Race: Variant human, warcaster feat. +1 Con, +1 Cha
Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 16
Background: Soldier
Starting level:
Start with 2 levels of hexblade warlock, choose booming blade and eldritch blast as your cantrips and hex+armor of agathys as your spell. Wield a longsword with shield and wear the best medium armor you can get. Your attack stat is Cha, and you attack mostly with booming blade, with eldritch blast as long ranged backup option. Warcaster allows you to easily use them in melee and make opportunity attacks with them. At second level choose agonizing blast and grasp of hadar as your invocations so that you can pull your enemies into melee with you. Lance of lethargy is another alternative to agonizing blast, because eldritch blast is more for utility and control and booming blade is your primary attack. You cast your spells through your sword, and I envision EB here as similar to getsuga tenshou or the flying sword strikes that Zoro uses in One piece.
Starting from level 3, you become fighter. Choose defense as your fighting style. Level 4 gives you action surge.
Your main role is guarding the front line, because your BB opportunity attacks are great at deterring movement past you, and if they do get past you, you can pull them back with EB.
At 5th level:
You become Eldritch knight. Your damage output is slightly less than your peers because you didn't get your extra attack or ASI yet, but booming blade helps to even out the difference a little. If you chose Agonizing blast, you can keep up using EB, but it would take away from the melee focus. Choose shield and absorb elements as your spells and bladeward as your cantrip, to combo with Armor of Agathys. Level 6 you pump your Cha to 18. Level 7 you catch up with others and using multiattack becomes your main offense. Level 8 ASI to Cha 20. At level 9 you get warmagic and the build comes online in its full glory. This is the reason you have been lagging 2 levels behind your peers. Now you can cast eldritch blast and follow up with a melee attack, mixing sword and sorcerery perfectly.
Level 10, return to hexblade. Pact of the blade, and switch one of your invocations to improved pact weapon. You also get charisma based 2nd level spells, and have good enough casting stat that you don't need to avoid things that offer a save. Hold person is one good option.
At 11th level: Hexblade 4, ASI to sentinel. You gain extra beam in EB, and are now making 4 attacks with it and your sword. With hexblades curse and/or hex you have a decent dpr against single targets. You can also switch your pact weapon to a glaive if you prefer more reach over better AC.
level 12 you get third level spells and a new invocation, Eldritch smite. You will mostly use it when you crit, or if you really want that knockdown effect. You don't get disadvantage to your EB attacks, because you are making them in melee anyway. Level 13 is kinda dead level with accursed specter. Level 14 is another invocation (Grasp of Hadar or Relentless Hex) and 4th level spells. Shadow of Moil is the standout here, and combines well with Armor of Agathys. If enemies try to get past you, they get smacked with three attacks, pulled back to you and their speed becomes 0. If they hit you, they take 20+2d8 damage per attack they make, if they hit in the first place. Level 15-17 you take EK and work your way towards your capstone.
At 17th level: Level 17 gives you Eldritch strike. This is good for normal EK, but it is even better for you, because you have the same spell dc as primary casters. When you put a spell on your enemy, it is going to stick, and it has fair chance of sticking past 1 round. So, you can cast EB for 4 attacks, strike them with your pact weapon and use action surge to disable them with a ju spell. Finally you take the rest of the levels as warlock and get 5th level spells (Hold monster) and armor of hexes.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Your final Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 20 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 20 213HP Ac 20 (no magic items) You have decent single target dpr with 4*(1d10+11)+1d8+14 attack routine, average 75,5 points of damage. And when you crit you can add to that 10d8 (45) points. This should be threatening enough to draw enemy attacks. Between armor of hexes, shield spells, shadow moil and mirror image, that single target is also not very likely to hit you. But when they do, they take average of 31 points points of retributive damage. And if they try to get past you, you smack them hard and stop them in their tracks. You can also lock down enemies with hold monster quite effectively.
Weaknesses: you are very susceptible to grappling and your saves are not very good. You are very dependent on short rests and have only 2 high level spell slots, so you need to choose carefully what you want to do in each situation. No 9th level spells.
Strengths: like any EK, you are very tanky. Relentless hex and misty step also give you good mobility. The difference is that you have much better spell DC and access to higher level spells. Compared to Valor bards, you can combine spell casting and combat much earlier and your spell list is more helpful in melee. Compared with pure hexblade, you have enough spell slots to spam shield and don't need to choose between spell casting and combat, but can instead do both every turn.
"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."
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.
This was a very tough decision, so I decided to flip a coin. I ended up choosing Aine.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
This is not a powerbuild contest; the builds are meant to be fun and fit the theme. Gishes are very difficult to truly optimize, simply because the definition of optimizing something is getting really good at one thing. Gishes try to be good at two things.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
This is not a powerbuild contest; the builds are meant to be fun and fit the theme. Gishes are very difficult to truly optimize, simply because the definition of optimizing something is getting really good at one thing. Gishes try to be good at two things.
