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oops i forgot the hadozee. but in my defence, so did everyone else in the world 💀💀 hadozee were nerfed into the ground by an overly cruel mechanical errata so they're an underpowered species now sadly. However, they're fine monks who can use their reaction to tank in emergencies (nice with only d8 hit dice), and their climb speed lets them kite + retreat upwards to avoid retailation in ideal environments. Mostly though, you get to be a Monk Monkey, which is fun to say.
I think i might be slow, but does the link to the homebrew package not pop up or is it just me? Also, any plans on doing a part 2 where you cover the Unearthed Arcana races or the Plane Shift races?
My friend made a changeling bard once, I remember one time he went up to a group of orcs, disguised as one, asked their leader's name, cast Raulothim's Psychic Lance without even looking (you don't need to see a target if you know their name) and absolutely terrified them. There was no fight that day, we won before it even started
I had a player who did the same thing funnily enough but did not cast the spell and rolled very poorly on his insight check. I told him he came into the location knowing a few names of the orcs from people saying names. He then decided that since he didnt know any of the names he was going to wing it and i told him to try. However unfortunately just saying “im philip” was not what i expected. They did however beat all of the orcs and “philip the orc” became a name that orcs everywhere shuttered at the mere mention of. Actually ended up coming in to play later on an intimidation check that helped a lot towards the end of that campaign. My group calls trying to talk your way out of a failed persuasion check “philip-bustering” now
To add to the Plasmoid-As-Monk concept, specifically an Astral Monk. Plasmoids get advantage on grapple checks, which Astral Monks can make with Reach AND using Wis instead of Str. You can basically use those extra arms to lock down more than one enemy, holding them in place while still able to attack them. Use your ki to Dodge as bonus action to avoid counterattacks, and you're almost at good at controlling the field as a wizard.
You also can hold your breath for an hour so once you grapple them, take them for a swim. I did this against a hag we fought in the swamp. They couldn't cast a spell because the hands were grappled and underwater for no verbal components. The DM basically let us end the fight there
I’m playing a Plasmoid Spore Druid Astral Self Monk (Oozwald Sepps). After our second combat, our DM gave Oz a musket, because it was the most complicated build he dealt with to date, and he’d rather deal with a Gunk than go through all of my activations.
Last night, I played a 5e Bugbear Echo Knight fighter for the first time. He was lvl 4 with the Polearm Master feat and Long-Limbed racial feature. It was a firefight oneshot and I positioned myself on a 5’ wide stone stairway to meet successive waves of enemies 300 Spartan-style. My God, the 15’ reach of my opportunity attacks when enemies ENTERED the range of my (and my Echo’s) halberd was devastating. I chopped ‘em down and piled them like cordwood!
A Bugbear fighter with Polearm Master and Sentinel is so much fun. My DM is nice enough to let booming blade work at the range of the weapon being used (he may not be so nice in the future). Mob comes within 15 feet. I hit them, freeze them in place, then on my turn do booming blade on them. hit them 2 more times, and if they are still alive, I simply move back 5 feet and let them explode when the move forward, rinse and repeat.
One of my roommates is a half-orc echo knight/lycan bloodhunter, and having a werewolf and a shadow werewolf teleporting around the battlefield lighting shit on fire has been a pain to deal with as a DM. 😂
@@CrimFerret no, you don't have the time for far reach strikes. Like a lunge etc. If you're using house rules, mention it's house rules. You did that with BBlade. "My DM thought that was stupid" Yeah, i know ppl. Lot of stupid ppl pretend to think something else is stupid and they "fix that". This really isn't the worse thing tho. Just mention it's houseruled so if someone else wants this fun to be replicated to talk to DM, so they are not sad it doesn't work as described. Good day sir.
Almost got an opportunity to do this with my harengon rune knight/druid, and I'm really miffed I couldn't. Admittedly, it would've been against a party member (I got mind controlled first turn), but the point stands.
Thri-Kreen work really well as a bard- one hand for the rapier, one for the shield, two to play a lute or other musical instrument (which of course is going to be your magic focus)
My group recently wrapped our latest campaign and we decided to hold off starting a new one until the 2024 MM comes out. Since then I’ve been playing around building and made a long range Aasimar Champion Fighter. Holy crap!
@@DnDShorts EVERYTHING IN THIS NEW 2024 5.5E SYSTEM IS AWFUL! THEREFORE, I REFUSE TO EVER PLAY OR SUPPORT IT! As for the proper 5e 2014 system, I created 12 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group. My favorite is: A Chaotic Neutral Acolyte background Female Shadar-Kai Undying Warlock whose patron is Larloch aka The Shadow King! Another of my characters is: A Chaotic Neutral Hermit background Female Summer Eladrin Monk planning on Way of the Long Death.
One time I was going to play a Shepard druid, but then a friend of mine said he wanted to play an artificer Artillerist. As both have the ability to dish out temp Hp, I decided to change my subclass. Me and my friend talked a bit, and then I decided to opt for an Eladrin MoonDruid. I know, moondruid is the common druid, but the fun part was a combo that me and my friend planned out. Nothing crazy mechanically, but extremely funny on the role play aspect. The combo was me wildshaping as a Bear at low levels, he'd make a tiny flamethrower and make it so that it would stand on me. Then I'd teleport as an eladrin with either the fire or the fear effect. Let me tell you, an opposing NPC would shit their pants if a bear teleported in front of them with a flamethrower on their back.
I think Eldrin + Eldritch Knitch rocks too. I love the flavor of magical elves + magical fighter. plus a fighter that gets a free misty step is pretty damn terrifying as a concept as well!
Not sure if it’s the best build but a neat interaction, Centaurs have Equine build which makes climbing cost 4 extra movement instead of the regular 1 extra movement. Now if you play as a thief rogue you get second story works which lets you climb without spending extra movement, due to this interaction you now can climb at 40ft at no cost, effectively allowing you to traverse anywhere.
Hear me out on Lizardfolk: Standard 13AC+DEX is like an always on, non removable Mage Armor/Armor of Shadows - pair this with a shield for easy access to an AC of 20 - as an artificer. This is also great for any fragile Caster. A bladesinging Lizardfolk benefits from both AC13 + DEX + INT, for an AC of up to 23. Cast Shield for an AC 28. You're Welcome
A small bit of criticism I'd like to levy against the video is that you should include an icon when making this style of video whether the species/subclass/spell/etc is from 2024 rules or 2014 rules as the video can be rather difficult to follow at times. Especially with you switching between either version quickly. I hope this was useful to you and keep up the good content!
