Long-time video game player, first time Dungeons & Dragons dabbler. Hey folks. I've become inspired as a result of coming across Hero Forge and its great interface for creating and customising miniatures, and would like to give the game a try. It's terribly overwhelming, the rules are very intricate, the lore is very dense with a hodge-podge of tweaks and changes, and, well, it's just really intimidating. I figure the best way to get going with it is to start having some fun, and I figure the best way would be to bring a few actual characters to fruition. One at a time. I don't know how large a traditional "party" is, but, I figure a small pool of characters to choose from, each of different archetypes of employing different play styles, would be the best way to get my head around the game, and help me have viable builds to aim for.
To start, my character of choice in role-playing games and the like is always a "Wood Elf" where possible. It's always been my favourite. In this case, I'm thinking as follows:-
A nomad—picture an elven version of Aladdin, who wears rags, not armour—who travels from place to place and manages to live out a comfortable existence alongside his only friend, a petite little songbird, who sits on his shoulder when she isn't being employed as a sneaky scout or lookout whenever he finds himself sneaking into a rich homestead to lift a few coins or jewels. He travels light, a hunter's bow and some arrows, a few throwing knives, but otherwise he uses his body as his weapon (I was envisaging a Ranger and Monk hybrid build), and has gone to great lengths to hone his stealth and survival skills. He's not a bad guy, he's well-meaning by and large, very happy-go-lucky, he abides by his own moral code: steals from people substantially richer, helps people poorer, and really doesn't have exquisite taste. He's well equipped for solo adventures, but can party up when adventure or opportunity presents itself, and ideally acts as a devastating dealer of ranged damage or an agile close-combat disruptor to draw enemy attention and dodge what they throw his way.
That will do as a rough outline. I understand that Level 20 is the highest level in standard rules, so, if folks would be so kind, so I have a good idea what to actually work towards in order to make such a character viable, can someone please propose a good Level 20 version of a character like this for me?
I like the idea of the songbird being incorporated if possible. I realise they game rules may not strictly allow for a character's creature to act autonomously, but perhaps just lore-wise some of the skills or spells employed could actually be the songbird having some agency or impact, I don't know. That's the thing, I really don't know what is possible in Dungeons & Dragons rulesets, because it's all so new to me. Any input would be much appreciated.
Aladdin isn't a nomad, he lives in a city he pretty much never leaves. That said, I'm note sure why you'd want to constrict this build to a level 20 character. Again, if you go by Aladdin he is far from being as powerful as level 20. The kind of character you describe differs from Aladdin quite a bit, actually.
Any way. I'd say that Aladdin is a Variant Human with the Mobile feat but you could go with Lucky or Athlete as well. If you really want a songbird you could always go with Magic Initiate Wizard and pick Find Familiar as your spell of choice. Mage hand and Friends would be suitable cantrips. Probably not more than level 3 at the start of the story (if we go by the Disney movie, otherwise you would of course start at level 1) and Thief Rogue would be a good class. As you progress you can pick up a a few levels of monk but again, if you want to build Aladdin he is very much a classical Rogue.
Using standard point array as a guideline I would have the following stats. Str 10 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 14 Aladdin is agile, charming and streetwise, he's not a very strong character but being a street kid he's pretty tough but he's had no formal education. For background Urchin, Outlander or Folk Hero probably is best, maybe Criminal or Charlatan depending on what route you want to take. For skills you will want Sleight of Hand, Perception, Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, Deception and Survival. As a Rogue you start of with a bunch of daggers and a short bow which seems to fit what you wanted quite well. There you go. You are now ready to go out to find your magical lamp!
I would not worry about level 20 very few camapigns get that far. I would also suggest you stick to a single class for a first character D&D alsohas very little solo adventures (it is typically played with a dungeon master and 3-7 players) so while he might be able to go on solo adventures in practise he will be in a group.
I am not sure what you mean by standard rules, there is what is known as the SRD (systems reference document) which is essentially what is available for free, this includes only one sub class for each class and has limited choices for things like race, spells and feats. This is could be like the limitations placed on a player having a free trialof a video game.
You could also mean you are referring to the published rules as a whole and just wand to exclude homebrew,. I will assume the later but point out anything that is not free.
