#bonus actions! reactions! ac and dc!! inspiration!! I KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE!!

[secretagent9]

listening to taz imbalance and internally shrieking in joy every time a spell or term comes up that i recognize from baldur's gate

merle casts bless on the party and my brain goes THAT GIVES YOU A +d4 TO ROLLS AND YOU CAN UPCAST IT TO BLESS MORE PEOPLE AND IT REQUIRES CONCENTRATION and i have shadowheart and gale cast it a lot! thank you bg3 for helping me to better understand dnd things

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #203

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we've only got one goal in mind: Golems! Thanks to Avicebron, we'll make just that; lots and lots of golems! Avicebron is a Battle Smith Artificer, so you'll always have at least one on standby.

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

Next up: I did naht kill him, I did naht. Oh hi Mark.

Race and Background

Avvy might not look it, but he's still a Variant Human, giving him +1 Intelligence and Wisdom, plus proficiency with Deception to keep your mentees close and your golem ingredients just as close, plus you get the Servo Crafting feat! You can cast Find Familiar as a ritual, but instead of getting an animal, you build a small golem called a Servo. You can speak with and through the servo, plus sense through it, as long as you share a plane of existence. You can also attack with the servo instead of your wimpy noodlearms once per attack action.

You're also a Cloistered Scholar, which gives you History and Religion proficiency. You are nerd! No duh!

Ability Scores

Your Intelligence should be pretty high, you make golems and you don't afraid of anything, that's what you do. After that is Dexterity, you're better off not getting hit than anything else, and also having 4 arms means you're pretty good at sleight of hand. Wisdom is also pretty good, you're a religious man, and while you don't get power from that you're still wise. Unfortunately we gotta make Strength the next highest stat. I mean, two of your arms are robots, so I guess it kinda works? Your Charisma is pretty low, you just don't care about people that much, but we're dumping Constitution. Trust me, it'll make sense in a bit. (Don't do this in-game, this is a flavor thing, you WILL DIE)

Class Levels

You're 100% artificer, so you start off with Magical Tinkering, letting you stuff minor magical effects into tiny items. I don't know why you'd make a fart sound producing golem out of a pen, but I'm not Avicebron. You also learn Spells. They use your Intelligence score for prep and casting. Grab Mage Hand to build a little drone to carry stuff for you, and Message for a messenger golem. Really you can take whatever spells you like as long as you call them golems, but the most golemy are Alarm golem and Catapult golem. Why throw stuff when you can just make it throw itself? You also get proficiency in a buncha stuff, like Constitution and Intelligence saves, plus Nature to figure out good materials for golems and Arcana to build them!

Second level artificers can Infuse Items, adding cool effects to up to two items per long rest from a list of four options. Grab Armor of Tools so you'll always have your golem-making kit on ya, Enhanced Arcane Focus for stronger golems, Homunculus Servant for a golem, and Mind Sharpener to help keep track of your golems. I can already tell golem isn't even gonna look like a word by the end of this build.

Your artificer subclass is the Battle Smith, which makes you Battle Ready, so your golems can use martial weapons. Of course you're not swinging them yourself, so you can use your intelligence instead of strength when attacking with magical weapons. You also get a second permanent golem, the Steel Defender! You gotta use your bonus action to make it do stuff, but it'll hit people, repair stuff, and protect its allies! Also, you can cast Mending on it to heal it. You don't have that yet, but you will! You can also make The Right Tool for the Job over a long rest, and you also get subclass spells for free. Heroism makes a very pretty golem that inspires all your allies to not get scared and get temporary HP. Shield makes a golem that'll stand in front of someone as a reaction, adding 5 to their AC and blocking magic missiles for a round.

Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Intelligence. You use it for pretty much everything, so your brain's gotta be good!

Fifth level battlesmiths get an Extra Attack, so your servo, your steel defender, and your sword-holding golem can all attack at the same time. You also get second level spells, like Branding Smite and Warding Bond. Neither of those are golems tho. Grab Rope Trick for the first of many rope golems, and Enlarge/Reduce for later. Adam's a big boy, so you've gotta make a big golem.

Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling your proficiency bonus with all tools. Golem making is complicated, the DCs are gonna be high. You also get two more blueprints and one more infused item, like a Spell-Refueling Ring for extra spell slots and a Rope of Climbing for another rope-based golem to help your bad climbing skills.

At seventh level you get so smart you have Flashes of Genius, adding your intelligence modifier to checks and saves near you intelligence modifier times per long rest. Yeah, it's actually just weirdly specific golems.

Bump up your Intelligence this ASI for more of everything you like. Smrt.

Ninth level battle smiths add an Arcane Jolt to their steel defender and magical weapons. Once per turn, intelligence modifier times per long rest, you can either add extra force damage to the hit, or heal a nearby creature. Still not sure how to make those golems, but you'll figure something out, you've got 20 Intelligence! You also get third level spells, like an Aura of Vitality golem and a Conjure Barrage golem. You can also can Create Food and Water golems for gathering, or turn just about anything into a Tiny Servant. For up to 8 hours after casting, you can turn a tiny object into a tiny creature, commanding it as a bonus action. Finally, a spell that makes golems! You can also use Glyph of Warding now, though it won't be that useful for the build until you get fourth level spells. The idea is, you can keep a bunch of these bad boys in your base, all set to trigger against a creature that knocks you down to 0 HP. All of them summon constructs, beating up the guy after you're already unconscious. This is the closest we could get to Avicebron's third skill, D&D doesn't really plan for character death that well. Also, just a correction. I just found out you can't carry glyphs around without them breaking :(

Tenth level artificers are Magic Item Adepts, giving you an extra attunement slot and you can create uncommon magic items for cheaper. You also get the Mending cantrip for golems, and two more blueprints for an extra infused item. The Helm of Awareness will help you stay out of trouble, and the Periapt of Wound Closure makes it easier to not die. Your master strategy is all about getting knocked out, so it would be nice if you automatically stabilize.

Eleventh level artificers can create Spell-Storing Items, stuffing weapons or focii full of first/second level magical goodness. It's like you're casting the spell, but it uses the other guy's concentration.

Another ASI! Bump up your Dexterity for less dying.

With fourth level spells, you can cast all sorts of golems. You're stuck with Aura of Purity and Fire Shield, but you also get an Arcane Eye for a drone golem, plus Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound and Summon Construct for fighting golems.

As a Magic Item Savant you get another attunement slot, and you can ignore requirements when attuning magic items. You also get the Prestidigitation cantrip to make whatever small tools you need for a second, and two more blueprints for one more infusion. Bracers of Defense will help you not die if you don't think Avicebron's outfit is armor, and the Ring of Protection will also do that regardless.

At fifteenth level you get your last subclass improvement, the Improved Defender. Your arcane jolt gets bigger, and your golem gets tougher and can reflect damage, not just deflect it.

Use the rest of your ASI to bump up your Wisdom. Making yourself better isn't in character, so just be wise.

You've got fifth level spells! Banishing smite isn't a golem, but I guess Mass Cure Wounds could be Adam's feet? Idk. You can also use Bigby's Hand for Adam's hand, and Animate Objects for more item-based golems. Now you can turn your trusty frying pan into a-golem. Everything turns into a golem.

Eighteenth level artificers are Magic Item Masters, letting you attune to six items at the same time. You also get two more blueprints, so grab two copies of Arcane Propulsion Arm for the four arms of your third ascension. Arms are cool.

One last ASI, grab more Wisdom.

Your capstone ability grants you a Soul of Artifice, giving you a +1 bonus to all your saves for each magic item you're attuned to, and you can destroy an infusion to drop to 1 HP instead of 0. Remember, getting KOd only helps if you're near one of your glyphs.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Between your Steel Defender, servo, tiny servants, and animated objects, you don't have to do much. Plus you can just rope trick away and let them take care of everything!

If your DM ever tries to spook the party by fighting you in your own base, you can spook him right back by taking a fall and filling your study with angry golems.

With expertise and flashes to help your repairs along plus mending, you're a great repairman. If the DM tries to block your path with a broken bridge, it won't stay broken for long. Plus, your warforged allies will love you.

Cons:

DONT DUMP CON. You have less than 100 HP at level 20, and your constitution save is really bad (for an artificer). Don't do it. Look me in the eyes, don't. do it!

Having any part of your battle plan being getting knocked out is not going to make you popular with your party members. Maybe you should help out yourself? Nah, golems are better.

All of your infusions and spells are focused on helping yourself, a stark contrast to most of our artificer builds. Keeping all your toys to yourself will not help your party like you, especially with a +0 charisma.

[acrid-heartwood]

Turning Monks into Shamans

Art by Mike "Daarken" Lim

Something that always rubbed me the wrong way in the DnD 5e, or DnD in general really, was that the Monk class was so often included into a roster of very clearly european medieval fantasy classes. Not only did they seem out of place, but out of time, since they are clearly inspired by 70s and 80s kung fu action movies, while the rest of the troupe is extremely tolkien-esque. Imagine Bruce Lee giving Sauron a roundhouse kick. If that sounds as jarring to you as to me, keep reading, because I have an idea to remedy this.

I never had a problem with the class itself, mechanically, just the flavour it tried to convey. If the standard world of DnD had stronger Asian influences, it wouldn’t bother me one bit, but as it is, monks stick out. So, I decided to simply rewrite the flavour bits of the monk, turning them into the Shaman class. With this, the class sits somewhere between a Barbarian and a Druid in flavour, using totems and spirits to imbue their body with power, but without shapeshifting radically. Shamans would also be able to multiclass into fairly easily, similar to a Warlock, simply by finding and bonding to a suitable spirit. And, naturally, losing the spirit would mean losing the supernatural abilities.

Shaman A monk reflavour Shamans are those who have suffused themselves in the spirit of the other, granting them supernatural strength, but making them live in the constant company of the supernatural. They are most often found in in the wilds, in small communities or in solitude as they wrestle with their own nature.

Using the power of spirits infused into their bodies and weapons, shamans are a spectacle to behold in battle, sometimes even forgoing weapons in favour of wielding the raw power of their partner spirit with bare fists.

Class features As a shaman, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d8 per soul level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution Modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per SOUL level after 1st

Proficiencies Armor: None Weapons: Simple Weapons, shortswords Tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tool or one musical instrument Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth

Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: (a) a shortsword or (b) any simple weapon (a) a dungoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack 10 darts

Unarmored Defense Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Spirit Bonding (Formerly Martial Arts) At 1st level, your wielding of a spirit in combat enables you to effectively empower unarmed strikes and shaman weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two- handed or heavy property. You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only shamanic weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield: You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons. You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or shaman weapon. This die changes as you gain shaman levels, as shown in the Spirit Bond column of Table: The Shaman. When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a shaman weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn.

Spirit (formerly Ki) Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of your bonded spirit. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of spirit points. Your shaman level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Spirit Points column of Table: The Shaman. You can spend these points to fuel various spirit features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more spirit features as you gain levels in this class. When you spend a spirit point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you draw all of your expended spirit back into yourself. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your spirit points. Some of your spirit features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Spirit save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Flurry of Blows Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 spirit point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense You can spend 1 spirit point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.

Step of the Wind You can spend 1 spirit point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Unarmored Movement Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain shaman levels, as shown in Table: The Shaman.

At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.

Shamanic Tradition When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a shamanic tradition. The tradition you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

Deflect Missiles Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your shaman level. If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 spirit point to make a ranged attack with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a shaman weapon for the attack, which has a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet.

Ability Score Improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Slow Fall Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your shaman level.

Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of spirit in an opponent’s body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 spirit point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Spirit-Empowered Strikes Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Evasion At 7th level, your empowered agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon’s lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Purity of Body At 10th level, your mastery of the spirit flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Spirit Message (Formerly Tongue of Sun and Moon) Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the spirit of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul Beginning at 14th level, your bond with your spirit grants you proficiency in all saving throws. Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 spirit point to reroll it and take the second result.

Timeless Body At 15th level, your spirit sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can’t be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Empty Body Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 spirit points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage. Additionally, you can spend 8 spirit points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. When you do so, you can’t take any other creatures with you.

Perfect Self At 20th level, when you roll for initiative and have no spirit points remaining, you regain 4 spirit points.

I also tampered a bit with the OGC Subclass:

Ancestral Spirit (Formerly Way of the Open Hand) Shamans who bond with an ancestral spirit take on the knowledge and experience of a hero of their bloodline. They work to become the perfect vessel, in body and mind, to channel these ancestors.

