#artificers are my favorite class i love gun wizards

[24bughours]

*thinks about d&d AUs* *thinks about d&d AUs* *thinks about d&d AUs* *thinks abou

I totally have a d&d brainworm rn because i'm starting up a new campaign as DM. gonna put a stanford inspired npc in probably because making ocs hard

[silverjirachi]

🕸️: d&d character ask game: 1, 3, 9, 15, 22, 29, 25 and 38! i'm sorry if it's a lot, but i really do wanna know❣️

NO OMG IM SO EXCITED!! I'll be answering for Corian, my homebrew artificer from Kibblestasty's Inventor/Revised Artificer class, because he's the one I'm playing currently. Otherwise I have a long-term bard named Rhys who has many many different alternate selves who some of you may know from my other posts or rp videos.

✨ CORIAN'S DND ASKS ✨

What is your character’s morning routine?

I answered this one before so I'm going to copy and paste from the other one (forever ago!! it 's ok if you didn't know) because it hasn't changed much.

Corian is very messy and not a very consistent person, so his morning “routine” varies widely. When he manages to wake up early and is feeling like a morning person, he goes down to the bakery in his hometown, Leviathan, and grabs some pastries and coffee for breakfast. He might have classes to teach at the wizarding school or other important uhhh business in town don’t worry about it (he is/used to be a spy for an evil organization in-game shhh).

Most of the time though he just wakes up any time between 10am and 12pm, slaps himself in the face a little bit, downs some shitty instant coffee or any leftover alcohol and eats whatever breakfast he can scrounge together while he’s already working on gadgets for the day. Theoretically he reads the paper in this time too. That’s a very civil and professional thing to do, right? His mechanical familiar, Cogs, holds up whatever he’s reading and turns the pages for him if his hands are busy, or Corian uses his mechanical third arm he straps to his equipment to turn the pages himself and assist in the drinking coffee.

3. Do they eat breakfast? What’s they favorite?

I kinda answered this one with the morning routine post, but Corian has a pretty big sweeth tooth and loves going to the Leviathan bakery!! For any kind of pastries really but he got kind of a reputation in-game for bringing "apology donuts" to the party for 1. spying on them and 2. accidentally on purpose showing them the dildo room in his house.

So.. donuts??

But also any food that his mom used to cook for him. He really misses his family and anything she cooked was probably amazing bc she's one of Those Moms™️

9. How do they like their mornings? Rainy and chilly? Bright and sunny? Not at all because they don’t wake until noon?

Yeah Corian is a late riser so mostly up at noon when he has the luxury of it. (But he was also a middle school teacher at a magic school so...)

However he does like a good, quiet, rainy morning. Corian has an... interesting... relationship with the rain and thunderstorms. (His gun is powered on storm energy, and the gun as a.. loaded... backstory).

However he hasn't experienced a good non-sleety rain in a long time, because when he was "exiled" (for lack of a better word) to his current hometown, Leviathan, by the evil org he worked for, Leviathan is really far north and so it's always snowy. (I jokingly have called it dnd alaska). He's grown to love the snowy mornings too, as long as it's light snow and not like a blizzard or that horrible sleet shit.

15. Do they prefer warm days or cool ones?

I think Corian used to prefer warm days, but he's lived in Fantasy Alaska for so long he likes the cold now. He's made peace with it and decided he enjoys it. We'll see what happens when he gets back to a sunnier climate.

22. Do they like to share meals with their party?

YES. YES OH GOD YES. Corian LOVES getting to eat meals with his little found family because it reminds him of his huge family back home. (He's one of six siblings). One of our other party members, the rogue/monk name E'kayah, is an excellent cook and always making the nicest, cutest meals and Corian genuinely thinks it's so sweet. The other party member is also his current girlfriend (maybe too strong a term for either of them, but he still cares about her alot) so that's nice too.

25. What is their comfort item/habit?

TINKERING. Corian is an artificer and a big component of my particular subclass (Gadgetsmith) is that he's constantly coming up with new inventions. So in any downtime or when they're just sitting around chilling (and sometimes even at dinner) he just has stuff out and is tinkering. Corian has a mechanical familiar, Cogs, that's a tiny modrone that was a result of said tinkering, and he also has a Clockwork Amulet given to him by his father (also a clockmaker/artificer) that he always keeps close to him.

