#-focused state. not perfect but good enough to make a rogue build fun to play

[sol-flo]

petition to call this color new vegas blue

[ctl-yuejie]

For the untamed ask game 5, 8, 10, 17, 16, 19, 21 35, 46 and 55

5. Biggest WTF momentThe golden core reveal in the book! ( read it before the drama so I don’t know how much I’d have been surprised without prior knowledge watching the scene in the series). Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention, but from what I remember I wasn’t even sure that Wei Wuxian had lost his Golden Core at that point. So I was extremely shocked by the reveal and also very excited because it made his past actions much more understandable and his dynamic with both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji got even more interesting. 

8. Most Confusing Part In The Storyon my first read i had a hard time remembering all characters so i think i zoned out a lot when the story didn’t focus on wangxian, so not necessarily a particular part of the story that confused me but i was just not paying enough attention. also: the timeline is random af.

10. Favourite Fanfic Set-Up Uhhhh!!! I love me powerful Yiling Patriarch stories where he survives the second sunshot campaign and anything and everything that focuses on the Yunmeng brothers relationship after canon. Also: every fanfic about the WangXian family regardless of universe.some great “bamf!wei wuxian survives the second sunshot campaign and adopts everyone”

16. Favourite Habitwei wuxian talking non-stop about lan wangji after they’ve met. so much so that the whole jiang family (read: jiang cheng) is super annoyed by it.

17. Purer Cinnamon Role Than Wen Ning (sorry for all these typos in the ask game) hmmmm…Wen Ning is pretty much peak pure cinnamon roll, but from the younger generation Ouyang Zizhen might even out-perform him. sure he is loud and direct, but also doesn’t know how to act in most social situations because the world is such a happy place for him and did you know that Hanguang-Jun and Senior Mo are dating and they’re not as dramatic about it as I want them to be but still super cute, and wtf Hanguang-Jun is now married to the Yiling Patriarch and all my dreams have come true, i have no idea why Lan Qiren looks so constipated maybe that’s because of Jingyi…..19. Cinnamon Role Meme (4 Characters) 21. A Fanon You Like hmmmm….this is pretty much canon but WangXian adopting everyone and everything while roaming the country & Wei Wuxian managing to cultivate MO Xuanyu’s core.and the lan wangji played inquiry for 16 years fanon. not because i think lan wangji would try and bind wei wuxian’s spirit to him but more so to find out whether he’s at peace and at some point it becomes this tiny remembrance song he plays for wei ying once a year.

35. Who Is The Biggest Disaster many disasters in this one but maybe Jin Zixuan??? i think he is so lucky for Jiang Yanli to be persistent in her love for him and MianMian intervening to clear up some misunderstandings…left on his own he really is a sad disaster.

but there’s some tough competition from wei wuxian, jiang cheng, jinling and more…

46. Favourite Fanfic / A Fanfic You Want To Recommendprepare yourself! (if not stated otherwise it’s wangxian)

since then i am because you are by sarahyyy (very short, fluff, oblivious wei wuxian & marriage)

overcast by willowcatkin (middle-length, canon divergence, role revearsal, accidental child acquisition)

and so my heart beats wildly by lily_winterwood (long fic, modern au with cultivation as an olympic sport, wangxian are competitors)

The (Several) Convenient Kidnappings of the Chief Cultivator by the Yiling Patriarch by misscam (short, some silly sexy fun)

your heart, two doors down by ficklish (middle-length, modern au, wangxian are neighbours, single parent! wei wuxian)

A Little Happiness by Suspicious_Popsicle (middle-length, post-canon, lan wangji turns into a child, everyone panics & wei wuxian just wants him to be happy)

asymptotic by chinxe (middle-length, canon divergence, lan wangji plays inquiry, that is how he encounters wei wuxian for the first time, beautiful but it also hurts)

transcendent by hyunbyun (short, wei wuxian is insecure about being in mo xuanyu’s body, domestic fluff)

Continuation by thefaceofno (long fic, post the untamed canon, hair brushing, some more pining but happy end)

i’d be all right (if i could just see you) byThirtySixSaveFiles (long fic, college au, wei wuxian is an idiot and takes lan wangji to a party)