I think an Abjuration Wizard using Tenser's Transformation against non-spellcasters, and having at will Shield and Misty Step and having Counterspell as the signature spell for when he's not using Tenser's Transformation would be a fun build. It may not be as interesting to theorize as multiclassing, but in terms of the suite of abilities available to the player, I think it matches the other builds. I think it matches them in fun and fits the theme (as long as you build your abjuration wizard around being in melee), it's just not as interesting to theorize about.
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
This is not a powerbuild contest; the builds are meant to be fun and fit the theme. Gishes are very difficult to truly optimize, simply because the definition of optimizing something is getting really good at one thing. Gishes try to be good at two things.
I think an Abjuration Wizard using Tenser's Transformation against non-spellcasters, and having at will Shield and Misty Step and having Counterspell as the signature spell for when he's not using Tenser's Transformation would be a fun build. It may not be as interesting to theorize as multiclassing, but in terms of the suite of abilities available to the player, I think it matches the other builds. I think it matches them in fun and fits the theme (as long as you build your abjuration wizard around being in melee), it's just not as interesting to theorize about.
Thats cool. I thought you meant in your original post a non-gish abjuration wizard.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
To be fair, one could do a single-class abjurist that fits the bill. Human w/Lightly Armored starting feat, selecting Booming/Green Flame, Soldier background. Create a battlewizard. Starting stats, including feat and human assigned points, are 10/14/15/16/12/8. Snag Resilient: Con at 4 to fill out the 16th point of Con, pump Intelligence at 8th, grab War Caster at 12th, Intelligence again at 16th (or switch those two if you cannot tolerate being below 20 for most of the character's career), then Tough at 19th. With at-will Shield the character's AC is 19 if one assumes studded leather, they have 122HP behind a 45-HP Arcane Ward, and while XYZ-Blade off a quarterstaff for 4d8 per turn is not amazing, a wizard can also Misty Step at will and make themselves difficult to pursue.
Would be something of a Wencit of Rum build, a wizard whose specialization is the enforcement of the Law Arcane and hunting down and punishing those who misuse magic. Wencit himself was possibly the most powerful living mortal (BIG asterisk on 'mortal') wizard of his time, but the Strictures of Ottovar absolutely forbade the use of magic against an unwilling subject, and so he had to fall back on the blade to protect himself during his travels. Even to protect his own life, he couldn't use his Art to strike down others. Which didn't stop him from getting up to some shenanery, but then again he's a wizard. What proper wizard has no shenanery to get up to?
Is it gishy in the way the contest is aiming for? Nah. But it could be a fun twist on the whole 'Frail Bookworm' angle for wizards, ne?
Cleric dip: forge domain. Gives proficiency in heavy armor, and gives you the ability to further boost the heavy armors AC by 1.
Race:Dwarf mark of warding. gives access to extended spell list options, a few free abjuration spell castings per day, racial int boost, tool proficiencies. Boosted investigation/thief tool checks is pretty cool too. Dwarven ability to ignore strength requirements for heavy armor used with cleric dip to gain heavy armor and shield proficiency, further increasing your wards life and conserving your spell slots needed for shield spell.
by third level you could have ridiculous AC, prepare armor of agathys as a cleric spell, upcast it to increase the damage for creatures that actually hit you with melee. If you arcane ward takes the full damage of the attack then armor of agathys still does its damage. This is because armor of agathys retaliatory cold damage is based on you being hit, not taking damage.
from there you can do W/e you want, the basic build is finished. More abjuration wizard definitely helps but as long as you can upcast armor of agathys your good to go. Each cast gives the temp hitpoints AND replenishes your ward.
occasionally preparing shield of faith for even more ac to you, or a party member may not be bad, bless either for buffing attacks and saves. There are quite a few nice 1st level cleric spells that don’t rely on your spellcasting modifier for effectiveness.
maybe get heavy armor master to further increase the likelihood your armor of agathys will stay for multiple attacks while increasing your wizards effective Hitpoints
I know this will not be optimized. It is a theme build not a min/max build. I don't care if X is better then Y in Z situation.
Level 20 level split: 20 Warlock - Hexblade
Race: Variant Human - Feat: Heavily Armored
Stats at LV 1: STR - 14 DEX - 10 CON - 16 INT - 8 WIS - 10 CHA - 16 AC: 13
Stats at LV 20: Str 14 Dex 10 Con 20 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 20
Background: Outlander
Starting level:
Starting equipment and spend your 10 gold to get a shield. You can use Heavy Armor but don't have any yet. The only thing you will be working towards early levels is getting the best heavy armor possible. Everything else is secondary. 1st level Cantrips: Eldritch Blast and Booming Blade. 1st level spells Armor of Agathys and Hex. More damage or some damage and health depending on your needs.