29. Do they use napkins when they eat?

Only if absolutely necessary.

38. Do they remember their dreams?

Yes. Corian has a really vivid imagination so he is constantly having bizarre dreams that he probably rants to the party about at breakfast. ("Lena I had a dream your hair was made of glue!") And some of these dreams have probably inspired inventions. Corian's also had his fair share of recurring nightmares due to things in his backstory, which were exacerbated during their stint in the Shadowfell, but they're out of the Shadowfell now so those should be getting better!!

Thank you so much for asking, this was so much fun!! 💖✨

Ask me Dnd things?

✨

[utilitycaster]

Class choices in actual plays (D&D and Pathfinder)

Only main PCs (no guests, but I do include multiple characters per player if they played more than one during the campaign)

This does include players who did not stay through the whole campaign or who joined midway through the campaign if they were considered part of the main party at some point

Only base classes, I’ll do a different post for multiclasses. All are D&D 5e except Rusty Quill Gaming; from what I can tell open-source Pathfinder does not have a warlock class but otherwise has the same base classes (including artificer)

Doesn’t include NADDPod which I know is very popular because I may listen to it one day and don’t want to spoil too much

Actual play shows/podcasts considered: Critical Role, both campaigns; Fantasy High; Escape from the Bloodkeep; The Unsleeping City; Tiny Heist; TAZ Balance; TAZ Graduation; Relics & Rarities; RQG up through episode 85 and not including Bertie’s sidequest

SPOILERS FOR CRITICAL ROLE C2, UNSLEEPING CITY, AND TINY HEIST: Nott/Veth, Misty/Rowan, and all of Rick Diggins’ personas are each counted as one character as they are the same person in a different body (and except for Nott and Veth, are the same race as well).

Number of characters considered: 57

Tied for first: Cleric and rogue with 8 each. This makes sense; it’s possible to have a party without them if you have an alternate healer or alternate stealthy/skilled person, but they’re difficult to replace. Props to Relics & Rarities, though, which had neither. Weirdly, the most common cleric domain is grave (to be fair, only with 2) and the most common rogue archetypes are swashbucklers and inquisitive, with 2 each as well, indicating that people really like Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

Tied for second: Barbarian and fighter with 6 each. People like to be big and hit things. Note that these four classes - Cleric, Rogue, Barbarian, and Fighter - account for basically half of all the actual play characters considered (28/57). Of the barbarians, half are berserkers, and of the fighters, half are champions (and Bertie probably would have been a Champion archetype...things get less equivalent on the subclass level from pathfinder to 5e).

Tied for third: Bard and druid with 5 each. This is weird to me, honestly, as druids are one of the hardest classes to play and bards aren’t that hard but are often seen as one of the weaker classes. I assumed that after cleric, the most popular casters would be one of the arcane heavy-hitters, but as a bard player I feel very validated here. All the bards except one started as college of lore, and that one (hi Fig) switched subclasses to lore. For druids, two are circle of the shepherd but as with clerics and rogues there was no clear favorite.

Tied for fourth: Monk, paladin, sorcerer, and wizard, with 3 each. No clear favorite with the monk subclasses, and two of the paladins are from pathfinder. For sorcerers, the favorite is draconic bloodline (which is weird to me because I would assume wild magic would be more popular), and two of the wizards are transmuters. I get why monk and paladin are a little less popular despite loving paladins - monks are specialized and paladins are sort of weird to play as a base class, particularly pre-oath for campaigns that start at first level (Ricky Matsui and all Unsleeping City characters began at 3rd level, and the two paladins in RQG both came in as mid-campaign characters) and I’m guessing sorcerer and wizard split the arcane glass cannon vote, even though they’re actually pretty different.

