After the success of these build competitions on another forum, there was a request to bring them to Beyond as well, I hope plenty of you choose to participate and everyone has fun with them, whether making builds or just reading them!
The concept: The Gish
A Gish is a character that focuses on using melee weapons as their primary method of combat, but with the use of magic to enhance their abilities, give more utility outside of combat and other options in combat.
Your focus must be on melee combat using a weapon/unarmed strikes and your character must be able to cast spells to be eligible.
Some rules for guidance:
-No UA, only officially published materials
-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)
-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)
-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play
-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)
-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature
-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).
-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read
Suggested format:
Level 20 level split:
Race:
Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x
Background:
Starting level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 5th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 11th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 17th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Voting:
To sort the wheat from the chaff we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each throwdown thread will run for 7 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be five days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Gish build deadline/Voting opens: 11/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 16/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
Taking credit for getting our friend here to post the Showdown here! *sits back to enjoy the show*
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Level 20 build: Eladrin (Mordenkains) College of Swords Bard 17/ Swashbuckler 3
Stats: Str 8, Dex 14+2, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 15+1 (Standard array)
Background: Acolyte
Starting Level: Bard
You need to pick up a rapier for this build. I like the idea of taking a pan flute, or flute, then taking diplomats pack and obviously leather armour and dagger. For cantrips, I chose thunderclap and minor illusion. Spells like bane and longstrider are so useful for this build, as we want to keep mobile, and to debuff when possible.
Level 5:Bard 3/Rogue 2 You need to have picked up College of Swords, and use your bardic inspiration to power the flourishes. Make sure to take dueling fighting style. Shatter and cloud of daggers are our most important spells, along with longstrider. Sneak attack is fun.... By now you should have some studded leather armour, to boost ac
Level 11: Bard 8/Rogue 3 You need to put both of your ASI's into Dex, giving us max. We take swashbuckler, for a new way of sneak attacking, and now have 2D6 sneak attack. We have extra attack, and so can deal some better damage with our rapier. Just remember, you aren't a fighter, and so should focus on running in, attacking then hiding/dashing, thanks to cunning action. Catnap, shatter, cloud of daggers and bane are our go to spells, as is longstrider. Catnap gets us our bardic inspiration for flourishes and misty step back.
Level 17: Bard 14/Rogue 3 the next ASI should go into Charisma, as that is important. With magical secrets, we take zephyr strike for mobility and damage, banishment for the juicy cha save, jump for mobility and finally shield for some nice ac.
Level 20: Bard 17/Rogue 3 Level 20.... It's here. We pick up steel wind strike and thunderstep for mobility and damage. We have made ourselves mobile, hard to hit and made sure we can hit everyone else. Make sure your to take resilient con, just to boost health. Or we can max our charisma, whichever we like.
So, there is my gish, based off of Ling from Mobile legends. And yes, he is a boy.
Race: Yuan-Ti (partly for CHA bonus, but advantage to save against spells is the main reason)
Stats: Str 13 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 9 Wis 14 Cha 20 (point buy)
Background: Athlete
Starting level: Lvl 1 Hexblade Warlock
You want to start as Hexblade because the entire build assumes CHA as your attack modifier. Take a Longsword or Rapier... the important part is they're one-handed and deal a d8 of damage. Grab Lightning Lure to deal with enemies out of range and Hex to deal extra damage. Hex stacks with Hexblade's Curse to really pile on the extra damage even at level 1. Get your hands on Half-plate armor as soon as you can afford it... you don't need stealth, you've got asses to kick!
At 5th level: Lv3 Hexblade Warlock, Lv2 Paladin
So, you're going to take Pact of the Blade, right? Wrong! You want Pact of the Chain... Summon an Imp. The imp stays invisible, but uses the Help action on its turn to give you advantage. The Help action doesn't break its invisibility, so aside from the general utility of a familiar you've also doubled your chance to crit. Don't forget that anything targeted with your Hexblade's Curse crits on a 19, so take advantage of those 2 levels of Paladin to smash some critical Divine Smites on your enemies. Grab the Dueling fighting style for +2 on damage to make up for limiting to one-handed weapons. For your Eldritch Invocations you want Maddening Hex so your Bonus action can dish out extra damage (EDIT: I didn't realize that had a level 5 Warlock requirement) Take Lance of Lethargy and feel free to swap out Lightning Lure for Eldritch Blast. Lethargy is a bit more versatile than either Lightning Lure or Grasp of Hadar... slowing the enemy can make it easier to catch up, but also prevents a melee opponent from getting to you first so you increase your odds of getting in the first hit. Also take Gift of the Everliving Ones so you can maximize healing when you start to learn Paladin spells.
Finally, you get to the good stuff in Paladin. Vengeance Paladins get two solid Channel Divinities for dishing out damage. If you're not able to catch up to an enemy hit them with Abjure Enemy. On a success you freeze them in place with fear until you catch up, and even if they succeed their speed is still halved until they take damage. Eventually the enemies are gonna start to notice your Imp and start rolling high enough to get past its invisibility, but in those cases your other CD option is Vow of Enmity to keep giving yourself advantage. On top of that, Relentless Avenger lets you move while avoiding opportunity attacks if anyone triggers an opportunity attack from you, making it harder for anyone to get away. At some point you're also going to want to take Warcaster to keep up your concentration spells (mostly Hex or Hold Person), and so you can start carrying a shield. Your Paladin Spells should mostly be focused on outside-of-combat utility, but grab some heals for yourself, but we all know those Spell Slots are destined for Smiting.
At this point, your biggest problem is that you've got enough buffs that combat will end before you get to use them all. Hex will be your go-to for casual combat, but when you get to the big boys you're gonna want to smack down that Hexblade's Curse first. Rely on your invisible imp to keep advantage up, and save your vow of enmity for when it inevitably gets football kicked across the room. If the opportunity arises, it might be worth it to Haste yourself as well just to get those extra attacks in, but it's a hard gamble since you're definitely missing one round to cast it, and potentially losing another round if you break concentration, but the option is there. Improved Divine smite adds a d8 of radiant damage to every single attack.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Level 3 Hexblade Warlock, Level 17 Vengeance Paladin
The last really fun Vengeance power you finally hit is Soul of Vengeance, which lets you make a weapon attack in reaction to taking damage, but only if the creature hitting you is under your Vow of Enmity. This also takes you high enough level to grab a 5th level spell, so just to keep the theme going go ahead and grab Holy Weapon to deal some extra Radiant Damage... it's got a duration of 1 hour, so you can cast it ahead of time.
Let's take Gissssh on a theoretical fight. Without any magic items, he's got on Half-Plate and a Shield, putting his AC at 19. He's carrying a Rapier, because it's flashier than a longsword, so that's 1d8+7 Piercingand 1d8 from Improved Divine Smite on every attack. Before the fight he casts Holy Weapon... his rapier now counts as magical and deals 2d8 Radiant damage each round. He rolls up on a big baddy... if he's lucky the Imp goes first and gives him advantage on his first attack. Battle really kicks off with Hexblade's Curse, so now our boy is dealing 1d8+12 Piercing+3d8 Radiant for two attacks each round. Let's say the target is tired of the Imp's bullcrap and drops an area attack to clear it out, but Gissssh's Warcaster gives him advantage to keep up concentration on Holy Weapon. With the imp dead, he lays down the Vow of Enmity to keep up that advantage... paired with Hexblade's Curse that's a huge opportunity to land criticals. Once Gissssh finally lands that Crit he's still got 3 4th level spell slots to turn into a divine smite, so when that crit lands it's 2d8+12 Piercing+ 16d8 Radiant damage, plus spend some lower level spell slots to toss in some Smite spells.
I'm not super experienced with min-maxing so someone with more knowledge than me can probably vastly improve this build, but it was a fun thought experiment.
Caveat: This all depends on how you interpret what a "wizard spell" or a "cleric spell" is. It is my position that nothing in the PHB invites you to give this any other meaning than "a spell which appears on the [wizard] spell list," since "[wizard] spells" are given no other particular definition other than inviting you to see your classes' spell list. As a consequence, if you have a class feature that buffs "wizard spells" and a class feature that buffs "cleric spells," any spell that appears on both of these lists (or, your special modified version of these lists, if a class or background feature has expanded the list) is both a "wizard spell" and "cleric spell" simultaneously, regardless of which class you have learned it as, prepared it as, or are currently casting it as. When for example a subclass gives you access to new spells that aren't normally on your spell list and tells you "these cantrips count as cleric cantrips"... I take that at face value, they are now cleric cantrips, in addition to whatever they normally are! This position is somewhat controversial, with others holding that a "wizard spell" is a spell that you have learned by virtue of your wizard levels, and which you are casting using intelligence. They point to this language in Chapter 6: "Each spell you know and prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell." I don't dispute that that rule exists, but believe that that restriction (if you have wizard spells and cleric spells, you can't just arbitrarily decide to cast all of them using Intelligence just because it's higher than your wisdom) does not actually in any way contradict "wizard spell" being defined as "spell which appears on the wizard spell list,". Depending on your DM, your mileage may vary!
