I like you people, hope you are all healthy and well this holiday season.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I created this build when I tried to somehow exploit Arcane Ward ability from Abjuration Wizard with consistent ways of THP generation. So I asked myself: what’s the most efficient and effective Abjuration spell that generates THP? The answer was obvious: Armor of Agathys — which provides awesome offense, scales really really well and grants you a retributive damage mechanism that only Balors are capable to have.
There are two ways of leveraging Arcane Ward + AoA:
1. Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer X - adds AoA to your spell list, also offering really good racial features and removes the need to multiclass Warlock, but it’s DM dependent since this is a special race from Eberron. It’s my personal favorite.
2. Any race Hexblade 1 / Abjurer X - I have a little cringe whenever a good build requires Hexblade, but... c’est la vie. Preferred races could be Yuan-ti or Gnome, but honestly any race will work fine. Same concept as above, with the small downside of delaying some features by one level. There are some amazing benefits, however, like medium armor & shield prof, two level 1 slots recharging on short rests and the amazing nova capability that can be accomplished by the combination of Hexblade Curse and good blasting spells like Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and Melf’s Minute Meteor (it’s your Iron Wizard emulating the classic Nuclear Wizard).
Long story short you are a super tough and dangerous tank at melee distance. Few monsters will survive more than 3 rounds hitting you directly. And you still are a full-fledged Wizard capable of bending the reality to your knees, the main difference is that you are more durable than your Barbarian and your Fighter will probably be considered the squishy one in the party.
If your DM tries to circumvent your amazing combination of Arcane Ward + AoA by attacking at distance, you can cast underrated spells like Warding Wind to completely shut down ranged attackers. Just remembering that as a full Wizard, you have Shield and Absorb Elements.
Projected Ward is an amazing way to protect your allies as well. You can even offer more survivability to your Dragon’s Breathed Familiar spitting fire all over the battlefield.
A level 20 bard, with a twenty in charisma, can have between +18 to +29 in charisma abilities
20cha (+5)
Expertise (+12) at max prof.
Bardic inspiration D12, which you can add with college of eloquence (+1-+12).
One in two hundred and forty times,you will get a 49 in performance
IS THIS NOT THE GREATEST SONG IN THE WORLD.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I am here to inquire about your most broken builds, both in RP and combat.
this is NOT encouraged in a casual game, only for the hardcore groups out there who not only want to defeat the BBEG, but wipe the floor with is lice-ridden face, then disintegrate him and burn his dust with holy righteousness.
I will start: 14th level hexblade warlock turn one cast fly, and have your handy bard caste haste on you. turn 2: action 1 fly 120 feet up, hasted action, another 120 feet, bard casts contagion on BBEG. turn 3: cast polymorph into a giant mammoth and bellyflop onto the BBEG dealing the maximum 100d6 falling damage to you and 200d6 to the BBEG for an average of 600 damage.
I have a real good one for you, although it is somewhat niche. It's for campaigns where you start off in prison, without weapons, and escape is going to be extremely hard, as you're in the middle of nowhere (i.e., Out of the Abyss)
For your race you need Warforged. It could be the Eberron Warforged, the UA Warforged, or another Warforged that I think is out there somewhere. The feature you need here is the fact that you don't need food or water. This helps you survive for an indefinite amount of time. The other thing you need is a level in fighter. With this level, you should get the Unarmed Fighting fighting style (TCoE). You could take a level in monk, but the Martial Arts die is too low for bottom tier, which is when you won't have access to monk weapons, because your escape will go off easier without anything to steal on the way out.
At 3rd level, if you're using a Warforged without darkvision, you can take Rune Knight and the Stone Rune (TCoE) to negate this. It is a pretty powerful subclass overall, just don't get stuck in the tunnels when you grow Large (I played a Wild Magic Sorcerer in OotA, but he grew too big and got stuck in the tunnel, involuntarily sacrificing himself to stop drow from chasing the party. This Warforged is my new character).
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"I never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf."
I am here to inquire about your most broken builds, both in RP and combat.
this is NOT encouraged in a casual game, only for the hardcore groups out there who not only want to defeat the BBEG, but wipe the floor with is lice-ridden face, then disintegrate him and burn his dust with holy righteousness.
