Is a Character that fights like this even possible? If yes, how? :-)
EDIT: with "fights like this" I mean: with magical chain weapons. Like a dynamic-close-quarter whirlwind of death. I don't want to entirely emulate this picture. I just thought it looked cool and inspiring.
Assuming you're looking for a general take and not "how do I build a World of Warcraft Blood Elf in D&D 5e"?
Start with High Elf, since...well. Elf. The whole magic-chains thing is difficult, the only spells in the game that remotely acts like that are Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip. A Bladesinger wizard gets access to Lure, but that doesn't make Lure any good, and the character appears to be wearing medium armor.
The answer kinda depends on what you assume this still image is fighting like. If you want a bare-handed, close-quarters caster in medium armor using conjured weapons? A hexblade warlock with pact of the Blade lets you do that. if you're looking to yank enemies around and do magic-chain things, you may have to talk to your DM about homebrew options. I'd start with a Bladesinger wizard, or alternatively go back to the Hexblade Bladepact and manifest Reach weapons that you refluff as being chains. Summon a glaive and call it magic chain-slashers, or the like. If you've got another vision of what this particular blurd oof is doing, we'd need to know what you're looking for to help.
The answer kinda depends on what you assume this still image is fighting like. If you want a bare-handed, close-quarters caster in medium armor using conjured weapons? A hexblade warlock with pact of the Blade lets you do that. if you're looking to yank enemies around and do magic-chain things, you may have to talk to your DM about homebrew options. I'd start with a Bladesinger wizard, or alternatively go back to the Hexblade Bladepact and manifest Reach weapons that you refluff as being chains.
Those are some good suggestions, thanks! I was mainly looking for something with magic chain-weapons, or something like that. Bu if I have to take the refluff-route, that's okay.
Chains aren't a standard option for weapons in D&D 5e. Possibly because apparently 'barbed chain' was the source of at least forty percent of all combat cheese in 3.5e, but who knows.
The easiest way to get the aesthetic you want is by treating another weapon as 'slashing magical chains'. Probably scimitars; you can use two-weapon fighting with scimitars and they deal the right damage type. Whether the blades are straight-up listed as chains on your sheet, just with the specs of a scimitar, or whether you're wielding swords that can manifest chains to augment their attacks is up to you and your DM.
A 'close-quarters whirlwind of death' could be done using the aforementioned Bladesinger wiard, easiest to obtain in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. With a pair of scimitars, shortswords, or similar lightfinesse weapons, you can use an Attack action to strike with one blade and a bonus action to strike with another. Beginning at 6th level, you can make two main-hand attacks per turn and can trade out one of them for a casting of a cantrip, instead. With the right cantrips you can cause a lot of havoc on the front lines; Sword Burst would be an easy way to weave slashing, flashy magic into your combat routine.
While I normally recommend wizards keep their fighty cantrips to a minimum in order to maximize their utility, a Bladesinger benefits from keeping two or even three fighting cantrips available to mix up their options when splicing attacks and spells together. The aforementioned Sword Burst and Shocking Grasp are two of my favorites, and a Bladesinger wizard using two-weapon fighting can actually make fantastic use of the otherwise-absolutely-terrible Blade Ward to keep themselves safe in close quarters given their lolno HP levels. If you can acquire additional cantrips through either feats or multiclassing (note that Bladesinger's Extra Attack merely says 'you can cast a cantrip', and does not specify that it has to be a wizard cantrip), a Bladesinger using its unique extra attack (and not trying to do stupid shit with Bladesong) can be a lot of fun. You will need War Caster (or a Ruby of the War Mage)to maximize your two-weapon fighting and avoid your DM telling you off for ignoring somatic components, but until you get either of those you can just use a single sword and deal with the sadness.
Another way to go might be Artificer. Gets you medium armor, and stuff like the Returning Weapon and Radiant Weapon infusions could help give you the effects you want on whatever weapon you want to reskin to be the chain-spear-thing
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It could work easelly with a bit of creativity and the acceptance of your DM.
The stereotype in the image seems like a ranger or a rogue forest themed (or maybe a monk) but the matter is more in the weapons it self. The whip mechacinc stylized as chains works very well. So any class with proficiency on that could work nicelly.
Now the brazed chains thing:
It can be a magical weapon (the flame blade can be reworked as flame whips). It can be the manifestation of a searing smite casted by a paladin. Or it can be the result of a heat metal casted by a druid.
Now, to have it usable in both hands that char would need both two of it and get a Dual-Wielder feat.
Also, looking to the image it seems to me that it fits nice as a medium armored paladin with unusual weapons (chains) with searing smite casted on it. Maybe a oathbreaker corrupted by a chain devil to make that dark feeling.