The one thing I have noticed with Harengons is that they are one of the most versatile races in DnD other than humans. I have been able to make them fit into almost every class with deadly efficiency. But yes, the Wizard class was indeed the easiest, followed by Ranger, then Monk.
My Celtic-culture Harengon Circle of Stars Druid is awesome to play! I reskinned things to suit his fey & Celtic aspects: his star-map spell focus is the skin of his bodhran musical instrument, he throws war-bolas of star-glass, the StarDruid constellations are The Bolas (archer), Teapot (chalice), & Pooka (dragon), etc. Great fun!
Currently playing a harengon rune knight/druid multiclass, and the racial initiative bonus is good, cloud rune is busted, and flaming sword is really freaking busted. Also, I'm one of the team's healers, while being really tanky. Now if only the other players would quit calling me fluffy.
Do Gnome Barbarian with giant weapons work though? You said Giant Axe, but here's the Dealbreaker: Heavy Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon’s size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively. Correct me if im wrong.
You need to talk about a Mastermind Rogue/ Knowledge Cleric build. I played it at my table and we named it “the party always hit build” You cast bless and can use your bonus action to give Adv to an ally. Now have a barbarian with great weapon master, hopefully he’s orc. He can delete almost anything in a single turn. You have expertise and/or prof in almost all skills. This combo legit helps buff the entire group to make them unstoppable
One thing I recall from the Kender was their special weapon - a spear with a slingshot on the butt end... that had the finesse property. I can imagine Rogues absolutely wanting a weapon they could use in melee and range with finesse that can work with Sneak Attack.
Not to glaze but this is probably my favorite video ive seen for this creator. As a gm who constantly brings in rookie players i think im probably going to suggest every one of them to watch this video. Gives great description and helps massively in a jump off point for them to build
I am currently playing an Aasimar Grave Cleric. So I am happily using that ability to flly. Looking forward to getting Spirit Guardians and flying above my enemies to burn them. I don't like the cheap hold dash to run around and hit a bunch more people though.
Someday I'd love to see a campaign setting where the most logical choice for a character class informs the society that that species forms. If the path of least resistance for a species is barbarian then I would expect a rather chaotic culture. If the path of least resistance for a species is cleric, then I would expect to see religion play a huge part their society.
I mean previous tsr editions did do that with the race-class restrictions. Each race could only go so far in a certain number of classes. I think cleric, fighter and thief were the most commonly available.
As you said at the end, these are the optimal choices, but they aren’t the ones you have to make. Just because something is the best doesn’t mean that others aren’t great, and even if a combo isn’t great, that doesn’t mean you can’t use it. Have fun with them, they’re your character after all, and even the most optimized build can be brought down with a string of bad luck.
I really appreciate your channel. Love the math and combos you can uncover and put together. I love hybrid classes because of what I can do potentially with my character and personal lore. Sadly I don't have enough time in game so I'm realizing a simpler class with bonus like these are great for finding groups and hashing out game mechanics.
You missed something with the druid. Druid wild shape no longer says you keep the species traits. So Moon druid best combos will give you a feat and skills. Personally my broken build for the moon Droid is a drow elf. Since they only sleep 4 hours. For short rest after their long rest recharging wild shape. And the new familiar with a bat unless you have blind sight as a bonus action and darkness
Another option could be a dhampir lineage Locathah monk not only doesn't it remove the need to use water to breath, you also basically become a walking quipper which can climb up walls and ceilings also your bite attack would scale as you gain monk levels.
gnomes, being small, have disadvantage with heavy weapons - so they can't just run around with a giant axe unless you want to swing with disadvantage every single time...
I always go for Mobile feat anytime I have a character that relies on Mobility, and/or has multiple attacks. Is nice to be able to slap someone in your way, and be able to go around them without being smacked back. Bonus points if you're luring foes into Rough Terrain, and they cannot keep up with you because they're at Half Speed. (Great Ambush/Trap idea)
The best class for Tortles, in my opinion, is Bladesinger Wizard. Yes, Shell defense stacks with the Bladesong AC boost. If you roll well enough for stats (or have a stat-boosting magic item or two), Bladesinger/Paladin and Bladesinger/Hexblade are the coolest multiclasses ever conceived by mankind.
Loxodon pairs exceedingly well with Circle of Spores Druid. They've got oodles of Constitution, which gives them a bunch of extra temp HP when activating their spores, they get pretty amazing AC for not wearing armour, and by the late game, have resistance or outright immunity to so many effects in the game. I ended up replacing our Paladin as the tank in our game, since I can effectively just ignore damage taken, when it does happen.
I think the best goblin subclass is shadow magic sorcerer. You can cast darkness using sorcery points and only you can see through the darkness. The darkness makes you heavily obscured which in turn allows you to bonus action hide in the darkness after using your action to cast a spell. This gives you the invisibility condition for a bonus action every turn assuming you pass your stealth check (at lvl 4 get sculker for consistency). Even when you do get in melee range you can still bonus action disengage and get away. This makes for an amazing stealth based magic caster and can make dealing with you impossible for creatures without devil or true sight.
Alternative for fairy: At 5th level, you can enlarge the best of the air(ranger) so you can ride it Neglect wisdom and you can use a lance and shield. This means 60ft of fly, medium armour+shield, range weapon,1d12 of damage, permanent flyby at lvl5. I think this is RAW but I could be wrong
Drow could make an argument for bard. Dancing lights to enhance performances (from a roleplay perspective), Faerie Fire is a great support option, as is Darkness. If you're aiming to be your teams support, Drow bard goes hard.
Plasmoid Warlock with Pact of the Blade, Improved Pact Weapon and Armour of Shadows. Even when naked they’re armed, armoured and have an arcane focus. I’d go with the Fathomless patron for the bonus action tentacle attack
Autognomes are also really good for Wizards and Sorcerers because of their Armored Casing ability giving them free permanent mage armor, or the armor feature of the Draconic sorcerer, without having to take that subclass. My Autognome Scribes wizard has an AC of 15 at 2nd level.