At 2nd level:
Pick up the Devil's Sight(no more stupid weak human vision) and Grasp of Hadar Eldritch Invocations. Be creative with Grasp. Pulling an enemy 90 feet away from you off the edge of a cliff can be fun. Pick up the Expeditious Retreat spell so we can Dash as a bonus action and get closer to the enemy faster if they are being inconsiderate and not letting us do things like pull them off a cliff.
At 3rd level:
You should have better armor. For this, we will go with a cheap 30 GP Ring Mail to bring your AC to 16. Predictably pick up the Pact of the Blade feature. It's just too good to pass up. It now uses your CHA mod for attack and damage and counts as magical and you can shift to whatever type of melee weapon you want to use to bash your opponent with. For a non-concentration defense boost pick up the spell Mirror Image this plus Hex = Joy :)
At 4th level:
Take the War Caster feat. Make good use of your Grasp Invocation to pull squishy types to you and smack them with a Booming Blade when they get close or as a reaction if they try to leave. Pick up the spell Green-Flame Blade for some AoE damage possibilities when making use of your War Caster attack of opportunity. Then get the spell Hellish Rebuke cause if something hurts you blow it up.
At 5th level:
Pick up the Thirsting Blade Invocation. Why? Because you want to smash your foes face in and you want to feel it happen. Hopefully by this time you have "acquired" some half-plate and maybe a +1 shield to bring your AC up to 18. Pick up the spell Blink. It is another great defense boost that is not concentration and is very useful if used correctly. Up yours Wall of Force.
At 6th Level:
The enemies you pummel come back to help you after they die. How thoughtful. Hexblade - Accursed Specter.
At 7th Level:
Pick up the Relentless Hex Invocation. Silly prey. You thought you could run.
At 8th Level:
Use your ASI to pump up your CHA. Smash them all with your daring charm and roughish good looks.
At 10th Level:
Armor of Hexes is absolutely broken for any single target encounter. Guaranteed half of the attack roles against you that would hit are now missing.
At 11th level:
By this time you should have Plate +1 and a shield +2 which will bring your AC up to a respectable 23. With the other non-concentration defense spells like Blink and Mirror Image you are pretty hard to hit. You have various ways to stick to your desired target with pulls, dashes, and teleports. Use your Mystic Arcanum to get Mental Prison. Help lockdown and deal damage to your target.
At 12th Level:
Use your ASI to pump your CHA and pick up the Lifedrinker Invocation to be able to further pummel people with your witty commentary and snazzy good looks.
At 14th Level:
Your Hexblades curse can be moved after you kill your first target. Such a nice warm and tingly sensation right where it counts :) My next targets spleen.
At 17th level:
At this point with Foresight from Mystic Arcanum you are a targeted hunter-killer. Pick something. Kill it. Rinse repeat.
At 20th level and final thoughts:
28 AC. 203 HP. You have a mission and will execute the target with machine-like focus and accuracy. You are the terminator.
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
This is not a powerbuild contest; the builds are meant to be fun and fit the theme. Gishes are very difficult to truly optimize, simply because the definition of optimizing something is getting really good at one thing. Gishes try to be good at two things.
I think an Abjuration Wizard using Tenser's Transformation against non-spellcasters, and having at will Shield and Misty Step and having Counterspell as the signature spell for when he's not using Tenser's Transformation would be a fun build. It may not be as interesting to theorize as multiclassing, but in terms of the suite of abilities available to the player, I think it matches the other builds. I think it matches them in fun and fits the theme (as long as you build your abjuration wizard around being in melee), it's just not as interesting to theorize about.
I prefer War Mage or Transmuter Mage for TT builds, as the War Mage gets to use their Arcane Deflection while transformed and Transmuter can get Con saves in case he gets dispelled and has to make that Con save for exhaustion (or alternately, get some real good damage resistance)
Late to the party, but Firks doesn't care! He's not looking for votes, just wanted to show off his originality (if there is such a thing). A Monk with these spells should be illegal! And he's got some neat spell combinations that make him an unassuming Gish.
Stats at Level 1: STR - 10 DEX - 15 CON - 12 INT - 13 WIS - 15 CHA - 8 AC: 16
Stats at Level 20: STR - 10 DEX - 20 CON - 12 INT - 13 WIS - 20 CHA - 8 AC: 20
Background: Hermit
Starting level:
Start off with Monk. Get a Quarterstaff* and set out to kick ass.
(* items denoted with an asterisk are permanent choices up until level 20)
At 3rd level:
Monk 3. Take your Four Elements Discipline. You're rocking Elemental Attunement and Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)* at this point and have some fun.
At 4th level:
Monk 4. Take an ASI to move Dex to 18 and Wis to 17. AC is now 17.
At 6th level:
Monk 6. Switch up your Disciplines. You now have Fist of Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, and Gong of the Summit (Shatter).