Libation by BastetCG (middle-length, gods au, tentacle sex but in a very innovative way)

a lot can come from being in love with your captain bythefaceofno (long fic, part of a series, star trek au, various pairings, action & romance)

How Wei Ying Went from Oblivious Idiot to Shameless Boyfriend in Three Days by misscam (middle-length, college au, wei wuxian is oblivious but tries to be oh so helpful when lan wangji seems to have a crush on someone)

Adventures in Solitude by etymologyplayground (short, hurt/comfort, the untamed episode 16 canon divergence, lan wangji tries to come to the aid of yunmeng)

every time we kiss i swear i could fly by sarahyyy (short, kissing booth college au, lan wangji has a misunderstanding and is sad but all is well)

The Last Three Feet by etymologyplayground (middle-length, wangxian are oblivious, domestic downtime in cloud recesses with sizhui)

A Start on How by misscam (middle-lenght, college au, sleepovers!!, lan brother feels)

critical path analysis by chinxe (long fic, b99 au, hilarious perfection, it is scary how well the characters fit)

dirty politics by sarahyyy (short, politics au, wangxian are in a secret relationship but oh so wonderful together)

Rumor Doesn’t Have It (But Wei Wuxian Is Determined to Change That) by misscam (middle-length, post the untamed canon, everyone is weighing in on the relationship of the yiling patriarch and the chief cultivator, maybe wei wuxian should make some of the rumours come true)

Found Family by tulirepo (short, hurt/comfort, lan wangji finds ah-yuan on burial mounds, all the found family feels)

i want your heart to be for me by ThirtySixSaveFiles for sealdog (middle-lenght, wangxian soulmate au  but set in canon, usually not a soulmate au reader but the concept is tied in super nicely into the story here)

to recollect and long for by mme_anxious (middle-length, all the found family and ah-yuan feels, hurt/comfort)

Grand Pianos Crash Together by etymologyplayground (long fic, post canon, wangxian find back together: an epic)

grief; the stages of by synonemous (sussiekitten) (long fic, the whole story in a modern setting, stuck in early 2000 wei wuxian is hilarious)

Sleeping in Paradise by daiki (middle-length fic, thematic fic, wei wuxian survives the sunshot campaign, jiang yanli lives, jin rulan’s relationship to the mysterious sleeping person at lotus cove)

What Rests on Tea by Gotcocomilk (long fic, yunmeng feels, jiang yanli & jin zixuan live, inventor!wei wuian, some great hurt/comfort)

and i will go this way by detention_notes (long fic, post-canon, wangxian write each other letters, wei wuxian travels with lesbians and harrasses friends and family on his roadtrip)

Not Just Netflix and Chill (Or Lan Zhan’s Lack of Grasp of Euphemisms) by misscam (short, modern au, lan wangji is the cutest and wei wuxian is helplessly in love)

These Things Stay the Same by notevenyou (modern au, war zone/disaster zone journalist! wei wuxian, sizhui feels!!!!!)

works in progress (they are all very, very good)

a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (long, almost finished, arranged marriage to save the yiling patriarch, yunmeng bro feels)

Death of a Ghost by Gotcocomilk (long, wei wuxian materializes as a ghost after his death, major yunmeng feels, he raises all the children)

Flowers of Blood and Bone by Sakurafubuki (AriasOfSnow) (long, vampire/vampire hunter au, a lot of action, great world building, crafty!wei wuxian, vampire!lan wangji)

I will surrender (myself to this moment in time) by Naamah_Beherit (long, post-canon, wei wuxian wakes up in gusu but has no idea how he got there, angst (with promised happy ending), lan sizhui calling wei wuxian father feels, wei wuxian gets confronted by the darkness in his life)

Lying on the Edge of a Star by Suspicious_Popsicle (long, slow-burn, wei wuxian falls into young lan wangji’s courtyard who is falling fast and deep, pity that to wei wuxian humans are but a fleeting existence)

please forgive my most passionate disruptions by pumpkinpaix (scribogenesis) (long, modern college au, wei wuxian is a stripper, lan wangji binds himself by his family’s old customs, marvelous character study, all the lan/yunmeng/wen sibling feels)

The storm comes and goes (and I keep walking) by Naamah_Beherit (long, wei wuxian survives the second sunshot campaign and roams the country as a rogue cultivator, he adopts all the children)

55. A Story-Arc That Haunts Youdefinitely the yi city arc!!!! i both love and loath it because it is just so sad and horrible but also has some stunning visuals, wei wuxian being a badass kindergartner and some big reveals for the main plot.