Ancestral Wisdom (Formerly Open Hand Technique) Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can empower yourself with your spirit’s strength and wisdom. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target: It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone. It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you. It can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Wholeness of Body At 6th level, you gain the ability to heal yourself. As an action, you can regain hit points equal to three times your shaman level. You must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

Tranquility Beginning at 11th level, you can enter a special trance that allows your spirit to act as a guarding presence. At the end of a long rest, you gain the effect of a sanctuary spell that lasts until the start of your next long rest (the spell can end early as normal). The saving throw DC for the spell equals 8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus.

Soul Rip (Formerly Quivering Palm) At 17th level, you gain the ability to send out your bonded spirit to reach into a body, severing that creature’s connection to its own life force. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 3 spirit points to imbibe your opponent’s body with spirit energy, which last for a number of days equal to your shaman level. The energy is harmless unless you use your action to activate it. To do so, you and the target must be on the same plane of existence. When you use this action, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it is reduced to 0 hit points. If it succeeds, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage.

You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time. You can choose to end the energy harmlessly without using an action.

Some more subclass examples:

Elemenal Spirits (Formerly Way of the Four Elements) Shamans who choose to bond with beings of the elemental planes always do so in sets of four. Inexperienced shamans may overly rely on one of the elements, making them prone to mood swings representative of that element, like an overly passionate fire shaman, or an extremely mischievous water shaman.

Demonic Shadow (Formerly Way of the Shadow) Shamans of this tradition are often called possessed, as demons are entirely malevolent beings. Shadow shamans must overcome the beings they bound to themselves in order to subjugate them and press them into service, or their soul will be forfeit. Not only are these kinds of shamans the most commonly evil, but also the most common among demon hunters, as their frequent contact with the abyssal forces make them unflinching in the face of demonic horrors.

[scholaroftrivia]

Critical Role and Matt Mercer inspired me, so here’s an homebrew monster for y’all. This is an second draft, I apologize for any mistake or lack of clarity. I’d be happy to read any comment or criticism about it. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COBALT TROLL 

Among most peoples, trolls often have a reputation for dull-mindedness. Yet, they are far from unable to learn. Beware those who do. Beaten Black and Blue: A troll who fights a Monk of the Cobalt Soul is unlikely to forget the experience, as being brought low by the tiny-but-lethal strikes of a flashy blue insect dancing through their attacks with superhuman bursts of speed isn’t something a member of Giantkind would want to experience twice. Most survivors of such an encounter simply learn to avoid cobalt-colored travelers from this point onward. Others come out of the fight changed, the trolls’ tendency to mutate in response to deadly circumstances activating as their wrecked ki flow regenerates. Thus is born the Cobalt Troll, the combination of body paint, dyed cloth and deeply oxidized copper baubles they wear in an effort to emulate the strength of their adversary giving them their distinctive appearance.

No Cure for the Troll Training Blues: A Cobalt Troll might or might not realize that the savage ki-infused beating they survived was the first step toward enlightenment, but they certainly understand that they were defeated by something they do not understand. Aware of their own ignorance, and the feeling of their ki flow not leaving them, they begin to learn and experiment. A Cobalt Troll’s experiments take advantage of their ability to shrug off most physical damage, punching wild beasts one day, jumping across perilous chasms the next, attempting to catch birds mid-flight the third, all while trying to access the newly-discovered energy within them. With trials and errors, they learn what works, what doesn’t and what hurts, eventually managing unreliable but devastating approximations of the Monks’ arts.  In comparison, acquiring information is refreshingly simple for the troll’s mind. Stealing from, threatening or failing that trading with weaker beings is already part of most trolls’ skillset, the Cobalt Troll simply adds knowledge to the list of their demand. Literacy and languages are generally sought after, once the troll figures out it allows them to profit from more sources. Regardless, patience is more often than not the first and most important skill a Cobalt Troll can learn  (one of the first lessons of the Cobalt Trolls being that an eaten teacher can only teach how they taste). 

If they first try to educate themselves for pragmatic reasons, the Cobalt Troll discovers soon enough that their desire for knowledge is just as intense and insatiable as their hunger for food, leaving them in an unending quest for more knowledge... Blue Troll Group: Of course, if the Cobalt Troll could only be the result of a losing fight with a Monk of the Cobalt Soul, such creatures would be ridiculously rare. But that is without counting on the fact trolls know power when they see it, and aren’t shying away from acquiring it. Trolls who desire accomplishing the feats of their blue-painted counterparts generally assault them for their secrets or, for the brightest, bring a tribute to exchange . In both cases, assuming the Cobalt Troll is interested, the lesson consists in the “student” being beaten to an inch of their life repeatedly until they go through the same awakening of ki that their “teacher” (a method of teaching the Cobalt Soul trainers would likely immediately despise for being uncomfortably close of the way they make reluctant trainees learn). The student is then left to figure the rest on their own, unless they As trolls are more likely to meet other trolls than traveling monks, a large majority of the Cobalt Trolls come into existence this way, making  the relationship to the initial Monk encounter more and more distant, resulting in some concepts getting lost or modified in transmission. Thus, it is possible to see so-called Cobalt Troll covering themselves with yellow, green or grey-stripped purple. It is unlikely the Cobalt Soul ever put any effort in confirm the rumors of bright blue trolls capable of strange feats, such stories being likely dismissed as disguised but unsubtle satires of the Monks’ way of life,  in the same way that it is unlikely that most Cobalt Trolls would ever cross the road of one of those weird small blue-wearing humanoids-that-can-match-troll-might they only have heard through word of mouth. If they were to meet, however, it would be akin to discovering that a folk tale character was in fact a distant cousin all along. And it is likely a fight would occur. 

Blue Meanies: Cobalt trolls are not unified in their ambitions and projects. Many work as mercenaries, leaders of various ilks considering a strong but not stupid minion who works for food and information to be a worthwhile asset. Some use their newfound knowledge and power to establish themselves as kings or warlords over weaker beings, positions in which they tend to perform better than the typical troll. Others keep to themselves, pondering in relative isolation, which can result in them being seen as mystics or sages by those aware of their existence, often accepting tribute in exchange for not harassing nearby settlements and even sometime trading what they’ve learned for what they need or desire. But regardless of which path they take, if they are generally more willing to interact with others than most of their kin, the Cobalt Trolls’ appetite for knowledge and the prodigies they can accomplish with their erratic control of ki do nothing but sharpen the danger they can represent, and many find out the hard way that a troll’s hunger and anger are nothing to scoff at, even if they can spell their name.  Cobalt Troll Large Giant, chaotic evil  AC: 15

HPs: 104 (11d10+55) STR: 18 (+4)

DEX: 13 (+1) 

CON: 20 (+5) 

INT: 10 (+0) 

WIS: 13 (+1) 

CHA: 7 (-2)

Skills: Perception +4, Arcana +3, History +3, Nature +3

Senses: Darkvision 60 Ft., passive Perception 14

Languages: Giant, Common, another language at choice

Challenge: 7 (2,900 XP)

TRAITS:

Keen Smell: The Cobalt Troll has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Ki Flare: The Cobalt Troll can use the Dodge, Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on their turn. Once used, this feature cannot be used again until the Cobalt Troll’s has regained hit points from its Regeneration trait. 

Regeneration: The Cobalt Troll regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the Cobalt Troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the troll's next turn. The Cobalt Troll roll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

ACTIONS: Flurry of Claws (Recharge 5-6): The Cobalt Troll makes four claws attacks. Whenever the Cobalt Troll hits a single creature with one of the attacks they learn the creature's Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities. Flying Headbutt (Recharge 6): The Cobalt Troll jumps, to a maximum of 35ft in a straight line. If this movement would enter any creature’s space, the troll’s movement ends and the creature must succeed a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take  22 (4d10) damage. When the troll’s movement stops, it lands prone and takes 22 (4d10) damage. Multiattack: The troll makes three attacks: three with its claws, or one with its bite and two with its claws, or one with its bite and a Stunning Haymaker.

Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage.

Claw: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. Stunning Haymaker (Recharge 5-6): Melee Weapon Attack: + 7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 +4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, the target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be stunned and prone until the end of the Cobalt Troll’s next turn. REACTION: Deflect Missile: In response to being hit by a ranged weapon attack, the troll deflects the missile. The damage it takes from the attack is reduced by 1d10+4. If the damage is reduced to 0, the troll catches the missile if it’s small enough to hold in one hand and the adept has a hand free.

[princess--cynthia]

MRobin 5e - Levels 1 Through 20

For @deintegro as part of my 200+ followers thing

This build aims for a mix of optimal and flavorful, leaning towards flavorful when appropriate. It also attempts to be playable under Adventurer’s League rules, so no Unearthed Arcana and minimal re-flavoring will be there.

There were questions on how to approach Robin. Deintegro’s interpretation leans significantly more towards magic than swords, but he’s still very much a ‘gish’ in D&D terms (melee-and-magic user, not great at either but solid at both). For a while I tried to play around with some kind of Blade Pact Warlock / Ranger build, but eventually I decided that I’d just break the game over my knee. TO THE HALF-ELF RACE PAGE!

Therefor, he’s a Bard/Rogue, which honestly might be flat-out the most broken combination of classes in the game, even with using the worst Rogue subclass in Mastermind (but it has an ability literally called Master of Tactics I can’t not). Just reflavor all of the ‘song’ abilities as battle tactics and you’re good. 

Race: Half-Elf (I know he’s human, but this is the easiest way to break 5e) Background: Sage Class: Valor Bard 17 / Mastermind Rogue 3

Ultimately you end up wearing medium armor, being a good spellcaster who manages to have a single 9th level spell and, thankfully(?), no access to Wish meaning that GMs aren’t going to hate you (I’m honestly on the fence if you take Power Word Heal, Power Word Kill or True Polymorph as your 9th Level spell of choice). Rogue does let you add on 2d6 worth of sneak attack damage, and the Battle Magic Valor-bard feature lets you cast a spell and then immediately hit someone with your sword. 

The Master of Tactics ability lets you take the Help action even if not adjacent to an ally, and combined with the Bardic Inspiration feature and the ridiculous amount of skills you’re getting as a Half-Elf Bard (plus bonus Expertises from Rogue 1), it keeps a pretty good indication of the background of the tactician class in Awakening. 

Ultimately, you’re not flashy. You’re not going to one-round things, and you’re not dumping creatures into parallel dimensions that you made. But you are incredibly useful outside of combat, having every single knowledge skill marked as an Expertise, and in combat the Help action when combined with Bardic Inspiration die every turn is not to be sniffed at. If you really need to deal loads of damage near endgame, spend a 7th or higher spell slot for the mother of all Lightning Bolts

Quick rundown of levelling: Get to Valor Bard 6 so you have Extra Attack, keeping your damage output relevant, and then start taking your three Rogue levels. Then, resume taking Bard. The spells listed at the end are just recommendations - you can take what you want for those, mostly. 

To break this build further, go to Bard 19 / Rogue 1 (splashing for Rogue 1 at Level 2, as it’s less of an investment). This gives you access to Wish, and a final ASI to pick up another feat or just pump up your stats a bit - I honestly like this build better, but I just had to get Master of Tactics in there. As always, the full build is under the cut.  

Level One - Bard 1

Name: Robin Race: Half-Elf Background: Sage Class/Level: Bard 1

Proficiency Bonus: +2

STR 8 (-1) CON 8 (-1) DEX 16 (+3) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 16 (+3)

AC 15 Initiative +3 Speed 30ft

Total HP 7 Hit Die 1d8

Proficient Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma Proficient Skills: Arcana, History, Deception, Investigation, Insight, Perception, Religion

Attacks: Rapier (+5, 1d8+3 Piercing, Finesse) Bardic Inspiration: d6

Languages: Common, Elvish, three other languages of your choice Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords Tool Proficiency: Three musical instruments of choice

Features & Traits: Fey Ancestry (Advantage on saving throws against charm, and cannot be put to sleep by magic); Darkvision (60ft of dim light, and all darkness as dim light); Researcher (If you fail to recall a piece of lore, you know where to go to learn about it. This may not be easy.); Bardic Inspiration (As a bonus action on your turn, target a creature within 60 feet. They get a Bardic Inspiration die. Within the next 10 minutes, they can spend that die and add it to an ability check, attack roll or saving throw they made. A creature can only have one Bardic Inspiration die at a time; Use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining lost charges at a long rest).