Now that that giant caveat is out of the way... the build! Githyanki may not be the optimal race to build from, but for Gish' sake, I'll stick with it :)
Background is 'Boros Legionnaire', to pick up some Evocation spells at various levels on our spell list which will qualify as class spells for all of our classes. (see above for caveat)
We've started as a Fighter 1 because of the need to wear Heavy Armor. With a different race that doesn't have a +2 Str committing us to this route, we could of course be building for Dexterity instead of Strength, making this decision less essential... but we're a soldier first and a scholar second, so it doesn't hurt to establish that right out the gate! For fighting style we could be tempted to use Great Weapon Fighting, depending on how our DM interprets "an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands"... if that applies to the subsequent damage rolls from Booming Blade we'd have to seriously consider it, but assuming that isn't the case, we shall pick Defense instead.
HP 9, AC: 17 (Chain Mail+Defense), +5 to hit with Greatsword 2d6+3
Fighter 2 has unlocked the potential to Action Surge, which we can do to cast two leveled or cantrip spells in one round.
Boros Legionnaire has provided us access to some spells that are both Wizard and Cleric spells for us, including one of the best distance cantrips Fire Bolt. We don't yet care much that these are both Wizard and Cleric spells other than making us more flexible with spell preparation, but down the road that'll be more important.
Githyanki-ness has provided some utility spells: a souped up Mage Hand and limited casts of Jump and Misty Step. Great spells to make us more field-competent than we'd otherwise be in niche/tense situations, and saves a preparation slot or two, so nice!
Wizard 2 has provided the chance to pick up Booming Blade, Fire Bolt, and Lightning Lure as cantrips (could go with Green-Flame Blade instead of one or the other, but I think GFB is a little inferior than BB in most situations). BB for melee attacks, LL when foes are too for away for BB, FB for distant targets. Burning Hands, Thunderwave, Earth Tremor, Absorb Elements, Shield, and Find Familiar are all solid baseline for leveled spells, with others you learn or copy being at your discretion. Sculpt Spells lets us be somewhat indiscriminate with the evocation spells!
Cleric 1 has provided that the same Booming Blade and Lightning Lure are now Cleric spells as well as Wizard spells. It's also provided Arcana proficiency, and some more utility and healing spells to make us more flexible. Guidance cannot be skipped, providing such a powerful non-combat boost to competence. Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and Bless would be my recommended preparations, in addition to the Magic Missile and Detect Magic that our domain will always provide us.
HP: 24, AC 18 (Splint+Defense), +6 to hit with Greatsword (2d6+3) + BB (1d8, +2d8 if move), +6 to hit with Wizard Cantrips/DC 14, +5 to hit with Cleric Cantrips/DC 13
It's a real bummer that this snapshot can't be at Level 12, because Cleric 8 is what we're actually rushing for right now! Ah well.
Attributes 18/8/8/16/16/8 after an ASI (+1 Str, +1 Wis)
Boros Legionnaire has done its job, ensuring that despite leveling as Cleric we continue to unlock new good evocation explosions like Scorching Ray and Wall of Fire.
Turning Undead and Outsiders certainly isn't the main thrust of a Gish.... but it's helpful that we can do so to either clear some space to duel their leaders, or clear them off the battlefield entirely. A win is a win, whether it comes from burning your enemy to a crisp or causing them to run away!
Spell Breaker at Cleric 6 makes us quite a bit better at dueling other spellcasters and magical monsters: so long as we can cast a Healing Word or Mass Healing Word, upleveled if need be, we can clear harmful debuffs that may be infecting us or our allies.
At Cleric 4, I'm assuming an ASI for +1 Str (more reliably land our attack cantrips with 18 str) and +1 Wis (since a lot of our higher level control and evocation spells will be Cleric Wis based). Warcaster is on the menu but less important, and so is Great Weapon Master (which we can't really afford with sub-par Str).
Cleric 8 was the next level we took, to unlock the ability to add +Wis (3) damage to every cleric spell. Considering that Booming Blade, Lightning Lure, and Fire bolt are all Cleric spells for us, we're now adding 3 damage to all of those every time, which is nice. Our Wizard/Cleric evocation spells from our Background, Guiding Bolt, Scorching Ray, Blinding Smite, Wall of Fire, Flame Strike... same thing, +3 damage, meaning we'll try to focus on using those over other Wizard alternatives whenever they'll suit our purposes (moreso at Wizard 10, but we're getting in the practice now). We're also finally turning CR 1 undead and outsiders. And we took an ASI for +2 Str, since landing attack cantrips is our main thrust.
At Wizard 4, we have a choice between Warcaster and Great Weapon Master. Both are good options that we'll want our last two feats to go to... but GWM spikes our damage much higher and we finally have the strength to use it, so we'll go with that first!
Wizard 6 got us Potent Cantrip, which opens up Lightning Lure, Sacred Flame, and anything else we may have that fits the bill into being our new "reliable" damage dealers against unhittable foes. It's not sexy to be spending Actions to do half of 3d8+3, but in some fights, that's going to be a godsend. Various combat buff spells open up to make us better combatants, including Greater Invisibility, Fly, Dragon's Breath, and Haste. Also Counterspell!
HP: 67, AC 19 (Plate+Defense), +116 to hit with Greatsword for (2d6+5+10) + BB (3d8+3, +4d8+3 if move), Wiz and Sorc spells are at +9 to hit/DC 17, and cantrips always do at least half damage+3
At Wizard 8, we finally pick up Warcaster to make our OA's better, and to slightly mitigate our propensity for dropping concentration due to our horrible Con
At Wizard 10, we can at last add +Int to Wizard evocation spells. This provides an extra +3 on Booming Blade (which is now at 2d6+5+10+3d8+6, average 42, +4d8+6 if move), Lightning Lure, and Fire bolt. Also to our Boros Wizard/Cleric evocations that we've been trying to get in the habit of relying on, as well as anything else that was already on both lists like Dawn.
Other 5th level spells are pretty good for a Gish too, even if they don't really synergize with the abilities we focused on. Steel Wind Strike is always fun!
HP: 76, AC 19 (Plate+Defense), +116 to hit with Greatsword for (2d6+5+10) + BB (3d8+6, +4d8+6 if move), Wiz and Sorc spells are at +9 to hit/DC 17, and cantrips always do at least half damage+3 (+6 if they're evocation)
In summary, is this a good build? Nah, but "Gishes" never are :)
Race: Yuan-Ti (partly for CHA bonus, but advantage to save against spells is the main reason)
Stats: Str 10 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 20 (point buy)
Background: Athlete
Starting level: Lvl 1 Hexblade Warlock
You want to start as Hexblade because the entire build assumes CHA as your attack modifier. Take a Longsword or Rapier... the important part is they're one-handed and deal a d8 of damage. Grab Lightning Lure to deal with enemies out of range and Hex to deal extra damage. Hex stacks with Hexblade's Curse to really pile on the extra damage even at level 1. Get your hands on Half-plate armor as soon as you can afford it... you don't need stealth, you've got asses to kick!
At 5th level: Lv3 Hexblade Warlock, Lv2 Paladin
So, you're going to take Pact of the Blade, right? Wrong! You want Pact of the Chain... Summon an Imp. The imp stays invisible, but uses the Help action on its turn to give you advantage. The Help action doesn't break its invisibility, so aside from the general utility of a familiar you've also doubled your chance to crit. Don't forget that anything targeted with your Hexblade's Curse crits on a 19, so take advantage of those 2 levels of Paladin to smash some critical Divine Smites on your enemies. Grab the Dueling fighting style for +2 on damage to make up for limiting to one-handed weapons. For your Eldritch Invocations you want Maddening Hex so your Bonus action can dish out extra damage every round and Gift of the Everliving Ones so you can maximize healing when you start to learn Paladin spells.
Finally, you get to the good stuff in Paladin. Vengeance Paladins get two solid Channel Divinities for dishing out damage. If you're not able to catch up to an enemy hit them with Abjure Enemy. On a success you freeze them in place with fear until you catch up, and even if they succeed their speed is still halved until they take damage. Eventually the enemies are gonna start to notice your Imp and start rolling high enough to get past its invisibility, but in those cases your other CD option is Vow of Enmity to keep giving yourself advantage. On top of that, Relentless Avenger lets you move while avoiding opportunity attacks if anyone triggers an opportunity attack from you, making it harder for anyone to get away. At some point you're also going to want to take Warcaster to keep up your concentration spells (mostly Hex or Hold Person), and so you can start carrying a shield. Your Paladin Spells should mostly be focused on outside-of-combat utility, but grab some heals for yourself, but we all know those Spell Slots are destined for Smiting.