The Untamed / MDZS ask game

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 23 July 2018

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #3 showcases several times just how good Goran Sudžuka is an artist. His character reactions and facial expressions are among the best in the industry, achieving so much with a brevity of line. Amazing work.

| Published by AfterShock

Amazing Spider-Man #2 continues to set up the new/old status quo for Peter and his supporting cast. I think, ultimately, I like this issue more than the first due to there not being all of the contrived loss this time around, instead working more to build the new in Peter’s life. Great art form Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Laura Martin.

| Published by Marvel

Bedtime Games #2 gets more into the meat of the story, transforming from a simple childhood excursion into more outright horror and supernatural territory. I love how Nick Keller and Conor Nolan are presenting the manipulation and manifestation of a kid’s dreams and nightmares, with his spiel meaning one thing to a child, whereas it would likely be interpreted entirely differently to adults. Great art from Nolan and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Dark Horse

Blackwood #3 deals with the fallout of Dennis’ death as the faculty and students of Blackwood continue to try to piece together what’s put them in this mess. Great art from Veronica and Andy Fish.

| Published by Dark Horse

Bone Parish #1 is the incredible debut of this new crime/horror series from Cullen Bunn, Jonas Scharf, and Alex Guimaráes. It’s an interesting hook of voodoo and drugs, creating a product from the bones of the dead that causes you to apparently experience the memories of the dead. Bunn crafts some interesting characters here in the Winters family, and Scharf and Guimaráes’ is spot on darkness and mood bringing this world to life. This is a really good fix.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 returns with the beginning of a new mystery, with Robert Gill, José Villarrubia, and Diego Rodriguez taking over the art chores while Peter Milligan continues the story. I like the set up, with three legions ambushed and their standards stolen, clues being hinted at an inside job pointing at a possible plot against the Emperor, Nero, or just a means to greedy ends of former Legionaries now in Egypt.

| Published by Valiant

Descender #32 is a beautiful end to this series, bittersweet as all machine life is taken...somewhere, setting up part of the premise as the story will continue into the new Ascender series next year. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen pretty much have a masterpiece on their hands here, gorgeous artwork and a heartwrenching story.

| Published by Image

Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate #3 is worth it just for the modrons. This issue features some beautiful artwork from Harvey Tolibao and Juan Manuel Rodriquez, as Jim Zub focuses this issue on Delina and her quest to rid herself of her wild magic. This is probably my favourite of these character pieces so far, both for the art and for how it deals with growing Delina in a more positive direction, reconciling that a chaotic temperament isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Also, modrons.

| Published by IDW

Hack/Slash: Resurrection #9 is another fun issue guest-starring Vampirella as we discover more of Cassie’s family’s history. The mix of humour and horror is wonderful.

| Published by Image

Harbinger Wars 2 #3 features one of the moments we’ve been waiting for since Harbinger Renegade #5. Though I can’t say it ends in the fashion that we’d necessarily expect or have hoped for, but there’s still a level of satisfaction. Also, the art from Tomás Giorello, Renato Guedes, and Diego Rodriguez is incredible. The design for the Livewire-augmented Bloodshot is just amazing.

| Published by Valiant

Hit-Girl #6 is worth it for Eduardo Risso and Patricia Mulvihill’s artwork alone, perfectly fitting the gritty and violent world that Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. created with Kick-Ass. Jeff Lemire is still an odd fit for this world, as irreverence and violence like this aren’t usually within his standard themes and narrative characteristics, (even when you consider Animal Man or Moon Knight), but he’s doing a great job here. Amidst the violence, there’s a tie to family and some very nice utilization of hallucinations and fever dreams that add depth to the story.