Your character concept could fit into a monk, ranger or rogue. To play a rogue or ranger however you really need to wear light armor (initially leather then studded leather) a ranger could also wear medium armour. Therefore if you want ot wear rags you should go monk). Monks are proficent with daggers (to use either in ,melee or as throwing knives), short bow and light cross bow so you are OK there.
The free subclass ofopen-hand fits your concept quite well being focused on damage output, the other option would be a shadowmonk that is more stealth based especially where there is little light.
With a little re-skinning the songbird is quite possible in a couple of ways:
Get access to the find familiar spell, this allows you to to create a creature in the form of an animal that always obeys your commands. There is a list of available beasts which has three types of bird, raven, hawk and owl, your DM should allow you to reskin one of those as a song bird. You can do this by:
Take the Ritual Caster Feat (not free), you can not do this until level 4 (unless you change to become variant human) you will also need at least 13 wisdom but as a monk that should not be a problem. This allows you to have a second ritual spell and can learn more as you progress through the game. you will take this instead of increasing your dex or wis by two so there is a cost
Take the magic Initiate (wizard) feat (not free), this gives you access to 2 wizard cantrips of your choice as well as find familiar, you will be limited to casting find familiar once per day but that should not be a problem (you need to recast it if you familiar dies) (again unless you go human you can not get this until level 4 and it againd replace an ASI)
Take a level of Wizard, you will need an intelligence of at least 13 to doo this which means you dex, wisodom or comn might suffer
Take 3 levels of warlock and take pact of the chain this gives you a slightly improved familiar but does not really fit in with your concept and will put you back quite a bit in you monk levels you would also need 13 Charisma causing other stats to suffer (not recommneded)
Become a beast master Ranger (not free subclass), Beastmasters can get access to a beast companion at level 3, this is probably the weakest subclass in the game and by choosing a songbird (rather than something like a wolf) you are weakening it even further I am not saying don't go that way but be aware that other party members will be likely to help the party more than you. The strongest bird you would be able to have as a companion rules as written would be a blood hawk.
I would not worry about planning a character all the way to 20. Most games never get past 15.
As a new player I would also suggest sticking to a single class to keep things simpler.
Animal companions with mechanical effects are only available in a few ways: - Beastmaster Ranger (ranger subclass) - Find Familiar (wizard spell) - Pact of the Chain (warlock) Beyond scouting with them, there usually isn't much that you can do with it as it will have a painfully low HP pool unless you are a beastmaster. You can also just describe things as happening through the bird though, for example, as a bard you could describe your spell effects as coming from the bird on your shoulder, but mechanically they would have the regular rules and effects.
Two classes come to mind for this: A beastmaster ranger for easy access to having a animal companion A scout rogue for better skills, and you can take the magic initiate feat for Find Familiar to get an animal
In either case you can fully realize your concept by level 3, not 20.
Attacking unarmed is generally a bad idea unless you are a monk, so you will probably want to use a weapon.
I would not worry about planning a character all the way to 20. Most games never get past 15.
As a new player I would also suggest sticking to a single class to keep things simpler.
Animal companions with mechanical effects are only available in a few ways: - Beastmaster Ranger (ranger subclass) - Find Familiar (wizard spell) - Pact of the Chain (warlock) Beyond scouting with them, there usually isn't much that you can do with it as it will have a painfully low HP pool unless you are a beastmaster. You can also just describe things as happening through the bird though, for example, as a bard you could describe your spell effects as coming from the bird on your shoulder, but mechanically they would have the regular rules and effects.
Two classes come to mind for this: A beastmaster ranger for easy access to having a animal companion A scout rogue for better skills, and you can take the magic initiate feat for Find Familiar to get an animal
In either case you can fully realize your concept by level 3, not 20.
Attacking unarmed is generally a bad idea unless you are a monk, so you will probably want to use a weapon.
You could also play as an artificer battle smith and have your steel defender be some kind of animal. Wouldn't really fit this particular character but it makes a better beast master than beast master ranger! :)
Okay, interesting. I had a misconception about characters, in that I was under the impression that progress was slow and levelling up happened slowly over multiple campaigns, but it seems all progress is reset and characters start from scratch with each new campaign. Is that right? Interesting. I thought there was a degree of permanency to progress.