I will start: 14th level hexblade warlock turn one cast fly, and have your handy bard caste haste on you. turn 2: action 1 fly 120 feet up, hasted action, another 120 feet, bard casts contagion on BBEG. turn 3: cast polymorph into a giant mammoth and bellyflop onto the BBEG dealing the maximum 100d6 falling damage to you and 200d6 to the BBEG for an average of 600 damage.
I have a real good one for you, although it is somewhat niche. It's for campaigns where you start off in prison, without weapons, and escape is going to be extremely hard, as you're in the middle of nowhere (i.e., Out of the Abyss)
For your race you need Warforged. It could be the Eberron Warforged, the UA Warforged, or another Warforged that I think is out there somewhere. The feature you need here is the fact that you don't need food or water. This helps you survive for an indefinite amount of time. The other thing you need is a level in fighter. With this level, you should get the Unarmed Fighting fighting style (TCoE). You could take a level in monk, but the Martial Arts die is too low for bottom tier, which is when you won't have access to monk weapons, because your escape will go off easier without anything to steal on the way out.
At 3rd level, if you're using a Warforged without darkvision, you can take Rune Knight and the Stone Rune (TCoE) to negate this. It is a pretty powerful subclass overall, just don't get stuck in the tunnels when you grow Large (I played a Wild Magic Sorcerer in OotA, but he grew too big and got stuck in the tunnel, involuntarily sacrificing himself to stop drow from chasing the party. This Warforged is my new character).
Actually, unlike the growth caused by a Wild Magic Surge, a Rune Knight's Giant's Might ability explicitly states that, if you don't have the room to grow, you remain your same size and still gain all the associated benefits.
A level 20 bard, with a twenty in charisma, can have between +18 to +29 in charisma abilities
20cha (+5)
Expertise (+12) at max prof.
Bardic inspiration D12, which you can add with college of eloquence (+1-+12).
One in two hundred and forty times,you will get a 49 in performance
Threads like this are generally for solo builds - you'd need two bards for this trick, so the second one can give the first one bardic inspiration. Eloquence bards can't consume their own inspiration dice for ability checks, and they're good at rolling deception and persuasion, not performance, if you were thinking of their reliable talent and misremembered how it works.
I've been working on a similar concept - my DM let me make anything non-UA, non-Wildemount at level 9 for our campaign, and we could have any two uncommon items. I've been working on this build:
Vedalken (chosen skill: Arcana, chosen tool: thieve's tools) + INT 20 + Peace Cleric 1 (guidance, emboldening bond domain power) + Scribes Wizard 8 + Skill Expert (Arcana) + Stone of Luck + Mizzium Apparatus.
That's +8 (will be +12 eventually) from proficiency, so arcana checks are at worst 1d20 + 1d4 + 13, but a second d4 will always be available (emboldening bond in battle, guidance outside of it) for 1d20 + 2d4 + 13, and the build can get all 3d4 at once, it just takes two turns - this is a lot easier with an NPC on hand to cast guidance and/or Help with arcana, as otherwise the poor dude has to use enhance ability (intelligence), which generally means only using the apparatus for non-concentration spells. At wizard level 14, the build gets permanent advantage on the skillcheck, which is very freeing.
But yeah. With 2d20 keep highest + 2d4 + 5 + 2*proficiency alone, the worst this build gets at casting max-level spells it doesn't actually know or have prepared is at very high level - at level 17+, it has only a 95.37% chance to cast an L9 spell it doesn't know (DC 28). With a well-built bard on hand to provide guidance and an inspiration die, success is virtually guaranteed - well over 99% - with 2d20 keep highest + 3d4 + 5 + 2*proficiency, and there are still some magic items that can improve this further to lock in 100%.
Basic Concept: Stack a high level Shadow Blade and Divine Smites on as many auto crit attacks as possible. Lore Bard provides shadow blade through a magical secret and boosts initiative with jack-of-all-trades. Half-Orc Savage Critical and Dread Ambusher add on even more damage die. Gloomstalker and Echo Knight lead to a lot of attacks while leaving room for a decent amount of spell slots.
The Routine: Infiltrate with your Echo. It's an at-will, limitless resource so always having one around before combat is not hard. Bonus Action 5th level Shadowblade, then attack, action surge and attack again. Use up both Unleash Incarnate charges for a total of 8 attacks.