| Published by Image

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #3 rushes towards a conclusion as the X-women take on Viper’s femme fatales. I like the story, especially as Jim Zub has been delving into the characters’ past with Logan, mining Domino’s fling of sex and violence here. Can’t say I really like Thony Silas’ art, though. While many of the characters are indistinguishable again apart from their clothes, it feels like the art has been rushed. I liked Silas’ art in Royals, so I’m not sure what happened here.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity Wars Prime #1 has some really nice artwork from Mike Deodato Jr. and Frank Martin, well-suited to the somewhat disjointed, patchwork narrative that Gerry Duggan and others have been putting together since the beginning of Infinity Countdown and now continuing here. It’s not exactly what you’d expect, with some interesting ideas from Loki regarding how reality and stories have been rewritten, and makes me wonder what’s to come throughout the rest of this event.

| Published by Marvel

The Long Con #1 is an interesting beginning from Dylan Meconis, Ben Coleman, EA Denich, and M. Victoria Robado. It’s a decidedly different take on a post-apocalyptic tale, with a localized destruction zone, and an interesting hook by placing the epicentre of survivors within a pop culture convention. The art from Denich and Robado is a real draw. Denich has a style that reminds me a bit of Jim Mahfood and Phil Hester, perfectly fitting the mix of humour and the wasteland.

| Published by Oni Press

Lucy Dreaming #5 is the conclusion to what has been a highly imaginative, lushly illustrated series from Max Bemis and Michael Dialynas. There’s a very interesting theme of male versus female fantasies running throughout the book, but it also works as a surface level coming-of-age adventure.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Marvel Two-in-One #8 takes a step back from the action of recent issues and takes a moment to reflect, as Ben and Johnny deal with being stranded on a strange world ruled by a deranged Spider-Man without their powers. Chip Zdarsky plays with our heartstrings as the two come to terms with their situation.

| Published by Marvel

Mr. & Mrs. X #1 is a continuation of the character arc that began in the recent Rogue & Gambit mini-series, flowed through X-Men Gold #30, and now winds up here with this new ongoing series from Kelly Thompson, Oscar Bazaldua, and Frank D’Armata. This issue takes us back through a more elaborate version of events leading up to the wedding proper, allowing for deeper and fairly humorous character moments, before taking off to the honeymoon. The dialogue is full of Thompson’s welcome sense of humour and the art from Bazaldua and D’Armata is perfect. As I’ve said before, I don’t really care for the Remy & Rogue pairing, but Thompson makes it work and be highly entertaining.

| Published by Marvel

Multiple Man #2 is even more insane than the first issue, with Matthew Rosenberg devising a pretzel of a time travel plot that maybe makes sense to Madrox, but doesn’t to anyone else. It’s a blend of dupes, humour, and a bit of continuity with some truly excellent art from Andy MacDonald and Tamra Bonvillain.

| Published by Marvel

The New World #1 reminds me a bit of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ Martha Washington, but with a decidedly modern bent that takes the patriotism and post-apocalyptic society and turns it into a state run version of Cops with the people voting on whether or not criminals get executed. It’s full of interesting socio-political ideas like any Aleš Kot book, and clean and compelling art from Tradd and Heather Moore.

There’s also a back-up story, wholly unrelated to the main narrative, from a pair of new creators, Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Susando C, that almost overshadows the main book in its quality. It’s a nicely creepy haunted hotel room story that reminds me of Joyce Carol Oates by way of David Lynch.

| Published by Image

Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #5 is the excellent conclusion to this series, with some interesting and unexpected twists as Crystal Frasier, Tom Garcia, and Morgan Hickman give us Valeros’ final battle with Zeladar. I love the action sequences from Garcia.

| Published by Dynamite

Pestilence: A Story of Satan #3 somehow takes an even darker turn even as a little bit of hope creeps into the story. Frank Tieri, Oleg Okunev, Rob Schwager, and Mark Englert are keeping this ticking along nicely, with some interesting revelations this issue and the introduction to another potential threat. 

| Published by AfterShock

The Punisher #228 brings to an end this particular chapter of Frank’s war against crime. It makes me wonder where Matthew Rosenberg is going to take the next act when he and Szymon Kudranski launch the new Punisher series, whether we’ll still see some Black Widow and Winter Soldier, and if there’ll be some resolution to the Hydra arc. Either way, this arc from Rosenberg, Guiu Vilanova, and Lee Loughridge concludes nicely, with a somewhat surprising resolution.