At 7th level:
Monk 6/Wizard 1. You're now taking 3 levels of Wizard and specializing in the School of Evocation. You want that Sculpt Spells option so you can cast your Evocations indiscriminately from now on. For spells, you're taking Cantrips Booming Blade* and Green Flame Blade*, and for 1st level you're taking Shield*. This gives you an AC of 22 when you need it, immunity to Magic Missiles, etc.
At 9th Level:
Monk 6/Wizard 3. This is where you start getting synergy. You now have Mirror Image* as a 2nd level spell, meaning that each Mirror image has 14 AC. You can now Sculpt Spells on your Monk spells to really start casting at will. With Thunderwave and Fist of Unbroken Air you are starting to really control the battlefield.
At 10th Level:
Monk 7/Wizard 3. You now have Evasion. So you're starting to become untouchable inside most spells, which will come in handy later...
At 11th Level:
Monk 8/Wizard 3. ASI here to boost Dex to 20. AC is now 18, Mirror Images now have 15 AC, and your Shield spell gives you up to 23 AC in a pinch. Mind you, your Dex save is now a +9 and AoE spells do no damage if you save.
At 14th Level:
Monk 11/Wizard 3. New Elemental Disciplines: Fist of the Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, Ride the Wind (Fly)*, and Gong of the Summit (Shatter).
At 15th level:
Monk 12/Wizard 3. ASI time - take Observant for +1 Wis. AC is now 19, 24 with Shield.
At 17th Level:
Monk 14/Wizard 3. Diamond Soul time. Your saves are now Str +4, Dex +10 (with Evasion), Con +6, Int +6, Wis +9, Cha +4.
At 19th Level:
Monk 16/Wizard 3. Final ASI to max Wisdom. AC is now 20, 25 with Shield.
At 20th level and Final Thoughts:
This is where it all comes together. Your Final Selection of Elemental Disciplines are: Fist of the Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, Ride the Wind (Fly)*, River of Hungry Flame (Wall of Fire)*, and Breath of Winter (Cone of Cold)*.
So what does this look like now?
Your AC is 20 which you can bump to 25 AC in a pinch. You get a Shield spell 4 times per long rest.
You have Mirror Image 2 times per long rest, each Image has 15 AC.
Arcane Recovery grants you 2 spell slots back.
120 HP.
Your Saves are amazing: Str +5, Dex +11 (with Evasion), Con +7, Int +7, Wis +11, Cha +5. And you can use a Ki Point to reroll. Immunity to Disease and Poison.
You get 2 attacks per round with a Quarterstaff at +11, which does 1d10+5 per attack and an Unarmed Bonus attack at +11 as well which also does 1d10+5. One extra Unarmed Bonus attack with Flurry of Blows.
You get Wall of Fire, which you can Sculpt around 5 of your own allies when you first cast it, giving them a chance to get out of the way. If any of your enemies are standing near the Wall of Fire you can literally punch them through the Wall of Fire with Fist of Unbroken Air OR if there are multiple targets, use Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave) to push multiples of them through the wall at a time. Even if they're mixed in with your allies, you can Sculpt the Thunderwave around 2 allies completely.
For Fist of Unbroken Air, it takes 2 Ki to do 3d10 (ave 16.5) plus 5d8 (ave 22.5) for a total of 39 average damage to the target you push through the Wall of Fire.
For Fist of Four Thunders, it takes 2 Ki to do 2d8 (ave 9) plus 5d8 (ave 22.5) for a total of 31.5 average damage to EACH target you push through the Wall of Fire.
Never before has standing beside a Wall of Fire been so much fun! Have even more fun when your friend casts Prismatic Wall for you!
On the other hand, you could take the alternative Flames of the Phoenix (Fireball) and stand directly in the middle of it. You could even use Patient Defense first if you want, become nigh-unhittable, get Advantage on your Dex save (88% chance of success) and still Sculpt it around 4 other people not including yourself.
Or, be even more diabolical and use Stun in combination with any of these spells to guarantee Failure. A Stunned opponent automatically fails your Fist of Unbroken Air attack, so use it wisely!
Your votes have been counted and updated in the OP for those that want to see the breakdown, but the results are in and...
The winner is Yurei1453's 'Aine, Avandra's Blade,' Congratulations Yurei and thank you to everyone that submitted a build and voted!
Please stay tuned as the next Throwdown will be submitted today!
If you enjoy 5e builds and build discussion then please check out my Youtube channel, completely optional of course but any support would be appreciated. :)
Your votes have been counted and updated in the OP for those that want to see the breakdown, but the results are in and...
The winner is Yurei1453's 'Aine, Avandra's Blade,' Congratulations Yurei and thank you to everyone that submitted a build and voted!
Please stay tuned as the next Throwdown will be submitted today!
If you enjoy 5e builds and build discussion then please check out my Youtube channel, completely optional of course but any support would be appreciated. :)
What is the next build? I hope it's a juggernaut type one....
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
What is the next build? I hope it's a juggernaut type one....