I'm starting to think a Monk would be ideal—if it fights unarmed and can use a short bow (I'd rather a longbow, but whatever) then that sounds like a good fit.
I'm not sure which option would be best to realise the songbird aspect. Part of me thinks that, given it's not going to be as much of a presence as a hawk or a wolf, it's probably best to just treat it as flavour in the lore of the character rather than try to incorporate it into a build. I really have no concept of how that would limit things during a campaign though. I have a lot of thinking to do, but I appreciate the input thus far.
Okay, interesting. I had a misconception about characters, in that I was under the impression that progress was slow and levelling up happened slowly over multiple campaigns, but it seems all progress is reset and characters start from scratch with each new campaign. Is that right? Interesting. I thought there was a degree of permanency to progress.
Well, it depends on the group. Most published campaigns kind of assume the you start with new characters since they start of at a low difficulty level which means that if you bring in a higher level character from a different campaign the encounters won't be balanced and you'll smash through all opposition. But to take it back to your original post and you wanting a 20th level character, that would be like playing World of Warcraft and starting out at level 60. Sure, you will be able to breeze through the starting areas but it won't be any fun since you're so powerful. Level 20 in D&D is the end goal, not the starting point.
I'm starting to think a Monk would be ideal—if it fights unarmed and can use a short bow (I'd rather a longbow, but whatever) then that sounds like a good fit.
If you play as a wood elf you would be able to use longbows as well. You're getting very far from Aladdin territory if that is any concern to you, though.
I'm not sure which option would be best to realise the songbird aspect. Part of me thinks that, given it's not going to be as much of a presence as a hawk or a wolf, it's probably best to just treat it as flavour in the lore of the character rather than try to incorporate it into a build. I really have no concept of how that would limit things during a campaign though. I have a lot of thinking to do, but I appreciate the input thus far.
In that case I suggest taking the Urching background and changing the mouse to a small bird.
I get that--the Aladdin thing was really just a visual reference. I'm starting to think it would be fun to incorporate an animal, so maybe, for the sake of gameplay, the songbird being something potentially more formidable such as a hawk would be okay. From a gameplay perspective, what can "familiars" do?
Familiars can not attack but they can give the help action if they are within 5 feet of an enemy making your attack more likely to hit. Think if is flying around distracting the enemy so they are not concentrating on avoiding your attack.
They can make excellent scouts and they can eithre communicate what they see telpathically or you can use their eyes and ears.
They are very fragile and if they are hit with an attack (or take damage some other way) they will usually die. To get the familiar back you would need to cast the spell again. So if distracting the bad guy results in him attacking the bird and not you that is a risk. Depending on th DM familiars might be able to give potions to party members and possibly other creative uses.
The most powerful type of familiar is probably an owl, it is very perceptive for scouting, can see very well in the dark and is able to fly away from a bad guy without provoking an opportunuity attack. If you need a different type of creature (say you want something to do some underwater scouting you can cast the spell again to turn your familiar into a fish or an octopus. As they can not attack you are really just looking at things like how fast they move, how perceptive and sneaky they are.
The spell consumes 10GP of materials this miught be an issue very early on but should soonbecome a trivial amount.
Overall it is a very powerful spell, possible the most powerful 1st level spell in the game.
Another way of getting find familiar that has not bean mentions is to become an arcane trickster rogue, that get access to it at level 3. A rogue could fit in with your attacking with a bow and daggers and staling from the rich but not with the unarmed combat or not wearing armour therefore I think your best option would be to take either the Magic initiate (wizard) or Ritual Caster (Wizard) feat.
Interesting that a familiar is a spirit that manifests as an animal—I'm guessing it's not possible to incorporate an ACTUAL animal. But, I suppose the "find familiar" spell can be an in-game mechanic which can be explained away somehow lore or story wise. So that's no big deal.
Can someone give me some insight into how a "turn" works. Take a turn-based action game as an example: you usually have a the following choices:-
(i) Make a partial move then attack or perform an action.
(ii) Make a "full" move (say "sprint") then your turn is over.
(iii) Don't move and use one "slow" or "powerful" attack, or maybe make two standard attacks or actions.