Obviously this is assuming all of the attack hits, so realistically damage will be more in the 400-600 range. Don't feel like doing the calcs but it should be much closer to 600 than 400. This was also designed to play with very minimal awkwardness from levels 1-20 which I think is something that is very often missing from silly min-max builds (the only real dud level is when the build eventually takes 1st level Paladin).
Turn 1: Cast Spike Growth as an action and Wildshape into a Moorbounder as a bonus action.
Turn 2: Grapple enemy with attack action, then move with dash. You can drag the target up to 80 feet along the edge of the spike growth brambles for up to 32d4 of no save, no attack roll damage.
Turn 1: Cast Spike Growth as an action and Wildshape into a Moorbounder as a bonus action.
Turn 2: Grapple enemy with attack action, then move with dash. You can drag the target up to 80 feet along the edge of the spike growth brambles for up to 32d4 of no save, no attack roll damage.
spike growth is such a wonderful spell. Another great fun combo is use the college of creation bard and level 10 have your large flying created item grapple the enemy and drag them through the brush. good times!
Oh that's a great idea. I love Creation Bards. I want to play a high level one that animates a big carpet to fly around on and shoots purple wurm poison covered arrows.
Very nice! Ooh, another idea bards get cloud of daggers. Action cast CoD then bonus action use your animated construct to grapple and move the enemy into the cloud, AND you can inspire your own construct since it is technically a creature different than yourself and use the adv inspiration that creation gives to help with the grapple.
This requires only 2 levels in rogue and 3 levels in barbarian.
1) Be a ranged rogue. We want 2 levels for Cunning Action.
2) We'll be getting Ancestral Guardians subclass on Barbarian.
1st Turn: Rage, summoning your Ancestral Protectors and attack an opponent at range. Range is dependent on your weapon. The Ancestral Protectors will swarm the opponent and impose disadvantage on its attacks on anyone but you. If you can, get behind cover. Hopefully you now have total cover, but 3/4 or 1/2 cover can make you make you a less desirable target.
2nd Turn: Attack, may as well. Then bonus action hide.
Now the opponent has disadvantage on attacking anyone but you, but it can't find you. Which means it has to resort to attacking the rest of your party with disadvantage.
I would recommend Assassin when you go 3 rogue and a Dex build, obviously. Then you get the Assassinate damage when you get higher initiative. Go high elf or wood elf so you get the weapon training to use longbow, then you can be further away as you shoot them. There's no range stated on Ancestral Protectors so RAW this is allowed.
Edit: For a final build I'd say Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 6/Assassin Rogue 8/ Battle Master Fighter 6. Barbarian for Guardian Shield. Stick near your spellcasters so you can use your reaction to reduce their damage if needs be.
Rogue so you can get Evasion and the ASI/ Feat afterwards. Evasion is nice when those enemy Spellcasters try and Fireball you while you are standing within 30ft of your spellcasters (see Guardian Shield).
Fighter is just amazing Action Surge, Extra Attack and Second Wind for a bit of healing in a pinch. Not that anyone is going to get the chance to hit you, right? Battle Master has some nice little tricks that you can still do as an archer.
You'll get a total of 5 ASI/ Feats if you go all the way to level 20. Good feats are sharpshooter and elven accuracy. Use a rapier for melee, it shouldn't come up much.
Ok so this is my dps/tank hybrid armorer paladin who can also fly and will never fail a single save. Although admittedly this build is absolute garbage until you get to level 10 (you need headband to multiclass). But artificer is more of a supportive class (conventionally) anyway so this shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Class: Armorer 14, Vengeance/conquest paladin 6
Race: Satyr
Stat spread at lvl 1 (point buy): 13 STR/ 14 DEX/ 8 CON/ 8 INT/ 13 WIS/ 17 CHA
Feats: Sorcerer magic initiate (utility cantrips and shield), Fey touched (CHA, gift of alacrity), +2 CHA, Resilient (WIS)
Infusions at artificer 14: Enhanced defense (on armorer slot), Winged boots (on armorer slot), Amulet of health, headband of intellect, cloak of protection, ring of protection, Any non-attunement infusion you like (I personally prefer mind sharpener or enhanced weapon, these are interchangable with enhanced defense for the armorer slot)
Build stat spread: 14 STR/ 14 DEX/ 19 CON/ 19 INT/ 14 WIS/ 20 CHA
So as an artificer paladin you're already ridiculously strong but Ill talk about the synergies AFTER I gush about the ridiculous AC and saving throws this guy has along with their health.
