#another plus of paladin is it gives him high charisma

[libartz]

Tavified and Dark Urged Zebulon

Made him a devotion paladin because it fits with his original Elder Scrolls backstory, but he's also from the Underdark so I'm not entirely sure how he found a Lawful knightly order in what appears to be Chaotic land. Anyway he’s gonna date Wyll and be angsty about it which is on-brand for him, and will again (attempt to) be much nicer than he appears

[raeynbowboi]

Mystery Inc as a DnD Party

I figured as long as we're still in the vicinity of spooky season, I'd build everyone's favorite gang of teenage mystery solvers as a collective unit. Pulling from their group dynamic to come up with a party roster that will give everyone in the party a designated role.

FRED JONES

PALADIN || OATH OF THE CROWN

INVESTIGATOR BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion

Freddie is the dimwitted but lovable himbo leader of the team. He's also the muscle, except in moments of athletic skill, when he's outshined by Daphne. His backstory isn't always consistent, but he's usually a jock of some sort. He's not usually all that book smart, but he has a good heart, and inspires his team to success. Paladins who swear an Oath to the Crown hold law and justice above all else, and Fred usually enjoys catching the bad guys and seeing justice served.

DAPHNE BLAKE

BARD || COLLEGE OF LORE

NOBLE BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Performance

As surprising a choice as this might seem, Bard is actually a very appropriate choice for Daphne. Modern Daphne is the most supportive and emotionally intelligent member of the group. From What’s New Scooby-Doo? to Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, Daphne has become the emotional powerhouse of the group. Sensing when her friends are off their game, and offering sage advice to her friends when they need it. She’s also become a very creative girl, skilled in singing, dancing, fashion, design, and more. She’s grown to be the group’s resident skill monkey, almost on par with Velma’s uncanny encyclopedic knowledge on all brainy subjects. If a lock needs picking or the gang needs to get out of a trap, you can count on Daphne to have a nail file, bobby pin, or something else on her person to save the day. She's typically also the face of the group when it's not Fred, meaning she's going to want high Dexterity and Charisma. I chose Lore because Daphne is a reporter in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and this is the only real career she's ever had. A lore bard is basically a more magical reporter, and singing the tale of her group's mysterious endeavors.

VELMA DINKLEY

ARTIFICER || ARTILLERIST

SAGE BACKGROUND

Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature

Velma was the most debatable one for me, as she could be a wizard or an artificer. And I was really leaning toward Wizard, but I had to stay true to Velma's character. She's been a tinkerer and a gadgeteer for a long time now. Velma is absolutely fascinated by robotics. But while Velma in our world can handwave superstitious nonsense, in a world with gods, demons, and real ghosts, I could absolutely see Velma using her knowledge to become a powerful wizard. I even considered the Knowledge Domain Cleric because it's basically designed to be a magical detective, and if Velma was going to worship a deity, it'd be a god of knowledge and reading. Ultimately, I did choose Artificer as it was more in-line with her base character as a skeptic and a scientist, but she would work as a Wizard. Plus, as is, Daphne is the only full-caster in the party.

NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS

RANGER || CONCLAVE OF THE BEAST MASTER

GUILD ARTISAN BACKGROUND || COOKS & BAKERS

Skills: Animal Handling, Investigation, Stealth, Survival

No surprises here, Shaggy and Scooby are a bonded pair, and the two were going to be joined to each other one way or another. Scooby is technically a Beast of the Land, and there's no Great Dane stat block, so call him a Mastiff if you need to. You can't really build Scooby by himself per se. There's no dog race unless you go Custom Lineage or something, and even then, I'd struggle to assign Scooby a class as he's mostly an animal sidekick. Make sure Shaggy picks up Cooks Untensils and proficiency with them so he can become the party's designated camp chef.

Ultimately, I'm happy with how the team turned out. Fred's the tanky and bulky frontliner, Velma can use her robotics to help solve mysteries, Daphne is the face on top of having so many skills, and Shaggy works with Scooby. Inadvertently, they're also all classes with access to healing spells. So, while I suspect Daphne being the sole full caster will probably assume primary role of group healer, everyone is capable of healing each other up. Making this a great group of supportive friends taking care of each other.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #16D: Richard the Lionheart

hey, what’s up, it’s ya boy, Richard the Lionheart again. somebody wanted the Richard build but in D&D, and I thought it would be cool. not sure if/when I’ll get to the other Viewers’ Choice builds since a) I’m still catching up to NA again and b) summer is just around the corner, but it’ll probably happen eventually. if WotC doesn’t fuck up again.

anyways, Richie 2.0 is a Glory Paladin to smite at maximum speed, as well as a Swords Bard to be good at literally anything he wants to do.

check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Race and Background

as you likely remember from the pathfinder build, King Richard I is a Human, as well as a Noble. that being said there’s something funky going on in the state of France, so he’s got a Mark of Passage, giving him the standard +2 +1 stats of other races. (we’re also messing with the specifics here thanks to Tasha’s Cauldron, so that’s a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Strength.) that means you have Courier’s Speed, a permanent +5 boost to walking, and Intuitive Motion, letting you add a d4 to any acrobatics or land vehicle check. riding skill, baby! you can also find Magical Passage once a day with a free use of Misty Step, and you gain some Spells of the Mark which you can add to your spell lists. we don’t pick any up as a bard, but feel free to prepare some using your paladin spells later! the ones you can do that with are expeditious retreat, jump, misty step, pass without trace, blink, and phantom steed.

and again, as a noble you have proficiency in History and Persuasion.

Ability Scores

Richie’s so dang persuasive his soldiers follow his orders in the afterlife, so Charisma has to be high on his priorities. after that is Strength. it’s hard to cut rocks in half without it. unless you’re playing a monk, which we’re not. though that does mean Dexterity is next. I know it’s not “really” needed for speed, but it’ll keep you from tripping, which is pretty dang important when you’re moving twice as fast as everyone else. Constitution comes next. from what I’ve heard Richard’s not unusually tough, but he is a melee fighter, so keeping this stat positive will help immensely. that means your Wisdom isn’t great. that and we’re dumping Intelligence. sorry, we needed everything else more.

Class Levels

1. Paladin 1: starting as a paladin gives you plenty of cool toys to play with, like your new proficiencies in Wisdom and Charisma saves, plus Athletics and Religion.

you can also use a divine sense to detect celestials, fiends, and undead nearby! it’ll tell you the type but not their identity, so i guess its kindof a servant senser? you can also lay on hands as an action, patching up your allies with but a touch! this recharages on a long rest, and it’ll only give you five times your level in hp per day. you can even spend 5 points to heal a poison or disease! we’ll get you some magic resistance later, but this is pretty good for a start.

2. paladin 2: second level paladins can get a fighting style of their choosing, and we’re pickin up interception! now if, say, a big chunk of ceiling is about to hit somebody you can react and use your sword to reduce the damage they take by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus! you can’t use this on yourself, but you’re a cool dude, right?

you can also cast spells now! you can use your charisma to cast ‘em, and you can swap ‘em out each long rest when you’re bored! that also means we don’t have to go too in-depth about which ones to pick, but I’d definitely grab Compelled Duel or Searing Smite if you have a chance. the former essentially codifies a duel between you and another servant, while the latter is a damage over time kind of smite.

speaking of, you can use Divine Smites now. they’re not spells, but using one will eat up a spell slot, and deal radiant damage based on the level of slot spent. just stick one onto one of your weapon attacks and you’re good! you can use this with just about any melee weapon, so… yeah, noble phantasm 1 achieved.

3. Paladin 3: but that’s just one phantasm, we still have another one to get, plus your other skills! to help with that lightning speed, we need to dive into the Glory oath. this grants you Divine Health, giving you immunity to disease, as well as two ways to Channel Divinity once a short rest. you can either become a Peerless Athlete for advantage on your athletics and acrobatics checks, your carrying capacity is doubled, and you can jump ten feet further! alternatively, you can turn a divine smite into an Inspiring Smite, spending your bonus action after smiting to give temporary HP to nearby creatures.

you also gain access to Oath Spells, a special subset of spells that you can always have prepared without counting towards your limit, even if paladins couldn’t get these spells normally- sort of like your mark spells. right now, you have Guiding Bolt, which deals damage and gives the next attack on your target advantage, and Heroism, which emboldens creatures while giving them temporary HP each turn.

4. Paladin 4: fourth level paladins get an Ability Score Improvement like any other class, so now you can even out your Strength and Charisma scores. only even numbers really count in D&D, so that’s two half-price +1 bonuses to the relevant stuff strength and charisma do. which is a lot on a paladin.

5. Paladin 5: for example, your strength can be used even more now that you have an Extra Attack each attack action, and your charisma helps out a ton with your new second level spells! you get enhance ability for free, giving you advantage on one kind of ability check for a minute, or you can use Magic Weapon to give your stick a little boost. I’d also recommend you pick up Protection from Poison for more magic resistance. everybody knows poisons are magic. or is that friendship?

6. Bard 1: speaking of magic, let’s swap over to bard real quick for more spell slots! you get another list of spells you can cast. you have to mash your classes together to figure out how many slots you have at any given time, so check out your PHB for that. bards get their spells hard-coded in and can only swap them when they level up, so we’ll go into more detail here.

for cantrips, grab Blade Ward for a chance to go on the defensive and take half damage from physical attacks for a round. it’s not usually the smartest move to make, but at least it’s better than True Strike! yeah, we’re not here for much magic, we’re just using bard for extra physicality, a sentence I am sure has never been said before.

that being said, some spells are pretty nice. Animal Friendship will further improve your riding skill, and Feather Fall can keep you from taking fall damage after your Jump and Peerless Athlete-boosted jump launches you 50 feet straight up in the air. Command will help you keep ahead of your knights, which I swear are coming eventually, and Disguise Self will help you blend in with the human populace. I assume this is the kind of thing that happens in other fate works, right?

you also get proficiency in Animal Handling for multiclassing, and you can give allies Bardic Inspiration as a bonus action Charisma Modifier times per day, letting them add a d6 to a check, save, or attack roll of their choice in the next minute.

7. Bard 2: a second level bard is a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to any check you make that doesn’t already add it, like your initiative. see, you’re faster already! this and Enhance Ability also covers your “good at literally everything” skill. you’re not the best in the party, but you’ll always be ready to give it the old college try.

you also get the song of rest, giving your party more HP when they heal up on short rests! yay, unexplained healing!

you’re also even faster with your new spell this level, Longstrider. speed, you are speed.

8. Bard 3: at third level you can give everything the ol’ college try thanks to attending the college of Swords. with it, you can now cast bard spells through your sword, and you get the Dueling fighting style for an extra 2 damage with one-handed weapons.

more importantly, you can now spend inspiration to make Blade Flourishes in one of three flavors once per turn. a Defensive Flourish deals the inspiration in extra damage and adds it to your AC for a round, a Slashing Flourish deals the inspiration in extra damage to your target and any other creature you choose next to you, and the Mobile Flourish deals extra damage and pushes the target away, giving you a chance to react and get back into range. also, even if you don’t use a flourish your speed will still go up by 10’ when you take the attack action.

you also gain Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus with Religion and Athletics checks. and you gain second level bard spells now, like Borrowed Knowledge, allowing you to have full proficiency in any skill you wish for an hour.