Equipment: A bottle of black ink, a quill, a small knife, a letter from a dead colleague, a set of common clothes, money pouch. Leather armor, dagger, rapier, diplomat's pack, a musical instrument of your choice.

Spellcasting Attribute: Charisma Spell Save DC: 8+PRF+CHA Spell Attack Roll: PRF+CHA

Cantrips: 2 Known (Message and Mage Hand) 1st Level Spells: 2 Slots. [Charm Person, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Thunderwave] __ Level Two - Bard 2

HP 7 -> 11 Hit Die: 2d8

+1 1st Level Spell Slot New Spell: Silent Image

New Features: Jack of All Trades (Add half your Proficiency bonus to a skill check when using a skill you are not proficient in); Song of Rest (During a short rest, you or any friendly allies heal an extra amount when they spend a hit die);

Song of Rest healing: d6 __ Level Three - Valor Bard 3

HP 11 to 15 Hit Die: 3d8

+1 1st Level Spell Slot +2 2nd Level Spell Slots

New Features: Expertise: Insight, Perception (Add twice your Proficiency bonus to checks made with these skills); Combat Inspiration (Creatures can add Bardic Inspiration dice to damage rolls as well, and use their Reaction to roll in the Bardic Inspiration die and add it to their AC in an attempt to make an attack miss)

New Proficiencies: Medium armor, shields, all martial weapons __ Level Four - Valor Bard 4

HP 15 to 19 Hit Die: 4d8

New Cantrip +1 2nd Level Spell Slot

Ability Score Increase: Spend on the Keen Mind feat.

New Feature: +2 Constitution __ Level Five - Valor Bard 5

HP 19 to 24 Hit Die: 5d8

Proficiency to +3

Bardic Inspiration to d8

New Feature: Font of Inspiration (Recover all uses of Bardic Inspiration after a Short or Long rest, not just a Long rest)

+2 3rd Level Spell Slots

Suggested Gear Changes: Switch out the Leather Armor for a Breastplate (AC 14+up to 2 points of Dexterity) or Half-Plate (AC 15+up to 2 points of dexterity). Find a magical Rapier, probably a +1 Rapier. Grab a shield, to help make sure you don't die. Otherwise, the build doesn't really have any 'key' magic items - go nuts.

Play Advice: Yeah, don't get hit. Still. Hang back, dash in to hit things with your rapier, and focus on being useful outside of combat - for now. Your damage output is a little better thanks to Extra Attack in just one level, though, so hang in there. __ Level Six - Valor Bard 6

HP to 29 Hit Die: 6d8

+1 3rd Level Spell Slot

New Features: Countercharm (As an actional, start a performance that lasts until the end of your next turn. Until then, you and other friendly creatures in 30ft have advantage on saves against being frightened or charmed); Extra Attack (You may attack twice instead of once when you take the Attack action) __ Level Seven - Valor Bard 6, Rogue 1

HP to 34 Hit Die: 7d8

New Skill Proficiency: Intimidation New Tool Proficiency: Thieves' Tools

New Features: Add History and Deception to the skills affected by Expertise. Sneak Attack (Add 1d6 damage to an attack made with a Finesse weapon if you had Advantage once per round); Thieves' Cant (Sign language) __ Level Eight - Valor Bard 6, Rogue 2

HP to 39 Hit Die: 8d8

New Feature: Cunning Action (You gain an additional bonus action that can only be used to Dash, Disengage or Hide during your turn) __ Level Nine - Valor Bard 6, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 44 Hit Die: 9d8

Proficiency bonus to +4

New Proficiencies: Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, One gaming set of choice

New Features: Master of Intrigue (Mimic the speech patterns and accent of a creature that you hear speak for at least 1 minute); Master of Tactics (You can use the Help action as a bonus action; When you use the Help action to aid an ally in attacking a creature, the target of that attack can be within 30 feet of you, rather than 5 feet of you, if the target can see or hear you) __ Level Ten - Valor Bard 7, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 49 Hit Die: 10d8

+1 4th Level Spell and spell slot

Suggested Magic Items: If you can get one, an Ioun Stone of either Leadership or Agility - or, hell, both, although that's some endgame stuff there. A good magic weapon, like a +2 or a Flametongue, will help top up your damage output. An excellent item to pick up around this point is the Cloak of Displacement, forcing opponents to have disavantage on all attacks against you until you take damage - at which point, the effect resets at the start of your next turn.

Play Advice: OKAY, NOW WE'RE HERE. Using your bonus action to Help and then your proper action to either cast support magic or hit something twice is a much better use of your time. You don't have much in the way of damage spells, but trust me - soon. __ Level Eleven - Valor Bard 8, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 54 Hit Die: 11d8

Ability Score Increase: Take the Keen Mind feat.

+1 4th Level slot and spell

New Feature: Keen Mind (+1 Intelligence. You always know which way is north, you always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset, and you can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard in the last month) __ Level Twelve - Valor Bard 9, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 59 Hit Die: 12d8

Song of Rest to d8

+1 4th Level Spell slot +1 5th Level slot & spell __ Level Thirteen - Valor Bard 10, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 64 Hit Die: 13d8

Bardic Inspiration to d10 Proficiency Bonus to +5

New Feature: Add Arcana and Investigation to the list of skills affected by Expertise. Magical Secrets (Gain two spells from any other class' spell list, that you can cast at this level)

+1 5th level spell slot +1 Cantrip __ Level Fourteen - Valor Bard 11, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 69 Hit Die: 14d8

+1 6th level spell slot and spell __ Level Fifteen - Valor Bard 12, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 74 Hit Die: 15d8

Ability Score Improvement: Take the Observant feat (+1 Intelligence. If you can see a creature's mouth while it's talking a language you know, you can read its lips. +5 bonus to passive Wisdom(Perception) and Intelligence(Investigation) Scores)

Suggested Gear: Look, I'm serious, this build is mostly campaign- and gm-dependent in terms of what they'll let you get away with. Two of your three attunement slots are probably taken up by the Agility and Leadership Ioun Stones if they let you take both, and the third should be occupied by a Cloak of Displacement or a similarly powerful defensive item. This means that your shield, weapon, and armor are going to have to be vanilla +1 or +2 weapons, and your other gear also has to avoid being Attuned.

Play Advice: You now have a good damaging magical attack in Lightning Bolt (thanks,  magical secrets) that can do some RIDICULOUS amounts of damage when paired with the Battle Magic feature at Level 17. Either way, keep being a bard - super useful outside of combat, super helpful in combat, if not necessarily flashy. __ Level Sixteen - Valor Bard 13, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 79 Hit Die: 16d8

Song of Rest to d10

+1 7th level spell and slot __ Level Seventeen - Valor Bard 14, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 84 Hit Die: 17d8

Proficiency Bonus to +6

New Features: Magical Secrets; Battle Magic (When you use your action to cast a Bard spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action) __ Level Eighteen - Valor Bard 15, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 89 Hit Die: 18d8

Bardic Inspiration to d12

+1 Eight level spell and slot __ Leven Nineteen - Valor Bard 16, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 94 Hit Die: 19d8

Ability Score Improvement: +2 Charisma __ Level Twenty - Valor Bard 17, Mastermind Rogue 3

HP to 99 Hit Die: 20d8

+1 9th level spell and slot

Song of Rest to d12

Suggested Gear: See above, but here's what I'd go with. +3 Rapier, +3 Half-Plate, +3 Shield, Mastery Ioun Stone [Attuned], Agility Ioun Stone [Attuned], Leadership Ioun Stone [Attuned], and having read at least one of the ''+2 to this stat'' manuals for either Dexterity or Charisma - we'll say Dexterity. Then, a whole smorgasboard of just random magical effect  and summoning items - Necklace of Fireballs, Circlet of Blasting, Beads of Force, Elemental Gems, Potions, Spell Scrolls...seriously, go nuts. You're a bard, you're meant to. They're basically Fantasy Batman.  

Super Ultimate Final Build:

Name: Robin Race: Half-Elf Background: Sage Class/Level: Valor Bard 17 / Mastermind Rogue 3

Proficiency Bonus: +6 / +7 with Ioun Stone

STR 8 (-1) CON 10 (+0) DEX 16 (+3) / 20 with Manual + Ioun Stone (+5) INT 18 (+4) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 18 (+4) / 20 with Ioun Stone (+5)

AC 25 Initiative +5 Speed 30ft

Total HP 99 Hit Die 20d8

Proficient Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma Proficient Skills: Arcana*, History*, Deception*, Investigation*, Insight*, Perception*, Religion, Intimidation

Attacks: +3 Rapier (+12 to hit; 1d8+8 Piercing damage; Finesse) Bardic Inspiration: d12 Song of Rest: d12

Languages: Common, Elvish, three other languages of your choice Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons, Martial weapons, Medium armor, Shields, Light Armor Tool Proficiency: Three musical instruments of choice, Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, One gaming set of choice

Features & Traits: Fey Ancestry (Advantage on saving throws against charm, and cannot be put to sleep by magic); Darkvision (60ft of dim light, and all darkness as dim light); Researcher (If you fail to recall a piece of lore, you know where to go to learn about it. This may not be easy.); Bardic Inspiration (As a bonus action on your turn, target a creature within 60 feet. They get a Bardic Inspiration die. Within the next 10 minutes, they can spend that die and add it to an ability check, attack roll or saving throw they made. A creature can only have one Bardic Inspiration die at a time; Use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining lost charges at a long rest); Jack of All Trades (Add half your Proficiency bonus to a skill check when using a skill you are not proficient in); Song of Rest (During a short rest, you or any friendly allies heal an extra amount when they spend a hit die); Expertise: Insight, Perception, History, Deception, Arcana, Investigation (Add twice your Proficiency bonus to checks made with these skills); Combat Inspiration (Creatures can add Bardic Inspiration dice to damage rolls as well, and use their Reaction to roll in the Bardic Inspiration die and add it to their AC in an attempt to make an attack miss); Keen Mind (+1 Intelligence. You always know which way is north, you always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset, and you can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard in the last month); Font of Inspiration (Recover all uses of Bardic Inspiration after a Short or Long rest, not just a Long rest); Countercharm (As an actional, start a performance that lasts until the end of your next turn. Until then, you and other friendly creatures in 30ft have advantage on saves against being frightened or charmed); Extra Attack (You may attack twice instead of once when you take the Attack action); Cunning Action (You gain an additional bonus action that can only be used to Dash, Disengage or Hide during your turn);  Master of Intrigue (Mimic the speech patterns and accent of a creature that you hear speak for at least 1 minute); Master of Tactics (You can use the Help action as a bonus action; When you use the Help action to aid an ally in attacking a creature, the target of that attack can be within 30 feet of you, rather than 5 feet of you, if the target can see or hear you); Observant (+1 Intelligence. If you can see a creature's mouth while it's talking a language you know, you can read its lips. +5 bonus to passive Wisdom(Perception) and Intelligence(Investigation) Scores); Battle Magic (When you use your action to cast a Bard spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action);

Equipment: See above, but here's what I'd go with. +3 Rapier, +3 Half-Plate, +3 Shield, Mastery Ioun Stone [Attuned], Agility Ioun Stone [Attuned], Leadership Ioun Stone [Attuned], and having read at least one of the ''+2 to this stat'' manuals for either Dexterity or Charisma - we'll say Dexterity. Then, a whole smorgasboard of just random magical effect  and summoning items - Necklace of Fireballs, Circlet of Blasting, Beads of Force, Elemental Gems, Potions, Spell Scrolls...seriously, go nuts. You're a bard, you're meant to. They're basically Fantasy Batman.  

Spellcasting Attribute: Charisma Spell Save DC: 8+PRF+CHA Spell Attack Roll: PRF+CHA

Cantrips: 3 Known (Light, Blade Ward, Message and Mage Hand) 1st Level Spells: 4 Slots. [Charm Person, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Thunderwave, Silent Image] 2nd Level Spells: 3 Slots. [Detect Thoughts, Shatter] 3rd Level Spells: 3 Slots. [Sending, Dispel Magic] 4th Level Spells: 3 Slots. [Dimension Door, Hallucinatory Terrain] 5th Level Spells: 2 Slots. [Scrying] 6th Level Spells: 1 Slot. [True Seeing] 7th Level Spells: 1 Slot. [Teleport] 8th Level Spells: 1 Slot. [Power Word Stun] 9th Level Spells: 1 Slot. [Power Word Heal]

MAGICAL SECRETS: Lightning Bolt (Sorcerer Level 3); Conjure Elemental (Wizard Level 5); Simulacrum (wizard Level 7); Chain Lightning (Sorcerer Level 6);

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #178

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the beach’s demon king of the sixth heaven, Oda Nobunaga (Berserker)! This extra spicy Nobu is a Swords Bard to make her axe a little more literal while still grabbing the freaking spaceship we need to build, a Four Elements Monk to grab that giant flaming skeleton, and just a bit of Fighter for high-speed guitar skills that would make Hellshake Yano weep with jealousy.

