Looking for some feedback on a back-up character I was given the go ahead to roll up. Running through Curse of Strahd, and of course, death house and the general setting as a whole make character death a complete possibility.
For obvious reasons, I think a Blood Hunter would be a thematic pick, especially the Order of the Ghost Slayer. I have two concepts, but I feel like I should preface with the fact that Variant Human is a no-go per campaign rules. For Party Comp context, we are fairly well rounded, with 2 clerics, a ranger, a rogue, and a paladin - none including me who is playing an Artificer. We are lacking on Intelligence by a lot and Strength by a good amount as stats. Our grave domain cleric currently has the highest, and it is a 17 for her. Our paladin has 15. The other cleric is Twilight Domain, and has a 13. Asides from my artificer, whom I am obviously worried about dying, our highest intelligence is a 14 on the paladin.
I have access to two stat arrays after rolling.
17, 15, 12, 12, 10, 9
16, 15, 14, 12, 9, 9
Personally, I feel like going for the first is my best option, and the one I'm writing down my thoughts around, but I'm willing to hear feedback on the latter.
One is a Human or Half-Elf. For this one, I'd focus on Dex as my primary physical stat, through and through. I could realistically take the latter of the two arrays with a dumped str and cha for a more well rounded character, especially since I don't tend to have any issues with a primary stat being an 18 when all is said and done, but I feel like I'd get a bit more mileage out of the first. For this build, I'd likely be using a normal rapier and shield, to make up for the lack of high AC options and the ability to take the dueling fighting style. I do consider two-weapon fighting an option, but realistically, my constitution will not be as high as I'd like for that, regardless of the stat array. Applying a rite to both weapons could get pretty costly pretty quickly.
The other is a Half-Orc where I'd obviously be focusing on strength as a main physical stat. Cha would be the first choice for a dump stat, with Wis being an ill relinquished 2nd pick, but one I could thematically make work if people can give me reasoning for taking my second array of stats. For weapons and fighting styles, I'm prone to defaulting to sword and board with shield, longsword, and dueling, but I could reasonably see a greatsword and gwf combo.
Feats for either character are highly dependent on the array I take. The dex based character could end up with elven accuracy, fey-touched, and/or piercer. The str based half-orc, I'd likely lean towards Orcish Fury and Fey-Touched for feats. Regardless of character, fey-touched would end up as hunter's mark with an Int boost. I see no point in boosting the other mental stats with it, when it's already a MAD class.
I'll take you at your word that you want to be a Ghost Slayer, and not the mechanically superior Mutant... but you have an uphill battle ahead of you, even with better-than-point-buy rolls.
Blood Hunters are a bit more MAD than other classes, because you want your primary Attack Stat to be 20 (Strength or Dexterity), and your Dex at 14-16 for Medium Armor (unless you can unlock Heavy Armor), and your Intelligence at 16-20 for class feature bonuses and saves, and your Constitution somewhere in the 14+ range as a melee character with poor AC, and probably want your Wisdom to be decent for survival and perception and Wisdom saves and to fit your character theme as a grimdark off-ranger. They're probably the MAD-est class out there, and the 16/15/14/12/9/9 stat array seems slightly better for that then the other, since a 14 in Con is desirable.
You're going to have to dump at least two stats, one of which is definitely Charisma, but being able to toss out Strength or Dex saves you from dumping Wisdom or Constitution entirely. You'd definitely have an easier time if you can dump Strength (just lean into being a Dex-based attacker with rapiers and bows) or Dexterity (pick up Heavy Armor prof. with a feat or a multiclass), unless you're okay having poor Wisdom (which your party does have mostly covered...).
Straight Dex-Based BH: A dex-based Finesse BH (Rapiers or Whips!) that wears Half-Plate and a Shield for 19 AC (probably never will have room for Medium Armor Master to hit 20, but maybe in T3), will do fine. I'd recommend 9/18/14/16/12/9 as your starting array, with your first Feat going to +2 Dex at 4, before considering anything more fun like Fey Touched, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, Lucky, Tough, or Skill Expert at higher levels. Fey Touched (Int) for Hunter's Mark at 8, followed by Skill Expert (Int) at 12 (or vice versa) would be good, and its the features you get in T2 and T3 that really most start making Intelligence important anyway. By the time you have time to take Medium Armor Master at 16, 1 AC really won't make a difference, I'd skip it in favor of Tough or something.
Straight Str-Based BH: Medium armor with 0 dex bonus + a shield can (barely) carry you through a few levels, until you get heavy armor. Doing this as a pure BH is a pain, but won't slow your progression if you use your 17 stat spread... I'd suggest starting 19/10/12/16/12/9, and taking Heavily Armored at 4 to get Heavy Armor and bump Strength to 20. From then on, you can to Fey Touched and Skill Expert as above, or whatever you fancy. You can get by with lower Con than you can with Dex, because your AC will be 20 in plate with a shield.
Wizard MC Dex-Based: Bladesinger's Bladesong will prop your AC up beyond what you're likely to reach in Medium Armor, and even without it, Mage Armor will almost match it with maxed Dex. That's worth it for a melee combatant who will be investing in Intelligence and is at risk of poor HP and AC, even if you only take Bladesinger to 2. Starting as a 9/18/14/16/12/9 Blood Hunter, you'd like want to take that to 5 for Extra Attack (bumping Dex to 20 at 4 as in #1 above), then take Wizard for 2 levels, before finishing the rest of your career as a BH. Your party doesn't have a Ritual Caster yet, and lots of helpful rituals are Level 1 Spells, so I think you'll get a fair amount out of this small Wizard splash beyond just the 3/day Bladesong.
