Disclaimer: What follows is a rough build of a character I want to play at some point but likely won't as I DM more often than not, so if you like what you see, feel free to play it and tweak it. A few things to bear in mind: 1) I don't tend to build up my characters in a min/max sense so you won't see many ability scores maxed out. 2) I use the standard array to generate ability scores, this is mostly just for ease of reference when mulling over a build. 3) There may be some homebrew material mentioned so if you play adventurers league then this may not be a legal build. 4) I've a back catalogue of these so I'll post them as and when i cobble my notes into something that makes sense. 5) I won't be referencing many optional things from Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot. 6) As always, feel free to post any questions, comments, feedback or general berating of my errors in rules or how abilities work.
Right, now that's out the way...…
Name: Raxiel the Reaver of Souls.
Race: Drow EDIT 5/8/2023: Change to Reborn taking Stealth and Perception as bonus skills, I based this one on the UA version though to keep 60ft Darkvision and to balance this out I'd keep the Sunlight Sensitivity which ties into the Drow backstory as well as the wraithlike nature of the character.
Background: Far Traveller (from SCAG, take Deep Speech as a bonus language) EDIT 5/8/2023: Change background to Haunted One; keep deep speech as a bonus language and gain one additional common language and gain proficiency with Investigation and Survival skills.
Feats: Drow High Magic (gained at level 6) EDIT 5/8/2023: Due to change from Drow to Reborn we need ot change Drow High Magic and personally I'd go for Skulker but Tough or Resilience could be good as well, Fighting Initiate (taking Mariner from UA and gained at level 10), ASI (buffing Dex/Cons/Wis, gained at level 14 & 18).
Bio:
Raxiel was a Drow and a loyal and devoted soldier in an holy army of Kiaransalee, he was a soldier tasked with hunting down and slaying undead that were not aligned with Kiaransalee and the usual hated enemies such as followers of Lolth. Years of dedicated service passed and he was chosen to take part in a ritual. The Clerics of Kiriansalee desired to create their own demonic creatures, much like the noble houses that followed hated Lolth created Draegloths. The ritual was deemed a failure, Raxiel was changed by the spell but became an emaciated version of his former self, he had clawed feet and hands which could not rend and wings, that were incapable of flight, hung limply from his back like a tattered leather cloak. Raxiel’s lower jaw was reduced to a lamprey or leech like maw that was incapable of speech. The Clerics caste his weakened and decrepit form into a swirling whirlpool deep in the underdark which was thought to be bottomless. Eventually, drowned and broken by the torrent of water, he finally died and passed over, not to an afterlife but to a warped realm where a voice gave him a choice, die or be sent back to the mortal realms where he would become a hunter and reaver of souls. Raxiel chose to return to the mortal realm but has found that centuries have passed since he was cast into the water. He roams the world clad in the faded vestiges of his previous existence no longer sustained by food and drink but by the energies of the living and the dead. His skin is a dark blue, his hair is midnight black and his eyes a solid white. He doesn’t so much walk as creep with a slightly hunched posture.
Building and reasoning:
This is heavily influenced by the character of Raziel from the Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver series of computer games. In order to accomplish this we have to homebrew a few bits, tweak some things and take some artistic licence. The class progression is being used to represent certain abilities, Raziel does not think of himself as a Warlock, Monk or Sorcerer, he simply is what he is; a Reaver of Souls. We’ll be using Warlock to get a few basic spells to represent the some of the basic magical abilities Raziel has in the game and Monk to represent the more physical aspects he has then progress to Sorcerer to flesh out some of the other abilities. The specific Great Old One is rather open, I like Ghaunadaur as he was the Drow God of Outcasts, Slimes and Oozes so could make for a suitable patron who seeks to use a former follower of Kiransalee in its own mysterious schemes. I think this is one of those Warlock builds where you could do with a lot of DM/Patron interaction as you travel around at the behest of your patron. Although Chaotic Neutral alignment, he’ll be staunchly anti-undead and be more of a predator by stalking/hunting in the shadows. Its also worth looking into the Elder God from the video game series to get a sense of the patrons motivations.