My lips are sealed, the unveiling needs to be dramatic but... yeah kinda. It'll be focused around the durability of an individual character, so there's a sneak peak!
@GoodBovine, thank you for checking it out, much appreciated!
Eldritch hexblade
Level 20 level split: Hexblade 10, eldritch knight 10
Race: Variant human, warcaster feat. +1 Con, +1 Cha
Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 16
Background: Soldier
Starting level:
Start with 2 levels of hexblade warlock, choose booming blade and eldritch blast as your cantrips and hex+armor of agathys as your spell. Wield a longsword with shield and wear the best medium armor you can get. Your attack stat is Cha, and you attack mostly with booming blade, with eldritch blast as long ranged backup option. Warcaster allows you to easily use them in melee and make opportunity attacks with them. At second level choose agonizing blast and grasp of hadar as your invocations so that you can pull your enemies into melee with you. Lance of lethargy is another alternative to agonizing blast, because eldritch blast is more for utility and control and booming blade is your primary attack. You cast your spells through your sword, and I envision EB here as similar to getsuga tenshou or the flying sword strikes that Zoro uses in One piece.
Starting from level 3, you become fighter. Choose defense as your fighting style. Level 4 gives you action surge.
Your main role is guarding the front line, because your BB opportunity attacks are great at deterring movement past you, and if they do get past you, you can pull them back with EB.
At 5th level:
You become Eldritch knight. Your damage output is slightly less than your peers because you didn't get your extra attack or ASI yet, but booming blade helps to even out the difference a little. If you chose Agonizing blast, you can keep up using EB, but it would take away from the melee focus. Choose shield and absorb elements as your spells and bladeward as your cantrip, to combo with Armor of Agathys. Level 6 you pump your Cha to 18. Level 7 you catch up with others and using multiattack becomes your main offense. Level 8 ASI to Cha 20. At level 9 you get warmagic and the build comes online in its full glory. This is the reason you have been lagging 2 levels behind your peers. Now you can cast eldritch blast and follow up with a melee attack, mixing sword and sorcerery perfectly.
Level 10, return to hexblade. Pact of the blade, and switch one of your invocations to improved pact weapon. You also get charisma based 2nd level spells, and have good enough casting stat that you don't need to avoid things that offer a save. Hold person is one good option.
At 11th level:
Hexblade 4, ASI to sentinel. You gain extra beam in EB, and are now making 4 attacks with it and your sword. With hexblades curse and/or hex you have a decent dpr against single targets. You can also switch your pact weapon to a glaive if you prefer more reach over better AC.
level 12 you get third level spells and a new invocation, Eldritch smite. You will mostly use it when you crit, or if you really want that knockdown effect. You don't get disadvantage to your EB attacks, because you are making them in melee anyway. Level 13 is kinda dead level with accursed specter. Level 14 is another invocation (Grasp of Hadar or Relentless Hex) and 4th level spells. Shadow of Moil is the standout here, and combines well with Armor of Agathys. If enemies try to get past you, they get smacked with three attacks, pulled back to you and their speed becomes 0. If they hit you, they take 20+2d8 damage per attack they make, if they hit in the first place. Level 15-17 you take EK and work your way towards your capstone.
At 17th level:
Level 17 gives you Eldritch strike. This is good for normal EK, but it is even better for you, because you have the same spell dc as primary casters. When you put a spell on your enemy, it is going to stick, and it has fair chance of sticking past 1 round. So, you can cast EB for 4 attacks, strike them with your pact weapon and use action surge to disable them with a ju spell. Finally you take the rest of the levels as warlock and get 5th level spells (Hold monster) and armor of hexes.
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Your final Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 20 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 20
213HP Ac 20 (no magic items)
You have decent single target dpr with 4*(1d10+11)+1d8+14 attack routine, average 75,5 points of damage. And when you crit you can add to that 10d8 (45) points. This should be threatening enough to draw enemy attacks. Between armor of hexes, shield spells, shadow moil and mirror image, that single target is also not very likely to hit you. But when they do, they take average of 31 points points of retributive damage. And if they try to get past you, you smack them hard and stop them in their tracks. You can also lock down enemies with hold monster quite effectively.
Weaknesses: you are very susceptible to grappling and your saves are not very good. You are very dependent on short rests and have only 2 high level spell slots, so you need to choose carefully what you want to do in each situation. No 9th level spells.
Strengths: like any EK, you are very tanky. Relentless hex and misty step also give you good mobility. The difference is that you have much better spell DC and access to higher level spells. Compared to Valor bards, you can combine spell casting and combat much earlier and your spell list is more helpful in melee. Compared with pure hexblade, you have enough spell slots to spam shield and don't need to choose between spell casting and combat, but can instead do both every turn.
Reminder: Last day for voting
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How close is it between the top three?
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
I think lelogish and Aine are probably the top two
"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."