9. Bard 4: fourth level bards get an Ability Score Improvement like any other class, but we’re going to cash this one in for a feat. the Crusher feat can add a point to your Constitution, as well as greatly improve your unarmed attacks and any other bludgeoning weapons you choose. once a turn you can push a creature you hit with a bludgeoning attack five fee, and when you score a critical hit, attacks targeting that creature get advantage for a round. it’s not quite the unarmed fighting style, but it’ll definitely make your boxing skills more noteworthy.

you can also make a Light with the cantrip of the same name for a shiny sword, and you can make a Kinetic Jaunt with a spell slot, adding to your speed, preventing anyone from attacking you opportunistically, and letting you pass through people as long as you don’t end your turn inside of them.

10. Bard 5: the fifth level of bard is the best level of bard, because you’re now a Font of Inspiration, so your inspiration dice recharge on short rests instead of just long ones. on top of that, your inspiration dice are now d8s instead of d6s, and you learn third level spells!

spells like Intellect Fortress, which will give you advantage on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saves to supercharge your magic resistance! just ignore that next level it’s fine just focus on the cool spell.

11. Paladin 6: six level paladins get an Aura of Protection, adding your charisma modifier to all your saves, supercharging your magic resistance! just ignore that last level it’s fine just focus on the cool feature of your class.

12. Paladin 7: that’s not the only aura of coolness you’ve got though! as a seventh level glory paladin, your Aura of Alacrity gives you another 10’ boost in speed to you and anyone standing within five feet of you.

13. Paladin 8: use this ASI to bump up your Strength. I don’t have anything witty for this level, you just hit better now.

14. Paladin 9: ninth level paladins get the vaunted “third level spells”! the most important one here is your oath spell Haste, which can double your speed and give you an extra action each turn for dashing or attacking once. whichever you pick you’ll speed up at least a little bit thanks to your flourishes! you also get Protection from Energy for damage resistance, or Crusader’s Mantle to turn all your knights into paladins. I swear they’re on their way just hold on a sec.

15. Paladin 10: our final level of paladin comes with a final aura, the Aura of Courage, which prevents you or nearby allies from being frightened. it’s not that flashy, but it’s wayyyy better than bard’s next level.

16. Bard 6: speak of the devil, it’s bard’s next level! Countercharm takes an action to use and is pretty much a worse Aura of Courage, and Extra Attack doesn’t stack.

at least you can speak in Tongues now?

17. Bard 7: at seventh level you can use fourth level spells, finally giving you your first knight, the Phantasmal Killer! …which isn’t a creature, so it can’t have the crusader’s mantle on it. darn. still, it’s kind of a summon. we’ll work on getting something more corporeal.

18. Bard 8: at level eight you get one last ASI, so grab the Resilient feat to round out your Constitution and give you proficiency in constitution saves. it sucks to drop concentration on summons, and a +12 will go a long way towards helping with that.

you also have a Freedom of Movement now, which will help you speed your way out of any difficult terrain or getting chained up.

19. Bard 9: at ninth level you get a better song of rest, yes, but you also get fifth level spells! with Planar Binding you can keep your summons on this plane of existence for a full day rather than just an hour or so with concentration. it’s really expensive, but you’re a) a 19th level adventurer, and b) you can upcast it up to seventh level right now for a month-long knighthood. now we just need to get the summons…

20. Bard 10: at tenth level bards can get those summons thanks to knowing Magical Secrets, giving you two spells from any spell list. Conjure Woodland Beings will allow you to summon a mob of fae creatures at a time, while Summon Celestial gives you one glowy paladin to pal around with.

while we’re on the topic of spells, you get one last cantrip like Message to speak with your Master in silence.

your Bardic Inspiration dice increase one last time to d10s, and you get another round of Expertise in Animal Handling and History.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

given enough time you can just. have a private army of celestials and fey now. they probably won’t be thrilled to work for you, but that’s when the charisma comes into play. go forth, abuse the action economy as you see fit!

you’re also just. stupidly fast. your base speed is 55’, and with haste you can get up to 110 feet normally, or 130’ if you attack someone with two actions. monks wish they were you. and you can mobile flourish to add another 130’ onto your movement speed for no goddamn reason.

your saves are ridiculous, with a +4 bonus to everything and possibly advantage on your one weak save by using Intellect Fortress, magic just kind of doesn’t work on you that well.

Cons:

your friends are expensive, needing 1,000 gp per binding. plus you don’t actually get them until level 20, by which point they’re not useful for much more than guard duty in your private castle.

no matter how fast you go, you’re still a saber, so you can’t do much at range. the second an enemy learns how to fly it’s over for you.

you don’t need that much speed. it’s a nice flex, but I doubt your DM’s going to include that many situations where being able to go across the map and back in a single turn is super useful.

[qu0t13]

DELTARUNE... BUT D&D

Part 1 because we know we’ll forget a few.

Kris: Actually not a human fighter, well, human yes, but because their greatest asset is leading, convincing and negotiating.  We’d put Kris as either a mele support bard, or a Bard Paladin because Paladins gain their power through their oaths, and depending on the kind of player you are, Kris’ oath changes accordingly.

Ralsie: Definitely a Satyr, but surprisingly not a Wizard either, another Bard in the party, just because as useful as Ralsie’s magics are, he only has 2 spells, and if that’s not some low level Bard thing, we don’t know what is. That and... Ralsie is heking adorable and you cannot tell us that they don’t have a ridiculously high charisma score, and yea Wizards can be charismatic, there is a strong difference between being naturally adorable and cool Wizard.

Susie: Would have been tempted to peg Susie as a Kobold just because of her pack tactics, but we’d be a fool to put her as anything but Lizardfolk. And actually no, she isn’t a Barbarian or a fighter, though she is very angry, that is undeniable.  We think Susie is another Paladin who later multiclasses into Cleric juuuuust for a wee bit of healing. But, Palidin because, same boat as Kris, for the most part it is the player who chooses Susie’s oath. (Also in the begining when she goes on her murderous rampage you could claim she’s on a crusade) Rouxls Kard: Nocturn because you cannot tell us this disaster of a man sleeps, ever, he just doesn’t alright? He’s got tooo much to do at any given point in time please just give him his coffee and let him work he’ll die eventually. As for class... Rouxls is tedious to place... Our first guess would have been a Trapsmith Rogue because puzzles But that would be insulting to puzzles... We’re tempted to put him as a Warlock however, just because he seems to need direction (A patron) 

Lancer: The best son. The result of whatever the hell a Warforged and a Goliath (If that were possible) would make.  An Artificer Bard because he at least knows how to function machinery (His bike) and he’s charismatic in the most lopsided way possible that makes him undeniably charming his his own special little way.

Seam: Either a Tabaxi or Leolin because cat, duh.  And we’d actually say that Seam is a Weaveshaper Bard multiclass, only because, as previous court sorcerer, he would have had to have some acess to proper magic, and Bards have a nice range of spells, plus, charisma bonuses and all those sweet sweet proficiencies. Weaveshaper however is a bit more self indulgent... He’s a stitched up cat thing guys... Weaveshaper, they all about manipulating magic string.

Jevil: A Felis, but like, hairless... Or some sort of Faeblood because of all of his magic and hijinks. Class wise, we’re leaning towards just putting him as a Sorcerer because, high charisma and deep wells of magic, or some sort of Bard/Wizard mix... But then we remembered Rogue, Arcane Trickster. Very skillful and sneaky, access to very useful and versatile spells, high mobility and from experience, very fun to play.

King: Big boi Goliath. Angry man who needs a lot of therapy and prison. Definetly some sort of Barbarian, or a Purgalist, both mele attackers that hit like trucks.

Our stances are flexible and opinions fluid and we’re desperate for friends so please someone nerd out with us please?     

[nanierose]

I'll join in on the fun and give my predictions/wants for classes

Liam: Already said but I reckon he could go barbarian. Boy needs to be a tank at some point and it fits with his desire to be just a dude.

Laura: I think she'd have a lot of fun as a sorcerer. It's high charisma based and she can deal serious damage.

Sam: I honestly can see Liam picking out paladin or cleric for Sam. He'd be good at either of them, plus it would give Sam a new area to explore in religion. He did a small bit of that in C1 but here it would be more prominent. I'm leaning towards paladin but cleric would be fun too.

Travis: He's tricky as I know a lot of people want him as a Spellcaster but he also really enjoys getting up in people's faces. I think Eldritch Knight fighter would be a good option for this. I've played one before and it's a lot of fun. Echo Knight is also a good option.

Marisha: I think ranger would be good for Marisha. She could use both spells and weapons, so deviating from her previous two classes here. Not sure which subclass but I think she could get crazy with it.

Ashley: Rogue. Let her be a sneaky mf who's good at stealth. Plus being a rogue is about taking bold risks as you're often up front alone so I can see her enjoying that.

Taliesin: Honestly no idea what he could play. He said he chose Blood Hunter because he's played everything else so it's difficult to think what he'd enjoy. Maybe warlock or another paladin?

I'll be interested to see what they end up going with but sure they'll be just as fun as their previous characters.

[social-cocoon]

Thoughts about Yasha and her cool new sword under the cut

I said a little about this in the tags of another post but I'm pretty sure Yasha isn't going to be multiclassing to use the Holy Avenger. Once, as other people have already been saying, her charisma isn't high enough and bumping it up to meet the paladin requirement is pretty extreme. Two, Matt isn't the type to force his players down a certain path, especially not for an item they weren’t supposed to get in the first place. Lastly, the next milestone to level up to 15 will definitely be after the big confrontation with Lucien, and depending on how that goes then a level in paladin would be useless anyway. Plus, taking a level in paladin for a sword that she likely won’t be keeping after this arc is over is useless and (at least at the moment) would be narratively unfulfilling.

Instead, I think her next character arc will be about her accepting her role as a protector, and that will be what allows her to unlock the ability to attune to the sword. While her change from a Fallen Aasimar to a Protector Aasimar has already been brought up in game, it's been shown as more of an external change than internal change. We’ve seen her wings grow feathers and actually give her the ability to fly and we’ve seen her hair start to return to its original color, but I don’t think Yasha’s had enough time to emotionally and mentally process and fully understand what this all means, nor has she begun to accept what it means. “Protector” is the key word here. Early on, Yasha would often call herself a coward, and she hated herself for failing to protect Zuala, so now she’s being put towards the path of accepting the role of a protector and accepting the idea that she can fulfill that role. It’s in her nature to fit that role, but there will probably be a lot of hesitation on her part because she failed once and the consequences were pretty significant.

I think once she comes to fully accept this change is when the sword will unlock for her, and I think it’s this specific aspect of her because of the dream sequence. In it, Matt made a point to bring up the word protector or protection and the feeling of being aimless without a charge to protect, then had the M9 calling out for her to save them. It’s definitely different from her previous dreams which were very centered on herself and how she needed strength for herself, now turning it to using that strength for others.

