So I want to invite in some discussion on a silly build me and a player came up with. Context for the build is planning to use it in the Descent into Avernus Adventure, the party includes a Bard, a Cleric, and an Artificer.
To start with, we rolled for stats, this matters because of how good a few were. He rolled a 17 16 14 11 11 10, I also give him a free feat at level 1 and are starting the adventure at level 3.
Wanting to play a small child a Forest gnome, he is able to reach 18 dex, 18 int, and a 14 con. Plan is to go into rogue and arcane trickster, taking some basic spells but the only ones that matter for here are find familiar, heroism and booming blade.
Now here is where the build actually begins. Starting feat warcaster, hitting level 4 will take a +2 wis. After reaching level 6 or 8 (haven't decided yet but will figure it out) multiclassing into ranger with the new class variant stuff. The first level alone gets him a shield proficiency, and a concentration-less hunters mark (even if it ends up only being usable once a day) as well as rapier access. A second level is getting him ranger spells and a fighting style. Third level is getting him one of all sorts of amazing archtypes. Beast master becomes decently viable as a resummonable mount for sneak attacks, Hunter has Giant Killer or Colossus Slayer, Gloom Stalker gets the anti darkvision stealth and the first turn bonuses, Horizon Walker gets to convert all the damage into force to avoid resistances (and since the campaign in theory involves lots of fiends there will be lots of those) plus the covetous PfEG, Monster Hunter lets him learn any weaknesses or strengths of his enemies (Useful since the player is vaguely new and doesn't have the MM memorized like a lot of players) as well as giving an at will second Hunter's Mark as well as PfEG.
Build is designed to do one thing and do it well, cast booming blade and roll so many dice. You have the basic Booming Blade dice, rapier, Sneak Attack dice progression, Hunter's Mark, Whatever damage bonus is gained off the ranger archtype he ends up feeling out. Plus the party access to the best offensive 1st level spell Dissonant Whispers which not only triggers Booming Blade, but also lets him recast it as a reaction thanks to the Warcaster feat. Early game durability can come from keeping the Heroism up for some damage mitigation, followed later on by Uncanny Dodge, Absorb Elements, and using a shield. Fighting styles might include the defensive one for more AC, or Dueling for the +2 damage.
Really the build is just "Go spell casting Rogue for a bit, get the basic features, then grab some of the things that make Ranger a half decent class to make the spell casting rogue function even better."
Looking for thoughts, reviews, etc. Remember contextually the campaign will only go to a max of around level 13 so don't bother talking about anything past that. The build is also fairly active having basically no dead levels of play (which can be a flaw of a lot of multiclassing builds).
It certainly sounds fun, but without those stats it wouldn't be remotely viable. Point buy and standard array wouldn't be able to do this build, plus you're handing out free feats and such.
Sounds like he'll have some fun with this character, anyway.
Heroism isn't that useful of a spell, and I don't think you get access to it as a Ranger or a Rogue either. Starting off with 18, 18, and 14 as your top 3 stats, along with getting a free feat as a Forest Gnome is extremely powerful, though.
With all of the extra damage from Sneak Attack and Hunter's Mark, you shouldn't take the Dueling Fighting Style. You probably should take the Defense Fighting style, especially if you're making Booming Blade a big part of your strategy.
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So I want to invite in some discussion on a silly build me and a player came up with. Context for the build is planning to use it in the Descent into Avernus Adventure, the party includes a Bard, a Cleric, and an Artificer.
To start with, we rolled for stats, this matters because of how good a few were. He rolled a 17 16 14 11 11 10, I also give him a free feat at level 1 and are starting the adventure at level 3.
Wanting to play
a small childa Forest gnome, he is able to reach 18 dex, 18 int, and a 14 con. Plan is to go into rogue and arcane trickster, taking some basic spells but the only ones that matter for here are find familiar, heroism and booming blade.Now here is where the build actually begins. Starting feat warcaster, hitting level 4 will take a +2 wis. After reaching level 6 or 8 (haven't decided yet but will figure it out) multiclassing into ranger with the new class variant stuff. The first level alone gets him a shield proficiency, and a concentration-less hunters mark (even if it ends up only being usable once a day) as well as rapier access. A second level is getting him ranger spells and a fighting style. Third level is getting him one of all sorts of amazing archtypes. Beast master becomes decently viable as a resummonable mount for sneak attacks, Hunter has Giant Killer or Colossus Slayer, Gloom Stalker gets the anti darkvision stealth and the first turn bonuses, Horizon Walker gets to convert all the damage into force to avoid resistances (and since the campaign in theory involves lots of fiends there will be lots of those) plus the covetous PfEG, Monster Hunter lets him learn any weaknesses or strengths of his enemies (Useful since the player is vaguely new and doesn't have the MM memorized like a lot of players) as well as giving an at will second Hunter's Mark as well as PfEG.
Build is designed to do one thing and do it well, cast booming blade and roll so many dice. You have the basic Booming Blade dice, rapier, Sneak Attack dice progression, Hunter's Mark, Whatever damage bonus is gained off the ranger archtype he ends up feeling out. Plus the party access to the best offensive 1st level spell Dissonant Whispers which not only triggers Booming Blade, but also lets him recast it as a reaction thanks to the Warcaster feat. Early game durability can come from keeping the Heroism up for some damage mitigation, followed later on by Uncanny Dodge, Absorb Elements, and using a shield. Fighting styles might include the defensive one for more AC, or Dueling for the +2 damage.
Really the build is just "Go spell casting Rogue for a bit, get the basic features, then grab some of the things that make Ranger a half decent class to make the spell casting rogue function even better."
Looking for thoughts, reviews, etc. Remember contextually the campaign will only go to a max of around level 13 so don't bother talking about anything past that. The build is also fairly active having basically no dead levels of play (which can be a flaw of a lot of multiclassing builds).
It certainly sounds fun, but without those stats it wouldn't be remotely viable. Point buy and standard array wouldn't be able to do this build, plus you're handing out free feats and such.
Sounds like he'll have some fun with this character, anyway.
Heroism isn't that useful of a spell, and I don't think you get access to it as a Ranger or a Rogue either. Starting off with 18, 18, and 14 as your top 3 stats, along with getting a free feat as a Forest Gnome is extremely powerful, though.
With all of the extra damage from Sneak Attack and Hunter's Mark, you shouldn't take the Dueling Fighting Style. You probably should take the Defense Fighting style, especially if you're making Booming Blade a big part of your strategy.