At this point, your biggest problem is that you've got enough buffs that combat will end before you get to use them all. Hex will be your go-to for casual combat, but when you get to the big boys you're gonna want to smack down that Hexblade's Curse first. Rely on your invisible imp to keep advantage up, and save your vow of enmity for when it inevitably gets football kicked across the room. If the opportunity arises, it might be worth it to Haste yourself as well just to get those extra attacks in, but it's a hard gamble since you're definitely missing one round to cast it, and potentially losing another round if you break concentration, but the option is there. Improved Divine smite adds a d8 of radiant damage to every single attack.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Level 3 Hexblade Warlock, Level 17 Vengeance Paladin
The last really fun Vengeance power you finally hit is Soul of Vengeance, which lets you make a weapon attack in reaction to taking damage, but only if the creature hitting you is under your Vow of Enmity. This also takes you high enough level to grab a 5th level spell, so just to keep the theme going go ahead and grab Holy Weapon to deal some extra Radiant Damage... it's got a duration of 1 hour, so you can cast it ahead of time.
Let's take Gissssh on a theoretical fight. Without any magic items, he's got on Half-Plate and a Shield, putting his AC at 19. He's carrying a Rapier, because it's flashier than a longsword, so that's 1d8+7 Piercingand 1d8 from Improved Divine Smite on every attack. Before the fight he casts Holy Weapon... his rapier now counts as magical and deals 2d8 Radiant damage each round. He rolls up on a big baddy... if he's lucky the Imp goes first and gives him advantage on his first attack. Battle really kicks off with Hexblade's Curse, so now our boy is dealing 1d8+12 Piercing+3d8 Radiant for two attacks each round. Let's say the target is tired of the Imp's bullcrap and drops an area attack to clear it out, but Gissssh's Warcaster gives him advantage to keep up concentration on Holy Weapon. With the imp dead, he lays down the Vow of Enmity to keep up that advantage... paired with Hexblade's Curse that's a huge opportunity to land criticals. Once Gissssh finally lands that Crit he's still got 3 4th level spell slots to turn into a divine smite, so when that crit lands it's 2d8+12 Piercing+ 16d8 Radiant damage, plus throw in a modest 5 psychic damage when you bonus action Maddening Hex, or spend some lower level spell slots to toss in some Smite spells.
I'm not super experienced with min-maxing so someone with more knowledge than me can probably vastly improve this build, but it was a fun thought experiment.
I like this (I know I can't vote yet), but you need 13 strength to be paladin. So sadly it doesn't work.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Stat array: 8, 14, 13, 12, 10, 15. (Half-elf boosts Con to 15, dex to 15, and cha to 17)
Background: Doesn't really matter
This build is not super optimized, but is best a level 20.
The two levels in Warlock are for Eldritch Blast (Of course) and Hex, with the Hexblade subclass. Then, continue on with Fighter for the rest of the build. You'll need to get three feats for this to work: Polearm master, Warcaster, and Sentinel. The rest take as Asi's to boost Charisma, and constitution. You should also take Elven accuracy to get CHA to 18, but this is not essential for the build.
You'll hold a glaive, but won't ever attack with it. Instead, you will use Agonizing and Repelling Eldritch Blast to control the battlefield. Whenever an enemy gets within ten feet of you, you hit them with an opportunity attack which knocks them back forty feet. The fighter levels are solely for the eighteenth level Cavalier feature, which allows you to make an opportunity attack every turn. Just stand at the front line and yeet anyone who gets close to you forty feet away.
I wrote this quickly, so it isn't very detailed. I'll finish this up when I have more time.
I feel like this doesn't quite fit the parameters of the contest.
"Your focus must be on melee combat using a weapon/unarmed strikes and your character must be able to cast spells to be eligible."
This is certainly a character who's fully capable of melee combat, but the challenge is to build a character whose primary focus is melee... this is more using melee skills in a creative way by applying them to a ranged spell.
Sure. Why not. One of my favorite ‘Gish’ concepts, which is viable because it doesn’t understand “Gish” purely to mean up-front, straightforward face punch fighter. The best gishes are the ones who use their magic to make sure you never get a chance to punch back. Spent entirely too much time fiddling with this, so much of it will be in spoiler boxes to reduce brain strain. Apologies in advance.
Aine, Avandra’s Blade High Elf Rogue/Wizard 10/15(17)/12/14(15)/13/8* Background: Criminal
*if you follow the fluff I use for Aine, this is her native spread. If your version of this build does not feature a story in which the character receives a badly disfiguring facial scar that shakes her confidence, feel free to switch Strength and Charisma for slightly greater mechanical power.
Just who is “Aine?”
Aine Zuell is a high elven roustabout who found herself dissatisfied with the slow, languid idle of life within her enclave. She was fascinated by the shorter-lived races, especially humanity, and in the elven equivalent of her teens she fled her home with only what she could carry – much of it not actually hers. She made her way into human lands and put her talents to work, discovering that the hot immediacy and savage thrill of criminal life suited her. Graced with phenomenal agility and a keen mind, Aine learned the skills of her new trade quickly and became a respected second-story girl and throat cutter. Whenever someone needed something removed from a secure location – be it valuable gems or coin, incriminating papers, or an undesirable life – Aine was quickly becoming the elf to call.
Too quickly, as it turned out.
One day, Aine was working an intimidation job – sneak in and leave evidence of her presence, if not her methods, to send a message to a recalcitrant client of the guild. She was about to open the door to the mark’s bedchamber when a flash of warning stole through her mind - “Run.” For just an instant, she hesitated in confusion before turning to bolt. The warning saved Aine’s life. Her hesitation cost Aine her beauty, as an Acid Arrow blasted through the door and narrowly missed most of her. An errant splash from the spell ate through her hood and chewed through the left side of her face as she fled, suddenly beset by attackers hidden within the bedroom.
The job had been a ruse, a trap laid by a bitter rival within the guild who had grown furious at Aine’s swift ascension. Highly placed, that rival had seen their own favored underlings supplanted by the upstart elf girl one time too many. They’d sought to remove the eyesore and allow their own subordinates to rise, but Aine managed to escape the trap. Fleeing, she was forced to sacrifice almost everything she’d built up during her years with the guild. Boltholes, contacts, caches of equipment and coin, all lost or used up as she fled.
Only once she’d crossed an ocean and put her former guild half a world away did the hunters stop. Only then, when she had arrived to this new land the same way she had arrived to her former city – with naught but what she could carry and no prospects worth mentioning – did the voice return. “Change is life. A chance for rebirth.”
Badly shaken by the violent destruction of her former life, Aine decided that the voice which had saved her from death would be her new goal. The voice of the Changebringer had saved her life. She would know why, and she would repay her debts. To both the goddess, and to those who had scarred her and sought to kill her.
Level Zero: Gear and Starting Stuff Selection When selecting gear, remember: you’re allowed to spend your starting gold on things not covered by your basic background, and some DMs let you sell back starting gear you don’t want. Use some of that money to gear up like a real rogue. There are a great many things not covered by your starting gear that you’ll want.
When selecting Starting Equipment, I recommend the following picks:
>Shortsword. Easier to conceal than a rapier, allows for two-weapon fighting at need during the early days when your cantrip doesn’t offer much bonus damage. >Shortbow+Arrows: you don’t really want these; if your DM lets you sell them back at cost that’s a sweet, delicious 26gp starting bonus. If not? Better than a second shortsword, potentially useful for hunting. >Burglar’s pack. Like there’s any other choice for a dirty crook of a rogue.
Take all the other one-choice options as per usual.
Once your starting equipment is sorted and you see how much extra gold you can haggle the DM into giving you for equipment buyback (you start with that shortbow and an extra crowbar, if you take everything you can get – and what self-respecting rogue wouldn’t?), you’ll want to look into some bits of adventuring gear few folks look for. Some of my favorite standby pieces of kit, exempting stuff that costs more than two or three gold, are as follows:
>Belt pouches, at least two. Easier to get stuff into and out of than fishing in your backpack >Chalk, four or five sticks. You’ll need to leave marks somewhere at some point. >Darts, five or ten. Even the most dedicated gish occasionally needs a ranged poke, and darts are ever so much easier to carry than bows and more disposable than daggers. >Oil, two or three extra flasks. It’s oil. You want it, get some. >Playing card set. I usually take cards as my gaming proficiency from Criminal, nice to actually have a deck to swindle people with. >Sacks. How else are you gonna carry surprise loot? Get two or three, then fold them up and store them in your pack. >Signal whistle. You can signal your friends or distract your enemies both >Shovel. Specify that yours is cut down to fit in a pack, more an entrenching tool than a proper shovel. But still. Well worth having if you spend a lot of time in the wilderness. >Small knife. Easiest way to smuggle a blade somewhere, a handy tool you’ll want to have.
There’s plenty of other things we’ll need over time, but with five or ten gold spent early on, we’ll have what we need to see Aine through to her senior years just fine.