Interesting that a familiar is a spirit that manifests as an animal—I'm guessing it's not possible to incorporate an ACTUAL animal. But, I suppose the "find familiar" spell can be an in-game mechanic which can be explained away somehow lore or story wise. So that's no big deal.
Can someone give me some insight into how a "turn" works. Take a turn-based action game as an example: you usually have a the following choices:-
(i) Make a partial move then attack or perform an action.
(ii) Make a "full" move (say "sprint") then your turn is over.
(iii) Don't move and use one "slow" or "powerful" attack, or maybe make two standard attacks or actions.
Interesting that a familiar is a spirit that manifests as an animal—I'm guessing it's not possible to incorporate an ACTUAL animal. But, I suppose the "find familiar" spell can be an in-game mechanic which can be explained away somehow lore or story wise. So that's no big deal.
Well, no. As explained already there are many other ways of getting an animal. The easiest way is of course just buying one or get it from the Urchin background. You could also play a beastmaster ranger and get one as your class feature.
There are some major downsides to having animal companion(s) though. Just as in the real world, your DM may well raise the very legitimate questions of where you are housing the pets, how you are feeding them and how you are bringing them with you if you travel. Plus keeping them alive can be easier said than done. Unlike in a Disney film, animal companions are actually subject to any damage directed at them and can die.
You could have a normal pet along with or without the speak with animals spell but what you dm allows you to do with it is very much up to him. A pet is 7nder no obligation to do what you ask them and their low intelligence might make it difficult to understand all but the simplest of commands. They might be able to tell you there is a human in the next room but not tell you if they have armor on.
If a character is reduced to 0 hit points you are considered unconcious, while at risk of death if nothing is done your friend can usually revive you by healing. If you are hit by a blow that exceeds your hit points by more than you max hit points you die. This is rare for a player but for a pet will happen most of 5he time. This includes them getting caught in the crossfire of an area attack. Familiars are easy to bring back, a beastmaster pet has more hit points a normal pet is likely to die very quickly unless your dm waives the damage it would take.
Long-time video game player, first time Dungeons & Dragons dabbler. Hey folks. I've become inspired as a result of coming across Hero Forge and its great interface for creating and customising miniatures, and would like to give the game a try. It's terribly overwhelming, the rules are very intricate, the lore is very dense with a hodge-podge of tweaks and changes, and, well, it's just really intimidating. I figure the best way to get going with it is to start having some fun, and I figure the best way would be to bring a few actual characters to fruition. One at a time. I don't know how large a traditional "party" is, but, I figure a small pool of characters to choose from, each of different archetypes of employing different play styles, would be the best way to get my head around the game, and help me have viable builds to aim for.
To start, my character of choice in role-playing games and the like is always a "Wood Elf" where possible. It's always been my favourite. In this case, I'm thinking as follows:-
A nomad—picture an elven version of Aladdin, who wears rags, not armour—who travels from place to place and manages to live out a comfortable existence alongside his only friend, a petite little songbird, who sits on his shoulder when she isn't being employed as a sneaky scout or lookout whenever he finds himself sneaking into a rich homestead to lift a few coins or jewels. He travels light, a hunter's bow and some arrows, a few throwing knives, but otherwise he uses his body as his weapon (I was envisaging a Ranger and Monk hybrid build), and has gone to great lengths to hone his stealth and survival skills. He's not a bad guy, he's well-meaning by and large, very happy-go-lucky, he abides by his own moral code: steals from people substantially richer, helps people poorer, and really doesn't have exquisite taste. He's well equipped for solo adventures, but can party up when adventure or opportunity presents itself, and ideally acts as a devastating dealer of ranged damage or an agile close-combat disruptor to draw enemy attention and dodge what they throw his way.
That will do as a rough outline. I understand that Level 20 is the highest level in standard rules, so, if folks would be so kind, so I have a good idea what to actually work towards in order to make such a character viable, can someone please propose a good Level 20 version of a character like this for me?
I like the idea of the songbird being incorporated if possible. I realise they game rules may not strictly allow for a character's creature to act autonomously, but perhaps just lore-wise some of the skills or spells employed could actually be the songbird having some agency or impact, I don't know. That's the thing, I really don't know what is possible in Dungeons & Dragons rulesets, because it's all so new to me. Any input would be much appreciated.