I also wouldn’t be surprised (though I’m not expecting it) if part of this next arc for her is coming to really understand her celestial nature, because I’m not sure is Yasha’s quite come to terms with that? Ashley said a while back that she just thinks she kind of a weird human, and while I think she understands now that there’s more to her, it still hasn’t come up too much beyond the odd comment or nickname. Her being part celestial also allows her to fulfill the divine part of being a paladin while making herself a protector to her new family fulfills the devotion aspect. The Stormlord’s words to her also made it sound like this wasn’t something to do with him and that he’d be taking more of a backseat as opposed to last time, and that her connection to him isn’t what is important (or at least not most important) right now, opposing how a lot of a paladin’s power comes from that sort of connection.

TL;DR: I think the key to unlocking the Holy Avenger’s power will not be having to multiclass into paladin but instead be Yasha coming to terms with and accepting the role of a protector, and her celestial nature plus her devotion to protecting her friends will be what replaces the need for her to be a paladin.

[the-big-nope]

While I’m certainly nowhere near ready for the story of the Mighty Nein to come to an end, I am also a D&D nerd and there’s a new sourcebook coming out soon with a bunch of new subclasses in it. By the time Campaign 3 of Critical Role gets underway, that book will be published, leaving a wealth of new options for the cast members to choose from, so why not entertain myself by making barely justified predictions of what the cast is most likely to pick for their next characters! (Disclaimer: Some of the new subclasses have been confirmed and some haven’t, so for a few of these picks I’m just going off of what I think is going to be in the book).

Travis

Cleric (Tempest Domain): Travis has been playing lowkey EMT since campaign one, and Laura’s already confirmed that Travis almost went cleric for campaign two. Between Grog with his barb-boosted movement speed to get around the battlefield so he could shove healing potions into his squishier teammates, and Fjord multiclassing into paladin and lovingly tapping his friends with single hit points to get them back up, it would be delightful to see him fully jump in and embrace the classical healer role. Of course, this is Travis, so I don’t see him picking a cleric domain that doesn’t allow for at least some whoop-ass, and Tempest Domain brings plenty of it. You get proficiency with all armor and weapons, Divine Strike at level 8 for boosted melee damage, you can use a reaction to inflict lightning or thunder damage against any enemy within melee range that’s hit you. And if you climb up high enough in levels, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking one whenever you’re outdoors. Pretty nifty, and makes for a fitting subclass for a guy that’s voiced Thor on multiple occasions.

Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan): I mean, come on. The only reason it isn’t number one is that it was already widely assumed this would be Travis’s pick for campaign two, and I wouldn’t put it past him to surprise us again. But still, we saw him get a taste in Liam’s one shot and he was clearly having the time of his life. Besides, we lost Molly far too early to really see the blood hunter’s potential come to life; it would be damn cool to see someone else take a crack at it, and Travis is enough of a D&D gambler to not shy away from the class’s riskier features.

Artificer (Armorer): Speaking of Marvel connections, if Travis doesn’t lean toward fantasy Thor, then fantasy Iron Man might catch his attention instead. Artificer is an official class now, and since it’ll be reprinted in TCoE by the time campaign 3 gets underway, it’ll be a lot more visible as an option. The Armorer sits in almost a perfect middle ground of what Travis has done before: tanky and a frontliner, but also still has spells and tricks to help the party. Plus, you get a badass suit of power armor out of it. What’s not to like?

Marisha

Bard (College of Creation): After Hazel Copperpot, we all saw the pure magic that was Marisha Ray playing a bard. I know she implied that Hazel was supposed to be her campaign two backup character, but I hope this doesn’t discourage her from making another one. There are quite a few bard subclasses, a number of which I could see her being drawn to (Lore, Glamour, maybe even Swords), but I really vibe with the idea of Creation. I can’t exactly say why; maybe the idea of the ‘dancing object’ feature in Marisha’s hands is very funny to me (remember Keyleth’s adorable “Be Our Guest” moment? That, but this time it’s a walking wardrobe beating the shit out of the enemy).

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance/Conquest): As of yet, no one on Critical Role has ever played a paladin from the start, only multiclassed later down the line. I think this would be a cool departure for Marisha. Both campaigns she’s played characters that were either suspicious or at least indifferent to faith and the gods. Paladins are typically associated with deities, but they’re not tied quite so closely to them as clerics are. It would be fascinating to see what she did with it. As for the subclass, I just think Marisha’s earned her turn on the Goth Character Carousel, and while I know Conquest paladin is very unlikely given its moral grayness by default which might cause undue conflict and that Vengeance is a much more likely and acceptable pick, I just think it would be a sexy character choice. 

Wizard (Bladesinger/Graviturgist): This is a much more pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking pick on my end, but not impossible imo. Marisha has experience with heavy spellcasting already, so she probably wouldn’t shy away from a wizard, but like Travis I suspect she likes a bit of oomph to her characters, and probably wouldn’t play as support heavy as Caleb does. To that end, Bladesingers get a bit more survivability and some modicum of physical prowess alongside their spells, while Graviturgists are definitely on the more aggressive side of the spectrum for wizard subclasses, with unique dunamancy spells to boot. I’m not sure how restrictive Matt would be about Xhorhassian characters in the next campaign if it takes place on another continent, but hey, you never know. Plus, she picked one of Matt’s homebrew subclasses for the current campaign; it would be cute if it happened again.

Liam

Druid (Circle of the Shepherd): At some point before Critical Role comes to end (hopefully far in the future), I know Liam’s gonna play a druid, I can feel it in my bones. He's too big of a Kiki fan not to. However, while Circle of the Moon might feel obvious given the potential for homage and how much he likes turning into animals, I feel like he might regard it as getting too close to old territory (also, I don’t know if Circle of the Moon is like an exclusive thing to the Ashari tribes, and if it is that would be rather restrictive for building a backstory). If that’s the case, Circle of the Shepherd feels like the next best bet. It has some great support options via the totems you can put down, and rather than becoming badass animals, you instead just get really good at summoning a fuck ton of them. It’s like Frumpkin, but ten of him. And they’re bears. (Honorable mention: If Circle of the Moon would feel like treading old territory then I’m certain Circle of Wildfire would too, but I’d bet my dice collection it would at least be tempting). 

Cleric (Unity Domain): Listen. The pure sap potential that would be at Mr. O’Brien’s fingertips with this subclass is incredible. The domain all about strengthening and protecting the bonds between friends and loved ones?? The domain with the Channel Divinity that can spread damage taken by one creature across the party however the cleric chooses to distribute it to lessen the blow to the individual??? The domain that used to be called the Love Domain???? I’m practically gagging on the soft moments and unspoken devotion conveyed through spellcasting already.

Fighter (Rune Knight/Psi Knight): Liam has yet to play a tank in a long-term campaign, and while I’m more enamored with the potential of the above classes, it would be novel to see him play a character with an actually respectable amount of hit points. However, I feel like if he was gonna commit to a straight frontliner, he’d probably want something a little more unique than a Champion or Battle Master (especially since he’s played those already for one-shots). Rune Knight has some fun options and built-in flavor, and with Psi Knight you can basically be a Jedi. Not bad options at all if you ask me.

Taliesin

Warlock (Fiend): Yeah, it might be expected, or Percy might have been too close to warlock anyway to feel like there’s new ground to cover, but hear me out. Both Percy (who, let’s face it, was a warlock multiclass in all but the actual mechanics) and Fjord were the classic reluctants. They got in over their heads without really knowing what was going on, and once they did they wanted out, cutting ties with their patrons and getting clear with only the scars remaining. I want to see Taliesin commit to a warlock in a way I imagine only he could manage to pull off. How fun would that balancing act be, to have a character that has no intentions of breaking their pact, who’s here for the powers, and is willing to work that delicate balancing act between keeping what he’s got and not letting his contract holder get the better of him? Give it to meeeeee.

Sorcerer (Psionic Soul): Psionic Soul has a bit of that eldritch flavor that vibes with Taliesin so much, with the added interest of introducing a brand new feature to 5E, the Psi Die (with this subclass, using them can do things like letting a sorcerer learn a spell they don’t already know for a few hours, allow you to cast spells without needing verbal, somatic, or material components, and can give you telepathy). Taking both Percy and Molly into account, it seems Tal likes to lean into those unique additional mechanics, and while Psi Die aren’t as risk-heavy as Gunslinger or Bloodhunter, they do add a layer of variability and unpredictability that seems to match his style.

Rogue (Swashbuckler): We only got a little bit of time with Molly, and so missed out on the opportunity to see Tal play a more cavalier character this time around. If he feels like leaning away from spells next time and back toward martial, I think a high-charisma, high-swinging swashbuckler from Tal would be a delight to watch.

Laura

Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian): Laura deserves to hit things, okay? Yes, spellcasting is great and comes in clutch frequently and Jester’s amazing, but you can tell Laura misses doing fat stacks of damage to the enemy in a single round. I personally think it would be amazing to watch her just cut loose and go full rage machine. As for the subclass, I’m not glued to the idea, but Ancestral Guardians are pretty kickass, have decent support capabilities for a barb without detracting from their DPS at all, and it doesn’t tread on any previous characters’ toes or their aesthetics.

Rogue (Scout/Soulknife): Laura deserves to play her favorite class at last, okay? She’s been class poached two campaigns in a row, and though that resulted in both Vex and Jester and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, Laura has earned first pick. Seeing as she already dipped into Assassin as Vex and Sam took Arcane Trickster, I could see Scout being a viable subclass choice. It’s in the classic sneaky vein, relatively simple in concept, but comes with features that grant easy-to-understand benefits that you can never turn your nose up at (boosts to movement, advantage on initiative, giving advantage against a target to everyone else in the party, etc.). If she’s looking for something a bit flashier, Soulknife has the benefit of retroactively dunking on Vax by taking the basic knife-rogue and making it better, with psionic knives that you can manifest with a thought, that can teleport you around Whisper style, and cranking up that stealth to ridiculous levels by just being able to turn invisible for ten minutes, no concentration or spell needed. The psionic die mechanics are a little funky of course, but I don’t imagine it’s any trickier than learning to manage all those cleric spells.

Monk (Way of the Open Hand): Between Beau just being super cool and her brief stint as Farriwen Breeze, monk wouldn’t be a surprising pick from Laura. An Open Hand monk might be the definitive version everyone knows, but you can’t deny it’s a solid subclass, and between previous overlap and the concepts of the other subclasses just not seeming to fit, I could see the classic being what she went with. But hey, it’s Laura Bailey. She could surprise us with Way of the Drunken Master or something.

Sam

Ranger (Monster Slayer): Let’s be real, I don’t think this would be his actual first pick for a Campaign 3 character, but the amount of shit-stirring he could achieve by making a character with the aim of pissing off Laura Bailey specifically would be hilarious (and since Matt isn’t completely opposed to UA and acknowledges that PHB ranger has a lot of issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went Revised Ranger this time).

Warlock (Genie): Actual first pick here, Pact of the Genie Warlock is confirmed by now, and the potential of a warlock in the hands of Sam Riegel is pretty vast (for some reason I’m imagining he would go the ‘spoiled sugar baby’ route). The subclass doesn’t matter as much, but the Genie one is nice in that, depending on the type of genie patron you pick, you can get a wide variety of extra spells, you get a container like a classic lamp or lantern that you can bamf into for short rests, and you get a limited Wish ability for your capstone, all features I feel like would especially appeal to Sam.

Barbarian (Path of the Wild Soul): I want to see Sam play a fairy barbarian. ‘Nough said.

