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raeynbowboi · 3 years ago

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How to Play as the Grim Reaper in DnD 5e

I got my start as a Tumblr DnD blog with my Halloween build of Maleficent. So, I want to commemorate the holiday with another special build. We’re looking to play the embodiment of Death, focusing our build on hunting down our targets and extinguishing their spark of life. Now obviously, the embodiment of Death itself should be unable to die, but this is a PC, so it won’t be as OP as the actual figure, but we’ll do what we can to come as close as possible to playing as Death.

The Grim Reaper is usually depicted as a sentient skeleton, but in other cultures, he appears as a winged man, such as Azazel, the Angel of Death. As such, the best races for the embodiment of death includes: The Reborn, which will alleviate your need to eat, drink, or sleep enough that hunting down your targets can be your primary objective, the Fallen Aasimar, which can channel your dark edginess, filling your target with fear while increasing the damage your scythe does, turning you into a dangerous exterminator, or Custom Lineage to further customize yourself as an Undead creature with a free skill and a bonus feat. Regardless of what you choose, go for +2 CHA, +1 CON for your stat distribution, and if you get a free skill, pick up Athletics or Persuasion, and Fighter Initiate, Fey Touched, Great Weapon Master, Metamagic Initiate, or Slasher for your bonus Feat.

Death has no morality. You have a list, and you follow that list. You’re Lawful Neutral. Unless you’re going for a more bloodthirsty reaper, then Neutral Evil may also apply.

For our Background, we’ll customize Urban Bounty Hunter to give us Perception to sense nearby creatures by listening for their panicked breathing or racing heartbeat, and Survival to follow their tracks across long distances to find your target.

WARLOCK HEXBLADE PATRON

On top of prioritizing weapon damage, the Hexblade Curse gives you added attention to mowing down whatever poor soul is at the top of your list. Between dealing additional damage, critting more easily, and healing when you take a life, this subclass is well-tuned to hunting down a target with relentless ferocity. Some may wonder why we’re not an Undead Warlock, and the simple answer is that the Undead Warlock is better suited for a lich than the Grim Reaper. And we can get the same Grave Touched feature from being a Reborn, or the same fear features from Form of Dread by being a Fallen Aasimar. As a Warlock, we’ll take Intimidation and Investigation as our skills of choice to terrify our target in their final moments of agony, and to search their last known whereabouts for clues about where they’ve gone if you’re having trouble finding them.

PACT BOON: BLADE Obviously, in order to play the Grim Reaper, we’ll need a scythe, which requires two hands to swing, regardless of whether it has a handle or not. A Greataxe would probably come the closest to a scythe, given its long handle with a blade on one end, but a Greatsword would also suffice, especially if you want to swap out the standard scythe for an Executioner’s Sword. A Halberd is also viable, due to it having the Reach property, though it has the lowest damage ceiling of the three weapon types.

ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS

Eldritch Smite Eldritch Spear Ghostly Gaze Grasp of Hadar Lance of Lethargy Lifedrinker Relentless Hex Thirsting Blade

As sinful as it is to play as a Warlock without Agonizing Blast, the scythe is more thematically important to playing a grim reaper so we want to prioritize melee damage, and we’re more focused on using Eldritch Blast to catch up to our prey. We’re using Eldritch Spear to snipe fleeing targets from long range, while Lance of Lethargy slows them down so we can catch up to them, and Grasp of Hadar drags them closer to their untimely doom. Relentless Hex will help us close the distance by teleporting right next to our target, and Ghostly Gaze can help us look through walls to find our targets when they try to hide from us. Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite, and Lifedrinker all serve to increase the damage output we can inflict from our scythe. The only reason I don’t include Improved Pact Weapon is because my DM is pretty generous with +1 or better magic weapons, but if your DM is stingy, feel free to swap out any of those for Improved Pact Weapon if it feels needed.

WARLOCK SPELLS

C Booming Blade, Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver, Toll the Dead 1 Armor of Agathys, Hex, Wrathful Smite 2 Hold Person, Mind Spike, Ray of Enfeeblement 3 Counterspell, Spirit Shroud, Vampiric Touch 4 Blight, Raulothim’s Psychic Lance, Staggering Smite 5 Enervation, Hold Monster, Negative Energy Flood

MYSTIC ARCANUM

6 Circle of Death 7 Finger of Death 8 Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting 9 Blade of Disaster

If you use a Feat to gain Spells, here’s my top recommendations:

Fey Touched: Misty Step, Hunter’s Mark Shadow Touched: Invisibility, Inflict Wounds

THE TOP MOST DESIRABLE FEATS

I don’t normally include this, but since this build can function on just your Constitution and Charisma stats, there’s a lot of extra room to pick up Feats than a build would usually warrant.

Charger: Dashing and then attacking as a bonus action is a great way to catch up to a fleeing target.

Eldritch Adept: In case you want even more invocations than you already get.

Fey Touched: It doesn’t fit well thematically, but Hunter’s Mark is a great way to stack extra damage. You could always flavor it as Grave Touched.

