There's been some request for more build competitions on the forum that I originally created the Throwdowns on, specifically for during the voting period of the main throwdown competitions, so here we are!
How this will work:When the build submissions for the main throwdown closes, voting for it will open as will build submissions for that week's lightning round. The lightning round contests will rotate each voting period, this time it's BLOOPERS and the voting period of the next throwdown will see the debut of the badlands contest. These contests will exist entirely within the five day voting window, with three days for builds and two days for voting, the overall timeframe for this will likely not change but the ratio is open to shifting to what you guys find the best.
BLOOPERS: This lightning round is for your funny/meme builds, things that amuse you, are particularly tropey to the point of satire etc. A theme will be provided for you to build upon and votes will be cast on what playgrounders find the funniest build for the theme.
The Badlands: This is all about unofficial content, primarily UA but with things like Matt Mercer content thrown in, the aim here is to see what you guys can do with that sweet medium-less balanced material.
So without further ado, let's get into this!
The schtick: Since it's our first time doing this together, a requester suggested we should have some ice breaker exercises! So what's your funniest builds based around cold/ice?
Some rules for guidance:
-Your build must be based around cold/ice
-No UA, only officially published materials
-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)
-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)
-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play
-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)
-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature
-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).
-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read, jokes are heavily encouraged, let's get some belly laughs in this one!
Suggested format:
Level 20 level split:
Race:
Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x
Background:
Starting level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 5th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 11th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 17th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Voting:
To sort the dynamite from the duds we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each BLOOPERS/Badlands thread will run for 3 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be two days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Ice breakers build deadline/Voting opens: 27/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 29/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS NOW ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN
The core concept of what I'm building here is pretty simple: cast Shape Water to make an Improvised Weapon out of ice. That could then go in a lot of ways... if your DM is okay with an Improvised Dagger that still qualifies as a Finesse weapon, or an improvised Maul that still qualifies as Heavy, etc.... then the normal builds that focus on Sneak Attack, Great Weapon Master, etc. are all still viable for the small investment of unlocking that one cantrip and having a round or two to shape your weapon. I am going to assume that one can Sneak Attack with an improvised Dagger made of ice for this build, but Sneak Attack isn't the main thrust... I'm instead going to focus on grappling and move speed!? The concept being, Wampa here is like his namesake, popping out of ambush to snatch a victim and then run away with them into the howling arctic cold, letting arctic exposure do the rest of the work once he's separated his victim from their group.
'Momma Momma! Mr. Frosty came to life!' 'What's that? Who's this Mr. Frosty, what are you on about child, and where's your brother?' 'The snowman, Momma! He wasn't there yesterday, but then after the snow fell, then he was there! And he's magic, Momma, he's a real snowman with a hat and nose and buttons, but he can walk and play!' 'That's nonsense, you should have been gathering snowberries, not building snowmen... now I won't ask again, where's Sven?' 'He's with Mr. Frosty, Momma! We both were having so much fun playing chase, but Mr. Frosty caught him up, and then he did a magic trick, and he took him to his winter kingdom, and- 'What!? This isn't funny, where is your brother, where is Sven? Is he hiding from his chores again-' 'No Momma, I told you! He's with the snowman, playing! I waited for them to come back, but I was getting real cold, and bored, and-' 'Oh, gods, no... No! Harald?! Emma, take me! Take me there right now, where you saw this man! Harald! Harald, come quick, someone's taken our boy, oh gods!' 'But he wasn't a man, Momma, that's what I keep telling you! He was a SNOWman, with coal buttons and a carrot nose and a pretty knife made of ice- I'm telling the truth!'
Lvl 1: Starving Cub (Bugbear Rogue 1)
Dimir Operative, for Deception, Disguise Kit, and the chance to learn Disguise Self and Sleep as a Ranger. As a Bugbear he already has Stealth proficiency, so dndbeyond and most DMs would let him pick another skill, in this case Medicine to better be able to butcher and harvest humanoids (a little min maxy, but his classes will already give him any other skill he's conceivably looking for).
Str 15 (17)/Dex 13 (14)/Con 13/Int 9/Wis 14/Cha 8
AC 13 (Leather), HP 9
Wields a bone Dagger (+5 to hit, 1d4+3, +1d6 on Sneak Attack), which he can use from 10 feet on his turn. If he strikes from surprise, he can add another 2d6 onto that as well, for an average ambush of 16 damage.
Powerful Build lets him carry off bodies up to 510 lbs, or drag carcasses up to 1020 lbs. He's an excellent grappler for his level (+7 Athletics), but with only a 30 speed he can only drag victims 15 feet per round (30 with an Action dash), not enough to get away from anyone that may be chasing after.
Icebreaker:There's not much to be said for poor Wampa yet... in fact, he's not really very good at anything, and is doing quite poorly alone in the arctic. He's a decent grappler and can grab from 10 feet away, but at this point about all he can do is sneak up to stab or grab a small animal or lone child, and hopefully slink away before anyone notices him and comes running. If his 16-damage stab from surprise doesn't finish off an enemy, he has no other way to generate Sneak Attack for the rest of a combat, and will probably not survive a counterattack... so he has to pick his targets with great care. Hungry and cold, this is no way to live...
Still wielding a bone Dagger (+6 to hit, 1d4+3), +2d6 on Sneak Attack, +2 if Raging), which he can use from 10 feet on his turn. With the 2d6 on a surprise round, if already angry, his average ambush is still only about 22 damage.
In addition to Expertise in Athletics and Stealth, Wampa now also has Survival and Nature. Also, he has picked up Perception proficiency from Ranger multiclass.
Natural Explorer (Arctic) makes him better at surviving in the frozen north, doubling his proficiency bonus for Nature, Survival, and arguably Medicine. For Nature and Survival (which he already has Expertise in), it is debatable whether this gives him a proficiency bonus 9+stat or 12+stat at this point, but either way, he's now very good at survival and tracking! He moves faster while sneaking, doesn't get lost in blizzards, moves quickly through thick snow drifts that would tire and slow other humanoids, and finds twice the amount of food others would... all valuable abilities in a cold and unforgiving environment that can kill the unprepared.
Favored Enemy (Humanoid: Orcs and Goblins) has made him even better at hunting the other savage residents of the frozen north (advantage on Survival to track them, arguably on Medicine to butcher their choicest meats). He has a healthy fear and respect for Man still, the bright lights and patrols about their town spell doom were he to be caught prowling... but the savage races are less organized, more often encountered alone on the tundra, and are easier prey.
Rage 2/long rest provides damage resistance, and gives advantage while grappling live prety, which makes him slightly more able to survive a round or two of combat.... but he still is not ready to stand against a group. With his survival skills, though, he's well practiced in waiting for the right time and place to catch his victim's alone...
Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, and Hide as a Bonus Action. As an ambush predator, all of these are quite helpful for setting up an Ambush, getting away quickly once dragging a victim, or escaping entirely if the ambush goes wrong.
Skirmisher is fun on a grappler: so long as an enemy fails to break free from his grapple on its turn, as a reaction he can run with it another half-half-speed.
He's a little better at dragging away struggling enemies (15 move, bonus dash for another 15, action dash for a third 15, and somewhere between 5-10 on their turn)... but he's still unlikely to be able to evade a determined pursuer unless he can knock his victim unconscious during the ambush and carry them at full speed.
Icebreaker:Wampa still is not directly using the elements to slay his prey, but he is now well acclimated to surviving where others cannot. While he can still die of exposure if caught unprepared, he is very unlikely to make such a mistake, and has scouted out ice caves, sheltered ravines, safe courses across ice flows, etc. that even other full time residents of the arctic don't know. His use of his Disguise Kit largely revolves around dabbing himself with white and grey muds to help blend into the snow to set up an ambush. On a cold and windy night when others hunker beside their fires and fear the storm, he stalks...