Check out her build breakdown here, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Team Tyrannical Shooting Star... again.

Race and Background

Nobu is still a Variant Human, giving her +1 Wisdom and Charisma. The Deception proficiency she gets is also super useful for your fool’s tactics, as is the Mobile feat, which gives you an extra 10′ of movement each move action, and you can escape from enemies you’ve attacked this turn without dealing with their attacks of opportunity.

She gets the Entertainer background this time though so she can rock out on the beach with proficiency in Acrobatics and Performance.

Ability Scores

Nobu’s Charisma is top notch, which isn’t surprising. She really knows how to make an entrance. After that is Dexterity, because playing a guitar is hard, but playing one with a chainsaw attached is even harder. The fact you still have both hands is tribute to your skills. Your Dexterity is next, your primary fuel for that fire is... you. A lesser servant would already be charcoal by now. Your Wisdom isn’t terrible, though that’s mostly for multiclassing. Your Strength’s a bit low, but your weapon’s damage comes from being a chainsaw more than you swinging it. Finally, dump Intelligence. You’re still Nobu, and you’re also a berserker this time around.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: We’re starting off as a fighter mostly for the weapon proficiencies, but the extra HP and concentration buff doesn’t hurt either. You get proficiency with Strength and Constitution saves, as well as two skills- Insight will help make you a lot smarter than you look, and Intimidation is just really easy when you have a giant flaming skeleton backup singer.

You also get a Fighting Style, so grab Superior Technique to throw out a Distracting Strike once per short rest. When you hit a target with a distracting strike, you’ll deal more damage, and the next non-you creature to target it gets advantage.

You also get a Second Wind you can use as a bonus action once per short rest for a bit of healing. This isn’t even the last healing thing you get- I don’t know why you’ve got Garden of Avalon attached to a skill, and honestly I don’t care. It’s awesome.

2. Monk 1: One thing fighter doesn’t have going for it is the ability to duke it out in a T-shirt. Monk fixes that handily with Unarmored Defense, giving you an AC based on your Dexterity and Wisdom. It’s... not a huge boost, but it’s something?

Even better, you get Martial Arts, so now you can use your dexterity instead of strength to attack with your monk weapons. A guitar/cd player/chainsaw isn’t a monk weapon yet, but at least your punches will land.

3. Monk 2: At second level, monks can use their Ki for all sorts of things on their bonus action- dash, disengage, dodge, or attack twice as a bonus action, by spending ki points! You get Monk Level ki points per short rest. You also get Unarmored Movement, making you even faster while not wearing any kind of armor.

Most importantly, you can turn your axe into a Dedicated Weapon over a long rest, turning any non-two handed or heavy weapon into a monk weapon. Battleaxes are versatile, not two-handed, so now you’ve got an axe-sized axe that you can really use. And it only took three levels!

4. Fighter 2: We’re popping back to fighter one last time for Action Surge, giving you a second action on a turn once per short rest. I don’t know what qualifies as a “sick guitar solo” in D&D, but I hope playing twice within the same six seconds counts.

5. Bard 1: Now that you’ve got your speed up, your music should be a bit more magical. First level  bards can use Bardic Inspiration as a bonus action, giving your allies a d6 to use on an attack, check, or save. You get Charisma Modifier inspiration dice to hand out per long rest. You also learn a couple Spells that will put your high Charisma to use.

Grab Vicious Mockery and Bane to throw people off their game, and Prestidigitation so you can do whatever you want to with minor magical effects. You also get Heroism and Cure Wounds for more party support, Faerie Fire for just a touch of flame right off the bat.

You also get one more skill proficiency, so grab History. You’re not an academic, but you are a historical figure.

6. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half their proficiency to checks you’re not proficient with. You also get a Song of Rest, adding a d6 to healing done over short rests. We’re still a ways away from your giant flaming skeleton, but for now you can use Silent Image so it looks like you have one.

7. Bard 3: We debated a lot between making you a Swords bard or a Valor bard, but in the end the former won out so you can make your weapon your casting implement. Thanks to your new Dueling fighting style, you can play the axe one-handed just as well as you do with two hands, and you also get Blade Flourishes using your Inspiration. When you take the attack action, your movement increases by 10′, and you can spend an inspiration die to deal extra damage and get another effect. A Defensive Flourish adds the roll to your AC for a round, a Slashing Flourish deals the extra damage to nearby creatures as well, and the Mobile Flourish pushes the creature away, and you can use your reaction to follow them.

You get Expertise in Performance and Deception, doubling your proficiency bonus in those checks. You also learn the second level spell Heat Metal. Real fire? In a fire-themed character build? Wild!

8. Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Dexterity for higher AC and better attacks. You can also use Minor Illusion for those times you want a fire skeleton, but you can’t waste a spell slot. If you want another second level spell, use Pyrotechnics to make, well, pyrotechnics. You can put out a small area of existing fire, and/or you can create Fireworks or Smoke from that area. The former forces a constitution save (DC 8 + Proficiency + charisma mod) on nearby creatures or they’re blinded for a round, and the latter creates a smoke cloud that creates a heavily obscured area for up to a minute.

9. Monk 3: Now that we’ve got a good lineup of music set to go, let’s finally get the skeleton. As a Four Elements monk, you’re a Disciple of the Elements, giving you two Elemental Disciplines. Elemental Attunement is mandatory, and it gives you several small effects, including the ability to create small fires as an action. More importantly, you can spend a ki point to turn your arms into Fangs of the Fire Snake, making your unarmed attacks deal fire damage for the turn, and your reach increases by 10′ for the turn. On top of that, you can spend even more ki points to deal more damage with each hit. They don’t specify the attacks are coming from a giant skeleton, but I’m pretty sure that’s an oversight.

You can also use your reaction to Deflect Missiles and reduce incoming damage from arrows. If you reduce it to zero, you can throw it back. Yeah, it’s okay. I’m still thinking about the fire skeleton though.

10. Monk 4: The ASIs are coming hard and heavy right now, so bump up your Dexterity for better armor and attacks. You also get to Slow Fall as a reaction, so jumping out a building isn’t quite as stupid an idea for you.

11. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack for more punches each action. That means you’ve got two in a normal turn, three with martial arts, four with flurry of blows, and six with an Action surge. You also get to turn those punches into Stunning Strikes, forcing a constitution save on the target to avoid getting stunned for a round. That save’s based on your wisdom though, so don’t expect miracles.

12. Bard 5: Bouncing back to bard real quick makes your Bardic Inspiration stronger, turning all those dice into d8s. That buffs your flourish power, and your party support. As a bonus, you become a Font of Inspiration, so those dice recharge on short rests too!

Really this is just a banner level for you, since with third level spells you can also grab Major Image to create a really big skeleton that actually feels hot!

13. Bard 6: Sixth level bards get pretty much nothing, ‘cause your extra attack doesn’t stack. You also get a Countercharm, I guess. Spend your action to give advantage to allies dealing with Fear and Charm effects.

If you want to do that and still be useful, spend a minute to give your allies a Motivational Speech -er, concert- to give them temporary HP and advantage on wisdom saves. If they’re hit by an attack, they also get advantage on their next attack too. The spell ends for everyone after an hour, or for a creature after their temporary HP is destroyed.

14. Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like Hallucinatory Terrain. I know nobuserker won’t get the ability to set fields on fire for a while, but futureproofing is a good habit to get into.

15. Monk 6: Hopping back over to monk real quick for some Ki-Empowered Strikes, making your fists magical for overcoming resistance. You also get one more Elemental Discipline, and Sweeping Cinder Strike gives you Burning Hands for the low low cost of 2 ki points per cast. You can also spend an extra ki point to upcharge it, but honestly that’s more trouble than it’s worth.

16. Bard 8: Another ASI! Use this one to power up your Charisma for stronger heals, stronger spells, and more inspiration. You can also cast Phantasmal Killer so Skelly can go kill people on his own.

17. Bard 9: Your Song of Rest grows to a d8 as well, for sicker riffs while you’re jamming. You can also Animate Objects, so now you can really put the “chain” back in your chainsaw and go scooting around.

18. Bard 10: Your Bardic Inspiration grows one last time to a d10, and you get Magical Secrets, two spells from any class. (You also get a cantrip, so.. True Strike, why not.)

You also learn the spell Find Greater Steed so you can ride in style in your own customizable rocket. I’d recommend a Griffon, but anything with a flying speed is good. You also get Haste to make that griffon more rocket-y, doubling a target creature’s speed, giving it an extra action, advantage on dex saves and checks, and it’s AC goes up by 2. You’ll have to let the engines cool afterwards though, it’ll have to take a turn off once the spell ends. Also, make sure you keep that thing low to the ground, unless you want to get pancaked by Ishtar.

Also, more Expertise. Perfect your atsumori with Acrobatics and your cool poses with Intimidation.

19. Monk 7: It took a while to get here, but you finally get Evasion! Now your dexterity saves are super good, with failures only dealing half damage and successes avoiding all damage! You also get a Stillness of Mind that lets you end charming and frightening effects on yourself. Madness enhancement is one hell of a drug.

20. Monk 8: Your capstone level is one last ASI, and if you made it this far you deserve a pat on the back. And also the Tough feat for 40 extra HP.

Pros:

With support from your fighting techniques and bard spells plus damage from your monk stuff, you’ve got a lot of variety, so you can fill out any niche your party doesn’t have covered.

Being a mobile monk means you’re fast as hell and hard to retaliate against, making you perfect at hit and run tactics. Use that action surge for a burst of activity, then run off before anyone knows what happened.

Despite being a berserker you have a lot of support options and can fit a lot of roles, from preventing status effects with countercharm & motivational speech to healing with cure wounds to weakening enemies with vicious mockery, bane, and distracting strikes.

Cons:

A less generous person might say this build is too Cluttered. You’ve got inspiration and martial arts fighting for your bonus action, and while you can do many things, there are more dedicated builds that do them better.

This is in part due to limited resources for your best abilities, mostly tied to short rests. With limited action surges, distracting strikes, flourishes, and fire snake fangs, you’ve got a short fuse, and it’ll take work to make sure you don’t burn out before the fighting’s over.

Your ability scores are similarly spread out in all directions, with your wisdom being the big loser. This means that if you can’t outrun someone you’ll be an easy target with an AC of only 15, and your monk abilities like Sweeping Cinder Strike and Stunning Strike aren’t nearly as useful as they should be.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #159

Today on Fate and Phantasms we bring you the outlaw star himself, Assassin of Shinjuku! As always, it’s hard to go into detail about Sassyshin’s abilities without giving away his identity, so true name spoilers below the cut.

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

Next up: Wait a minute, I thought King Arthur was a girl!

This build blends Yan Qing’s Shadow Monk techniques with the Doppelganger’s shapeshifting, here represented by the Whispers Bard levels. Kill people, steal their identity, repeat!

Race and Background

Technically Yan Qing is part ghost, but it’s a lot easier to call him a Variant Human instead. If you really want to lean into the doppelganger thing Changeling’s right there, but then you won’t get +1 Dexterity and Charisma, Acrobatics proficiency to jump up entire castles with ease, and the Observant feat to show off why they call you the Skillful Star. This feat gives you +1 Wisdom, the ability to read lips, and you get +5 to your passive Perception and Investigation scores so your disguises are a bit more detailed.

Of course you get the Criminal background, giving you Deception and Stealth proficiencies.