I definitely agree that melee combatants benefit more from racial abilities than casters do. Particularly, this is a result of racial abilities tending to fix the glaring weaknesses of melee builds. Paladins and fighters tend to be slow; tabaxi-dashes, increased walking speed, and flying races fix that. Many melee builds struggle outside of combat; a few spells or abilities go a long way into fixing it. Of course, you mentioned the mental saves. Many melee characters will leave their BA underutilized. So Hobgoblin's help, elves' fey step, Aasimar's transformation, etc. are far more helpful on characters that don't have access to BA spells. And when you don't have any spells, or are severely limited, those extra spells can be clutch. The opposite is also true, though to a lesser extent. The best races for the spellcasters are ones that grant armor proficiencies/replacements, or aid survivability. Those are just rarer.
Deep Gnome Fathomless Warlock gets the darkvision eldritch blast combo with the bonus action tentacle attack, basically giving you two attacks at level 1! or spell/tentacle attack. killer early game.
Air Genasi is beast beastmaster Ranger. You can be small to ride your Beast of the Land, using Shocking Grasp to freely disengage from prone enemy (your beast knocks prone enemy of any size).
Another powerful combo with goblin is Artificer, specifically Battle Smith: Dual wield lances (2014 weapon) while your Steel Defender acts as your mount.
I'm currently playing a Tabaxi Monk and yeah, it's a pretty great combo. I didn't choose it to be powerful though, I just thought it sounded like it would be fun :)
Deep Gnomes also get access to Svirf Magic racial feat from XGtE. It's the most magic you can get from a single feat, and they all work great on a rogue.
As someone who chronically runs Aasimar Paladin when our party lacks anyone who cares about tanking, I would agree that the ability to fly unhindered while wearing heavy armor is extremely strong, so much so that a few DMs I've played with have explicitly forbidden me from having wings at all. Bows in general are grossly underrated in D&D, and no one should underestimate the threat a Battlemaster Fighter with a bow can pose. I've never done it, but it's pretty logical to assume that throwing the extra Paladin toys in the trash to become an attack helicopter would be a strong ploy. Eldritch Blast might have better damage, but you wouldn't be as frustratingly hard to kill.
Autognome is battlesmith artificer, for those in-combat heals from the steel defender, ability to ride it as a small character and stacking 1d4 with flash of genius and tool expertise for when you make a truly terrible roll.
Centaur go with monk. Replace your hooves strength with dexterity since the hooves count as unarmed attacks, keep a bow on hand, astral monk to hoove 10ft away, flurry of blows with hooves, and mobile feat and become a ride with up to 5 willing party members. Take a feat to allow darkness spell, cast it on an arrow and shoot it by an enemy and dash away to protect allies.
Honestly Tortles are really good with any class, particularly as spell casters. They only struggle with anything that requires armor such as Battle Rager Barbarian or Armorer but anything else they can do. I'm pretty sure that since Natural Armor is a racial trait it extends to Wildshape so that could be great for shoring up some AC problems that Wildshapes tend to have.
Bugbear Monk hmm I think my brain landed on Twilight Cleric Chronurgist Wizard with those guys. (so you get the advantage on the initiative and AC meh at L1, at L2 you come online with Jim's Magic Missile, then at L3 Gift of Alacrity when you get School of Chronurgy - along with the bonus equal to your intelligence and Scorching Ray - and you go for Alert as your feat at L5, which means you constantly get better at quick draw with your wand up to the middle levels. L1 +advantage, L3 + int mod + D8, L5 +5, so you got a good chance of hitting 17, 25, then 30 with your initiative roll. Background I *think* is just Mage of High Sorcery, for bonus action Hex for even more damage on that first turn nova.) However, I've been playing mine in the loosely-linked series of one shots my group has been running as a Rogue to Twilight Cleric then back to Rogue for Assassin - then Druid to the Stars. (I was able to claim his breastplate was a big turtle shell - since it was pointed out to me I was being a bit lame to play yet another hand crossbow user after having played one in the homebrew narrative campaign.) He's a mash up of Indiana Jones (whip wielder, generally good guy, steals anything that isn't nailed down), Gambit from X-Men (made him a functioning gambling addict with Persuasion expertise, and I themed Jim's Magic Missile off his Strixhaven background as Gambit's mutant power, except using coins instead of a card, and it's silver energy, not pink), a televangelist (to beg from NPCs for more coins to throw, also to spread the twilight of his domain, was aiming for Robert Duvall in The Apostle originally with his voice, but he's become his own thing now), and has sort of been picking up a bit of a cowboy thing since I was able to sell being able to Hide as a bonus action while riding a horse to my DM as the "wounded soldier" American Indian thing where they'd roll to one side of the saddle to appear to have fallen off their horse before popping back up and did not fail any of the animal handling tests. (though my Riding Horse had his mount attack fiated away after I rode over a fair number of weakened monsters while pointing out that it was basically a great sword attack) It is a lot less efficient because I overrated our ability to get surprise, overrated advantage, and underrated more spell slots, and I think the Old West flavour would have been just as good with the wandfighter build as Huck Finn as a divinity school drop out, but I'm playing him now.
I actually built a pretty good Fire Genasi Efreet Patron Genie Warlock Pact of the Tome. Grabbed Fire Elemental Adept as soon as I could and just blasted anything that moved with fire damage. The flight from being a Genie Warlock was also amazingly helpful.
So let me get this straight. Barbarian 14, BarBEARian 3 Bard 10 Fighter 8 Cleric 8 Monk 7 Rogue 7 Paladin 7 Druid 5 Warlock 3 Ranger 3 Artificer 2 Wizard 2 Sorcerer 2 Everything can technically be bumped up 1-2 times to account for the basic-ass human. Wotc really slacking on those caster classes. Also, I constantly skip over Barbarian because I don't know what(beyond Moon Druid combo) to pair it with. But damn, there are A LOT of options. This list does give me some direction to go in when crafting more characters, though.
currently playing a dhampir beast barbarian, the self healing while below half health when you choose the bite version is just chefs kiss when paired with with the vampiric bite lol even though it isnt alot it helps so that our support character can heal others instead of having to pocket me
My latest character is a Blue Chromatic Dragonborn Conquest Paladin with the Dragon Fear feat. Before the 2024 update, I felt like I could hold decently against a Kraken's lightning attacks. With 2024, the sky is now my domain!
@ 10:20 You are actually incorrect you could utilize the jump spell, because its not a concentration in 2024. Its been revamped. This what does now Level 1 Transmutation (Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard) Casting Time: Bonus Action Range: Touch Components: V, S, M (a grasshopper’s hind leg) Duration: 1 minute You touch a willing creature. Once on each of its turns until the spell ends, that creature can jump up to 30 feet by spending 10 feet of movement. So you can see if you cast this on yourself turn 1 or premptively, you could still use it for around 10 rounds.
