Disclaimer: What follows is a rough build of a character I want to play at some point but likely won't as I DM more often than not, so if you like what you see, feel free to play it and tweak it. A few things to bear in mind: 1) I don't tend to build up my characters in a min/max sense so you won't see many ability scores maxed out. 2) I use the standard array to generate ability cores, this is mostly just for ease of reference when mulling over a build. 3) There may be some homebrew material mentioned so if you play adventurers league then this may not be a legal build. 4) I've a back catalogue of these so I'll post them as and when i cobble my notes into something that makes sense. 5) I won't be referencing many optional things from Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot. 6) As always, feel free to post any questions, comments, feedback or general berating of my errors in rules or how abilities work.
Additional Disclaimer: apologies in advance for the 'Hellraiser' vibe........
Right, now that's out the way, lets move on to...…
Name: Demetrius Cassalanter
Basic Info:
Race: Tiefling (using the standard benefits in the PHB).
Ability Scores (including racial bonuses +1 Int, +2 Cha): Str 12, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 10
Alignment: Lawful Neutral.
Background: Noble.
Class: Monk (Way of the Infernal Soul, a slightly tweaked version of Way of the Sun Soul)
Feats: Infernal Constitution, Spell Sniper, possibly Eldritch Adept + any others you like.
Bio:
Demetrius is the son of Osvaldo Cassalanter, a human noble that was transformed into a Chain Devil as part of a pact with Asmodeus. Demetrius has never been to the Nine Hells where his father now resides but has picked a few rather odd abilities during his youth and some of lessons in infernal contracts he has recieved may be responsible for this. Now a young man and eager to make his own mark on the world, Demetrius has left his family estate with an eye toward adventure and possibly meet the Father he has never known.
Building and reasoning:
This may all seem a little odd but we're going ot use Tiefling as a base race to reflect Demetrius being concieved after Osvaldo had made his pact, so he has some infernal blood running through his veins which means we'll be able to pick up some Tiefling racial feats. Warlock may seem like a better fit for a class but we're going to flavour the Monk class as manifesting some powers similar to those of a Chain Devil instead of strict monastic training and, if I'm honest, I think Warlocks get a bit too much love when it comes to this sort of thing.
Right onto the build:
This one is quite a simple build. We're going to aim to get 20 levels of Monk. We're going to flavour the class abilities as follows:
Radiant Sun Bolt becomes Chain Attack: Instead of hurling bolts of radiant energy we're conjuring lengths of chain with hooks and blades on the end, the damage type changes to Slashing and the chains disappear after dealing their damage, this just makes the combat style in line with that of Chain Devil with the chains seemingly coming out of Demetrius' hands as he throws them at potential targets.
Searing Arc Strike becomes Infernal Fan Strike: Just looks like a suden fan of fiery spiked chains bursting out from Demtrius, as this is a Burning Hands spell there is no need to amend any damage type, just the cosmetic flavour of the effect.
Searing Sunburst becomes Conjure Chains: Rather than have this as conjuring a burst of radiant energy, Demetrius conjures spiked chains to burst out of thin air and any solid surfaces in the area of effect, change the damage type to Slashing.
Sun Shield changes to a Chain Shield: Instead of summoning a shield of radiant energy Demetrius summons a wall of chains to whirl around him and uses his reaction to cause them tto fling out at those attacking him. Damage changes to Slashing.
For feats the onbly two I would get asap would be Infernal Constitution to reflect the Chain Devil side a bit more and Spell Sniper to give a bit more flexibility with using the Chain Attack in that it allows you to ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover which we can flavour as causing the chains to burst out of whatever the target is hiding behind, sadly though we wont be apply the double range ability of Spell Sniper to the radiant sun bolt/chain attack as it is not technically a spell because it uses the 'Attack' Action not the 'Cast a Spell' action, Spell Sniper also gives up a cantrip which I'd lean towards taking Thorn Whip and reflavour it as a Chain Whip. If you are using Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot then I'd also look to nab Eldritch Adept to get the Devil Sight Invocation to complete the Chain Devil influences.
Otherwise, thats pretty much all there is to the build. It shoudl give some scope to be as Infernal, Creepy and secretive as you want to be without falling into the 'Warlock servant fo the NIne Hells' tropes...although I think a lot of other players may well just assume your chain attacks are reflavoured Eldritch Blasts.
Edit:
I forgot to mention equipment.....
For starting equipment at level 1 we'll be taking a Quarterstaff, Explorer's Pack and 10 darts. Clothing wise we're going for smart but simple from the Noble Background, made from top quality leather and material with chains wrapped around the forearms. This where we could ask the DM for a little bit of a favour, given the flavour we're going for then we could do with starting off with a chain whip as a weapon, maybe a little heavier than the normal whip to reflect its made out of metal and not leather, as we do not start off with a weapon proficency to use a whip we'd need the DM to either allow us to swap Shortsword for Whip or switch out a tool rpoficencyfor it. Thematically we can justify it as our racial heritage (and susequent reflavouring of class skills) gives us a natural tendency to the weapon, this isn't essential but just a nice little add on.