| Published by Marvel

Punks Not Dead #6 rounds out the first arc, fleshing out a bit of what we already found out in the Black Crown Quarterly flashback story and bringing the disparate elements circling around Fergie’s life down on his head. It is very, very good, capturing some of the spirit of old Vertigo supernatural stories, but doing something decidedly new with it. David Barnett and Martin Simmonds are telling a great tale here and, again, I really can’t say enough about Simmonds’ art (with flats from Dee Cunniffe). The layouts are among the most visually interesting out there right now.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Redneck #13 brings up back from the trade break, with Bartlett on the run and a whole new mess in drug-running vampires from his past. Great art as always from Lisandro Estherren and Dee Cunniffe. 

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Sentry #2 works to upend the new status quo created in the first issue, with everything seemingly going wrong for Bob and his simulated world that holds the Sentry. Like with his Moon Knight run, there are some very interesting questions that Jeff Lemire raises here about identity and the possibilities of where this is leading is intriguing. Also, stunning artwork from Kim Jacinto, Joshua Cassara, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Shanghai Red #2 continues the high level of quality set by the first issue as Jack/Red/Molly seeks revenge. This story is compelling and propulsive, sucking you in and refusing to let go. Christopher Sebela and Joshua Hixson have a real hit on their hands here.

| Published by Image

StarCraft: Scavengers #1 is very good, even if you know absolutely nothing about the video game. Jody Houser and Gabriel Guzmán set a tone and story more akin to a horror sci-fi like Alien, setting up the titular scavengers to potentially find terror on a derelict alien ship. When you add the undercurrent of a boyhood crush and a hint of political subterfuge as a side plot, you wind up with a well-rounded beginning here.

| Published by Dark Horse

TMNT #84 concludes the Rat King arc in a fairly inventive way that brings together the Turtles’ journey through strange places and what’s been going on in the city. Again, I have to sing the praises of Dave Wachter and Ronda Pattison. The artwork for this entire arc has just been phenomenal and this issue keeps up that level of quality.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Lost Light #21 is a little surprising in its pacing, given how quickened the speed of plotlines crashing together and being resolved has been over the past few issues. This one’s more about building and building to the grand reveal on the final page. It works, and it’s very welcome. James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, and Joana Lafuente do a wonderful job with this issue.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Unicron #2 brings back a number of lost, missing, or presumed dead characters as Starscream makes his play for prominence in the battle to stop Unicron. I like how John Barber has been bringing together the disparate threads, here and in Optimus Prime, as the universe begins to draw to a close. It’s also interesting to see how ROM’s mythology has been woven through the fabric, changing perspective on both his world and here the Dire Wraiths. Also, stunning artwork from Alex Milne and Sebastian Cheng. They’re really making this story feel epic.

| Published by IDW

Venom #4 is an epic revisioning of history, introducing the god of the symbiotes and their true origin to us. It’s great. I’m still amazed by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Frank Martin’s artwork as it seems to get better and better with subsequent issues, raising the bar for the insane story that they’re telling with Donny Cates. This is great world building within the Marvel Universe, while also telling a highly entertaining overall story.

| Published by Marvel

X-23 #2 is another entertaining issue. Although I do miss Tom Taylor, I think that Mariko Tamaki has perfectly nailed the voice and character for Laura and Gabby. The slightly offbeat humour is still present, but a little muted from the All-New Wolverine run, which allows for the eerie and disturbing parts of the story to take prominence a bit more. It’s good, especially the astonishing artwork from Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Barbarella #8, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #11, Blackwood #3, Brothers Dracul #4, Charlie’s Angels #2, Dark Souls: Age of Fire #3, Deadpool: Assassin #4, Deep Roots #3, Gasolina #10, Green Hornet #5, Hillbilly #12, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation #5, Joe Hill’s The Cape: Fallen #2, Judge Dredd: Under Siege #3, KINO #8, Lumberjanes #52, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #2, Modern Fantasy #2, Moon Knight #197, Moonshine #12, Night’s Dominion: Season Three #1, Old Man Logan #44, The Realm #8, Rick & Morty #40, Royal City #13, Saga #54, Songs for the Dead #4, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #22, Star Wars: Lando - Double or Nothing #3, Star Wars Adventures #12, Wayward #27, We Are Danger #2, X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #1, X-Men: Wakanda Forever #1, X-Men Blue #32, X-O Manowar #17