I would go serious reflavoring with DM permission. Depending on situation, Burning Hands could be reflavored as the chains whipping out and striking everything in the “cone”. Flame Blade can also be flavored as a chain attack in melee range. So Wildfire Druid would work for this.
I’m sure there are plenty of full, half, or third casters that can reflavor spells to fit your needs as well as the excellent suggestions above.
Edit: Oh, and if you go wildfire Druid flavor your wildfire spirit as writhing whirling chains. Have them stand next to you and flavor your and the spirits attacks as coming from you. Might be a stretch but maybe you can convince your DM to allow it as there is no mechanical changes. The spirit does exactly what the stat block says it does.
Way of the 4 Elements has an ability (Fangs of the Fire Snake) that gives your unarmed attacks fire damage and reach, which was the first thing I thought of when I saw the flaming chains. If you make that the only Elemental Discipline you use, you could minimize the drain on ki points that usually makes the 4 elements monk so sub-optimal, or if you don't care about doing a sub-optimal playstyle that fits the character concept.
Otherwise it could also be a Rune Knight with the fire rune on a homebrew chain weapon. For that you'd just need your DM to sign off on an acceptable homebrew, but they're out there. I'm pretty sure the Fire Rune even involves shaclking enemies in burning chains, so that could fit the flavor too.
When I look at the image I see an elven ranger with a long chain magical manriki that has a sickle/bladed weight on the ends (your spear points on either end). So an elven ranger dual wielding magic whips (reflavored as the manriki) with the 2 weapon fighting feat. As it’s clearly a magic weapon maybe a flame tongue weapon (+2D6 fire damage on a hit). In theory this could actually be as low as a L4 character.
The costume, to me, screams Rogue... so I'm seeing this a Soul-Knife Rogue. It requires a good amount of reflavoring, but it's a subclass that is built around having magic throwing daggers, and allows a form of dual-wielding. The subclass also allows the use of Homing attacks, which can represent expertly using the chains to redirect an attack, and the teleport can be reflavored as pulling yourself by the chain.
Another alternative is to go Warlock (any Warlock, really) and reflavor your Eldritch Blast to be the chains. Then focus on Invocations that modify your Eldritch Blast... use Grasp of Hadar to represent a Scorpion-style "Get Over Here" move, or repelling blast for knocking people away. You can get Lance of Lethargy which can represent tripping someone up using the chains and reducing their movement speed.
Is a Character that fights like this even possible? If yes, how? :-)
EDIT: with "fights like this" I mean: with magical chain weapons. Like a dynamic-close-quarter whirlwind of death. I don't want to entirely emulate this picture. I just thought it looked cool and inspiring.
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Assuming you're looking for a general take and not "how do I build a World of Warcraft Blood Elf in D&D 5e"?
Start with High Elf, since...well. Elf. The whole magic-chains thing is difficult, the only spells in the game that remotely acts like that are Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip. A Bladesinger wizard gets access to Lure, but that doesn't make Lure any good, and the character appears to be wearing medium armor.
The answer kinda depends on what you assume this still image is fighting like. If you want a bare-handed, close-quarters caster in medium armor using conjured weapons? A hexblade warlock with pact of the Blade lets you do that. if you're looking to yank enemies around and do magic-chain things, you may have to talk to your DM about homebrew options. I'd start with a Bladesinger wizard, or alternatively go back to the Hexblade Bladepact and manifest Reach weapons that you refluff as being chains. Summon a glaive and call it magic chain-slashers, or the like. If you've got another vision of what this particular blurd oof is doing, we'd need to know what you're looking for to help.
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fixed it, sorry. :-)
Those are some good suggestions, thanks! I was mainly looking for something with magic chain-weapons, or something like that. Bu if I have to take the refluff-route, that's okay.
Chains aren't a standard option for weapons in D&D 5e. Possibly because apparently 'barbed chain' was the source of at least forty percent of all combat cheese in 3.5e, but who knows.
The easiest way to get the aesthetic you want is by treating another weapon as 'slashing magical chains'. Probably scimitars; you can use two-weapon fighting with scimitars and they deal the right damage type. Whether the blades are straight-up listed as chains on your sheet, just with the specs of a scimitar, or whether you're wielding swords that can manifest chains to augment their attacks is up to you and your DM.
A 'close-quarters whirlwind of death' could be done using the aforementioned Bladesinger wiard, easiest to obtain in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. With a pair of scimitars, shortswords, or similar light finesse weapons, you can use an Attack action to strike with one blade and a bonus action to strike with another. Beginning at 6th level, you can make two main-hand attacks per turn and can trade out one of them for a casting of a cantrip, instead. With the right cantrips you can cause a lot of havoc on the front lines; Sword Burst would be an easy way to weave slashing, flashy magic into your combat routine.