Max hp: 14*d8+6*d10+4*20, max: 252, average: 176. Not ridiculously big but respectable
General saving throw bonus: 5 aura + 1 ring + 1 cloak + 4 flash of genius (4 uses, 1 use is probably going to your initiative and YES you can ACTUALLY DO THAT) = 7 + 4 flash
Specific saving throw bonus: +2 STR/ +2 DEX/ +4 INT + 6 PROF/ +2 WIS + 6 PROF/ +5 CHA
Total saving throws: [+9 +4] / [+9 +4] / [+17 +4] / [+15 +4] / [12 + 4], advantage agains ALL SPELLS (I'd say that is worth the 1 AC I couldve gotten from a warforged)
I believe that a good tank has to have both a good ac AND good saving throws. But, there must be a reason why this tank isnt simply getting ignored, they need to be a threat too and oh boy are they a threat. This bad boy can have DEX + 7 +1d8 to their initiative, hit 3 smites a turn (haste), cause disadvantage on everyone else but them (guardian gauntlets), can give themselves temporary hitpoints as a bonus action, even if its just 14, they can fly, they have all the spell slots a lvl 20 half caster should have. storing a spell means they can spam aid at the start of the day for free to get a boost to not just themselves but everyone else too. Is ridiculously hard to hit (the guy has all this ac and saving throw stuff while also having mirror image), If they feel like it they can just cast hypnotic pattern and the fight could just be over right then and there, if they dont want or need haste, they can cast greater invisibility to get advantage on literally all of their attacks, and I havent even begun to mention what the paladin side can do! The conquest paladin is a better choice in my opinion as you gain misty step while having SPIRITUAL ******* WEAPON THAT IS 2D8 + 5 DAMAGE AS A BONUS ACTION WITHOUT CONSUMING A SPELL SLOT WHAT???
And through all of this you are still a level 14 artificier, you still have web, you still have faerie fire, you are also battlefield control, this build is so good at so many seperate things its ridiculous
Ok so this is my dps/tank hybrid armorer paladin who can also fly and will never fail a single save. Although admittedly this build is absolute garbage until you get to level 10 (you need headband to multiclass). But artificer is more of a supportive class (conventionally) anyway so this shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Class: Armorer 14, Vengeance/conquest paladin 6
Race: Satyr
Stat spread at lvl 1 (point buy): 13 STR/ 14 DEX/ 8 CON/ 8 INT/ 13 WIS/ 17 CHA
Feats: Sorcerer magic initiate (utility cantrips and shield), Fey touched (CHA, gift of alacrity), +2 CHA, Resilient (WIS)
Infusions at artificer 14: Enhanced defense (on armorer slot), Winged boots (on armorer slot), Amulet of health, headband of intellect, cloak of protection, ring of protection, Any non-attunement infusion you like (I personally prefer mind sharpener or enhanced weapon, these are interchangable with enhanced defense for the armorer slot)
Build stat spread: 14 STR/ 14 DEX/ 19 CON/ 19 INT/ 14 WIS/ 20 CHA
So as an artificer paladin you're already ridiculously strong but Ill talk about the synergies AFTER I gush about the ridiculous AC and saving throws this guy has along with their health.
Max hp: 14*d8+6*d10+4*20, max: 252, average: 176. Not ridiculously big but respectable
General saving throw bonus: 5 aura + 1 ring + 1 cloak + 4 flash of genius (4 uses, 1 use is probably going to your initiative and YES you can ACTUALLY DO THAT) = 7 + 4 flash
Specific saving throw bonus: +2 STR/ +2 DEX/ +4 INT + 6 PROF/ +2 WIS + 6 PROF/ +5 CHA
Total saving throws: [+9 +4] / [+9 +4] / [+17 +4] / [+15 +4] / [12 + 4], advantage agains ALL SPELLS (I'd say that is worth the 1 AC I couldve gotten from a warforged)
I believe that a good tank has to have both a good ac AND good saving throws. But, there must be a reason why this tank isnt simply getting ignored, they need to be a threat too and oh boy are they a threat. This bad boy can have DEX + 7 +1d8 to their initiative, hit 3 smites a turn (haste), cause disadvantage on everyone else but them (guardian gauntlets), can give themselves temporary hitpoints as a bonus action, even if its just 14, they can fly, they have all the spell slots a lvl 20 half caster should have. storing a spell means they can spam aid at the start of the day for free to get a boost to not just themselves but everyone else too. Is ridiculously hard to hit (the guy has all this ac and saving throw stuff while also having mirror image), If they feel like it they can just cast hypnotic pattern and the fight could just be over right then and there, if they dont want or need haste, they can cast greater invisibility to get advantage on literally all of their attacks, and I havent even begun to mention what the paladin side can do! The conquest paladin is a better choice in my opinion as you gain misty step while having SPIRITUAL WEAPON THAT IS 2D8 + 5 DAMAGE AS A BONUS ACTION WITHOUT CONSUMING A SPELL SLOT WHAT???