Recommended Collections: Alien Bounty Hunter, Daredevil - Volume 6: Mayor Fisk, Incidentals - Volume 2: Balance of Power, Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon, Regression - Volume 2: Disciples, SHIELD: Human Machine, Transformers vs. Visionaries, Venomized, Warframe - Volume 1, X-Men - Volume 4: Cry Havoc, Zojaqan

d. emerson eddy was not there on the evening of the 24th of May, 1954 in the rain.

[purplelizardman]

A 5E Super Sad Tank

In this post, we’re going to cover building an extremely effective, Single Attribute Dependent tank in 5e. This character can hit hard, has good HP and AC, phenomenal saves, and a ton of in and out of combat utility.

Pretty much how the GM felt.

A bit of background: my D&D group had just finished a campaign where we relied on stealth and trickery to overcome (bypass) most encounters; between a rogue/bard who had godly skills, a shadow monk with Pass Without Trace, a ranger/rogue, an Eldritch Knight with Boots of Flying, and a Wizard/Sorcerer so paranoid that he was ALWAYS prepared to cut and run, there were not a lot of encounters that we couldn’t just sneak by.

It was fun, but it quickly became a game of “everyone into the Bag of Holding while we buff someone to sneak past the encounter, or fly over it, or talk our way out of it, or etc…”

In the new campaign, we decided to take a more traditional “kick in the door” type of approach and we would probably need a tank. I decided that I would make the tankiest tank that ever tanked. But I don’t have fun just doing things directly, so I added another restriction: he would also have to be the most SAD character that I could make. In other words, super tanky and relying only on a single attribute: I picked Charisma just for fun.

What we want in a tank

If my tank was going to be incredibly tanky, he needed multiple ways of staying up and useful ways of supporting the party while he was up. This meant high HP, high saves, darkvision (to maintain effectiveness in the dark), and enough spells and/or damage to “hold aggro” or at least keep the enemies’ attention. Lastly, as a matter of good character design we should optimize our action economy to make sure that we have viable options for all 3 types of actions: bonus, reaction, and action.

Enter the Paladin: the perfect chassis. It had everything I needed: HP, great support spells, healing, and phenomenal saves once the level 6 aura came on-line. We can also pick up the Protection fighting style which will allow us to use our reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack against an ally. However, a vanilla Paladin is not very SAD at all: you need Constitution, Strength, and Charisma to make an effective character. Could I simplify it? Yes I could: enter the Hexblade. (Recently published in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything).

With just a single level of Hexblade, we now had a character on the front-line and who uses Charisma for attack and damage. The Hexblade’s Curse ability also gives us increased damage and crit range (19-20) on a single target once per short rest. We can take advantage of that increased crit range to smite enemies, ensuring we remain a threat while also optimizing our damage dice pool. On top of that, we can now add Shield, one of the best defensive spells in the game to our repertoire. The extra level 1 spell slot that recharges on a short rest was just a bonus. 

Now all our Paladin needs is Charisma and Constitution. While I couldn’t find a way to fully remove the need for Constitution from a tank, I did find a way to feed Charisma back into survivability. Enter the Shadow Sorcerer (Recently published in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything). While a level of Sorcerer adds some oomph to our spellcasting and some additional spell slots for smiting, it also brings darkvision to the table, and more importantly an ability called “Strength of the Grave”.

Starting at 1st level, your existence in a twilight state between life and death makes you difficult to defeat. Whenever damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you can make a Charisma saving throw (DC 5 + the damage taken). On a success, you instead drop to 1 hit point. You cannot use this feature if you are reduced to 0 hit points by radiant damage or by a critical hit. After the saving throw succeeds, you cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest. 