Ashley

Fighter (Eldritch/Echo Knight): Ashley really seems to vibe with the crushing power of martial classes (she does love her brutal kill descriptions), so I could see her sticking with it rather than going back to full caster. However, I do see her picking one of the magical subclasses for some variety after Yasha. Eldritch Knight is a classic and reasonably easy to manage, but tbh I’d LOVE for it to be Echo Knight. And think, if my wishful thinking came true, with Ashley picking an Echo Knight and Marisha playing a Graviturgist wizard, they could link up their backstories and be a traveling Kryn battle duo that left their homeland behind to explore the world!

Sorcerer (Draconic): If she does want to go back to full-time casting, Sorcerer doesn’t require near as much bookkeeping as a cleric, druid, or wizard while still having decent variety, and the Draconic subclass is a bit beefier than the other subclasses. Also, it would be the third campaign in a row where Ashley Johnson’s character eventually got wings, soooo...

And tbh I have no idea what a third pick might be for Ashley, so I’m just gonna throw a dart or two at the board and say either College of Whispers Bard or Way of Mercy Monk *Shrug* We can only wait and see!

[come-on-shitty-boys]

Haikyuu But I Make Them D&D Players (3rd Year Edition)

Notes: I have two big-ish? Pieces in the works right now, so here’s a fun self-indulgent thread for the day because I miss my party and The Bois (tm).  I might sketch up some little icons of their characters later??

Daichi Sawamura. Dungeon Master

He’s only played a few times with the Karasuno boys, but he has a decent enough handle on the rules to DM

But, he’s constantly asking Kuroo and Oikawa questions on how to do something, because Dadchi is still learning.

He borrowed all the books from Kuroo

The first session? Oh it was a shit show.  He didn’t realize how much he needed to prepare ahead of time to do this.

There’s probably a group chat with the other guys who DM so they can talk about the campaign or ask any questions

Overall, Daichi’s pretty good at this whole Dungeon Master thing once he gets a feel for what he’s doing.

Kuroo Tetsurou. Class: Warlock

He’s a seasoned Dungeons and Dragons veteran so he usually leads the party

Kuroo usually just plays rather than DMs, but he still has all the books

But, damn is he a good player!  You will never see him break character.

His characters always have really deep stories.  Kuroo puts a lot of time and effort into creating his characters and making sure that they have a meaningful backstory.

Has absolutely dressed up as his character for more than one session ive said it before and i will say it again HES A MASSIVE NERD

Speaking of characters. He has a binder just for character and spell sheets the sheets are laminated and he writes on them with expo markers so they can be reused

Kuroo has probably over 40 characters in that binder, but he tends to play the same 5 or 6 over and over because they’re his favorites

Evenings at the training camp when everyone’s done? Kuroo is teaching everyone to play.

He’s a dice diva.  So, he found one set that does really well for him, and REFUSES to use any other set.

Oikawa Tooru. Class: Bard

He’s another one that has played before.  Not as much as Kuroo, but he’s pretty familiar with the game.

High HIGH charisma for every character he plays, but especially this one.  

His character speaks and casts spells in haiku.  it is what it is

He’s SO fun to have in your party!  He’s also a really good role-player who gets super invested in his characters.

Part of why he’s so fun is because he knows how the game works so he’s not just doing random shit in an attempt to be funny.  He has a strategy and he sticks with it.

“I ROLL TO SEDUCE” just happens to be his strategy

Daichi asks for a charisma check and-

“ . . . one . . .” even with his +6 proficiency bonus, he couldn’t pull it off.

Once had a nat 20 plus his bonus though :) his character may or may not have slept with the bartender for information

Probably fights with Kuroo a lot about what the next move should be?

They’re forced to settle it through an intimidation roll

Sugawara Koushi. Class: Druid

He has no idea what he’s doing, but he catches on FAST

Sugawara plays chaotic neutral most of the time, which adds a fun mix seeing as Oikawa and Kuroo both tend to play Lawful or Neutral

When picking his cantrips and spells at the start of the game, he didn’t really think much about fighting, so he has a bunch of practical spells?

Like, he is genuinely the party’s only healer

and he uses that to his advantage fsfs

You want healed? Cool.  He’s asking you to roll a d100 to see how much you’re paying him.

His character is really under powered when it comes to fighting, but he has good wisdom and intelligence stats, so he’s really helpful to have around

Has one weapon and it’s a dagger.  So, he doesn’t do much damage.

But the others protect him anyway, because, again, he’s their healer.

Bokuto Koutarou. Class: Barbarian

He plays occasionally, but only when Kuroo asks

TANK TANK TANK TANK TANK TANK

He’s got the most hit points out of anyone, so he’s the first to charge into battle . . . and I mean ANY battle.  He could be up against a dragon and give ZERO shits. it’s not impossible. it’s just hard. 

Has crazy high strength but he’s lacking in most other stats.

He’s not super into the whole role-playing aspect? So he doesn’t have a backstory or anything for his character.  He doesn’t get into character like the others.  He just plays.

He still doesn’t completely understand what’s going on and how to play.

“Wait.  Which one do I role again?  The triangle or the diamond thing?”

But, our boys aren’t gate keepers, so they’re here to help him.  Kuroo has probably made him a cheat-sheet to tell him what he needs to roll and when.

Probably has those cursed spaghetti-o dice

Asahi Azumane. Class: Rogue

Okay.  At least, that was his PLAN

But, his stat rolls were really bad?  So, his character is pretty awful.  Like, I’m talking 12 is his highest stat.

Kenma was going to just let him re-roll his stats, but the others thought it would be really funny to have one under-powered character in the party.

But, surprisingly enough, he’s a really lucky roller? So, he’s not much of hindrance.

This is the first time he’s ever played and it’s only because Daichi and Sugawara pretty much scared him into it.

Like Bokuto, he doesn’t get into the role-play part of the game.  He just feels kind of awkward about it??

He’s a pretty laid-back player and usually stays quiet because he’s still figuring out the game.

SNACK MOM SNACK MOM SNACK MOM

Literally text him before the session and he will bring whatever you want.  Has definitely baked cookies and brownies for more than one session.

Yaku Morisuke. Class: Paladin

Plays chaotic-evil for SURE

He’s got a pretty well-rounded character, but wisdom is his strongest stat at 15.

He’s played with the Nekoma a few times? But it’s not a regular pastime of his

But, he was one of the ones who fell in love with it after their first session, so he’ll never say no to a new campaign if you ask.

Yaku makes his characters really tall?  Like, they’re usually 6′ at least.  You will never catch him playing a gnome or a dwarf. Ever.

He’s teamed up with Sugawara in the party so he never has to pay for healing.

BAD ROLLER.  It’s shocking when he manages to roll over 10.  Lots of critical failures.

Doesn’t have any of his own dice, so he’s probably borrowing Sugawara’s the entire time or Kuroo gives him one of his old sets.

Iwaizumi Hajime. Class: Fighter

Oh he’s GOOD GOOD

He may not play a lot, but when he does? Be ready for a good session, because he always comes with one of the best characters.

OVER-POWERED.  ALWAYS.

His character probably dual-wields hand axes.

Next to Bokuto, he’s got the highest number of hit points, but he’s less compulsive and picks his battles more carefully. 

Like Kuroo, he’s got one set of dice that he always uses.  He once delayed the start of the session because he brought the wrong set.

“Dude, I have an extra set just use mine.” “NO!”

He’s a pretty serious player.  He doesn’t role-play very well, but he helps keep the party on track.

Tendou Satori.  Class: Rogue

He’s pure CHAOS

Constantly getting the party off track and poor Daichi doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do in this situation, because he didn’t prepare properly.

“Tendou, please don’t-” “I said, I want to steal the boat and go to the island in the distance.”

He’s what Asahi wishes his rogue was like.

Tendou’s character isn’t over-powered or anything, he just knows how to play his proficiency bonuses to his advantage.  He’ll use stealth rather than deception to get what he wants

He’s pick-pocketing Sugawara’s druid so he can pay for his next healing.

The role-play is his favorite part, but usually because he just bases his characters around his personality so, there’s not much to change about himself.

He cheats. I promise you, he’s a cheater.  He has one of those dice rolling apps on his phone and will re-roll until he gets something good or he has a +3 modifier to all of his rolls. 

It takes a long time for anyone to catch on, but ooooooh when they do?  Tendou has lost any and all phone privileges for the rest of the game.  He has to borrow physical dice from Kuroo.

Ushijima Wakatoshi. 

He’s not playing.  He has no idea what this “Dee en Dee” thing is that everyone keeps talking about, but he’s not interested in finding out.  He may watch?  But, it’s pretty unlikely.

[yourplayersaidwhat]

This is why a DM can’t have nice plans

So background, in the newest campaign I’m in my character is a severely overpowered warlock since we started at level 5, and to the dm’s dismay also has really high charisma. So in our second session me and the paladin who also has really high charisma convinced a would be enemy to be our friend.

DM: ok so in the distance you notice a small caravan. It’s made of two wagons and you can only see three people.

Paladin: hey Warlock (me) you can set the caravan on fire and we can run over and act like we saved them right?

Me: yea I guess I could.

We go through with this plan and afterword we find out that the caravan was a wizard and druid who we were supposed fight.

DM: *sigh* fine you completely convince them that you saved them from the burning wagons, now when you go back to the starting town they will have opened a magic shop.

The next day we encountered a few bandits who were supposed to be quite difficult to fight

DM: you see two men on horses approaching you completely silent. They each cast a spell and the paladin passes out.

Me:I use my pact to speak in there heads “you dare attack us” and then make the wind pick up and fire randomly pop up in the surrounding forest.

DM: ok let me roll.... *another sigh* one of them literally craps himself in fear and runs the other way. *smug grin* but the other one continues on, make a dex saving throw.

Me: welp it’s a 15

DM:Yes!

Me: plus 5

He let out yet another sigh and proceeded to say how I grabbed the flask of acid the guy threw at me and threw it back, killing him in one hit. Finally that night we had another random encounter.

DM:as you prepare to take watch, several creatures you have never seen before leap out of a portal one hiting you for 40 damage

After a few minutes of my party struggling and almost dieing I finally managed to teleport us to our horses and we rode off somehow escaping

DM throwing his hands up: FINE I GIVE UP, you guys were supposed to die to those guys so you could be taken to the other dimension but no, thanks because now I gotta rethink the next five or six sessions.

And with that he begrudgingly gave us our exp and ended the session.

[utilitycaster]

i know you've mentioned this somewhere before but what classes/subclasses would you like to see the cr crew playing in the future?

I haven’t actually, other than that it’s really hard to figure out classes for Marisha and Taliesin because they’re both I would say the most versatile and interested in pushing things to the absolute limit.

Things I took into consideration here:

Player preferences. People are allowed to have preferences for certain classes or mechanics and I want to honor that.

Party management; I don’t think they reveal classes to each other unless they share a session zero and/or are married to each other but I do think Matt takes the class balance into consideration.

Laura: Wild Magic Sorcerer. I am sure about very few things, but this is one. I think Laura in particular would do a great job with a class that would allow her to be a battle caster and I would argue is one of the harder ones to RP long-term and make sympathetic - Ally Beardsley and Bryn Monroe have both managed this, Matt obviously ran a great recurring NPC in Gilmore, and Calianna is a delight but also a short term character. Like, you’re charming and you wake up with effortless magic powers - how do you make this person interesting and complex? Anyway Laura would knock that out of the part. I also want to see her lean into the chaos but also have a little less control over it than she does as Jester.