And through all of this you are still a level 14 artificier, you still have web, you still have faerie fire, you are also battlefield control, this build is so good at so many seperate things its ridiculous
You can’t use Headband of Intellect to multiclass. It has to be your own intelligence, without the help out outside influence (RAI, and maybe RAW somewhere). Just decrease dex and con a bit and you’ll get to multiclass fine. If your DM decides to allow rolling for stats and you get good ones, this build looks really good. https://www.sageadvice.eu/multiclass-temporary-stat-prerequisite/
So I think I got the highest ac you can achieve without DM provided magical items just by yourself and nothing but race and class features while not being a tortle.
The main thing about this build is the ac So I'll get right to it
Passive ac = 18 (plate) + 2 (shield) + 1 (warforged) + 1 (defense style) + 1(forge magical armor) + 2 (enhanced defense) + 1 (cloak of protection) + 1 (ring of protection) +1 (soul of forge)
= 28 passive ac
Active Ac = 28 (Passive ac) + 1(alchemist resilience potion) + 2 (haste) + 5 (shield) = 36 AC
congrats! A tarrasque has to roll 17 or above to hit you! That increases to 19 or above if you are a tortle (17 natural armor instead of 18 plate and losing +1 from warforged, but gaining +4 if you retreat into your shell). If you have half cover then as a warforged a tarrasque needs 19 or higher to hit you or literally HAS TO CRIT in order to hit if you are a tortle.
Fun fact! This is all assuming your dm doesnt give you any cool armor, unrelated info, adamantite armor is immune to crits.
Hate to say it, but you can’t use a shield with your glaive
Not sure who you're talking to. But, for Shield + Glaive look no further than the Animated Shield.
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I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
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I like you people, hope you are all healthy and well this holiday season.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
*Iron Wizard Masochist*
I created this build when I tried to somehow exploit Arcane Ward ability from Abjuration Wizard with consistent ways of THP generation. So I asked myself: what’s the most efficient and effective Abjuration spell that generates THP? The answer was obvious: Armor of Agathys — which provides awesome offense, scales really really well and grants you a retributive damage mechanism that only Balors are capable to have.
There are two ways of leveraging Arcane Ward + AoA:
1. Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjurer X - adds AoA to your spell list, also offering really good racial features and removes the need to multiclass Warlock, but it’s DM dependent since this is a special race from Eberron. It’s my personal favorite.
2. Any race Hexblade 1 / Abjurer X - I have a little cringe whenever a good build requires Hexblade, but... c’est la vie. Preferred races could be Yuan-ti or Gnome, but honestly any race will work fine. Same concept as above, with the small downside of delaying some features by one level. There are some amazing benefits, however, like medium armor & shield prof, two level 1 slots recharging on short rests and the amazing nova capability that can be accomplished by the combination of Hexblade Curse and good blasting spells like Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and Melf’s Minute Meteor (it’s your Iron Wizard emulating the classic Nuclear Wizard).
Long story short you are a super tough and dangerous tank at melee distance. Few monsters will survive more than 3 rounds hitting you directly. And you still are a full-fledged Wizard capable of bending the reality to your knees, the main difference is that you are more durable than your Barbarian and your Fighter will probably be considered the squishy one in the party.
If your DM tries to circumvent your amazing combination of Arcane Ward + AoA by attacking at distance, you can cast underrated spells like Warding Wind to completely shut down ranged attackers. Just remembering that as a full Wizard, you have Shield and Absorb Elements.