Fighting Initiate: Allows you to pick up Great Weapon Fighting if you want it, though you could also do a 1 level dip into Fighter, if you’ve got the stats for it.

Great Weapon Master: Your scythe is going to work like a two-handed greatsword or a greataxe, so you can more effectively cull the battlefield. After all, that’s why the reaper uses a scythe, to harvest many souls with a single swing of his scythe.

Lucky: You can’t cheat Death. But nobody said anything about Death weighing the dice in his favor.

Mage Slayer: Since you’re all about killing people, and mages often use necromancy to try to escape death, not only do you get an extra attack, but closing the gap between you and a magic user is even more beneficial.

Metamagic Adept: We’re only here for Quickened Spell. The ability to make two weapon attacks followed by a 5th level spell as a bonus action is going to deal some serious damage. Only getting two sorcery points is fine, since we only get 4 spell slots total. We don’t want to multiclass into Sorcerer, since this is a melee-centric build, and we’d risk losing an Eldritch Invocation.

Sentinel: Works especially well at keeping those pesky targets from running away, and helps you maintain control over the battlefield. Reducing a target’s speed to 0 is an absolute prize for this build.

Shadow Touched: More lore-friendly since your hexblade comes from the Shadowfell, Invisibility is useful for getting close to targets before they know it, and Inflict Wounds deals a lot of damage at melee range.

Slasher: Reducing the speed of those you hit makes it all that much harder for them to escape from Death. Hexblade’s increased chance at critting is also abused nicely by your improved odds to grievously wound your target.

Tough: Especially because the Warlock is not a martial class, adding onto your Hit Points is never a bad idea for any build or character.

GENERAL INFORMATION

RACE Fallen Aasimar

CLASS Hexblade Patron Warlock (20)

STATS STR 10 DEX 10 CON 20 INT 8 WIS 14 CHA 20

SAVING THROWS STR 0 DEX 0 CON +5 INT -1 WIS +8 CHA +11

BASIC INFORMATION HP: 203 PP: 18 AC: 11 SAB: +11 SDC: 19 NoA: 2 Darkvision: 60 ft

SKILLS Intimidation (+11) Investigation (+5) Perception (+8) Survival (+8)

FEATURES

Acursed Specter. Curse the soul of a humanoid you have killed. It has temp HP equal to half your Warlock level, and adds your CHA mod to its attack rolls. Armor of Hexes. When the target cursed by your Hexblade’s Curse rolls to attack you, use your reaction to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, the attack misses. Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to Radiant and Necrotic damage. Darkvision. You can see in dim light up to 60 feet. Eldritch Invocations. You gain fragments of forbidden knowledge, and can choose up to 8 invocations from the Eldritch Invocations list. Eldritch Master. You can spend 1 minute asking your Patron to restore all of your expended spell slots once per long rest. Healing Hands. Your touch can grant HP equal to your level. Hexblade’s Curse. As a bonus action, choose a creature you can see within 30 feet. The target is cursed for 1 minute. You deal extra damage to your target equal to your proficiency bonus, you land a critical hit on a 19 or 20, and you recover HP equal to your Warlock level + CHA mod when you slay your cursed target. Hex Warrior. You are proficient with Shields, Medium Armor, and Martial Weapons. You can make weapon attacks with your CHA mod, instead of STR or DEX. Light Bearer. You learn the Light cantrip. Master of Hexes. When your first cursed target dies, you can shift your Hexblade’s Curse onto another creature you can see within 30 feet. If you do, you do not gain HP from the first kill. Mystic Arcanum. You learn one 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell, which you can cast once without a spell slot per long rest. Necrotic Shroud. As a bonus action, you can unleash your dread power. Creatures within 10 feet must pass a DC 19 CHA saving throw or become frightened of you until your next turn. You can deal an additional Necrotic damage equal to your level with one attack or spell per turn. This form lasts for 1 minute, or until you use a bonus action to end it. Pact Boon. You can summon your Pact Blade to your empty hand as an action. You choose what form it takes and are proficient with the weapon type. Your weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or longer. You can spend an hour to turn a non-sentient weapon that is not an artifact into your Pact Weapon, which can be done as a short rest. You can dismiss your Pact Weapon into an extradimensional space.

All things considered, I think this build came out rather marvelously. Depending on Feats and stat allocations, your Grim Reaper can be one nasty bounty hunter, chasing down his targets with relentless ferocity. We also deal a considerably nasty amount of damage with our scythe, and have lots of ways to increase the damage further, as well as ways of making sure our targets can’t escape from us. The only downside is that we’re not very strong, so we can’t multiclass into fighter, but to be fair, the Grim Reaper is usually depicted as an emaciated figure, so it’s more lore-accurate to prioritize Wisdom over Strength. We’re built more like a wizard with a murder stick than some kind of Death Knight in heavy armor, and that’s what I was focused on doing. I hope you guys enjoyed this build, and have a Happy Halloween.

#Halloween #grim reaper #reaper #grim #death #angel of death #dnd 5e #dnd #dnd fifth edition #dnd 5th edition #all hallows eve #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #samhain #scythe #ask not for whom the bell tolls #it tolls for thee #thanatos #azazel

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