roll3d6inorder

[roll3d6inorder]

Thug Becomes Swordlord

Str 11

Dex 13

Con 16

Int 14

Wis 13

Cha 8

Well, that's a good spread! As long as we don't get something Charisma focused, *knock on wood*

Warforged

Paladin

This is going to be every time, isn't it? You know what? Screw it:

Half-orc

Fighter

That's better!

I hate to disagree with the random generation, but I feel like I JUST made a paladin, and it would really just be annoying to make another one. We don't have enough Fighters, this will be great. We don't exactly have the stats for most fighters, but so be it.

Also, half-orc is something I haven't played with much. Though this is going to have to be an unconventional Orc as our Dexterity is higher than our Strength.

Dex 15

Con 17

It reminds me of my first PF:Kingmaker character. Let's use that for our backstory!

Agro was a thug, employing fear and intimidation to get what she wanted. However, she always believed in robbing from only those that deserved it. She fancied herself a hero, despite it all. So when the Swordlords called for someone to reclaim the Stolen Lands, she rose to the challenge. Not only that, but she was inspired by the talents of the sword lords and strove to learn the techniques that made them the so fearsome. She still wanted to be feared, but not just for her tusks and her unscrupulous violence, but for her skill as a worthy leader.

Level 1

Background: Criminal

Deception, Stealth, Intimidation

Fighter 1

Acrobatics, History

Level 2

Fighter 2

Dueling Style

Level 3

Fighter 3

Champion

Level 4

Fighter 4

Dex 16

Con 18

Level 5

Fighter 5

Level 6

Fighter 6

Dex 18

Level 7

Rogue 1

Sleight of Hand

Expertise: Intimidation, History

Level 8

Rogue 2

Level 9

Rogue 3

Assassin

Level 10

Rogue 4

Dex 20

It's rare that we get a build that actually feels min-maxed. Rogue/Fighter is such a simple yet effective multiclass even a character we make can pull it off. You only need one stat (Dex) for both classes and you only need to know how to do one thing (Stab). Champion + Half-orc + Assassin is all radically nice too. You have a 10% chance to do even better crits when you don't have 100% guaranteed better critical hits. This version of Agretsuorc might be too good, if anything.

Let us have a moment of silence for the Warforged Paladin that could have been. If it's any consolation, I'm playing one right now in my east-asian inspired campaign. He's a terracotta warrior protecting the dead emperor's treasure. His AC is ridiculously high...

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 8

Dex 10

Con 6

Int 10

Wis 13

Cha 8

Bad constitution, not a fan of that. Everything else pretty average with a descent wisdom. We just have to pray that wisdom gives us something we can work with.

Triton

Ranger

Hey, that'll work!

So, Ranger. Not a bad class to have no constitution with. If you're staying at RANGE from the fight, who needs hit points, right? Though a lot of great ranger spells require concentration, so that's less than ideal.

I haven't made one of these in a while, huh? We have Tasha's options now, and they're crazy! For instance, being a Triton doesn't just mean we get certain fixed Triton ASI's now, it's whatever we want, so I'm going to bump whatever I want.

Dex 11

Wis 14

Con 7

We've got to play to our strengths. We don't have many. We can either rush to an ASI and try to multiclass into something, or we can just make a wisdom focused ranger work for us. In terms of what we qualify for, we don't have the stats to become a monk, we can't get much out of going cleric, and we can get most of what we need out of druid from the ranger. Plus, d10 hit dice to help with our constitution. This is a good chance to explore more Tasha's nonsense anyways. Why not, it's fun! On to the backstory.

Sr Sevil of Reefton has been in the Order of the Cave for all his life. The cave in question is the Cave of the Great Eel, a colossal beast that once terrorized oceanic civilization before they banded together to lock it away. At first, the alliance was strong, and the Order was strong, but over time infighting and aging out slowly whittled down the membership until only Sr Sevil remained. Then, as he knew it might, one night, it happened. Nobody was there at the post and the Great Eel escaped! So far, it has not harmed anyone else, but it's only a matter of time before it builds up its strength and returns for horrible revenge. Sr Sevil is sworn to stop it, but he knows that he will need a team to support him. After all, he's not as young as he once was.

Level 1

Background: Folk Hero

Animal Handling and Survival

Ranger 1

Perception, Insight, Stealth

Expertise (Perception)

Tracking

Level 2

Ranger 2

Druidic Warrior (Magic Stone, Shillelagh)

Absorb Elements

Hunter's Mark

Level 3

Ranger 3

Monster Hunter Conclave

Fog Cloud

Level 4

Ranger 4

ASI (Wis 16)

Alarm

Level 5

Ranger 5

Barkskin

Level 6

Ranger 6

Pass Without Trace

Level 7

Ranger 7

Healing Spirit

Level 8

Ranger 8

ASI (Dex 12, Con 18)

Aid

Level 9

Ranger 9

Revivify

Level 10

Ranger 10

Plant Growth

Essentially, magic stone + shillelagh means that we have ranged and melee options to fight with our Wisdom instead of our physical stats, which are trash. Add in Barkskin, and our AC is no longer held back by our poor Dexterity. Who needs it, eh?

There are a lot of good conclaves for Rangers, arguably they were the only reason to play a ranger before Tasha's, so any one we picked would have worked well enough. It's mostly a question of flavor.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

"The Mongoose" Rises Again

Another 3d6 roll. Same rules as usual. Let's go!

Str 7

Dex 11

Con 7

Int 6

Wis 9

Charisma 7

I got so many 7s you'd think I was rolling 2d6. I don't have much hope for this one. We're very statistically useless this time.

Satyr

Barbarian

Well, that's not helping!

Barbarians are one of the most innately MAD classes, and we have 7s in two of them! And equally terrible minuses in everything else. This is going to require some careful consideration to figure out which Barbarian subclass can save us from having to rely on our stats.

Satyr is nice. At least we'll be able to platform as if we had average strength. And magic resistance is always nice. Plus, we get a bonus to our Dex, and 2 points into... let's say Constitution instead of Charisma. My aunt Tasha says I can.

Dex 12

Con 9

I'm thinking given our "advantages" we'll want to try to make the rarely considered barbarian archer build. Most barbarian subclasses demand melee combat to be effective, but there are a couple that don't. Wild Magic would be one, but while it doesn't demand much of us it doesn't do much for us either. Zealot wouldn't be the worst, and it would give us a way back into the game if we died, but do we really want that for this character? Ancestral Guardian is the path I've used in the past, and I might just have to use it again. Let's get into the backstory.