Right on to the build:
Level 1-2 Warlock:
Taking Great Old One as a patron. This grants us the Awakened Mind ability so we can speak telepathically to any creature within 30ft, for spell casting we’ll be using Deep Speech, all other communication is via Telepathy. For starting spells we’ll take Eldritch Blast and Mage Hand for Cantrips and Hex and Protection from Evil & Good as a lvl 1 spells, our Charisma is low for a Warlock, this is by design and Eldritch Blast isn’t our main form of attack for long so we just need to grin and bear it for now. For spell casting purposes we’ll be using Deep Speech when saying any verbal component, any other communication will be telepathic via the Awakened Mind ability. Starting Equipment, take Leather Armour, Arcane Focus (crystal built into one of our bracers), Dungeoneers Pack, Light Crossbow +20 bolts, and two daggers. Like Eldritch Blast, the choice of weapons is largely irrelevant as we won’t use them for long.
We’re taking level 2 Warlock here for the invocations, we’re going to take Fiendish Vigor and Repelling Blast. These choices are purely for the aesthetic to reflect the ability to knock creatures and objects away with a blast of power and eat souls, the False Life spell effectively pulling in fragments of energy from the souls of the slain to nourish Raxiel and (DM permitting) replacing the need to eat/drink and combined with the spell casting side of things should reinforce his “Otherworldy” nature, for a visual effect when you cast he Flase Life spell you'll be sucking in small motes of energy form the air EDIT 5/8/2023: With the change to from Drow to Reborn we can happily flavour False Life as feeding on soul energy as Reborn characters do not need to eat or drink. We’re purposely not taking any way to hide his appearance, the only way to hide his face/lamprey like mouth will be with hooded cowls and scarves. There is a 3 level one spell you gain and Dissonant Whispers or Cause Fear could be thematically appropriate although they might not work very often due to the low spellcasting DC, Armour of Agathys or Unseen Servant would probably be a better option. This is pretty much all we need from Warlock so now we Multiclass.
Level 3-10: Monk.
We're taking 8 levels of Monk with Way of the Astral Self, although calling it Way of the Eldritch Self may be more appropriate for this build. Monk allows us to use Martial Arts which we’ll be using to show Raxiel getting to grips with using his claws as weapons, I would change the damage type for these from Bludgeoning to Slashing to reflect this but its not a big deal if a DM says no as when we get to level 3 we’re shifting to a new attack. The level 3 ability “Arms of the Astral Self” says we can decide the form they take, so when we activate this ability we are going to have spectral energy shimmer down Raxiel’s right arm and coalesce into an ethereal flamberge style sword blade that emanates from his right hand. This is now our primary form of attack, allowing us to deal force damage with unarmed strikes and additionally it has +5ft of reach, flavour wise we can view this as Raxiel bending the energies normally unleashed in an eldritch blast into something melee related. We’ve got all the usual Monk goodies such as Ki, Deflect Missile, Slow Fall, Extra Attack, Stunning Strike, Evasion and Stillness of Mind. For Slow Fall we’ll be saying that Raxiel has gained some basic use from his wings and these allow him to glide and slow his descent, DM permitting, we might also be able to move in a fashion similar to the Simic Hybrid from the Ravnica setting in which they can move 2ft horizontally for every 1ft they fall, if your DM would allow this I would say the horizontal movement takes up some of your normal movement allowance (i.e. having a 30ft speed and moving 10ft horizontally whilst falling would leave you with 20ft of move left when you got to the ground).
