Sorry if this is the wrong place, but couldn't find a dedicated area for characters. I'm going to be playing in a campaign based off of blood war.
We are playing the 4 Horsemen. I myself picked death. Now I don't want a murderhobo, neither does the dm. I originally thought to create a rogue, and take all face skills to get people to make deals for souls. However I really, really want to play a hexblade, but have never played warlock.Necromancer came to mind but I want things to stay dead. W
are going to take this to level 20. Our dm gave us a hint, we start at 10. We can used any officially published works sans UA. Give me your ideas. How would you make Death. Could be based on what I've stated or how you would do it. What skills, feats, spells. Let's see what you got. Thank you for your time.
Since you’re playing a horseman whose weapon is a scythe, you need to take the Mounted Combatant feat and use a halberd as your primary weapon and reskin how it looks slightly.
I’m thinking that you need to take a class that will give you some necromancy spells. Chill Touch, Enervation, and Finger of Death are all spells that are very thematic for Death. I’d say that a Pact of the Blade Warlock would be a great choice for that concept.
Devil's Tongue Teifling Hexblade Pact of the Blade warlock. Get Charisma to 20, then take Polearm Master. Use a glaive and just say it's a scythe. It's not far off anyway. Background doesn't really matter. You get some cool class features that fit in well. Shadow of Moil is thematic and a great spell for you.
Take thirsting blade invocation. Then whatever invocations you want for flavor. Eldritch smite is pretty good for when you critically hit. Otherwise use your spells for spells.
That is awesome. I will look into that. Thank you to everyone for feedback. Campaign is a month or so away, so I have time to tinker with it. Would a sorlock be good, or just go straight hexblade?
Hexblade 2/Sorcerer X is a good combo. Take agonizing blast and use eldritch blast. It's good but it's kinda an Eldritch Blast one-trick. My bet would be you'd have more fun with just straight hexblade. That's my opinion anyway.
I just made a lvl 10 hexblade warlock for a one shot. I’m excited to play it.
now, I’m not entirely sure how the patron for hexblade works, is it the actual weapon itself? Let’s go with that. Your patron could be a sentient weapon, the one you wield. Transfer all of your characters philosophies on death over to the sentient weapon. The weapon will guide you, give you advice, and just in general be your pal on your quest of death =D
Don't forget motivations. The four riders had purposes and methods to the apocalypse. The rider of the pale horse isn't just a willy-nilly murderer of NPCs as a specific amount of people are to remain alive after they're finished. How is the 4th rider choosing those who must die?
Also, consider that 4th rider's assigned methods were war, famine, pestilence, and beasts. (Most people forget that last one.) As the one who follows the others and as the one also assigned their methods, is the 4th rider just ending the misery caused by the other riders with some natural reclamation thrown in for good measure? Could the rider be a blessing, granting peace to those who suffer or returning land to the beasts on the brink of extinction?
A common misconception is that the 4th rider carries a weapon. There is no mention of such. Should the 4th rider need a weapon if the other 3 are the weapons as described?
How accurate does this rider need to be?
We could go for the whole grim-reaper image which is not accurate. We could go for a wrathful slayer which also doesn't seem to fit.
What do you want to do with the character? The abilities are one thing, but what makes the character is the character's character.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I'd personally do a Fallen Aasimar Oathbreaker Paladin that's also a Hollow One. Use a Glaive, reflavor it as a scythe, and ride a skeleton warhorse or phantom steed.
Also, your background should be the Haunted One. This will fit into your overall theme very well.
If you want to be even more edgy, multiclass with Hexblade. You'll do a ton of damage, smite a ton, and be able to kill everything, while still looking like death.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Not sure on the whole story, but I described what I wanted to do to my DM. I started with the idea like yours. Be the "Savior". His intentions are to reclaim souls so asmodeus can heal his wounds when he fell from Celestia, and remain in control of the nine hells. He will be the "good" guy of the group. You know "I can make this all go away if you just tell us what we want" or subverting deals. He wants to let the others do the bulk of the fighting,but all things end with him. But is no slouch in battle either. So my original thought was mastermind rogue with expertise in all face skills and then rest warlock for spells and fighting if need be. However would need at least 6 levels in rogue to get that. So I may play another way. Like make my spells work for me. Charming and underhanded deals. All the while every deal will be for souls wether the person knows that's the price or not. "I can get you out of here, for a favor in the future. You can trust me. I'm no like those other guys" hahha. Again these ideas are even more than I thought if. Thanks again all and look forward to reading more.