Tina "The Mongoose" was an ordinary young Satyr before she mysteriously fell comatose on her 23rd birthday. During this time, she had dreams and visions of her ancestors, telling her about a curse that only she could break, training her to fight with all manner of weapons, readying her for a great destiny. When she woke up, ready to chase this destiny, she found she only had a hazy recollection of what the curse even was. Also, she had actually been in a coma for 15 years. Now 38 years young, with a weakened body and mind, "The Mongoose" still fights with her ancestors at her side, her determination being her strongest asset, and her willingness to accept help from others.

Level 1

Barbarian 1

Level 2

Barbarian 2

Level 3

Barbarian 3

Path of the Ancestral Guardian

Level 4

Barbarian 4

Dex 14

Level 5

Barbarian 5

Level 6

Barbarian 6

Level 7

Barbarian 7

Level 8

Barbarian 8

Crossbow Expert

Level 9

Barbarian 9

Level 10

Barbarian 10

Not many choices to make, honestly. When we're not dealing with spellcasters, I suppose it can't be helped. The main two things were building up to 14 Dexterity for the AC and to-hit bonus, then pivoting to Crossbow Expert to get the extra attack as a bonus action, giving us more chances of procing Ancestral Protectors. Our idea using that is less to tank or do damage than it is to debuff the enemy while they're dealing with the real front line. Debuffing, reducing damage, consulting the spirits, we're a regular Cleric of a Barbarian, aren't we.

We went from a character I would actually play last week to a character you would never want to play this week. Well, if she were buffed up to standard array levels, maybe. That's the fun of making these, after all. You never know what you'll get.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Acolyte of the Blessed Tentacle

Last one came out so good I thought about not doing one again. But heck, let's go at least one more time!

Str 8

Dex 8

Con 14

Int 15

Wis 13

Cha 14

Okay, so, it's big brain time. We just have to pray for a spellcaster because pretty much any of them will be good for us. Let's see what we get.

Triton

Paladin

Hmm... okay.

So, it's a spellcaster. Sort of. It would be great if we could multiclass, but even with our buffed strength that's not going to be easy.

Str 9

Con 15

Cha 15

As far as Paladin's go, we have great Charisma and Constitution. The only heavy armor we can wear is Ring Mail unless we want to move 10ft slower, which admittedly isn't the worst possibility in the world. Especially if we can get a horse, which Paladin's just happen to be one class that definitely can. Honestly, this one won't be too hard. Let's get into the backstory.

Andrew grew up in a very peculiar monastery; it's construction was between the sea and the land, built into a seaside cliff . It's construction was meant to symbolize a unity between the sea dwelling peoples like himself and the land dwelling races. Their mission was to educate the land dwellers of the benevolence of Fluneranderil, the sea-elven many-tentacled god of thoughtful gifts and protection from troubles. Troublingly, it was discovered that the monasteries position was inappropriate for the physical development of the children that it raised. Without the crushing atmospheres of the deep sea or the regular gravity of the above world, these shallow-swimming students never developed proper strength or coordination for life in either climate. Disappointed, the monastery was shut down and the acolytes never went on pilgrimage as they expected to. All except for Andrew, who despite all precaution was determined to redeem his monasteries mistakes and see the benevolence of his god shape the surface world one way or another. With heavy, clumsy feet he made his way to share the good word, with an oath ever on his lips for the Tentacle that Gives and the Tentacle that Protects.

Level 1

Background: Acolyte

Insight and Religion

Paladin 1

Persuasion and Medicine

Level 2

Paladin 2

Blessed Warrior

Sacred Flame and Spare the Dying

Bless, Heroism, Shield of Faith

Level 3

Paladin 3

Oath of Redemption

Sleep, Sanctuary, Cure Wounds

Level 4

Paladin 4

Con 16

Cha 16

Purify Food and Drink

Level 5

Paladin 5

Calm Emotions, Hold Person, Find Steed

Level 6

Paladin 6

Aid

Level 7

Paladin 7

Prayer of Healing

Level 8

Paladin 8

Protection from Poison

Cha 18

Level 9

Paladin 9

Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern, Revivify

Level 10

Paladin 10

Aura of Vitality

If our last character was a Bard who wanted to be a Ranger, now we have a Paladin who wants to be a Cleric. Unfortunately, I don't think he came out as interesting in comparison. Now with Tasha's, a Charisma only Paladin is not that far out, even if it is just a low-budget Cleric with auras. Then again, you also have a horse. A horse is pretty good.

Not much to say today. Just keeping the blog alive.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Daughter of the White Stag

Str 10

Dex 13

Con 13

Int 15

Wis 17

Cha 7

Really lucky rolls here! Only charisma is bad, which is bad for, like, half the classes in the game, but those classes are almost all flexible enough to live without it. Everything else is looking good! Let’s see what our race and class are.

Shifter

Bard

And speak of the devil, there’s one of them now!

Of course we get a charisma class! Just our luck. But, the Bard is one of those classes that can make use of any ability score, at least through skills, and a descent Dex and Con means we can be a fine sword-fighter. I’m just glad we didn’t get saddled with a Sorcerer. I mean, what would we do with that?

Our class is versatile and so is our race. For the purposes of being a strong duelist (who’s just pretending he knows how to entertain or inspire people) we’ll either want Beasthide or Swiftstride. Swiftstride would give us a small leg up to try and dig ourselves out of our charisma hole, but frankly it seems like a lost cause. For this reason, let’s go Beasthide.

Dex 14

Con 15

As you might imagine, we’re going with one of the martial-focused colleges, but which should we choose? Valor gives us access to shields while Swords gives us a fighting style. Both of the extra ways to use our inspiration are mostly pointless because without charisma we’re only getting one day. The difference is essentially between Valor for defense or Swords for offense. As much as I would like to double-down on defense to make up for our 1d8 hit die, I feel like Swords is the better choice overall. We can also cast spells with our hands full of weapons as Swords, which is not too great for us because we have terrible casting stats, but we’ll make that work for us as well. 

Tally grew up in a hamlet high in the hills where travelers seldom came. All she knew of the world, she learned from her mother. Her mother was a bard and a storyteller, known throughout the world for her songs and tall-tales. Tally wished she could be a part of those stories, but never seemed to get the hang of writing them herself. She read though, read whatever she could get her hands on throughout her whole childhood, just waiting for the chance to live these adventures herself when she was older. When she did get older, though, something changed. Her body changed, more than the other girls at school. She was a Shifter, and she believed she knew why. Her mother’s magnum opus was about a hunt for a great white stag, and how all the great hunters who tried could not catch it, but how a woman with a sweet song of longing was able to draw it to her. It took human form and became her husband. They were happy together, until one day the hunters found him and chased him away, leaving her heartbroken. These lovers, she decided, were her mother and father. She left home, then, to search for her father as well as to discover the truth about herself in the wilderness. For years she searched, coming up empty, learning patience, learning to cooperate with others on her path, and learning a great deal about her body and the forces of nature. Her fathers trail eventually lead her to the city, where perhaps that form-shifting fey was hiding out. Here, she made a living by using her skills as a tracker in bounty hunting. She believes that patience and diligence will surely lead to her success, as it does for all things. 