18/14/14/9/14/8 (+1 Con from Aberrant Dragonmark, +1 Str from Tavern Brawler)
AC 14 (Hide or Naked), HP 92 (+2 THP when raging; +1-12 THP when casting Sleep)
Now wielding an improvised iceDagger, constructed using Shape Water. Depending on DM allowance, this could even be an ice Rapier, but a Dagger is fine. +8 to hit (can Reckless for Advantage), 1d4+6, +2 if raging (he won't be at first), +1d8 if Zephyr Strike is up, +2d6 on Sneak Attack, +2d6 on Surprise, +1d8 Dread Ambusher on the second attack which won't have SA dice.... Average damage for his attack action from Surprise will be 27 on the first hit and 13 on the second, for 40 total damage.
Rage 3/long rest for resistance and +2 damage. His Tundra Storm Aura provides a very small amount of THP on Rage, and again as a bonus action each round. This is not typically something he'll have much use for, but could be handy in a one-on-one fight to subdue a target that he isn't otherwise Bonus Dash-dragging off into the cold.
Reckless Attack, which finally allows Wampa to continue Sneak Attacking after his first surprise round. Without the bonus surprise damage and Zephyr Strike, but with Raging, his average damage will be 18, not great but possibly enough to finish off an enemy close to death before they can batter through his moderate HP with resistance from raging.
Dueling Fighting Style for +2 damage on his iceDagger attacks.
Dread Ambusher provides +2 to initiative rolls, an extra Attack Action attack, and 1d8 more damage on that second swing in the first round of combat! Quite a signifigant bump in the size of game that Wampa can safely take down in a round, he can now reliably pounce on a Polar Bear, Crag Cat, Dire Wolf, Aurochs, Tauntaun or any other large arctic beasties and be confident that he won't get mauled for his trouble.
Umbral Sight has extended his Darkvision out to 90 feet at night, and made him entirely invisible in the darkness from his prefered humanoid prey, further enhancing his ambush capabilities.
Aberrant Dragonmark has provided the Shape Water he needs to create an iceDagger (no real mechanical advantage, but actually the entire point of this entire character :p ). Ice Knife would make a lot of sense as the level 1 spell to take with it, but he doesn't have high enough wisdom for there to be any point really using that. Instead, Sleep is recommended to create ambush opportunities during daylight hours, or to help cover his escape with prey... casting Sleep will either give him 1-12 THP, or cause 1-12 force damage to a creature within 30 feet.
Note: I subscribe to the opinion that because Sleep is a Ranger spell for him (courtesy of Dimir Operative), and because Aberrant Dragonmark tells us he has "learned" the spell, Wampa is free not only to cast it with the one-per-day casting granted by the feat, but also as a Ranger spell using his spell slots. This is is a controversial interpretation, but I feel strongly that it is supported by RAW. The other effects of Aberrant Dragonmark, of course, only trigger when it is cast through the feat, not when cast using a spell slot.
Ranger spells taken include Longstrider (cast within an hour as he's setting up his ambush), Zephyr Strike (cast within one minute of the ambush), and Snare (set up a safe way away from the ambush or back in his cave, where he plans to dump his prey and wait for the cold to finish it off/preserve it). Gloom Stalker has also provided Disguise Self, which he uses to even more effectively camoflage himself while laying in wait... or to transform himself into a friendly looking Snowman to lure in small children.
Buffed with Longstrider, his speed is a flat 40. While under the effect of Zephyr Strike, that becomes 70. In the first round of combat, that becomes 80.
Tavern Brawler has given Wampa the ability to snatch enemies very effectively, as a Bonus Action after striking them with his improvised iceDagger.
Icebreaker: A typical snatch-and-grab might look like: lay in wait for up to one hour, under the effect of Disguise Self to resemble a harmless snowman or to help camoflage against the terrain, while under the effect of Longstrider. As prey approach, cast Zephyr Strike as subtly as possible, and begin to form an ice blade using Shape Water on surrounding snow or water. Attack from surprise, dealing average 40 with the Attack Action from 10 feet away using his iceDagger. As a Bonus, grab with an Athletics of +12. Move at half of his 80 speed, for 40 feet of movement. On enemy's (surprised) turn, they do nothing, allowing him to move another half-of-half-of 40, for another 10 feet of movement. On his second turn, Wampa can then either drop a Sleep on his victim or attack for average 18 and run half-of-40 twice (40 feet), or run half-of-40 three times by dashing with action and bonus (60 feet), or Rage before attacking or double running.... lots of options, but with the full-run option covering 60 feet, with another 10 as a reaction each time his victim fails to escape the grapple (or remains Unconscious from Sleep), it is unlikely that anyone will be able to catch up once he has grabbed a target and begun running away. The point being... once he's started running away with a lone victim snatched away from its friends and camp, invisible to Darkvision, Wampa can drag them off into the frozen wilderness and either string them up in a pre-prepared Snare, or throw them into an icy lake, or down a ravine, or just abandon them alone in the darkness wherever he wants, sufficiently far away that they can't find their way back and will eventually die. He no longer needs to be able to fully defeat his prey in straight up combat, just surprise them and drag them away for long enough (with resistance to damage while he's raging) to get them lost, and then let the Tundra do the rest.
Lvl 17: Beast in the Blizzard (Bugbear Rogue (Scout) 3/Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 5/Barbarian (Storm Herald, Tundra) 6/Monk (Four Elements) 3)
still 18/14/14/9/14/8
AC 14 (naked), HP 139 (+3 THP when Raging, +1-12 THP when cast Sleep)
iceDagger is +10 to hit, 1d4+6, two attacks on an Attack Action (three in first round), can be made Reckless for Advantage, +2d6 Sneak Attack, +2d6 vs. suprised, +1d8 under Zephyr Strike, +2 when raging (rarely). Average damage for his attack action from Surprise will be 27 on the first hit, 13 on the second, and 9 on the third, for 49 total damage.
New stuff includes Rope Trick (for a new way to separate targets from their groups), and Pass Without Trace (for a new way to sneak around).
Speed has increased another +20 feet, for 50 all day, 60 while under Longstrider or 100 during his ambush round.
He attacks twice per attack action (at last), which bumps up ambush damage slightly with a third attack.
Storm Soul has now provided resistance Cold, immunity to exposure from cold weather, and another way to freeze snow and water into ice.
His own skin has thickened, no longer needing to wear armor (he already could get away with it, but Monk levels mean he needs to stop wearing Hide), and his reflexes have quickened to provide him the ability to make Bonus Action d4 strikes (which he normally would not use, unless stuck in a one-on-one brawl where grappling and running wasn't an option).
More meaningfully, his Elemental Disciplines give him even more control over manipulating water, ice, and snow (Elemental Attunement), and even the ability to raise great walls of ice or open up fissures using ki (Shape the Flowing River). This ability allows him to drag victims into secret ice caves and seal the entrance behind him, ensuring that anyone following will never find them.
Icebreaker: Wampa's snatching is now more effective, moving 50 feet on his first turn, 10-15 feet on his reaction, and then up to 90 feet per round after that depending on what other Actions and Bonus Actions he may need to take. He can more effectively lose pursuit by dragging his victim into a Rope Trick until the search ends, or changing the terrain behind him using Shape the Flowing River. He can prowl in a howling Blizzard with absolutely no risk of exposure, making it easier for him to strike with no real fear of being tracked until the storm dies down, and heightening the danger of exposure to his victims.
