I’m going to be playing a highly charismatic character for an upcoming campaign. He’s going to be controlling, manipulative, and just generally a bad person—but with this, he’s also going to be the party face, leader, and “plan guy.” I want to do a build that allows him to enable (and micromanage) others during combat as he tanks in the frontline.
He has a close relationship with his deity/potential patron, so for the build I was thinking 1 level of Order Cleric, 2-3 levels of Great Old One Warlock, and the rest in Glamour Bard. I also plan to take the Inspiring Leader feat at some point. He is a Reborn (human) with 8-10-12-13-14-15 as his stats.
The build is pretty MAD but I am mainly just focused on fun factor. Regardless, I would love to hear advice on how I could best optimize him, as well as get ideas on how he could be played (especially if any of you have played a similar character!). Thanks! I am open to changing his classes/other aspects of the build.
Okay, this is mostly a question of when to swap to your other classes. Right off the bat, I think you should start with Bard... you get the most skill proficiencies that way (3 of your choice, instead of 2 restricted by class). All the classes give you Charisma Saving Throws, but Bard also gives you Dexterity Saving Throws, which are the most common saves in the game.
Stick with Bard for 3 levels to get Expertise and also your Eloquence Features... even with bare minimum stats you'd still be the most persuasive person in the room. Combine with Expertise in Persuasion and Deception and you can basically talk your way out of anything. Then snag one level in Order Cleric, which gives you proficiency in Persuasion and Intimidation... you'll probably already have persuasion, but you can use that instead to gain an additional proficiency of your choice. I don't know if you want to go full Heavy Armor at this point, but at least you have the option. Personally I'd probably stick with medium armor and just get a breastplate.
After that, a two level dip into GOOlock, which I assume is mostly for the free telepathy. The second level is just to get that extra spell slot and some Eldritch Invocations. For your invocations, I recommend Beast Speech, which boosts your persuasive powers by giving you the ability to apply them on animals, and also Mask of Many Faces, which gives you a huge boost to your already amazing deception skill.
For your character background, I think a really interesting option is the Faceless from Descent into Avernus... it's basically a variation on the Spy, but it comes with the fact that your character starts the game with a second identity they can don as a disguise that is completely separate from your true personality. There's a lot you could do with that especially if you're leaning in on the idea of being a master manipulator... and it becomes even easier to take advantage of when paired with Mask of Many Faces.
Speaking of MoMF, you might not need it if you choose to play as a Changeling. Changeling is basically playing on Easy Mode when paired with Eloquence Bard. But they're not allowed at all tables, or you might want to have a bit more variety in your build. Alternatively, you could just go for the classic Variant Human or Custom Lineage to get yourself that Inspiring Leader feat right off the bat. I think an interesting third option would be the Mark of Hospitality Halfling, which gives you some additional spells and, perhaps most importantly, gives you the option to add a D4 to every Persuasion check you make... not that you'll necessarily need it, but if you want to be the absolute most persuasive guy in the game, this is another little boost for you. Like the Changeling, Dragon Mark subraces aren't allowed at all tables... they're not quite balanced and are intended just for the Eberron setting, where being Dragon Marked includes a number of roleplay-based challenges, but of the Dragon Mark races Mark of Hospitality is generally considered the most balanced, since a lot of its additional spells can't really be used in combat.
To optimize and resolve that M.A.D situation, Hexblade Warlock makes Charisma your attack stat, so your main stats are Charisma and Constitution.
Str: 8
Dex: 13
Con: 14+2
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 15+1
L1-5: Hexblade Warlock: You use Charisma instead of Strength or Dexterity for your attacks and damage bonuses. You get your second attack and the ability to Eldritch Smite, as well as your first ASI to get your Charisma up to 18.
L6-9: Eloquence Bard: You get your 2nd ASI to bring Charisma to 20, and your Deception and Persuasion checks treat all die results less than 10 as 10, on top of you being able to put Expertise in both. So at L7 your minimum result is 20, and at L9 it increases to 23. This makes for a strong manipulator. You could take these levels first, to get the manipulation abilities much sooner, but your combat prowess would be greatly delayed.
If you want to take 2-levels of Fighter for Action Surge, or more for Battle Master features, you qualify for that multiclass with the 13 Dexterity.
I’m going to be playing a highly charismatic character for an upcoming campaign. He’s going to be controlling, manipulative, and just generally a bad person—but with this, he’s also going to be the party face, leader, and “plan guy.” I want to do a build that allows him to enable (and micromanage) others during combat as he tanks in the frontline.
He has a close relationship with his deity/potential patron. He is a Reborn (human) with 8-10-12-13-14-15 as his stats.
Hm... If you want to tank on the front line then you either need proficiency in CON saves or a playstyle that doesn't depend on concentration based spells. The problem here is that if you're MCing a lot then the spells that scale the best for upcasting are concentration control spells. Order Cleric is kind of a must for this build, so you want to be casting spells as often as possible which means also needing a way to regenerate slots...