Projected Ward is an amazing way to protect your allies as well. You can even offer more survivability to your Dragon’s Breathed Familiar spitting fire all over the battlefield.
This my min-max build.
Thank you. You too.
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A level 20 bard, with a twenty in charisma, can have between +18 to +29 in charisma abilities
20cha (+5)
Expertise (+12) at max prof.
Bardic inspiration D12, which you can add with college of eloquence (+1-+12).
One in two hundred and forty times,you will get a 49 in performance
IS THIS NOT THE GREATEST SONG IN THE WORLD.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I have a real good one for you, although it is somewhat niche. It's for campaigns where you start off in prison, without weapons, and escape is going to be extremely hard, as you're in the middle of nowhere (i.e., Out of the Abyss)
For your race you need Warforged. It could be the Eberron Warforged, the UA Warforged, or another Warforged that I think is out there somewhere. The feature you need here is the fact that you don't need food or water. This helps you survive for an indefinite amount of time. The other thing you need is a level in fighter. With this level, you should get the Unarmed Fighting fighting style (TCoE). You could take a level in monk, but the Martial Arts die is too low for bottom tier, which is when you won't have access to monk weapons, because your escape will go off easier without anything to steal on the way out.
At 3rd level, if you're using a Warforged without darkvision, you can take Rune Knight and the Stone Rune (TCoE) to negate this. It is a pretty powerful subclass overall, just don't get stuck in the tunnels when you grow Large (I played a Wild Magic Sorcerer in OotA, but he grew too big and got stuck in the tunnel, involuntarily sacrificing himself to stop drow from chasing the party. This Warforged is my new character).
"I never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf."
"What about side by side with a side?"
"Aye, I eye eye eye."
Actually, unlike the growth caused by a Wild Magic Surge, a Rune Knight's Giant's Might ability explicitly states that, if you don't have the room to grow, you remain your same size and still gain all the associated benefits.
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Threads like this are generally for solo builds - you'd need two bards for this trick, so the second one can give the first one bardic inspiration. Eloquence bards can't consume their own inspiration dice for ability checks, and they're good at rolling deception and persuasion, not performance, if you were thinking of their reliable talent and misremembered how it works.
I've been working on a similar concept - my DM let me make anything non-UA, non-Wildemount at level 9 for our campaign, and we could have any two uncommon items. I've been working on this build:
Vedalken (chosen skill: Arcana, chosen tool: thieve's tools) + INT 20 + Peace Cleric 1 (guidance, emboldening bond domain power) + Scribes Wizard 8 + Skill Expert (Arcana) + Stone of Luck + Mizzium Apparatus.
That's +8 (will be +12 eventually) from proficiency, so arcana checks are at worst 1d20 + 1d4 + 13, but a second d4 will always be available (emboldening bond in battle, guidance outside of it) for 1d20 + 2d4 + 13, and the build can get all 3d4 at once, it just takes two turns - this is a lot easier with an NPC on hand to cast guidance and/or Help with arcana, as otherwise the poor dude has to use enhance ability (intelligence), which generally means only using the apparatus for non-concentration spells. At wizard level 14, the build gets permanent advantage on the skillcheck, which is very freeing.
But yeah. With 2d20 keep highest + 2d4 + 5 + 2*proficiency alone, the worst this build gets at casting max-level spells it doesn't actually know or have prepared is at very high level - at level 17+, it has only a 95.37% chance to cast an L9 spell it doesn't know (DC 28). With a well-built bard on hand to provide guidance and an inspiration die, success is virtually guaranteed - well over 99% - with 2d20 keep highest + 3d4 + 5 + 2*proficiency, and there are still some magic items that can improve this further to lock in 100%.
This is my highest damage nova build that I've posted before:
Basic Concept: Stack a high level Shadow Blade and Divine Smites on as many auto crit attacks as possible. Lore Bard provides shadow blade through a magical secret and boosts initiative with jack-of-all-trades. Half-Orc Savage Critical and Dread Ambusher add on even more damage die. Gloomstalker and Echo Knight lead to a lot of attacks while leaving room for a decent amount of spell slots.
The Routine: Infiltrate with your Echo. It's an at-will, limitless resource so always having one around before combat is not hard. Bonus Action 5th level Shadowblade, then attack, action surge and attack again. Use up both Unleash Incarnate charges for a total of 8 attacks.