Level 1

Background: Urban Bounty Hunter

Insight and Stealth

Bard 1

Animal Handling, Medicine, Survival

Athletics and Perception (from race)

Dancing Lights and Message 

Comprehend Languages

Identify

Sleep

Longstrider

Level 2

Bard 2

Feather Fall

Level 3

Bard 3

College of Swords

Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting

Expertise: Perception and Stealth

Invisibility

Level 4

Bard 4

ASI

Dex 16

Mage Hand

Heat Metal

Level 5

Bard 5

Non-detection

Level 6

Bard 6

Plant Growth

Level 7

Bard 7

Freedom of Movement

Level 8

Bard 8

Feat: Resilient (Con)

Con 16

Locate Creature

Level 9

Bard 9

Polymorph

Level 10

Bard 10

Mending

Magical Secrets: Booming Blade and Armor of Agathys

Expertise: Medicine and Survival

Basically what we have here is a character who desperately wants to be a Ranger but can’t be. She fights with two weapons and medium armor. She’s all about tracking, hiding, and nature. She has Wisdom for days. She’s just trapped in the body of a Bard.

Despite that, I like her a lot. It’s rare that characters I make have a distinct visual theme (I’m not an artist) but the myth of the White Stag gives me a strong impression what her visual design would include. I’m thinking white fur armor, a helmet with antlers, kind of tall and lanky with long legs like a deer. And when she transforms, those elements of her design would take over as she shifts into her bestial form. It makes me want to use this background to create a more conventional character (again, probably a ranger) to play for myself.

It’s always nice to have a strong theme when I’m choosing spells for a spell-caster as well. You can always just pick “good” spells, but picking spells that fit with a theme gives you the chance to experiment with ones you wouldn’t usually use. Also, of course, I had to pick spells that don’t rely too much on our Charisma, which is still terrible and always will be.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

The Thief and the Curse

Str 8

Dex 9

Con 5

Int 13

Wis 13

Cha 8

Now that is some terrible constitution. Bad physical stats all around. At least it’s easy to imagine what this character looks like: frail and sickly all the way! At least we have a couple of stats good enough to multi-class with, but who knows if that will come in handy. Let’s hope the race and class really shake things up.

Kenku

Rogue

It’s not a bad combination. Kenku almost assumes Rogue. It’s not great, but I can make something of it.

Dex 11

Wis 14

Always hard to make due with such terrible constitution, but everything else is okay. For a rogue, we would absolutely prefer higher dexterity for attack and defense, at least we can easily get enough to multiclass. Wisdom is our highest score, which we could use to become a Cleric. We don’t have the Strength to use heavy armor, though, at least not without losing a lot of speed, and with our health we want to be able to run away effectively. On the subject of running away effectively, we would have the right stats for Monk, but Monks tend to be in the fray, which we don’t want to be. 

And then, there are Druids. I think I’ve pulled the Moon Druid card before, but it would not be a bad idea for a character with such terrible physical stats. Sneak Attack is finicky in 5e, so Wild Shape natural attacks won’t trigger it, and officially you don’t keep your weapon proficiency when you’re Wild Shaped so you can’t very well use that. Then again, you also don’t gain sneak attack from unarmed strikes if you’re a Monk. This is one of the rare cases where Pathfinder’s rules were so much more flexible. You could get a sneak attack for anything in Pathfinder.

I could go Knowledge Cleric and become the ultimate skill monkey with expertise for days and proficiency in anything I want. There are alternatives to focusing on combat. And I could get the Sanctuary spell to keep myself safe. Or I could be a Spore Druid and make up for my lack of HP with temporary Spore-based HP! But, as cool as that is, it’s not going to be enough to make up for how terrible our constitution is, so we’re still going to be squishy as anything. Yes, it probably does make more sense to live a humble life serving God than it does to charge out to war in our old age. On to the backstory:

Polyanne was born a thief. Most Kenku are. Most Kenku eventually grow out of it. They have enough, they know enough, they’ve been around enough, and they retire. They only live to be about 60 or so if they’re lucky, after all. But Polyanne was never satisfied. She wanted to go straight to the big question: how to end the curse that keeps the Kenku grounded? She wasted her life and vitality on this question, however she believes that she is getting close. Unfortunately for her, “getting close” means wandering far from the flock where she was safe. Now, Polyanne has to make friends with some outsiders in order to finally get what she most desires before she up and croaks.

Level 1

Background: Outlander

Athletics and Survival

Rogue 1

Insight, Investigation, Slight-of-Hand, and Perception

Acrobatics and Stealth (from race)

Expertise

Stealth and Perception

Level 2

Rogue 2

Level 3

Rogue 3

Mastermind

Level 4

Rogue 4

ASI

Dex 13

Level 5

Cleric 1

Guidance, Light, Spare the Dying

Knowledge Domain 

Command and Identify

Sanctuary

Cure Wounds

Protection from Evil and Good

Proficiency/ Expertise

History and Religion

Level 6

Cleric 2

Guiding Bolt

Level 7

Cleric 3

Augury and Suggestion

Enhance Ability

Level 8

Cleric 4

Prayer of Healing

ASI

Dex 14

Con 6

Level 9

Rogue 5

Level 10

Cleric 5

Revivify

After all, there’s not too much to it. The centerpiece of the build, you could say, is Sanctuary. Polly cannot take hits, so we need to keep her in Sanctuary, which means we need to give her many support abilities such as the Mastermind’s Help as a bonus action. Healing, buffing, and of course skill challenges are what this character is good for more so than trying to be a damage dealer. Some Rogues are running, hiding, and ambushing, while others are just about the running and hiding. Poly would rather fight from a distance if at all, and she is not every good at it. As a helper and a healer, though, Poly is great, and as a puzzle solver even better.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

An underground resistance of one tricky Goliath

Str 13

Dex 13

Con 9

Int 17

Wis 13

Cha 17

Some crazy good stats today! What a comeback! Just about anything will be good with these.

Goliath

Ranger

Not the worst I’ve ever seen. Not at all. Let’s work on it!

Str 15

Dex 10

We have no negative stats at all. Feels like cheating! For multi-classing, we can go literally anywhere we want. I’m already getting choice paralysis. It would be great if we could use our Charisma or Intelligence for something, but I don’t want to let our Ranger level go to waste either. 