Ability Scores

Speaking of being the Skillful Star, all that martial arts training should make your Dexterity pretty freaking high. After that is Charisma, you’re really good at disguises, and almost as good at making convincing arguments. Almost. After that is Wisdom for more skill and more observational skills. Your Constitution isn’t half bad, you can take a lot of damage and keep going. When you’re fighting against Guda. When you’re actually on their team, that’s a different story. Your Strength should probably be a bit higher, but it’s not very useful for the build. Finally, dump Intelligence. Sassy-shin is many things to many people, but Himbo is definitely one of them.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Starting with monk will help you get your shirtless scenes going earlier thanks to your Unarmored Defense giving you an AC based on your dexterity and wisdom. You also get some Martial Arts, letting you use dexterity instead of strength when fighting, giving you a minimum of a d4 in damage when using unarmed attacks, and you can attack as a bonus action if you attack as an action.

On top of all that, you also get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves as well as Athletics for even better climbing skills and Insight, because you can’t manipulate people if you don’t know what they want.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get Ki points each short rest equal to their monk level. Currently, that lets you Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Attack Twice as a bonus action, but more stuff will come up as we go. Your Unarmored Movement also lets you move just a bit faster while shirtless.

3. Bard 1: Your impersonation powers come from the doppelganger, a fictional creature (also you’re fictional, but hush), so bard’s as good as any class to get their powers from. Grabbing bard second gives you Perception proficiency for even more detailed disguises, as well as Bardic Inspiration. Right now they’re a pool of d6s that recharge on long rests. You can hand out to allies to help them with their d20 rolls-checks, saves, attacks, all that good stuff. Unless your DM somehow incorporated C. Stars into their game, this is one of the closest ways you have to get the actual Skillful Star skill in D&D.

Beyond that, you also learn a couple Spells that use your Charisma to cast. Light helps your dumb human eyes see in the dark and also do the glowy hand thing. It won’t actually help with damage, but it looks cool, and that’s what’s really important. You also get Vicious Mockery, tbh stealing the memory of an enemy’s loved ones means you can get some really disturbing insults.

For first level spells, grab Bane for more insults, Disguise Self for a cheapo disguise that doesn’t even work physically, Longstrider to press your speed advantage further, and Heroism, because you’re a pretty nice guy when you put aside the identity theft.

4. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to checks that you’re not proficient in, even making you a little bit faster by boosting your initiative bonus. You can also use a Song of Rest to add a d6 to the healing your party does over a short rest. I mean, you’re a character in a novel, you’ve got to have some good stories to share, right?

For your spell this level, grab Speak with Animals. Working with Lobo is always rough, but at least now you’ll be able to tell his “I’ll tear you limb from limb” bark from his “I’ll tear you limb from limb later” bark.

5. Bard 3: Your doppelganger side grants you the power of a bard from the college of Whispers. When you join the college, you can use your bardic inspiration to create Psychic Blades, adding 2d6 psychic damage to a weapon attack once per turn. I’ve given up trying to figure out if hitting things with your hands count as weapon attacks, so maybe just keep a knife on standby.

You also learn Words of Terror, spending a minute alone with your target to force a wisdom save (DC 8+proficiency+charisma mod) or they become frightened of a creature you choose for up to an hour or until it or an ally takes damage where it can see you. You can use this once per short rest, and if they succeed on their save there’s not tell that you did anything. You also get Expertise in Insight and Deception to make your disguises flawless.

Your spell this time is Enhance Ability, making you even better at whatever you set out to do by giving you (or another creature) advantage on one kind of ability check. For those of you playing along at home, this means you now have a +8 to deception checks, with advantage. Even without your disguises, you’re already doing pretty well for yourself.

6. Bard 4: But “pretty well” isn’t perfect. We can do better. Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Actor feat, rounding up your Charisma for extra inspiration and stronger spells. You also get advantage on deception and performance checks to act as a different person, no spells required. On top of all that, you can mimic the speech of a creature you’ve heard talking for at least a minute, requiring a contested Insight check vs your Deception check to figure things out.

For those rare times you’re trying to be yourself, you can also use Friends to get advantage instead. When that inevitably backfires, use Mirror Image to create some shadow clones for an easier escape. The spell makes three copies of yourself, and when you would get hit by an attack there’s a 75% chance it will hit one of them instead. After they take a hit for you, they pop, reducing the odds of blocking the next attack. MI is technically UA, but it’s not exactly a massive power boost.

7. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see their inspiration dice grow to d8s. While that doesn’t affect your psychic blades, your Font of Inspiration does, letting you recharge inspiration on short rests for more consistent support and damage.

You also learn how to Feign Death to escape any criminal/detective duos on your trail. Admittedly this isn’t as effective as disguising yourself as a civilian, as it basically knocks you out for an hour, giving you resistance to most types of damage and prevents any sort of effect from diseases or poison.

8. Bard 6: The sixth level of bard is where our plan really comes together. No, I’m not talking about Countercharm, get that shit outta here. We’re here for the Mantle of Whispers, letting you steal a humanoid’s shadow when it dies nearby once per short rest. Using their shadow, you can create an hour-long disguise that not only makes you look like the person, but gives you information they would give away to acquaintances. Creatures can see through the disguise with an Insight check against your Deception check, but you get a +5 to that, on top of everything else.

9. Monk 3: Stealing peoples’ identity is nice, but it’s time we got back to punching good. Third level monks get their way, and Way of Shadow helps you take advantage of Shinjuku’s oppressive atmosphere to make the town your own. Your Shadow Arts lets you cast spells like Darkness, Darkvision, Pass without Trace, or Silence using your Ki points. You can also cast Minor Illusion to take your stealth to the next level with some free distractions.

Besides all that, you can Deflect Missiles, catching them out of the air to reduce damage and possibly even throwing them back as a reaction.

Now that you have a bunch of things eating away at your Ki points, you can use your Ki-Fueled Attack to attack as a bonus action if your main action uses your Ki. Now nothing can stop you from delivering those hands.

10. Monk 4: Been a while since your last ASI, huh? Use this one to boost your Dexterity for a better AC and stronger attacks. You can also Slow Fall as a reaction, reducing fall damage by five times your monk level. As Moriarty could tell you, falling off a skyscraper hurts.

11. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack each attack action, and you can turn those attacks into Stunning Strikes by using Ki. If the target fails a constitution save all attacks on them for the round have advantage. Great way to fish for crits for your psychic blades.

12. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki-empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magic against resistances. You’re a Tier-3 character, you’ll probably need this.

You can also use your brand new Shadow Step to teleport between shadows as a bonus action. Moving so quickly also gives you advantage on your next attack.

13. Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like using Phantasmal Killer to create a more offensive shadow clone. For up to a minute one targeted creature needs to make a wisdom save. If they fail, they’re frightened and at the end of each turn they have to make another wisdom save or they take psychic damage.

14. Bard 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma again for stronger spells and inspiration. You can also use Freedom of Movement to escape from impossible binds. Just disguise yourself as a free person, I can’t believe nobody thought of this before.

15. Bard 9: Our last level of bard charges your Song of Rest to a d8, and you get a fifth level spell. Mislead lets you move so fast enemies will have to hit your afterimage, simultaneously turning you invisible and creating an illusion of yourself.  The illusion lasts for an hour, but you only stay invisible until you attack or cast another spell. It can speak or gesture just like you, and you can even see through its eyes.

16. Monk 7: Seventh level monks finally get Evasion, turning your dex saves into supersaves. Now your failures deal as much damage as your successes, and your successes avoid all damage entirely. Your Stillness of Mind also lets you shut down effects that are charming or frightening you.

17. Monk 8: Use your last ASI to bump up your Wisdom for a stronger AC. Technically grabbing more Dexterity would be better here, but I like rounding stuff up more than capping it out. Makes room for DM stuff.

18. Monk 9: Your Unarmored Movement Improvement lets you run up walls and over water, so long as you don’t end your turn there. You can finally climb up that huge freaking castle you’ve been eyeing for a while!

19. Monk 10: Tenth level monks get a Purity of Body that makes you immune to disease and poison. At least this isn’t your capstone?

20. Monk 11: As an eleventh level shadow monk gets a Cloak of Shadows, letting you disguise yourself as a Vashta Narada as an action, becoming invisible in dim light or darker. This lasts until you attack, cast a spell, or leave the shadows. I’m pretty sure this qualifies for that whole “cast no shadow” thing you’re always going on about, right?

Pros:

You are the one true imposter. With advantage as well as +21 to all your deception rolls to disguise yourself, you’re pretty much undiscoverable. On top of that, you’re also great at reading people with a +15 to insight. The only person doing impressions around here is you, thank ya kindly.

Like all monks, you’re really fast, with 50′ of movement speed, dash options, teleporting options, and ways to make yourself even faster via magic. You go down harder than the KT event, but you’re fine as long as you don’t get hit.

You also come with tons of ways to mess with the enemy. Make yourself invisible, shoot darkness like a squid shoots ink, have them chasing an illusion, or even just disguise yourself as a loved one. You are a terror to fight.

Cons:

Touching on that thing I said back in Pro #2, you’re pretty squishy, with barely over 100 HP and only 17 AC. Stick to the shadows, you’ll need them.

You also have a serious issue with range. Anything that can outspeed you will find it pretty easy to have you running in circles, since your best ranged attacks are cantrips.

This build is also a little bit complicated, with balancing your Ki, inspirations, who you can disguise as, who you can mimic, and all that fun stuff. Like a lot of the clever people builds, don’t expect to play this one like you would a barbarian.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #124: Hassan of the Serenity

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the most adorable of the Hassans, Hassan of the Serenity! Lookit her! I just wanna pinch her little cheeks!

But I won’t.

For this build we need poison skin, poison daggers, and the ability to shapeshift into other people which literally never gets brought up. Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Rice is nice, but twice the rice is thrice as nice.

Race and Background

Like a couple characters, you’re really a human, but those idiots don’t get poison skin. Fortunately, WotC came up with a solution! It skirts the edge of officialness, but the Grung do exist in a Wizards of the Coast rulebook, so you can play as them! (Just not in Adventurer’s League games.) Being a grung increases your Dexterity by 2 and Constitution by 1. You gain proficiency in Perception, get a walking and climbing speed of 25 feet, are Amphibious, and get Poisonous Skin. Any creature that directly touches you must make a DC 12 Constitution save or be poisoned for a minute, with additional saves each turn they aren’t touching you. You can also poison your piercing weapons as you attack, forcing another constitution save that deals poison damage on a failure. Finally, your Standing Leap lets you jump 25′ across and 15′ straight up, even without a running start, for those anime-style rooftop battles. All this does come with a drawback, though. Your Water Dependency means if you don’t submerge yourself in water for an hour each day, you suffer exhaustion that can’t be taken away without either magic or another long bath. Good luck dealing with that in the desert!

Like the other Hassans, you’re an Acolyte, giving you proficiency in Insight and Religion. Why rock the boat?

Ability Scores

Like many assassins, you’ll want to focus on Dexterity for this build. Your schtick is more about social manipulation, but being able to duck out when you need to is pretty important too. After that is Charisma, so you can sucker your mark into bed with you. After that is Wisdom- being able to charm a person is good, but you have to be perceptive enough to figure out how to do it in the first place. Your Constitution isn’t that great, but people should be giving you a wide berth anyway. We don’t need Intelligence, but you’re not dumb, so we’re dumping Strength. Straight-up brawls are not your thing.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: We’ll get into your assassin skills in a bit, but I think your poison needs a bit of buffing first. That’ll take a while, but right now you get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as two monk skills- Stealth and Acrobatics will serve you well.

You also get Unarmored Defense, making your AC based on your dexterity and wisdom instead of just the former. That’s good, because you can’t use your Martial Arts in armor. This lets you use dexterity instead of strength for your monk attacks, and you do a minimum of 1d4 damage with unarmed attacks and monk weapons that’ll increase as you level. Finally, you can make an unarmed attack as a bonus action if you make the attack action with monk weapons.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks can use Ki Points to make two attacks, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. It should be mentioned that doing either of the latter two doubles your already considerable jump distance, in case your DM thinks a 50 foot chasm is enough to stop you. To help with that, your Unarmored Movement helps make up for your reduced speed, adding 10 to your movement speed.

3. Monk 3: As a Way of Mercy monk, your paws get just a bit more poisonous thanks to your Hands of Harm. You can spend a ki point once per turn when you hit a creature with an unarmed attack to deal extra necrotic damage to them. You also get some Hands of Healing that use ki once per turn to heal a creature, but that’s less in character. And also a really bad idea, what with that poisonous skin and all.

You can also deflect missiles, reducing damage from ranged weapons and possibly even spending ki to throw it back as part of the reaction.