AC 14 (naked), HP 163 (+3 THP when Raging, +1-12 THP when cast Sleep)
iceDagger is still +10 to hit, 1d4+6, two attacks on an Attack Action (three in first round), can be made Reckless for Advantage, +2d6 Sneak Attack, +2d6 vs. suprised, +1d8 under Zephyr Strike, +2 when raging (rarely). Average damage for his attack action from Surprise will be 27 on the first hit, 13 on the second, and 9 on the third, for 49 total damage.
New stuff includes proficiency in Wisdom Saves
Difficult Terrain no longer slows his movement
He adds Mountains as another Natural Explorer terrain
He adds Humans and Dwarves as additional favored enemies, no longer fearing the walls or warm fires of Man
The Mobile feet has added another +10 speed to his movement, for base 60, 70 with Longstrider, total of 110 in the first round of an ambush with Zephyr Strike.
At the DMs discretion, Wampa might very well have an Epic Boon by this point courtesy of Aberrant Dragonmark. I assume that that is not the case... but if he did, Speed would be my preferred choice for another 30 walking speed!
Icebreaker: Wampa's snatching is even more effective, moving 55 feet on his first turn, 15-20 feet on his reaction, and then up to 120 feet per round after that depending on what other Actions and Bonus Actions he may need to take. If he has time he can cause his victim to Sleep, softening them up with more blows and trying again round after round if necessary. He can lope without slowing over the deepest snow banks or across the most precarious ice flows, while others can only flounder helplessly in slow pursuit. He can shape the ice to match his desires, and shrug off the bitterest cold. His eyes pierce the darkness, and shadows hide him from even the sharpest eyes. He strikes without warning, and by the time an alarm his raised, he is simply gone, tracks dwindling into nothing in the snow... and once he has his unconscious victim back in his lair, he can freeze them to his ceiling using Snare or his other mystical masteries of ice and snow, recreating the classic scene that inspired him.
Thulan is born to the Cloudhunter clan of goliaths, living high in the mountains of Exandria. His clan deals with snow and ice every day of their lives, and few positions in the clan are as important as the Ice Breaker – the goliath charged with clearing away dangerous icy build-ups, sounding out avalanche zones, and guiding the clan through the treacherous mountain passes of their home. Thulan is not yet an ice Breaker, but his father is. And over the course of a hard, unrelenting life with the Cloudhunter clan, he will learn to take up his father’s mantle.
As Thulan progresses through the levels, he sticks to his barbarian training for now. All the way to fourth level, where he acquires Resilient: Dexterity to help him avoid the rockslides, deadfalls, and avalanches common to his home (and also to hit the stat prereq for taking Ranger levels). At third level he begins on the path of the Storm Herald, the traditional calling of the Ice Breaker, but his powers as a Storm Herald will take time to truly fill in. He will, of course, select ‘Tundra’ as his Storm Aura.
At fifth level, Thulan acquires Extra Attack, arming him against the beasts that often seek to claim the Ice Breaker as he scouts ahead of the clan. Sixth level is when Thulan truly begins to learn the ways of the Ice Breaker, though – this is when Storm Soul grants him resistance to cold damage and immunity to the effects of severe cold in addition to his Mountain Born trait. After this, now that he can survive outside the tents of the clan, Thulan begins learning more about the ways of the mountains from his father and the true skills of the Ice Breaker. Though he must remain a simple brute fighter for nowHe diverges from barbarian for a while and begin taking ranger training, learning the lore of the mountains and those colossal foes who inhabit them. So trained, Thulan acquires Proficiency in Mountain via Favored Terrain and becomes an exceptional hunter of Giants, as well as getting the actual Nature skill from his bonus ranger proficiency.
By eleventh level, Thulan has become a celebtrated warrior of his tribe and cemented his place as the next Ice Breaker for the Cloudhunter clan. His training isn’t complete yet, but he’s far enough along to regularly accompany his father on dangerous scouting journeys. Thulan has obtained his second ASI, filling in the 13s for both Dexterity and Wisdom. He’s continued his ranger’s training and specialized as a Hunter – while the Ice Breaker is a scout and surveyor rather than a warrior, he must nevertheless be able to handle himself in battle. As a Colossus Slayer, he’s well prepared to harry the giantkin and mountain monsters that threaten his tribe. He selects the Dueling fighting style – while mostly a useless pick as he tends to utilize two-handed mauls in his role as the Ice Breaker, Dueling is the most likely to work of a bunch of stuff he doesn’t need.
Spells are taken to suit the Ice Breaker’s role as the clan’s guide – Cure Wounds and Goodberry to stay healthy and fed, and Jump to bound across dangerous mountain gaps and crevasses. With his trusted Ice Breaker’s maul at his side, Thulan is a resilient and maneuverable mountain rover.
At seventeenth level, Thulan has taken over as the Ice Breaker of the Cloudhunter clan, allowing his aging father to retire gracefully and live closer to the clan. He’s attained the height of the Storm Herald’s power (level 12) which an Ice Breaker aspires to, gaining the ability to shelter his clansmen against the biting cold and to armor himself in his battle fury to withstand death itself...once or twice. He’s focused hard on improving his resilience, becoming a mass of hardened muscle and weathered hide. He gains a powerful boon from the hunters of his clan, as well – knowledge of the Pass without Trace spell, allowing him to avoid messy entanglements upon the mountain and return unharmed to his people.
One with the Mountains: Level 20 18/14/20/8/14/10 HP: 237 AC: 17
At twentieth level, Thulan has become an Ice Breaker his clan will sing of for generations, surpassing his father and his father’s father. The mountain does not slow Thulan’s steps, even its most difficult and broken terrain no more a hardship for him than a flat, level path. He has learned the speech of the ancient titans and elemental forces that once called the mountains their own, and he has even learned to survive in the frigid, hellish fields of ice and snow beyond the mountains themselves. He can slip free of his foes with nary a whisper of retaliation with Escape the Horde, and his newfound ability to cast Lesser Restoration ensures none of the mountain’s wasting diseases can take hold within him.
Thulan is a warrior and a guide, a sage of the stone and snow who leads his people through the mountains. Inured to cold, inured to the highest reaches, inured to hardship, starvation, and death itself. Wherever the ancient stone blocks their passage with unforgiving ice, Thulan’s maul cracks free the path. The relic maul held by generations of goliaths before him. Generations of those whose task was to Break the Ice.
Level 20 level split: 20 levels of straight up goodness. sorcerer.
Race: Human- obviously. Variant. with elemental adept cold. yep.
Stats: Str 8 (elsa cant punch) Dex 15 (16) (she gotta go fast) Con 8 (Elsa is also a lil baby, and can't take a hit) Int 14 (She a queen, gotta dose have brains) Wis 14(not sure why I gave her this. she built a tiny talking snowman. still no-one controls her) Cha 15 (16) (her singing is out of this world. plus she can cast spells like a boss.)
Background: Noble, she was a Queen after all.
Starting level: sorcerer level one, draconic frost bloodline (she had to get her powers from somewhere right? a lizard is as good as any). now, you're main thing- your spells. ray of frost is a must. and frostbite. and I guess mage hand? then get ice knife (to hit your sister in the heart with) and chromatic orb (cold ONLY). and finally, for your Coup De Grace.....SHAPE WATER. this thing will have you freezings everything! your villains, your friends beer, and most importantly the bloody ocean. you can go full let it go mode on any source of water you find. use the shape option then freeze it, and you have yourself a frickin ice sculpture, and if you are in a cold environment? you can make the ice palace of your dreeeeeams.
