#tasha dexter

[viptvseries]

Beautiful ladies 📸

[anxious-black-hottie]

V.I.P. (1998-2002) "Beats Working at a Hot Dog Stand" Season 1 Episode 1

[qkumber]

I MET DENISE CROSBY!!!!!!!

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

Spring Eladrin! Human-sized whimsical fey elves embodying feelings of joy and mischief. They're tricksters, dexterous as an acrobat and more intelligent than even most archmages. They can create wonderful illusions, have a short-range teleport that can bring you with them, can magically force you into being overcome with laughter at will, can charm you with a magical mental suggestion, and magically charm you into liking them just by existing around you! Resisting it makes you immune for a day though.

I'm doing all the eladrin separately because these are actually change thier powers/design/personality completely when they form shift. The Player versions make it a conscious choice, but the Eladrin as CREATURES section sounds like it's more of a way of locking in your form to match your base personality/mood, and people like Tasha talk about them like they're a constant thing. "My autumn eladrin friends" instead of "my eladrin friends in autumn" sort of wording. They can apparently stick in the same form for years. It's all a bit confusing, not helped by there being a Player Species version of this CR 10 species that changes a ton. So we're doing them separate, then I'll instantly pit all 4 against each other in the tournament. Sound fair?

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #340: Daikokuten

meowdy, y’all! on today’s Grailfinders we’re building the god of fortune… ‘s pet mice, Daikokuten! they’re Circle of Dreams Druids to become the perfect subordinates, and Twilight Clerics, to become the perfect hosts. they’re a bit one-note, but if you want to support people (and maybe summon an army of giant rats to crush your enemies) you won’t go wrong here.

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

next up: you can’t talk like that, white baby

Ancestry & Background

sadly there aren’t any mice in D&D, at least not as a playable race. …or is there? in the DMG, they suggest that you can use a Halfling stat block as the basis for a mousefolk character, and frankly that just works perfectly, since they can also get the Mark of Hospitality. with that, you get +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (if you’re okay with Tasha’s saving our butts again), and plenty of other goodies to boot! you’re Lucky, so you can re-roll any natural ones on attacks, checks, or saves; you’re Brave, giving you advantage on all rolls against fright; and you have Halfling Nimbleness, letting you walk straight through any creature larger than you are. those are pretty basic halfling features, but thanks to your mark you’re also Ever Hospitable for a d4 bonus to all cooking and persuasion checks, and you know extra magic too! Your Innkeeper’s Magic gives you the Prestidigitation cantrip for free to clean up whatever messes you come across, and once per day per spell you can cast Purify Food and Drink and Unseen Servant using your charisma. obviously you’re supposed to do the serving, but having extra hands never hurt. you also learn Spells of the Mark, adding plenty of cool spells to your spell lists, like Goodberry (rice balls that heal 1 HP), Leomund’s Tiny Hut (a small living space), and Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum (make any ship a well-protected Takarabune.

the Daikokuten are, of course, Acolytes of the daikokuten, so they get proficiency with Insight and Religion checks. they know who makes a good boss and who doesn’t. and one of your bosses is a god, so you’d betternot fail that religion check.

Ability Scores

Wisdom’s number one. you got them big ol’ ears for a reason, y’know? after that, Dexterity. if Tom and Jerry taught me anything, it’s that mice are really hardto hit. after that, Intelligence. you’re not omniscient, but you are practically omnipresent, which is almost the same thing after a while. we’re still making your Constitution positive though, don’t worry about that. that means your Charisma is pretty low, since you’re submissive and multiplicable. that means we’re dumping Strength. if there’s anything else Tom & Jerry taught me, it’s that mice can’t kill cats no matter what they’re wielding, and those things have like 2 HP.

Class Levels

1. Druid 1: At first level, druids gain proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as two skills from their skill list, like Animal Handling, and Nature. You are animals, so being able to handle yourselves simply makes sense. you can also write and read Druidic, a secret language that can be hidden in plain sight, and you can cast and prepare Spells using your Wisdom.