Now any time our Paladin would be dropped to 0 he makes a CHA save to instead drop to 1 HP. While the DC will be too high to be reliable for most boss fights, it will certainly help against ranged attacks and large groups of enemies. In addition, Paladin’s have the spell Bless on their spell list enabling us to gain an additional +1d4 to our save and attack rolls while also buffing two other allies.

Could we get more durability out of Strength of the Grave? Absolutely.

At our 6th level of Paladin we are adding CHA to all of our saves from Aura of Protection. This means at character level 8, when the whole build comes together, if we have an 18 in CHA and we take we are adding +4(CHA) +3(Prof) +4(AoP) = +11 to our CHA save, with bless active we now have a minimum of +12, meaning that our tank can never be dropped by less than 9 points of damage and on average it will take at least 17 damage in a single hit to knock out our tank.

An Emergent Theme

At this point we’ve got a character who’s mostly a Paladin, with at least one level of Hexblade and one level of Shadow Sorcerer. It seemed clear to me that we were building toward a fallen paladin. Fortunately for us, the Oathbreaker subclass was not only thematically appropriate, but offered a ton of benefits for battlefield control and maximizing our action economy.

In addition to completing the dark, shadowy theme of our character we gain the spell Hellish Rebuke which allows us another option for reaction. More importantly though, we gain Dreadful Aspect, an important channel divinity feature:

As an action, the paladin channels the darkest motions and focuses them into a burst of magical menace. Each creature of the paladin’s choice within 30 feet of the paladin must make a Wisdom saving throw if it can see the paladin. On a failed save, the target is frightened of the paladin for 1 minute. If a creature frightened by this effect ends its turn more than 30 feet away from the paladin, it can attempt another Wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.

For the low cost of a single action we can, once per short rest, force all creatures within 30ft to make a Wisdom save or have disadvantage on all attacks against us and our allies as long as we’re conscious and they’re within 30 ft. This is important because it heavily encourages enemies to either attack us or to run away. In other words, it’s a phenomenal feature to “draw aggro” and it can change the course of an entire fight.

Since our allies are already heavily incentivized to stay close to us thanks to our +CHA to saves aura, and Protection FIghting Style, this puts us in a win-win scenario: we either draw the fire of enemies (being a good tank) or force the enemies to temporarily retreat from the party (battlefield control).

The Shadow-Steeped Oathbreaker 

The build comes together nicely with only two one-level dips to enhance our Paladin chasis. If we go with the Human variant in the Player Handbook, we can easily start with Resilient(CON) to have a 16 CON and 16 in CHA by level 1. Of course, the build works well with Aasimar too and if you are playing a Human, you could pick up the Warcaster feat instead of Resilient(CON).

The full build is online from level 1, but gets a definite bump in effectiveness at levels 7 and 8 when we gain our second attack, 2nd level Paladin spells, and  Aura of Protection. We end up with a character with the following abilities:

Tankiness

Paladin’s d10 hit for all except 2 levels and 16 CON mean high HP

Monstrous saves with ability to buff through spells

Prof in CON, CHA, and WIS saves

CHA added to all saves and saves of allies via Aura of Protection

Strength of the Grave means we will never be dropped by mooks and only rarely be dropped by ranged attacks

Battlefield Control/Aggro Management

Dreadful Aspect – protects the party and causes all eyes to be on us as enemies take disadvantage on all their attacks

High melee damage- Between smiting, two melee attacks, CHA added to damage from the Hexblade and then added a second time from Aura of Hate, and the Hexblade’s curse guarantee that our damage output is always relevant and we stay a high-priority target

Support

Healing – Lay on Hands, cure spells, and eventually (if you play to 14 levels of Paladin) Cleansing Touch ensure that we can always add a bit of sustain to the party

Buff and debuff spells- Keeping bless up adds to our durability and helps the party to hit and save, then there’s many other abilities such as Aura of Vitality for healing, and many others. We can always take additional levels of sorcerer to gain metamagic if we find that we need to quicken spell or need to make enemies fail their saves more often.

Protection Style – A highly underrated fighting style that allows us to impose disadvantage on a single attack against an ally as long as we’re wielding a shield and the ally is next to us. Preventing heavy hits helps keep our strikers, off-tanks, and unfortunately positioned casters from going down during the fight. 