4. Monk 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab some Squat Nimbleness. This feat increases your movement speed by 5′ to negate being small, gives you +1 Dexterity, proficiency in Athletics, and advantage on your checks to break free from grapples. I feel like that last bit probably won’t be much of an issue for you, but you never know.

You can also Slow Fall as a reaction, to help with the inevitable side effect of all that jumping you can do.

5. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack, and can spend ki to make a Stunning Strike, forcing a constitution save (DC 8 plus your proficiency plus your wisdom modifier) or they become stunned for a round. You can also use Focused Aim to turn ki points into extra points on your attack roll, to avoid wasting all that poison.

6. Monk 6: Your Ki-Empowered Strikes make your unarmed attacks magical to overcome resistance, and your Physician’s Touch empowers your hands of healing and harming. The former can end one instance of blinding, deafening, paralyzing, poisoning, or being stunned (or I guess replace those with another instance of being poisoned), and the latter makes the target poisoned with no save for a round. Hey, you get what you pay for.

7. Rogue 1: Now that your poison is up to snuff, we can focus on your assassin skills. Multiclassing into rogue nets you a Deception proficiency and the ability to speak Thieves’ Cant. Grungs don’t get common as a racial language, so this might actually help when you try to communicate with the rest of the party. You also get a Sneak Attack for extra damage with finesse weapons. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency with those skills. Your Deception and Insight game are on point now.

8. Rogue 2: Second level rogues can make a Cunning Action on their bonus action. They can use this to dash, disengage, or hide. Hey, that’s most of what monks have to spend stuff to do!

9. Rogue 3: Third level rogues get their subclass, and as your class name would suggest you’re an Assassin! As an assassin, you can Assassinate targets, giving you free advantage on creatures who haven’t taken a turn yet and giving you free critical hits on surprised creatures. Your poisonous skin doesn’t actually kill people in this universe, but a knife to the back can be pretty good too.

10. Bard 1: We need spellcasting for a feat we’re grabbing later, so sorry for the third class. I promise we were trying to make something simple this time. As far as justification goes, you’re the embodiment of a fictional story, the “Poison Damsel”.

You can cast Spells using your Charisma, and you can hand out Bardic Inspiration to your allies (thankfully not by touch), giving them an extra d6 to use on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You can inspire people a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. You also get another skill proficiency. Sleight of Hand is pretty useful, especially when your hands kill people.

For spells, grab Friends and Charm Person to string your enemies along, Longstrider and Feather Fall to make up for all the monk levels we’re missing out on, and Minor Illusion and Disguise Self to perfect your disguises. Not that being a frog isn’t still and issue for you- your size will seriously limit how many people you can pretend to be.

11. Rogue 4: Use this ASI to become a Poisoner, allowing you to ignore resistance to poison damage, apply non-grung poisons to weapons as a bonus action, and create powerful poisons with a poisoner’s kit. More powerful than your skin, at least.

12. Rogue 5: Fifth level rogues can use their Uncanny Dodge as a reaction, halving damage from an incoming attack. Smart enemies will be using reach weapons, which tend to hurt a bit. Try not to touch the pointy bits.

13. Rogue 6: You get another round of Expertise, doubling your proficiency for Stealth and Sleight of Hand for the perfect getaway.

14. Rogue 7: Seventh level rogues get the powerful Evasion technique, turning your failed dexterity saves into successes for avoiding damage, and successes negate all damage entirely! Also, your sneak attack grows to 4d6. We’re not going to bring it up every time, just know it grows on odd levels.

15. Rogue 8: Having to rely on spell slots for shapeshifting is for nerds! Use this ASI to become an Eldritch Adept, allowing you to get the invocation Mask of Many Faces, which lets you cast Disguise Self at will! Now you can save all those spell slots for more useful things.

16. Rogue 9: Ninth level Assassins get Infiltration Expertise, allowing you to spend a week making a new identity that lasts until others are given obvious reasons to call you sus. Looking the part can only get you so far- nobody mistrusts paperwork.

17. Rogue 10: Now that we have your feats down, we can finally start boosting your abilities! Use this ASI to round up your Constitution and Wisdom scores for more survivability. 

18. Rogue 11: Eleventh level rogues have Reliable Talent, meaning all your d20s will always roll at least a 10 when making checks you’re proficient in. You’re not bad at the things you’re good at, surprising I know.

19. Rogue 12: Use your last ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger disguises. Wait, we’re done already?

20. Rogue 13: Our capstone level nets you the Imposter ability, allowing you to copy another creature perfectly if you spend three hours studying their speech, handwriting, and mannerisms. You also get advantage on deception checks to maintain the charade. Then it’s just a matter of time before you sink a poisoned sneak attack in their neck and vent out of electric.

Pros:

Rogues with sneak attacks are scary. Rogues with guaranteed crits on their sneak attacks are even scarier. Rogues that can reliably poison their guaranteed critical hit sneak attacks are seriously bad news. You can do some serious damage if you get the drop on someone, is what I’m trying to say here.

Like all Hassans, this build is pretty mobile, with 45 feet of running and climbing speed, ridiculous hops, and a smaller size to squeeze into places other races can’t follow.

When you’re not dealing absurd damage, you can deal plenty of status effects too. Poison, stun, charm, it’s all yours to deal out as you wish!

Cons:

Poisoning things isn’t good. Even ignoring the fact that you’re eating up a bonus action to add some damage to one attack (even rangers get a better deal than that) plenty of creatures in the monster manual are immune to poison anyway. Thankfully you’re not completely defenseless, since your sneak attack doesn’t care what kind of damage it deals. All the coolest poisons are hidden in the dungeon master’s guide anyway.

Grung are a lot of things, but masters of disguise is not one of them. Your size means your ability to use Disguise Self is severely limited, and any nonmagical disguises will have their work cut out for them. Disguising yourself as a different grung won’t help much, they’ll still track you down because you’re probably the only other grung they’ve seen in town.

Just going to come out and say it- your magic isn’t nearly as powerful as it needs to be to be reliably used for disguises. Fortunately very few people bother investing in Investigation, but it can still be a serious issue when your spell save dc is around 14 for most of the game.

[grailfinders]

Fate & Phantasms #118: Ozymandias

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making one of the greatest pharaohs of all time, Ozymandias, a.k.a. Ramses II! You got sunpower, you got tombs, and you got sphinxes. You've got so many sphinxes.

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

Next up: Naaaaaaaants ingonyamaaaaaaaaa bagithi Baba!

Race and Background

You're a very shiny half god, but you don't fly, so that narrows down our options to the Scourge Aasimar. This gives you +1 Wisdom and +2 Dexterity (thanks to Tasha's). You also get some Darkvision for your trouble, Celestial Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, Healing Hands for some Imperial Privilege off the bat, and the Light cantrip, because you won't have enough of that by the end of this build.

Like many servants before you, calling you a Noble is a bit of an understatement. However, that's the closest we can get to living god, and it gives you History and Persuasion proficiencies.

Ability Scores

Make sure your Wisdom's high, we use it a lot and being a wise king is a pretty good gig. Following that is Dexterity, because you're definitely not wearing armor but you're also not dead. I mean all servants are dead, but... anyway. After that is Charisma, you literally light up the room when you walk in.  Constitution is next, gods aren't easy to kill after all. Your Intelligence is going to have to be a bit low. I have my doubts about the ancient Egyptian education system, but you are smart enough to drink your Respect Women Juice, so I'm not going to dump it. That leaves your Strength as the odd man out. I know you've got abs, but we'll be getting our punching power from dexterity anyway, so it'll work itself out.

Class Levels

1. Cleric 1: This is almost cheating. You're literally a god already, so I guess you can believe in yourself. As a Light cleric, you can cast and prepare Spells using your Wisdom. You also get a Warding Flare that you can use as a reaction, imposing disadvantage on a creature attacking you. Assuming they use their eyes to see, of course. You can use this a number of times per long rest equal to your Wisdom modifier.

You also get plenty of spells- all your spellcasting classes here have preparation, so you don't have to fret too much about grabbing the right ones. You'll be switching them up daily anyway. That being said, here you get Guidance to hear the voice of... yourself... telling someone the right way to do something, adding a d4 to an ability check. You also get Word of Radiance and Sacred Flame for some easy radiant damage.

Since you're a light cleric, you can add Burning Hands and Faerie Fire to your spell list for free for some hot and not hot light respectively. If you're still looking for more stuff to cast, Bless gives you a longer lasting form of Guidance for when you need to inspire your party with tales of your wife, Command lets you put the fear of You into someone so they'll do what you say, and Inflict Wounds is a really good magical damage dealer. It's not radiant damage, but you'll have plenty of that already.

Finally, your proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, as well as Religion and Insight. Being god comes with a lot of perks, especially the fact that you're never wrong about your doctrine.

2. Monk 1: We're popping into monk early because waiting any longer for your shirtless scene would be a literal crime. At first level, you get Unarmored Defense, giving you an AC based on your wisdom as well as your dexterity. You also get Martial Arts, making your minimum damage with your fists, a shortsword, or a simple weapon a d4, letting you substitute dexterity for strength, and allowing you to make an unarmed attack as a bonus action after you attack with your action. Few deserve the honor of your touch, but by You you'll give it to them. You're generous like that.

3. Cleric 2: As a second level cleric you can Channel your Divinity once per short rest, either Turning Undead by forcing them to make a wisdom save with a DC of 8 plus your proficiency plus your wisdom modifier, which if they fail, they have to run away until the effect ends or they take damage. The more you option, however, is the Radiance of the Dawn, which you use as an action to banish darkness within 30' of you and deal radiant damage to creatures that fail their constitution saves in that area.

Speaking of radiant damage, your Radiant Consumption kicks in at this level- spend a bonus action to transform into a lightbulb that shines light for 20 feet, and each creature within 10 feet (including you) takes radiant damage equal to half your level at the end of each turn. You can also add more radiant damage to an attack or spell once per turn, which is equal to your level. You can use this once per long rest.

4. Cleric 3: At  third level you get second level spells. Your freebies are Flaming Sphere and Scorching Ray, which technically aren’t radiant damage, but the sun’s made of fire too, so I guess it gets a pass. You can also prepare spells like Augury for a bit of Clairvoyance.

5. Monk 2: With some basic spells down, let’s get more sunpower. In a bit. While we’re here, you get some Ki that you can spend to dash, disengage, attack twice, or dodge as a bonus action. You get a number of ki points per short rest equal to your monk level. You also get Unarmored Movement, letting you move an extra 10 feet when not wearing armor.

6. Monk 3: Yeah, this subclass probably isn’t a surprise either. As a Sun Soul monk,  you can throw Radiant Sun Bolts as part of your attack action. These bolts have a range of 30 feet, and use your dexterity to attack. If you use the sun bolt as part of your attack action, you can also spend a ki point to use it twice with your bonus action.

7. Druid 1: This has been pretty obvious so far. Let’s shake things up a bit with a weirder class to take. If you want a canon explanation for this class, the Egyptian pantheon was all about that human/animal duality, but the real reason we’re here is simple. Making sphinxes? High level magic. Making tombs? High level magic. Only Druids (and Bards, technically) can summon animals big enough to be a sphinx and use Mirage Arcane at the same time, so we gotta put some levels in this class. (Though now that I think about it, you do really like to tell stories about your wife... maybe bard isn’t that far-fetched...)

Anyway, first level druids can write in Druidic, a language only druids know. It might as well be hieroglyphs for all your party knows. You can also cast and prepare another list of Spells, which also uses Wisdom. We’ve learned since the Babbage build.

Most of the good Ramses-y spells that you get as a druid you also get as a cleric, but you still get a couple cantrips! Grab Resistance to complement your Guidance, and Druidcraft, so you can make a little sun when it’s already sunny out. You can also use Beast Bond now, because you’re not just a king, you’re a god. That means everything answers to you.

8. Druid 2: Second level druids can use their Wild Shape as an action twice per long rest to turn into a beast that can’t swim or fly of CR 1/2 or lower. You never see Ozymandias turn into an animal in FGO, but you never see him say he can’t either. 

I’ll level with you here: None of the druid subclasses really jive with being Ozymandias well. Desert Land druids don’t give us any spells that fit you, you don’t turn into animals enough for moon, you’re not Nitocris, so Spores is right out... That being said, you have your support niche, and better sphinxes are always good, so why not be a Shepherd druid? As a shepherd, you know the Speech of the Woods, giving you knowledge about Sylvan, as well as the ability to Talk to Animals. So that one level 1 druid spell we wanted is already obsolete.

