile and I would love to see how future builds compare.
Thanks - glad you enjoyed :). I'll take it under advisement! :P
I feel like dhampir would work even better since the empowered bite gives a bonus to the next ability check.
One cool thing about Genie Patron Warlocks is that one your Proficiency Bonus hits 4 (at 9th level) you can start taking long rests with Bottled Respite. Also, Sanctuary Vessel represents the ultimate middle finger to “8 hour short rest” DMs, along with the Catnap spell of course.
Yep! I actually mention this in the "Final Thoughts" section :)
Aww, the Porculock would have been perfect. lol
You can call me Porculock if you want to...
@@DnDDeepDive Sweet! lol
Clockwork Soul sorcerers have access to AoA (replacing one of their clockwork spells) and create bonfire
This is the way i went as well instead of warlock in my revenger build. Fire shield, armor of agathys are both on the clockwork soul list and you have more spell slots to work with there. Plus bastion of law to mitigate dmg.
Hey so I was testing this but how do you actually replace spells in DnD beyond with this feature? I couldn't figure it out
@@iflickthings That feature is not available yet on Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind. In the forums, it was suggested that an easy fix was to homebrew the class yourself and change the spells that way.
I am actually playing a Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer and will be dipping into Artificer (Armorer) now, so some Aspects here where a nice Addition to your Abjurer/Armorer video. (Allthough I still think Mark of Warding is coolrr then Warforged ;P)
Keep up the good work!
That Simpsons reference was *chef's kiss*
Super fun build!
As a somewhat related build to the topic, i have a grappler build with glory paladin. channel divinity gives advantage on athletic checks and therefore grapples and shoves. I get tavern brawler for improvised weapons and hit with the shield, while using the bonus action to make grapple checks with the empty hand. And of course getting atheltic expertise feat and maxing strengh. Advantage with the huge modifier makes it almost never fail a grapple check.
The BladeMail lock. Amazing!
Skills expert is always an option for expertise in athletics.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but you DO need to spend a spell slot for Polymorph through Sculptor of Flesh! :)
this is a cool concept!
A grung would be cool for a porcupine, but it doesn't really fit the multiclassing or heavy armor requisites, I think.
As my group's typical DM, I love chaos. They will roll on that chaos chart every single time xD
My moon druid covered himself in plant growthed thorny vines, and would cast speak with plants and fire shield. The fire shield did its 2d8 retaliatory damage and the DM had the plants do an extra d8 retaliatory piercing damage since speak with plants allows the plants to move themselves but not uproot themselves. The strategy paired well with a ring of regeneration and some health potions from my herbalism kit proficiency
Love it!
Cant wait to play this one
I realised you were going to recognise wild magic just before you said it and I am so happy. Is the subclass clever? No. Will it cause shenanigans? Hell yes.
I would, in fact, argue that shenanigans are the primary (bordering on sole) reason to play a wild magic sorcerer over the other options.
@@mrrodgers0 depends on how your DM feels about triggering the surge that they get from tides of chaos. If they're going to trigger it at every opportunity, then you have a fairly reliable source of advantage.
I would imagine for the last 3 levels of this character you would take 1 more warlock level for the ASI and cap Charisma and then take 2 more levels in sorcerer to get 3rd level spells and their 6th level subclass feature. Clockwork Soul could be another potential option for this build to get the Bastion of Law feature at level 6, the extra hit points absorbed from the ward could help your AoA Temp HP last longer
Great to see a Fiend Warlock!
Hope you don't mind the Necro...
So soon after this video came out we started a, well let's call it an "anti-hero" campaign. The party wasn't "evil" per se, but more or less took the "Deadpool" approach to "solving problems". The "lesser of two evils" for the local populace/world kind of thing. Well took this as the baseline for a wronged person looking to take out the evil organization which betrayed a previous group, thus leading to the Pact. Just hit level 10, so here is a brief "contact report":
1-4: Pretty much standard low level Fighter play. Ended up working with the DM and getting a nice Greatsword (which is cursed, fits very thematically though. Gift of the Patron type of thing). The Greatsword pretty much remained strapped to the back for most encounters after level 3 (we tend to have 2-3 encounters per short rest, so can't always have spells up) and only used for Intimidation checks.
5-7: Damage stays consistent, MC puts a little behind the curve until 7. Party quickly learned that a grappler with Fly is a godsend against aerial opponents (though Bonfire a "little" less useful and falling damage can take out AoA pretty quickly if not careful. (Though casting Bonfire on a saddle of a Wyvern Rider is quite hilarious. No damage to Wyvern per DM though, can't have it all) Basically become a "missile" that goes for the most obvious threat and let the party take care of everyone else.