Any guidance or commentary you want: pick up snillocs snowball swarm and be the absolute best at whipping those balls of ice. you will probably kill your friends trying to prove you are the most badass. a necessary sacrifice. and hold person. your verbal component is "freeze". also get empowered (more freeze) and heightened (less saves against freeze) metamagics.
At 5th level: you are becoming pretty good at your spells now. at this level fireball becomes available, but who cares? you have sleet storm! more badass friend killing spells! you also no longer need to be casting shape water, because you have Water walking! now you can even freeze lava.
Any guidance or commentary you want: 6th level gives a pretty sweet bonus. that extra damage will allow you to have ice cream wherever. pick up Ice storm at level 7, for more friend freezing capabilities. pick up CONE OF COLD at level nine, so you can freeze everything in your path, and make an army of snow cones. but most of all grab conjure minor elemental. you now have an army of small talking snowmen (ice mephits). and antilife shell. you rule a kingdom of ice-olation. make sure those darn goblins know it.
At 11th level: now you are one with the ice. grab investor of ice, and go ham with your new powers.
Any guidance or commentary you want: um, at level 14 you can fly. not what you had in mind but who cares.
At 17th level: not a lot of spells this high up that still deal cold damage. but you get wish. now you cast wish and just keep summoning elementals. you are Elsa after all.
Any guidance or commentary you want. not much. pick up any other spells that dont do damage. and freeze stuff. a lot of stuff. this was not as well thought out as my other builds, but hey ho.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Your ice is very scary now. you are a master of ice. sing let it go at all times.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Heh. Knock the last three levels of Sorcerer off and pick up three levels of Bard, instead. Expertise in Performance, and College of Glamour because Disney princess.
Well, Vedalken couldn't be a better fit for our blue looking Mr. Freeze. Mr. Freeze has a Hermit background, which means that he gets Discovery as his feature; this of course must be his prized Freeze Gun which... comes online at level 5. Until then we can outfit Mr. Freeze with Ice-Themed Spells like Ray of Frost and Catapult, granted there's some Ice or Snow around. Grease, with some creative allowances, can be a patch of ice summoned to trip up your enemies.
We take Artillerist at Level 3 as our Specialist focus and at level 5 we get our Arcane Firearm. This does require a DM to allow for the meme build to play out and for your Discovery to allow for the Freeze Gun to take the place of the "wand, staff, or rod" outlined in the text to be your arcane focus. But it's at this level you can start casting from your Freeze Gun and your Ray of Frost suddenly becomes the Freeze Beam as seen on TV. Eldritch Cannon is neat but doesn't really fit into our build (Force, Fire, and Heals don't really fit the build) but allow for some extra damage to be done.
We can take some infusions here like Enhanced Arcane Focus and Enhanced Armor to improve ourselves a bit and make Mr. Freeze all the more intimidating. We can use Replicate Magic Item to create ourselves the Dread Helm (eyes glowing red, if you want to go for the Comic's Mr. Freeze approach) and Smoldering Armor (for that icy vapor to rise up off your armor). Web and Spider Climb allow you to use Ice in creative ways to get around or impede your enemies from doing so - imagine Mr. Freeze freezing his feet to the wall as he slowly climbs up for a better vantage point.
Given our weaker disposition, Artillerist allows us to always bring along Shield and Mr. Freeze can add Cure Wounds for good measure.
Artificer was fun, but Mr. Freeze needs more ice. And that means going straight into an Evocation Wizard for 6 levels for a wider variety of spells. We'll also grab Potent Cantrip so our Ray of Frost can't be fully resisted any longer. We get access to a plethora of new spells, including Chill Touch and Gust as cantrips. We have access to 3rd level spells like Slow and Leomund's Tiny Hut which both have excellent ice-flavored potential. Wall of Water using Mr. Freeze's Freeze Gun would also be neat, if allowed to exist in it's sold form. Overall Mr. Freeze is still able to Shield up to AC 20 if need be, heal his wounds if need be, as well as be the villain he needs to be. But, at this point, he is a villain, just not a super villain. What is he lacking?
PRESENTATION! Mr. Freeze takes 3 points into Bard to get a degree from the School of Lore, earning him Expertise in Intimidation and Performance as well as three more levels into Wizard. By this point, you know the drill, Mr. Freeze's Freeze Ray gets some new tricks, like Cone of Cold and Creation and is now fit to be the face of your troupe, inspiring those around him with his dastardly misdeeds and villain monologues.
Mr. Freeze caps out at only being able to produce 6th level spells, but at least he gets Otiluke's Freezing Sphere and the true Wall of Ice. His Freeze Gun is now fully powered and ready to deal real damage. With being able to make checks across the board, shoot icy spells from his Freeze Gun, and walk around with replicated wondrous items, our Mr. Freeze meme builds comes to a close. Although probably not as optimal as other meme builds, I hope that Mr. Freeze has pulled your heart from your body and felt it freeze in his icy hands.
Hm. Well, I'm not as creative with wording, but on the other hand, it's actually a useful character (well, the thief level dip so I could get +13 perform is a bit gratuitous)
Snow Miser
Level 1: Santa's Helper
It may be common knowledge that Santa's Helpers are elves, but if you actually look at depictions, they're clearly gnomes. Particularly, tinker gnomes. Snow Miser started out his career working at Santa's Workshop, giving him the Guild Artisan background, it was only later in his career that he went rogue, and his job included important tasks such as . Spells known:
Class: Wizard-1
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 12. HP 8, AC 12
Skills: Investigation +5 (Santa's spy network is second to none), Insight +3, Performance +3 (gained by taking redundant Insight skill), Persuasion +3
By this time, he's received his B&E training, and discovered his joy: making sure everyone has a white christmas. Done by calling up a familiar owl and have it blow ice on everything.
Class: Wizard-4/Thief-1
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 12. HP 33, AC 14 (studded leather)
To sort the dynamite from the duds we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each BLOOPERS/Badlands thread will run for 3 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be two days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Ice breakers build deadline/Voting opens: 27/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 29/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS NOW ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN
Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
To add to this - there's functionality built in to where you can't upvote yourself, but nothing to stop you from voting for multiple entries. I don't necessarily think this is a deal breaker though. I do think this would be a cleaner way of voting and add my +1 to this for future competitions; multiple votes may cause tiebreakers but I assume they would be handled in the same fashion as they would be handled now.
Stats: Str 13 Dex 10 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 12 (point buy)
Background: Inheritor! This is for one specific thing... His magic hat! Frosty starts off with the magic hat that brought him to life, and starts out proficient with drums to accompany his dancing.
Starting level: Happy Birthday! Lvl 1 Druid
Frosty is a being of pure water... he just happens to be frozen. This gives him Shape Water right out the gate as a cantrip, which can be used to freeze water. He's also able to breathe underwater, which hopefully won't come up too often, but at least the option is there. Level 1 Druid doesn't give him much... in addition to Shape Water he obviously takes Frostbite, then grab Gust as well, to harness to Northern Wind. Frosty's a friendly guy so spell choice is built more on utility than damage, so he's learning Create/Destroy Water and Fog Cloud for more tactical spellcasting. When it comes to weapons, Frosty carries his trusty Broom, which for our purposes is statistically a Quarterstaff.