For your cantrips, grab Gust for slightly alter the Takarabune’s course, and Infestation for your first and smallest rat swarm. As for first level spells, druids have a wonderful spell list to pick from- but if you want to play the Daikokuten, I recommend Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Fog Cloud, and Speak with Animals. The first and last spells are simply side-effects of being animals, while Cure Wounds and other healing spells are simply being a good host and fixing your guests some snacks. Finally, Fog Cloud is a bit of an unorthodox choice, but it will allow you to hide your true numbers during your noble phantasm.

2. Druid 2: Second level druids enter a circle of their choosing, such as the Circle of Dreams! When you do so, you gain the Balm of the Summer Court, which gives you a pool of six-sided dice each day you can spend as a bonus action to heal a nearby creature. one of onigiri’s biggest strengths is how easy it is to make, after all.

You can also use either Wild Shape or Wild Companion to turn yourself into a giant rat or summon a regular-sized one, respectively. These two features share their uptime, but with two uses every short rest, you won’t be left wanting.

3. Druid 3: Third level druids gain second level spells, like Locate Animals or Plants to help feed Boss Anning’s plesiosaur, or Augury to confer with other “you”s about potential actions you can take to help your various bosses. The other yous can say your plan will bring “weal”, a good outcome; “woe”, a bad outcome; or “mixed”, which is, appropriately, a mixed bag.

4. Druid 4: At level four, you get your first Ability Score Improvement, increasing your Wisdom for stronger spells. You also gain a Wild Shape Improvement, letting you turn into CR ½ creatures that can swim now! Despite the fact that rats are rather good swimmers, you didn’t need this to transform into one. Still, it gives you more options. Options that you can’t take if you wish to stay in character, but options nonetheless.

You can also cast Mending now to do regular maid stuff like sewing holes in dresses.

5. Druid 5: At third level, you can now use your noble phantasm, Conjure Animals! Now you can summon eight giant rats, and that number will grow as you use higher level spell slots! They’re a bit more fragile than you, but we only need them to survive for one attack anyway.

You can also use Create Food & Water and Leomund’s Tiny Hut from your hospitality spell list to create rice balls in-game, as well as to keep your boss’ camp nice and safe while they rest.

6. Cleric 1: first level clerics can use another Wisdom-based spell list, but you’ll have to check your PHB to figure out how many spell slots you have at a given time. but before we go into magic, let’s talk domains. as a Twilight cleric you can use martial weapons and heavy armor if you want, but most of your features are about support. with your Eyes of Night you get super long-range darkvision, and you can even give it to nearby creatures once a day for an hour. you’re just helpful like that. speaking of sharing, you can give a Vigilant Blessing to yourself (or another party member) for advantage on their next initiative roll. you literally have multiple heads to watch for danger, it makes sense you’re good at it. (it doesn’t hurt that you’re working for the bad guy too)

for cantrips, Resistance gives an ally a bonus to their next save, while Light and Thaumaturgy let you get a little more godly with your presentation, making items glow or letting you act with some more of daikokuten’s authority. you also get Faerie Fire for free to give your allies some help hitting stuff, and Sleep to brew such a nice cup of tea people can’t help but doze off even on the battlefield. for more helpfulness, Bless can add a d4 to checks or saves made by multiple members of the party, and you also get even more healing spells as a cleric than you did as a druid!

7. Cleric 2: second level clerics can Channel Divinity in one of two ways once a short rest. Turn Undead is whatever, you make zombies scared, but we’re more focused on Twilight Sanctuary. now you can provide the darkness for your NP properly, and while that ball of darkness follows you around you get even more bonuses to anything that follows you into the night, either giving out temporary HP or ending an effect that’s charming or frightening it.