I'd personally do a Fallen Aasimar Oathbreaker Paladin that's also a Hollow One. Use a Glaive, reflavor it as a scythe, and ride a skeleton warhorse or phantom steed.
Also, your background should be the Haunted One. This will fit into your overall theme very well.
If you want to be even more edgy, multiclass with Hexblade. You'll do a ton of damage, smite a ton, and be able to kill everything, while still looking like death.
now this......this is a good idea
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Race: Certainly human (in my mind, death is much more closely related to humans than any other race).
Class: Paladin with oath of devotion (probably duty, but honesty and honor might also work).
Think of yourself as the holy warrior that inevitably will come to all. That is your duty, not something you like, but the what you have sworn to do. You have no interest in taking lives before it's their time. They after all will end up as yours. You have absolutely no mercy for anyone who tries to cheat death, so consider all kind of undead as your worst anathema.
Race: Certainly human (in my mind, death is much more closely related to humans than any other race).
Class: Paladin with oath of devotion (probably duty, but honesty and honor might also work).
Think of yourself as the holy warrior that inevitably will come to all. That is your duty, not something you like, but the what you have sworn to do. You have no interest in taking lives before it's their time. They after all will end up as yours. You have absolutely no mercy for anyone who tries to cheat death, so consider all kind of undead as your worst anathema.
That's why I didn't see necromancer as a viable option. What's dead stays dead. I like that. You've been given a task you've sworn to do and you do it through duty, and honor no matter the price. Good idea for backstory on that too.
You could also do Death as a lawful good paladin of the Raven Queen ensuring the natural ebb and flow of life and death. You could play it as a Redemption paladin who refuses to kill someone before their time, or as a Conquest paladin who will *make* people respect death, or an Ancients paladin who is impartial to the whims of mortals, dealing death where fate wills it, or a Vengeance paladin who pursues people who run form death.
My point mainly being that there's a lot of ways to play Death without being a murder hobo.
This is making me super curious how the other players are playing Conquest, War, and Famine. The book of Revelations is where this myth comes from (although I'm sure is was somewhere else first). Here is what we know from the mythology:
Conquest had a bow and a crown. This is called the White Rider which just meant his horse was white.
War had a great sword. It is believed this means specifically Civil War. This is the Red Rider.
Famine had wheat and barley but often depicted with a balance. His horse was black. Basically the wheat, barley, and balance represent food being scarce and prohibitively expensive.
Death basically just had dominion over killing. He had a sword in the text with Hades behind him. He kills using the Sword, Famine, Pestilence, and Wild Beasts. Had a pail horse (interpreted to mean dead or sickly). He was later depicted as the aspect of death we're all used to; scythe, super pail or skeletal, etc, but that isn't really true to the original mythology of the four horsemen. This is the only horsemen explicitly given a name.
That's pretty much it. This doesn't really directly translate to much in terms of D&D so there is plenty of room to make whatever the players want. But if we're looking at this being as true as possible to the original texts while also making a diverse and balanced party, here are my thoughts:
Conquest - Conquest Paladin with a bow could work. Seems weird though. You'd potentially have to rework some paladin features as many of them require melee attacks to work. They also don't get the archery fighting style normally. I think it would be interesting and thematically relevant though. It also gives the party the "face." If you're not willing to homebrew, Horizon Walker Ranger because of the bow wielding and the horizon walker fits pretty well. I also don't hate Hexblade Warlock using a Bow as the pact weapon.
War - Zealot Barbarian with a greatsword. Any barbarian or fighter would work but zealot barbarian seems most thematic. A Paladin wouldn't be awful here either.