Liam: Cleric; any subclass but I am particularly intrigued by either being a cleric of Erathis (GIVE ME THE ERATHIS LORE I DON’T KNOW WHY I WANT THIS BUT I DO) or the forge subclass (dwarven cleric of Moradin? also an opportunity for many dwarven forge jokes). Liam tends towards clerics and fighters in his one-shot characters and I would love to see him explore the cleric class in more depth.

Travis and Ashley are difficult because I want to see them both play bards, but for different reasons and also two bards seems like a lot (it’s kind of great in Fantasy High Live and I know that’s the premise of Sirens of the Realm but: it is a lot). So I’m giving you my bard option and back up for both:

Travis really likes melee and I don’t want to take that from him, but I’d love to see him play a more traditional casting class, and he’s got a musical background and can clearly do a great job with high charisma characters, so College of Swords or Valor seems like an obvious win. For a backup - Matt has drastically rewritten the Blood Hunter. Travis seems to really want to be a fucking werewolf. Song of the Lorelei was amazing but too short and pre-revamp of Blood Hunter so let him have another crack at the class.

Ashley mentioned she’s interested in the bard class and is very musical. I should note that I do not want to see Yasha as a bard multiclass, even if it were more feasible, and I love bards, but I think people can get hung up on musical instrument = bard when that’s explicitly not the case! You can just love music without tapping into the music of creation and I love seeing characters who have hobbies that aren’t their primary thing and that don’t do anything mechanically, because it makes them seem more real! You don’t need to turn all your passions into spell slots, or whatever. That said, campaign 3, absolutely. Any subclass; I think lore is classic for a reason but glamour would be a lot of fun to see too. For backup I think a rogue would be cool, perhaps either the inquisitive or mastermind - one of the ones who does a lot of work through talking and investigation and analysis.

Sam: I want to see Sam have little or no magic (he has always played a character with some arcane abilities but I don’t think he’s terribly invested in having arcane abilities; I think it just shook out that way) and be a tank. Battlemaster Fighter would be interesting and my first choice since we’ve only had a fairly nontraditional fighter build in Percy, plus Sam can be pretty strategic and I’d love to have that show up as part of his character.

Marisha: my main thing here is that I want her to play a character with no fucking wisdom. I mean Beau makes a decent number of poor decisions but just: Marisha make wisdom your dump stat. It’s hard to find something just because she’s so versatile and Keyleth could kind of play every core role (tank/melee, ranged/caster, support). I kind of want to see her play a paladin actually, if only because we haven’t seen Marisha play a high-charisma character beyond her brief foray into bard as Hazel nor have we seen her use a sword much nor have we seen her play a character who’s super invested in the gods or faith - Keyleth was explicitly “they exist but nature is better”, and Beau is technically in service to Ioun but doesn’t like, visit temples or pray regularly. Also, while I think a journey into a paladin role a la Vax and Fjord makes a lot of sense I kind of want to see what Marisha would do with someone who was a paladin from the start, since I love how she approaches characterization and backstory. As for subclass; either devotion or ancients, depending on a few potential future things that I’m not going to say for fear of tempting fate.

Taliesin: I think we all want to see a horizon walker ranger at some point, because it’s just such a cool and weird class, and I think it’s worth giving Taliesin a class often seen as underpowered to see what he does with it, since he is probably the best at min-maxing (in that he does it at all, and also that he does it in fascinating ways. Caduceus is a very strategically built character, and also an amazing character who does not come off as strategically built until you dig into it, vs. some min-maxed characters who are very clearly an unstoppable but boring force). Also, I think he will really lean into the planar weirdness in a cool way, and also I can’t get enough of Taliesin playing a weirdo who lives in the woods, or a ranged fighter, so why not combine them and add some super weird magic?

Also I should note: for balance reasons I have not included any warlock or wizard classes here since I’m already including both a bard and a sorcerer. That said, I love the arcane casters a whole lot, and I would be thrilled if anyone played a warlock or wizard again next campaign.

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

(I hit some keys and things happened so idk if my last message sent. If it did, ignore it and go for this one!) So I'm going to be The Worst and ask you to imagine your Seven Cities characters as DnD classes/npcs now, because that was a great question and I am endlessly curious!

You are absolutely not The Worst, omg! In my experience, people ask questions that they have been trying to answer themselves, and this just gives them a chance to share. ;D So without further ado!

Alex: Arcane Trickster Rogue

The fact that the arcane trickster steals from a lot of the illusion playbook is really what serves here. Alex is tiny and quick and doesn’t strike until she’s got a good way to end it quickly; and having magic at her disposal, she would absolutely use it more to confound than in any display of power. Hell, her motto while stealing to survive was, “A good distraction is better than not being seen at all.” She’d love to have a few ways to make REALLY good distractions.

Tahir: Homebrew Oath of the Common Man Paladin/Champion Fighter

It literally pains me not to pick a Battlemaster fighter, but for all that Tahir is pretty good at martial arms, he doesn’t put a lot of stock in being maneuverable. I chose paladin over something like an eldritch knight for the same reason: Tahir’s convictions are often much stronger than his magical or martial attachments. This is a fighter who forwent some of his strength for a ridiculous charisma score, and paired alongside Alex, they talk their way out of a lot of things before it comes to blood.

(The rest under a cut!)

Davin: Artillerist Artificer 

I’m pretty sure whoever made this subclass reached into my brain, saw Davin and was like, “Yeah, alright.” In a world where tinkering with magic is a line of work you can actually get into, Davin would be on that as soon as he could be reliably left alone with tools and powder. Making things explode is what he’s good at in canon. Making things explode with magic literally all day is what he’d prefer to be good at. Plus, magic makes it so much easier to cheat at cards.

Finn: Gunslinger Fighter

Another no brainer. Finn isn’t the strongest dude around, but when you have reach and a sharp knife, you don’t have to be. He’s a tinker, he’s already fond of learning about and using weaponry, and firearms are his favorite of the bunch. Plus, the idea of his Action Surge being the result of him getting annoyed enough that he flies into a fit of furious action is really really good.

Adelina: College of Glamour Bard

If you thought Tahir and Alex were a combat-avoiding force to be reckoned with, just wait until Adelina shows up. A sky-high charisma score, coupled with her good looks and an even better head for whimsy, makes her a subtle ace in the hole. Her instrument of choice is her baroque guitar, though she’s been known to use heavier instruments in the off chance she needs a blunt weapon.

Jon: Wild Magic Sorcerer

I know, I expected a wizard too. For all that Jon is a bookworm though, he’s more interested in learning about society and culture and stories and myth than he is in learning math and magical equations. And wild magic has just the brand of chaos that he’s so infamous for. (And adds that particular element of being a little distanced from polite society) Plus, it’s a charisma caster, and the guy has more force of will than anything else in this world. He just channels it into being a super nerd.

Myrine: Storm Sorcerer

Myrine isn’t an adventurer or a fighter by any means, but she’s just stubborn enough to make a scene if something breaks bad around her. Storm sorcery not only lines up with her in canon abilities REALLY well, it comes with the added bonus of being another charisma caster, because Myrine is also strong-willed beyond good sense. 

Iggy: Circle of the Land (Coast?) Druid

I’m passing some of the buck onto @urdnotgrunt for this, who will no doubt have much better insight into their own character. BUT if I’m just talking out of my ass here, I feel like Iggy’s passion for exploring new places and equally high passion for the living things in those new places puts her squarely in a druid box. I’m less set on her subclass, but I feel like circle of the land puts her in touch with, you know, the LAND, which works well since she’s a cartographer. BUT given druids are Gabby’s passion, they might have a subclass that works all the better, haha.

Thank you for asking!!

[breadoffoxy]

BTS and their D&D Classes

Jin - Bard 

• Mr. World Wide Handsome!! A face that could seduce anyone. • Technically all the members would be bards since they are performers but I feel Jin is the bardiest of them all. • He’s supportive to all the members and sticks up for them despite the consequences/their uncertainties. • CHAOTIC • I think he would use bardic inspiration on himself haha. • Jin does what he wants when he wants ok. • Who better to cast Vicious Mockery than him? He can be completely savage. • Has the voice of an angel. • He has the self-drive to learn how to play any instrument. • You think you’d have Jin figured out in a fight but then he pulls out Magical Secrets and goes surprise bitch. • Would be a Bard of the College of Lore. • He gets to use cutting words and more magical secrets. • He would get his knowledge from everything, wouldn’t matter if it’s a peasant or a scholarly tome. • His loyalties lie in the pursuit of beauty, truth, his friends, and whatever the hell he wants. • Nobles, deities, organizations can’t control him. • Honest over being political.

Yoongi - Warlock

• Immediate gut reaction is that he is a warlock. It just seems to fit him so well. • Not all things they bind to have to be fiendish but I feel like Yoongis would be just a little bit. • He would think of the darkness as another part of himself but be able to control it and turn it into light. Or if you want to go kingdom hearts style he’d be twilight. • Warklocks have a deep thirst for knowledge and power. He’s a genius who can’t be stopped. • If he had a familiar it would take the form of Holly haha. • Ok more thematic I’d say a raven or cat. • I think Voice of the Chain Master is something he’d use a bit with his familiars. • And use One with Shadows to stay hidden. • You can’t find him unless he wants you to. • As all warlocks do its never-ending eldritch blast. • Once he decides to use up an actual spell slot watch out your done for. • Would learn the spell fly so he wouldn’t have to walk, but he wouldn’t go up very high. • Warlocks are also charisma based. • This man has a way with words.

Hoseok - Rouge • The most dashing of Rouges. • He’s really nimble and light on his feet. • He could be really sneaky sneaky. • He likes to make noises while chasing down his prey to taunt them though. • In nonserious/nonlethal situations would make up his own theme songs. • Knives everywhere! • Just imagine him with his serious gaze when he performs (tear dior yeah) • Now imagine it when he is going in for the kill. • He can still be sweet sunshine when not on a job. • Hobi would have a lot of fun with Thieves’ Cant. • He’s quick and fluid so cunning action would be no problem. • No one would be able to ever hit him. • If they do then Uncanny dodge! • Reliable Talent, he’s a master at what he does. • I love the idea of Assassin Hoseok but I think Swashbuckler fits him better. • Fancy Footwork and Elegant Maneuver. • Plus, Charisma skills. • He is the mood maker come on.

Namjoon - Wizard • Scholarly magic user, enough said. • His intelligence is beyond compare. • Just imagine all of the magical accidents. • Magical God of Destruction! • Would choose the best spells for each situation. • Just make sure he doesn’t loose his spell book please. • People would make him learn the fun utility spells just because they worry about him. • Prestidigitation would be his life saver. • If he makes a mess, he can magically clean it up. • It can magically cook for him too so he doesn’t have to step into the kitchen. • The spell also makes faint musical notes so he would be the most musical wizard there is. • He wouldn’t stick to one school in magic and dabble in everything. • I think he would be most proficient in the new school of Onomancy. • It’s the study into language and the magical significances that weave through names. • He can make his spells stronger if he knows his target’s true name. • Good for both attacking and supportive spells. • I think its also neat with the use of his stage name RM. • How it transformed from Rap Monster to Real Me.