Aladdin isn't a nomad, he lives in a city he pretty much never leaves. That said, I'm note sure why you'd want to constrict this build to a level 20 character. Again, if you go by Aladdin he is far from being as powerful as level 20. The kind of character you describe differs from Aladdin quite a bit, actually.
Any way. I'd say that Aladdin is a Variant Human with the Mobile feat but you could go with Lucky or Athlete as well. If you really want a songbird you could always go with Magic Initiate Wizard and pick Find Familiar as your spell of choice. Mage hand and Friends would be suitable cantrips. Probably not more than level 3 at the start of the story (if we go by the Disney movie, otherwise you would of course start at level 1) and Thief Rogue would be a good class. As you progress you can pick up a a few levels of monk but again, if you want to build Aladdin he is very much a classical Rogue.
Using standard point array as a guideline I would have the following stats. Str 10 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 14 Aladdin is agile, charming and streetwise, he's not a very strong character but being a street kid he's pretty tough but he's had no formal education. For background Urchin, Outlander or Folk Hero probably is best, maybe Criminal or Charlatan depending on what route you want to take. For skills you will want Sleight of Hand, Perception, Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, Deception and Survival. As a Rogue you start of with a bunch of daggers and a short bow which seems to fit what you wanted quite well. There you go. You are now ready to go out to find your magical lamp!
I would not worry about level 20 very few camapigns get that far. I would also suggest you stick to a single class for a first character D&D alsohas very little solo adventures (it is typically played with a dungeon master and 3-7 players) so while he might be able to go on solo adventures in practise he will be in a group.
I am not sure what you mean by standard rules, there is what is known as the SRD (systems reference document) which is essentially what is available for free, this includes only one sub class for each class and has limited choices for things like race, spells and feats. This is could be like the limitations placed on a player having a free trialof a video game.
You could also mean you are referring to the published rules as a whole and just wand to exclude homebrew,. I will assume the later but point out anything that is not free.
Your character concept could fit into a monk, ranger or rogue. To play a rogue or ranger however you really need to wear light armor (initially leather then studded leather) a ranger could also wear medium armour. Therefore if you want ot wear rags you should go monk). Monks are proficent with daggers (to use either in ,melee or as throwing knives), short bow and light cross bow so you are OK there.
The free subclass ofopen-hand fits your concept quite well being focused on damage output, the other option would be a shadowmonk that is more stealth based especially where there is little light.
With a little re-skinning the songbird is quite possible in a couple of ways:
I would not worry about planning a character all the way to 20. Most games never get past 15.
As a new player I would also suggest sticking to a single class to keep things simpler.
Animal companions with mechanical effects are only available in a few ways:
- Beastmaster Ranger (ranger subclass)
- Find Familiar (wizard spell)
- Pact of the Chain (warlock)
Beyond scouting with them, there usually isn't much that you can do with it as it will have a painfully low HP pool unless you are a beastmaster.
You can also just describe things as happening through the bird though, for example, as a bard you could describe your spell effects as coming from the bird on your shoulder, but mechanically they would have the regular rules and effects.
Two classes come to mind for this:
A beastmaster ranger for easy access to having a animal companion
A scout rogue for better skills, and you can take the magic initiate feat for Find Familiar to get an animal
In either case you can fully realize your concept by level 3, not 20.
Attacking unarmed is generally a bad idea unless you are a monk, so you will probably want to use a weapon.
Something like this: https://ddb.ac/characters/37332141/Z9Ck5J
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You could also play as an artificer battle smith and have your steel defender be some kind of animal. Wouldn't really fit this particular character but it makes a better beast master than beast master ranger! :)
Okay, interesting. I had a misconception about characters, in that I was under the impression that progress was slow and levelling up happened slowly over multiple campaigns, but it seems all progress is reset and characters start from scratch with each new campaign. Is that right? Interesting. I thought there was a degree of permanency to progress.
I'm starting to think a Monk would be ideal—if it fights unarmed and can use a short bow (I'd rather a longbow, but whatever) then that sounds like a good fit.
