I’m not very great at making builds that will amplify my character’s strengths, so I’m asking for help on when to take which feats and when to get what levels.
My character is the daughter of a hag who was saved by a group of adventurers at the age of 12. One of the party members helped get rid of most of the curse that happens when young hags turn 13, so she is unnaturally beautiful but has some witch magic still.
Build starts at level 3
Im a variant human with magic initiate feat giving me primal savagery, thorn whip, and absorb elements.
My class is ranger (fey wanderer) but I was wondering if warlock archfey would be beneficial.
my stats are:
str 10, dex 14, con 12, int 8, wis 16, char 14
i want to primal savagery to be my main attack (hag claws) but still offer support with faerie fire, and hex.
I was thinking fey touched could be a good feat, but I want recommendations.
Sorry this is so long. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
This isn't really an optimization thing, but have you considered playing a Hexblood as your race instead of Variant Human? It's quite literally a race that's intended for creatures that were being turned into Hags, but didn't go all the way, for one reason or another. Mechanically, it's not necessarily a stronger race than Variant Human, but it comes with some neat tricks.
Okay, getting into optimization... Primal Savagery is a good cantrip, thematically, to take for your character's background. But ultimately it's not very helpful for a Ranger... mostly because you get Extra Attack at level 5, which is mechanically more valuable than a Cantrip that scales up in damage over time. I suppose it's useful as a melee option in case your table is strict about item interactions, and an enemy draws close enough to give you disadvantage on a bow attack... but at that point I'd probably prefer Shocking Grasp, since it's not that much weaker and it opens up more movement options. However, if I had to pick just one cantrip, I would go with Mind Sliver... it's an INT saving throw, which a lot of creatures are weak in, and since it's a Saving Throw you can target a creature within 5 feet and it's just as useful as it is against a target 60 feet away. It also gives the target a debuff on its next Saving Throw, which can really help you or your allies, even if the debuff is fairly small. I think you can also easily flavor an attack that assaults an enemy with a painful spike of concentrated psychic damage as something gained from your lingering Hag magic.
I don't think Archfey Warlock adds much to this build. You can get the Faerie Fire spell, which is helpful, but aside from also being Fey-focused it's a CHA-based spellcasting class, which makes it hard to pair with the WIS-focused Ranger.
For the Fey Touched Feat, the main question then is what 1st level spell you want to learn. There's a lot of good choices for spells you could learn from this feature, but here's my top 3:
Bless! A bonus d4 for 3 allies on attacks and saving throws is always greatly appreciated. Those d4's add up, especially if you can keep up concentration for the whole combat.
Bane, on the other hand, basically does the opposite... subtracting a d4 from 3 enemies' attacks and saving throws. This is slightly worse than Bless, however, because once you kill the creatures you have baned... well, that's bane's work finished. Meanwhile, if you boost your allies and they use that to help them kill 3 enemies... well, they're still blessed and can keep using that boost for the full combat, assuming you can keep up your concentration. However, Bane sounds like it might fit the flavor of your character concept a bit better.
Finally, Tasha's Hideous Laughter! It's already intended to be a witchy spell (that's kind of Tasha's whole deal), but it's a really great way to, at least temporarily, take a creature off the board. If the creature has a bad enough WIS score, they could potentially stay Prone and Incapacitated even through multiple rounds of being attacked by you and your allies.
Regarding the multiclass, my first recommendation is typically "don't", especially when you're crossing roles and focus stats like this. As a Ranger you've already got Hunter's Mark which is basically the same thing as Hex. Faerie Fire is nice, but imo not worth dipping into another class for. You can already learn Absorb Elements as a Ranger, so if you really want Faerie Fire maybe ask about reshuffling your learned spell from Magic Initiate to it. Though keep in mind you don't want too many different concentration spells in the mix on the same general theme of "buff attacks", as you'll only ever be able to have one up at a time.
I would second the suggestion for hexoblood. In addition of being exactly the flavor you are going for, it also gives you hex without needing to dip into warlock. The loss of magic initiate is not to bad, since you can gain those spells from your class (with the druidic warrior fighting style).
In all honesty, if you want to play as a hag-ish character, Ranger simply isn't a good choice of class. Archfey Warlock + Pact of the Tome x Sorcerer would work well as a hag, as would a Dreams Druid.
Note that for Fey Wanderer these features only work with weapons not with cantrips: Dreadful Strikes, Fighting Style, Extra Attack, Hunter's Mark, Zephyr Strike.
Ranger is fundamentally built around using weapons, so it really doesn't work to build onto Primal Savagery.
__Alternative build suggestion 1__
Hexblood (or any race of your choice) + Dreams Druid. You may want to dip 1 level into Monk to up your AC.
__Alternative build suggestion 2__
1-3 - ArchFey Warlock : take Pact of the Tome and grab Primal Savagery, Thorn Whip and Find Familiar. 4-6 - Aberrant Mind Sorcerer : take Twin Spell and Quicken Spell Metamagics
I’m not very great at making builds that will amplify my character’s strengths, so I’m asking for help on when to take which feats and when to get what levels.