18:37 WRONG, warlock is the best choice 1. Pact of the blade so that you don't have to carry weapons 2. Take the invocation armour of shadow for ac 3. Take the invocation mask of many faces, with this you can change appearance and shape, becoming a shape shifter. I might have missed a few things but I'm not sure.
I argue against some of these on the basis that, while yes something that helps what you're good at is usually good, something that helps what you're bad at is often better Dwarves for example, sure they make okay barbarians but where they really shine is in the less tanky classes because they're extra HP and defenses make up for the weaknesses those classes inherently have
I'm playing a triton fighter with the blind fighting combo right now and it's devastatingly effective. The only issue is making sure the party warlock can still see for her eldritch blast. Highly recommend especially for players with normally bad rolls like myself
6:55 plus tieflings can have broken charisma so maybe Bard more then cleric 11:05 then if you make charisma your second highest stat you could pick a swashbuckler rogue and add charisma to further boost initiative
A lot of the "tanky" racial traits, like Hill dwarf HP increase and half/orc relentless endurance are great to shore up the physical weaknesses of casters.
There’s also a third level spell called Borrowed Knowledge which would let Kenku get advantage on every skill check so I would argue they could make better clerics if we want to push this even further with peace domains emboldening bond
i took a hexblood whos base race was winged tiefling and it paired well with bloodhunter.. racial hex plus the blood cursed of the marked plus the crimson rite stacks some pretty great damage even at lvl 2. pick up the profain soul for some spell slots to be able to cast hex more than once per long rest or pick ghostslayer for better blood curses and radiant damage on your crimson rite. all while flying in mediem armor because winged tiefling's flight stats. (and you can get advantage when you amplify your mark)
Waits patiently for a cheeky joke. "Goliath can make themselves bigger"... no joke activated... starts to loose faith... saved by Plasmoid Monks. 😂 Seriously though I'm glad you pointed out how few times wiz sorcerer and warlock came up on this list. My magic boys are really left out on most races and I feel that on character creation. I'm making a sorcerer right now and was looking at harengon as a possibility already for a bit of initiative, and the jump as an alternative to getting misty step, saving a spell known, but other than them, the pickings are fairly slim.
Harengon clerics can add 2d4 to dex saves with bless! Chad harengon divine soul sorcerers being able to add 4d4 to dex saves with bless or 3d4 to anything else (but only once)
I'm planning to play a Thri-Kreen, and originally was going to go Warlock, but recently decided I might go for a Wizard or Bard instead just for all of the extra spells that Warlocks don't get. I do hate that I'm not using the Thri-Kreen's extra arms to their fullest extent, but I was more interested in their broken telepathy, naturally armor with camo, and not needing to sleep.
I just made a Dragonborn Druid of Spores thanks to some random pickers, and now I want to make them a Chromatic Dragon so they can be just that scary. She's basically a grandmother on the surface, but she can wreck your stuff if you tick her off.
Um, actually, the best Barbarian subclass for Simic Hybrid isn't Totem, but Kaiju. Not sure if you've heard of that one. /s In a oneshot, I played a lvl 8 Kaiju barb with 20 Dex and Con (ignore that each other stat was 6, except Int which was 1). With a +1 shield, cloak of protection, Simic carapace and Unarmoured Defense, I had 101 hp and an AC of 25, and was still smacking hard with the lvl 3 Titan Earth feature. Turned out that I had made an anti-tank, because all the enemies quickly gave up on attacking me... XD
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What about eladrin bro
Can you do every feat in 2014
@@Mr.Autodeletein the Elves section
Yo, 2024 druid doesnt work with species traits. So all moon druid combos you said are not going to work.
oops i forgot the hadozee. but in my defence, so did everyone else in the world 💀💀 hadozee were nerfed into the ground by an overly cruel mechanical errata so they're an underpowered species now sadly. However, they're fine monks who can use their reaction to tank in emergencies (nice with only d8 hit dice), and their climb speed lets them kite + retreat upwards to avoid retailation in ideal environments. Mostly though, you get to be a Monk Monkey, which is fun to say.
20:53 you didn't forget the Hadozee! You mentioned them right here, and banned them out of shame 😏
I've been having fun as an hadozee barbarian but, yeah, my original plan was to multiclass with monk.
Don't sweat it. WotC managed to forget the artificer, which is WAY worse!
Where harengon :O
I think i might be slow, but does the link to the homebrew package not pop up or is it just me?
Also, any plans on doing a part 2 where you cover the Unearthed Arcana races or the Plane Shift races?
As an actual human, the best class for me is nap time.
As a fellow human, can confirm
Wow I’m also a human, this is crazy so many of our people!
My best class was math, but then again, I'm on Oobleck, not a human.
Chronowizard!
So you are a warlock then?
Now we need a "best race for each subclass" video
Variant Human........ or custom lineage. unless you mean the 2024 rules and ignore Variant and custom lineage
My friend made a changeling bard once, I remember one time he went up to a group of orcs, disguised as one, asked their leader's name, cast Raulothim's Psychic Lance without even looking (you don't need to see a target if you know their name) and absolutely terrified them. There was no fight that day, we won before it even started
Dude I wish I could experience moments like this, sounds like it would come right out of CR or D20!
I had a player who did the same thing funnily enough but did not cast the spell and rolled very poorly on his insight check. I told him he came into the location knowing a few names of the orcs from people saying names. He then decided that since he didnt know any of the names he was going to wing it and i told him to try. However unfortunately just saying “im philip” was not what i expected. They did however beat all of the orcs and “philip the orc” became a name that orcs everywhere shuttered at the mere mention of. Actually ended up coming in to play later on an intimidation check that helped a lot towards the end of that campaign. My group calls trying to talk your way out of a failed persuasion check “philip-bustering” now
To add to the Plasmoid-As-Monk concept, specifically an Astral Monk. Plasmoids get advantage on grapple checks, which Astral Monks can make with Reach AND using Wis instead of Str. You can basically use those extra arms to lock down more than one enemy, holding them in place while still able to attack them. Use your ki to Dodge as bonus action to avoid counterattacks, and you're almost at good at controlling the field as a wizard.
You also can hold your breath for an hour so once you grapple them, take them for a swim. I did this against a hag we fought in the swamp. They couldn't cast a spell because the hands were grappled and underwater for no verbal components. The DM basically let us end the fight there
Way of the Astral Self is meant for fairy race to complete with Tall Folk
I’m playing a Plasmoid Spore Druid Astral Self Monk (Oozwald Sepps). After our second combat, our DM gave Oz a musket, because it was the most complicated build he dealt with to date, and he’d rather deal with a Gunk than go through all of my activations.