Fighter MC Str-Based: Starting as a Fighter at level 1 means you start with Heavy Armor proficiency, and can skip Heavily Armored. But even beyond that, Second Wind and Action Surge are both fantastic abilities for any melee character, a second fighting style earns you +1 AC from Defensive, and there's no shortage of subclasses that will synergize well with BH like Psi Warrior, Battlemaster, Echo Knight, or even Eldritch Knight (blech). The only drawback of this MC honestly is the temptation to keep running with Fighter, it's much less clear that you want to hit it and quit it to focus on BH... there's lots of MC level splits that are viable, based on the tier of play you think you'll go through. Either stat array will work, but if you start with 19 Strength instead of 18, get it to 20 by either using Heavy Armor Master or Skill Expert when you unlock a feat. With an AC of 21 with Defensive Fighting Style in Plate, again, you can get by with lower Con than you can with a Dex build.
Artificer MC Int-Based: As a Battlesmith or an Armorer, you can attack with Intelligence directly, allowing you to dump Strength entirely and leave Dex at 13 or 14, while focusing on Intelligence. You'll want to pick up that 3rd level feature quickly to swap that attack stat, so it may be worth starting as an Artificer and only MCing into BH after level 3, honestly. 9/14/16/18/12/9 would be a fine spread for this, as would 10/13/15/19/12/9, with a +2 Intelligence ASI or Skill Expert or Fey Touched as soon as possible to bump Int to 20.
Looking for some feedback on a back-up character I was given the go ahead to roll up. Running through Curse of Strahd, and of course, death house and the general setting as a whole make character death a complete possibility.
For obvious reasons, I think a Blood Hunter would be a thematic pick, especially the Order of the Ghost Slayer. I have two concepts, but I feel like I should preface with the fact that Variant Human is a no-go per campaign rules. For Party Comp context, we are fairly well rounded, with 2 clerics, a ranger, a rogue, and a paladin - none including me who is playing an Artificer. We are lacking on Intelligence by a lot and Strength by a good amount as stats. Our grave domain cleric currently has the highest, and it is a 17 for her. Our paladin has 15. The other cleric is Twilight Domain, and has a 13. Asides from my artificer, whom I am obviously worried about dying, our highest intelligence is a 14 on the paladin.
I have access to two stat arrays after rolling.
17, 15, 12, 12, 10, 9
16, 15, 14, 12, 9, 9
Personally, I feel like going for the first is my best option, and the one I'm writing down my thoughts around, but I'm willing to hear feedback on the latter.
One is a Human or Half-Elf. For this one, I'd focus on Dex as my primary physical stat, through and through. I could realistically take the latter of the two arrays with a dumped str and cha for a more well rounded character, especially since I don't tend to have any issues with a primary stat being an 18 when all is said and done, but I feel like I'd get a bit more mileage out of the first. For this build, I'd likely be using a normal rapier and shield, to make up for the lack of high AC options and the ability to take the dueling fighting style. I do consider two-weapon fighting an option, but realistically, my constitution will not be as high as I'd like for that, regardless of the stat array. Applying a rite to both weapons could get pretty costly pretty quickly.
The other is a Half-Orc where I'd obviously be focusing on strength as a main physical stat. Cha would be the first choice for a dump stat, with Wis being an ill relinquished 2nd pick, but one I could thematically make work if people can give me reasoning for taking my second array of stats. For weapons and fighting styles, I'm prone to defaulting to sword and board with shield, longsword, and dueling, but I could reasonably see a greatsword and gwf combo.
Feats for either character are highly dependent on the array I take. The dex based character could end up with elven accuracy, fey-touched, and/or piercer. The str based half-orc, I'd likely lean towards Orcish Fury and Fey-Touched for feats. Regardless of character, fey-touched would end up as hunter's mark with an Int boost. I see no point in boosting the other mental stats with it, when it's already a MAD class.
I'll take you at your word that you want to be a Ghost Slayer, and not the mechanically superior Mutant... but you have an uphill battle ahead of you, even with better-than-point-buy rolls.
Blood Hunters are a bit more MAD than other classes, because you want your primary Attack Stat to be 20 (Strength or Dexterity), and your Dex at 14-16 for Medium Armor (unless you can unlock Heavy Armor), and your Intelligence at 16-20 for class feature bonuses and saves, and your Constitution somewhere in the 14+ range as a melee character with poor AC, and probably want your Wisdom to be decent for survival and perception and Wisdom saves and to fit your character theme as a grimdark off-ranger. They're probably the MAD-est class out there, and the 16/15/14/12/9/9 stat array seems slightly better for that then the other, since a 14 in Con is desirable.
You're going to have to dump at least two stats, one of which is definitely Charisma, but being able to toss out Strength or Dex saves you from dumping Wisdom or Constitution entirely. You'd definitely have an easier time if you can dump Strength (just lean into being a Dex-based attacker with rapiers and bows) or Dexterity (pick up Heavy Armor prof. with a feat or a multiclass), unless you're okay having poor Wisdom (which your party does have mostly covered...).
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.