At level 6 we do get an ASI or Feat, for this I would take Drow High Magic EDIT 5/8/2023: Due to change from Drow to Reborn we need to change Drow High Magic and personally I'd go for Skulker but Tough or Resilience could be good as well and at level 10 we’ll take the Fighting Initiate Feat, for this we’re going to delve into Unearthed Arcana and take the Mariner style as follows “As long as you are not wearing heavy armour or using a shield, you have a swimming speed and a climbing speed equal to your normal speed, and you gain a +1 bonus to AC”, this feat allows us to portray the various climbing and swimming sides of the Soul Reaver games as well as giving us a little AC boost, this also ties into the monk by giving us something close to the monk ability to walk on floors and ceilings which we just miss out on.
Level 11-20: Sorcerer.
We’re going to finish by going for 10 levels of Sorcerer, now given the Charisma score isn’t great you might think this an odd choice but its just to get some effects to try and flesh out some of the other abilities that Raziel has in the computer game. We’re going for Storm Sorcerer as an origin but no origin really fits, this is the best that is available.
The level 1 ability “Tempestuous Magic” is potentially something we can get a lot of use out of, we’ve got False Life (via an Invocation) that can be cast at will without expending a spell slot and it will trigger the Tempestuous Magic ability which means we can always get out of a tricky melee situation if we need to.
EDIT: Rather than fly over opponents with this ability I would flavour it as phasing into the ethereal plane and then back to the material plane which also ties into the video games where Raziel is a wraith-like creature but care needs to be taken not to abuse it by trying to phase through doors etc.
Spell wise when we get to level 20 we should have the following:
Cantrips: Control Flames, Gust, Minor Illusion, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water. EDIT 5/8/2023:Change Cantrips to: Booming Blade, Greenflame Blade, Prestidigitation, Shocking Grasp +2 other, this would be to represent some of the elemental attacks in the video games.
Level 2 spells: Misty Step, Spider Climb. EDIT 5/8/2023:Spider Climb likely not needed in hindsight so I'd probably nab Catapult instead.
Level 3 Spells: Blink, Thunder Step.
Level 4 spells: Dimension Door.
Level 5: Enervation, Far Step, Telekinesis.
We want to get as many of these as possible to represent the ability to walk/climb on any surface or ceiling which enhances our exsisting climbing ability and phase out of the material realm. Enervation helps with the image of feeding on souls and the life energies of other creatures whilst Thunder Wave and Telekinesis are just enhancements to the previous Repelling Blast invocation. The Cantrip selection is purely functional choices as we don’t really need any combat cantrips.
For Meta Magic go for Quicken Spell, Subtle Spell and Twin Spell,
At level 14 and 18 we’re going for ASI’s to buff Dex, Cons and Wis.
Magic Items:
We’d need things which can buff our AC so keep an eye out for things like Bracers of Defence and Rings of Protection other wise we do not need much as our attacks are already magical and if using Arms of the Astral Self they’ll be force damage, we won’t be using armour and have little need for Rod of the Pact Keeper or Wands of the War Mage.
To finish:
At level 20 Raxiels Ability Scores should be: Str: 10, Dex: 18, Cons: 14, Int: 8, Wis:16, Cha: 13. We’ll have an AC18 and if taking the average for each class our we’d have 130hp (with upto +8 temp HP on demand). Spellcasting DC will be 15, Spell Attack Bonus will be +7, Monk Ability DC will be 17. We’ve got a Walking/Climbing/Swimming speed of 45ft per round. Damage wise, we’ll have two attacks with the attack action plus the option to flurry of blows, our melee attacks have a +10 bonus to hit and each hit deals 1d6+4 Force damage +1d8 Necrotic damage if using Arms of the Astral Self and Hex and if we choose to, we’d have 4 beams of Eldritch Blast with each dealing 1d10 Force Damage +1d8 Necrotic Damage if we use Hex. These are not great but are far from shabby.