8-10: Really comes into one's own, AoA already up, Quickened Cold Fire Shield, Grapple, Action Surge, Bonfire is more powerful than one may think. Another slight variation if AoA is not up, is to Quicken Fire Cold Shield, Grapple, Action Surge, drop a Fireball on oneself, with Cloak of Flies already up, well, it's not too hard to get 4+ within 5' of you IF Initiative is won (+0 to Initiative). The only "drawback" is that the character's reputation precedes them, so the DM has become a fan of nets, webs, and other movement hindering methods which tend to be targeted on the character. Most likely the 3rd spell slot will end being used for something like Misty Step, Dimension Door, or Thunderous Step to "get around" the impairment. At level 10, the range on the grapple check is 11 (all ones) with an average of 27 and a high of 40. Realistically it is rare that I see less than a 15 for a grapple check, which against casters is more than enough. Will most likely go the Rune Knight route for reliable size enhancement after getting the third spell slot. We might hit 17 in this campaign, so couple of levels of Sorcerer for more sorcery points so quickened isn't a once a day trick and get a couple of other options. Quickened and Subtle were my two, because sometimes, one needs to grapple two creatures and having not needing a hand to cast Blade Ward comes in handy.
Apologize for the book, and the tardiness, but this campaign meets twice a month usually. But ya did ask for feedback. ;)
Transmute spell metamagic for a more versatile Bonfire (aka Acidpool, Freezer, Lightning Rod, etc)
Would recommend posting a leveling breakdown in your description. It would help people follow along and not have to re-watch a 1 hour video to remember what to pick up at each level.
I think he does this for his paid RUclips subscribers, so I don’t think he’ll do this. It’s one of his only selling points for the subscription
Right! As Max said, I *do* put out written “cheat sheets” for the builds, but it *is* actually the one thing I give as a benefit to members of the channel - here’s a little video I did explaining why if you’re at all interested - I’d love to have you as a member! (it’s pretty cheap : ) ) ruclips.net/video/op_QNygYv3E/видео.html
Wouldn't Celestial Patron work better than Fiend? You can heal yourself as a bonus action without spending a spell slot, (which is good for a punching bag like you,) you add Cha to Fire damage like your Create Bonfire, and if you go far enough you get an auto-res with free damage + debuff if you go down. Plus you can heal your friends, which is always nice to have.
Definitely worth considering. Fiend and Genie were at the top of my list because they’re the only Warlocks who get access to Fire shield, but you could definitely explore other options.
Just the essential comment for the algorythm. Keep up the good work Critlander :)
Critlander...
Nice
10k, and now 142k, damn congrat!
Warlock monk would be amazing
One thing that this build could use is incentive for the enemy to hit you, grappling is one way to do remove that need (though if you find a way to knock them prone and grapple them it will take them they will be unable to get up while grappled) but it can also be achieved with the fighting style, going into battlemaster, the martial adept feat, or a mix of each, to grab bait and switch, goading attack, and perhaps grappling strike to keep them attacking you. Cavelier could also be a good subclass choice for fighter as their mark punishes enemies who try to escape you (couple that with your typical PAM/Sentinel basics and they aren't going anywhere) I'd suggest the Mark of Warding dwarf for Faithful Hound, and more thematic abjuration spells (while I know that the dodge action isn't optimal for this build, if you're low on health and need a turn to recharge, the dwarven fortitude feat allows you to spend hit die to regain hit points when you take the dodge action, and if I recall correctly there are ways to optimize your hit die regen) the Oath of Redemption is also basically all about getting it and punishing enemies for hitting you, so it might be worth taking a dip into for a more martial oriented build
Alright, you have inspired a combination of this build and the astral Monk! Though I think tiefling might be a better fit for the barbed hide feat (an extra d6 every turn)
"the thornlock" you mean the anti monk build?
Colby: I think this would be fun with the new Undead Warlock. At Level 10 you can use the Mortal Husk feature to take hits until you explode in a shower of maggots all over your grappled opponent, doing 2d10 + Warlock Level in necrotic damage. It fits well with the Cloak of Flies.
Also, it would be hilarious to see a concept art depiction of this character with all the many buffs active. ☺️
Ew! I love it!