Tied for fifth: Artificer, ranger, and warlock, with 2 each. I’m a little surprised about warlocks, who I thought would be more popular as battle casters. Artificer and ranger make sense - hybrid classes are a specific taste, rangers prior to revised ranger were kind of underpowered, and artificer wasn’t in the main PHB and has gone through a lot of revisions. As a result it’s hard to tell what the artificer specialties are. Both the rangers are beastmasters, and both the warlocks are hexblades, because everyone loves the hexblade (I love the hexblade too but I just really want to see an archfey or celestial warlock).

And finally: we have one bloodhunter, which is understandable as it’s not released as a class in official D&D material and is still being revised. I was hoping it would be in the guide to wildemount, but I think the latest revision came out after the book would have gone to print (same with the cobalt soul subclass). I kind of hope they come out via Unearthed Arcana though so they’re at least semi-official 5e content.

Some fun facts:

There are three characters named variations of “Rick” among the 57 considered

Gender distribution: artificers, barbarians, clerics, druids, monks, paladins, rangers, and wizards are an equal or roughly equal male/female split. However, all the bards but one (Scanlan) are women, all the rogues but two (Nott and Sasha) are men, and all sorcerers, warlocks, and fighters are men. [note: Ally is nonbinary, but has played a woman and a man in Fantasy High and The Unsleeping City respectively. Molly (bloodhunter) is the only canon nb character; Nott/Veth is a female character played by a male player, all other characters, to my knowledge, have the same gender as their player and the player gender breakdown here is 37 characters played by men, 18 played by women, 2 played by a nb player]. Obviously this is a tiny sample size; also the individual player genders are somewhat more balanced (20 men, 14 women, 1 nb person) but all four of the players who are counted three times here are men (Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, Justin McElroy, Clint McElroy).

Race breakdown by class: is virtually impossible because I have no fucking clue what half the 5e races for the Dimension 20 characters are, thanks Brennan. However, some incomplete observations

Artificers are both human or what I think probably counts as human (bittyfolk from Tiny Heist)

there are two half-orc barbarians

there are two fairy bards which I believe is treated as an elf in Dimension 20

there are two human and two dwarf clerics but it’s otherwise all over the place

I have no idea what race was reskinned to make a drider or rat druid but anyway druids are all over the map

Four human fighters, the most popular race/class combo is real

also all the monks are human or human equivalent

paladins are all over the place too

half-elf and reskinned half-orc rangers, which does sort of fit the ranger archetype

two human rogues, two-ish goblin rogues (with gun), I have no idea what race ‘plastic toy’ is supposed to be (REDDIT IS GOING TO EAT YOUR ASS, BRENNAN) but there are two of them

no clear preference for sorcerers and warlocks (also is Pactwraith a revenant? I give up)

*12 days of Christmas Voice* two elf wizards

*still 12 days of Christmas Voice* AND A TIEFLI-I-ING BLO-ODHUNTER

[tylerthedungeoneer]

My Favorite Class

I think the most common question to ask someone about Dungeons and Dragons is what their favorite class is. My answer to that question is a bit weird. My favorite class is an unofficial one called artificers.

First off, this class isn’t from any of the official rule books, it comes Unearthed Arcana. Unearthed Arcana is a column on the Dungeons and Dragons website used by the People who make Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, to show people work-in progress material for the game. The artificer class is one of those work-in progress materials. I don’t know if it will ever become official content, but I can dream.

The artificer class is basically magical engineers, who spend their time building magical items instead of casting spells (well they can cast spell, but it’s mostly just support spells). They get saving throws in intelligence and constitution, so the ideal build for an artificer is one who is highly intelligent and can take hits. They also start off with proficiency with thieves’ tools and two other tools of the players’ choice, which is really good for a magical engineer.

Artificers can do a lot of cool stuff as they level up. This ranges from becoming more proficient with tools, infusing a spell into a non-magical item so party members can cast that spell, and even building a robot servant. The most important thing an artificer can do as they level up is building magical items as they level up. When an artificer reaches a certain level, they can create a magical item from a given list that increases with each level. This is an awesome feature to add as it allows you to further build your character in numerous ways. You could have your character focus on underwater combat by giving them cap of water breathing (you breath underwater) and ring of swimming (you can swim better than before), or give them a chime of opening (you can unlock and open any door) and wand of magic detection (you can detect magic with it) and become a master thief.