Jimin - Monk • Have you seen this man move!? • Look at all of his amazing gravity defying moves. • Plus, he has a martial arts background. • Monk is perfect for him. • He really trains for mastery and is a perfectionist so he would always strive to have a flawless form. • Who needs armor anyways if you can’t even hit him. • I would say he would study the Way of the Drunken Master but that doesn’t seem to match his elegance. • He does drink a lot though haha. Straight down the hatch! • I think Way of the Kensei fits him the best though. • That way he can be the strongest swordsman! • Just imagine the fluidity of his movements with a sword. • It would be like sword dancing! • It also includes instruction into calligraphy, he’s so talented at that too.

Taehyung – Ranger • Ok so at first I had this idea for Tae that he would be a warrior to protect the wilderness and magical creatures. • If it’s not doing no harm then there’s no need to kill it. • He’d often fight humans and other races to protect creatures others see as monsters. • I can see him being raised in a druid circle actually. • But then I read about the new Fey Wanderer Archetype. • And I’m like that’s it! • He guards the border between the Feywild and the Material Plane while acting as a negotiator between the worlds. • Him having fey magic just seems perfect. • And he’s so beautiful and amazing how come he is not a fey himself yeah. • And your supposed to just pick one Feywild gift but all of them fit him so perfectly. I’m pasting them all from this source https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/ranger o Illusory butterflies flutter around you while you take a short or long rest. o Fresh, seasonal flowers sprout from your hair each dawn. o You faintly smell of cinnamon, lavender, nutmeg, or another comforting herb or spice. o Your shadow dances while no one is looking directly at it. o Delicate horns or antlers sprout from your head. o Your skin and hair change color to match the season at each dawn. • I want Feywild Tae so bad!!! • Fey are mischievous and there are so many dynamics of light and dark with them. • Tae will do his best to protect both worlds.

Jungkook – Sorcerer • I wanted to give Jungkook a more tankier role like Paladin. • Because he’s a beefy bunny. • Proficient in so many things and can help his friends while attacking. • But I can’t get rid of the On music video vibes and Jungkook’s theories on it. • So, I just have to give him the sorcerer role. • And he can turn into a fucking dragon. • How cool is that! • He’s a descendant of an ancient dragon bloodline and gets tapped with raw magic. • Gold Dragons! The strongest and most majestic of dragons. • They be good dragons too! • And Fire! • His arcane focus would be that conch shell. • He would learn Quickened Spell so he can dish out some serious damage in one turn. • Along with Careful Spell so he can protect his friends if they accidentally are in the crossfire for his spells.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #157

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making Emiya Alter! No, not that one, the one they gave a really dumb nickname to.

Anyway, Demiya is a Vengeance Paladin to take down anyone who would threaten humanity (and protect himself from mind control nonsense) as well as a Hexblade Warlock to project whatever blades he might need straight into enemies. I know he made the deal with Alaya, but it made him good with swords, so it’s probably fine.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Man’s worst nightmare

Race and Background

Despite your arguments to the contrary, you’re still a Human, giving you +1 Strength and +1 Dexterity. You also get proficiency in Insight to be a better investigator, and the Fighting Initiate feat, because paladins don’t get the Archery fighting style normally. This gives you +2 on ranged weapon attacks.

What was it that turned you to the path of Alterness? Whatever it was, it made you a Haunted One, giving you proficiency with Investigation and Arcana, as well as a healthy hatred for anything Kiara-based.

Ability Scores

You’re good with guns and small swords, plus you fight shirtless, so make sure your Dexterity is as high as possible. Second is going to be Charisma. You’re a pretty scary guy, we need it for multiclassing,and it’ll help you shoot good later. Your Wisdom is also pretty good, thanks to your built-in mental protection. You’re too affected by your Alterfication to get affected by anything else. Your Strength isn’t that bad, you do use melee weapons too at times and we also need it for multiclassing, but your Constitution is rather low. Kintsugi is very pretty, but it’s not a great way to build a person. Finally, we’re dumping Intelligence. It’s less that you’re dumb, more that you just absolutely don’t care about stuff enough to get scholarly on most subjects.

Class Levels

1. Paladin 1: Paladins get better hit dice and the martial weapons we need for that Fighting Initiate we got, so we’re kinda stuck starting there. First level paladins get proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as two paladin skills. Intimidation is pretty self-explanatory, but you also get Athletics. Look, you’ve got pretty good abs, they had to come from somewhere.

You also get a Divine Sense, letting you sense threats to humanity nearby, and Lay on Hands for a bit of free healthcare for you or whoever else you touch. You get 5 hp of healing per paladin level per long rest, and you can use 5 points from that amount to heal a poison or disease.

Yeah, first level isn’t particularly in-character, but it’ll get better later.

2. Paladin 2: Second level paladins get another Fighting Style, so grab Close Quarters Shooter from the underdark UA for sick melee ranged attacks. This negates the disadvantage caused by making a ranged attack near hostiles, your ranged attacks ignore all but full cover, and you get another +1 to ranged attack rolls.

You also learn how to cast an prepare Spells using your Charisma. You can either use your new spell slots for, y’know, spells, or for a Divine Smite to add on extra radiant damage to a melee attack. Ranged attacks in melee range don’t count, sadly.

As far as prepared spells go, Detect Evil and Good can help hunt down baddies, ditto with Protection from Evil and Good. 

3. Paladin 3: At third level, you can at long last devote yourself to Vengeance!, giving you the spells Bane to trip up foes and Hunter’s Mark to stick some serious damage onto your enemies over time. You also get Channel Divinity once per short rest that you can use in two ways.

Abjure Enemy spends an action to force a wisdom save (DC 8+charisma mod+proficiency) or one creature is frightened for up to a minute or until it takes damage. While frightened, it can’t move. On a success, the creature’s speed is halved for a minute or until it takes damage.

Alternatively, you can swear a Vow of Enmity as a bonus action, giving you advantage on attacks against a nearby creature for a minute or until it hits 0 hp.

You also get Divine Health, making you immune to disease. Like half your body is gold, it’s not like sniffles are a big concern at this point.

4. Paladin 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Crossbow Expert feat. There’s a lot of overlap with Close Range Shooter, but you can now attack multiple times per turn with a crossbow, and you can use your bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow if you attack with a one-handed weapon with your main action. Unfortunately, that’s the one kind of crossbow that won’t work with warlocks, but for now it’s fine.

5. Paladin 5: Fifth level paladins get an Extra Attack, letting you attack twice per turn anyway! Making great use of feat you just got.

You also learn second level spells! Your freebies are Hold Person and Misty Step. Admittedly neither are really in character for you, but if you want to power game Hold Person gives you guaranteed critical hits on the held person, which is super busted when combined with your smites. Food for thought.

Otherwise you can use Magic Weapon and other smites to make normal swords into fancy magic swords.

6. Warlock 1: Bouncing over to warlock for a bit puts you in a pact with an even fancier magic weapon: a Hexblade. You might not have a soul any more, but you do have a Hexblade’s Curse, which you can put on one unlucky bastard as a bonus action once per short rest. The target’s cursed for 1 minute, during which: You add your proficiency to damage against the target, crit on 19s, and you gain HP equal to your warlock level+your charisma modifier when they die.

You also become a Hex Warrior, turning one non-two handed weapon into a charisma based weapon instead of dexterity or strength. You can also use this on any kind of weapon made with your pact weapon feature later.

Finally, you get Pact Magic, which is pretty similar to your old magic except it recharges on short rests instead of long ones. While the spell slots don’t blend like other multiclassing builds, you can use warlock slots to cast paladin spells and vice versa.

Speaking of warlock spells, you get Eldritch Blast to summon gunfire and Sword Burst to summon swords right into people. You also get Cause Fear because that’s most people’s natural reaction to you and Expeditious Retreat to stay in archery range. Just because you can fight in melee range doesn’t mean you should.

7. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations. Like usual, we’re saving one for level three, but you still get Armor of Shadows now for free Mage Armor on yourself. Now you can finally rip your shirt off and make Kintoki jealous!

You also learn Comprehend Languages. Alaya probably wouldn’t drop you off in someplace without giving you the language to get around, right? Right?

8. Warlock 3: Your pact boon, as you can probably guess, is the Pact of the Blade, letting you summon pretty much any melee weapon you could want as an action. It also counts as magic for overcoming resistance, making the Magic Weapon thing from earlier pointless.

That invocation we were saving becomes Improved Pact Weapon, which expands your pact weapon choices to pretty much any ranged weapon you could want and it gives any weapon you make +1 to attacks and damage.

Honestly there aren’t that many second level spells that I think really fit Emiya as a warlock, but Blur is nice. If you’re going to be nameless, you might as well be faceless too, I guess.

9. Paladin 6: Going back to paladin for a bit lets you create an Aura of Protection, adding your charisma modifier to any save you or allies within 10′ of you make. It’s not an enormous buff, but a +2 is a +2, take what you get.

10. Paladin 7: Seventh level vengeance paladins are Relentless Avengers. When you hit a creature with an attack of opportunity, you can move half your speed as part of the reaction an ignore opportunity attacks. Like a lot of paladin goodies, this doesn’t pair well with your guns, but you do have swords as well.

11. Paladin 8: Another ASI at last! Bump up your Charisma for better saves and spells.

12. Warlock 4: Use this ASI to become Tough for an extra 24 HP now and another 2 each level. If you want to get in close, you’d better be able to take a hit. Also, you’re part gold. Sure it’s a soft metal, but it’s still a metal. That’s worth a few HP.

You also learn True Strike because I’m really hoping you’re aiming those things, and Shadow Blade for yet another sword you can summon.

13. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get another invocation and a third level spell. Spirit Shroud makes all your swords a little bit sharper, dealing extra damage to and slowing down creatures in a 10′ radius. You also get Eldritch Smite, which burns through warlock slots to deal extra force damage, and can be used with ranged weapons.

14. Paladin 9: Ninth level paladins also get third level spells, like Haste which adds to your AC, bumps up your speed, and gives you and extra action for the duration. When the spell ends you have to take a turn to chill, but it’s totally worth it. You also get Protection from Energy, which... I mean if someone’s throwing around acid arrows, yeah go for it. Otherwise you can get more smites and Elemental Weapon for more fancy weapons.

15. Paladin 10: Tenth level paladins get an Aura of Courage, preventing allies in it from being frightened. I’d be more worried about charms, but honestly your wisdom save is pretty good at this point.

16. Paladin 11: Your Improved Divine Smite means you can add radiant damage to melee attacks even when you have no spell slots to burn; unfortunately that’s still just melee attacks, not ranged attacks.

17. Paladin 12: At seventeenth level you can finally use this ASI to bump your Charisma up past the point where your dexterity started, meaning your attaks finally get a bit more accurate thanks to being a Hex Warrior. This also bumps up your spell effectiveness and all your saves.

18. Paladin 13: Thirteenth level paladins get fourth level spells, like Banishment and Dimension Door. You also get access to yet another new smite for yet another new sword.

19. Paladin 14: Your last mainline paladin goodie is a Cleansing Touch, spending an action to end a spell affecting yourself or a willing creature charisma mod times per long rest. You’d think this anti-Kiara protection is coming late, but to be honest you probably should be level 20 to take on a Beast of Humanity.