While I normally recommend wizards keep their fighty cantrips to a minimum in order to maximize their utility, a Bladesinger benefits from keeping two or even three fighting cantrips available to mix up their options when splicing attacks and spells together. The aforementioned Sword Burst and Shocking Grasp are two of my favorites, and a Bladesinger wizard using two-weapon fighting can actually make fantastic use of the otherwise-absolutely-terrible Blade Ward to keep themselves safe in close quarters given their lolno HP levels. If you can acquire additional cantrips through either feats or multiclassing (note that Bladesinger's Extra Attack merely says 'you can cast a cantrip', and does not specify that it has to be a wizard cantrip), a Bladesinger using its unique extra attack (and not trying to do stupid shit with Bladesong) can be a lot of fun. You will need War Caster (or a Ruby of the War Mage)to maximize your two-weapon fighting and avoid your DM telling you off for ignoring somatic components, but until you get either of those you can just use a single sword and deal with the sadness.
Please do not contact or message me.
Way of the Kensei Monk
Using whips gives you reach, and as Monk Weapons (because of Kensei) you can use your monk damage die instead of 1d4.
The Dual Wielder Feat allows a whip in each hand.
Kensei features (lvl 6) basically make the whips magical.
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Another way to go might be Artificer. Gets you medium armor, and stuff like the Returning Weapon and Radiant Weapon infusions could help give you the effects you want on whatever weapon you want to reskin to be the chain-spear-thing
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It could work easelly with a bit of creativity and the acceptance of your DM.
The stereotype in the image seems like a ranger or a rogue forest themed (or maybe a monk) but the matter is more in the weapons it self. The whip mechacinc stylized as chains works very well. So any class with proficiency on that could work nicelly.
Now the brazed chains thing:
It can be a magical weapon (the flame blade can be reworked as flame whips). It can be the manifestation of a searing smite casted by a paladin. Or it can be the result of a heat metal casted by a druid.
Now, to have it usable in both hands that char would need both two of it and get a Dual-Wielder feat.
Also, looking to the image it seems to me that it fits nice as a medium armored paladin with unusual weapons (chains) with searing smite casted on it. Maybe a oathbreaker corrupted by a chain devil to make that dark feeling.
War cleric with a spiritual weapon that looks like a chain and also wielding a whip would also work.
I would go serious reflavoring with DM permission. Depending on situation, Burning Hands could be reflavored as the chains whipping out and striking everything in the “cone”. Flame Blade can also be flavored as a chain attack in melee range. So Wildfire Druid would work for this.
I’m sure there are plenty of full, half, or third casters that can reflavor spells to fit your needs as well as the excellent suggestions above.
Edit: Oh, and if you go wildfire Druid flavor your wildfire spirit as writhing whirling chains. Have them stand next to you and flavor your and the spirits attacks as coming from you. Might be a stretch but maybe you can convince your DM to allow it as there is no mechanical changes. The spirit does exactly what the stat block says it does.
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Way of the 4 Elements has an ability (Fangs of the Fire Snake) that gives your unarmed attacks fire damage and reach, which was the first thing I thought of when I saw the flaming chains. If you make that the only Elemental Discipline you use, you could minimize the drain on ki points that usually makes the 4 elements monk so sub-optimal, or if you don't care about doing a sub-optimal playstyle that fits the character concept.
Otherwise it could also be a Rune Knight with the fire rune on a homebrew chain weapon. For that you'd just need your DM to sign off on an acceptable homebrew, but they're out there. I'm pretty sure the Fire Rune even involves shaclking enemies in burning chains, so that could fit the flavor too.
When I look at the image I see an elven ranger with a long chain magical manriki that has a sickle/bladed weight on the ends (your spear points on either end). So an elven ranger dual wielding magic whips (reflavored as the manriki) with the 2 weapon fighting feat. As it’s clearly a magic weapon maybe a flame tongue weapon (+2D6 fire damage on a hit). In theory this could actually be as low as a L4 character.
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The costume, to me, screams Rogue... so I'm seeing this a Soul-Knife Rogue. It requires a good amount of reflavoring, but it's a subclass that is built around having magic throwing daggers, and allows a form of dual-wielding. The subclass also allows the use of Homing attacks, which can represent expertly using the chains to redirect an attack, and the teleport can be reflavored as pulling yourself by the chain.
Another alternative is to go Warlock (any Warlock, really) and reflavor your Eldritch Blast to be the chains. Then focus on Invocations that modify your Eldritch Blast... use Grasp of Hadar to represent a Scorpion-style "Get Over Here" move, or repelling blast for knocking people away. You can get Lance of Lethargy which can represent tripping someone up using the chains and reducing their movement speed.
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I was thinking a Warlock with the Pact of the Blade and reflavoring a whip as your Pact Weapon.
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