Humble Beginnings: Level One Rogue 1 10/17/12/15/13/8
Aine begins her journey of self-rediscovery as a first-level rogue, taking Minor Illusion as her high elven cantrip. Until fifth level, Blade cantrips don’t offer much that beats two-weapon fighting with sword and dagger, while Minor Illusion is a fantastic ability at all levels. The heavy overlap between rogue levels and the Criminal background is to our advantage; Aine replaces the thieves’ tools proficiency from Criminal with the disguise kit, though other people’s version of the character could benefit from forgery or poisoner’s kits in turn.
When selecting rogue class proficiencies, be sure to select either Deception or Stealth. This allows you to reassign one of your background skills to Arcana, properly representing our magical infiltrator’s knowledge of the Arts Arcane. Expertise can be assigned as you like, though I strongly recommend Stealth and Investigation. The former because rogue, and the latter because even beyond Investigation simply being more broadly applicable than thieves’ tools, you can’t pick a lock you can’t find.
Aine continues to retrain as a rogue until third level, where she selects the Arcane Trickster specialization. This grants her three additional cantrips and her first set of spells. Prioritize your most-used key spells when selecting Trickster spells; we’ll be splitting into Wizard shortly, and niche utility (including Find Familiar) can go in the spellbook. Trickster spells should be your bread and butter, the spells you never want to be without. Mage Hand is required by the class and also an excellent cantrip in and of itself, and Minor Illusion is nigh required for a Trickster. Your third choice is up to you, but I find Control Flame to be a surprisingly excellent choice. A purely somatic way to extinguish conventional light sources within sixty feet, no verbal spell components to give away your stealth...that will come in quite handy indeed in a few levels.
First-level spells are both harder and easier, but no Arcane Trickster is truly complete with Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. A first-level spell that incapacitates its target is useful all the way to endgame, giving you advantage to turn on your crit fishing and also allowing you to bird-finger flying targets.
At fourth level you have a choice – you can take your first ASI and select one of your few feats, or you can take your first wizard level. I tend to go for the feat, since early access to this one is super helpful, and that’s the way we’ll assume it works in this write-up. The feat you select is, of course, Elven Accuracy. Take Dexterity as your +1, bumping your most crucial score up to 18.
Glimmers of Potential: Level Five Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 4 / Wizard 1 10/18/13/16/13/8
Aine’s fifth level is her first wizard level, which mandates that she purchase her spellbook and a component pouch. Expensive, but by fifth you should have the funds. The spells you put in that spellbook should emphasize useful utility that cares less about your currently low Intelligence modifier. Find Familiar, Feather Fall, Shield/Absorb Elements, all are excellent spells to have and which Tricksters rarely get natural access to. You gain three extra cantrips, as well, one of which will finally be your choice of Blade cantrip. Either Blade works; discuss with your DM whether or not Booming Blade makes a ton of noise in their game before making your choice. The other two will be utility Aine hasn’t gotten from Trickster yet.
In tier 2 play, Aine abandons two-weapon fighting in favor of the bonus damage from her Blade cantrip, taking advantage where she can get it for Elven Accuracy. As she progresses through this tier and discovers more of the Changebringer’s plan for her future, Aine splits her training between rogue and wizard, acquiring rogue levels five through eight before taking her second level in wizard, opting for the school of War Magic. Her ASI at eighth-level rogue is split INT/CON, bringing Intelligence to 16 and Constitution to 13.
Though many will scream at the lack of Bladesinging, first of all I hate that ‘school’, and second of all Aine specifically abandoned the people who could teach it to her. War Magic allows for a hefty initiative bonus, and Arcane Deflection is excellent on a character with Evasion. Bladesinging is for flashy performers and elvish fops with too much time on their hands; Aine prefers to stab first, stab hardest, and block any feeble attempts at counterattacks until the stabbings work.
By eleventh level, Aine’s Blade cantrip grants more bonus damage than the sneak attack die she’s lost from her multiclass dip, and she’s gained one of the most powerful abilities in the game – Magical Ambush, helping offset her otherwise forgettable Intelligence modifier. She gains second-level spells from her Trickster side, including the excellent Shadow Blade and the fight-ending Hold Person. At tenth rogue level (twelfth character level), Aine receives a bonus ASI, which lets her take Resilient: Constitution and gain proficiency in constitution saving throws. This ticks her up to 14 Con, giving her a bunch of extra HP as well. Two rogue levels after this grant Aine the gamebreakingly awesome Reliable Talent and her third ‘regular’ ASI, which lets her take War Caster.
A third level of wizard after this grants Aine unfettered access to second-level wizard spells, while her fourth wizard level immediately afterwards grants her another ASI. This one is dumped directly into Dexterity, maximizing her most critical ability score.
By this point, Aine is already a deadly magical sneak and assassin, debilitating targets from concealmeant before dispatching them with a magically charged strike of her steel or a sword of mind-rending gloom. Third-level Trickster spells grant Aine core access to her most critical higher-level spells, with each new level at this stage generally granting more magic rather than improved martial prowess and coming in whichever order the player prefers. The exception is obtaining proficiency in Wisdom at fifteenth rogue level, a key defensive piece that may be well worth prioritizing over extra magical abilities. Especially in a world where magical equipment doesn’t exist.
At maximum level, Aine has gained proficiency in all three core saving throws. With Arcane Deflection, Avandra’s chosen champion is exceptionally good at making saves and avoiding dangerous situations or fight-ending debuffs. She cannot learn spells above third level, but she can upcast spells up to fifth level to improve her magic and gains access to third-level wizard spells, granting her about eighty percent of the wizard classes practical utility – and by twentieth level, she’ll have enough gold to ensure her spellbook is well supplied with all the best magical goodies.
The 2d6 sneak attack dice she loses from her wizard’s training is more than made up for by the 3d8 bonus damage she gains from her Blade, and by her access to upcast Shadow Blade as well as Haste and standby third-level wizard blasting spells. Aine’s damage is not as explosive as a full-up, 100% Combat All The Time paladin or hexblade-based warrior gish, but she makes up for this with an enormous amount of out-of-combat utility and disruptive spellcasting.
The drawback is that unlike the legion of Hexblade-based characters out there, Aine does not get to attack and cast with the same stat. Her Intelligence modifier is a mediocre +3 by endgame, which hampers her saves and constrains her selection of prepared wizard spells – by level 20 she gets only eight prepared spells on top of the ten she knows as a Trickster. Careful selection and deployment of spells is a must, but access to ritual casting can expand Aine’s repertoire. As does the solid base class abilities of the rogue.
Enemy warriors are crippled with magic; enemy spellcasters are stricken down with steel. Neither of them will see Aine coming until their lifeblood is already staining the floor. Exactly the way a proper spellblade should be.
I might be failing to understand why Aine doesn't get Sneak Attack on her -Blade spell attacks? If they're being made with a Finesse weapon, which both Short Sword and Shadow Blade are... what's the problem?
I'll admit to being confused. Of course she does? Hm. Give me a moment.
skimming post again
Ah. The "By eleventh level, Aine’s Blade cantrip grants more bonus damage than the sneak attack die she’s lost from her multiclass dip..." bit. What I meant by that is that taking two levels of wizard means two levels of not rogue, which means she loses 1d6 sneak die as compared to an eleventh-level straight rogue. 2d8 bonus damage from GFB/BB easily compensates for that lost damage, if only at melee range. But this is a gishy thread, so melee is the only range people care about. Now certainly, a straight Trickster (or anything else in high elf/with Magic Initiate) can gain full Sneak die progression and that bonus damage, but my argument is mostly that wizard levels add an enormous degree of versatility and spell freedom which easily compensates the lost damage.
Thank you. Aine is one of my favorite standbyes. Poor gal is sort of my permanent backup; her backstory is easy enough to tweak into any setting should whatever I'm playing die, but I rarely get to play rather than DM and the few times the chance has come up, some other concept has been at the forefront. Or somebody else has already been playing a Trickster or similar rogue. Heh, always seems to be the case for everybody, ne? You've always got your favorites, and yet you never end up getting to actually play them.
Blood Hunters are not officially published material, so no.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Blood Hunters are not officially published material, so no.
This is correct, there's exceptions made in some Throwdowns for other sources (such as UA) but for this particular Throwdown (and most) it's only officially published works and the Bloodhunter is essentially endorsed homebrew at this point (which is a shame, it, along with the Gunslinger, should have been published as player options in Wildemount).
Bugbear is really just something I like the idea for their long reach trait. Just reach out and touch someone without getting in their range and move on. Many races would work just fine as well, such as Goliath for the occasional damage reduction, or Half Orcs for Relentless Endurance. Utilization of bonus action for the horizon walker Planar Warrior bonus damage of 1d8 force (converts all weapon damage to force as well, good for resistant enemies), and either a boost to weapon attack and damage, or bonus to AC as needed from the Blesaing of the Forge Forge Cleric also gives the ever handy heavy armor proficiency, always useful. Have Absorb Elements for a spell to reduce incoming element damage and return some of it to sender. Pick up the Warcaster feat because its almost mandatory for something like this especially for maintaining hunters mark at this point.