The artificer has access to its archetypes at level one, unlike most other classes who get theirs at level three. The two archetypes you can choose from are the alchemist and the gunsmith.

The alchemist is basically a potion maker who gets a magic bag they call pull all kinds of potions out of. While this sounds cool, there are only seven different potions you can choose from, and you start out with three at level one. If you were to play the game till you hit level twenty, you’ll eventually be able to unlock every available potion. I feel like there should have been a larger variety of potions you could choose from and for it to be impossible to get all of them. That would allow your character to be better built in a particular style, like having only support potions or potions that do elemental damage. You’ll definitely need to have another weapon on you if you play this archetype, as there are only two potions that do damage, and they start off rather weak.

Now the other archetype is the gunsmith, and it is the whole reason I love artificers. This archetype gives you a powerful weapon called a thunder cannon, which is basically a massive gun. It does 2d6 damage (the total of rolling two six-sided dice) at the start and it can do more as your character levels up. The default damage alone makes it one of the most powerful weapons in the game. The whole archetype revolves around the thunder cannon, as it can end up making all kinds of attacks; like shooting armor piercing rounds, a massive A.O.E (Area of Effect) blast, and eventually explosive rounds that blow up in a thirty-foot radius sphere. Now do you see why I love this archetype? Of course, the gun needs ammo to fire, which is why you are given a magic bag full of ammo that automatically refills itself whenever you take a short or long rest. While the gun does require ammo to fire, it isn’t specified how much ammo the bag holds or if other types of attacks require more ammo. Without these specifications, this can lead to a gunsmith artificer being one of the most broken classes in the game, being able to make a massive explosion with one piece of ammo and never having to worry about running out of ammo. This is why whenever I play a gunsmith, I limit how much ammo my character has and say that the other attacks use up more ammo. Even though this archetype can be manipulated into being insanely overpowered, I still love it.

And those were my thoughts on the artificer class. I just love the idea of playing a magical engineer who wields a science fiction like weapon in a fantasy world. I hope that one day this class can become official, since some dungeon masters don’t allow material from Unearthed Arcana in their campaigns, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

[tigerkirby215]

NEW UA FUCKERS

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/subclasses_part3

I know I’m a bit late to this but I already had a post queued so this is going before that one.

Anyways we get... an Artificer subclass?! Woah great to see that they’re throwing Artificer into the mix with these UAs now... oh my god. Oh my god it’s Iron Man.

Armorer Artificer

...It’s literally fucking Iron Man. That’s literally all I can say. Power Armor is conceptually AWESOME though I worry that removing the Strength requirement from Platemail is a bit OP. Armor Model essentially lets you choose between melee (Guardian) or ranged (Infiltrator.) The fact that you can use Intelligence to attack (much like Battle Smith) makes this subclass feel like a good alternative to Battle Smith for those who don’t want the dog.

Guardian’s Thunder Gauntlets are kinda meh for damage but the fact that you essentially replicate the Cavalier's Unwavering Mark feature is really cool, and will probably have some interesting synergies with Fighter subclasses. (My immediate thought is mixing this subclass with Battlemaster Fighter to create Mecha Kingdom Sett, though chances are if I make a Sett build I’m not going to give him big brain energy lol.) The Defensive Field ability however gives you some massive self-sustain and makes this as viable if not arguably stronger than a Barbarian. A 20 HP buffer every turn? That’s nuts! (Hm: maybe I should make a Sett build with this?)

Infiltrator’s Lightning Launcher... bro it’s literally fucking Iron Man. That being said it does a lot more damage than the Thunder Gauntlets overall (2d6 vs 1d8) and has the plus side of being ranged. Powered Steps and Second Skin are rather negligible by comparison honestly.

You get an Extra Attack at level 5 which sort of further solidifies that this is the dogless version of Battle Smith.

Level 9 you get Armor Modifications which... what the fuck? You get TWO extra Infusions for yourself?! Are they insane?! There aren’t many Bracer infusions to choose from but you can get some good value for the armor and weapon, and there are several boots that you don’t normally make as Artificer which you may as well make when you have two extra infusions. Even just the ability to get Winged Boots in your extra infusion slot is amazing.