8. Cleric 3: third level clerics get second level spells, and while your freebies Moonbeam and See Invisibility aren’t really in our wheelhouse, you can still use Borrowed Knowledge to get some help from other yous for free proficiency in one skill, or they can help you Locate Objects. you can also support your bosses directly by using Enhance Ability to give them advantage on any one kind of skill check!

9. Druid 6: at sixth level, dream druids get a Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow, making every camp a bit homier without the need for a magic shield. during short or long rests, you can create a 30’ radius of magical darkness, in which you and your bosses have a big bonus to stealth and perception, and which also blocks any campfires or torches from being seen outside of it.

10. Druid 7: seventh level druids get fourth level spells. with Control Water, you can get a proper hold of the Takarabune no matter what the currents are like outside, redirecting the flow of water however you like, even in blatantly impossible ways. you can also use this spell to flood areas, part water, or create whirlpools. If it’s good enough for Heracles it’s good enough for your boss! you can also use Polymorph now for another way to transform into a giant rat. or maybe something better than a giant rat. if such a thing could exist.

11. Druid 8: eighth level druids get another Wild Shape Improvement, and while I know bats and seagulls are sometimes called “flying rats”, I don’t think you can change your species on a technicality. you get an Ability Score Improvement you can use though, so that’s +2 Dexterity for ya!

12. Druid 9: ninth level druids get fifth level spells. Mass Cure Wounds finally gives you a party-wide heal like your first skill, and you can send a you off to parts known to do some Scrying- that’s “spying” but when a crat does it. also there’s this one spell called Insect Plague, but I know it’s a mouse plague, it must just be a typo. a 20’ radius in a spot you specify becomes filled with yous for up to ten minutes. there’s so many of them the area is lightly obscured and difficult terrain, and when you cast the spell every creature inside needs to make a Constitution save or take piercing damage from all the buck teeth and scrabbly claws. they also need to make this save when they enter the area or end their turn inside it.

13. Druid 10: you’ve been all over the place enough that you know some Hidden Paths now. as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60’ away, or teleport a willing creature up to 30’ away, up to four times a day. if one you disappears and another you is standing somewhere else, does it really count as teleporting?

you can also give Guidance to your bosses now, giving them a bonus d4 when they make their next skill check.

14. Druid 11: with sixth level spells, you can finally hold a Boss’ Feast, giving everyone who eats it immunity to poison and fright, advantage on wisdom saves, and bonus HP for 24 hours. they’re also cured of any diseases like grail mud or being super bunyan. you can also Transport via Plants, letting you travel through any large plant you’ve seen on this plane of existence. Again, this is just to give the impression that you’re multiple places at once.

15. Druid 12: use this ASI to bestow your Bountiful Luck onto your bosses- whenever they roll a one on an attack, check, or save, you can react to give them a re-roll! aren’t you nice? turns out having a god as a subordinate comes with perks!

16. Druid 13: there’s not really anything I’d want from any seventh level spells you can get. maybe Plane Shift so you can report to your biggest boss whenever you want? really just use this for rat summoning, I guess.

17. Druid 14: fourteenth level dream druids are Walkers in Dreams. whenever you finish a short rest, you can cast Dream, Scrying, or Teleportation Circle for free, though the latter can only take you to where you woke up that morning as long as it’s on the same plane. you can cast a spell this way once a day.

18. Druid 15: controlling water is nice if you need to move the Takarabune in short bursts, but if you want to take control for longer periods of sailing, you need to Control Weather. this lets you take absolute control of the precipitation, temperature, and wind strength of the area up to five miles around you, albeit at a gradual pace.

19. Druid 16: our last ASI will make you Shadow Touched, rounding up your Intelligence and giving you one hell of a dodge thanks to the Invisibility spell. you can also Distort the Value of any object by virtue of it being in the Takarabune, doubling its apparent value for up to 8 hours, though an investigation check can see through the magic.