Build idea: a DEX based paladin. I’ve wanted to see one done well and haven’t been satisfied with anything I’ve thought up. Recently I’ve just had the idea of starting Rogue and going swashbuckler multiclassing into Paladin and with enough a dip going Oath of Vengeance. If two weapon fighting is viable I think that’d be amazing. Not sure if going Drow, Vhuman, half elf or what race yet. Love the idea of pirates and dark backstories. Heck, oathbreaker may be a fun twist. Key point to hit is DEX paladin with a John Wick moment that makes him go slay those who wronged him.
Ok, I'll put it on the list!
Seems thematic to go oath of vengeance 5 for extra attack. Fighter 2 of course because he's an action hero. start with fighter for proficiencies. going with the theme assassin rogue 3. as long as you have a DM who's cooperative with surprise, you can have that surprise round john wick moment where you attack, action surge, attach divine smites to each attack, sneak attack to 1 hit and double all of those dmg since you auto-crit on the 1st round. bonus action another smite spell for more dmg dice doubling ot twf to have another attack to attach another divine smite to (yes burn all those spell slots). Custom lineage race as you will need the piercer feat (for more dmg dice per attack you dole out on that surprise round).
I feel like investiture of stone would be a good replacement for blade ward, as it then frees up that action for you to say... punch things, or use an attack cantrip, although, I feel like that might equalize out because you would lose create bonfire.
Regeneration Build
• 3rd Level Warlock with the Pact of the Chain and the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Invocation.
• 1st Level Life Cleric
• 16th Level Bard
Necessary Spells
• Regenerate
• Healing Spirit
• Armor of Agathys
• Absorb Elements
• Hellish Rebuke
• Healing Word
• Cure Wounds
Stats
• Cast the Regenerate spell = 10hp regen every round for 1 Hour
• Cast the Healing Spirit spell as a 9th Level Spell = 52hp regen every round for only 6 rounds on yourself and with no action required
• Next round cast any Instantaneous healing spell as a Bonus Action and cast Eldritch Blast as your Action
All I thought when I saw the title was “why yes I do want to fuse my love of whips with my love of D&D”
One of my favorite things that came with Tasha's is the ability to attack or cast a spell as a bonus action more consistently, which I think is currently being underrepresented. I'm mainly talking about the Maneuver *Quick Toss* and the *Quickened Spell* Metamagic, both being now available by feats. First the obvious thing I did was combine it with the Grave Cleric, including Rogue or Wizard for burst.
But there is a build I want to talk about more in detail, mainly because its more consistent and generally more effective. The build is also build around 2 "underdogs" that fit together thematically: *Daggers* and the *Assassin* subclass. Here is the build:
*_The Mercenary_* (name pending)
-*Class:* Fighter (Battle Master) 3 / Rogue (Assassin) 17.
-*Race:* Any is fine, but I recommend Custom Lineage for the free feat.
-*Recommended Feats:* Piercer, Alert, Mobile
-*Point Buy Stats:*
Str: 8
Dex: 18 _[15 + 2 + 1] (Custom Lineage & Piercer feat)_
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 14
Cha: 10
-*Level break-down:*
Lv. 1: Start Fighter 1, getting light armor & daggers for equipment and the *Blind Fighting* Fighting Style.
Lv. 2: Fighter 2.
Lv. 3: Fighter 3, picking the Battle Master subclass for the *Quick Toss* & *Ambush* Maneuvers.
Lv. 4 to 20: Rogue 1 to 17, picking the Assassin subclass. Nothing special, just a standard Rogue route.
*The Playstyle/Combat Approach*
Now for how this build works:
1: Try to surprise your enemies as often as possible and be the first to strike with a high initiative using *Ambush* if necessary.
2: Get within 10 ft. of an enemy and use *Quick Toss* with a dagger, dealing Sneak Attack as a bonus action.
3: Walk up to the enemy and pick up your dagger using your Free Object Interaction, then Ready Action to attack _after_ your turn _ends._
4: After your turn ends, use your reaction to release your Readied Action and make an attack, dealing Sneak Attack again.
With this sequence you use *Quick Toss* proc Sneak Attack twice in a round, doubling our DPR. But not only that, because we are the Assassin subclass if the enemy is surprised *_both_* attacks auto-crit. If both attacks went to a single target it will most likely die instantly. The best part is that we can do this whenever we want as long as we have Superiority Dice, meaning we can double our DPR 4 times per short or long rest. Piercer is there for extra damage & rerolling pesky 1's, *Blind Fighting* cancels out most forms of disadvantage for more Sneak Attacks and Mobile helps us getting in & out easier.