We're reflavoring Wild Shape... instead of fully transforming into a true animal, Frosty, as a being made of living snow, simply reshapes his form into whatever he wants to be! But uh... sometimes Frosty doesn't know his own strength, and his joyous, energetic dancing sometimes gets people hurt, which is the flavoring for his Rage. We're going head first into his subclasses for this. At this point his Genasi nature gives him Create/Destroy Water once/day. He also grabs Hold Person (with ice!) and Spike Growth (more ice!) just for being an Arctic Druid. However, when it comes time to kick some ass, Frosty Wildshapes into something big and tough (let's go with a Yak), then rages. Now Frosty is a big snow-Yak surrounded by an aura of swirling snow which gives him and all his friends temp HP as long as they stick close to their big happy friend. Frosty's default form doesn't benefit a lot from the Barbarian class features, but any wildshape form has the potential to. Smart wild shape selection can make Unarmored Defense much more viable... our example Yak already gets a minor boost of 10AC to 11AC
At 11th level: Alive as he could be Lv. 5 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 6 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
Frosty, ultimately, is more Druid than Barbarian, but we're getting all his Barbarian levels out of the way early. At level 6 Barbarian Frosty is now immune to the effects of cold, which you would think he'd be immune to right off the bat, but we're running into the limits of reflavoring things. Frosty can also freeze water with a touch, which isn't super useful since as a Genasi he can already freeze water with a cantrip. More importantly, this brings him up to 4 Rages a day, which means Frosty is always ready to wildshape, rage, and use a bonus action each round to give himself and his friends 3 Temp HP. Speaking of Wildshape, Frosty jumps to CR 1/2 creatures and adds swimming creatures to his repertoire. He also picks up Sleet Storm and Slow from his druidic circle. Frosty's reaching a point where he's sometimes better served to cast Concentration spells, battle in wildshape, then switch to his Rage only after losing concentration. We finally hit some ASI's at this point, and Frosty's going to bump WIS up to 18 and take Elemental Adept to make sure his Cold magics aren't slowed down by resistances.
At 17th level: Some Magic in that Old Silk Hat Lv. 11 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 6 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
At this point Frosty is going all-in on being Druid first, Barbarian second. By now Frosty's circle gives him Ice Storm and Cone of Cold, upping his ice powers to truly impressive levels. His spells are built on versatility. You need a healer? Frosty's there to cure wounds, maybe even give out some goodberries. Need a tank? Suddenly he's a Snow Leopard surrounded by swirling energy that bestows temp HP to himself and his allies each round, with extra AC and resistance from his Barbarian skills. Need a scout? Well, Frosty can be almost any beast he wants now... a snowy owl for aerial surveilance... a harmless fly for subtle espionage, or a wolf to track by scent when the other senses fail others. Frosty even does decent DPS, but he's better in a support role.Less dramatically, Frosty can ignore most difficult terrain, can't be charmed/frightened by his fellow elementals, and becomes completely immune to poison and disease. Frosty hits just one more ASI, so let's go ahead and max out his WIS
At 20th level and final thoughts: Look at Frosty go! Lv. 14 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 5 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
There's not too dramatic of a shift for Frosty at this point. He gets one more ASI, so he's gonna bump CON to an 18, making him hearty and healthy for those times when he doesn't want to wildshape. Frosty's also a friend to children and animals, so finally Beasts need to make a WIS saving throw just to even attempt to attack him.
Like a proper Druid, Frosty's greatest strength is his versatility. He may not be the best at any one task, but he'll do anything to protect his friends. At this point his barbarian skills mostly come up with the extra 10 feet of movement, which applies to his wildshape forms as well, in addition to his Unarmored Defense, which can give a healthy bump to AC depending on the form he takes. His actual Rage is less of a staple ability, and more of an emergency button he can slam in dangerous situations. Frosty can be down to the wire, then in one turn he can wildshape into a Giant Hyena, which has 45 HP... normally it has an AC of 12, but Unarmored Defense bumps that to a 14, and movement skyrockets to 60 ft. The Rage gives him and any nearby allies 3 temp HP right off the bat, and resistances make him ready to take on almost anything. Giant Hyena's normally only attack once, but Frosty's multi-attack still applies, with added Rage damage.
Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
Because that's not what those arrows are for. it's significantly harder to count votes that way, as well as verifying no vote chicanery. Plus? A lot of folks like to show appreciation even for builds they don't Officialy Vote for by just liking the post. If we're stuck with the dumb Updoot feature in the first place, it's best to use it for its intended purpose.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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There's been some request for more build competitions on the forum that I originally created the Throwdowns on, specifically for during the voting period of the main throwdown competitions, so here we are!
How this will work:When the build submissions for the main throwdown closes, voting for it will open as will build submissions for that week's lightning round. The lightning round contests will rotate each voting period, this time it's BLOOPERS and the voting period of the next throwdown will see the debut of the badlands contest. These contests will exist entirely within the five day voting window, with three days for builds and two days for voting, the overall timeframe for this will likely not change but the ratio is open to shifting to what you guys find the best.
BLOOPERS: This lightning round is for your funny/meme builds, things that amuse you, are particularly tropey to the point of satire etc. A theme will be provided for you to build upon and votes will be cast on what playgrounders find the funniest build for the theme.
The Badlands: This is all about unofficial content, primarily UA but with things like Matt Mercer content thrown in, the aim here is to see what you guys can do with that sweet medium-less balanced material.
So without further ado, let's get into this!
The schtick: Since it's our first time doing this together, a requester suggested we should have some ice breaker exercises! So what's your funniest builds based around cold/ice?
Some rules for guidance:
-Your build must be based around cold/ice
-No UA, only officially published materials
-You must include a stat array (Point Buy or Standard Array)
-Build to 20 with insights on how the build hands at levels 5, 11, 17 and 20 (include hp and AC at each point for each of reading)
-Multiclassing and feat optional rules in play
-Variants for races available (V. Human, Dragonmarks, SCAG variants)
-No magic items unless you have a way to create them from a class feature
-Normal starting items and gold, mundane armor upgrades be assumed to happen during tier 2 (so you can mention Plate/Half Plate in your commentary but you can only include it in snapshots for levels 11,17 and the final 20).
-Catchy names and fluff are not a requirement but are always nice to read, jokes are heavily encouraged, let's get some belly laughs in this one!
Suggested format:
Level 20 level split:
Race:
Stats: Str x Dex x Con x Int x Wis x Cha x
Background:
Starting level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 5th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 11th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 17th level:
Any guidance or commentary you want
At 20th level and final thoughts:
Voting:
To sort the dynamite from the duds we'll vote on builds and declare a 'winner' (a concept that will hopefully continue in future threads and put the contest into this), to vote simply make a post quoting the build you want to vote for (snipping the content to keep things getting out of hand) and say something that indicates you're voting e.g. +1, get's my vote etc.
-Each user only gets one vote but you can edit your post at any time before the deadline to change your mind.
-If you submit a build, you must vote for someone for your entry to be considered valid
-A user can submit more than one build but they must be in separate posts (and not back to back to respect forum rules)
-You cannot vote for yourself
-Each BLOOPERS/Badlands thread will run for 3 days after which no new builds will be accepted for contention, when the build deadline has closed votes will be accepted. The voting deadline will be two days after the build deadline, votes will be tallied and the winner announced (any vote edits after the deadline has passed will also not be counted, if the original vote cannot be seen the vote will be null and void).
Ice breakers build deadline/Voting opens: 27/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
Voting deadline: 29/07/2020 @ 9pm BST/4pm ET
PLEASE NOTE THAT VOTING IS NOW ONLY ONCE THE BUILD DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
I'm looking forward to what all the optimisers around here come up with so without further ado, let's THROWDOWN
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This is gonna be fun! Going to post mine tomorrow!
'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!
Hmm...memey Ice build...
That's a tall order. Gonna have to sleep on this one, methinks. Let some of that Weekend Juice stew on it.