Attack 1: 106.5 damage
Attack 2: 92.5 damage
Attack 3: 101.5 damage
Attack 4: 83.5 damage
Attack 5: 83.5 damage
Attack 6: 83.5 damage
Attack 7: 83.5 damage
Attack 8: 74.5 damage
Total Damage: 709
Obviously this is assuming all of the attack hits, so realistically damage will be more in the 400-600 range. Don't feel like doing the calcs but it should be much closer to 600 than 400. This was also designed to play with very minimal awkwardness from levels 1-20 which I think is something that is very often missing from silly min-max builds (the only real dud level is when the build eventually takes 1st level Paladin).
Ignore this.
If I must Quindraco, if I must.
I have a huge soft spot for builds that try to minmax around Spike Growth
Turn 1: Cast Spike Growth as an action and Wildshape into a Moorbounder as a bonus action.
Turn 2: Grapple enemy with attack action, then move with dash. You can drag the target up to 80 feet along the edge of the spike growth brambles for up to 32d4 of no save, no attack roll damage.
spike growth is such a wonderful spell. Another great fun combo is use the college of creation bard and level 10 have your large flying created item grapple the enemy and drag them through the brush. good times!
Oh that's a great idea. I love Creation Bards. I want to play a high level one that animates a big carpet to fly around on and shoots purple wurm poison covered arrows.
Very nice! Ooh, another idea bards get cloud of daggers. Action cast CoD then bonus action use your animated construct to grapple and move the enemy into the cloud, AND you can inspire your own construct since it is technically a creature different than yourself and use the adv inspiration that creation gives to help with the grapple.
This requires only 2 levels in rogue and 3 levels in barbarian.
1) Be a ranged rogue. We want 2 levels for Cunning Action.
2) We'll be getting Ancestral Guardians subclass on Barbarian.
1st Turn: Rage, summoning your Ancestral Protectors and attack an opponent at range. Range is dependent on your weapon. The Ancestral Protectors will swarm the opponent and impose disadvantage on its attacks on anyone but you. If you can, get behind cover. Hopefully you now have total cover, but 3/4 or 1/2 cover can make you make you a less desirable target.
2nd Turn: Attack, may as well. Then bonus action hide.
Now the opponent has disadvantage on attacking anyone but you, but it can't find you. Which means it has to resort to attacking the rest of your party with disadvantage.
I would recommend Assassin when you go 3 rogue and a Dex build, obviously. Then you get the Assassinate damage when you get higher initiative. Go high elf or wood elf so you get the weapon training to use longbow, then you can be further away as you shoot them. There's no range stated on Ancestral Protectors so RAW this is allowed.
Edit: For a final build I'd say Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 6/Assassin Rogue 8/ Battle Master Fighter 6. Barbarian for Guardian Shield. Stick near your spellcasters so you can use your reaction to reduce their damage if needs be.
Rogue so you can get Evasion and the ASI/ Feat afterwards. Evasion is nice when those enemy Spellcasters try and Fireball you while you are standing within 30ft of your spellcasters (see Guardian Shield).
Fighter is just amazing Action Surge, Extra Attack and Second Wind for a bit of healing in a pinch. Not that anyone is going to get the chance to hit you, right? Battle Master has some nice little tricks that you can still do as an archer.
You'll get a total of 5 ASI/ Feats if you go all the way to level 20. Good feats are sharpshooter and elven accuracy. Use a rapier for melee, it shouldn't come up much.
Ok so this is my dps/tank hybrid armorer paladin who can also fly and will never fail a single save. Although admittedly this build is absolute garbage until you get to level 10 (you need headband to multiclass). But artificer is more of a supportive class (conventionally) anyway so this shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Class: Armorer 14, Vengeance/conquest paladin 6
Race: Satyr
Stat spread at lvl 1 (point buy): 13 STR/ 14 DEX/ 8 CON/ 8 INT/ 13 WIS/ 17 CHA
Feats: Sorcerer magic initiate (utility cantrips and shield), Fey touched (CHA, gift of alacrity), +2 CHA, Resilient (WIS)
Infusions at artificer 14: Enhanced defense (on armorer slot), Winged boots (on armorer slot), Amulet of health, headband of intellect, cloak of protection, ring of protection, Any non-attunement infusion you like (I personally prefer mind sharpener or enhanced weapon, these are interchangable with enhanced defense for the armorer slot)
Build stat spread: 14 STR/ 14 DEX/ 19 CON/ 19 INT/ 14 WIS/ 20 CHA
So as an artificer paladin you're already ridiculously strong but Ill talk about the synergies AFTER I gush about the ridiculous AC and saving throws this guy has along with their health.