Disclaimer: What follows is a rough build of a character I want to play at some point but likely won't as I DM more often than not, so if you like what you see, feel free to play it and tweak it. A few things to bear in mind: 1) I don't tend to build up my characters in a min/max sense so you won't see many ability scores maxed out. 2) I use the standard array to generate ability scores, this is mostly just for ease of reference when mulling over a build. 3) There may be some homebrew material mentioned so if you play adventurers league then this may not be a legal build. 4) I've a back catalogue of these so I'll post them as and when i cobble my notes into something that makes sense. 5) I won't be referencing many optional things from Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot. 6) As always, feel free to post any questions, comments, feedback or general berating of my errors in rules or how abilities work.
Right, now that's out the way...…
Name: Raxiel the Reaver of Souls.
Race:
DrowEDIT 5/8/2023: Change to Reborn taking Stealth and Perception as bonus skills, I based this one on the UA version though to keep 60ft Darkvision and to balance this out I'd keep the Sunlight Sensitivity which ties into the Drow backstory as well as the wraithlike nature of the character.Ability Scores: Str: 10, Dex: 16, Cons: 13, Int: 8, Wis:15, Cha: 13.
Background:
Far Traveller (from SCAG, take Deep Speech as a bonus language)EDIT 5/8/2023: Change background to Haunted One; keep deep speech as a bonus language and gain one additional common language and gain proficiency with Investigation and Survival skills.Alignment: Chaotic Neutral.
Class (Assuming going to level 20): Lvl 2 Warlock (GOO) / Lvl 8 Monk (Astral Self) / Lvl 10 Sorcerer (Storm)
Feats:
Drow High Magic (gained at level 6)EDIT 5/8/2023: Due to change from Drow to Reborn we need ot change Drow High Magic and personally I'd go for Skulker but Tough or Resilience could be good as well, Fighting Initiate (taking Mariner from UA and gained at level 10), ASI (buffing Dex/Cons/Wis, gained at level 14 & 18).Bio:
Raxiel was a Drow and a loyal and devoted soldier in an holy army of Kiaransalee, he was a soldier tasked with hunting down and slaying undead that were not aligned with Kiaransalee and the usual hated enemies such as followers of Lolth. Years of dedicated service passed and he was chosen to take part in a ritual. The Clerics of Kiriansalee desired to create their own demonic creatures, much like the noble houses that followed hated Lolth created Draegloths. The ritual was deemed a failure, Raxiel was changed by the spell but became an emaciated version of his former self, he had clawed feet and hands which could not rend and wings, that were incapable of flight, hung limply from his back like a tattered leather cloak. Raxiel’s lower jaw was reduced to a lamprey or leech like maw that was incapable of speech. The Clerics caste his weakened and decrepit form into a swirling whirlpool deep in the underdark which was thought to be bottomless. Eventually, drowned and broken by the torrent of water, he finally died and passed over, not to an afterlife but to a warped realm where a voice gave him a choice, die or be sent back to the mortal realms where he would become a hunter and reaver of souls. Raxiel chose to return to the mortal realm but has found that centuries have passed since he was cast into the water. He roams the world clad in the faded vestiges of his previous existence no longer sustained by food and drink but by the energies of the living and the dead. His skin is a dark blue, his hair is midnight black and his eyes a solid white. He doesn’t so much walk as creep with a slightly hunched posture.
Building and reasoning:
This is heavily influenced by the character of Raziel from the Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver series of computer games. In order to accomplish this we have to homebrew a few bits, tweak some things and take some artistic licence. The class progression is being used to represent certain abilities, Raziel does not think of himself as a Warlock, Monk or Sorcerer, he simply is what he is; a Reaver of Souls. We’ll be using Warlock to get a few basic spells to represent the some of the basic magical abilities Raziel has in the game and Monk to represent the more physical aspects he has then progress to Sorcerer to flesh out some of the other abilities. The specific Great Old One is rather open, I like Ghaunadaur as he was the Drow God of Outcasts, Slimes and Oozes so could make for a suitable patron who seeks to use a former follower of Kiransalee in its own mysterious schemes. I think this is one of those Warlock builds where you could do with a lot of DM/Patron interaction as you travel around at the behest of your patron. Although Chaotic Neutral alignment, he’ll be staunchly anti-undead and be more of a predator by stalking/hunting in the shadows. Its also worth looking into the Elder God from the video game series to get a sense of the patrons motivations.