At 11th level: Ranger 5, Cleric 6
Made it to level 5 with the ranger for the extra attack feature, and now to develop some more of those magical muscles to gish out the damage. Other options become available to cast other than hunters mark allowing a little more flexibility. Elemental Weapon becomes an option for more reliable hits while still dealing extra damage(not the best but fairly long lasting), stack this with the Blessing of the forge makes for an extra two to hit which is handy. Couple this with Soul of the Forge and you get a little extra AC as well (with the option to forego the bonus to hit and damage for more AC). Take Heavy Armor Master to round off the strength score to 18 and another little boost to survivability. Now you have Spirit Guardians as a go to spell for added damage per round, not as long lasting as the other options but more bang for your buck in situations with multiple enemies. Generally the go to concentration spell when you have the slots available for it.
At this point you are becoming a much tankier up front damage dealer with a few useful direct damage spells for when they are needed. With a shield and the blessing of the forge on you armor you can have 22 AC at this point, couple it withe absorb element spell to decrease the elemental damage you take is also quite handy.
At 17th level: Ranger 8, Cleric 9
Now for normal attacks you have 1d8 from Planar Warrior(with bonus action) and 1d8 fire from Divine Strike on the first hit that lands. This can be augmented by Holy Weapon when trying to ration your spell slots or amped up Spirit Guardians for shorter fights where you aren't as worried about running low on spells. A few options for spells to delay enemies like Wall of Fire, Or Animate Objects (big ones) continue the defensive trend of this build.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Ranger 11, Cleric 9
Distant Strike becomes a new feather in your cap allowing up to three attacks to be made if each is against a different target, with a little teleport between each one. Planar Warrior also gets an additional damage die for 2d8 force damage. When fighting enemies with very high AC Elemental weapon cast at level 7 gives a plus 3 to hit in addition to its extra 3d4 elemental damage per hit. Not the most damage but more reliably hits the target. If we are trying for as much damage as possible then Spirit Guardians is still a wonderful spell that upcasts quite nicely. At this point the option of 20 strength and 16 wisdom, vs 18 and 18 depends more on personal playstyle. 18/18 is probably the better balance overall but i do like having a big strong person out front. Your first hit of a round going to be 4d8+5 or so with additions for elemental or holy weapon if they are active. AC is still sitting consistently at 22, and using your reaction to reduce elemental damage with absorb elements (and then retaliating with it) and depending on spell slot used hit back with 1-5d6. Not the flashiest, nor the big burst damager, but should have solid survivability and pretty well round offensive and defensive capabilities as well as spell flexibility from the cleric spell list.
IF the optional ranger features ever become official this build will only gain in damage potential with consistent hunters mark without concentration.
Probably will go back and edit this at some point.
"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."
Gissssh - you can't take Maddening Hex with only 3 levels of Warlock. Otherwise I'm doing similar build in Curse of Strahd right now - except I started with Paladin for heavy armor, and I only took 1 level of Warlock for now (I want to grab Aura of Protection asap), also I went with Half-elf. However the idea with Pact of the Chain I really like, I was recently thinking that I won't be getting much out of Pact of the Blade, and having a familiar seems like a great idea.
Gissssh - you can't take Maddening Hex with only 3 levels of Warlock. Otherwise I'm doing similar build in Curse of Strahd right now - except I started with Paladin for heavy armor, and I only took 1 level of Warlock for now (I want to grab Aura of Protection asap), also I went with Half-elf. However the idea with Pact of the Chain I really like, I was recently thinking that I won't be getting much out of Pact of the Blade, and having a familiar seems like a great idea.
Oof I'm tripping on a lot of technicalities with this build. I think I'll swap it for Lance of Lethargy.
As for Pact of the Blade... it's really not super useful on its own. The main value of Pact of the Blade (especially for a Gish character) is that it unlocks some pretty useful Eldritch Invocations, but they all require a bit of investment.
After the success of these build competitions on another forum, there was a request to bring them to Beyond as well, I hope plenty of you choose to participate and everyone has fun with them, whether making builds or just reading them!
The concept: The Gish
A Gish is a character that focuses on using melee weapons as their primary method of combat, but with the use of magic to enhance their abilities, give more utility outside of combat and other options in combat.
Your focus must be on melee combat using a weapon/unarmed strikes and your character must be able to cast spells to be eligible.
Some rules for guidance:
-No UA, only officially published materials
-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)
-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)
-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play
-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)
-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature
-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).
-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read
Suggested format:
Level 20 level split:
Race:
Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x
Background:
Starting level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 5th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 11th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 17th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Voting:
To sort the wheat from the chaff we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each throwdown thread will run for 7 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be five days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Gish build deadline/Voting opens: 11/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 16/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
Contestants:
BramblefootDruid's 'Ling' 2 Votes
TransmorpherDDS' 'Yuan-Ti Warlock/Paladin' 1 Vote
Chicken_Champ's 'Gishyanki'
JoeltheWalrus' 'My Gish' *NOT MELEE FOCUSED*
Yurei1453's 'Aine, Avandra's Blade' 4 votes *WINNER*
HeroZero's build 1 Vote
Lostwhilefishing's 'Battle Smith all the way'
Igknight420's 'HexSoul'
TransmorpherDDS' 'Lelogish' 2 Vote
Chicken_Champ's 'Fish'
The winner is Yurei1453's 'Aine, Avandra's Blade,' Congratulations Yurei and thank you to everyone that submitted a build and voted!
The next Throwdown is now live: 5e Throwdowns D&D Beyond edition #2: The Terminator
I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Here it is:
Gish: Ling
Level 20 build: Eladrin (Mordenkains) College of Swords Bard 17/ Swashbuckler 3
Stats: Str 8, Dex 14+2, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 15+1 (Standard array)
Background: Acolyte
Starting Level: Bard
You need to pick up a rapier for this build. I like the idea of taking a pan flute, or flute, then taking diplomats pack and obviously leather armour and dagger. For cantrips, I chose thunderclap and minor illusion. Spells like bane and longstrider are so useful for this build, as we want to keep mobile, and to debuff when possible.
Level 5:Bard 3/Rogue 2 You need to have picked up College of Swords, and use your bardic inspiration to power the flourishes. Make sure to take dueling fighting style. Shatter and cloud of daggers are our most important spells, along with longstrider. Sneak attack is fun.... By now you should have some studded leather armour, to boost ac
Level 11: Bard 8/Rogue 3 You need to put both of your ASI's into Dex, giving us max. We take swashbuckler, for a new way of sneak attacking, and now have 2D6 sneak attack. We have extra attack, and so can deal some better damage with our rapier. Just remember, you aren't a fighter, and so should focus on running in, attacking then hiding/dashing, thanks to cunning action. Catnap, shatter, cloud of daggers and bane are our go to spells, as is longstrider. Catnap gets us our bardic inspiration for flourishes and misty step back.
Level 17: Bard 14/Rogue 3 the next ASI should go into Charisma, as that is important. With magical secrets, we take zephyr strike for mobility and damage, banishment for the juicy cha save, jump for mobility and finally shield for some nice ac.
Level 20: Bard 17/Rogue 3 Level 20.... It's here. We pick up steel wind strike and thunderstep for mobility and damage. We have made ourselves mobile, hard to hit and made sure we can hit everyone else. Make sure your to take resilient con, just to boost health. Or we can max our charisma, whichever we like.
So, there is my gish, based off of Ling from Mobile legends. And yes, he is a boy.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Okay, here's my build for Gisssssssh, the Yuan-Ti Warlock/Paladin
Level 20 level split: Lvl 3 Hexblade Warlock/Lvl 17 Vengeance Paladin
Race: Yuan-Ti (partly for CHA bonus, but advantage to save against spells is the main reason)
Stats: Str 13 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 9 Wis 14 Cha 20 (point buy)
Background: Athlete
Starting level: Lvl 1 Hexblade Warlock
You want to start as Hexblade because the entire build assumes CHA as your attack modifier. Take a Longsword or Rapier... the important part is they're one-handed and deal a d8 of damage. Grab Lightning Lure to deal with enemies out of range and Hex to deal extra damage. Hex stacks with Hexblade's Curse to really pile on the extra damage even at level 1. Get your hands on Half-plate armor as soon as you can afford it... you don't need stealth, you've got asses to kick!