Perfected Armor... ｏｈ　ｏｋａｙ．So you either get a gravity gun (Guardian) or the ability to generate free advantage 24/7. (Infiltrator)

Armorer Artificer is a 10/10. 11/10 honestly. Super flavorful and ridiculously strong; honestly needs some heavy nerfs. The heavy armor should still have a Strength requirement, the weapons don’t need bonus effects, Armor Modifications in general is fucking bonkers, and Perfected Armor for the Infiltrator armor needs to be limited by Intelligence akin to its Guardian counterpart.

After reading this over I’m very tempted to try to make a build for Elliana from Rivals of Aether. It would be a unique opportunity to try to make a Yuan-Ti Pureblood character.

(Artwork by Rivals of Aether)

Artificer Infusions

We also get some more infusions which is cool.

Armor of Magical Strength - Seems to have been designed specifically for the Armorer subclass or at least for specifically the Artificer. (Can be good to give to your Wizard though.) It makes Strength even more redundant than it already is, and Artificer can already make Gauntlets of Strength / Belt of Strength to make Strength redundant as is. The ability to resist being knocked prone is kinda useless and honestly you’re far better off just taking the +1 Armor Infusion and Belt / Gauntlets of Strength instead. 3/10

Armor of Tools - Really cute but feels like something you use specifically for down time. Again feels like it’s based too much around the Artificer and not their team. I really don’t understand the 8 hour limit on the integrated tool. 4/10

Helm of Awareness - Alert on a stick. Pretty balanced honestly since it takes an Attunement slot. 7/10

Mind Sharpener - ...this has no level limit? This also has no use limit (beyond your reaction.) The actual fuck? This is stupidly OP. 10/10 needs nerfs.

Spell-Refueling Ring - This is worded extremely poorly and (like a lot of the other new infusions) seems to have been specifically designed to buff the Artificer. The problem is that (as written) you can literally recover 2 level 5 spell slots, 3 level 4 spell slots, and a level 3 spell slot once per day. This item needs major limitations akin to the Pearl of Power and it also needs to be more useful for classes other than Artificer. I think the number of spell slots restored should be based on the Artificer’s Intelligence mod instead of the number of magic items. 2/10

The only infusion which I consider remotely balanced on this list is the Helm of Awareness. Armor of Tools is cute but it has too many limitations for something that’s already worse than the +1 armor, and all the other infusions seem based too heavily around buffing the Artificer instead of their teammates. All these items have the potential to be balanced (SR Ring and Armor oMS need a lot of work) but as they are currently they’re way too strong.

Circle of the Stars

Already looking at it the subclass certainly seems interesting. Star Map gives your Druid more flavor and also lets you cast two very strong spells for free. (Guiding Bolt in particular is very useful.)

Starry Form is interesting for a Druid that doesn’t want to Wildshape but feels inherently worse than Spores Druid or the other UA Wildfire Druid. Chalice is meh though it’s good for sustain (Life Cleric is better), Archer seems like it’s the best overall, and Dragon seems good for out-of-combat utility as well as keeping Concentration on important spells.

Cosmic Omen is very strong and reliable, and gives you a lot of support utility and Full of Stars should be part of Starry Form’s baseline feature to make it worth turning into a star form over an animal form.

Star Flare really feels like it should be a spell but it would be way too strong as a spell. The ability to instantly reposition allies and also do damage to enemies can’t be understated.

Overall I’d give this class maybe a 7/10? 8/10 because of the flavor which I think is really cool. It has some nice offensive abilities and well as defensive, but some of the features feel too weak. For some reason my immediate thought when I saw this subclass was Hilda Berg from Cuphead but lol I’m not about to make a freaking Cuphead Boss build.

(Artwork by Studio MDHR)

Fey Wanderer

Wizards of the Coast really seems to like their “defender of (x) plane” archetypes, don’t they? We have two defenders from extraplanar threats (Horizon Walker and UA Paladin) and now we have a defender of the Faewild. Bet Davvy Chappy is going to love this subclass.