20. Druid 17: our last level of the build gives us ninth level spells, like Foresight. now you can give your boss immunity to being surprised, as well as advantage on all attacks, checks, and saves, and creatures attacking them get disadvantage, all for up to 8 hours! I assume this is how Giga Plesiosaurus Omega happened. I mean you are riding around in the grail, after all.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

being a rat is very useful for sneaking around- they’re damn near everywhere, and as long as you’re not in someone’s kitchen you’re usually beneath notice. whether you’ve turned into one, are using a rat familiar, or have commandeered a regular rat, you’re more than ready to gather information, or maybe pilfer a small magical trinket or two.

if you don’t want to be bothered, you cannot be bothered. leomund’s tiny hut puts a shield around you, mordenkainen’s private sanctum can make you unscryable, hearth of moonlight and shadow makes it so much harder for your camp to be spotted at a distance, and if you’re really sick of solicitors knocking on your door you can just use control weather to make everywhere within five miles of your camp fucking horrendous to walk through. when you set camp, it stays set.

you’re also great a making your party shine. unless you’re in a party with like 10 people you’ve basically removed nat ones from existence as long as you’re around. you’ve got tons of healing and debuff resisting spells, plus ways to literally see into the future to make sure everyone’s plans go the way they want.

Cons:

why are you turning into a giant rat. I know it’s in-character, but there’s so many better options available even from the start. also, summoning like 32 giant rats sounds fun, but it's hell on your DM and they'll probably last all of five seconds in a fight anyway. that wouldn’t be so big a deal, but…

outside of dexterity, your physical stats aren’t great. you get pushed around easily, and just like a real mouse a couple solid stomps are enough to flatten you. though really, this is just a symptom of the build’s biggest issue…

despite this being a combat-focused game, this build isn’t focused on combat, at least not directly. while druids do have access to a crazy powerful spell list, the strongest attack we use in-character is Insect Plague, and that spell’s more for area denial than an actual attack. this build really is all about helping other party members to shine, and that means you might not be able to do that too often yourself if you use it. that’s not necessarily a bad thing (I mean it’s why we built the damn build in the first place), but it means the build won’t be fun for everyone.

[jumpywhumpywriter]

Compiled Character List

I had to organize all the main important characters from my many stories so I can keep them straight and remember which characters are in each story LOL 😂 It's getting too crowded in my head! This list mostly includes the characters I wrote with actual names, or other significant figures. This will help me remember details like hair and eye color, personality, role in the plot, etc. Mostly for my own personal reference.

I counted them all, and I literally have 79 individual characters on this list, and that's NOT including all the rest involved in my other stories. How did I create so many?!? No wonder I needed to create a character list like this one... this will definitely help me keep them all straight!

Beautiful Blood Series

Nyx - cruel and sadistic vampire master with many servants

Augustine - ancient vampire that is hired to hunt Asher and Callum down after their escape from Nyx's mansion

Asher - submissive human servant with rare and unique regenerative blood, owned by Nyx

Callum - obedient under-the-radar servant of Nyx

Lily - nicer, more gentle vampire

Morgan - Lily's werewolf friend and ally

Kaden - vicious vampire that goes behind Nyx's back for a chance to taste Asher's unique blood

Sofia - human, Asher's younger sister

Josh - human, Asher's dad

Darius - briefly mentioned mostly-unimportant vampire

Captured Humans Series

Nakita - vicious, cruel whumper master (has snow-white wings)

Corbin - kidnapped and enslaved human

Kazimir - kind and sweet bird-man (raven-black wings and hair)

Prince Devlon - arrogant bird-man in the royal family (blonde wings)

Dexter - Devlon's annoying, violent brother (has brown wings)

Orman - Devlon's closest advisor

Camilla - abandoned human pet living on the streets

Alastor - silver-winged man who works for a human servant transport company

Alice - another one of Nakita's abused house pets

Rhysand - Kazimir's bird-man war-ally, assistant leader of the Rebellion

Jasper - a member of the Rebellion (bronze-colored wings)