Order Cleric - 1
Swords Bard - 5 : Font of Inspiration + Blade Flourishes
Order Cleric - 2 : Harness Divine Power
Hexblade - 2: Eyes of the Rune Keeper + Mask of Many Faces, Shield
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Hey everyone!
I’m going to be playing a highly charismatic character for an upcoming campaign. He’s going to be controlling, manipulative, and just generally a bad person—but with this, he’s also going to be the party face, leader, and “plan guy.” I want to do a build that allows him to enable (and micromanage) others during combat as he tanks in the frontline.
He has a close relationship with his deity/potential patron, so for the build I was thinking 1 level of Order Cleric, 2-3 levels of Great Old One Warlock, and the rest in Glamour Bard. I also plan to take the Inspiring Leader feat at some point. He is a Reborn (human) with 8-10-12-13-14-15 as his stats.
The build is pretty MAD but I am mainly just focused on fun factor. Regardless, I would love to hear advice on how I could best optimize him, as well as get ideas on how he could be played (especially if any of you have played a similar character!). Thanks! I am open to changing his classes/other aspects of the build.
The actor feat would probably help a lot, if impersonation is what your going for, or the feat shadow touched or fey touched is just so good.
Okay, this is mostly a question of when to swap to your other classes. Right off the bat, I think you should start with Bard... you get the most skill proficiencies that way (3 of your choice, instead of 2 restricted by class). All the classes give you Charisma Saving Throws, but Bard also gives you Dexterity Saving Throws, which are the most common saves in the game.
Stick with Bard for 3 levels to get Expertise and also your Eloquence Features... even with bare minimum stats you'd still be the most persuasive person in the room. Combine with Expertise in Persuasion and Deception and you can basically talk your way out of anything. Then snag one level in Order Cleric, which gives you proficiency in Persuasion and Intimidation... you'll probably already have persuasion, but you can use that instead to gain an additional proficiency of your choice. I don't know if you want to go full Heavy Armor at this point, but at least you have the option. Personally I'd probably stick with medium armor and just get a breastplate.
After that, a two level dip into GOOlock, which I assume is mostly for the free telepathy. The second level is just to get that extra spell slot and some Eldritch Invocations. For your invocations, I recommend Beast Speech, which boosts your persuasive powers by giving you the ability to apply them on animals, and also Mask of Many Faces, which gives you a huge boost to your already amazing deception skill.
For your character background, I think a really interesting option is the Faceless from Descent into Avernus... it's basically a variation on the Spy, but it comes with the fact that your character starts the game with a second identity they can don as a disguise that is completely separate from your true personality. There's a lot you could do with that especially if you're leaning in on the idea of being a master manipulator... and it becomes even easier to take advantage of when paired with Mask of Many Faces.
Speaking of MoMF, you might not need it if you choose to play as a Changeling. Changeling is basically playing on Easy Mode when paired with Eloquence Bard. But they're not allowed at all tables, or you might want to have a bit more variety in your build. Alternatively, you could just go for the classic Variant Human or Custom Lineage to get yourself that Inspiring Leader feat right off the bat. I think an interesting third option would be the Mark of Hospitality Halfling, which gives you some additional spells and, perhaps most importantly, gives you the option to add a D4 to every Persuasion check you make... not that you'll necessarily need it, but if you want to be the absolute most persuasive guy in the game, this is another little boost for you. Like the Changeling, Dragon Mark subraces aren't allowed at all tables... they're not quite balanced and are intended just for the Eberron setting, where being Dragon Marked includes a number of roleplay-based challenges, but of the Dragon Mark races Mark of Hospitality is generally considered the most balanced, since a lot of its additional spells can't really be used in combat.
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To optimize and resolve that M.A.D situation, Hexblade Warlock makes Charisma your attack stat, so your main stats are Charisma and Constitution.
Str: 8
Dex: 13
Con: 14+2
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 15+1
L1-5: Hexblade Warlock: You use Charisma instead of Strength or Dexterity for your attacks and damage bonuses. You get your second attack and the ability to Eldritch Smite, as well as your first ASI to get your Charisma up to 18.
L6-9: Eloquence Bard: You get your 2nd ASI to bring Charisma to 20, and your Deception and Persuasion checks treat all die results less than 10 as 10, on top of you being able to put Expertise in both. So at L7 your minimum result is 20, and at L9 it increases to 23. This makes for a strong manipulator. You could take these levels first, to get the manipulation abilities much sooner, but your combat prowess would be greatly delayed.
If you want to take 2-levels of Fighter for Action Surge, or more for Battle Master features, you qualify for that multiclass with the 13 Dexterity.
Hm... If you want to tank on the front line then you either need proficiency in CON saves or a playstyle that doesn't depend on concentration based spells. The problem here is that if you're MCing a lot then the spells that scale the best for upcasting are concentration control spells. Order Cleric is kind of a must for this build, so you want to be casting spells as often as possible which means also needing a way to regenerate slots...
Order Cleric - 1
Swords Bard - 5 : Font of Inspiration + Blade Flourishes
Order Cleric - 2 : Harness Divine Power
Hexblade - 2: Eyes of the Rune Keeper + Mask of Many Faces, Shield