Once per short rest, you can also summon a Spirit Totem like, say, a big celestial sphinx, that appears for a minute, and creates an aura for 30 feet around it. You can move it up to 60′ as a bonus action.

The totem has three auras you can choose from when you make it, but you can flavor the animals as anything you want. The Bear aura gives creatures in the aura on its creation temporary hp, and allies have advantage on strength checks and saves while in the aura. The Hawk aura uses your reaction to give advantage to an attack that targets something in the aura. Allies also get advantage on perception checks in the aura. Finally, the Unicorn aura gives advantage on detecting creatures in the aura (which feels like it’s stepping on the hawks toes a bit), and if you heal a creature with a spell, you can also heal any creatures in the aura as well. I don’t think your DM will let you call all of those sphinx auras, but I’m sure you can find other animals to call them.

9. Druid 3: Third level druids get second level spells, and fortunately this is the last level you have to worry about overlapping with cleric stuff. Use Continual Flame for some light, Moonbeam for painful light, and continue that support theme with Enhance Ability, doling out your imperial privilege to anyone you deem worthy to give them advantage on one kind of skill check.

10. Druid 4: Fourth level druids get a Wild Shape Improvement, letting you swim and turn into creatures of CR 1 or lower. You also finally get your first Ability Score Improvement, which is going straight in to Wisdom for better spells and a higher AC. Speaking of, you can now cast Shillelagh on your staff to make it a bit stronger and magical, no concentration required.

11. Druid 5: Things start getting spicy when you get your third level druid spells. Specifically, you can summon your Sphinx Awlad now with Conjure Animals! We’re using the stat block of the Nyxborn Lynx here to represent them- you can find the whole thing on the character sheet in case you don’t have a copy of Mythic Odysseys of Theros to thumb through. You can also cast Daylight, in case you wanted to make some sunlight in this ostensibly sunlight themed build.

12. Druid 6: As a shepherd druid, you are now a Mighty Summoner, giving your Awlads an extra 2 hp per hit die when you summon them. Which is great, because Nitocris would flay you if she found out what you were using these cubs for. If she could work up the nerve, at least. Still, keeping them alive is a good idea. Their attacks also count as magical for overcoming resistance.

13. Druid 7: There aren’t many fourth level spells we really want, but you could get Dominate Beast to further assert your dominance over everything, Freedom of Movement to show you can’t be held by mortal means, and Divination for more divine wisdom.

14. Druid 8: With another Wild Shape Improvement, you no longer have any limitations on your wild shape besides being CR 2 or lower. You also get another ASI, which will max out your Wisdom. 

15. Druid 9: Ninth level druids get fifth level spells- again there’s not much that’s super in character, maybe get Wall of Stone to start building your tomb and Reincarnate to prepare yourself for the next life.

16. Druid 10: Tenth level shepherds can create a Guardian Spirit out of your Totem, healing any beasts or fey you’ve summoned if they end their turn in the totem’s aura.

You can also Control Flames as a cantrip now. It’s a light source and we’re running out of good cantrips.

17. Druid 11: Sixth level spells are where you really start to shine- literally, in the case of Sunbeam, which deals plenty of radiant damage. You can also use Bones of the Earth to begin construction of your tomb in earnest (and squashing any troublemakers in the process), and Conjure Fey lets you summon a Mammoth, a beast big enough to be our stat block for a full grown Sphinx. If your DM’s cool with it you might want to adjust the damage types to be more like the cubs, but it’s functional either way. Kinda weird that mammoths and big cats have the same tactical style, but not my place to judge.

18. Druid 12: Use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for more HP and better concentration.

19. Druid 13: Your final level of druid nets you seventh level spells, including the one we came all this way for, Mirage Arcane. For ten minutes of casting time, you can create a square mile mausoleum, complete with tactile sensations, for ten days. Trap your enemies inside your maze, then spend the next couple days picking them off at your leisure. Truly the sport of kings.

20. Monk 4: We’re just here for the ASI. Grab it to get more Constitution, which equals more health and better concentration. You also get Slow Fall, using your reaction to reduce falling damage by five times your monk level. It’s not particularly useful by this point, but death by tripping into the grand canyon would be embarrassing. 

Pros:

You got some big sphinxes. With an extra 10-20 hp and consistent healing, your pets can stick around for quite a while and do a lot of damage by gaming the action economy. Also, knocking people around is both fun (for you) and annoying (for them)!

Aside from your cool cats, most of the damage your putting out here is Radiant, which means as long as you aren’t fighting other gods, you’re probably set. If you are fighting other gods, just sic those sphinxes from pro #1 on them.

On top of your summons being hard to kill, you’re also hard to kill. With an AC of 17, almost as much HP as a frontline fighter, the ability to dodge as a bonus action, and your own sources of healing, taking you down is a feat in itself.

Cons: 

Those sunbolts we used three levels just to get aren’t really... how you say... good? It’s a cool way to change up your attacks, but they’re still just not going to do much. They’re mostly here to justify taking monk in the first place.

All your summon spells need concentration, which limits what you can do while your sphinxes are up and also means you have to be careful about where you’re standing. 

Your strength score means if an opponent like Xuanzang gets up close and personal you might be getting pushed around.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #130: Marie Antoinette (Caster)

The encores keep coming on Fate and Phantasms with today’s build, Marie Antoinette! A volleyball player in D&D is probably one of the weirder things we’ve done so far, but I’m sure we can set up something good for y’all. Charm everyone you can, and smash those you can’t in the face with your beachballs!

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

Next up: Met a girl(s), crazy for me!

Race and Background

As a variant of Marie, you’re also a variant human, giving you +1 wisdom and charisma. You’re a bit more active than your rider counterpart, so you also get Athletics proficiency and the Fighting Initiate feat, which nets you the Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style. Now you can grab and throw weapons in the same move, and you deal +2 damage with thrown weapons! Sadly, WoTC forgot to weaponize balls in D&D, but light hammers are the closest thing we have to work with. Yes, that does mean Tortle Antoinette is dangerously close to being a Hammer Bro.

Like always, you’re a Noble, giving you History and Persuasion proficiencies.

Ability Scores

If you know anything about Marie, you know her Charisma is pretty high. If we want to be good a sports we’ll need some Dexterity though, make that second. Your Wisdom isn’t half bad, you were a queen once. Your Constitution isn’t amazing, but hey that just gives you an excuse to order one of those umbrella drinks and relax. Your Intelligence is rather low by elimination, (again, no one wants to think in the summer,) but you’re not stupid so we’re still dumping your Strength. Surprisingly, beach balls aren’t heavy lifting.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Remember when I said not all of the summer servants were going to be beach ready? I’m starting to think that might not be true. As a monk, you get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as two monk skills. I’d grab Acrobatics for more volleyball skills and Insight for better rulings.

You also get Unarmored Defense, making your AC based on your wisdom as well as your dexterity, and Martial Arts. Now you can use dexterity instead of strength when attacking with monk weapons (light hammers are simple, so they count), and you can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action after attacking. Also, all your monk attacks do a minimum of 1d4 damage, which scales as you level up. The good news is it only gets better from here.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get a number of Ki points each short rest equal to their monk level. They can use these to make two attacks, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, helping you get across the court thanks to an extra 10′ of movement speed that also increases as you level up.

3. Monk 3: They probably wouldn’t tell you this, but it turns out Way of the Kensei monks are super into beach volleyball. That’s why at third level you learn the Path of the Kensei, a totally not confusingly named feature that’s really four features in one. You get Kensei Weapons, a melee (Light Hammer) and ranged (Darts? It doesn’t really matter much) weapon that will be used by later features. One of those is an Agile Parry, giving you a bonus to your AC for a round when you make an unarmed attack with a kensei weapon in hand. Use the volleyballs for ranged attacks, hands for melee attacks, they’re pretty mutually exclusive. Another way to use your deadly weapons is a Kensei’s Shot, which normally doesn’t come up in these builds. Using your bonus action you can deal an extra 1d4 of damage each time you make a ranged attack that turn, effectively doubling your output. You also learn the Way of the Brush, which will be super useful when you’re stuck making manga over and over again in summer 3.

Finally, you volleyball skills come in handy by teaching you how to Deflect Missiles. Using your reaction you can set a ranged attack to deal less damage to you, and if you mitigate it entirely you can spike it back at the attacker.

4. Monk 4: Your very first Ability Score Improvement will go towards Dexterity. Being able to aim your shots helps. You can Slow Fall to reduce sandburn from those dives, and you get some Quickened Healing for a bit of that sunflower power, spending ki and an action to heal yourself.

5. Bard 1: Despite everything, you’re still you. And You is still a bard! This means you get Performance proficiency to get the crowd on your side, as well as some Spells you can cast using your Charisma. You can also give Bardic Inspiration to your allies a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. This lets them add a d6 to one of their attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks.

Speaking of spells, Light will make you the center of attention, either creating a light source out of thin air of turning an object into a free torch. You also get Friends, Charm Person, and Animal Friendship to wrap the world around your finger, because some things never change. If you have to get a bit forceful, you can also use Command, or Cure Wounds if you’re in a more merciful mood.

6. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to checks that don’t already use it. As a queen, you have to be well-versed in just about everything. You also get a Song of Rest, adding 1d6 to healing done over short rests. Finally, your Magical Inspiration augments your bardic inspiration. It can now be added to spell damage and healing. 

Speaking of spell damage and healing, Bane does neither of those things. However, it does force a charisma save (DC 8 + proficiency + charisma modifier) on a couple creatures, and the ones that fail subtract 1d4 from all attacks and saves they make for the duration. You’re pretty distracting.

7. Bard 3: Your bard levels aren’t changing things up much from your original setup- yes, you’re still going to the College of Glamour. As a glamour bard, your Mantle of Inspiration can be built using just a use of Inspiration and your bonus action, giving a couple of friendly creatures 5 temporary hp, and the ability to react to move without causing opportunity attacks. 

You can also put on an Enthralling Performance. After you play for at least a minute, you can try to charm a couple people who saw the entire thing, basically turning them into your groupies if they fail a wisdom save. You can use this once per short rest.

Finally, you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in Acrobatics and Performance. You’re good at what you do, and even better at making it look good while you do it.

You can also cast Calm Emotions to soothe enemies or friends alike. Like Guda always says, “An enemy is just a friend that’s still trying to kill you.”

8. Bard 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells and more inspiration.

You can also cast True Strike this level for more accurate strikes, or Enhance Ability to inspire greatness in an ally, giving them advantage on one kind of skill check for the duration.

9. Bard 5: At fifth level your bardic inspiration grows to a d8, and you become a Font of Inspiration. That means your inspiration pops back up on short rests and long ones!

Being a queen isn’t easy. Even if you’re nice you still gotta punish people sometimes. Sometimes that punishment is curses. Bestow Curse can help with that. This is one of those open-ended spells- if your DM’s cool with creativity, you can probably do some nasty stuff with this spell.

10. Bard 6: Sixth level bards can waste an action on Countercharm, giving allies advantage against being charmed or frightened for the round. Alternatively, you can use your Mantle of Majesty as a bonus action, allowing you to cast command for free each bonus action and upon use. Any creature charmed by you automatically fails the save, but this feature uses your concentration, so it’s only really useful with teamwork or your Enthralling Performance. You can use this once per long rest.

We can duplicate the effects of your noble phantasm easy, but none of these really make you a giant glass jellyfish, do they? Major Image can help with that. This creates an illusion that fits within a 20′ square, and you can move it with you too!

11. Monk 5: Bouncing back to monk for an Extra Attack each attack action. You can also make a Stunning Strike, forcing a constitution save (DC 8+proficiency+wisdom modifier) or they’re stunned for the round. (This only works on melee attacks tho, boo hiss.) 

For something more useful, Focused Aim lets you spend 1-3 ki points to add 2-6 to an attack roll. Volleyball is all about that aim.

12. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki Empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magical against resistances. You also become One with the Blade, which makes your kensei weapons magical against resistances, and you can use a Deft Strike to add your martial arts die to your damage once per turn.

You also get another kensei weapon, but it doesn’t really matter what you pick bc we’re still volleyballing here.

13. Monk 7: Once again, you get the super useful Evasion, halving damage from failed dex saves and removing damage from successes. You also get a Stillness of Mind, letting you spend an action to shut down frightening and charming effects.