At 5th level: Lv3 Hexblade Warlock, Lv2 Paladin
So, you're going to take Pact of the Blade, right? Wrong! You want Pact of the Chain... Summon an Imp. The imp stays invisible, but uses the Help action on its turn to give you advantage. The Help action doesn't break its invisibility, so aside from the general utility of a familiar you've also doubled your chance to crit. Don't forget that anything targeted with your Hexblade's Curse crits on a 19, so take advantage of those 2 levels of Paladin to smash some critical Divine Smites on your enemies. Grab the Dueling fighting style for +2 on damage to make up for limiting to one-handed weapons. For your Eldritch Invocations you want
Maddening Hex so your Bonus action can dish out extra damage(EDIT: I didn't realize that had a level 5 Warlock requirement) Take Lance of Lethargy and feel free to swap out Lightning Lure for Eldritch Blast. Lethargy is a bit more versatile than either Lightning Lure or Grasp of Hadar... slowing the enemy can make it easier to catch up, but also prevents a melee opponent from getting to you first so you increase your odds of getting in the first hit. Also take Gift of the Everliving Ones so you can maximize healing when you start to learn Paladin spells.At 11th level: Level 3 Hexblade Warlock, Level 8 Vengeance Paladin
Finally, you get to the good stuff in Paladin. Vengeance Paladins get two solid Channel Divinities for dishing out damage. If you're not able to catch up to an enemy hit them with Abjure Enemy. On a success you freeze them in place with fear until you catch up, and even if they succeed their speed is still halved until they take damage. Eventually the enemies are gonna start to notice your Imp and start rolling high enough to get past its invisibility, but in those cases your other CD option is Vow of Enmity to keep giving yourself advantage. On top of that, Relentless Avenger lets you move while avoiding opportunity attacks if anyone triggers an opportunity attack from you, making it harder for anyone to get away. At some point you're also going to want to take Warcaster to keep up your concentration spells (mostly Hex or Hold Person), and so you can start carrying a shield. Your Paladin Spells should mostly be focused on outside-of-combat utility, but grab some heals for yourself, but we all know those Spell Slots are destined for Smiting.
At 17th level: Level 3 Hexblade Warlock, Level 14 Vengeance Paladin
At this point, your biggest problem is that you've got enough buffs that combat will end before you get to use them all. Hex will be your go-to for casual combat, but when you get to the big boys you're gonna want to smack down that Hexblade's Curse first. Rely on your invisible imp to keep advantage up, and save your vow of enmity for when it inevitably gets football kicked across the room. If the opportunity arises, it might be worth it to Haste yourself as well just to get those extra attacks in, but it's a hard gamble since you're definitely missing one round to cast it, and potentially losing another round if you break concentration, but the option is there. Improved Divine smite adds a d8 of radiant damage to every single attack.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Level 3 Hexblade Warlock, Level 17 Vengeance Paladin
The last really fun Vengeance power you finally hit is Soul of Vengeance, which lets you make a weapon attack in reaction to taking damage, but only if the creature hitting you is under your Vow of Enmity. This also takes you high enough level to grab a 5th level spell, so just to keep the theme going go ahead and grab Holy Weapon to deal some extra Radiant Damage... it's got a duration of 1 hour, so you can cast it ahead of time.
Let's take Gissssh on a theoretical fight. Without any magic items, he's got on Half-Plate and a Shield, putting his AC at 19. He's carrying a Rapier, because it's flashier than a longsword, so that's 1d8+7 Piercingand 1d8 from Improved Divine Smite on every attack. Before the fight he casts Holy Weapon... his rapier now counts as magical and deals 2d8 Radiant damage each round. He rolls up on a big baddy... if he's lucky the Imp goes first and gives him advantage on his first attack. Battle really kicks off with Hexblade's Curse, so now our boy is dealing 1d8+12 Piercing+3d8 Radiant for two attacks each round. Let's say the target is tired of the Imp's bullcrap and drops an area attack to clear it out, but Gissssh's Warcaster gives him advantage to keep up concentration on Holy Weapon. With the imp dead, he lays down the Vow of Enmity to keep up that advantage... paired with Hexblade's Curse that's a huge opportunity to land criticals. Once Gissssh finally lands that Crit he's still got 3 4th level spell slots to turn into a divine smite, so when that crit lands it's 2d8+12 Piercing+ 16d8 Radiant damage, plus spend some lower level spell slots to toss in some Smite spells.
I'm not super experienced with min-maxing so someone with more knowledge than me can probably vastly improve this build, but it was a fun thought experiment.
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Caveat: This all depends on how you interpret what a "wizard spell" or a "cleric spell" is. It is my position that nothing in the PHB invites you to give this any other meaning than "a spell which appears on the [wizard] spell list," since "[wizard] spells" are given no other particular definition other than inviting you to see your classes' spell list. As a consequence, if you have a class feature that buffs "wizard spells" and a class feature that buffs "cleric spells," any spell that appears on both of these lists (or, your special modified version of these lists, if a class or background feature has expanded the list) is both a "wizard spell" and "cleric spell" simultaneously, regardless of which class you have learned it as, prepared it as, or are currently casting it as. When for example a subclass gives you access to new spells that aren't normally on your spell list and tells you "these cantrips count as cleric cantrips"... I take that at face value, they are now cleric cantrips, in addition to whatever they normally are! This position is somewhat controversial, with others holding that a "wizard spell" is a spell that you have learned by virtue of your wizard levels, and which you are casting using intelligence. They point to this language in Chapter 6: "Each spell you know and prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell." I don't dispute that that rule exists, but believe that that restriction (if you have wizard spells and cleric spells, you can't just arbitrarily decide to cast all of them using Intelligence just because it's higher than your wisdom) does not actually in any way contradict "wizard spell" being defined as "spell which appears on the wizard spell list,". Depending on your DM, your mileage may vary!
Now that that giant caveat is out of the way... the build! Githyanki may not be the optimal race to build from, but for Gish' sake, I'll stick with it :)
"Gishyanki" [Githyanki Fighter/Wizard (Evocation)/Cleric (Arcana)]
Starting Level: Fighter 1
Level 5: Fighter 2/Wizard (Evocation) 2/Cleric (Arcana) 1
Level 11: Fighter 2/Wizard (Evocation) 2/Cleric (Arcana) 7
Level 17: Fighter 2/Wizard (Evocation) 7/Cleric (Arcana) 8
116 to hit with Greatsword for (2d6+5+10) + BB (3d8+3, +4d8+3 if move), Wiz and Sorc spells are at +9 to hit/DC 17, and cantrips always do at least half damage+3Level 20: Fighter 2/Wizard (Evocation) 10/Cleric (Arcana) 8
116 to hit with Greatsword for (2d6+5+10) + BB (3d8+6, +4d8+6 if move), Wiz and Sorc spells are at +9 to hit/DC 17, and cantrips always do at least half damage+3 (+6 if they're evocation)In summary, is this a good build? Nah, but "Gishes" never are :)
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I like this (I know I can't vote yet), but you need 13 strength to be paladin. So sadly it doesn't work.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Oops... okay, I edited it to drop INT and increase STR just enough to qualify.
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My Gish
Warlock 2/Fighter 18
Half-Elf
Stat array: 8, 14, 13, 12, 10, 15. (Half-elf boosts Con to 15, dex to 15, and cha to 17)
Background: Doesn't really matter
This build is not super optimized, but is best a level 20.
The two levels in Warlock are for Eldritch Blast (Of course) and Hex, with the Hexblade subclass. Then, continue on with Fighter for the rest of the build. You'll need to get three feats for this to work: Polearm master, Warcaster, and Sentinel. The rest take as Asi's to boost Charisma, and constitution. You should also take Elven accuracy to get CHA to 18, but this is not essential for the build.
You'll hold a glaive, but won't ever attack with it. Instead, you will use Agonizing and Repelling Eldritch Blast to control the battlefield. Whenever an enemy gets within ten feet of you, you hit them with an opportunity attack which knocks them back forty feet. The fighter levels are solely for the eighteenth level Cavalier feature, which allows you to make an opportunity attack every turn. Just stand at the front line and yeet anyone who gets close to you forty feet away.
I wrote this quickly, so it isn't very detailed. I'll finish this up when I have more time.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
I feel like this doesn't quite fit the parameters of the contest.
"Your focus must be on melee combat using a weapon/unarmed strikes and your character must be able to cast spells to be eligible."
This is certainly a character who's fully capable of melee combat, but the challenge is to build a character whose primary focus is melee... this is more using melee skills in a creative way by applying them to a ranged spell.
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Sure. Why not. One of my favorite ‘Gish’ concepts, which is viable because it doesn’t understand “Gish” purely to mean up-front, straightforward face punch fighter. The best gishes are the ones who use their magic to make sure you never get a chance to punch back. Spent entirely too much time fiddling with this, so much of it will be in spoiler boxes to reduce brain strain. Apologies in advance.
Aine, Avandra’s Blade
High Elf Rogue/Wizard
10/15(17)/12/14(15)/13/8*
Background: Criminal
*if you follow the fluff I use for Aine, this is her native spread. If your version of this build does not feature a story in which the character receives a badly disfiguring facial scar that shakes her confidence, feel free to switch Strength and Charisma for slightly greater mechanical power.