Right on to the build:
Level 1-2 Warlock:
Taking Great Old One as a patron. This grants us the Awakened Mind ability so we can speak telepathically to any creature within 30ft, for spell casting we’ll be using Deep Speech, all other communication is via Telepathy. For starting spells we’ll take Eldritch Blast and Mage Hand for Cantrips and Hex and Protection from Evil & Good as a lvl 1 spells, our Charisma is low for a Warlock, this is by design and Eldritch Blast isn’t our main form of attack for long so we just need to grin and bear it for now. For spell casting purposes we’ll be using Deep Speech when saying any verbal component, any other communication will be telepathic via the Awakened Mind ability. Starting Equipment, take Leather Armour, Arcane Focus (crystal built into one of our bracers), Dungeoneers Pack, Light Crossbow +20 bolts, and two daggers. Like Eldritch Blast, the choice of weapons is largely irrelevant as we won’t use them for long.
We’re taking level 2 Warlock here for the invocations, we’re going to take Fiendish Vigor and Repelling Blast. These choices are purely for the aesthetic to reflect the ability to knock creatures and objects away with a blast of power and eat souls, the False Life spell effectively pulling in fragments of energy from the souls of the slain to nourish Raxiel
and (DM permitting) replacing the need to eat/drink and combined with the spell casting side of things should reinforce his “Otherworldy” nature, for a visual effect when you cast he Flase Life spell you'll be sucking in small motes of energy form the airEDIT 5/8/2023: With the change to from Drow to Reborn we can happily flavour False Life as feeding on soul energy as Reborn characters do not need to eat or drink. We’re purposely not taking any way to hide his appearance, the only way to hide his face/lamprey like mouth will be with hooded cowls and scarves. There is a 3 level one spell you gain and Dissonant Whispers or Cause Fear could be thematically appropriate although they might not work very often due to the low spellcasting DC, Armour of Agathys or Unseen Servant would probably be a better option. This is pretty much all we need from Warlock so now we Multiclass.Level 3-10: Monk.
We're taking 8 levels of Monk with Way of the Astral Self, although calling it Way of the Eldritch Self may be more appropriate for this build. Monk allows us to use Martial Arts which we’ll be using to show Raxiel getting to grips with using his claws as weapons, I would change the damage type for these from Bludgeoning to Slashing to reflect this but its not a big deal if a DM says no as when we get to level 3 we’re shifting to a new attack. The level 3 ability “Arms of the Astral Self” says we can decide the form they take, so when we activate this ability we are going to have spectral energy shimmer down Raxiel’s right arm and coalesce into an ethereal flamberge style sword blade that emanates from his right hand. This is now our primary form of attack, allowing us to deal force damage with unarmed strikes and additionally it has +5ft of reach, flavour wise we can view this as Raxiel bending the energies normally unleashed in an eldritch blast into something melee related. We’ve got all the usual Monk goodies such as Ki, Deflect Missile, Slow Fall, Extra Attack, Stunning Strike, Evasion and Stillness of Mind. For Slow Fall we’ll be saying that Raxiel has gained some basic use from his wings and these allow him to glide and slow his descent, DM permitting, we might also be able to move in a fashion similar to the Simic Hybrid from the Ravnica setting in which they can move 2ft horizontally for every 1ft they fall, if your DM would allow this I would say the horizontal movement takes up some of your normal movement allowance (i.e. having a 30ft speed and moving 10ft horizontally whilst falling would leave you with 20ft of move left when you got to the ground).