Melanie - another member of the Rebellion, Jasper's mate (brown wings)

Caspian - the Rebellion's medic (ash-colored wings)

A Life in the Hands of the Enemy Series

Amber - hero with fire powers who is gravely wounded in a fight with a new kind of villain

Zack - cold and calculating villain who ends up saving Amber's life for his own gain, to use her as a living weapon

Jasmine - Amber's hero teammate

Drugged Hero Whumpee

Shadow - snarky morally-gray hero with regenerative powers (can heal from almost any injury) (AU version of Shadow from Masterlist #2)

Archenemy - calm and calculated rival of Shadow, a power-hungry supervillain

Ava - a previous hero turned into Archenemy's living war weapon and semi mind wiped

Run, Human, RUN

Tyleet - kind and timid but soft-hearted bat-type man

Alexa - one of the few living humans that survived the deadly illness that wiped out almost all of the human race

Violet - leader of the human survivors

Oliver - main researcher/scientist in the human colony

Jason - soldier/guard in the human colony

Kiko - 15 year old girl from a different human colony

Assassin Rescues Prisoner

Jax - skilled but sympathetic assassin

Atlas - rescued tortured prisoner

Marcus - the ultimate villain who brutally tortured Atlas

Vampire vs Werewolf Forced Fight

Tasha - captive werewolf (has white fur in wolf form)

Felix - young skittish/inexperienced captive vampire

Jax - grumpy panther shapeshifter, one of the forced cage-fighter prisoners

Rampaging Werewolf Losing Control

Nightshade - werewolf with black fur

Alex - Nightshade's human friend

Leah - Nightshade's other human friend

Scarred Hero and Villain with Memory Loss Lovers

Rowan - villain with memory loss

Aurora - hero with scars

Whumpee Drugged for His Own Good

Nico - terrified whumpee who won't let himself be helped by teammates because of trauma at Villain's hands

Marcus - Nico's friend who betrays him by spiking a drink with strong sedatives to knock him out for his own good

Mia - an insignificant member of the hero team

Owen - another insignificant member of the hero team

The Lost Hero - story about a crippled hero

Hero - the city's hero who was thought to have died in a fierce fight with Supervillain, in which the skyscraper the battle was taking place in collapsed and crushed them both

Logan - teenage boy who first discovers Hero is alive after being presumed dead for so long

Noah - Logan's friend who is introduced to Hero in hopes he can help solve her problem of being crippled and permanently limping

Single Team Member Tortured for Information

Jacob - whumper who severely tortures whumpee

Zara - tortured defiant whumpee who never breaks, despite slowly dying at Jacob's hand

Klyde - Zara's closest friend, fiercely loyal

Life for a Life, Death for a Death

Akeldema - powerful villain who wishes to destroy Nyx and her allies

Nyx - hero who bravely dies defending her friends from villain

Jarbo - Nyx's lover who holds her in his arms as she dies

Roy, Lucas, and Tanner - Nyx's other friends

Wise Wolf Series

Wise Wolf - the wolf with great wisdom and insight, the center of each story

Death - shown as a dark-skinned woman wearing a cloak as dark as the night sky, that glittered with stars

Dog - guardian of a flock of sheep, contributes to the moral ending

Human Boy - the victim of a sad tragedy that results in his death

Villain's Coffee Shop

Hero - woman who saves Villain's life after he was gravely wounded in a fight with Supervillain, gives him a chance to change his ways

Villain - a man the world rejected as the good guy, so he became evil instead

Mocha - Villain's three-legged cat companion

Living Weapon Whumpee

Leader - Living Weapon's (Whumpee) main handler

Whumpee - Living Weapon trained to fight and kill on the battlefield

Flint - leader of Enemy army, who turns out to actually be the good guys

Myra - Flint's kind-hearted daughter Whumpee develops a soft spot for, brown hair hazel eyes