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Oh god, don't come and break my heart here like you have on the other builds 🤣
'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 core concept of what I'm building here is pretty simple: cast Shape Water to make an Improvised Weapon out of ice. That could then go in a lot of ways... if your DM is okay with an Improvised Dagger that still qualifies as a Finesse weapon, or an improvised Maul that still qualifies as Heavy, etc.... then the normal builds that focus on Sneak Attack, Great Weapon Master, etc. are all still viable for the small investment of unlocking that one cantrip and having a round or two to shape your weapon. I am going to assume that one can Sneak Attack with an improvised Dagger made of ice for this build, but Sneak Attack isn't the main thrust... I'm instead going to focus on grappling and move speed!? The concept being, Wampa here is like his namesake, popping out of ambush to snatch a victim and then run away with them into the howling arctic cold, letting arctic exposure do the rest of the work once he's separated his victim from their group.
Wampa the Wendigo
'Momma Momma! Mr. Frosty came to life!'
'What's that? Who's this Mr. Frosty, what are you on about child, and where's your brother?'
'The snowman, Momma! He wasn't there yesterday, but then after the snow fell, then he was there! And he's magic, Momma, he's a real snowman with a hat and nose and buttons, but he can walk and play!'
'That's nonsense, you should have been gathering snowberries, not building snowmen... now I won't ask again, where's Sven?'
'He's with Mr. Frosty, Momma! We both were having so much fun playing chase, but Mr. Frosty caught him up, and then he did a magic trick, and he took him to his winter kingdom, and-
'What!? This isn't funny, where is your brother, where is Sven? Is he hiding from his chores again-'
'No Momma, I told you! He's with the snowman, playing! I waited for them to come back, but I was getting real cold, and bored, and-'
'Oh, gods, no... No! Harald?! Emma, take me! Take me there right now, where you saw this man! Harald! Harald, come quick, someone's taken our boy, oh gods!'
'But he wasn't a man, Momma, that's what I keep telling you! He was a SNOWman, with coal buttons and a carrot nose and a pretty knife made of ice- I'm telling the truth!'
Lvl 1: Starving Cub (Bugbear Rogue 1)
Lvl 5: Mad Hermit (Bugbear Rogue (Scout) 3/Ranger 1/Barbarian 1)
Lvl 11: Frozen Cannibal (Bugbear Rogue (Scout) 3/Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 4/Barbarian (Storm Herald, Tundra) 4)
Lvl 17: Beast in the Blizzard (Bugbear Rogue (Scout) 3/Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 5/Barbarian (Storm Herald, Tundra) 6/Monk (Four Elements) 3)
Lvl 20: The Wendigo (Bugbear Rogue (Scout) 3/Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 8/Barbarian (Storm Herald, Tundra) 6/Monk (Four Elements) 3)
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
...I couldn't help myself. And also poor Chicken needs somebody to actually compete against. Heh.
*
Thulan “Ice Breaker” Cloudhunter
Goliath Barbarian 12/Ranger 8, Storm Herald/Hunter
Outlander background
Mountain Cub: Level One
14(16) / 12 / 15(16) / 8 / 13 / 10
HP: 15
AC: 14
Thulan is born to the Cloudhunter clan of goliaths, living high in the mountains of Exandria. His clan deals with snow and ice every day of their lives, and few positions in the clan are as important as the Ice Breaker – the goliath charged with clearing away dangerous icy build-ups, sounding out avalanche zones, and guiding the clan through the treacherous mountain passes of their home. Thulan is not yet an ice Breaker, but his father is. And over the course of a hard, unrelenting life with the Cloudhunter clan, he will learn to take up his father’s mantle.
As Thulan progresses through the levels, he sticks to his barbarian training for now. All the way to fourth level, where he acquires Resilient: Dexterity to help him avoid the rockslides, deadfalls, and avalanches common to his home (and also to hit the stat prereq for taking Ranger levels). At third level he begins on the path of the Storm Herald, the traditional calling of the Ice Breaker, but his powers as a Storm Herald will take time to truly fill in. He will, of course, select ‘Tundra’ as his Storm Aura.
Father’s Apprentice: Level Five
16 / 13 / 16 / 8 / 13 / 10
HP: 55
AC: 14
At fifth level, Thulan acquires Extra Attack, arming him against the beasts that often seek to claim the Ice Breaker as he scouts ahead of the clan. Sixth level is when Thulan truly begins to learn the ways of the Ice Breaker, though – this is when Storm Soul grants him resistance to cold damage and immunity to the effects of severe cold in addition to his Mountain Born trait. After this, now that he can survive outside the tents of the clan, Thulan begins learning more about the ways of the mountains from his father and the true skills of the Ice Breaker. Though he must remain a simple brute fighter for nowHe diverges from barbarian for a while and begin taking ranger training, learning the lore of the mountains and those colossal foes who inhabit them. So trained, Thulan acquires Proficiency in Mountain via Favored Terrain and becomes an exceptional hunter of Giants, as well as getting the actual Nature skill from his bonus ranger proficiency.
Ice Breaker In Potentia: Level Eleven
16 / 14 / 16 / 8 / 14 / 10
HP: 112
AC: 15
By eleventh level, Thulan has become a celebtrated warrior of his tribe and cemented his place as the next Ice Breaker for the Cloudhunter clan. His training isn’t complete yet, but he’s far enough along to regularly accompany his father on dangerous scouting journeys. Thulan has obtained his second ASI, filling in the 13s for both Dexterity and Wisdom. He’s continued his ranger’s training and specialized as a Hunter – while the Ice Breaker is a scout and surveyor rather than a warrior, he must nevertheless be able to handle himself in battle. As a Colossus Slayer, he’s well prepared to harry the giantkin and mountain monsters that threaten his tribe. He selects the Dueling fighting style – while mostly a useless pick as he tends to utilize two-handed mauls in his role as the Ice Breaker, Dueling is the most likely to work of a bunch of stuff he doesn’t need.
Spells are taken to suit the Ice Breaker’s role as the clan’s guide – Cure Wounds and Goodberry to stay healthy and fed, and Jump to bound across dangerous mountain gaps and crevasses. With his trusted Ice Breaker’s maul at his side, Thulan is a resilient and maneuverable mountain rover.
Ice Breaker in Truth: Level Seventeen
16/14/20/8/14/10
HP: 204
AC: 17
At seventeenth level, Thulan has taken over as the Ice Breaker of the Cloudhunter clan, allowing his aging father to retire gracefully and live closer to the clan. He’s attained the height of the Storm Herald’s power (level 12) which an Ice Breaker aspires to, gaining the ability to shelter his clansmen against the biting cold and to armor himself in his battle fury to withstand death itself...once or twice. He’s focused hard on improving his resilience, becoming a mass of hardened muscle and weathered hide. He gains a powerful boon from the hunters of his clan, as well – knowledge of the Pass without Trace spell, allowing him to avoid messy entanglements upon the mountain and return unharmed to his people.
One with the Mountains: Level 20
18/14/20/8/14/10
HP: 237
AC: 17
At twentieth level, Thulan has become an Ice Breaker his clan will sing of for generations, surpassing his father and his father’s father. The mountain does not slow Thulan’s steps, even its most difficult and broken terrain no more a hardship for him than a flat, level path. He has learned the speech of the ancient titans and elemental forces that once called the mountains their own, and he has even learned to survive in the frigid, hellish fields of ice and snow beyond the mountains themselves. He can slip free of his foes with nary a whisper of retaliation with Escape the Horde, and his newfound ability to cast Lesser Restoration ensures none of the mountain’s wasting diseases can take hold within him.