To keep our martial focus but use our Charisma, I think a multiclass into Paladin is the strange but logical conclusion. And though it might be wasting our excellent stats to go for such a costly build, I see a golden opportunity here to do something very unusual: a duel wielding paladin! Think about it: they didn’t give Paladins the fighting style because they know that the more the Paladin hits, the more chance they have to Smite, the more powerful they become! Same as the Rogue. And we’ll pick up some abilities that make it even easier to attack and to hit more often as we go along. But first, let’s see the backstory.

Ignatious Som was once part of a resistance movement against Strahto, tyrant lord of the giants. Ignatious initially made himself useful translating encoded messages between Strahto’s lieutenants, predicting their movements, and setting up ambushes. In time, he came to be thought of as a secondary leader of the whole operation. In spite of his best efforts, however, the resistance was stomped out (sometimes literally) and those few remaining members had to disperse and lay low just to survive. For his part, Ignatious has never given up the dream of bringing the giants down and restoring peace and happiness to his homeland, even if it means he has to put himself on the front line and get his blades dirty.

Level 1

Background: House Agent

Investigation and Persuasion

Ranger 1

Nature, Perception, and Survival

Athletics (from race)

Favored Enemy: Giants

Favored Terrain: Mountains

Level 2

Ranger 2

Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting

Hunters Mark

Absorb Elements

Level 3

Ranger 3

Hunter

Giant Killer

Zephyr Strike

Level 4

Ranger 4

ASI

Str 16

Dex 14

Level 5

Paladin 1

Level 6

Paladin 2

Fighting Style: Defense

Find Steed

Aid

Cure Wounds

Command

Level 7

Paladin 3

Oath of Devotion

Level 8

Paladin 4

Dual Wielder

Compelled Duel

Level 9

Paladin 5

Level 10

Paladin 6

Revivify

For once, we have a characters so good he feels like his talents are going to waste. 

Part of me wanted to make this a Ranger/Paladin/Wizard multiclass just so that I could give him a Beast Master animal companion, a familiar (or flock of familiars), and a steed so he could fight with an army of animal friends, but that part of me should not be listened to. That character would be annoying to play and annoying to play with, even if the idea of a walking zoo is appealing as a hypothetical.

No, this Ignatious is much more practical than any of that. Ignatious hits, he hits hard and he hits often, and that’s the main thing he has going for him. Between Two-Weapon Fighting and Giant Killer, Ignatious has the potential for three attacks in a single round easily at level 3 (though we do keep him waiting until level 9 for his second attack, unfortunately). Hunters Mark makes all of those attacks more dangerous, and once we get Channel Divinity: Sacred Weapon we’ll be even more likely to hit. We have a high AC that grows as we level up with max Dex (for medium armor), a fighting style, and a feat, and we could get Shield if we thought we needed it. If we want to, we can combine Compelled Duel to draw fire to ourselves and make the best use out of Giant Killer, or use it with Sanctuary to give a particularly unlucky enemy no good options. Mostly, we’re going to want to spend those spell slots Smiting our enemies to ashes, though. As long as I’m bringing up cheese, I must point out that we have a steed and the perk Dual Wielder, meaning in ideal conditions we can use two lances at once that each do 1d12, attacking 3 or 4 times a round! For a character with Powerful Build, it’s not even that outlandish.

Does this character have weaknesses? Well, his constitution isn’t great, but even that’s basically fine. This is not the usual experience rolling 3d6 in order, but it’s a nice one to come back to. 

I don’t think this series has any appeal, no one really liked it, and this website is quite dead anyways, but it’s fun to do sometimes. Fun, and very time consuming. So who knows if I’ll do it often. But sometimes, hey, why not?

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 9

Dex 14

Con 5

Int 10

Wis 6

Cha 9

I like the look of that Dexterity. Bad Con, bad Wisdom, never a good sign, but we’re used to that by now. 

Bugbear

Cleric

Okay, it is fascinating, I’ll give it that. 

Str 11

Wis 7

The amazing thing is, it’s not a disaster. Not even a little bit. With our Dexterity, we have ideal AC in medium armor, and we have okay attack rolls with a light crossbow or shortbow. The one thing we’re not competent with is anything relating to our actual class as a Cleric. Also, we have no health. This may be the closest we’ve ever rolled to the dreaded “Con 3″ that we all know is happening eventually. Some things to work on, but, again, not a disaster.

Dagdalolth was a slave and slave-keeper for a Drow kingdom in the Underdark. He followed the orders of his Drow masters, hunting down escaped humans or dwarves. Until, one day, he caught a human, Heimskr, sneaking out, only to pray to a shrine he had constructed. What could it be that Tyr was giving this selfish human being to keep coming back to him instead of trying to escape? As time went on, Dagdalolth allowed the cleric to continue his worship, even to bring more followers. He created distractions to aid in their venture. He listened to their sermons. He even testified to the hope that the stories of Tyr had given him, of someday seeing the sun, and having freedom. To the congregation, he asked to be called “Dagdatyr,” a new name to signify his faith. Then came the inevitable: the Drow publicly executed Heimskr. The hope had to be snuffed out. And yet, it only fanned the flames within Dagdatyr. He called the congregation together. He organized them, not as a church, but as an army. Together, they slaughtered the other guards and set the cities of the dark elves alight with a blinding fire. When it was done, he lead the former slaves out of the Underdark, as if guided by a celestial hand. They hailed him as the new cleric of Tyr, Dagdatyr of the Exodus! Together, they founded a new free society and named it Tyrheim. 

Level 1

Cleric 1

War Domain

Bless

Cantrips

Guidance

Spare the Dying

Light

Level 2

Cleric 2

Level 3

Cleric 3

Level 4

Cleric 4

Dex 16

Shield of Faith

Cantrip

Thaumaturgy

Level 5

Cleric 5

Enhance Ability

Level 6

Cleric 6

Animate Dead

Level 7

Cleric 7

Death Ward

Level 8

Cleric 8

Dex 18

Meld Into Stone

Level 9

Cleric 9

Mass Cure Wounds

Level 10

Cleric 10

Control Water

Cantrip

Mending

So, not complicated. We had some levels where we couldn’t pick any spells at all because our ability score was so bad. Not going to be a big list of spells to choose from. You’ll notice we picked no healing spells until late in the game. Early on, it’s just not going to be worth it when every roll gets a -2 modifier attached. With bigger rolls, the modifier becomes less important, so we can help out as, at least, a secondary healer. 

