I believe the general premise is we're a group of serial killers that have been taken to an island and only one of us can leave. The level 1 limitation is making it pretty hard to figure out what class to be in order to die immediately upon a confrontation.
I assume I'm going to be playing with a bunch of humans with feats, but because I want to use this character as a part of the backstory for a future character I plan on making them a Firbolg.
So hope some of you can provide me with some inspiration.
I would go for Barbarian, mostly for the survivability connected to the class even from level 1, and the potential high and steady damage output compared with other classes.
Probably Hexblade Warlock might be another good choice, as they get quite neat stuff at level one, but they are comparatively quite more squishy.
Wizard and Sorcerer are basically dead meat in a battle royale situation, imho.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I never really looked too deep into the Cleric, but after giving a quick glance at the War Domain, I think it's another pretty good option. The only "issue" I might find is the d8 HP dice, but I think that it would still be a pretty good contender.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
War cleric is awesome especially with inflict wounds the most damaging 1st level spell in the game with heavy armor and good HP + shield of faith or bless to help out as well
I would say wood elf rogue is a good fit, simply because expertise in hiding + hiding in light obscure will be very useful in conjunction with a longbow + sneak attack.
I suspect anyone who isnt good at hiding will go down fast.
flying races will of course mess stuff up, in that case a warlock is probably good.
At 1st level it has to be Barbarian. There are serious arguments to be made for Rogue, but only starting at 2nd level when they can actually win a footrace, and also Druid, but only at 2nd level when they can actually wildshape. Warlock needs 2nd level to get Eldritch Blast powered up, and Monk needs 2nd level to get fast movement and ki usage. Cleric needs 2nd level for channel divinity, Paladin needs 2nd level for Smite, Fighter needs 2nd level for Action Surge, but the Barbarian has their most potent ability from level 1. You have more HP than anyone else, more damage, advantage on the checks needed to shove people off cliffs or avoid being shoved, and more.
That being said you'll likely still get taken out by some Wood Elf Rogue wielding a long bow, who uses Guerrilla Tactics to wear everyone out. I'd say go that route, but you already said you want to be a Firbolg, and they aren't a good fit race wise for a Rogue. The whole reason the wood elf rogue works is thanks to being able to easily hide in natural terrain and having faster movement than anyone else at 1st level, neither of which is true for a Firbolg.
At 1st level, it's hard to see any class standing up to a Barbarian. Change it to level 2 or 3 and things get interesting, but level 1 it is all about survivabiity.
A Rogue has a chance with a good role to take any class out with sneak attack, but they won't survive many hits if they don't get the kill in the first shot.
Remember a barb only rages twice, a rogue shoots from far away, hides, waits until rage is of and repeats. The more people on the isle the worse of barb will be.
A wise barbarian would wait until he is around half HP and in close range with the enemy before raging.
Also, if we take for example a Variant Human barbarian, Alert would make it so that a hidden enemies cannot take the jump on him. As for staying far, a Barbarian comes with Javelins to use as ranged weapons; they don't hit as far as a bow, but in a forest there is also plenty of ways to get cover and move closer to the enemy.
The more people the worse off the barbarian is, without a doubt, but only if the others "party-up", which is something the barbarian could try and do himself.
The ranged Rougue is probably the worst enemy of a Barbarian in such a situation, but far from being an automatic win for the Rogue.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
For race, the Air Gensai to cast Levitate and any class that specializes in ranged attacks. Even a Wizard with Mage Armor and Fire Bolt would have a good chance of surviving that battle.
a half orc Barbarian should be pretty good for a lvl 1 battle royale, the raging, healthpool, and Relentless Endurance should give him some amazing survivability and damage
I'm not versed in cleric domains but I'm pretty sure either Cleric, Barbarian, or Fighter would be the best.
With Cleric you have good AC, you have the option to heal yourself or cast a devastating guiding bolt twice plus you can also attack from range (or up close if you prefer).
With Barbarian you have decent AC, you take half damage on quite a bit of stuff, and you can get in some good melee damage.