Last night, I played a 5e Bugbear Echo Knight fighter for the first time. He was lvl 4 with the Polearm Master feat and Long-Limbed racial feature. It was a firefight oneshot and I positioned myself on a 5’ wide stone stairway to meet successive waves of enemies 300 Spartan-style. My God, the 15’ reach of my opportunity attacks when enemies ENTERED the range of my (and my Echo’s) halberd was devastating. I chopped ‘em down and piled them like cordwood!
A Bugbear fighter with Polearm Master and Sentinel is so much fun. My DM is nice enough to let booming blade work at the range of the weapon being used (he may not be so nice in the future). Mob comes within 15 feet. I hit them, freeze them in place, then on my turn do booming blade on them. hit them 2 more times, and if they are still alive, I simply move back 5 feet and let them explode when the move forward, rinse and repeat.
One of my roommates is a half-orc echo knight/lycan bloodhunter, and having a werewolf and a shadow werewolf teleporting around the battlefield lighting shit on fire has been a pain to deal with as a DM. 😂
Both versions of bugbear give 5ft reach only on YOUR turn...
@@glimftw7255 Good thing the DM I play with thought that was stupid. What happens, your arms shrink until it's your turn and then grow? So yeah.
@@CrimFerret no, you don't have the time for far reach strikes. Like a lunge etc.
If you're using house rules, mention it's house rules. You did that with BBlade.
"My DM thought that was stupid" Yeah, i know ppl. Lot of stupid ppl pretend to think something else is stupid and they "fix that".
This really isn't the worse thing tho. Just mention it's houseruled so if someone else wants this fun to be replicated to talk to DM, so they are not sad it doesn't work as described.
Good day sir.
I love the Harengon Monk for the simple reason that finishing off an enemy by jumping into the air and piledriving them is peak DnD
My wife went Scout Ranger with her Harengon. Snipe them with impunity, because if they close the gap, you can just leave anyways.
Almost got an opportunity to do this with my harengon rune knight/druid, and I'm really miffed I couldn't. Admittedly, it would've been against a party member (I got mind controlled first turn), but the point stands.
Thri-Kreen work really well as a bard- one hand for the rapier, one for the shield, two to play a lute or other musical instrument (which of course is going to be your magic focus)
small hands used for something _other_ than a hand crossbow? interesting build.
I'm in grief because not once have I ever done any of these combos even by accident.
Ayy thanks so much for the support!!
My group recently wrapped our latest campaign and we decided to hold off starting a new one until the 2024 MM comes out. Since then I’ve been playing around building and made a long range Aasimar Champion Fighter. Holy crap!
@@DnDShorts EVERYTHING IN THIS NEW 2024 5.5E SYSTEM IS AWFUL! THEREFORE, I REFUSE TO EVER PLAY OR SUPPORT IT!
As for the proper 5e 2014 system, I created 12 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group.
My favorite is: A Chaotic Neutral Acolyte background Female Shadar-Kai Undying Warlock whose patron is Larloch aka The Shadow King!
Another of my characters is: A Chaotic Neutral Hermit background Female Summer Eladrin Monk planning on Way of the Long Death.
@@morrigankasa570 Not Everything, Weapon Mastery is pretty universally agreed to be damn good. You do you tho
@@DnDShorts somehow you forgot about the pallid elf and the wildemount dragonborn in this video.
One time I was going to play a Shepard druid, but then a friend of mine said he wanted to play an artificer Artillerist. As both have the ability to dish out temp Hp, I decided to change my subclass. Me and my friend talked a bit, and then I decided to opt for an Eladrin MoonDruid. I know, moondruid is the common druid, but the fun part was a combo that me and my friend planned out. Nothing crazy mechanically, but extremely funny on the role play aspect. The combo was me wildshaping as a Bear at low levels, he'd make a tiny flamethrower and make it so that it would stand on me. Then I'd teleport as an eladrin with either the fire or the fear effect.
Let me tell you, an opposing NPC would shit their pants if a bear teleported in front of them with a flamethrower on their back.
Very Gammaworld!
9:30 very pleased to see you didn't forget about the Artificer!
Grung + Elements monk = the funny frog man from rivals of aether
I think Eldrin + Eldritch Knitch rocks too. I love the flavor of magical elves + magical fighter. plus a fighter that gets a free misty step is pretty damn terrifying as a concept as well!
I'd like to mention that goblin bards go hard.
You can get expertise in stealth, letting you hide after casting a high impact concentration spell.
Not sure if it’s the best build but a neat interaction, Centaurs have Equine build which makes climbing cost 4 extra movement instead of the regular 1 extra movement. Now if you play as a thief rogue you get second story works which lets you climb without spending extra movement, due to this interaction you now can climb at 40ft at no cost, effectively allowing you to traverse anywhere.
Hear me out on Lizardfolk: Standard 13AC+DEX is like an always on, non removable Mage Armor/Armor of Shadows - pair this with a shield for easy access to an AC of 20 - as an artificer. This is also great for any fragile Caster. A bladesinging Lizardfolk benefits from both AC13 + DEX + INT, for an AC of up to 23. Cast Shield for an AC 28.
You're Welcome
A small bit of criticism I'd like to levy against the video is that you should include an icon when making this style of video whether the species/subclass/spell/etc is from 2024 rules or 2014 rules as the video can be rather difficult to follow at times. Especially with you switching between either version quickly.
I hope this was useful to you and keep up the good content!
The one thing I have noticed with Harengons is that they are one of the most versatile races in DnD other than humans. I have been able to make them fit into almost every class with deadly efficiency. But yes, the Wizard class was indeed the easiest, followed by Ranger, then Monk.
My second character ever was a Harengon Lore Bard/Great Old One Warlock (Pact of the Tome). So many spells, so much fun.
I played a Harengon beast barbarian in a one shot. Very fun.
My Celtic-culture Harengon Circle of Stars Druid is awesome to play! I reskinned things to suit his fey & Celtic aspects: his star-map spell focus is the skin of his bodhran musical instrument, he throws war-bolas of star-glass, the StarDruid constellations are The Bolas (archer), Teapot (chalice), & Pooka (dragon), etc. Great fun!
Currently playing a Harengon Warlock. I love that little fuzzball to pieces!