I decided to focus on what we can do rather than obsess over where we’re lacking. Our Constitution is still very bad, but our offense is genuinely descent, and our AC is good enough that we don’t have to worry too much about it. We still don’t get extra attack even as a War cleric, but we do have a lot of accuracy and a bit of extra damage, both from War cleric and from our race on a situational basis. We’re kind of a Rogue-lite, if you’ll excuse the pun, and that’s exactly how we have to play it if we don’t want to get stomped. Use your stealth for ambush tactics, rely on your party to be the front line while you Bless them and provide supporting fire. You should know when to stay silent and in the shadows and when to bring out the Light and the Thaumaturgy. Do Tyr proud out there!

Very happy to back with D&D where a build takes a few hours for 10 levels instead of a few days for 2. Might be my fault, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks it’s simpler. Maybe I will give Pathfinder one more shot, but I need to put some limitations on it.

Until then, Happy Rolling! And a late Happy Valentines Day!

[roll3d6inorder]

Today, we’re working with Pathfinder! Let’s start with a roll:

Str 9

Dex 13

Con 9

Int 12

Wis 18

Cha 15

Wow! Our first Pathfinder build has been blessed! Physical stats could be better, but check out that natural 18 on the Wisdom. Unheard of on this blog! Now, onto class and race:

Half-Elf

Witch

Alright, cool, we’re already getting characters we couldn’t have with D&D. Witch is similar to Warlock in theory, but it has some very different mechanics. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much with our Wisdom, so we may want to multi-class, though multi-classing casters is a much trickier operation in Pathfinder. Basically, we’re starting from square one with every single option we multi-class into, instead of building off the last one like in D&D. We’ll end up with a lot of lower level spells and lower level spell slots, but nothing substantially strong. In contrast with 5e, multi-classing is actually much better for martial classes since their base attack bonus increases either way and they get the whole benefit from whatever class they level into. In 5e, if you are a Monk that’s one level away from getting Extra Attack, taking Fighter will deny you that, and you don’t even get to wear heavy armor, where in Pathfinder you would effectively be getting both.

Anyways, we’ll have to multiclass to make best use of our best attribute, but we can try to maintain as much benefit as we can from our one level of Witch. For instance, we can try to keep our Familiar around, despite switching into a Wisdom focused class that wouldn’t normally have access to it. Thankfully, our Elf blood gives us a bit of a leg up in that department, since there’s nothing to say we can’t be part Drow.

Stella Chimeric grew up not knowing her father. Her mother told her that he was a traveler of other worlds, a sailor on a sea of infinite possibilities in infinite worlds. Sometimes, she would feel a glimmer of his power in the way she could see people, seeing past their face, past their words and actions, into their feelings, into their very souls. She felt lonely, knowing she was the only one who saw like that. Until one night, an owl showed up at her window. She let him in, and from that day on, she had a friend. And her friend started bringing her letters. All of them dated wildly differently, from throughout the course of her life. Letters from him. Eventually, she put the timeline together. He was coming back. He was stopped by demons, conscripted to fight in the Blood War. They saw his powers. They gave him more. They made him an Apostle. His power could be inherited. He named Stella his successor. The demons were losing. He would join them in one final push. That’s where the letters stopped. In the course of a day, she knew her father, and knew she lost him. Her mother had taught her to use her powers for good, to help and heal, but that’s because she didn’t understand her. Nobody could understand her power, or what it cost to have it. But if she could serve evil, and become more powerful, she would get back at a world that didn’t understand her, at hell itself, and even defy death if she had to. That’s what she needed to “heal.” And now she has a friend who will help her do just that.

Level 0

Half-elf

Multi-Disciplined

Drow Heritage

Star-child

Read Aura (Perception)

Wisdom 20

Level 1

Witch 1

Archetype: Hedge Witch

Archetype: Venom Siphoner

Familiar: Owl (Great Horned Owl)

Archetype: Elemental (Fire)

Feat: Spell Sponge

Blood Money

Mage Armor

Sleep

Strong Wings

Cantrips

Arcane Mark

Putrefy Food and Drink

 Message

Level 2

Cleric 1

Archetype: Demonic Apostle

Chaos Domain (Demon)

And that’s as far as I’m taking this one because Pathfinder characters are insanely complicated and I need to get back to my life!

However, this is enough for us to get the general idea. We keep the Familiar around using Demonic Apostle that we get using our Drow heritage, except Pathbuilder won’t let me do that even though I’m pretty sure it should since it specifies that it works for prerequisites. These rules are complicated, I wouldn’t blame the machine or myself for not getting it. Anyways, Demonic Apostle eventually gives us a Quasit familiar who’s attacks are inherently poisonous so our Venom Siphoner archetype is going to make that even stronger. It’s otherwise not a productive first level for us, so we have to make it count however we can. 

The other thing in that vain is Hedge Witch. Because we are evil, we get to spontaneously cast Inflict Wounds from any of our Cleric spells, but this allows us to spontaneously cast cure wound type spells too. I think. The ability doesn’t designate that it only works on the Witch’s Witch spells, so hopefully that’s not implied. And if so, it just means we have a couple of spell slots of low-level healing in our back pocket for emergencies. 

By “back pocket” of course I mean our Familiar, who can zip around the battlefield casting these inflict or cure spells, since they are touch spells, so that our Witch doesn’t have to get too close to the fighting. We got a couple of those first level spells with the familiar in mind, to make it faster and keep it from getting hit. We also gave it the ability to shoot fire out of it’s face, which is mostly for flavor but is never a bad thing either. We can do that even more if we pick up the Cleric spell “Firebelly” with “share spells” (”share spells” also let’s us reduce our familiar with regular-old reduce person, if we want to give it more AC, + to hit, and no loss of poison or magic damage). Just a thought. Since Cleric spells aren’t permanent, you can just swap them out every long rest if you want to, there’s no need for me to list them all as choices, right? I’m not even listing any of the feats, you get so many in Pathfinder.

Speaking of feats, we decided to have psychic alien powers because why not and that’s going to help us know when to use our Demon-flavored Chaotic Evil Cleric abilities. We have pretty dang excellent Charisma for a Cleric, so that doesn’t hurt either. They’re going to be more useful against Good opponents, so this character might be a little bit niche in the same way that Rangers are. They’re right for a specific campaign, maybe not for putting in any old situation. Then again, maybe working with a team would illustrate to Stella that she’s not as fundamentally lonely as she thinks she is and that she doesn’t need the demons to help her burn the world down about it. Maybe she could respect into something else if her alignment had to change. Like Empyreal Sorcerer. I can’t believe I didn’t think of the Empyreal Sorcerer sooner, that’s a much better pick for-

Anyways, we’re not doing Pathfinder again, ‘tis a silly game. I’ll be coming at you with a good old 5e character next time. Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Rolling 3d6 in order, we get:

Str 10

Dex 6

Con 17

Int 12

Wis 8

Cha 8

I like the look of that constitution. Everything else is a bit of a wash, but nothing so bad we can’t get up from it. This one is really going to come down to race and class, though. Heavy armor would be great, or some way to leverage our Constitution or Intelligence. We’ve just got to pray.