My character is the daughter of a hag who was saved by a group of adventurers at the age of 12. One of the party members helped get rid of most of the curse that happens when young hags turn 13, so she is unnaturally beautiful but has some witch magic still.
Build starts at level 3
Im a variant human with magic initiate feat giving me primal savagery, thorn whip, and absorb elements.
My class is ranger (fey wanderer) but I was wondering if warlock archfey would be beneficial.
my stats are:
str 10, dex 14, con 12, int 8, wis 16, char 14
i want to primal savagery to be my main attack (hag claws) but still offer support with faerie fire, and hex.
I was thinking fey touched could be a good feat, but I want recommendations.
Sorry this is so long. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
This isn't really an optimization thing, but have you considered playing a Hexblood as your race instead of Variant Human? It's quite literally a race that's intended for creatures that were being turned into Hags, but didn't go all the way, for one reason or another. Mechanically, it's not necessarily a stronger race than Variant Human, but it comes with some neat tricks.
Okay, getting into optimization... Primal Savagery is a good cantrip, thematically, to take for your character's background. But ultimately it's not very helpful for a Ranger... mostly because you get Extra Attack at level 5, which is mechanically more valuable than a Cantrip that scales up in damage over time. I suppose it's useful as a melee option in case your table is strict about item interactions, and an enemy draws close enough to give you disadvantage on a bow attack... but at that point I'd probably prefer Shocking Grasp, since it's not that much weaker and it opens up more movement options. However, if I had to pick just one cantrip, I would go with Mind Sliver... it's an INT saving throw, which a lot of creatures are weak in, and since it's a Saving Throw you can target a creature within 5 feet and it's just as useful as it is against a target 60 feet away. It also gives the target a debuff on its next Saving Throw, which can really help you or your allies, even if the debuff is fairly small. I think you can also easily flavor an attack that assaults an enemy with a painful spike of concentrated psychic damage as something gained from your lingering Hag magic.
I don't think Archfey Warlock adds much to this build. You can get the Faerie Fire spell, which is helpful, but aside from also being Fey-focused it's a CHA-based spellcasting class, which makes it hard to pair with the WIS-focused Ranger.
For the Fey Touched Feat, the main question then is what 1st level spell you want to learn. There's a lot of good choices for spells you could learn from this feature, but here's my top 3:
Bless! A bonus d4 for 3 allies on attacks and saving throws is always greatly appreciated. Those d4's add up, especially if you can keep up concentration for the whole combat.
Bane, on the other hand, basically does the opposite... subtracting a d4 from 3 enemies' attacks and saving throws. This is slightly worse than Bless, however, because once you kill the creatures you have baned... well, that's bane's work finished. Meanwhile, if you boost your allies and they use that to help them kill 3 enemies... well, they're still blessed and can keep using that boost for the full combat, assuming you can keep up your concentration. However, Bane sounds like it might fit the flavor of your character concept a bit better.
Finally, Tasha's Hideous Laughter! It's already intended to be a witchy spell (that's kind of Tasha's whole deal), but it's a really great way to, at least temporarily, take a creature off the board. If the creature has a bad enough WIS score, they could potentially stay Prone and Incapacitated even through multiple rounds of being attacked by you and your allies.
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Regarding the multiclass, my first recommendation is typically "don't", especially when you're crossing roles and focus stats like this. As a Ranger you've already got Hunter's Mark which is basically the same thing as Hex. Faerie Fire is nice, but imo not worth dipping into another class for. You can already learn Absorb Elements as a Ranger, so if you really want Faerie Fire maybe ask about reshuffling your learned spell from Magic Initiate to it. Though keep in mind you don't want too many different concentration spells in the mix on the same general theme of "buff attacks", as you'll only ever be able to have one up at a time.
I would second the suggestion for hexoblood. In addition of being exactly the flavor you are going for, it also gives you hex without needing to dip into warlock. The loss of magic initiate is not to bad, since you can gain those spells from your class (with the druidic warrior fighting style).
In all honesty, if you want to play as a hag-ish character, Ranger simply isn't a good choice of class. Archfey Warlock + Pact of the Tome x Sorcerer would work well as a hag, as would a Dreams Druid.
Note that for Fey Wanderer these features only work with weapons not with cantrips: Dreadful Strikes, Fighting Style, Extra Attack, Hunter's Mark, Zephyr Strike.
Ranger is fundamentally built around using weapons, so it really doesn't work to build onto Primal Savagery.
__Alternative build suggestion 1__
Hexblood (or any race of your choice) + Dreams Druid. You may want to dip 1 level into Monk to up your AC.
__Alternative build suggestion 2__
1-3 - ArchFey Warlock : take Pact of the Tome and grab Primal Savagery, Thorn Whip and Find Familiar.
4-6 - Aberrant Mind Sorcerer : take Twin Spell and Quicken Spell Metamagics
Thanks for the ideas! I think I will try a sorlock for this.