Currently playing a harengon rune knight/druid multiclass, and the racial initiative bonus is good, cloud rune is busted, and flaming sword is really freaking busted. Also, I'm one of the team's healers, while being really tanky. Now if only the other players would quit calling me fluffy.
Do Gnome Barbarian with giant weapons work though? You said Giant Axe, but here's the Dealbreaker: Heavy
Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon’s size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively.
Correct me if im wrong.
You need to talk about a Mastermind Rogue/ Knowledge Cleric build. I played it at my table and we named it “the party always hit build”
You cast bless and can use your bonus action to give Adv to an ally. Now have a barbarian with great weapon master, hopefully he’s orc. He can delete almost anything in a single turn.
You have expertise and/or prof in almost all skills.
This combo legit helps buff the entire group to make them unstoppable
1:28 ROCK AND STONE !
FOR KARL!
MUSHROOM
WE'RE RICH!
STONE AND ROCK oh wait...
One thing I recall from the Kender was their special weapon - a spear with a slingshot on the butt end... that had the finesse property.
I can imagine Rogues absolutely wanting a weapon they could use in melee and range with finesse that can work with Sneak Attack.
The Mighty Hoopak!
Not to glaze but this is probably my favorite video ive seen for this creator. As a gm who constantly brings in rookie players i think im probably going to suggest every one of them to watch this video. Gives great description and helps massively in a jump off point for them to build
Eyyy flying characters + Grasp of Hadar. The Eldritch Yo-yo strikes again.
I am currently playing an Aasimar Grave Cleric. So I am happily using that ability to flly. Looking forward to getting Spirit Guardians and flying above my enemies to burn them. I don't like the cheap hold dash to run around and hit a bunch more people though.
Someday I'd love to see a campaign setting where the most logical choice for a character class informs the society that that species forms. If the path of least resistance for a species is barbarian then I would expect a rather chaotic culture. If the path of least resistance for a species is cleric, then I would expect to see religion play a huge part their society.
I mean previous tsr editions did do that with the race-class restrictions. Each race could only go so far in a certain number of classes. I think cleric, fighter and thief were the most commonly available.
Thank you! This is EXACTLY what I needed to help me finish home-brewing the Omnitrix Artifact I was working on.
I also like Plasmoid Warlock, using the Armor of Shadows invocation for Mage Armor at will. Still nakey, but now you can be a true GoO-lock
As you said at the end, these are the optimal choices, but they aren’t the ones you have to make. Just because something is the best doesn’t mean that others aren’t great, and even if a combo isn’t great, that doesn’t mean you can’t use it. Have fun with them, they’re your character after all, and even the most optimized build can be brought down with a string of bad luck.
Elf + Swashbuckler + Booming Blade + vex mastery rapier + level 4 take Elven Accuracy = super accuracy EVERY TURN, dealing rapier damage + your Dex mod + booming blade damage + sneak attack, then walking away and potentally triggering the secondary booming blade damage
I really appreciate your channel. Love the math and combos you can uncover and put together. I love hybrid classes because of what I can do potentially with my character and personal lore. Sadly I don't have enough time in game so I'm realizing a simpler class with bonus like these are great for finding groups and hashing out game mechanics.
I'm curious about your opinion on the PlaneShift races/species.
Thanks for the video! always love your analysis
Thanks Will, I really like the hobgoblin barbarian build giving an ally advantage each round using the help action sounds like a great plan.
This is the video I wanted. Thank you for the amazing content
You missed something with the druid. Druid wild shape no longer says you keep the species traits. So Moon druid best combos will give you a feat and skills.
Personally my broken build for the moon Droid is a drow elf. Since they only sleep 4 hours. For short rest after their long rest recharging wild shape. And the new familiar with a bat unless you have blind sight as a bonus action and darkness
RIP the Shifter Druid 😢
Do stat boosts also count as species traits?
@daedalus5253 not with the new rules, those are background traits. Also, Wild Shape specifically covers what stats change and what don't
@@relaxedfantasyreview Ah, thanks.
Another option could be a dhampir lineage Locathah monk not only doesn't it remove the need to use water to breath, you also basically become a walking quipper which can climb up walls and ceilings also your bite attack would scale as you gain monk levels.
gnomes, being small, have disadvantage with heavy weapons - so they can't just run around with a giant axe unless you want to swing with disadvantage every single time...
I'm currently playing a Beastial Barbarian Sea-elf; she does alot of damage with her great Axe 😁
For The 2024 moon druid, i think humans are the Best option, because racial traits aren't Carried in Beast form, but not feats.
Thought so too. Eladrin can't use Fey Step while wild shaped
I always go for Mobile feat anytime I have a character that relies on Mobility, and/or has multiple attacks. Is nice to be able to slap someone in your way, and be able to go around them without being smacked back. Bonus points if you're luring foes into Rough Terrain, and they cannot keep up with you because they're at Half Speed. (Great Ambush/Trap idea)
The best class for Tortles, in my opinion, is Bladesinger Wizard. Yes, Shell defense stacks with the Bladesong AC boost.
If you roll well enough for stats (or have a stat-boosting magic item or two), Bladesinger/Paladin and Bladesinger/Hexblade are the coolest multiclasses ever conceived by mankind.
Loxodon pairs exceedingly well with Circle of Spores Druid. They've got oodles of Constitution, which gives them a bunch of extra temp HP when activating their spores, they get pretty amazing AC for not wearing armour, and by the late game, have resistance or outright immunity to so many effects in the game.
I ended up replacing our Paladin as the tank in our game, since I can effectively just ignore damage taken, when it does happen.
I think the best goblin subclass is shadow magic sorcerer. You can cast darkness using sorcery points and only you can see through the darkness. The darkness makes you heavily obscured which in turn allows you to bonus action hide in the darkness after using your action to cast a spell. This gives you the invisibility condition for a bonus action every turn assuming you pass your stealth check (at lvl 4 get sculker for consistency). Even when you do get in melee range you can still bonus action disengage and get away. This makes for an amazing stealth based magic caster and can make dealing with you impossible for creatures without devil or true sight.
Alternative for fairy:
At 5th level, you can enlarge the best of the air(ranger) so you can ride it
Neglect wisdom and you can use a lance and shield.
This means 60ft of fly, medium armour+shield, range weapon,1d12 of damage, permanent flyby at lvl5.
I think this is RAW but I could be wrong
This is it!!! The video I was waiting for! It's time to make the best combo and use the best options to enhance their potential
Drow could make an argument for bard. Dancing lights to enhance performances (from a roleplay perspective), Faerie Fire is a great support option, as is Darkness. If you're aiming to be your teams support, Drow bard goes hard.