Jake - strong-headed leader of one of Flint's teams

Reed - second-in-command of Jake's team

Max - short black hair and golden-brown eyes, member of Jake's team

Miranda - blonde hair, blue eyes, Whumpee's wife before his life as Weapon

June - Flint's wife, very briefly mentioned

Atlas - Weapon Whumpee's forgotten son

Vampire Captures Vampire Hunter to Use as Bloodbag

Alex - 317 year old main character vampire, carewhumper, keeps Mallory as his human pet but doesn't know a lot about how to care for humans

Mallory - bold vampire hunter captured by Alex during a mission gone wrong, defiant whumpee at (practically) every turn

Anisa - Alex's closest vampire friend who helps teach him about human care and keeps him from accidently killing Mallory with his sheer ignorance and uneducation

Julia - Mallory's vampire hunter partner before he was captured

Jack - briefly mentioned vampire friend of Alex

Stories Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @sausages-things @togzy

@whump-till-ya-jump @cravesunconditionallove @whumpwritinglover222

[bloodblotz]

X-men characters as d&d classes p1

Charles Xavier

When considering his class I immediately went to one of the magic classes since a psychic spellcaster would be best suited to his mutation. Wizard was one of the options but it didn't feel right since mutations are not learned, so I decided on Sorcerer for his class. For his subclass, it would definitely be Aberrant Mind from Tasha's Cauldron

Kurt Wagner

I was thinking a multiclass of sorts for his class, so immediately went to the magic classes so he'd have access to Misty Step but then realized that he's pretty dexterous so thought he'd suit an Arcane Trickster Rogue multiclassed Fighter, and-- because of his love for swashbuckling-- his fighting style would be Two-Weapon Fighting

Ororo Munroe

This one was a no brainer. She's definitely a Storm Sorcery Sorcerer from Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Jean Grey

I immediately went to the same class as Professor X but instead of her subclass being Aberrant Mind, I think a Wild Magic Sorcerer would suit her character best due to the sheer chaos and calamity her mutation can cause. Apparently a Phoenix Sorcerer is also a thing but since its not fully revised and published, I'll stick to Wild Magic

[dicebound]

Barnaby 5e Build

Lineage - Owlin He's literally an owl, there isn't much to say here. You could alternatively go with the Reborn Lineage as well for more undead flavor but you'd lose flight and other useful things.

Class - Bard/Whispers So Barnaby is primarily observed in his level singing about death, slashing at you with a dagger, and conjuring objects out of nowhere to attack you. He also has little ghost buddies as back up singers. With that in mind, You have a few good options with Wizard, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock or Rogue standing out to me. A quick breakdown of the subclass options I would consider: Wizard - Necromancy or Conjuration Warlock - Undead Sorcerer - Shadow Bard - Creation, Spirits, Whispers Rogue - Phantom, Arcane Trickster. Rogue is the most out there, with no innate casting. Arcane Trickster certainly fits his personality and gives him thematic spellcasting, but lacks the spooky flavor we're looking for. Phantom has the flavor, but loses the spellcasting. Could be a good multiclass option. While Wizard could fit especially Conjuration for the object summoning, I really feel Barnaby would make a better Charisma caster than an Intelligence caster given his demeanor and "Party Animal" descriptor. Undead Warlock gets you that strong undead flavor, charisma casting and access to the spookier spells in the game, but Barnaby doesn't seem bound up by the demands of a patron. Shadow Sorcerer obviously fits Barnaby aesthetically and even gives you a limited summoning ability. It's a strong contender and was the first thing I thought of when making this list. Finally, Bard captures the musical and social inclinations of the character and has a few good spooky options for subclass. Creation lets you animate objects to fight for you, very fitting but otherwise lacks the flavor we're looking for. Spirit gives you a strong spooky flavor, the ability to tell harrowing stories about the dead or dying, and communicate with the dead. Whispers however gives a little bit more, you have the strong spooky flavor, psychic attacks, a frighten ability, and the ability to tap into creature's fears and steal their shadows. This is the one to me.