Just who is “Aine?”
Aine Zuell is a high elven roustabout who found herself dissatisfied with the slow, languid idle of life within her enclave. She was fascinated by the shorter-lived races, especially humanity, and in the elven equivalent of her teens she fled her home with only what she could carry – much of it not actually hers. She made her way into human lands and put her talents to work, discovering that the hot immediacy and savage thrill of criminal life suited her. Graced with phenomenal agility and a keen mind, Aine learned the skills of her new trade quickly and became a respected second-story girl and throat cutter. Whenever someone needed something removed from a secure location – be it valuable gems or coin, incriminating papers, or an undesirable life – Aine was quickly becoming the elf to call.
Too quickly, as it turned out.
One day, Aine was working an intimidation job – sneak in and leave evidence of her presence, if not her methods, to send a message to a recalcitrant client of the guild. She was about to open the door to the mark’s bedchamber when a flash of warning stole through her mind - “Run.” For just an instant, she hesitated in confusion before turning to bolt. The warning saved Aine’s life. Her hesitation cost Aine her beauty, as an Acid Arrow blasted through the door and narrowly missed most of her. An errant splash from the spell ate through her hood and chewed through the left side of her face as she fled, suddenly beset by attackers hidden within the bedroom.
The job had been a ruse, a trap laid by a bitter rival within the guild who had grown furious at Aine’s swift ascension. Highly placed, that rival had seen their own favored underlings supplanted by the upstart elf girl one time too many. They’d sought to remove the eyesore and allow their own subordinates to rise, but Aine managed to escape the trap. Fleeing, she was forced to sacrifice almost everything she’d built up during her years with the guild. Boltholes, contacts, caches of equipment and coin, all lost or used up as she fled.
Only once she’d crossed an ocean and put her former guild half a world away did the hunters stop. Only then, when she had arrived to this new land the same way she had arrived to her former city – with naught but what she could carry and no prospects worth mentioning – did the voice return. “Change is life. A chance for rebirth.”
Badly shaken by the violent destruction of her former life, Aine decided that the voice which had saved her from death would be her new goal. The voice of the Changebringer had saved her life. She would know why, and she would repay her debts. To both the goddess, and to those who had scarred her and sought to kill her.
Level Zero: Gear and Starting Stuff Selection
When selecting gear, remember: you’re allowed to spend your starting gold on things not covered by your basic background, and some DMs let you sell back starting gear you don’t want. Use some of that money to gear up like a real rogue. There are a great many things not covered by your starting gear that you’ll want.
When selecting Starting Equipment, I recommend the following picks:
>Shortsword. Easier to conceal than a rapier, allows for two-weapon fighting at need during the early days when your cantrip doesn’t offer much bonus damage.
>Shortbow+Arrows: you don’t really want these; if your DM lets you sell them back at cost that’s a sweet, delicious 26gp starting bonus. If not? Better than a second shortsword, potentially useful for hunting.
>Burglar’s pack. Like there’s any other choice for a dirty crook of a rogue.
Take all the other one-choice options as per usual.
Once your starting equipment is sorted and you see how much extra gold you can haggle the DM into giving you for equipment buyback (you start with that shortbow and an extra crowbar, if you take everything you can get – and what self-respecting rogue wouldn’t?), you’ll want to look into some bits of adventuring gear few folks look for. Some of my favorite standby pieces of kit, exempting stuff that costs more than two or three gold, are as follows:
>Belt pouches, at least two. Easier to get stuff into and out of than fishing in your backpack
>Chalk, four or five sticks. You’ll need to leave marks somewhere at some point.
>Darts, five or ten. Even the most dedicated gish occasionally needs a ranged poke, and darts are ever so much easier to carry than bows and more disposable than daggers.
>Oil, two or three extra flasks. It’s oil. You want it, get some.
>Playing card set. I usually take cards as my gaming proficiency from Criminal, nice to actually have a deck to swindle people with.
>Sacks. How else are you gonna carry surprise loot? Get two or three, then fold them up and store them in your pack.
>Signal whistle. You can signal your friends or distract your enemies both
>Shovel. Specify that yours is cut down to fit in a pack, more an entrenching tool than a proper shovel. But still. Well worth having if you spend a lot of time in the wilderness.
>Small knife. Easiest way to smuggle a blade somewhere, a handy tool you’ll want to have.
There’s plenty of other things we’ll need over time, but with five or ten gold spent early on, we’ll have what we need to see Aine through to her senior years just fine.
Humble Beginnings: Level One
Rogue 1
10/17/12/15/13/8
Aine begins her journey of self-rediscovery as a first-level rogue, taking Minor Illusion as her high elven cantrip. Until fifth level, Blade cantrips don’t offer much that beats two-weapon fighting with sword and dagger, while Minor Illusion is a fantastic ability at all levels. The heavy overlap between rogue levels and the Criminal background is to our advantage; Aine replaces the thieves’ tools proficiency from Criminal with the disguise kit, though other people’s version of the character could benefit from forgery or poisoner’s kits in turn.
When selecting rogue class proficiencies, be sure to select either Deception or Stealth. This allows you to reassign one of your background skills to Arcana, properly representing our magical infiltrator’s knowledge of the Arts Arcane. Expertise can be assigned as you like, though I strongly recommend Stealth and Investigation. The former because rogue, and the latter because even beyond Investigation simply being more broadly applicable than thieves’ tools, you can’t pick a lock you can’t find.
Aine continues to retrain as a rogue until third level, where she selects the Arcane Trickster specialization. This grants her three additional cantrips and her first set of spells. Prioritize your most-used key spells when selecting Trickster spells; we’ll be splitting into Wizard shortly, and niche utility (including Find Familiar) can go in the spellbook. Trickster spells should be your bread and butter, the spells you never want to be without. Mage Hand is required by the class and also an excellent cantrip in and of itself, and Minor Illusion is nigh required for a Trickster. Your third choice is up to you, but I find Control Flame to be a surprisingly excellent choice. A purely somatic way to extinguish conventional light sources within sixty feet, no verbal spell components to give away your stealth...that will come in quite handy indeed in a few levels.
First-level spells are both harder and easier, but no Arcane Trickster is truly complete with Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. A first-level spell that incapacitates its target is useful all the way to endgame, giving you advantage to turn on your crit fishing and also allowing you to bird-finger flying targets.
At fourth level you have a choice – you can take your first ASI and select one of your few feats, or you can take your first wizard level. I tend to go for the feat, since early access to this one is super helpful, and that’s the way we’ll assume it works in this write-up. The feat you select is, of course, Elven Accuracy. Take Dexterity as your +1, bumping your most crucial score up to 18.
Glimmers of Potential: Level Five
Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 4 / Wizard 1
10/18/13/16/13/8
Aine’s fifth level is her first wizard level, which mandates that she purchase her spellbook and a component pouch. Expensive, but by fifth you should have the funds. The spells you put in that spellbook should emphasize useful utility that cares less about your currently low Intelligence modifier. Find Familiar, Feather Fall, Shield/Absorb Elements, all are excellent spells to have and which Tricksters rarely get natural access to. You gain three extra cantrips, as well, one of which will finally be your choice of Blade cantrip. Either Blade works; discuss with your DM whether or not Booming Blade makes a ton of noise in their game before making your choice. The other two will be utility Aine hasn’t gotten from Trickster yet.
In tier 2 play, Aine abandons two-weapon fighting in favor of the bonus damage from her Blade cantrip, taking advantage where she can get it for Elven Accuracy. As she progresses through this tier and discovers more of the Changebringer’s plan for her future, Aine splits her training between rogue and wizard, acquiring rogue levels five through eight before taking her second level in wizard, opting for the school of War Magic. Her ASI at eighth-level rogue is split INT/CON, bringing Intelligence to 16 and Constitution to 13.
Though many will scream at the lack of Bladesinging, first of all I hate that ‘school’, and second of all Aine specifically abandoned the people who could teach it to her. War Magic allows for a hefty initiative bonus, and Arcane Deflection is excellent on a character with Evasion. Bladesinging is for flashy performers and elvish fops with too much time on their hands; Aine prefers to stab first, stab hardest, and block any feeble attempts at counterattacks until the stabbings work.
Changebringer’s Favored: Level Eleven
Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 9 / Wizard (War Magic) 2
10/18/13/16/13/8
By eleventh level, Aine’s Blade cantrip grants more bonus damage than the sneak attack die she’s lost from her multiclass dip, and she’s gained one of the most powerful abilities in the game – Magical Ambush, helping offset her otherwise forgettable Intelligence modifier. She gains second-level spells from her Trickster side, including the excellent Shadow Blade and the fight-ending Hold Person. At tenth rogue level (twelfth character level), Aine receives a bonus ASI, which lets her take Resilient: Constitution and gain proficiency in constitution saving throws. This ticks her up to 14 Con, giving her a bunch of extra HP as well. Two rogue levels after this grant Aine the gamebreakingly awesome Reliable Talent and her third ‘regular’ ASI, which lets her take War Caster.