SADness

CHA to attack, damage twice thanks to Hexblade and Aura of hate

CHA to all saves and the saves of allies within 10ft thanks to Aura of Protection

CHA save to avoid being reduced to 0 HP except by radiant damage and crits, thanks to Strength of the Grave

CHA based spellcasting for save DCs

All those abilities and it’s CHA based. So far we’ere looking pretty good.

The action optimization breaks down to the following:

Action

Attack – 2 attacks with +CHA to hit and + 2xCHA to damage, ensuring our average damage will be extremely high.

Spellcasting – Bless, Aura of Vitality, Dispel Magic, Daylight, Heroism, etc. Because of our high saves we need to receive more than 24 damage from level 8 onwards before we even have to roll a CON save to maintain concentration, making us an ideal party buffer even on the front lines.

Channel Divinity – Control Undead or Dreadful Aspect are  both almost always worth the cost of an action when they’re needed.

Lay on Hands – Not the best use in combat, but a great way to guarantee that an ally pops up with a decent amount of health.

Bonus Action

Hexblade’s Curse – A good debuff, especially to take down bosses, it increases damage, grants advantage, and restores HP when the target goes down.

Smite spells – Not the best choice, but often good when an enemy needs to go down now and you’re not already concentrating on a spell.

Expeditious Retreat – A level 1 spell found on both the Sorcerer and Warlock spell lists. It has a Bonus Action cast time, and allows the caster to dash as a bonus action. This spell is a top-notch pick because it allows our Paladin to always be where he needs to be on the battlefield, closing great distance into melee rather than relying on sub-optimal ranged attacks. 

Aura of Vitality – While this is a 3rd level spell, we can now use a single bonus action to heal an ally for 2d6 per round, there is not a better healing spell short of wish. With a single bonus action we can bring any ally within 30 ft back into the fight or patch up wounded allies.

Quicken spell – While not in the base build, if we do take sorcerer to third level, instead of one, then we have the ability to transform into the ultimate gish and quicken action length spells into bonus actions. Highly recommended if building as a striker instead of a tank.

Reaction

Shield – Buff your AC to stop attacks from hitting you.

Protection Style – Impose disadvantage on an enemy attack against an ally.

Hellish Rebuke – Deal damage to a foe who just struck you.

Opportunity Attack – Punish a foe for leaving your range.

Absorb Elements – One of the best level 1 spells in the game, perfect fit for our character. Reduce incoming elemental damage and add damage to the next attack.

All in all, it looks like our reaction has a healthy amount of choice without being overloaded as each choice is for a somewhat different scenario. We have plenty of actions thanks to Divinity, Spellcasting, and our two melee attacks.

The only area lacking is our bonus action which has preciously few options. Some would suggest filling that gap with the warlock spell Hex but an extra 1d6 per hit (only our hits) that requires concentration pales in comparison to the other party-wide buffs on which we could use our concentration. Instead, if we decide that we really need to fill up our bonus action options, taking additional levels of sorcerer will allow us to quicken spells and guarantee that we always have a good option for our bonus action.

Summary

In a quest for a super-tanky SAD character we came up with a Variant Human Paladin 1/Hexblade 1/Shadow Sorc 1/Paladin X build with an incredible amount of support, healing, damage, and durability. Theme seems to suggest a darker, Oathbreaker, type of character but there’s absolutely no reason that we couldn’t use other Paladin subclasses. 

The recently published Paladin of Conquest from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything would also provide most of the same benefits as the Oathbreaker.

Our character can hold the front-line, maintain enemy attention, buff the party, debuff enemies, spike damage, and should always be the last one down in a fight. Best of all, we’re a phenomenal tank from the get go and an unstoppable one at level 8 when we gain our 6th level of Paladin.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @FinlamElmanor comment on this post. Talk to you next time!

If you enjoyed this article you may also like A Fistful of Dice or the Eldritch Sniper.

  Update 3-7-2018: Corrected typo – Hold Person cannot be cast without additional investment in either Warlock or Sorcecer. Thank you, Althexia, for catching that!

A 5E Super Sad Tank was originally published on Friendly Neighborhood Lizard Man