I get such bad analysis paralysis over class-species choices so this video is very helpful!
Plasmoid Warlock with Pact of the Blade, Improved Pact Weapon and Armour of Shadows. Even when naked they’re armed, armoured and have an arcane focus. I’d go with the Fathomless patron for the bonus action tentacle attack
Autognomes are also really good for Wizards and Sorcerers because of their Armored Casing ability giving them free permanent mage armor, or the armor feature of the Draconic sorcerer, without having to take that subclass.
My Autognome Scribes wizard has an AC of 15 at 2nd level.
"If it sounds like a war crime, its probably a good time"
quote by DnD Shorts
yeah, i will definitly put that on a T-Shirt, love it
I definitely agree that melee combatants benefit more from racial abilities than casters do. Particularly, this is a result of racial abilities tending to fix the glaring weaknesses of melee builds. Paladins and fighters tend to be slow; tabaxi-dashes, increased walking speed, and flying races fix that. Many melee builds struggle outside of combat; a few spells or abilities go a long way into fixing it. Of course, you mentioned the mental saves. Many melee characters will leave their BA underutilized. So Hobgoblin's help, elves' fey step, Aasimar's transformation, etc. are far more helpful on characters that don't have access to BA spells. And when you don't have any spells, or are severely limited, those extra spells can be clutch.
The opposite is also true, though to a lesser extent. The best races for the spellcasters are ones that grant armor proficiencies/replacements, or aid survivability. Those are just rarer.
Deep Gnome Fathomless Warlock gets the darkvision eldritch blast combo with the bonus action tentacle attack, basically giving you two attacks at level 1! or spell/tentacle attack. killer early game.
Air Genasi is beast beastmaster Ranger.
You can be small to ride your Beast of the Land, using Shocking Grasp to freely disengage from prone enemy (your beast knocks prone enemy of any size).
Another powerful combo with goblin is Artificer, specifically Battle Smith: Dual wield lances (2014 weapon) while your Steel Defender acts as your mount.
I'm currently playing a Tabaxi Monk and yeah, it's a pretty great combo. I didn't choose it to be powerful though, I just thought it sounded like it would be fun :)
Deep Gnomes also get access to Svirf Magic racial feat from XGtE. It's the most magic you can get from a single feat, and they all work great on a rogue.
As someone who chronically runs Aasimar Paladin when our party lacks anyone who cares about tanking, I would agree that the ability to fly unhindered while wearing heavy armor is extremely strong, so much so that a few DMs I've played with have explicitly forbidden me from having wings at all. Bows in general are grossly underrated in D&D, and no one should underestimate the threat a Battlemaster Fighter with a bow can pose. I've never done it, but it's pretty logical to assume that throwing the extra Paladin toys in the trash to become an attack helicopter would be a strong ploy. Eldritch Blast might have better damage, but you wouldn't be as frustratingly hard to kill.
Autognome is battlesmith artificer, for those in-combat heals from the steel defender, ability to ride it as a small character and stacking 1d4 with flash of genius and tool expertise for when you make a truly terrible roll.
Centaur go with monk. Replace your hooves strength with dexterity since the hooves count as unarmed attacks, keep a bow on hand, astral monk to hoove 10ft away, flurry of blows with hooves, and mobile feat and become a ride with up to 5 willing party members. Take a feat to allow darkness spell, cast it on an arrow and shoot it by an enemy and dash away to protect allies.
Honestly Tortles are really good with any class, particularly as spell casters. They only struggle with anything that requires armor such as Battle Rager Barbarian or Armorer but anything else they can do. I'm pretty sure that since Natural Armor is a racial trait it extends to Wildshape so that could be great for shoring up some AC problems that Wildshapes tend to have.
Some cool combos await! I’m gonna have to try the Minotaur Valor Bard, that sounds like fun.
Love to see the deep rock references!
Paladin and aasimar go together like butter. Especially conquest paladin with fallen aasimar
Great video will. ❤
Bugbear Monk hmm
I think my brain landed on Twilight Cleric Chronurgist Wizard with those guys.
(so you get the advantage on the initiative and AC meh at L1, at L2 you come online with Jim's Magic Missile, then at L3 Gift of Alacrity when you get School of Chronurgy - along with the bonus equal to your intelligence and Scorching Ray - and you go for Alert as your feat at L5, which means you constantly get better at quick draw with your wand up to the middle levels. L1 +advantage, L3 + int mod + D8, L5 +5, so you got a good chance of hitting 17, 25, then 30 with your initiative roll. Background I *think* is just Mage of High Sorcery, for bonus action Hex for even more damage on that first turn nova.)
However, I've been playing mine in the loosely-linked series of one shots my group has been running as a Rogue to Twilight Cleric then back to Rogue for Assassin - then Druid to the Stars. (I was able to claim his breastplate was a big turtle shell - since it was pointed out to me I was being a bit lame to play yet another hand crossbow user after having played one in the homebrew narrative campaign.) He's a mash up of Indiana Jones (whip wielder, generally good guy, steals anything that isn't nailed down), Gambit from X-Men (made him a functioning gambling addict with Persuasion expertise, and I themed Jim's Magic Missile off his Strixhaven background as Gambit's mutant power, except using coins instead of a card, and it's silver energy, not pink), a televangelist (to beg from NPCs for more coins to throw, also to spread the twilight of his domain, was aiming for Robert Duvall in The Apostle originally with his voice, but he's become his own thing now), and has sort of been picking up a bit of a cowboy thing since I was able to sell being able to Hide as a bonus action while riding a horse to my DM as the "wounded soldier" American Indian thing where they'd roll to one side of the saddle to appear to have fallen off their horse before popping back up and did not fail any of the animal handling tests. (though my Riding Horse had his mount attack fiated away after I rode over a fair number of weakened monsters while pointing out that it was basically a great sword attack)
It is a lot less efficient because I overrated our ability to get surprise, overrated advantage, and underrated more spell slots, and I think the Old West flavour would have been just as good with the wandfighter build as Huck Finn as a divinity school drop out, but I'm playing him now.
I actually built a pretty good Fire Genasi Efreet Patron Genie Warlock Pact of the Tome. Grabbed Fire Elemental Adept as soon as I could and just blasted anything that moved with fire damage. The flight from being a Genie Warlock was also amazingly helpful.
Yuanti?