This was a very tough decision, so I decided to flip a coin. I ended up choosing Aine.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
I vote for Aine, but I maintain that a level 20 abjuration wizard would be better than any of the builds posted here. Especially against enemy spellcasters.
This is not a powerbuild contest; the builds are meant to be fun and fit the theme. Gishes are very difficult to truly optimize, simply because the definition of optimizing something is getting really good at one thing. Gishes try to be good at two things.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
I think an Abjuration Wizard using Tenser's Transformation against non-spellcasters, and having at will Shield and Misty Step and having Counterspell as the signature spell for when he's not using Tenser's Transformation would be a fun build. It may not be as interesting to theorize as multiclassing, but in terms of the suite of abilities available to the player, I think it matches the other builds. I think it matches them in fun and fits the theme (as long as you build your abjuration wizard around being in melee), it's just not as interesting to theorize about.
Thats cool. I thought you meant in your original post a non-gish abjuration wizard.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
To be fair, one could do a single-class abjurist that fits the bill. Human w/Lightly Armored starting feat, selecting Booming/Green Flame, Soldier background. Create a battlewizard. Starting stats, including feat and human assigned points, are 10/14/15/16/12/8. Snag Resilient: Con at 4 to fill out the 16th point of Con, pump Intelligence at 8th, grab War Caster at 12th, Intelligence again at 16th (or switch those two if you cannot tolerate being below 20 for most of the character's career), then Tough at 19th. With at-will Shield the character's AC is 19 if one assumes studded leather, they have 122HP behind a 45-HP Arcane Ward, and while XYZ-Blade off a quarterstaff for 4d8 per turn is not amazing, a wizard can also Misty Step at will and make themselves difficult to pursue.
Would be something of a Wencit of Rum build, a wizard whose specialization is the enforcement of the Law Arcane and hunting down and punishing those who misuse magic. Wencit himself was possibly the most powerful living mortal (BIG asterisk on 'mortal') wizard of his time, but the Strictures of Ottovar absolutely forbade the use of magic against an unwilling subject, and so he had to fall back on the blade to protect himself during his travels. Even to protect his own life, he couldn't use his Art to strike down others. Which didn't stop him from getting up to some shenanery, but then again he's a wizard. What proper wizard has no shenanery to get up to?
Is it gishy in the way the contest is aiming for? Nah. But it could be a fun twist on the whole 'Frail Bookworm' angle for wizards, ne?
Please do not contact or message me.
Abjuration wizard for arcane ward.
Cleric dip: forge domain. Gives proficiency in heavy armor, and gives you the ability to further boost the heavy armors AC by 1.
Race:Dwarf mark of warding.
gives access to extended spell list options, a few free abjuration spell castings per day, racial int boost, tool proficiencies. Boosted investigation/thief tool checks is pretty cool too.
Dwarven ability to ignore strength requirements for heavy armor used with cleric dip to gain heavy armor and shield proficiency, further increasing your wards life and conserving your spell slots needed for shield spell.
by third level you could have ridiculous AC, prepare armor of agathys as a cleric spell, upcast it to increase the damage for creatures that actually hit you with melee. If you arcane ward takes the full damage of the attack then armor of agathys still does its damage. This is because armor of agathys retaliatory cold damage is based on you being hit, not taking damage.
from there you can do W/e you want, the basic build is finished. More abjuration wizard definitely helps but as long as you can upcast armor of agathys your good to go. Each cast gives the temp hitpoints AND replenishes your ward.
occasionally preparing shield of faith for even more ac to you, or a party member may not be bad, bless either for buffing attacks and saves. There are quite a few nice 1st level cleric spells that don’t rely on your spellcasting modifier for effectiveness.
maybe get heavy armor master to further increase the likelihood your armor of agathys will stay for multiple attacks while increasing your wizards effective Hitpoints
**Something to note**
I know this will not be optimized. It is a theme build not a min/max build. I don't care if X is better then Y in Z situation.
Level 20 level split: 20 Warlock - Hexblade
Race: Variant Human - Feat: Heavily Armored
Stats at LV 1: STR - 14 DEX - 10 CON - 16 INT - 8 WIS - 10 CHA - 16 AC: 13
Stats at LV 20: Str 14 Dex 10 Con 20 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 20
Background: Outlander
Starting level:
Starting equipment and spend your 10 gold to get a shield. You can use Heavy Armor but don't have any yet. The only thing you will be working towards early levels is getting the best heavy armor possible. Everything else is secondary. 1st level Cantrips: Eldritch Blast and Booming Blade. 1st level spells Armor of Agathys and Hex. More damage or some damage and health depending on your needs.
At 2nd level:
Pick up the Devil's Sight(no more stupid weak human vision) and Grasp of Hadar Eldritch Invocations. Be creative with Grasp. Pulling an enemy 90 feet away from you off the edge of a cliff can be fun. Pick up the Expeditious Retreat spell so we can Dash as a bonus action and get closer to the enemy faster if they are being inconsiderate and not letting us do things like pull them off a cliff.