Max hp: 14*d8+6*d10+4*20, max: 252, average: 176. Not ridiculously big but respectable
AC: 18 plate + 1 defense + 2 enchanced defence + 1 ring + 1 cloak + 2 shield = 25 passive ac
"Active" AC: 25 + 5 shield + 2 haste = 32 AC
General saving throw bonus: 5 aura + 1 ring + 1 cloak + 4 flash of genius (4 uses, 1 use is probably going to your initiative and YES you can ACTUALLY DO THAT) = 7 + 4 flash
Specific saving throw bonus: +2 STR/ +2 DEX/ +4 INT + 6 PROF/ +2 WIS + 6 PROF/ +5 CHA
Total saving throws: [+9 +4] / [+9 +4] / [+17 +4] / [+15 +4] / [12 + 4], advantage agains ALL SPELLS (I'd say that is worth the 1 AC I couldve gotten from a warforged)
I believe that a good tank has to have both a good ac AND good saving throws. But, there must be a reason why this tank isnt simply getting ignored, they need to be a threat too and oh boy are they a threat. This bad boy can have DEX + 7 +1d8 to their initiative, hit 3 smites a turn (haste), cause disadvantage on everyone else but them (guardian gauntlets), can give themselves temporary hitpoints as a bonus action, even if its just 14, they can fly, they have all the spell slots a lvl 20 half caster should have. storing a spell means they can spam aid at the start of the day for free to get a boost to not just themselves but everyone else too. Is ridiculously hard to hit (the guy has all this ac and saving throw stuff while also having mirror image), If they feel like it they can just cast hypnotic pattern and the fight could just be over right then and there, if they dont want or need haste, they can cast greater invisibility to get advantage on literally all of their attacks, and I havent even begun to mention what the paladin side can do! The conquest paladin is a better choice in my opinion as you gain misty step while having SPIRITUAL ******* WEAPON THAT IS 2D8 + 5 DAMAGE AS A BONUS ACTION WITHOUT CONSUMING A SPELL SLOT WHAT???
And through all of this you are still a level 14 artificier, you still have web, you still have faerie fire, you are also battlefield control, this build is so good at so many seperate things its ridiculous
You can’t use Headband of Intellect to multiclass. It has to be your own intelligence, without the help out outside influence (RAI, and maybe RAW somewhere). Just decrease dex and con a bit and you’ll get to multiclass fine. If your DM decides to allow rolling for stats and you get good ones, this build looks really good. https://www.sageadvice.eu/multiclass-temporary-stat-prerequisite/
So I think I got the highest ac you can achieve without DM provided magical items just by yourself and nothing but race and class features while not being a tortle.
Alchemist artificer 14 eldritch knight 3 forge cleric 3
warforged
get shield from eldritch knight
The main thing about this build is the ac So I'll get right to it
Passive ac = 18 (plate) + 2 (shield) + 1 (warforged) + 1 (defense style) + 1(forge magical armor) + 2 (enhanced defense) + 1 (cloak of protection) + 1 (ring of protection) +1 (soul of forge)
= 28 passive ac
Active Ac = 28 (Passive ac) + 1(alchemist resilience potion) + 2 (haste) + 5 (shield) = 36 AC
congrats! A tarrasque has to roll 17 or above to hit you! That increases to 19 or above if you are a tortle (17 natural armor instead of 18 plate and losing +1 from warforged, but gaining +4 if you retreat into your shell). If you have half cover then as a warforged a tarrasque needs 19 or higher to hit you or literally HAS TO CRIT in order to hit if you are a tortle.
Fun fact! This is all assuming your dm doesnt give you any cool armor, unrelated info, adamantite armor is immune to crits.
Hate to say it, but you can’t use a shield with your glaive
Not sure who you're talking to. But, for Shield + Glaive look no further than the Animated Shield.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.