With Fighter you'll want to be a variant human to grab the polearm master feat. With that you'll have decent AC but you'll also get some nice damage output paired up with the potential for some more damage as a bonus from having more opportunities to to use your reaction for an attack.
All the other magic classes are to squishy/don't have good enough attacks/can't cast enough relevant spells.
keep in mind that with guiding bolt you now give everyone advantage on attacking that person (if they survived, 4d6 damage is a lot at lvl 1 even against a barbarian since it doesn't have resistance to radiant damage) until someone takes the attack action on them before your next turn AND you have a range of 120 feet with this!!!
I believe the general premise is we're a group of serial killers that have been taken to an island and only one of us can leave. The level 1 limitation is making it pretty hard to figure out what class to be in order to die immediately upon a confrontation.
I assume I'm going to be playing with a bunch of humans with feats, but because I want to use this character as a part of the backstory for a future character I plan on making them a Firbolg.
So hope some of you can provide me with some inspiration.
Well.. you've probably long since done this campaign... but honestly its all in how you do it, and who you're with, and the setting and etc.
Not a single person chose Wizard before me. But I thought it'd be really easy, to make a Wood Elf Wizard. keep a good distance. hide using Mask of the Wild. Wait for everyone else to whittle themselves down and such, and then use wizard spells to full advantage such as Sleep, or Color Spray to disable them, for more easy victory.
In battle royales. Bigger threats of targets typically get taken out first.
Currently, not enough information is given to make any determination. How bigs the island, can everyone see each other right away? or is it more like Battle Royale (the book, turned movie, turned ripped off for Hunger games) or The condemned, etc.
but the 2 biggest factors to success. Succesfuly hiding, successfully finding hidden people. Sure Barbarians get the most HP to start, and have their rage, and all that. Does no good if they can't get close, or find what they're looking for.
A Ranger with some well picked favored enemies could do quite well too.
but yeah, given your island setting... I picked Wizard, because Color Spray and Sleep can incapacitate anyone that might discover me while I'm hiding, and with cantrips like Fire Bolt. I can set the island on fire prior to hiding, which forces everyone out into the open, while I am hidden. Then its just wait and watch. I doubt many people would select Control Flames cantrip to expand or put out fires... You can use mold earth cantrip to create a hollowed out hill that you can hide in and wait in...
I can think of literally millions of ways, depending on the beginning scenario. For how a Wizard or Sorceror, etc. will ALWAYS outlast, survive, and triumph over any and all Barbarians, or non spellcasters. Long Bow or no long bow.
Honestly. the most dangerous people to watch out for are prob Variant Humans with "Observant" feat
I'm not versed in cleric domains but I'm pretty sure either Cleric, Barbarian, or Fighter would be the best.
With Cleric you have good AC, you have the option to heal yourself or cast a devastating guiding bolt twice plus you can also attack from range (or up close if you prefer).
With Barbarian you have decent AC, you take half damage on quite a bit of stuff, and you can get in some good melee damage.
With Fighter you'll want to be a variant human to grab the polearm master feat. With that you'll have decent AC but you'll also get some nice damage output paired up with the potential for some more damage as a bonus from having more opportunities to to use your reaction for an attack.
All the other magic classes are to squishy/don't have good enough attacks/can't cast enough relevant spells.
In my above post. I think I laid out a pretty solid groundwork of EASY to do things with a level 1 wizard, where I disprove the last line here with overwhelming facts, scenarios, and proof.
In a Battle Royale... How often do you think you'll get into Melee range, unless versus another melee fighter? If I'm on top of a hill, I can see a good 500+ feet out. How's your barbarian account for 500 feet? Same with your Fighter... and honestly... "Polearm master" really? I get why, but, do you think the fighter will survive long enough in that setting, to fully utilize polearm master?
There's no wrong answer. but in a Battle Royale. Winning comes down to Survivability. You survive by, not being found, and finding others before they find you. Would your barbarian/Fighter/Cleric/whoever character, without my mentioning it. Ever thought, that a rotted tree, was hollow inside, and moved and such using mold earth. to where i have essentially buried myself under the earth, with a breathing hole. To wait for awhile. like until people would be sleeping kinda time, etc. and using fire bolt, set the island on fire. Etc.