Disclaimer: What follows is a rough build of a character I want to play at some point but likely won't as I DM more often than not, so if you like what you see, feel free to play it and tweak it. A few things to bear in mind: 1) I don't tend to build up my characters in a min/max sense so you won't see many ability scores maxed out. 2) I use the standard array to generate ability cores, this is mostly just for ease of reference when mulling over a build. 3) There may be some homebrew material mentioned so if you play adventurers league then this may not be a legal build. 4) I've a back catalogue of these so I'll post them as and when i cobble my notes into something that makes sense. 5) I won't be referencing many optional things from Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot. 6) As always, feel free to post any questions, comments, feedback or general berating of my errors in rules or how abilities work.Additional Disclaimer: apologies in advance for the 'Hellraiser' vibe........Right, now that's out the way, lets move on to...…Name: Demetrius Cassalanter
Basic Info:Race: Tiefling (using the standard benefits in the PHB).Ability Scores (including racial bonuses +1 Int, +2 Cha): Str 12, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 10Alignment: Lawful Neutral.Background: Noble.Class: Monk (Way of the Infernal Soul, a slightly tweaked version of Way of the Sun Soul)Feats: Infernal Constitution, Spell Sniper, possibly Eldritch Adept + any others you like.Bio:Demetrius is the son of Osvaldo Cassalanter, a human noble that was transformed into a Chain Devil as part of a pact with Asmodeus. Demetrius has never been to the Nine Hells where his father now resides but has picked a few rather odd abilities during his youth and some of lessons in infernal contracts he has recieved may be responsible for this. Now a young man and eager to make his own mark on the world, Demetrius has left his family estate with an eye toward adventure and possibly meet the Father he has never known.
Building and reasoning:This may all seem a little odd but we're going ot use Tiefling as a base race to reflect Demetrius being concieved after Osvaldo had made his pact, so he has some infernal blood running through his veins which means we'll be able to pick up some Tiefling racial feats. Warlock may seem like a better fit for a class but we're going to flavour the Monk class as manifesting some powers similar to those of a Chain Devil instead of strict monastic training and, if I'm honest, I think Warlocks get a bit too much love when it comes to this sort of thing.
Right onto the build:This one is quite a simple build. We're going to aim to get 20 levels of Monk. We're going to flavour the class abilities as follows:
Radiant Sun Bolt becomes Chain Attack: Instead of hurling bolts of radiant energy we're conjuring lengths of chain with hooks and blades on the end, the damage type changes to Slashing and the chains disappear after dealing their damage, this just makes the combat style in line with that of Chain Devil with the chains seemingly coming out of Demetrius' hands as he throws them at potential targets.Searing Arc Strike becomes Infernal Fan Strike: Just looks like a suden fan of fiery spiked chains bursting out from Demtrius, as this is a Burning Hands spell there is no need to amend any damage type, just the cosmetic flavour of the effect.Searing Sunburst becomes Conjure Chains: Rather than have this as conjuring a burst of radiant energy, Demetrius conjures spiked chains to burst out of thin air and any solid surfaces in the area of effect, change the damage type to Slashing.Sun Shield changes to a Chain Shield: Instead of summoning a shield of radiant energy Demetrius summons a wall of chains to whirl around him and uses his reaction to cause them tto fling out at those attacking him. Damage changes to Slashing.For feats the onbly two I would get asap would be Infernal Constitution to reflect the Chain Devil side a bit more and Spell Sniper to give a bit more flexibility with using the Chain Attack in that it allows you to ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover which we can flavour as causing the chains to burst out of whatever the target is hiding behind, sadly though we wont be apply the double range ability of Spell Sniper to the radiant sun bolt/chain attack as it is not technically a spell because it uses the 'Attack' Action not the 'Cast a Spell' action, Spell Sniper also gives up a cantrip which I'd lean towards taking Thorn Whip and reflavour it as a Chain Whip. If you are using Tasha's Cauldron of Whatnot then I'd also look to nab Eldritch Adept to get the Devil Sight Invocation to complete the Chain Devil influences.Otherwise, thats pretty much all there is to the build. It shoudl give some scope to be as Infernal, Creepy and secretive as you want to be without falling into the 'Warlock servant fo the NIne Hells' tropes...although I think a lot of other players may well just assume your chain attacks are reflavoured Eldritch Blasts.Edit:I forgot to mention equipment.....For starting equipment at level 1 we'll be taking a Quarterstaff, Explorer's Pack and 10 darts. Clothing wise we're going for smart but simple from the Noble Background, made from top quality leather and material with chains wrapped around the forearms. This where we could ask the DM for a little bit of a favour, given the flavour we're going for then we could do with starting off with a chain whip as a weapon, maybe a little heavier than the normal whip to reflect its made out of metal and not leather, as we do not start off with a weapon proficency to use a whip we'd need the DM to either allow us to swap Shortsword for Whip or switch out a tool rpoficencyfor it. Thematically we can justify it as our racial heritage (and susequent reflavouring of class skills) gives us a natural tendency to the weapon, this isn't essential but just a nice little add on.