A third level of wizard after this grants Aine unfettered access to second-level wizard spells, while her fourth wizard level immediately afterwards grants her another ASI. This one is dumped directly into Dexterity, maximizing her most critical ability score.
Heroic Soul: Level Seventeen
Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 13 / Wizard (War Magic) 4
10/20/14/16/13/8
By this point, Aine is already a deadly magical sneak and assassin, debilitating targets from concealmeant before dispatching them with a magically charged strike of her steel or a sword of mind-rending gloom. Third-level Trickster spells grant Aine core access to her most critical higher-level spells, with each new level at this stage generally granting more magic rather than improved martial prowess and coming in whichever order the player prefers. The exception is obtaining proficiency in Wisdom at fifteenth rogue level, a key defensive piece that may be well worth prioritizing over extra magical abilities. Especially in a world where magical equipment doesn’t exist.
Avandra’s Blade: Level Twenty
Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 15 / Wizard (War Magic) 5
10/20/14/16/13/8
At maximum level, Aine has gained proficiency in all three core saving throws. With Arcane Deflection, Avandra’s chosen champion is exceptionally good at making saves and avoiding dangerous situations or fight-ending debuffs. She cannot learn spells above third level, but she can upcast spells up to fifth level to improve her magic and gains access to third-level wizard spells, granting her about eighty percent of the wizard classes practical utility – and by twentieth level, she’ll have enough gold to ensure her spellbook is well supplied with all the best magical goodies.
The 2d6 sneak attack dice she loses from her wizard’s training is more than made up for by the 3d8 bonus damage she gains from her Blade, and by her access to upcast Shadow Blade as well as Haste and standby third-level wizard blasting spells. Aine’s damage is not as explosive as a full-up, 100% Combat All The Time paladin or hexblade-based warrior gish, but she makes up for this with an enormous amount of out-of-combat utility and disruptive spellcasting.
The drawback is that unlike the legion of Hexblade-based characters out there, Aine does not get to attack and cast with the same stat. Her Intelligence modifier is a mediocre +3 by endgame, which hampers her saves and constrains her selection of prepared wizard spells – by level 20 she gets only eight prepared spells on top of the ten she knows as a Trickster. Careful selection and deployment of spells is a must, but access to ritual casting can expand Aine’s repertoire. As does the solid base class abilities of the rogue.
Enemy warriors are crippled with magic; enemy spellcasters are stricken down with steel. Neither of them will see Aine coming until their lifeblood is already staining the floor. Exactly the way a proper spellblade should be.
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I might be failing to understand why Aine doesn't get Sneak Attack on her -Blade spell attacks? If they're being made with a Finesse weapon, which both Short Sword and Shadow Blade are... what's the problem?
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I'll admit to being confused. Of course she does? Hm. Give me a moment.
skimming post again
Ah. The "By eleventh level, Aine’s Blade cantrip grants more bonus damage than the sneak attack die she’s lost from her multiclass dip..." bit. What I meant by that is that taking two levels of wizard means two levels of not rogue, which means she loses 1d6 sneak die as compared to an eleventh-level straight rogue. 2d8 bonus damage from GFB/BB easily compensates for that lost damage, if only at melee range. But this is a gishy thread, so melee is the only range people care about. Now certainly, a straight Trickster (or anything else in high elf/with Magic Initiate) can gain full Sneak die progression and that bonus damage, but my argument is mostly that wizard levels add an enormous degree of versatility and spell freedom which easily compensates the lost damage.
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Ah, that and "'The 2d6 sneak attack dice she loses from her wizard’s training" had me confused. Otherwise, nice!
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Thank you. Aine is one of my favorite standbyes. Poor gal is sort of my permanent backup; her backstory is easy enough to tweak into any setting should whatever I'm playing die, but I rarely get to play rather than DM and the few times the chance has come up, some other concept has been at the forefront. Or somebody else has already been playing a Trickster or similar rogue. Heh, always seems to be the case for everybody, ne? You've always got your favorites, and yet you never end up getting to actually play them.
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Would a Blood Hunter be allowed?
Blood Hunters are not officially published material, so no.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
This is correct, there's exceptions made in some Throwdowns for other sources (such as UA) but for this particular Throwdown (and most) it's only officially published works and the Bloodhunter is essentially endorsed homebrew at this point (which is a shame, it, along with the Gunslinger, should have been published as player options in Wildemount).
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Level 20 level split: Horizon Walker Ranger 11, Forge Cleric 9
Race: Bugbear
Stats: Str 15 Dex 9 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 9
Background: Hermit
Starting level: Ranger
Ranger for a better selection of starting skills.
At 5th level: Ranger 4, Cleric 1
Bugbear is really just something I like the idea for their long reach trait. Just reach out and touch someone without getting in their range and move on. Many races would work just fine as well, such as Goliath for the occasional damage reduction, or Half Orcs for Relentless Endurance. Utilization of bonus action for the horizon walker Planar Warrior bonus damage of 1d8 force (converts all weapon damage to force as well, good for resistant enemies), and either a boost to weapon attack and damage, or bonus to AC as needed from the Blesaing of the Forge Forge Cleric also gives the ever handy heavy armor proficiency, always useful. Have Absorb Elements for a spell to reduce incoming element damage and return some of it to sender. Pick up the Warcaster feat because its almost mandatory for something like this especially for maintaining hunters mark at this point.
At 11th level: Ranger 5, Cleric 6
Made it to level 5 with the ranger for the extra attack feature, and now to develop some more of those magical muscles to gish out the damage. Other options become available to cast other than hunters mark allowing a little more flexibility. Elemental Weapon becomes an option for more reliable hits while still dealing extra damage(not the best but fairly long lasting), stack this with the Blessing of the forge makes for an extra two to hit which is handy. Couple this with Soul of the Forge and you get a little extra AC as well (with the option to forego the bonus to hit and damage for more AC). Take Heavy Armor Master to round off the strength score to 18 and another little boost to survivability. Now you have Spirit Guardians as a go to spell for added damage per round, not as long lasting as the other options but more bang for your buck in situations with multiple enemies. Generally the go to concentration spell when you have the slots available for it.
At this point you are becoming a much tankier up front damage dealer with a few useful direct damage spells for when they are needed. With a shield and the blessing of the forge on you armor you can have 22 AC at this point, couple it withe absorb element spell to decrease the elemental damage you take is also quite handy.
At 17th level: Ranger 8, Cleric 9
Now for normal attacks you have 1d8 from Planar Warrior(with bonus action) and 1d8 fire from Divine Strike on the first hit that lands. This can be augmented by Holy Weapon when trying to ration your spell slots or amped up Spirit Guardians for shorter fights where you aren't as worried about running low on spells. A few options for spells to delay enemies like Wall of Fire, Or Animate Objects (big ones) continue the defensive trend of this build.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Ranger 11, Cleric 9
Distant Strike becomes a new feather in your cap allowing up to three attacks to be made if each is against a different target, with a little teleport between each one. Planar Warrior also gets an additional damage die for 2d8 force damage. When fighting enemies with very high AC Elemental weapon cast at level 7 gives a plus 3 to hit in addition to its extra 3d4 elemental damage per hit. Not the most damage but more reliably hits the target. If we are trying for as much damage as possible then Spirit Guardians is still a wonderful spell that upcasts quite nicely. At this point the option of 20 strength and 16 wisdom, vs 18 and 18 depends more on personal playstyle. 18/18 is probably the better balance overall but i do like having a big strong person out front. Your first hit of a round going to be 4d8+5 or so with additions for elemental or holy weapon if they are active. AC is still sitting consistently at 22, and using your reaction to reduce elemental damage with absorb elements (and then retaliating with it) and depending on spell slot used hit back with 1-5d6. Not the flashiest, nor the big burst damager, but should have solid survivability and pretty well round offensive and defensive capabilities as well as spell flexibility from the cleric spell list.
IF the optional ranger features ever become official this build will only gain in damage potential with consistent hunters mark without concentration.
Probably will go back and edit this at some point.
"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."
Gissssh - you can't take Maddening Hex with only 3 levels of Warlock. Otherwise I'm doing similar build in Curse of Strahd right now - except I started with Paladin for heavy armor, and I only took 1 level of Warlock for now (I want to grab Aura of Protection asap), also I went with Half-elf. However the idea with Pact of the Chain I really like, I was recently thinking that I won't be getting much out of Pact of the Blade, and having a familiar seems like a great idea.
Oof I'm tripping on a lot of technicalities with this build. I think I'll swap it for Lance of Lethargy.
As for Pact of the Blade... it's really not super useful on its own. The main value of Pact of the Blade (especially for a Gish character) is that it unlocks some pretty useful Eldritch Invocations, but they all require a bit of investment.
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