3. Background - Entertainer We don't know much about Barnaby's backstory at present, making it difficult to pick something concrete. The standout choices to me are Entertainer, Sage and Haunted One. 4. Skills For his Bard skills, I picked Performance, Arcana and either Sleight of Hand or Persuasion. I avoided Intimidation as his class features will allow him to make people afraid on their own and Stealth is gotten naturally from Owlin. For his background, I chose Entertainer and had to take Acrobatics. I also picked up Perception. For his expertise I selected Performance and Arcana. 5.Stats For his stat spread I selected a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Dexterity from his lineage and then used point buy to distribute them as follows: Str - 8 Dex - 14 Con - 14 Int - 14 Wis - 9 Cha - 16

I dumped Strength because he has no need of it, and dumped Wisdom because he very clearly can't read a room when interacting with Billie. Con is higher than you might otherwise put on a Bard to represent that resilience of being undead. Decent Dex and Cha are obvious choices for any bard, and heightened Int just felt appropriate. 7. Spells So Spell Choice will vary by level, but good options for 0th-2nd spell level are as follows: For Cantrips most of the options are solid and thematic. I'd likely pick Vicious Mockery* and either Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation or Dancing Lights. Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Nathair's Mischief and Phantasmal Force all fit the spooky vibes and grant either good crowd control or damage. Suggestion, Faerie Fire, Invisibility, Bane, Hold Person and Cloud of Daggers also stand out as good thematic options. * if you're using feats at first level, you can pick up more flavorful/utility cantrips from Bard and grab your damaging cantrips from say Magic Initiate instead.

8. Feats (Optional) Some tables allow for Feats at First Level. Stand out choices to me are Shadow Touched, Eldritch Adept, Magic Initiate, Poisoner, Chef, Slasher and War Caster. Some of these are more flavorful than mechanical however. I find Bard's offensive magic to be too limited especially early on and so Magic Initiate (Warlock) or (Wizard) is very helpful. You want an attack roll cantrip for sure. For Warlock pick up Eldritch Blast and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For the 1st level spells, Arms of Hadar and Hex are great options. For Wizard, pick up Chill Touch and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For 1st level spells, Tasha's Caustic Brew is a thematic choice as well as Catapult and False Life. Mechanically motivated options could be Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield or Find Familiar.

[nerdythebard]

#56: Malenia, Blade of Miquella [Elden Ring]

[Art Credit: Aleksandra Skiba on ArtStation] ---

What's her name again?

This request comes from an anonymous reader. Surely, their goal was to give some of you lovely folks violent flashbacks. It is in fact time to venture into the world of Elden Ring and yet again face Malenia, Blade of Miquella. I'll be completely honest, I do not get the appeal of Souls games, so I never bothered to look into them, but you all very well know that your wish is my command. So let's step into the arena!

Next Time: GODDAMNIT, BARBARA!

Let's see what we need to equip for this fight:

I am Malenia

Blade of Miquella

And I have never known defeat

Um... okay... whatever you say.

---

Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is a demigod, and specifically mentioned to be an Empyrean; in D&D terms, Empyreans are celestials so that will make her an Aasimar. Using the new rules from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, we get a +2 and a +1 to two abilities of our choice (let's get Dexterity and Constitution respectively), speed of 30 feet, Celestial Resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, 60 feet of Darkvision, the Light cantrip, and the Healing Hands ability that lets us heal a creature for [our proficiency bonus x d4] once per long rest as an Action.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella (this is the last time, I promise), is going to have the Soldier background, as we can definitely use those Athletics and Intimidation proficiencies. We also gain proficiency with one gaming set and operating land vehicles, and the Military Rank feature, which will make soldiers related to our former (remember, the concept is that D&D characters begin their new lives as adventurers) organisation recognise us, and may provide us with supplies, shelter, or help.