No thanks i already have a drink
So let me get this straight.
Barbarian 14, BarBEARian 3
Bard 10
Fighter 8
Cleric 8
Monk 7
Rogue 7
Paladin 7
Druid 5
Warlock 3
Ranger 3
Artificer 2
Wizard 2
Sorcerer 2
Everything can technically be bumped up 1-2 times to account for the basic-ass human.
Wotc really slacking on those caster classes. Also, I constantly skip over Barbarian because I don't know what(beyond Moon Druid combo) to pair it with. But damn, there are A LOT of options.
This list does give me some direction to go in when crafting more characters, though.
Grey Talon as ranger, you are indeed a man of culture
currently playing a dhampir beast barbarian, the self healing while below half health when you choose the bite version is just chefs kiss when paired with with the vampiric bite lol even though it isnt alot it helps so that our support character can heal others instead of having to pocket me
My latest character is a Blue Chromatic Dragonborn Conquest Paladin with the Dragon Fear feat. Before the 2024 update, I felt like I could hold decently against a Kraken's lightning attacks. With 2024, the sky is now my domain!
@ 10:20
You are actually incorrect you could utilize the jump spell, because its not a concentration in 2024. Its been revamped. This what does now
Level 1 Transmutation (Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard)
Casting Time: Bonus Action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a grasshopper’s hind leg)
Duration: 1 minute
You touch a willing creature. Once on each of its turns until the spell ends, that creature can jump up to 30 feet by spending 10 feet of movement.
So you can see if you cast this on yourself turn 1 or premptively, you could still use it for around 10 rounds.
18:37 WRONG, warlock is the best choice
1. Pact of the blade so that you don't have to carry weapons
2. Take the invocation armour of shadow for ac
3. Take the invocation mask of many faces, with this you can change appearance and shape, becoming a shape shifter.
I might have missed a few things but I'm not sure.
I argue against some of these on the basis that, while yes something that helps what you're good at is usually good, something that helps what you're bad at is often better
Dwarves for example, sure they make okay barbarians but where they really shine is in the less tanky classes because they're extra HP and defenses make up for the weaknesses those classes inherently have
Thanks for including the vedalken.
I'm playing a triton fighter with the blind fighting combo right now and it's devastatingly effective. The only issue is making sure the party warlock can still see for her eldritch blast. Highly recommend especially for players with normally bad rolls like myself
Oh damn that Dragonborn Cloudkill Grapple sounds like hella fun.
Normally i don't bemoan being a forever dm, but i'd really like to try that one.
Funny enough when I got some great rolls testing out tabletop sim I made two wizards with it; half-orc and leonin. Both with 14+1/2 str.
LOVE all of the DRG Love in this video. ROCK AND STONE!!!
6:55 plus tieflings can have broken charisma so maybe Bard more then cleric
11:05 then if you make charisma your second highest stat you could pick a swashbuckler rogue and add charisma to further boost initiative
On the harefolk rogue cupple that with the alert feat you can pick at level 4 and your initiative is now plus 13
A lot of the "tanky" racial traits, like Hill dwarf HP increase and half/orc relentless endurance are great to shore up the physical weaknesses of casters.
There’s also a third level spell called Borrowed Knowledge which would let Kenku get advantage on every skill check so I would argue they could make better clerics if we want to push this even further with peace domains emboldening bond
As a druid main and a werewolf lover, I may have to try out a longtooth shifter! Thanks for the idea, cheers!
I love ALL DnD Shorts videos!
i took a hexblood whos base race was winged tiefling and it paired well with bloodhunter.. racial hex plus the blood cursed of the marked plus the crimson rite stacks some pretty great damage even at lvl 2. pick up the profain soul for some spell slots to be able to cast hex more than once per long rest or pick ghostslayer for better blood curses and radiant damage on your crimson rite. all while flying in mediem armor because winged tiefling's flight stats. (and you can get advantage when you amplify your mark)
Waits patiently for a cheeky joke. "Goliath can make themselves bigger"... no joke activated... starts to loose faith... saved by Plasmoid Monks. 😂
Seriously though I'm glad you pointed out how few times wiz sorcerer and warlock came up on this list. My magic boys are really left out on most races and I feel that on character creation. I'm making a sorcerer right now and was looking at harengon as a possibility already for a bit of initiative, and the jump as an alternative to getting misty step, saving a spell known, but other than them, the pickings are fairly slim.
Harengon clerics can add 2d4 to dex saves with bless!
Chad harengon divine soul sorcerers being able to add 4d4 to dex saves with bless or 3d4 to anything else (but only once)
19:11 "No time for elaborating on any of these, we got a lotta races to get thru! ...Ooooh a chance to rip on furries?? We got time." 😂😂😂
1:22 Murderhobo approves this message.
I'm planning to play a Thri-Kreen, and originally was going to go Warlock, but recently decided I might go for a Wizard or Bard instead just for all of the extra spells that Warlocks don't get. I do hate that I'm not using the Thri-Kreen's extra arms to their fullest extent, but I was more interested in their broken telepathy, naturally armor with camo, and not needing to sleep.
I gave Thri-Kreen to Ranger, specifically gloomstalker. You can have a shield, hand crossbow, main weapon, and a hand to help you reload.
My headcanon for what an actual booming blade rogue feels like will always be gambit.
My Winged Tiefling, Damakos, is a Rogue/Bard and I love when I'm able to use him, even though he was my character from last campaign. Lol.
I just made a Dragonborn Druid of Spores thanks to some random pickers, and now I want to make them a Chromatic Dragon so they can be just that scary. She's basically a grandmother on the surface, but she can wreck your stuff if you tick her off.
Um, actually, the best Barbarian subclass for Simic Hybrid isn't Totem, but Kaiju. Not sure if you've heard of that one. /s
In a oneshot, I played a lvl 8 Kaiju barb with 20 Dex and Con (ignore that each other stat was 6, except Int which was 1). With a +1 shield, cloak of protection, Simic carapace and Unarmoured Defense, I had 101 hp and an AC of 25, and was still smacking hard with the lvl 3 Titan Earth feature.
Turned out that I had made an anti-tank, because all the enemies quickly gave up on attacking me... XD
Fire genasi is perfect for barbarian or paladin. With new Produce flame you create a torch which can shoot for 10 minutes to deal with ranged enemies.
Shadar Kai Archfey warlock. 7-8 free teleports per day at level 5.
I had a Strength based winged tiefling ranger (Monster Slayer) in a Strahd game some years back.