Thulan is a warrior and a guide, a sage of the stone and snow who leads his people through the mountains. Inured to cold, inured to the highest reaches, inured to hardship, starvation, and death itself. Wherever the ancient stone blocks their passage with unforgiving ice, Thulan’s maul cracks free the path. The relic maul held by generations of goliaths before him. Generations of those whose task was to Break the Ice.
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Thulan is 100% a more playable character than Wampa... and even less ice/cold related than Wampa was.
Surely someone will save us and come along with an actual build that uses Cold damage? :p
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
um Hello? this is my build.....
Elsa, Queen of Ice.
Level 20 level split: 20 levels of straight up goodness. sorcerer.
Race: Human- obviously. Variant. with elemental adept cold. yep.
Stats: Str 8 (elsa cant punch) Dex 15 (16) (she gotta go fast) Con 8 (Elsa is also a lil baby, and can't take a hit) Int 14 (She a queen, gotta dose have brains) Wis 14(not sure why I gave her this. she built a tiny talking snowman. still no-one controls her) Cha 15 (16) (her singing is out of this world. plus she can cast spells like a boss.)
Background: Noble, she was a Queen after all.
Starting level: sorcerer level one, draconic frost bloodline (she had to get her powers from somewhere right? a lizard is as good as any). now, you're main thing- your spells. ray of frost is a must. and frostbite. and I guess mage hand? then get ice knife (to hit your sister in the heart with) and chromatic orb (cold ONLY). and finally, for your Coup De Grace.....SHAPE WATER. this thing will have you freezings everything! your villains, your friends beer, and most importantly the bloody ocean. you can go full let it go mode on any source of water you find. use the shape option then freeze it, and you have yourself a frickin ice sculpture, and if you are in a cold environment? you can make the ice palace of your dreeeeeams.
Any guidance or commentary you want: pick up snillocs snowball swarm and be the absolute best at whipping those balls of ice. you will probably kill your friends trying to prove you are the most badass. a necessary sacrifice. and hold person. your verbal component is "freeze". also get empowered (more freeze) and heightened (less saves against freeze) metamagics.
At 5th level: you are becoming pretty good at your spells now. at this level fireball becomes available, but who cares? you have sleet storm! more badass friend killing spells! you also no longer need to be casting shape water, because you have Water walking! now you can even freeze lava.
Any guidance or commentary you want: 6th level gives a pretty sweet bonus. that extra damage will allow you to have ice cream wherever. pick up Ice storm at level 7, for more friend freezing capabilities. pick up CONE OF COLD at level nine, so you can freeze everything in your path, and make an army of snow cones. but most of all grab conjure minor elemental. you now have an army of small talking snowmen (ice mephits). and antilife shell. you rule a kingdom of ice-olation. make sure those darn goblins know it.
At 11th level: now you are one with the ice. grab investor of ice, and go ham with your new powers.
Any guidance or commentary you want: um, at level 14 you can fly. not what you had in mind but who cares.
At 17th level: not a lot of spells this high up that still deal cold damage. but you get wish. now you cast wish and just keep summoning elementals. you are Elsa after all.
Any guidance or commentary you want. not much. pick up any other spells that dont do damage. and freeze stuff. a lot of stuff. this was not as well thought out as my other builds, but hey ho.
At 20th level and final thoughts: Your ice is very scary now. you are a master of ice. sing let it go at all times.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Hmmm, but how are you supposed to sing without Bard levels?
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
good point. prof in performance?
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Heh. Knock the last three levels of Sorcerer off and pick up three levels of Bard, instead. Expertise in Performance, and College of Glamour because Disney princess.
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I had a bout of inspiration for a build here and would like to reintroduce you to an old villain:
Mr. Freeze
Vedalken Artificer / Wizard
Level 1, Ice to meet you (Artificer 1)
12 / 10 / 13 / 15 (17) / 10 (11) / 13
HP: 9, AC: 14
Well, Vedalken couldn't be a better fit for our blue looking Mr. Freeze. Mr. Freeze has a Hermit background, which means that he gets Discovery as his feature; this of course must be his prized Freeze Gun which... comes online at level 5. Until then we can outfit Mr. Freeze with Ice-Themed Spells like Ray of Frost and Catapult, granted there's some Ice or Snow around. Grease, with some creative allowances, can be a patch of ice summoned to trip up your enemies.
Level 5, Let's kick some ice! (Artificer 5)
12 / 10 / 13 / 17 (19) / 10 (11) / 13
HP: 33, AC: 15
We take Artillerist at Level 3 as our Specialist focus and at level 5 we get our Arcane Firearm. This does require a DM to allow for the meme build to play out and for your Discovery to allow for the Freeze Gun to take the place of the "wand, staff, or rod" outlined in the text to be your arcane focus. But it's at this level you can start casting from your Freeze Gun and your Ray of Frost suddenly becomes the Freeze Beam as seen on TV. Eldritch Cannon is neat but doesn't really fit into our build (Force, Fire, and Heals don't really fit the build) but allow for some extra damage to be done.
We can take some infusions here like Enhanced Arcane Focus and Enhanced Armor to improve ourselves a bit and make Mr. Freeze all the more intimidating. We can use Replicate Magic Item to create ourselves the Dread Helm (eyes glowing red, if you want to go for the Comic's Mr. Freeze approach) and Smoldering Armor (for that icy vapor to rise up off your armor). Web and Spider Climb allow you to use Ice in creative ways to get around or impede your enemies from doing so - imagine Mr. Freeze freezing his feet to the wall as he slowly climbs up for a better vantage point.
Given our weaker disposition, Artillerist allows us to always bring along Shield and Mr. Freeze can add Cure Wounds for good measure.
Level 11, Alright everyone... chill! (Artificer 5 / Wizard 6)
12 / 10 / 13 / 18 (20) / 10 (11) / 14
HP: 63, AC: 15
Artificer was fun, but Mr. Freeze needs more ice. And that means going straight into an Evocation Wizard for 6 levels for a wider variety of spells. We'll also grab Potent Cantrip so our Ray of Frost can't be fully resisted any longer. We get access to a plethora of new spells, including Chill Touch and Gust as cantrips. We have access to 3rd level spells like Slow and Leomund's Tiny Hut which both have excellent ice-flavored potential. Wall of Water using Mr. Freeze's Freeze Gun would also be neat, if allowed to exist in it's sold form. Overall Mr. Freeze is still able to Shield up to AC 20 if need be, heal his wounds if need be, as well as be the villain he needs to be. But, at this point, he is a villain, just not a super villain. What is he lacking?
Level 17, Tonight...Hell freezes over! (Artificer 5 / Wizard 9 / Bard 3)
12 / 10 / 13 / 18 (20) / 10 (11) / 16
HP: 96, AC: 15
(is Megamind also a Vedalken?)
PRESENTATION!
Mr. Freeze takes 3 points into Bard to get a degree from the School of Lore, earning him Expertise in Intimidation and Performance as well as three more levels into Wizard. By this point, you know the drill, Mr. Freeze's Freeze Ray gets some new tricks, like Cone of Cold and Creation and is now fit to be the face of your troupe, inspiring those around him with his dastardly misdeeds and villain monologues.
Level 20, What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age! (Artificer 5 / Wizard 12 / Bard 3)
12 / 10 / 13 / 18 (20) / 10 (11) / 18
HP: 111, AC: 15
Mr. Freeze caps out at only being able to produce 6th level spells, but at least he gets Otiluke's Freezing Sphere and the true Wall of Ice. His Freeze Gun is now fully powered and ready to deal real damage. With being able to make checks across the board, shoot icy spells from his Freeze Gun, and walk around with replicated wondrous items, our Mr. Freeze meme builds comes to a close. Although probably not as optimal as other meme builds, I hope that Mr. Freeze has pulled your heart from your body and felt it freeze in his icy hands.