Cunning Will feels kinda tacted on for the sake of it, and Dreadful Strikes feels inherently worse than Horizon Walker. It has some interesting synergies with multiple attacks but it still doesn’t do much overall. Blessings of the Courts similarly feels underwhelming though I find it interesting that we now have ranged Smites on Ranger. Beguiling Twist has the same issues that the UA Paladin has. Misty Presence is honestly the only feature that feels strong with this class and I struggle to see why you’d put 15 levels into Ranger when you can just put a few levels into Rogue for Expertise in Stealth and the ability to hide as a Bonus Action.

I give this subclass about a 2/10 - it really needs some work. Looking it over I feel like a Vayne build for League of Legends could be possible with this build but I still feel like Rogue + Fighter would be stronger.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Artificer really stole the show with this UA and the others honestly feel like afterthoughts to me. This might be because Artificer is by far my favorite class in 5e but I really think that the Ranger needs a complete revision, which is a shame because I thought Swarmkeeper was pretty good. The Druid subclass is unique but has its faults and could use some time to be ironed out.

I really do expect the Artificer subclass to be published because the “Iron Man” aesthetic was something that Wizards of the Coast was going for with the Artificer UAs for a long time but could never really perfect. I hope we’ll get a lot more Artificer UA subclasses to supplement the fact that the class is new.

[utilitycaster]

Your fav character from each class in all the actual plays you’ve watched?

THE BEST QUESTION (if hard). I’m only counting regular PCs here; see the end for some guest/NPC/one-shot mentions. As you can see I love basically all characters but I do have my favorites.

Barbarian: there is a high potential, now that Ashley is back for good, that Yasha will win this next year but for now Gorgug and his sweet awkwardness and confused attempts to find his dad wins. (some other good barbarians: Grog, Beryl from Relics and Rarities who was a. kind of a stoner and b. an absolute delight and c. a cool depiction of path of the ancestral guardian, and Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, sweet crepe loving failure)

Bard: I love Fig, but I have to go Scanlan. You know that art piece of the Vecna battle that’s overlaid with the All Work No Play “what would the worst character be” line? Yeah. From “I’m snoring after having sex” to “I was saving it for Vax”. You just can’t beat that. (some other good bards: Annabella from Relics and Rarities, Misty from Dimension 20)

Cleric: this is probably the hardest category (shout out to a lot of clerics. Jester, Kingston, and Kristen are tied for second place) but I think I have to go with Caduceus. I love how much he sees of everyone else and how little we know of him. I love how not-so-secretly judgemental he is. I love his bone flute. I love that he’s quietly trying to save his dying home, and perhaps find family that might be dead. Someone hug him for me. (I would like to recognize Pike and Merle of course, as well as Efink Murderdeath here, and while I’m only 7 episodes in I think Zolf is already my favorite of RQG. )

Druid: Keyleth. I feel like TAZ is at a disadvantage because they’re so early on in Graduation, but also I love the Firbolg but I am not sure a druid will ever surpass Keyleth, with all her messy awkwardness and genuine desire to do good at any cost. (shout out to Ricky Huckster for being a really unique take on the druid, Lillith from Escape from the Bloodkeep for being a great wine mom, and to Kugrash who is currently ripping my heart out)

Fighter: I’m surprising myself here but the recent developments with Fabian Seacaster have put him in the forefront, I think because his story is still ongoing and because I’m a sucker for an arrogant jock suddenly confronting mortality and failure. I do still love Percival De Rolo a lot though. (shout out to Magnus Burnsides who is good at everything, and Veros the O.G. Himbo from Relics and Rarities)

Monk: Beau. This is another case of like, I love Sofia Bicicleta too, but Marisha Ray has some kind of genius for playing female characters that really tap into like, things that many women I think feel but don’t know how to express (at least, I, a woman, feel these things and don’t know how to express them). Beau is such a complicated abrasive character who feels things deeply, and who has genuinely tried and succeeded in changing. She’s so dynamic and wonderful and I love her to bits.