There's more to surviving on a battle royale island, than running in axes blazing or longbow blazing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blank
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I believe the general premise is we're a group of serial killers that have been taken to an island and only one of us can leave. The level 1 limitation is making it pretty hard to figure out what class to be in order to die immediately upon a confrontation.
I assume I'm going to be playing with a bunch of humans with feats, but because I want to use this character as a part of the backstory for a future character I plan on making them a Firbolg.
So hope some of you can provide me with some inspiration.
I would go for Barbarian, mostly for the survivability connected to the class even from level 1, and the potential high and steady damage output compared with other classes.
Probably Hexblade Warlock might be another good choice, as they get quite neat stuff at level one, but they are comparatively quite more squishy.
Wizard and Sorcerer are basically dead meat in a battle royale situation, imho.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
What do you think about War Cleric?
I never really looked too deep into the Cleric, but after giving a quick glance at the War Domain, I think it's another pretty good option. The only "issue" I might find is the d8 HP dice, but I think that it would still be a pretty good contender.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
War cleric is awesome especially with inflict wounds the most damaging 1st level spell in the game with heavy armor and good HP + shield of faith or bless to help out as well
I would say wood elf rogue is a good fit, simply because expertise in hiding + hiding in light obscure will be very useful in conjunction with a longbow + sneak attack.
I suspect anyone who isnt good at hiding will go down fast.
flying races will of course mess stuff up, in that case a warlock is probably good.
At 1st level it has to be Barbarian. There are serious arguments to be made for Rogue, but only starting at 2nd level when they can actually win a footrace, and also Druid, but only at 2nd level when they can actually wildshape. Warlock needs 2nd level to get Eldritch Blast powered up, and Monk needs 2nd level to get fast movement and ki usage. Cleric needs 2nd level for channel divinity, Paladin needs 2nd level for Smite, Fighter needs 2nd level for Action Surge, but the Barbarian has their most potent ability from level 1. You have more HP than anyone else, more damage, advantage on the checks needed to shove people off cliffs or avoid being shoved, and more.
That being said you'll likely still get taken out by some Wood Elf Rogue wielding a long bow, who uses Guerrilla Tactics to wear everyone out. I'd say go that route, but you already said you want to be a Firbolg, and they aren't a good fit race wise for a Rogue. The whole reason the wood elf rogue works is thanks to being able to easily hide in natural terrain and having faster movement than anyone else at 1st level, neither of which is true for a Firbolg.
If you are playing Penny Arcade style, make sure you have plenty of cash for microtranactions.
https://m.twitch.tv/videos/247144049?t=0h0m1s
At 1st level, it's hard to see any class standing up to a Barbarian. Change it to level 2 or 3 and things get interesting, but level 1 it is all about survivabiity.
A Rogue has a chance with a good role to take any class out with sneak attack, but they won't survive many hits if they don't get the kill in the first shot.
Druid casting Faerie Fire on the Barbarian and whoever is close to him. Druid might not live but everybody else will kill the Barb ;)
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Remember a barb only rages twice, a rogue shoots from far away, hides, waits until rage is of and repeats. The more people on the isle the worse of barb will be.
A wise barbarian would wait until he is around half HP and in close range with the enemy before raging.
Also, if we take for example a Variant Human barbarian, Alert would make it so that a hidden enemies cannot take the jump on him. As for staying far, a Barbarian comes with Javelins to use as ranged weapons; they don't hit as far as a bow, but in a forest there is also plenty of ways to get cover and move closer to the enemy.
The more people the worse off the barbarian is, without a doubt, but only if the others "party-up", which is something the barbarian could try and do himself.
The ranged Rougue is probably the worst enemy of a Barbarian in such a situation, but far from being an automatic win for the Rogue.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
For race, the Air Gensai to cast Levitate and any class that specializes in ranged attacks. Even a Wizard with Mage Armor and Fire Bolt would have a good chance of surviving that battle.
Professional computer geek
Not a poll option but I'd go with a human variant fighter with Magic Initiate Bard, get couple offensive cantrips and a cure wounds spell.
eta: Missed the Firbolg requirement, I'd definitely go with the War Cleric then.