Dragonborn

Rogue

The Platinum Dragon has a sense of humor. This is going to be a challenge.

Str 12

Cha 9

So, we have no Dexterity, meaning we can’t multiclass. At least not without sacrificing way too many ASI’s. Looking at the positives, we get extra strength, meaning that we can at least add a positive modifier to attacks we make with finesse weapons. The best we can do at range is throw a dart or a dagger. We still get sneak attack, but if we’re not likely to hit it doesn’t do us much good. That means getting strength up is a priority. Our dexterity is a lost cause, meaning we have to hide under a suit of heavy armor, but it’s going to take us at least two half-feats to get. Thanks to our impressive Constitution we can (with some reservation) wait on it. At least we can use our Con to be really good with our breath weapon for as often as we’re going to use that.

The real tough choice here is which archetype to go for, which for the Rogue is really hard because they’re all really good! We can eliminate Inquisitive, Swashbuckler, and Thief immediately because they rely on attributes we do not have. Assassin isn’t great for us either. Scout is never bad, Mastermind could be good for a Rogue that stays on the back lines, Arcane Trickster would give us some flexibility... I have to leave this one up to lore, and the lore that I like best for a Drabonborn Rogue would be the Green Dragon Mastermind. Let’s go to the backstory:

Medofan had a happy childhood, as most products of the Green Dragons do. And yet unlike most, little was ever expected of her. She never had the tongue for lies, nor the swiftness for sneaking. Eventually, she and her mother came to an understanding that she was not fit for the same training as her older siblings, and that she would have to find her own path. Being a young dragonborn, with support for her finances, first experiencing the world, the beginning of her path was clear. Partying. A lot of wild, alcohol-fueled partying! In fact, she became so good at drinking socially that it earned her the respect of her peers. She had always tried to deceive lesser beings into service to her, but she discovered it was easier to win their loyalty by carousing. They began to rely on her for her level head and clarity of vision, even in the depths of drink and debauchery. What was just fun and games in her youth lead to many more serious opportunities in her adulthood; organizing gangs, recruiting for covert societies, and even acting as an agent of the queen’s covert bodyguard. Medofan hasn’t seen her mother since she left, but she likes to think that she would be proud of where she ended up.

Level 1

Background: Far Traveler

Insight and Perception

Rogue 1

Athletics, Deception, Investigation, and Persuasion

Experise

Perception and Persuasion

Level 2

Rogue 2

Level 3

Rogue 3

Mastermind

Level 4

Rogue 4

Str 14

Level 5

Rogue 5

Level 6

Rogue 6

Expertise

Athletics and Deception

Level 7

Rogue 7

Level 8

Rogue 8

Moderately Armored

Str 15

Level 9

Rogue 9

Level 10

Rogue 10

Heavily Armored

Str 16

Not much mechanical synergy to this build. Mostly just lore synergy. I do like that picking the Green Dragon option with our high Constitution means that being hit by poison is twice as useless against us. Probably it’s more optimal to resist fire, especially when our Dex save is average at best, but sometimes it’s preferable to have a talent you’re committed to. The Rogue is a very flexible class, and we get plenty out of it despite not being sneaky (though we’re pretty good at disguising ourselves and passing for someone else). She’s more about barking orders at her goons, breathing deadly airborne poison on her enemies, and keeping herself safe by whatever means she’s got. She’s not a gifted soul, but she’s competent, she’s grounded, and she keeps the team together.

Hope you enjoyed this one. I was thinking I might switch it up and do a Pathfinder character soon. Probably 2e so I’m not overwhelmed by the options. 

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 12

Dex 11

Con 6

Int 10

Wis 12

Cha 11

I know better than to complain at this point. We have net neutral modifiers and net positive scores, that in itself is a blessing. We have strength and wisdom, great for a cleric if we also never get hit. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a Human Druid or something.

Aasimar

Warlock

Now that’s actually a fine combination by itself. It doesn’t give us excellent Charisma, but it gives us just enough to multiclass if that’s what we want to do. And Aasimar is one of those races that offer us options to choose from. If we take Fallen, we would ironically have exactly the stats we need to go Paladin. Paladins don’t have to be good guys after all. It would also allow for Fighter, giving us enough ASIs to dig our way out of that Constitution hole and boost our Strength for good measure. Alternatively, if we take Protector, we can bump our Wisdom up to 13, allowing us to take a level in Cleric and join a church that lets us wear heavy armor so we can ignore our Dexterity. Then there’s Druid, including Moon Druid. Now that is a temptation. My first character was actually a Kobold Moon Druid. Kind of a strange start The stars are aligning. I have to go for it.

Cha 13

Wis 13

The only challenge here is coming up with the backstory.

Helena Inuth studied the nature of the Divine her entire life. As an orphaned Aasimar, she had many unanswered questions about her family and heritage. These questions did not stop at the texts approved by the temple, and it was inevitable that she would dip her toe into the world of the occult. She began to hear the voice of a patron, one she could not name but who told her things about herself. They told her that her divine blood made her body particularly malleable, able to change shape at will, but only if she entered the right state of mind. What’s more, they told her that unlocking the full potential of this power would lead to the truth about her history, as well as her destiny. They were only too glad to lend a hand.

Level 1

Background: Acolyte

Warlock 1

Great Old One

Protection from Evil and Good

Armor of Agathys

Cantrips

Eldritch Blast and True Strike

Level 2

Druid 1

Absorb Elements

Cure Wounds

Cantrips

Guidance and Resistance

Level 3

Druid 2

Circle of the Moon

Fog Cloud

Level 4

Druid 3

Pass without Trace

Level 5

Druid 4

Heat Metal

Dragon Breath

Cha 14

Wis 14

Level 6

Druid 5 

Water Breathing 

Level 7

Druid 6

Tidal Wave

Level 8

Warlock 2

Witch Bolt

Misty Visions

Fiendish Vigor

Level 9

Warlock 3

Pact of the Chain

Flock of Familiars

Gift of the Ever-Living Ones

Misty Visions

Level 10

Warlock 4

Hex

Feat: Tough

First cool thing to note is that Awakened Mind works while Wild Shaped, making it easier to communicate without breaking form. The real revelation here, I think, is the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones evocation allowing you to heal incredibly well while in your Wild Shape, which is still only a bonus action. Dragon Breath is a fun way to give yourself a ranged option in your Wild Shape, and it’s a great thing to give your familiar for combat. Most of the spells I picked will be useful while in or out of Wild Shape and it feels good to have two spell casting modifiers that are both okay if not fantastic. It’s a multi-attribute dependent build, which is probably why you don’t see a lot of Warlock/Druids being played, but this is exactly what rolling for stats can help inspire.