I'm not sure which option would be best to realise the songbird aspect. Part of me thinks that, given it's not going to be as much of a presence as a hawk or a wolf, it's probably best to just treat it as flavour in the lore of the character rather than try to incorporate it into a build. I really have no concept of how that would limit things during a campaign though. I have a lot of thinking to do, but I appreciate the input thus far.
Well, it depends on the group. Most published campaigns kind of assume the you start with new characters since they start of at a low difficulty level which means that if you bring in a higher level character from a different campaign the encounters won't be balanced and you'll smash through all opposition. But to take it back to your original post and you wanting a 20th level character, that would be like playing World of Warcraft and starting out at level 60. Sure, you will be able to breeze through the starting areas but it won't be any fun since you're so powerful. Level 20 in D&D is the end goal, not the starting point.
If you play as a wood elf you would be able to use longbows as well. You're getting very far from Aladdin territory if that is any concern to you, though.
In that case I suggest taking the Urching background and changing the mouse to a small bird.
I get that--the Aladdin thing was really just a visual reference. I'm starting to think it would be fun to incorporate an animal, so maybe, for the sake of gameplay, the songbird being something potentially more formidable such as a hawk would be okay. From a gameplay perspective, what can "familiars" do?
the full details of the find Familiar spell is here
Familiars can not attack but they can give the help action if they are within 5 feet of an enemy making your attack more likely to hit. Think if is flying around distracting the enemy so they are not concentrating on avoiding your attack.
They can make excellent scouts and they can eithre communicate what they see telpathically or you can use their eyes and ears.
They are very fragile and if they are hit with an attack (or take damage some other way) they will usually die. To get the familiar back you would need to cast the spell again. So if distracting the bad guy results in him attacking the bird and not you that is a risk. Depending on th DM familiars might be able to give potions to party members and possibly other creative uses.
The most powerful type of familiar is probably an owl, it is very perceptive for scouting, can see very well in the dark and is able to fly away from a bad guy without provoking an opportunuity attack. If you need a different type of creature (say you want something to do some underwater scouting you can cast the spell again to turn your familiar into a fish or an octopus. As they can not attack you are really just looking at things like how fast they move, how perceptive and sneaky they are.
The spell consumes 10GP of materials this miught be an issue very early on but should soonbecome a trivial amount.
Overall it is a very powerful spell, possible the most powerful 1st level spell in the game.
Another way of getting find familiar that has not bean mentions is to become an arcane trickster rogue, that get access to it at level 3. A rogue could fit in with your attacking with a bow and daggers and staling from the rich but not with the unarmed combat or not wearing armour therefore I think your best option would be to take either the Magic initiate (wizard) or Ritual Caster (Wizard) feat.
Interesting that a familiar is a spirit that manifests as an animal—I'm guessing it's not possible to incorporate an ACTUAL animal. But, I suppose the "find familiar" spell can be an in-game mechanic which can be explained away somehow lore or story wise. So that's no big deal.
Can someone give me some insight into how a "turn" works. Take a turn-based action game as an example: you usually have a the following choices:-
(i) Make a partial move then attack or perform an action.
(ii) Make a "full" move (say "sprint") then your turn is over.
(iii) Don't move and use one "slow" or "powerful" attack, or maybe make two standard attacks or actions.
Is that similar to how Dungeons & Dragons works?
This is covered in The basic rules here: Actions in Combat for a detailed read. But in short a combat round you have:
Might read the link first, and if you have questions, ask from there.
Well, no. As explained already there are many other ways of getting an animal. The easiest way is of course just buying one or get it from the Urchin background. You could also play a beastmaster ranger and get one as your class feature.
You could have a normal pet along with or without the speak with animals spell but what you dm allows you to do with it is very much up to him. A pet is 7nder no obligation to do what you ask them and their low intelligence might make it difficult to understand all but the simplest of commands. They might be able to tell you there is a human in the next room but not tell you if they have armor on.
If a character is reduced to 0 hit points you are considered unconcious, while at risk of death if nothing is done your friend can usually revive you by healing. If you are hit by a blow that exceeds your hit points by more than you max hit points you die. This is rare for a player but for a pet will happen most of 5he time. This includes them getting caught in the crossfire of an area attack. Familiars are easy to bring back, a beastmaster pet has more hit points a normal pet is likely to die very quickly unless your dm waives the damage it would take.