At level 6 we do get an ASI or Feat,
for this I would take Drow High MagicEDIT 5/8/2023: Due to change from Drow to Reborn we need to change Drow High Magic and personally I'd go for Skulker but Tough or Resilience could be good as well and at level 10 we’ll take the Fighting Initiate Feat, for this we’re going to delve into Unearthed Arcana and take the Mariner style as follows “As long as you are not wearing heavy armour or using a shield, you have a swimming speed and a climbing speed equal to your normal speed, and you gain a +1 bonus to AC”, this feat allows us to portray the various climbing and swimming sides of the Soul Reaver games as well as giving us a little AC boost, this also ties into the monk by giving us something close to the monk ability to walk on floors and ceilings which we just miss out on.Level 11-20: Sorcerer.
We’re going to finish by going for 10 levels of Sorcerer, now given the Charisma score isn’t great you might think this an odd choice but its just to get some effects to try and flesh out some of the other abilities that Raziel has in the computer game. We’re going for Storm Sorcerer as an origin but no origin really fits, this is the best that is available.
The level 1 ability “Tempestuous Magic” is potentially something we can get a lot of use out of, we’ve got False Life (via an Invocation) that can be cast at will without expending a spell slot and it will trigger the Tempestuous Magic ability which means we can always get out of a tricky melee situation if we need to.
EDIT: Rather than fly over opponents with this ability I would flavour it as phasing into the ethereal plane and then back to the material plane which also ties into the video games where Raziel is a wraith-like creature but care needs to be taken not to abuse it by trying to phase through doors etc.
Spell wise when we get to level 20 we should have the following:
Cantrips:
Control Flames, Gust, Minor Illusion, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water. EDIT 5/8/2023:Change Cantrips to: Booming Blade, Greenflame Blade, Prestidigitation, Shocking Grasp +2 other, this would be to represent some of the elemental attacks in the video games.Level 1 Spells: Absorb Elements, Shield, Thunder Wave.
Level 2 spells: Misty Step,
Spider Climb.EDIT 5/8/2023:Spider Climb likely not needed in hindsight so I'd probably nab Catapult instead.Level 3 Spells: Blink, Thunder Step.
Level 4 spells: Dimension Door.
Level 5: Enervation, Far Step, Telekinesis.
We want to get as many of these as possible to represent the ability to walk/climb on any surface or ceiling which enhances our exsisting climbing ability and phase out of the material realm. Enervation helps with the image of feeding on souls and the life energies of other creatures whilst Thunder Wave and Telekinesis are just enhancements to the previous Repelling Blast invocation. The Cantrip selection is purely functional choices as we don’t really need any combat cantrips.
For Meta Magic go for Quicken Spell, Subtle Spell and Twin Spell,
At level 14 and 18 we’re going for ASI’s to buff Dex, Cons and Wis.
Magic Items:
We’d need things which can buff our AC so keep an eye out for things like Bracers of Defence and Rings of Protection other wise we do not need much as our attacks are already magical and if using Arms of the Astral Self they’ll be force damage, we won’t be using armour and have little need for Rod of the Pact Keeper or Wands of the War Mage.
To finish:
At level 20 Raxiels Ability Scores should be: Str: 10, Dex: 18, Cons: 14, Int: 8, Wis:16, Cha: 13. We’ll have an AC18 and if taking the average for each class our we’d have 130hp (with upto +8 temp HP on demand). Spellcasting DC will be 15, Spell Attack Bonus will be +7, Monk Ability DC will be 17. We’ve got a Walking/Climbing/Swimming speed of 45ft per round. Damage wise, we’ll have two attacks with the attack action plus the option to flurry of blows, our melee attacks have a +10 bonus to hit and each hit deals 1d6+4 Force damage +1d8 Necrotic damage if using Arms of the Astral Self and Hex and if we choose to, we’d have 4 beams of Eldritch Blast with each dealing 1d10 Force Damage +1d8 Necrotic Damage if we use Hex. These are not great but are far from shabby.