I'm sorry in advance for this wall of text =P, but I thought to share this build so the concept gets a bit more known. If you've any feedback or ideas about this build I'd love to hear it. Also can't wait for you to build a concept around this! Lovin the content so keep it up.
Thanks! Very Clever - Will put this on the list :)
While this works, there's also a much more well known version of this that deals superior dmg at lower levels: the battlemaster gloomstalker assassin. Generates surprise easier too because of the gloomstalker's always on improved invis in darkness.
in any case, i like the concept of using quick toss for your sneak attack. this frees up your action surge to do something else aside from readying an attack like casting a spell (assuming i trade out some rogue levels for a spellcaster class).
Dark gift touch of would be AMAZING
I've taken a liking to the dhampir and it's life stealing capabilities.
do you have any ideas for a character based around life draining and healing themselves?
I'll put out a vid just as soon as they make it out of UA :). Haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about life-draining but would be a fun concept. Will add it to the list.
OMG, that would be amazing
@@DnDDeepDive I'd wish they made the bite finesse, so that rogues can heal themselves on their sneak attack. Hap (Dutch onomatopia for taking a bite), ''I heal myself for 10d6, thank you onto sneaking to the next target. Hé let me say hello'', hap.
One thing you could do to get decently reliable damahe resistance without being so acrion-heavy is to convince your party cleric to cast Warding Bond. It requires a source of temp hp for the cleric and limits their concentration capabilities, but it might be worth it, especially since Heavy Armor Master reduces the damage taken AFTER you halve it (I'm like 85% sure that's how it works RAW)
Calculation would work this way:
- enemy strikes for 13 damage
- you halve it, for 7,5~~ 7
- you reduce it to 4 damage
- both your armor of agathys and the cleric take 4 points of damage.
It would obviously work best on a twilight cleric, but any cleric with good con save and War Caster would do if they cast heroism on themselves. Alternatively, at 6-th level the artificer can give them the infusion that makes you auto-succeed on concentration saves if you fail (mind-sharpener, was it?). Hell, the artillerist artificer can cast Warding Bond too, and use the protective shield construct to give themselves a bunch of temp hp to withstand that damage they take from the bond.
I personally use such technique on my paladin with Heavy Armor Master, and it does wonders for my tanking! :D
I feel like cloud of daggers should have at least an honorable mention. It serves the same purpose as create bonfire, except it deals more damage and has no saving throw, great! It also takes a spell slot, which are in short supply, which is not so great. Its probably worth taking as just another tool in the box so to speak.
Right, the only reason I didn't mention it (and I did consider it several times) was the spell slot thing - we don't get Sorc spell slots until very late, and actually, at that point, our Bonfire is doing 3d8 or 4d8 - comparable to the Cloud damage. What's more, as a cantrip, it's a little easier to cast multiple spells in a turn as a BA with Quickened blade if we're casting, say, AoA or Fire Shield *and* this with Quickened Spell...
@@DnDDeepDive Cloud is on the warlock list too. I'd pick it up much earlier, like 4 or 5 Warlock. Not to use a lot but just for niche scenarios (mostly when resistances/ immunties come into play).
If you took Draconic for sorcerous origin (either white or silver) you could get +CHA mod to the damage of AoA AND to Fire Shield if you choose chill shield, giving you up to +10dmg per hit on you assuming 20 charisma.
You have to be sorcerer 6 for this to work (Elemental Affinity) so you might need to change the order you take certain levels but their level 1 abilities pair nicely with this build as well: +1 hp per sorcerer level and auto mage armor if you don't already have armor.
I seriously considered doing this, for reals. In the end I decided on Wild Magic just because it gave us a nice bump to our grapples AND so I could say I did a Wild Magic sorc and now don't have to touch it again :P. Definitely worth considering!
@@DnDDeepDive Haha, worth getting the wild magic sorc out of the way. Save the Draconic for something real nice!
@@thomasgeppi6762 I actually *did* use Draconic Sorc before to pretty good effect, I think, in an almost as weird build... ruclips.net/video/ulGy19-G7MU/видео.html
@@DnDDeepDive Thanks for the link, I'll check it out, love the weird builds. The needler is one of my favorites
@@thomasgeppi6762 Me too - especially after our 10k episode :)
Hey I had something for a build I wanted to tell you about. It pretty much is a tank Wizard with healing. They way you do this is Level 1 Cleric / Level 19 Wizard. You will get Heavy armor + Shield + Martial Weapons Proficiency depending on what Cleric subclass you go. From here you will have access to the entire Cleric first level spell book which gives you Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Bless, and Guidance. You wont be able to get higher level healing spells, but from what I looked at, Cure Wounds Scales pretty well compared to the other High level healing spells. Not as good, but definitely not bad either.