Famine - Nothing really screams Famine but I'm going to go with Rogue Assassin. The assassin has proficiency in the poisoners kit (I think the only class that has this?). I could see Famine creating food shortages by poisoning food supplies or otherwise disrupting supply chains. This is a little bit of a stretch but I think it fits better than anything else. It also gives the party a rogue. Druid could be an interesting alternative. Nature causes famine all the time.
Death - I have previously mentioned Hexblade Warlock although that is more fitting of the Pop Culture depiction of death, not really one true to the mythology. While that would still be an interesting option, a more fitting option might be Circle of Spores Druid. The reasoning being that Death used a sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. Focusing on the last two (we already have one wielding the sword and there is literally a rider named famine already), no one deals in those things better than the Circle of Spored Druid. This will also give your party some healing and support although not really thematically relevant. You can raise some undead minions because... your name is Death. You can summon some wild beasts and use the spores and other necrotic spells to fit the pestilence part. Death also has Hades at his side. Druids can conjure elementals and a fire elemental at his side would be a great fit here. Early on, it's only temporary. But later in levels you can use Planar Binding to make it last much longer. With a level 9 spell slot used on Planar Binding, it's a year. You could make 'Hades' yours forever! If Famine goes the druid route, Shadow Sorcerer, Hexblade, or even Necromancy or Divination Wizard wouldn't be bad fits.
All of these would need some reflavoring. Of course this is quite different than the depictions in pop culture so you might want to ignore the original source for something more in line with your groups vision.
This is making me super curious how the other players are playing Conquest, War, and Famine. The book of Revelations is where this myth comes from (although I'm sure is was somewhere else first). Here is what we know from the mythology:
Conquest had a bow and a crown. This is called the White Rider which just meant his horse was white.
War had a great sword. It is believed this means specifically Civil War. This is the Red Rider.
Famine had wheat and barley but often depicted with a balance. His horse was black. Basically the wheat, barley, and balance represent food being scarce and prohibitively expensive.
Death basically just had dominion over killing. He had a sword in the text with Hades behind him. He kills using the Sword, Famine, Pestilence, and Wild Beasts. Had a pail horse (interpreted to mean dead or sickly). He was later depicted as the aspect of death we're all used to; scythe, super pail or skeletal, etc, but that isn't really true to the original mythology of the four horsemen. This is the only horsemen explicitly given a name.
That's pretty much it. This doesn't really directly translate to much in terms of D&D so there is plenty of room to make whatever the players want. But if we're looking at this being as true as possible to the original texts while also making a diverse and balanced party, here are my thoughts:
Conquest - Conquest Paladin with a bow could work. Seems weird though. You'd potentially have to rework some paladin features as many of them require melee attacks to work. They also don't get the archery fighting style normally. I think it would be interesting and thematically relevant though. It also gives the party the "face." If you're not willing to homebrew, Horizon Walker Ranger because of the bow wielding and the horizon walker fits pretty well. I also don't hate Hexblade Warlock using a Bow as the pact weapon.
War - Zealot Barbarian with a greatsword. Any barbarian or fighter would work but zealot barbarian seems most thematic. A Paladin wouldn't be awful here either.
Famine - Nothing really screams Famine but I'm going to go with Rogue Assassin. The assassin has proficiency in the poisoners kit (I think the only class that has this?). I could see Famine creating food shortages by poisoning food supplies or otherwise disrupting supply chains. This is a little bit of a stretch but I think it fits better than anything else. It also gives the party a rogue. Druid could be an interesting alternative. Nature causes famine all the time.