Okay but the Ice Age did not kill the dinosaurs, and as a Doctor of Freezology you should know that.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
You had me at "Ice to meet you."
Can't not hear it in Arnold's voice.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Hm. Well, I'm not as creative with wording, but on the other hand, it's actually a useful character (well, the thief level dip so I could get +13 perform is a bit gratuitous)
Snow Miser
Level 1: Santa's Helper
It may be common knowledge that Santa's Helpers are elves, but if you actually look at depictions, they're clearly gnomes. Particularly, tinker gnomes. Snow Miser started out his career working at Santa's Workshop, giving him the Guild Artisan background, it was only later in his career that he went rogue, and his job included important tasks such as . Spells known:
Level 5: Snowbringer
By this time, he's received his B&E training, and discovered his joy: making sure everyone has a white christmas. Done by calling up a familiar owl and have it blow ice on everything.
Level 11: Hard Frost
Well, at this point he seems to have become distracted from proper toymaking with a little... excess love for freezing things.
Level 17: Winterbringer
... yeah, we might as well just freeze everything, no need for a simple white Christmas. A key spell at this point is Control Weather
Level 20: Snow Miser
Damn you, I was going to make santa later! Oh well, might as well make it.
'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!
Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
To add to this - there's functionality built in to where you can't upvote yourself, but nothing to stop you from voting for multiple entries. I don't necessarily think this is a deal breaker though. I do think this would be a cleaner way of voting and add my +1 to this for future competitions; multiple votes may cause tiebreakers but I assume they would be handled in the same fashion as they would be handled now.
Presenting... Frosty the Genas(t)i!
Level 20 level split: Lvl 14 Druid (Land:Arctic)/Lvl 6 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
Race: Genasi (Water)
Stats: Str 13 Dex 10 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 12 (point buy)
Background: Inheritor! This is for one specific thing... His magic hat! Frosty starts off with the magic hat that brought him to life, and starts out proficient with drums to accompany his dancing.
Starting level: Happy Birthday! Lvl 1 Druid
Frosty is a being of pure water... he just happens to be frozen. This gives him Shape Water right out the gate as a cantrip, which can be used to freeze water. He's also able to breathe underwater, which hopefully won't come up too often, but at least the option is there. Level 1 Druid doesn't give him much... in addition to Shape Water he obviously takes Frostbite, then grab Gust as well, to harness to Northern Wind. Frosty's a friendly guy so spell choice is built more on utility than damage, so he's learning Create/Destroy Water and Fog Cloud for more tactical spellcasting. When it comes to weapons, Frosty carries his trusty Broom, which for our purposes is statistically a Quarterstaff.
At 5th level: Jolly Happy Soul Lv. 2 Druid (Land:Arctic)/Lv. 3 Barbarian (Storm Herald:Tundra)
We're reflavoring Wild Shape... instead of fully transforming into a true animal, Frosty, as a being made of living snow, simply reshapes his form into whatever he wants to be! But uh... sometimes Frosty doesn't know his own strength, and his joyous, energetic dancing sometimes gets people hurt, which is the flavoring for his Rage. We're going head first into his subclasses for this. At this point his Genasi nature gives him Create/Destroy Water once/day. He also grabs Hold Person (with ice!) and Spike Growth (more ice!) just for being an Arctic Druid. However, when it comes time to kick some ass, Frosty Wildshapes into something big and tough (let's go with a Yak), then rages. Now Frosty is a big snow-Yak surrounded by an aura of swirling snow which gives him and all his friends temp HP as long as they stick close to their big happy friend. Frosty's default form doesn't benefit a lot from the Barbarian class features, but any wildshape form has the potential to. Smart wild shape selection can make Unarmored Defense much more viable... our example Yak already gets a minor boost of 10AC to 11AC
At 11th level: Alive as he could be Lv. 5 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 6 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
Frosty, ultimately, is more Druid than Barbarian, but we're getting all his Barbarian levels out of the way early. At level 6 Barbarian Frosty is now immune to the effects of cold, which you would think he'd be immune to right off the bat, but we're running into the limits of reflavoring things. Frosty can also freeze water with a touch, which isn't super useful since as a Genasi he can already freeze water with a cantrip. More importantly, this brings him up to 4 Rages a day, which means Frosty is always ready to wildshape, rage, and use a bonus action each round to give himself and his friends 3 Temp HP. Speaking of Wildshape, Frosty jumps to CR 1/2 creatures and adds swimming creatures to his repertoire. He also picks up Sleet Storm and Slow from his druidic circle. Frosty's reaching a point where he's sometimes better served to cast Concentration spells, battle in wildshape, then switch to his Rage only after losing concentration. We finally hit some ASI's at this point, and Frosty's going to bump WIS up to 18 and take Elemental Adept to make sure his Cold magics aren't slowed down by resistances.
At 17th level: Some Magic in that Old Silk Hat Lv. 11 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 6 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
At this point Frosty is going all-in on being Druid first, Barbarian second. By now Frosty's circle gives him Ice Storm and Cone of Cold, upping his ice powers to truly impressive levels. His spells are built on versatility. You need a healer? Frosty's there to cure wounds, maybe even give out some goodberries. Need a tank? Suddenly he's a Snow Leopard surrounded by swirling energy that bestows temp HP to himself and his allies each round, with extra AC and resistance from his Barbarian skills. Need a scout? Well, Frosty can be almost any beast he wants now... a snowy owl for aerial surveilance... a harmless fly for subtle espionage, or a wolf to track by scent when the other senses fail others. Frosty even does decent DPS, but he's better in a support role.Less dramatically, Frosty can ignore most difficult terrain, can't be charmed/frightened by his fellow elementals, and becomes completely immune to poison and disease. Frosty hits just one more ASI, so let's go ahead and max out his WIS
At 20th level and final thoughts: Look at Frosty go! Lv. 14 Druid (Land: Arctic)/Lv. 5 Barbarian (Storm Herald: Tundra)
There's not too dramatic of a shift for Frosty at this point. He gets one more ASI, so he's gonna bump CON to an 18, making him hearty and healthy for those times when he doesn't want to wildshape. Frosty's also a friend to children and animals, so finally Beasts need to make a WIS saving throw just to even attempt to attack him.
Like a proper Druid, Frosty's greatest strength is his versatility. He may not be the best at any one task, but he'll do anything to protect his friends. At this point his barbarian skills mostly come up with the extra 10 feet of movement, which applies to his wildshape forms as well, in addition to his Unarmored Defense, which can give a healthy bump to AC depending on the form he takes. His actual Rage is less of a staple ability, and more of an emergency button he can slam in dangerous situations. Frosty can be down to the wire, then in one turn he can wildshape into a Giant Hyena, which has 45 HP... normally it has an AC of 12, but Unarmored Defense bumps that to a 14, and movement skyrockets to 60 ft. The Rage gives him and any nearby allies 3 temp HP right off the bat, and resistances make him ready to take on almost anything. Giant Hyena's normally only attack once, but Frosty's multi-attack still applies, with added Rage damage.
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Because that's not what those arrows are for. it's significantly harder to count votes that way, as well as verifying no vote chicanery. Plus? A lot of folks like to show appreciation even for builds they don't Officialy Vote for by just liking the post. If we're stuck with the dumb Updoot feature in the first place, it's best to use it for its intended purpose.
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