Perpetually annoyed that Eldritch Knights can't use Eldritch Blast, Eldritch Smite, and Eldritch Sight.
a half orc Barbarian should be pretty good for a lvl 1 battle royale, the raging, healthpool, and Relentless Endurance should give him some amazing survivability and damage
I'm not versed in cleric domains but I'm pretty sure either Cleric, Barbarian, or Fighter would be the best.
With Cleric you have good AC, you have the option to heal yourself or cast a devastating guiding bolt twice plus you can also attack from range (or up close if you prefer).
With Barbarian you have decent AC, you take half damage on quite a bit of stuff, and you can get in some good melee damage.
With Fighter you'll want to be a variant human to grab the polearm master feat. With that you'll have decent AC but you'll also get some nice damage output paired up with the potential for some more damage as a bonus from having more opportunities to to use your reaction for an attack.
All the other magic classes are to squishy/don't have good enough attacks/can't cast enough relevant spells.
keep in mind that with guiding bolt you now give everyone advantage on attacking that person (if they survived, 4d6 damage is a lot at lvl 1 even against a barbarian since it doesn't have resistance to radiant damage) until someone takes the attack action on them before your next turn AND you have a range of 120 feet with this!!!
Also you're missing fighter and monk in your poll.
Well.. you've probably long since done this campaign...
but honestly its all in how you do it, and who you're with, and the setting and etc.
Not a single person chose Wizard before me. But I thought it'd be really easy, to make a Wood Elf Wizard. keep a good distance. hide using Mask of the Wild. Wait for everyone else to whittle themselves down and such, and then use wizard spells to full advantage such as Sleep, or Color Spray to disable them, for more easy victory.
In battle royales. Bigger threats of targets typically get taken out first.
Currently, not enough information is given to make any determination. How bigs the island, can everyone see each other right away? or is it more like Battle Royale (the book, turned movie, turned ripped off for Hunger games) or The condemned, etc.
but the 2 biggest factors to success. Succesfuly hiding, successfully finding hidden people. Sure Barbarians get the most HP to start, and have their rage, and all that. Does no good if they can't get close, or find what they're looking for.
A Ranger with some well picked favored enemies could do quite well too.
but yeah, given your island setting... I picked Wizard, because Color Spray and Sleep can incapacitate anyone that might discover me while I'm hiding, and with cantrips like Fire Bolt. I can set the island on fire prior to hiding, which forces everyone out into the open, while I am hidden. Then its just wait and watch. I doubt many people would select Control Flames cantrip to expand or put out fires... You can use mold earth cantrip to create a hollowed out hill that you can hide in and wait in...
I can think of literally millions of ways, depending on the beginning scenario. For how a Wizard or Sorceror, etc. will ALWAYS outlast, survive, and triumph over any and all Barbarians, or non spellcasters. Long Bow or no long bow.
Honestly. the most dangerous people to watch out for are prob Variant Humans with "Observant" feat
Blank
In my above post. I think I laid out a pretty solid groundwork of EASY to do things with a level 1 wizard, where I disprove the last line here with overwhelming facts, scenarios, and proof.
In a Battle Royale... How often do you think you'll get into Melee range, unless versus another melee fighter? If I'm on top of a hill, I can see a good 500+ feet out. How's your barbarian account for 500 feet? Same with your Fighter... and honestly... "Polearm master" really? I get why, but, do you think the fighter will survive long enough in that setting, to fully utilize polearm master?
There's no wrong answer. but in a Battle Royale. Winning comes down to Survivability. You survive by, not being found, and finding others before they find you.
Would your barbarian/Fighter/Cleric/whoever character, without my mentioning it. Ever thought, that a rotted tree, was hollow inside, and moved and such using mold earth. to where i have essentially buried myself under the earth, with a breathing hole. To wait for awhile. like until people would be sleeping kinda time, etc. and using fire bolt, set the island on fire. Etc.
There's more to surviving on a battle royale island, than running in axes blazing or longbow blazing.
Blank