At 3rd level:
You should have better armor. For this, we will go with a cheap 30 GP Ring Mail to bring your AC to 16. Predictably pick up the Pact of the Blade feature. It's just too good to pass up. It now uses your CHA mod for attack and damage and counts as magical and you can shift to whatever type of melee weapon you want to use to bash your opponent with. For a non-concentration defense boost pick up the spell Mirror Image this plus Hex = Joy :)
At 4th level:
Take the War Caster feat. Make good use of your Grasp Invocation to pull squishy types to you and smack them with a Booming Blade when they get close or as a reaction if they try to leave. Pick up the spell Green-Flame Blade for some AoE damage possibilities when making use of your War Caster attack of opportunity. Then get the spell Hellish Rebuke cause if something hurts you blow it up.
At 5th level:
Pick up the Thirsting Blade Invocation. Why? Because you want to smash your foes face in and you want to feel it happen. Hopefully by this time you have "acquired" some half-plate and maybe a +1 shield to bring your AC up to 18. Pick up the spell Blink. It is another great defense boost that is not concentration and is very useful if used correctly. Up yours Wall of Force.
At 6th Level:
The enemies you pummel come back to help you after they die. How thoughtful. Hexblade - Accursed Specter.
At 7th Level:
Pick up the Relentless Hex Invocation. Silly prey. You thought you could run.
At 8th Level:
Use your ASI to pump up your CHA. Smash them all with your daring charm and roughish good looks.
At 10th Level:
Armor of Hexes is absolutely broken for any single target encounter. Guaranteed half of the attack roles against you that would hit are now missing.
At 11th level:
By this time you should have Plate +1 and a shield +2 which will bring your AC up to a respectable 23. With the other non-concentration defense spells like Blink and Mirror Image you are pretty hard to hit. You have various ways to stick to your desired target with pulls, dashes, and teleports. Use your Mystic Arcanum to get Mental Prison. Help lockdown and deal damage to your target.
At 12th Level:
Use your ASI to pump your CHA and pick up the Lifedrinker Invocation to be able to further pummel people with your witty commentary and snazzy good looks.
At 14th Level:
Your Hexblades curse can be moved after you kill your first target. Such a nice warm and tingly sensation right where it counts :) My next targets spleen.
At 17th level:
At this point with Foresight from Mystic Arcanum you are a targeted hunter-killer. Pick something. Kill it. Rinse repeat.
At 20th level and final thoughts:
28 AC. 203 HP. You have a mission and will execute the target with machine-like focus and accuracy. You are the terminator.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Devolnu/characters/32137665
I prefer War Mage or Transmuter Mage for TT builds, as the War Mage gets to use their Arcane Deflection while transformed and Transmuter can get Con saves in case he gets dispelled and has to make that Con save for exhaustion (or alternately, get some real good damage resistance)
Late to the party, but Firks doesn't care! He's not looking for votes, just wanted to show off his originality (if there is such a thing). A Monk with these spells should be illegal! And he's got some neat spell combinations that make him an unassuming Gish.
https://ddb.ac/characters/30019645/DN85Ka
Firks the Aggressive Monk
Class: Monk 17 (Four Elements) / Wizard 3 (Enchantment)
Race: Wood Elf
Stats at Level 1: STR - 10 DEX - 15 CON - 12 INT - 13 WIS - 15 CHA - 8 AC: 16
Stats at Level 20: STR - 10 DEX - 20 CON - 12 INT - 13 WIS - 20 CHA - 8 AC: 20
Background: Hermit
Starting level:
Start off with Monk. Get a Quarterstaff* and set out to kick ass.
(* items denoted with an asterisk are permanent choices up until level 20)
At 3rd level:
Monk 3. Take your Four Elements Discipline. You're rocking Elemental Attunement and Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)* at this point and have some fun.
At 4th level:
Monk 4. Take an ASI to move Dex to 18 and Wis to 17. AC is now 17.
At 6th level:
Monk 6. Switch up your Disciplines. You now have Fist of Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, and Gong of the Summit (Shatter).
At 7th level:
Monk 6/Wizard 1. You're now taking 3 levels of Wizard and specializing in the School of Evocation. You want that Sculpt Spells option so you can cast your Evocations indiscriminately from now on. For spells, you're taking Cantrips Booming Blade* and Green Flame Blade*, and for 1st level you're taking Shield*. This gives you an AC of 22 when you need it, immunity to Magic Missiles, etc.
At 9th Level:
Monk 6/Wizard 3. This is where you start getting synergy. You now have Mirror Image* as a 2nd level spell, meaning that each Mirror image has 14 AC. You can now Sculpt Spells on your Monk spells to really start casting at will. With Thunderwave and Fist of Unbroken Air you are starting to really control the battlefield.