20. Paladin 15: Your capstone level makes you a Soul of Vengeance, letting you make opportunity attacks on a creature affected by your Vow of Enmity if they try to attack anyone. Again, this only affects melee attacks.

Pros:

Mixing your Hexblade’s Curse and Vow of Enmity together means you’re really good at dealing crits with basically four times the odds of critical attacks each attack compared to your regular fighter. This is especially good for a character that can double smite like you can, dealing serious burst damage easily.

You also deal consistent damage with a +14 to hit and several different ways to stick more damage onto your attacks, like the afforementioned curse, Hunter’s Mark, or Spirit Shroud.

Thanks to your warlock slots recharging on short rests, you can go ham on smites a bit more than most people could, making your Unlimited Lost Works available to you more than other paladins.

Cons:

You’re a paladin specializing in ranged attacks. Admittedly the only things really making you a ranged fighter are your fighting styles, which can easily be changed, but if you’re playing to character you’ll find it a bit harder to use your paladin features.

Another reason staying at range is a good idea is your Concentration saves are really bad, with a total of +0 and no way to improve them.

Starting as a paladin but then adding in hexblade later means you have something of an awkward beginning, with your first couple ASIs not really contributing much to your character, with those first few mostly making up for your weaknesses rather than playing to your strengths.

[tarakaybee]

Another Oxventure Post

Since the Oxbox gang apparently have chicken scratch handwriting and have trouble reading the things on their character sheets, I thought I’d blatantly call them out and go on D&DBeyond and whip up what their stats are most likely to be, based on me randomly making a spreadsheet of all the times that they called their stats, and making guesses at which numbers were correct.

First there’s Corazon, his background is likely Pirate, which means he has proficiency with Athletics and Perception, his starting Rogue proficiencies appear to be Stealth, Sleight of hand, Investigation and Persuasion, with his expertises being Stealth, Sleight of hand, Perception and Investigation, also proficiency with helming water vehicles and navigating which I guess was pretty obvious. In addition, Corazon’s passive Investigation being so high at this stage means that it’s impossible for him to be fooled by most illusions.

As a human he can have started with an extra language, and his spells from his dual-archetype thing are Mage Hand, Dancing Lights, Minor Illusion, Grease, Feather Fall, Comprehend Languages and Disguise Self. Plus, his sneak attack bonus is currently 4D6 (That one time he said “Lets see what cool race bonuses humans have...never mind.” I assume that was a joke because humans have +1 to every stat and variant humans have Feats at LV 1).

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After of all we have Dob, I know Luke said that Dob has 21 DEX and 20 CHA but D&D Beyond won’t allow me to type higher than the starting cap of 18. The fact that he appears to be proficient in Disguise Kits, Acrobatics and Performance leads me to believe that he took the Entertainer background, and with his starting class being Bard, he has at least three other skill Proficiencies, three other instrument proficiencies and one Expertise unaccounted for. His spell save DC ought to be 15 and his spell attack should be +4.

His spells include Mending, Message, Prestidigitation, Cure Wounds, Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Thunderwave, Calm Emotions, Crown of Madness, Heat Metal, Major Image, Speak With Dead and Greater Invisibility.

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Next up we have Egbert, his stats are mildly more reasonable. Being a Paladin with a decent CHA score, Egbert has amazing saving throws at all times owing to his Aura of Protection, so despite his negative Wisdom he actually has a higher WIS save than anybody except Merilwen. Similarly he has his other Aura which gives him resistances to all spell damage. His background is most likely Acolyte, which would give him proficiency with Insight and Religion, in addition to two languages on top of his Common and Draconic, he also ought to have two starting proficiencies which we’ll sadly never know about. In this screenshow below he has a Morningstar, because I definitely recall him rolling a d8 and dealing piercing damage, plus it’s definitely a morningstar in the artwork.

The spells that Egbert knows include Bless, Command, Cure Wounds, Ensnaring Strike, Speak with Animals, Find Steed, Locate Object, Misty Step Moonbeam and Silent Image. Johnny let him choose Silent Image for the heck of it, and Mike for some reason chose the Paladin subclass that gives you Druid spells rather than the one called ‘Oath of Atonement’ which gives you buffs to none-violent solutions.

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Prudence is next, I presume she has the Acolyte background again, so she also has proficiency in Insight and Religion and two additional languges, her starting Warlock proficiencies were Arcana and Intimidation, which were both specifically mentioned in the first few stories. She’s also the only party member to have a maxed out stat with the normal rules, since Tieflings have a +2 bonus to charisma.

Her spells include Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast, Charm Person, Spider Climb, Clairvoyance, Hunger of Hadar, Summon Greater Demon, in addition to three other first level spells that she has never had cause to use. With her Eldritch Invocations she also has Comprehend Languages, Message, Vicious Mockery, Bestow Curse, Detect Magic, one additional Cantrip from Pact of the Tome, and two additional rituals spells from Book of Ancient Secrets.

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Merilwen is a Wood-Elf so she automatically has proficiency in Perception, as well as a ton of martial weapons. Her background is likely to be Outlander, which means she has proficiency in Athletics and Survival, it also allows an extra language and an instrument proficiency for some reason, her starting Druid proficiencies haven’t been explicitly stated as far as I remember. Also a Herbalism Kit proficiency, Tool Proficiencies are unbelievably useful but they had to hide the interesting rules at the bottom of Xanathar’s Guide, but basically it can do things such as neutralise wounds without spellcasting and identify any plant by smelling it.

Her spells include Druidcraft, Poison Spray, Thorn Whip, Animal Friendship, Create or Destroy Water, Entangle, Speak with Animals, Beast Sense, Moonbeam, Spike Growth, Speak with Plants, Water Breathing, Wind Wall and Stone shape. She woudln’t have had the option to take the Wood-Elf  Magic feat at level six like Ellen says she did, but those spells were Produce Flame, Longstrider and Pass Without Trace.

[cantfoolajoker]

s.e.e.s. as dnd classes

after my last post on the thieves, i have now returned to talk more about using dnd classes and subclasses as character study opportunities with the focus now being on sees (plus hamuko bc she counts)

since the post is lengthy, its going under the read more

so, for starters, minato/makoto is a shadow magic sorcerer. sorcerers are based on the idea that rather than learned arcana or given magic, you inherently have it inside you and can produce said affects with your sheer force of will, or your charisma. shadow magic sorcerers are linked specifically to the shadowfell, which is the negative energy to the feywilds positive energy, and sorcerers uniquely display quirks depending on their lineage; two i’d propose for minato/makoto would be “when you asleep, you don’t appear to breathe (but you still do to survive)” and “always cold to the touch”, since they seem the most fitting in my opinion for him. they get things such as strength of the grave, which says that on a successful saving throw on an otherwise fatal hit, you’ll drop to just 1 hp due to your constant state of being between life and death, and you also get the umbral form at 18th level, which allows you to change your form to a shadowy state that is resistant to all damage except for force and radiant that also allows you to move through other objects or creatures (man does that remind you of a certain battle a bit). 

in comparison, minako/hamuko is a totem barbarian in my full honest opinion. the reason i say this is because one of her defining traits is her hot headedness and impulsiveness to jump into situations, making her a prime candidate for barbarian due to their rage state and ability to tank hits. they get martial weapons, allowing her to pick up some weapon similar enough to a naginata, and the main aspect of the class is the ability to pick a totem spirit, which provides buffs depending on which animal you pick for your totem. personally, i throw my vote in for the wolf totem because it functions as a leader with the ability to land advantage melee hits on any creature hostile to you, the ability to track certain enemies and move at a stealthier natural pace, and the ability to just knock a large or smaller enemy prone when you hit them with a melee attack, all of which benefits minako/hamuko very nicely and lines up with her fighting style in both p3p and pq2.

alright so i know yukari uses a bow and arrows, and i know ranger exists, but also rangers are kinda bad in dnd overall and also yukari isn’t really a scout in any way. luckily dnd has an answer to this in the form of arcane archer fighter. arcane archers fuse magic into their archery methods in order to protect and deliver damage, mixing both yukari’s magic usage with her weapon of choice. they get the ability to literally redirect their arrows once shot to new targets and second wind, which lets them regain hp as a bonus action once per short or long rest. arcane archers essentially get an arrow type for like every school of magic, which makes up for the fact this would mean yukari has lost most of her healing spells since arcane archer fighters focus on dps more than they do support, though its not like ranger wouldve made up for that anyway.

so since junpei wants to be the leader so badly, i decided a champion fighter was gonna be the best bet for him, both because in a meta sense it is usually the First Pick newcomers do due to its simplicity of hit and hit more, but also because the class focuses on dps and raw physical power pushed to perfection, which junpei does end up getting when he learns to use a bat rather than a sword with the way he swings. this class and subclass is super straightforward: you get More damage to do the more you try to hit, and you get a higher chance of critical hits along with a more flexible fighting style and the ability to regain hit points with the survivor feat. they also get remarkable athlete, which lets them use half their proficiency bonus for any checks made while using one of their physical stats (so strength, dexterity, and constitution, all of which junpei def has) to have a greater chance at passing said checks.

akihiko's a monk. i literally don’t know what anyone expected. he’s a way of the open hand monk. open hand monks generally focus on debuffing enemies, which is akihiko’s staple in the party next to his all around good stats, which monks possess too in form of natural armor, increased movement speed, and having a hit die for throwing punches rather than dishing out 1 point of damage per hit, which increases as they get stronger. they can also heal themselves which akihiko has with his dia and diarama spells, but that isn’t the focus of it as much as it’s just a neat add on. overall, the guy’s a boxer and needs to dish out punches and monk does literally exactly that.

so i made a joke with a friend about how mitsuru keeps using marin karin because the ai of p3 is bad, and that led into the idea that mitsuru is a college of swords bard. while bards can be very stereotypically flirty, it’s just based on the fact their casting stat is charisma, so really any charismatic character can be a bard, which mitsuru does have with her formal way of speaking and her way of holding herself to establish authority. swords bard use, if you couldn’t guess, swords to fight, typically finesse weapons that they use dex for to fight, which with mitsuru’s weapon being a rapier, an actual finesse weapon in dnd, it’s an elegant weapon pick for an elegant class. they also get jack of all trades so they’re good at pretty much everything, which reflects the sort of type of person mitsuru reflects herself to be, and as a big joke, they get countercharm which allows them to perform and their allies get advantage when someone attempts to charm them. yeah. anyway mitsuru’s a bard. next.

for fuuka, i took more inspiration from her persona and how it encloses around her while she does her work to come up with an abjuration wizard. the school of abjuration specializes in protection and banishment spells, with outsiders believing it to be a specialization in denial and negation but truly being about ending harm and protecting the weak, which represent fuuka’s character and her bullying arc well. this class is mostly just what it says on the tin; they specialize in closing portals and rifts to other worlds, performing exorcisms, and securing locations that are too important to allowed equally magical wandering eyes and ears from engaging with. it’s also a high intelligence based class, which fits fuuka well. since she’s also a wizard, which gets virtually no hp and also no armor, so she needs to be protected, which everyone should want to protect her lmao.