I’ve done a bunch of true 3d6 in order characters at this point, so if you’re reading this feel free to let me know what other arrangements you would want me to try out, if any.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 6

Dex 8

Con 11

Int 8

Wis 11

Cha 9

This just feels mean. It’s less bad overall than our last set of stats, but there’s even less that stands out as good. I think this one comes down to whether we get a race and class that can compliment our existing stats enough to make it worth trying.

Firbolg

Rogue

Well then! This is a great combination. Most of the Firbolg’s strengths work very will as a Rogue, and Rogues themselves are more versatile than they might first appear. I’ve actually made a Firbolg Rogue before, so this may end up being a more under-powered version of that same character. It will take some work, but it’s too good of a concept to pass up.

Str 7

Wis 13

Wisdom is going to be our primary attribute, despite it being terrible, as it is the least terrible attribute we have going for us. It would be great if we could use that to multiclass into Druid or Cleric, but we have no Dexterity, so we have to stay in Rogue school permanently. 

Quynn watched over centuries as more and more of the forest was claimed by humanity. Unlike the rest of his people, however, Quynn was curious about humanity. Why did they do this? What was their motivation? What he found out changed his whole view of their encroachment. Criminality. It was the criminals of human society who ended up on the frontiers, on the run, trying to make a new name for themselves. Besides those, runaways, outcasts, people looking to get away from human society but ironically only expanding it at natures expense. It was humanities inability to cohere to itself that caused it to balloon outwards. With this revelation, Quynn took up a career as a private investigator, hoping to keep human settlement contained by keeping their people together and compelling them to either follow the absurd rules of their culture or riot to get them changed. 

Most Firbolg don’t have names, so after all the years he spent studying human behavior, law, and forensics, people started calling him “The Professor.” The name “Quynn” actually came later when he went undercover as an actress by that name, and eventually he became synonymous with her.

Level 1

Rogue 1

Deception, Insight, Investigation, Perception

Background: Outlander

Athletics and Survival

Expertise: Insight and Perception

Level 2

Rogue 2

Level 3

Rogue 3

Inquisitive

Level 4

Rogue 4

Feat: Magic Initiate

Thunderwave

Cantrips

Magic Stone

Guidance 

Level 5

Rogue 5

Level 6

Rogue 6

Expertise: Thieves Tools and Investigation

Level 7

Rogue 7

Level 8

Rogue 8

Feat: Observant

Wis 14

Level 9

Rogue 9

Level 10

Rogue 10

Wis 16

We were fighting an uphill battle, but thankfully Rogues have a sneaky extra ASI that I had forgotten about until benefiting from it. Magic Initiate may seem out of left field, but Magic Stone is the only way we can use our superior Wisdom modifier to fight with a ranged weapon to get our sneak attack bonus. Speaking of which, our expertise in Insight allows us to be very good at getting sneak attacks even on those foes that keep their distance from your whole party. Generally speaking, The Professor is better at making skill checks than he is at fighting, meaning he might be more at home in a campaign that focuses on an investigation specifically. Our expertise, combined with the benefits of being an Inquisitive, plus the Observant feat make us very hard to dupe, sneak up on, or hide from. Cunning Actions means we never have to be stuck in a melee, and our Firbolg abilities to turn invisible or disguise ourselves helps make up for the fact that, despite being a Rogue, we couldn’t sneak to save our lives. You’re a big, friendly, well dressed guy who talks to dogs and sees clear as day in humanity the things they fail to see in themselves. You’re not great at being subtle, but being subtle never worked on you either.

Thank you for joining me as I revisit an old friend. Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 10

Dex 11

Con 13

Int 9

Wis 5

Cha 7

On the whole, this is definitely worse than the last roll, but strangely I feel better about it. Maybe I am irrationally attached to Constitution and I just love to see it in the positive for once. A constitution focus isn’t bad if we happen to be a spell-caster, and most classes are so let’s see how this next part shakes out. 

Lizardfolk

Monk

Well then! Lizardfolk are strong. Unfortunately, they’re strong for a lot of the same reasons that Monks are strong, and they kind of step on each others toes. At least looking at the stat increases will make me happy.

Con 15

Wis 6

Nature and Stealth

Okay, so our Wisdom is only a -2 and our Con is a +2. Thankfully, Monks get Stillness of Mind, meaning that getting charmed or frightened won’t be as big of a problem for us. It’s 7 levels away, but we can’t multiclass anyways so we might as well call it an inevitability. I do love the +2 Con, and it’s not too far away from a +3. More HP every level, and with Hungry Jaws we can that little bit of health back every short rest. Considering this is a melee build with no multiclassing, I’m not exactly going to have to make a lot of decisions here as to how this should go, so let’s just let the good times roll.

From his hatching grounds along the riverbed, Ahwuz observed the monks who trained and meditated by the river. Meditation seemed like a waste of time, but the training he could understand and appreciate. He had tried stretching, and lifting boulders, but nothing like that seemed to get results for him before. These monks trained by holding poses, sometimes in the rain or in the path of waterfalls. That Ahwuz could commit himself to. He became resilient, able to hold firm against anything. One day, he found the monks dead. He did not mourn their loss, but decided that he better leave the area before whatever killed them got to him. He’s still not sure what kind of creature it was, but he’s pretty sure it didn’t follow him (even after he took all the good monk meats, weapons, and bones for himself).

Level 1

Monk 1

Level 2

Monk 2

Level 3

Monk 3

Kensai

Longsword and Dart

Level 4

Monk 4

12 Dex

16 Con

...

Level 8

Monk 8

14 Dex

Yeah, not much too this one. Kensai makes the most sense as it basically ignores our Wisdom and allows us to boost our damage and/or AC, both of which are not great because our dexterity is not great. Con makes me happy, but that alone does not make a character viable. We can’t just stand there absorbing damage all day, we have to dodge, we have to attack, we have to do something. When we are trained exclusively to do something that we just don’t have the ability to do, it’s bound to make us feel useless. This is the first character so far where I feel like their first quest needs to be “find the belt of +4 dexterity this session.” 

That being said, I have to appreciate that a character like this is exactly what you should get with rolling in order, and the whole point of running them is to see how they pan out. Maybe our DM gives us a lot of chances to be useful for our ability to breath underwater, craft weapons and armor out of bones, or make con saves. Maybe being immune to fall damage, being charmed/frightened, and all poison and disease will prove itself relevant. Maybe struggling just to catch up isn’t the way to look at it. It’s not a competition after all, it’s a team game that functions as a story, and making it interesting is more important than simply being good at the same things everyone else is good at. 