Paladin: Vax. I wrote a whole piece about my experience of listening to CR campaign 1 episode 57 that I never published or posted. I think there’s something deeply profound and beautiful about sticking to an oath that you didn’t ever think you’d choose, and to a promise you fell into. (also, spoilers but Fjord’s going to be my choice for Warlock so I cover that there even though one of my favorite things about him is his switch to Paladin). (shout out, of course, to Ricky Matsui)

Ranger: Vex. Due to some valid and some invalid complaints about the ranger class few people play it, which is a shame because the revised ranger options are pretty great (Horizon Walker is amazing, I say as an admitted fan of weird planar shit) and because like, Aragorn was my favorite LOTR character. But yeah, everything I’ve said about Keyleth and Beau applies to Vex, the D&D character I think I relate most to despite my irl stats not matching hers at all (I do not have 17 Charisma). The imposter syndrome, the need to appear that everything is under control, the sibling loyalty, the stubbornness, the quiet leadership - it’s all so perfect and so unique and I love her very much. (Sokhbarr was a fun take though)

Rogue: put Vax as Paladin so I could nominate Riz as my favorite rogue (and again, I love Nott and enjoy what I’ve seen of Argo, and to be fair, Sasha seems very good as well) but I think the inquisitive subclass is so cool and Riz has such a wonderful arc. Also, goblin with gun is great but goblin high schooler with gun is straight up genius.

Sorcerer: a very rare class, tbh, with Pete getting it by default. He is indeed a fascinating character though, and tying his sorcery into the mythology of the world is a pretty brilliant DM move. (I also am very into Hamid thus far, not in the least because I love halflings)

Warlock: Fjord. I liked Fjord from the start, and even when he was being an ass during the pirate arc found him relatable. I think it might be my background as a bard player that makes me love this disaster who survived for years on just a high constitution and being really good at talking and playing roles; I also love someone who isn’t the greatest leader but falls into it, and someone with control issues working through it (see also: Vex, Percy) And finally, I don’t know if Travis was telling the truth about him being lawful good but he genuinely does want to make things better for people and he takes responsibility very seriously. (obviously, I also really liked Leland, and while I think of both Fig and Sofia as primarily of their main classes of bard and monk, they are cool as warlocks. I get why Emily Axford keeps gunning for Hexblade).

Wizard: Caleb. Given all the other sources of magic it’s always fascinating to see why someone becomes a wizard specifically, and I also like how complex Caleb is - not just the trauma, though that’s part, but the humor and the versatility. (Adaine was a close runner-up though, and Taako was my favorite of THB but is a little too goofy to be a favorite).

Artificer: I mean, obviously Tary.

NPCs and guests, with less commentary:

Barbarian: gonna go with Lionel the True Polymorphed Duck here.

Bard: Hazel Copperpot, she of the 1930s radio accent

Cleric: again very difficult, but then again, not so difficult. Lieve’tel was great.

Druid: Nila, the sweet and calming presence in our hour of need.

Fighter: oh god I don’t know if I can choose between Keg, bisexual dwarven disaster, and Brian David Gilbert’s Hargis, awkward goliath theater kid.

Monk: Ferriwen Breeze, who I do hope shows up again because she was my favorite Darrington Brigade character and I really love Genasi; also Expositor Dairon, natch.

Paladin: few people play paladins as guests which is weird. I do like Kerrek, and I do like Arkhan, but like, Kima, clearly.

Ranger: Sandralynn Faeth, hands down. A wonderful NPC.

Rogue:  I do love Cathilda, and I do love Twiggy, but I laughed about the Owlbear for the entire Darrington Brigade one shot.

Sorcerer: I mean...it has to be Gilmore, right? Calianna is great but no one can beat Gilmore.

Warlock: Zahra, who also, incidentally, is the only non-Hexblade Warlock who’s shown up. I mean hexblade is objectively amazing but Zahra is too.

Wizard: there have been many wizard NPCs across games and it was a very difficult choice but who else is graceful, unendingly kind and patient, and reliable in all situations? Allura Vyesoren is the wizard you wish your wizard could be. Yussa and Essek and Lup and Arthur Aguefort and Barry and Lyra and Ranier and far more wizard NPCs and guests are all wonderful in their own ways but like, did you think you could come for Matt Mercer’s self insert? you could not.

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