aigis, for one, is a warforged in terms of races in dnd since they’re the robot race that only act on the goal they are given, But that’s just a side point to the main point of classes, which way of the kensei monk is definitely her. kensei monks train so extensively with their weapons that they become an extension of themselves, with aigis’s without a doubt being firearms due to her robotic nature already making them a literal extension of herself. they’re speedy and precise, both of which fit aigis and her programming to be the best combat unit, as kensei focus almost exclusively on dps output and the ability to just deal as much damage in one hit. unerring accuracy is also a feat kensei monks get, which allows them to reroll any attack they miss and again, really hones in on the combat robot thing aigis has going on.

now i know some of you probably went ‘are they gonna class assign koromaru’ and let me tell you i’m not going to cause 1 you wouldn’t be able to play him anyway in the theoretical sense, but also he’s usually seen as a companion to either ken or shinjiro, so he fits more as a companion animal that you see some classes get like rangers or druids. usually these animals survive as long as their owners lifespan and get extra health and sometimes magic so koromaru is a-okay in fighting still.

now for someone who i’m very excited to talk about: ken. being hellbent on revenge is actually a class in dnd! it’s called the vengeance paladin, which is a paladin whose oath revolves around singlehandedly bringing “evildoers” to justice, though what this justice is would be defined by the individual paladin’s definition of morality and their own vendetta. even in their basic description, oath of vengeance defines anyone who takes it as someone who sees their purity not being as important as the concept of delivering justice where justice is due, which fits not only ken’s theme as the justice arcana, but overall his entire relationship with shinjiro (which. oh boy paladin shinjiro and paladin ken parallels?). paladins get martial weapons which means ken gets his lance he uses, and on their spell list they get hunter’s mark, letting them mark targets to deal more damage. one another thing i want to bring attention to is their 7th level class feature, relentless avenger, which essentially makes it so any enemy that provokes an attack of opportunity can’t truly escape because the vengeance paladin can immediately take half their movement speed to follow after said enemy as apart of their reaction, which i think pretty easily describes the october 4th scene if you know what i mean.

and finally i’m saving the best for last cause i wanna talk about shinjiro. picture this: shinjiro’s a big tanky knight meant to service the people and protect them but a stray spell one day kills an innocent woman and suddenly he’s failed the one thing he swore his life to. giving up his oath, shinjiro turns into an oathbreaker paladin, a paladin who in someway shape or form has broken their sacred oath and now walks a darker path. now oathbreakers, while being stereotypically written as “evil”, don’t have to be evil themselves; being an oathbreaker pretty much is what it says on the tin, with them having failed to fulfill their oath’s rules in some way shape or form. breaking his own moral code and also abandoning his affiliation with sees pretty much solidifies shinjiro as an oathbreaker with him not necessarily being a bad person cause we all know he’s not. oathbreakers get things such as channel divinity: dreadful aspect, which lets them channel their anger into an intense magical intimidation, and paladins themselves are the only class to get the find steed spell, which fits castor’s horse riding-ness. they also get martial weapons and heavy armor, making shinjiro a big tank with an even bigger axe just like he likes to be. as a bonus thing, shinjiro Definitely has the tavern brawler feat (which gives unarmed strikes a hit die rather than a flat 1 damage) so he can wrestle with akihiko

BONUS: chidori’s a life cleric. her entire fountain of life or whatever the thing her persona does right next to her white gothic lolita aesthetic fit her as a life cleric. Or she could be a grave cleric with an atypical aesthetic, but then again, theres been pastel goth grave clerics before too.

BONUS x2: my friend and i had 2 ideas for ryoji while throwing ideas for this whole list around: death cleric, which is yknow, pretty straight forward..... OR deathlock great old one. deathlocks are specifically enemy warlocks that have been brought back from the dead by their patron because they believe that the warlocks job hasnt been done yet, and well, nyx i think counts as a great old one patron.

[dat-g-man]

Voltron au with drag queens and Shance! Inspired by Rupaul’s Drag Race Part 2

Got him a lot of momentum, and creating content for those marginalized groups like a weekly youtube channel with skits written and produced by them. Later on there is a reality tv show opportunity when the queen of queens requests lance to help screen those that will be competing in a drag competition (like Ru Paul's drag race but in this fake universe) and should he know anyone to send them the link to the application as they will remain open for a while giving them enough time to iron out the contract details and negotiate a guest appearance as Ms. Blue is another great icon. Lance agrees and emails some of the queens he has kept contact with but Keith is the only one he calls.

Keith is in the bathroom but knows its lance as he is the only one who has that ringtone. He makes Shiro answer but did not realize the events that would set in motion. Lance is surprised but remains his flirty self and tells the smoldering voice to let Keith know to call him back as soon as he is available.Shiro is blushy but stutters out that Keith is finishing something in the kitchen but will be with him momentarily. He is just answering on Keith's orders so that he wouldn't miss lance. Lance is like how sweet of him to leave me in such great company making Shiro blush but then Kieth is out of the can so Shiro tells him bye and nice meeting you over the phone as he passes it back to Keith. Keith is kind of catching his breath as he rushed it and lance is teasing him about the mysterious melty voice but then checks himself as he has a great opportunity for Keith. 

Keith is amazed and somewhat unsure but Lance tells him do it bitch. I have seen you grow so much and before you say that's because of me, it is not. Our drags may include technology but yours is all you. Since you made yourself a profile you have exploded and this is the next level. I signed a nondisclosure agreement, but I can tell you I will be a very small part of the show. The worst that can happen is they reject you, but I am positive you will make it to the end if not win it. I sent emails to some other queens, but I called you because I am a big fan and want to see you slay on national television. Keith is touched and agrees to send in an application. Time passes and receives notice that he is one of 10 selected to compete and that they look forward to meeting with him regarding the terms and conditions.

His hotel and travel will be covered and he is allowed to bring 2 guests. He is glad and picks Shiro and Pidge. The whole process is like a lunch orientation vacation. They gave them extra days so they can explore the area before and after the paperwork time. Because they do not have the queens finalized, they are not scheduling them together but individually. Lance is a part of this process and bumps into Shiro while out and about. More like Shiro steps in as the cashier of the juice bar was being a butt to Lance. He was going to step in either way but the fact that its Lance makes him angry. 

After Keith started drag Shiro started doing some research. He found the one who inspired Keith and was enthralled. He became a follower but never went to meet and greets. He occasionally joined as Keith's plus one for competitions but usually it was Pidge who went with him. He was also unlucky because in one of those competitions Pidge met Lance and his main tech support Hunk and they had a blast and shared contact info. Shiro took that as a cosmic sign that Lance was too good for him and left it at that but The Call reminded him of the charisma Lance always has and he fell for him again. 

He is a lawyer so he is all about them fancy words. His fists are just back up according to Keith. So he puts a hand on Lances shoulder and asks if he can step in. Lance is dazed by his beauty and lets him. Shiro tears into the dude in a way that emphasizes how much of an asshole he is and that he will make sure to contact the franchise to see if he is representative of their view on Queens because that is what Lance is. They will be taking their clientele elsewhere and he offers Lance his arm before walking out with him. Some person recorded and posted it making it go viral with many being outraged at the employee for treating a potential customer that way but the fact that its their lovely queen made them out for blood. 

Others are like get that momma Blue, what a man, wishing somebody can make me feel like a queen, meant take a lesson from a true gentleman, if you don't want him can i keep him, etc. And the juice franchise company speaking out because this got A LOT of attention and that ex employee/manager reflected real bad on them. But back to Lance and Shiro, Lance thanks Shiro because he was very close to doing something his friend Red (Keith) would do but thanks to his new hero, he remained the classy lady he is.

Shiro is positively charmed and let him know he is welcome. The two introduce themselves with Lance teasing Shiro like, Shiro the Hero, were you named after your occupation my good sir. Shiro is blushing again. But tells him nothing like that. He is just always ready to fight against inequality and that his brother is always inspiring him. Lance eyes twinkle and he asks about the identity of said brother and Shiro tells him about Keith and recognizing him as his brothers charming friend. Lance is like I knew it was you! I recognized that voice the moment you stepped in. Shiro is like wait you remembered my voice? 

Now lance is the blushy one and confessing that he has a really nice voice that could read audio books or have its own podcast/radio show. Shiro is pleased and asks if it's not too forward of him, to share contact info and get to know each other better as he is simply charmed by Lance and always wanted to meet his brothers other greatest support. Lance is floored and agrees. Shiro is not only charming and a hunk, but he was respectful and broadcasted his intentions. 

Shiro also lets him know if I am reading this wrong I apologize as I did not want to make you uncomfortable. He was also serious about the lawsuit because that manager was an asshole and needs a lesson before he continues to share his hateful rhetoric. So the sparks fly and practically have a date. Lance pays for as he wants to thank his hero with Shiro paying for dessert as he wanted to sweeten their meeting. They lament meeting before the official meetings as they will have to be professionals but will meet up after everything has been wrapped up with Keith.

The meetings end up taking longer as Shiro got into lawyer mode with Pidge and Keith being like we need these materials to be available as supplies and any other requests. They were unable to get all their demands, but most of the supplies provided by the studio would do. Two companies are pending as the studio reached out to them and are negotiating sponsorship, but seeing as one of them already sponsors Keith and Lance, they are hopeful. Shiro was also able to negotiate a higher wage/payout (idk), as Keith would be missing 1-4 competitions to appear on the show. The grand prize is not guaranteed but with his reputation of consistently being 1st place he would be losing guaranteed money. 

As such, they should try and meet that. The studio is hard presses to find an argument but concede as they were told by The Queen that Keith is one of the high priority candidates and that provided the nda is signed, they can add anything in the contract with the exclusion of being able to cheat or having 1st place guaranteed. So they negotiate the sum as Shiro is correct, but one must also consider the level of exposure. Shiro responds with exposure or exploitation? And the studio team is impressed again and concede with a 10% or something reduction of the originally proposed amount. They all agree, sign, and before they walk off exchange business cards so that they can talk about having Shiro consult is he is unavailable to join their team.

Shiro lets them know he will consider the offer and the legal team walks off. Lance is waiting for them at the lobby with Hunk to see how the talks went and is happy when he hears how Shiro arm wrestled the team for Keith's supplies and compensation. The group is together for the first time nut they all click as if they were long time friends. Also, I am debating Lotor as The Queen. I was initially gonna have him be the loser from Keith's first competition but then he is meticulous in the show so he would not be in character as a loser. I mean Keith's is not in character, but i wanted to avoid the initial rivalry and change it into a mentor ship. 

That is not say they are instant bffs but that just like in the show, Keith is a natural and Lance has worked his way to that level. He was initially envious of Keith's start, but then got to know him and talk after a few hang outs with alcohol and had their heart to heart because at that stage Lance was in a rut and seeing Keith running made him feel inadequate. Afterwards they became the brohoes we have now.

So, they all hang out while Keith is there but the group notices the sparks between Lance and Shiro so they conveniently forget something back at the hotel and leave them together. I need to cut this short but Keith slays the competition and wins the grand prize. Shiro has his own following after the juice bar incident and they have joined with Lances following to create The Blue Paladin Squad. They refer to lance and Shiro as paladins because both are advocates and do a lot for the lgbtq community. Even before lance Shiro was active so the internet is invested in them.

The end