Still, don’t be afraid to say he retires so you can roll up a new character. Then he can say “Ahwuz there, but now I’m not.” Nobody wants to spend Ahwuz as a character that can’t do much. And if another player wants to use him, I’d let them. After all, he’s not yours, he’s Ahwuz.

Happy Rolling!

[roll3d6inorder]

Str 13

Dex 10

Con 6

Int 12

Wis 7

Cha 12

These are... just terrible stats. Net zero scores, net negative modifiers, and in things really don’t want to lose. And what did we get for the race and class?

Human

Bard

Human is good, but not good enough to change everything. Bard isn’t ideal, but it does give us a chance to be a character who is more utility focused so we don’t have the pressure to be so great statistically. Thankfully, humans give us a lot of control over our start, so we can play catch-up with a few things.

Str 14

Cha 13

Feat: Tough

Persuasion

Soldier Background

Athletics and Intimidation

It’s not much, but it’s going to allow us to make up for our terrible constitution, bringing our HP back to average. From that perspective, it’s almost not so bad. We aren’t being forced to rely too heavily on our stats anyways, so we can definitely make this guy somebody worth knowing.

Lento Aegyptus grew up in a kingdom beset by war. His love for his country filled him with a sense of purpose, but he was impatient. At the age of 15, he lied about his age and enlisted as a skirmisher. He took a lot of arrows over the course of that campaign, and his still-developing body never fully recovered, but he was tough and stayed determined to power through it. On the battlefield is also where he met his mentor, Veritzio, a drummer who taught him the basics of the Bard’s life. He learned how to make a bigger difference without fighting directly. He grew into a man with these lessons, and he now works to make his mentor proud and only take up the blade when he has to.

Level 1

Bard 1

Performance, Deception, and Investigation

Cure Wounds

Disguise Self

Faerie Fire

Sleep

Cantrips

Message and Prestidigitation

Level 2

Bard 2

Identify

Level 3

Bard 3

College of Swords

Fighting Style: Dueling

Expertise

Athletics and Deception

Knock

Level 4

Bard 4

Feat: Actor

Cha 14

Heat Metal

Vicious Mockery

Level 5

Bard 5

Leomund’s Tiny Hut

Level 6

Bard 6

Speak with Dead

Level 7

Bard 7

Freedom of Movement

Level 8

Bard 8

Feat: Grappler

Polymorph

Level 9

Bard 9

Raise Dead

Level 10

Bard 10

Wall of Force

Spiritual Weapon

Mage Hand

Expertise

Intimidation and Investigation

As you might be able to tell, most of the spells we’re using for this build don’t rely on any ability score or in-combat concentration. Many are utility spells, giving our character a lot of use outside combat. At the same time, we invested into the College of Swords to give us a descent AC with no dexterity bonus, and a fighting style. One subtle thing about Dueling (that our character should make use) of is that it doesn’t specify melee attacks, only one-handed melee weapons, meaning that javelins get the benefit from it. Using those, we can keep our distance while still using our Strength and extra attack when we’re not casting. On that front, we can also grapple to great effect with our expertise in Athletics, made better with our Grappler feat, made even better if we happen to be polymorphed into a T-Rex that can grapple with it’s mighty jaws (if your DM is cool and rules that that use makes sense).  Another fun combination is the Actor feat with Disguise Self, allowing us to seamlessly adopt the identity of another. Bards have great versatility, and this build makes use of a lot of it.

Thanks for joining me on round 2! This one was kind of a challenge, but I’m looking forward to the next one.

[roll3d6inorder]

On our first roll, we got

14 Str

13 Dex

8 Con

8 Int

9 Wis

13 Cha

For 3d6 it’s not terrible. Some negatives, for sure, but the only one that really hurts is Con. Never dump con.

Now the fun part: we’re also randomly generating our race and class. The results are:

Firbolg

Warlock

I gotta say, I like this character already. Firbolgs get pigeon-holed as “that druid race” because of their lore, but their abilities and great and make it work for a lot of different builds. We lucked out that our Cha is at multi-classing minimum for our class, although we’ll see if we even want to multi-class. Warlocks are also a favorite of mine, so I’m happy to keep it around if we can make it work for us.

Our adjusted stats are

15 Str

11 Wis

Which gives us a lot of uneven numbers to deal with. We’re going to have to sacrifice two ASI’s just to get those rounded out, and another if we want to get Con into neutral. That could be reason enough to consider transitioning into Fighter long term.

On the other hand, we could ignore our own wisdom of “never dump Con” in order to pull off an unusual build that centers around not needing it.

Our girl is named Teelanel and she lost her tribe to a raging fire that was set by the neighboring tribe, the Sul, and their leader, Samadin. She was only just able to survive because she pledged herself to the Axe of Bloody Curses, made a hasty sacrifice in it’s name, and swore that she would achieve vengeance and reject mercy. Even so, the experience of almost burning to death left her asphyxiated and weakened. She still has coughs and migraines every now and then, but she insists that she is fine. She knows the cursed axe will at least keep her alive until fulfills her side of the bleak bargain and kills Samadin. That is, if the handle of the axe will ever truly let her go.

Level 1:

Outlander

Warlock 1

Hexblade

Armor of Agathys

Shield

Level 2:

Warlock 2

Fiendish Vigor

Devil’s Sight

Hellish Rebuke

Level 3:

Warlock 3

Pact of the Blade

Darkness

Level 4

Warlock 4

14 Dex

16 Str

Flock of Familiars

Level 5

Barbarian 1

Level 6

Barbarian 2

Level 7

Barbarian 3

Ancestral Guardian

Level 8

Barbarian 4

Cha 14

Wis 12

Level 9 

Barbarian 5

Level 10

Warlock 5

Counter-spell

We’ll leave things off at 10. Not every build has to have 20 in mind. Keep it open for some improvisation as the campaign goes on.

This build uses a couple of trick. The first is Darkness + Devils Sight, which means you can see while your enemy cannot, giving you advantage and them disadvantage. Second is Armor of Agathys + Rage, since the armor doesn’t need concentration and stays up longer if you have resistance to damage. You could make slightly better use of that with Totem of the Bear, but I thought that Ancestor Guardian worked better with the character. It gives her an arc; from seeking vengeance for the tribe she lost to keeping them with her and using their spirits to protect her new friends. Still a scary, pissed-off mamma bear either way.

Not bad for our first build. I was thinking about doing these daily, but I forgot how involved these can be, so I might try to make it a weekly thing. We’ll see.

Happy rolling!