At 10th Level:
Monk 7/Wizard 3. You now have Evasion. So you're starting to become untouchable inside most spells, which will come in handy later...
At 11th Level:
Monk 8/Wizard 3. ASI here to boost Dex to 20. AC is now 18, Mirror Images now have 15 AC, and your Shield spell gives you up to 23 AC in a pinch. Mind you, your Dex save is now a +9 and AoE spells do no damage if you save.
At 14th Level:
Monk 11/Wizard 3. New Elemental Disciplines: Fist of the Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, Ride the Wind (Fly)*, and Gong of the Summit (Shatter).
At 15th level:
Monk 12/Wizard 3. ASI time - take Observant for +1 Wis. AC is now 19, 24 with Shield.
At 17th Level:
Monk 14/Wizard 3. Diamond Soul time. Your saves are now Str +4, Dex +10 (with Evasion), Con +6, Int +6, Wis +9, Cha +4.
At 19th Level:
Monk 16/Wizard 3. Final ASI to max Wisdom. AC is now 20, 25 with Shield.
At 20th level and Final Thoughts:
This is where it all comes together. Your Final Selection of Elemental Disciplines are: Fist of the Unbroken Air*, Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave)*, Ride the Wind (Fly)*, River of Hungry Flame (Wall of Fire)*, and Breath of Winter (Cone of Cold)*.
So what does this look like now?
Your AC is 20 which you can bump to 25 AC in a pinch. You get a Shield spell 4 times per long rest.
You have Mirror Image 2 times per long rest, each Image has 15 AC.
Arcane Recovery grants you 2 spell slots back.
120 HP.
Your Saves are amazing: Str +5, Dex +11 (with Evasion), Con +7, Int +7, Wis +11, Cha +5. And you can use a Ki Point to reroll. Immunity to Disease and Poison.
You get 2 attacks per round with a Quarterstaff at +11, which does 1d10+5 per attack and an Unarmed Bonus attack at +11 as well which also does 1d10+5. One extra Unarmed Bonus attack with Flurry of Blows.
You get Wall of Fire, which you can Sculpt around 5 of your own allies when you first cast it, giving them a chance to get out of the way. If any of your enemies are standing near the Wall of Fire you can literally punch them through the Wall of Fire with Fist of Unbroken Air OR if there are multiple targets, use Fist of Four Thunders (Thunderwave) to push multiples of them through the wall at a time. Even if they're mixed in with your allies, you can Sculpt the Thunderwave around 2 allies completely.
For Fist of Unbroken Air, it takes 2 Ki to do 3d10 (ave 16.5) plus 5d8 (ave 22.5) for a total of 39 average damage to the target you push through the Wall of Fire.
For Fist of Four Thunders, it takes 2 Ki to do 2d8 (ave 9) plus 5d8 (ave 22.5) for a total of 31.5 average damage to EACH target you push through the Wall of Fire.
Never before has standing beside a Wall of Fire been so much fun! Have even more fun when your friend casts Prismatic Wall for you!
On the other hand, you could take the alternative Flames of the Phoenix (Fireball) and stand directly in the middle of it. You could even use Patient Defense first if you want, become nigh-unhittable, get Advantage on your Dex save (88% chance of success) and still Sculpt it around 4 other people not including yourself.
Or, be even more diabolical and use Stun in combination with any of these spells to guarantee Failure. A Stunned opponent automatically fails your Fist of Unbroken Air attack, so use it wisely!
Your votes have been counted and updated in the OP for those that want to see the breakdown, but the results are in and...
The winner is Yurei1453's 'Aine, Avandra's Blade,' Congratulations Yurei and thank you to everyone that submitted a build and voted!
Please stay tuned as the next Throwdown will be submitted today!
If you enjoy 5e builds and build discussion then please check out my Youtube channel, completely optional of course but any support would be appreciated. :)
Subscribe to our channel for character builds, roleplay and DM tips: www.youtube.com/c/dorkforge
Interested in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? Check out our playlist on Youtube
Please feel free to message us with any requests or build challenges!
checked out the channel. pretty sweet actually.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
What is the next build? I hope it's a juggernaut type one....
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
My lips are sealed, the unveiling needs to be dramatic but... yeah kinda. It'll be focused around the durability of an individual character, so there's a sneak peak!
@GoodBovine, thank you for checking it out, much appreciated!
Subscribe to our channel for character builds, roleplay and DM tips: www.youtube.com/c/dorkforge
Interested in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? Check out our playlist on Youtube
Please feel free to message us with any requests or build challenges!
Could you please link the next throwdown in the op? Thanks, having loads of fun with this!
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
The OP has been updated, but for anyone currently on this page, here's a link for the new Throwdown: 5e Throwdowns D&D Beyond edition #2: The Terminator
Subscribe to our channel for character builds, roleplay and DM tips: www.youtube.com/c/dorkforge
Interested in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? Check out our playlist on Youtube
Please feel free to message us with any requests or build challenges!