Death - I have previously mentioned Hexblade Warlock although that is more fitting of the Pop Culture depiction of death, not really one true to the mythology. While that would still be an interesting option, a more fitting option might be Circle of Spores Druid. The reasoning being that Death used a sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. Focusing on the last two (we already have one wielding the sword and there is literally a rider named famine already), no one deals in those things better than the Circle of Spored Druid. This will also give your party some healing and support although not really thematically relevant. You can raise some undead minions because... your name is Death. You can summon some wild beasts and use the spores and other necrotic spells to fit the pestilence part. Death also has Hades at his side. Druids can conjure elementals and a fire elemental at his side would be a great fit here. Early on, it's only temporary. But later in levels you can use Planar Binding to make it last much longer. With a level 9 spell slot used on Planar Binding, it's a year. You could make 'Hades' yours forever! If Famine goes the druid route, Shadow Sorcerer, Hexblade, or even Necromancy or Divination Wizard wouldn't be bad fits.
All of these would need some reflavoring. Of course this is quite different than the depictions in pop culture so you might want to ignore the original source for something more in line with your groups vision.
for famine the necromancy wizard or grave domain cleric might be good? get spells like blight, contagion, ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickness, bestow curse, enervation, negative energy flood and circle of death
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
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Hello all,
Sorry if this is the wrong place, but couldn't find a dedicated area for characters. I'm going to be playing in a campaign based off of blood war.
We are playing the 4 Horsemen. I myself picked death. Now I don't want a murderhobo, neither does the dm. I originally thought to create a rogue, and take all face skills to get people to make deals for souls. However I really, really want to play a hexblade, but have never played warlock.Necromancer came to mind but I want things to stay dead. W
are going to take this to level 20. Our dm gave us a hint, we start at 10. We can used any officially published works sans UA. Give me your ideas. How would you make Death. Could be based on what I've stated or how you would do it. What skills, feats, spells. Let's see what you got. Thank you for your time.
Since you’re playing a horseman whose weapon is a scythe, you need to take the Mounted Combatant feat and use a halberd as your primary weapon and reskin how it looks slightly.
I’m thinking that you need to take a class that will give you some necromancy spells. Chill Touch, Enervation, and Finger of Death are all spells that are very thematic for Death. I’d say that a Pact of the Blade Warlock would be a great choice for that concept.
Professional computer geek
The same way I'd build a grim reaper. Grave domain cleric and Fallen Aasimar.
Devil's Tongue Teifling Hexblade Pact of the Blade warlock. Get Charisma to 20, then take Polearm Master. Use a glaive and just say it's a scythe. It's not far off anyway. Background doesn't really matter. You get some cool class features that fit in well. Shadow of Moil is thematic and a great spell for you.
Your level 11 Mystic Arcanum could be Soul Cage as that's super thematic. Or Create Undead. Finger of Death is kinda a no brainer for 13.
Take thirsting blade invocation. Then whatever invocations you want for flavor. Eldritch smite is pretty good for when you critically hit. Otherwise use your spells for spells.
Warcaster would also be good to get at some point. Or Resilient Constitution.
That is awesome. I will look into that. Thank you to everyone for feedback. Campaign is a month or so away, so I have time to tinker with it. Would a sorlock be good, or just go straight hexblade?
Hexblade 2/Sorcerer X is a good combo. Take agonizing blast and use eldritch blast. It's good but it's kinda an Eldritch Blast one-trick. My bet would be you'd have more fun with just straight hexblade. That's my opinion anyway.
I just made a lvl 10 hexblade warlock for a one shot. I’m excited to play it.
now, I’m not entirely sure how the patron for hexblade works, is it the actual weapon itself? Let’s go with that. Your patron could be a sentient weapon, the one you wield. Transfer all of your characters philosophies on death over to the sentient weapon. The weapon will guide you, give you advice, and just in general be your pal on your quest of death =D
Don't forget motivations. The four riders had purposes and methods to the apocalypse. The rider of the pale horse isn't just a willy-nilly murderer of NPCs as a specific amount of people are to remain alive after they're finished. How is the 4th rider choosing those who must die?
Also, consider that 4th rider's assigned methods were war, famine, pestilence, and beasts. (Most people forget that last one.) As the one who follows the others and as the one also assigned their methods, is the 4th rider just ending the misery caused by the other riders with some natural reclamation thrown in for good measure? Could the rider be a blessing, granting peace to those who suffer or returning land to the beasts on the brink of extinction?