From here you will be at a permeant 18 AC at level 1, + Shield of faith for +2 AC for 10 minutes, and +5 AC as a reaction with Shield. From here the idea is pretty much that, if your DM lets you put your arcane focus on your neck like a cleric does with their sigil, you can cast with a sword and shield in your hand. If not then you would need to get a Ruby of the war Mage, which is an uncommon magic item. So then you pretty much have a frontline wizard with Booming / Green flame blade. To further the build, War Mage + Sentinel + Tough, then +2 +2 Int. So far I have not gotten hit in the entire 3 sessions I have played (only level 2/3), and Warcaster + Sentinel will let you use your reaction to attack an enemy with a spell whenever they go in to attack your party member.
One of the problems with this though is how hard you have to split your stats. Because you need atleast 15 Strength, Max Int, and then as high a constitution as you can get (along with some wisdom preferably or else you will only be able to prefer 1 Cleric spell + the static base 2 from your subclass).
I like the healing option! Some similarities here with the Wizard Tank I did a few weeks back...
@@DnDDeepDive Yeah for sure. I don't remember if the Abjuration Wizard had Heavy armor + shield Proficiency. But throwing in the 1 Level of Cleric to that build I think could be helpful, since you will still have the same level of spell slots as a level 20 wizard since Cleric is a full caster class.
@@TheGreatJ yep! It did - from Armorer :). Cleric 1 is always worth considering though!
I don't see a tank here. where's the threat redirection? I see a very sturdy characted that's DM ignore bait. Tanks are threat redirection 1st, survival 2nd.
@@TheRobversion1 threat redirection? What do you mean?
Subtle spell should be your 2nd option, it lets you initiate combat with a "surprise" round. Most DMs will rule that if you try to start combat by attacking or fighting, the other side is keyed up and you roll initiative to see who gets the drop on the other. With subtle spell, there is no contest to see who gets the drop on the other, your spell just occurs with no outward warning. It also makes you immune to counterspell, which is a huge vulnerability to this build.
On spell slots, if you believe all of your in combat spells are going to be used on armor of agathys/fire shield (which I wouldn't assume) pick non-combat utility spells that you will be inclined to use OUT of combat. I think honestly you really should assume you won't always have 2 spells available for the first half of the build. Things ALWAYS come up.
Great point with sublte spell for surprise. works well with assassin if that spell is an attack spell.
I think for that feat at 5th level, it may be actually a good idea to take Grappler. I know, you're not doing any attacking, but the ability to restrain an opponent for no resource, giving advantage to allies while giving them disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone (except you who is also restrained), while ALSO giving them disadvantage on the dex save against bonfire. Not saying cha boost is a bad choice, but this is an insane control ability that also increases your dps more than a cha boost
I am 30mins into the video...
I was working on a similar build with Pact of the Talisman and using Rebuke of the Talisman in combo with Cloud of Daggers
It's not the DM I gotta convince to take short rests, it's the other players
Reminds me of Thibbledorf Pwent as a WoW deathknight. Bribe your DM to give you spiked armor.
“Hey, guys! Don’t you want to punch me?” 😂👍🏻
Piercing is the most common damage type out of the 3 basic types. Most things you fight have Bite and Claws, or shoot Arrows.
Feel free to double check check those numbers, I'm working off 3.5 memory.
If your city based you'll see a lot more slashing, due to the abundance of weapons, ie: swords.
While bludgeoning is mostly reserved for the large scaled humanoids that finding weapons their size would be troublesome,
or the poorest that have clubs/sticks as their best option.
Maybe you can do Genie warlock some time? Limited wish and bonus action fly and all might be interesting with other combos
Stay tuned for the Final Thoughts!
@@DnDDeepDive Just got there! Very interesting build. Small correction though, the ten minute short rest, you can only do once per day. You can only enter your genie vessel once per day.
Did you say Grapple? ... *_looks at blob of protoplasm in the corner_* ... "Psst, Plasmoid, you're up!"
I'm waiting to get back to my tempest domain cleric genie chainlock.... it's not nearly as thorns focused as this but between AoA and Wrath of the storm he doesnt like to get hit and will let you know it