14. Bard 7: Bouncing back to bard again for some fourth level spells, like Charm Monster. Fish love you, women love you, basically everyone loves you.

15. Bard 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity for more AC and better attacks. Turns out, monks like dexterity! Who’da thunk it. Your glass dress also gets a bit scarier at this level, turning it into a Phantasmal Killer. If your target fails a Wisdom save, they become frightened, and at the end of each turn they have to make another save or take psychic damage. Technically this makes one of their worst fears, but I bet glass chafes something awful, so I’d count it.

16. Bard 9: Ninth level bards get a stronger song of rest, and you can cast fifth level spells! Dominate Person forces a wisdom save on a creature or they get charmed. While charmed, you can issue commands to the target or take total control of them. You’re a celebrity, you do what you want. And other people do what you want too.

17. Bard 10: Tenth level bards get a d10 for their inspiration, and they get Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list. Also a cantrip, which makes introducing the spells succinctly a pain in the ass. You get a Thunderclap if you spike the ball hard enough, but the stars of the show are Conjure Volley (yes we got it entirely for the pun) and Find Greater Steed. Horses aren’t practical on a beach, but glass horses aren’t about practicality.

You also get Expertise in athletics and persuasion to truly master volleyball and the popularity that comes with it.

18. Monk 8: Use your last ASI to bump up your Constitution for 18 free hit points.

19. Monk 9: Your unarmored movement improvement lets you literally walk on water, for those dramatic Baywatch-style shots.

20. Monk 10: Your final level gives you a Purity of Body, making you immune to disease and poison. Not the flashiest way to end a build, but I def wouldn’t complain about that right now.

Pros:

Throwing hammers around gives you a range advantage on most melee enemies, and your monk mobility gives you plenty of speed to abuse it with.

Your high dex and kensei features make your shots accurate, and your damage consistent. 

Despite trading half your bard levels for monk, you’re still charming as all hell- literally. Fighting still isn’t your strong suit, but you’ve got plenty of ways to avoid them where possible.

Cons:

YOU ARE USING LIGHT HAMMERS. There isn’t even a stereotype about them in those “what does you favorite weapon say about you” videos because NO ONE USES THEM. Even with being a monk, you still won’t be doing much damage with them. Pulling out all the stops nets you 2d6+1d4+6 Bludgeoning damage at level 20. Let the fighters take care of the fighting, you’ll be a lot happier for it.

A lot of your abilities are tied to inspiration and ki, both of which are limited resources. 

Unless you’ve got an artificer in your group or a generous dm, throwing weapons are a pain to use. You’ve either got to carry around a lot of them (which might be an issue with your dumped strength) or get used to picking them up between attacks.

[grailfinders]

Fate & Phantasms #54: Caligula

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re building Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula, in D&D 5e. Nero’s uncle is the dreaded Bardbarian, going mad on the battlefield and spreading that madness through the ranks of his enemies.

Check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here.

Race and Background

Despite his best efforts, Caligula was a (Variant) Human, giving him +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, Insight proficiency, and the Fighting Initiate feat to grab the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. I know you’re not using it now, but you were a famous politician at one point. Also, that feat lets you make unarmed attacks that deal 1d6 damage on a hit, or 1d8 if you use both hands.

You’re the third emperor of Rome, which makes calling you a Noble a bit of an understatement. You get History and Persuasion proficiency, because you still remember what a Rome is.

Stats

Your Strength is your highest ability. Not sure if you were paying attention up there, but you’re choking out a lion at max ascension. Second is your Constitution, you’re not easy to kill, and all your class features are tied to it. Dexterity’s next for some extra AC. Your Charisma isn’t bad, you’re terrifying and a politician-so terrifying and terrifying. Your Intelligence and Wisdom are low and lower, because Madness Enhancement. Honestly, wisdom would’ve been your dump stat regardless of your class, you weren’t exactly King Wenceslas. 

Class Levels

1. Barbarian 1: You know the song and dance by now: Rage- Bonus action to transform for a minute, get advantage on strength checks and saves, add damage to your attacks, and you resist physical damage types (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing). All that comes at the cost of not being able to cast or concentrate on spells for the duration, and it ends early if you stop attacking or taking damage. Unarmored Defense- an AC based on your dexterity and constitution. You’re one of the few berserkers wearing something resembling armor though, so don’t worry about it too much. Just don’t pick up the heavy stuff and you’re fine.

Barbarians also get proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as two barbarian skills. You’re good with Athletics (see: choking out a lion, above) and Intimidation(see: choking out a lion).

2. Barbarian 2: You’re not known for your restraint, so Reckless Attack makes a lot of sense for you. All your attacks get advantage at the cost of opening yourself up until the next turn, causing all attacks against you to have advantage too. You also have a Danger Sense, giving you advantage on dexterity saves against effects you can see, like fireballs, letting you play fiddle while your party burns.

3. Barbarian 3: Third level barbarians set down a primal path. When you choose the Path of the Beast from an unearthed arcana, you gain the Form of the Beast. While raging, you can transform yourself in one of three ways, gaining a natural weapon for the duration. 

Bite gives you a bite attack that deals 1d8 piercing damage, and once per turn you can regain health equal to your proficiency bonus when you hit if you’re bloodied. 

Claws deal 1d6 slashing damage, and give you an additional attack each attack action. (I’d let you mix this with your Unarmed Fighting to do 1d8 with both hands, but I’m not your DM)

Tail deals 1d8 piercing damage and has reach. You can also use your reaction when attacked to add 1d8 to your AC for that attack.

If you want to keep things canon compliant, Bite (and just ignoring the transformation) would be your best pick, but the claws are fine too.

4. Barbarian 4: Use your first ASI to beef up your Charisma. We need it for multiclassing, and extra yelling.

5. Barbarian 5: Fifth level barbarians get an Extra Attack, letting you make two attacks per action, or three with your claws out. That’s a lot of hitting for a level 5 character. You also get Fast Movement, adding 10′ to your movement speed while not wearing heavy armor.

6. Bard 1: Multiclassing into bard gives you proficiency in one skill of your choice. You’re an angry, screamy, punchy man, so you’re not using your skills that often, and you’re certainly handling that lion well, so why not Animal Handling.

First level bards also get Spellcasting, using Charisma as your casting ability, and Bardic Inspiration, a number of d6s you can give to other creatures to help with saves, checks, or attack rolls as a bonus action. They’re replenished after long rests.

Caligula’s an interesting case for a bard: he’s not so much singing magic into existence as he is making everyone else go mad with him, so his spells are either entirely mental (driving people mad) or entirely physical (things he could do without magic). For example, Dancing Lights is the former, making everyone around him hallucinate a bunch of floating light, and True Strike is the latter, letting him hit things good. Bane reduces a number of creatures’ ability to strategize, reducing their attacks and saving throws for the duration. Dissonant Whispers and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter induce madness in a single target, causing them to flee or break out in uncontrollable laughter respectively. Longstrider is just Fast Movement Part 2: Roman Boogaloo.

7. Bard 2: Second level bards become a Jack of All Trades. Just like your niece, your Imperial Privilege lets you do whatever you want. You also get a Song of Rest, adding 1d6 to your party’s healing in short rests. I don’t really have a way to flavor that into your build, but we’re already taking liberties with the whole “growing a tail” thing. Frankly this is tame in comparison.

Also, thanks to Thunderwave you can shout really loud, dealing thunder damage to creatures around you and pushing loose objects away.

8. Barbarian 6: Sixth level beast barbarians have a Bestial Soul, making your natural weapons magical for the sake of overcoming resistance. Also, after each rest you can pick one of three options to add to your mobility:

You gain a swim speed equal to your walking speed and can breathe underwater.

You gain a climbing speed and can climb difficult terrain, including upside down, without a climbing check.

Once per turn when you jump, you can add an athletics check (your entire check) to the jump’s length.

Again, most of these break canon, but the added jump distance does it the least. If anyone asks, this is what happens when Madness Enhancement gets mixed with Imperial Privilege. You can do whatever you want, and don’t care if it’s physically possible.

9. Barbarian 7: Your Feral Instinct gives you advantage on initiative rolls, and you can ignore being surprised by raging. You’re not totally sure what’s going on at any point in time, so just go with the flow. “The flow” being punching people.

10. Barbarian 8: Use your next ASI to beef up your Constitution for more health, and some extra bonuses later.

11. Bard 3: Third level bards graduate from a college. You’re not one for higher education, but The College of Valor has some stuff in it that’ll be useful. Double your proficiency bonus in Athletics and Intimidation with some Expertise, and use Combat Inspiration to let others add your inspiration dice to damage rolls and AC. Spread a little bit of fury around the battlefield to give your party the edge in combat.

For your spell this level, Crown of Madness forces a creature to lash out at its allies, but it also eats up your action each turn so it might make more sense to just hit them yourself. Of course you’re mad, so you don’t have to do the most logical things.

12. Barbarian 9: Ninth level barbarians get a Brutal Critical, adding an extra die to your attacks when you roll a 20. You’re not super strong, but you are super sadistic.

13. Barbarian 10: Tenth level beasts gain an Infectious Fury. While raging, if you hit a creature with your natural weapons, you can force them to make a wisdom save of DC 8+ your constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. If they fail, one of two effects occurs:

They use their reaction to attack another creature within 5′ of them that you choose.

They take 2d12 psychic damage.

You can only attempt this a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus, so choose carefully.

14. Bard 4: We want those limited Fury uses to really count, so beef up your Constitution even more for more health and chances to Fury.

Also, grab Knock. It’s less “magic” and more “’knock’ing down the door”. You’re the emperor, you go where you want.

15. Bard 5: Fifth level bards get a bonus to their Inspiration, bringing it up to some d8s, and become a Font of Inspiration, regaining inspiration on short rests instead of long ones.

You also get a third level spell! Enemies Abound lets a creature you target become as good at seeing the darkness inherent in all humans as you are if they fail a wisdom save (read: they become as paranoid as you, picking their targets at random when they attack). This lasts for a minute, but requires concentration, so you can’t set the spell and then run off to bite people.

16. Barbarian 11: Your rage is now relentless! Relentless Rage can keep you fighting after you drop to 0 hp while raging. When that happens, if you pass a DC 10 constitution save you drop to 1 hp instead, and the DC increases by 5. It resets after a short rest, so feel free to take a breather if you die too many times.

17. Barbarian 12: Use your last ASI to bump your Charisma for stronger spell saves and a stronger oratory presence.

18. Barbarian 13: You get another Brutal Critical die at this level, making your attacks even more sadistic than they were already

19. Barbarian 14: Fourteenth level beasts can hear the Call of the Hunt. Choose a number of willing creatures up to your constitution modifier when you start a rage. These creatures can roll a d6 and add it to their damage roll once per turn while you rage. (This is different than getting another d6, it doesn’t work with crits.) For each creature that accepts your gift, you gain 5 temporary HP per creature. You can only use this feature a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus.

20. Barbarian 15: For your last level, you gain a Persistent Rage, letting you continue to rage until you end it willingly. Some people run away from the screaming vortex of madness, making it harder to keep your rage going. Now that’s less of an issue.

Pros:

If you’ll pardon the wordplay, you’re very adaptable, with a wide range of movement options to stay mobile in varying settings. You can also change up your combat style a bit depending on what you’re fighting. Sometimes a flurry of blows from your claws will be best, sometimes you’ll want a heavier attack, it’s all good!

You can both help your party and hinder enemies with madness inducing spells and the Call of the Hunt. Giving Reckless Attack to other martial party members can be a huge boost in their offensive power, and it makes you tougher too.

You don’t need any sort of equipment to make this build function. Thrown in a dungeon? Your fighter and wizard are screwed, but it’s no problem for you. The only issue is spell components, and you’ve got plenty of muscle to hold out until you find them.

Cons:

Your best abilities are tied to either spell slots or a very limited number of uses per day. This probably won’t be too big of an issue in most campaigns, but endurance tests won’t end well for you. This is also way less of an issue thanks to Tasha’s beefing up the number of uses.

I bring this up in a lot of berserker builds, but spells and rages don’t mix, and you get an even shorter end of the stick than most others. Your spells need high saves to work, so your stats had to be split between strength and charisma, meaning you’re not amazing at either one.

Most of your damage is coming from your body, and it doesn’t have that much range. Fast and flying enemies might be an issue for you.

Next up: The berserker so nice they named him thrice, but not so nice that they’d actually use him in the plot.