A common misconception is that the 4th rider carries a weapon. There is no mention of such. Should the 4th rider need a weapon if the other 3 are the weapons as described?
How accurate does this rider need to be?
We could go for the whole grim-reaper image which is not accurate. We could go for a wrathful slayer which also doesn't seem to fit.
What do you want to do with the character? The abilities are one thing, but what makes the character is the character's character.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
a pole arm master hexblade with life drinker is very good
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
I would play Death as a kind, merciful Hollow One that sometimes gets very, very angry and gets a bit nasty.
I would play death as a Cleric of the Grave (not a Cleric of Death).
I would ask for a Scythe to be a reskinned quarterstaff that does Slashing damage.
Background: Haunted One (Curse of Strahd)
You do not need Mounted Combat for this build, as you are a cleric of kindly/angry death.
I might take 1 level of Barbarian, just for the Rage.
Preferred spells to cast (not including Domain spells):
I'd personally do a Fallen Aasimar Oathbreaker Paladin that's also a Hollow One. Use a Glaive, reflavor it as a scythe, and ride a skeleton warhorse or phantom steed.
Also, your background should be the Haunted One. This will fit into your overall theme very well.
If you want to be even more edgy, multiclass with Hexblade. You'll do a ton of damage, smite a ton, and be able to kill everything, while still looking like death.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Hexblade + Death Cleric
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Not sure on the whole story, but I described what I wanted to do to my DM. I started with the idea like yours. Be the "Savior". His intentions are to reclaim souls so asmodeus can heal his wounds when he fell from Celestia, and remain in control of the nine hells. He will be the "good" guy of the group. You know "I can make this all go away if you just tell us what we want" or subverting deals. He wants to let the others do the bulk of the fighting,but all things end with him. But is no slouch in battle either. So my original thought was mastermind rogue with expertise in all face skills and then rest warlock for spells and fighting if need be. However would need at least 6 levels in rogue to get that. So I may play another way. Like make my spells work for me. Charming and underhanded deals. All the while every deal will be for souls wether the person knows that's the price or not. "I can get you out of here, for a favor in the future. You can trust me. I'm no like those other guys" hahha. Again these ideas are even more than I thought if. Thanks again all and look forward to reading more.
now this......this is a good idea
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Race: Certainly human (in my mind, death is much more closely related to humans than any other race).
Class: Paladin with oath of devotion (probably duty, but honesty and honor might also work).
Think of yourself as the holy warrior that inevitably will come to all. That is your duty, not something you like, but the what you have sworn to do. You have no interest in taking lives before it's their time. They after all will end up as yours. You have absolutely no mercy for anyone who tries to cheat death, so consider all kind of undead as your worst anathema.
Ludo ergo sum!
That's why I didn't see necromancer as a viable option. What's dead stays dead. I like that. You've been given a task you've sworn to do and you do it through duty, and honor no matter the price. Good idea for backstory on that too.
You could also do Death as a lawful good paladin of the Raven Queen ensuring the natural ebb and flow of life and death. You could play it as a Redemption paladin who refuses to kill someone before their time, or as a Conquest paladin who will *make* people respect death, or an Ancients paladin who is impartial to the whims of mortals, dealing death where fate wills it, or a Vengeance paladin who pursues people who run form death.
My point mainly being that there's a lot of ways to play Death without being a murder hobo.
This is making me super curious how the other players are playing Conquest, War, and Famine. The book of Revelations is where this myth comes from (although I'm sure is was somewhere else first). Here is what we know from the mythology:
That's pretty much it. This doesn't really directly translate to much in terms of D&D so there is plenty of room to make whatever the players want. But if we're looking at this being as true as possible to the original texts while also making a diverse and balanced party, here are my thoughts:
All of these would need some reflavoring. Of course this is quite different than the depictions in pop culture so you might want to ignore the original source for something more in line with your groups vision.
for famine the necromancy wizard or grave domain cleric might be good? get spells like blight, contagion, ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickness, bestow curse, enervation, negative energy flood and circle of death
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.