ABILITY SCORES

We'll start with Dexterity, as we need to be nimble with our moves and swing our weapon better than Benny Goodman. Constitution will be next, since we've never known defeat. Follow that up with Wisdom, for our Rot damage.

After that, we get Charisma - Malenia's got that intimidation skill perfected. Strength will be on the lower end, in case we need to switch weapons, and we're gonna dump Intelligence - we just need others things more.

CLASS

Level 1 - Fighter: We start with the classic, but a useful one. Fighters start with a d10 as their Hit Dice, [10 + our Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies in light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. Apart from her helmet and prosthetics (the latter of which you can also get, as described in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything), Malenia doesn't appear to use any armour, so we'll skip that for now, and grab her a rapier; it's not exactly a katana, but it's the best finesse weapon we can get for now.

Our saving throws are Strength and Constitution, and we get to pick two class skills from the list (Acrobatics and Perception).

Fighters get to pick their Fighting Style. You could consider picking Blind Fighting since Malenia has no eyes and doing so would make you aware of everything within 10 feet of you, but in this case we need to deal damage and a lot of it; we're going with Dueling. When we're wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapon, we get a +2 to damage rolls.

Fighters also get to tap into Second Wind. As a bonus action, we can regain [1d10 + our Fighter level] once per short or long rest.

Level 2 - Fighter: With Action Surge we can now take one additional Action on our turn once per short or long rest.

Level 3 - Fighter: We choose our first subclass, our Martial Archetype. Malenia uses a long katana/odachi, but because her spirit is essentially unbreakable (and she's never known defeat), we're gonna go with the Samurai archetype. We get a bonus proficiency in one skill from the list (Insight) and we gain Fighting Spirit; as a Bonus Action, we can give ourselves an advantage on weapon attack rolls until the end of our turn and gain 5 Temporary Hit Points. We can use this ability three times per long rest.

We also gain a racial ability - Celestial Revelation. We get to choose a form to transform into for 1 minute as a bonus action (once per long rest). To keep with Malenia's Rot theme, we're gonna get the Necrotic Shroud; creatures within 10 feet of us who can see us must make a Charisma saving throw or become frightened of us until the end of our next turn. Additionally, once per turn we can deal extra [our proficiency bonus] necrotic damage to a single target when making a weapon attack or cast a spell.

Level 4 - Monk: Let's jump classes for some faster and more nimble slashes. Multiclassing into Monk gives us proficiency with stuff we already know, so instead we jump straight into Unarmed Defense. While wearing no armour or shield, our AC becomes [10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Wisdom modifier]. We also learn Martial Arts. When benefitting from Unarmed Defense and using our bare hands or a monk weapon (which the rapier qualifies as), we gain the following benefits:

We can use Dexterity instead of Strength for attack and damage rolls of our unarmed and monk weapon strikes.

We can use a 1d4 instead of the dice used for our unarmed strikes and monk weapon attacks (the value changes as we level up).

When we use our Attack action to do an unarmed strike or a monk weapon attack, we can use our Bonus Action to make an unarmed strike.

Level 5 - Monk: We gain access to the Monk's resource - the Ki energy. We start with a pool of Ki Points (that we recover when we finish a short or long rest), which we can spend to achieve the following effects:

Flurry of Blows: Immediately after making an Attack, we can spend 1 Ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense: Spending 1 Ki point lets us take the Dodge action as a bonus action.

Step of the Wind: Spending 1 Ki point lets us take the Dash or Disengage actions as bonus actions, and doubles our jump distance for the turn.

We also gain Unarmoured Movement. When not wearing armour or using a shield, our speed increases by 10 feet.

Level 6 - Monk: Here, we learn how to Deflect Missiles. Whenever we're a target of a ranged weapon attack, we can use our Reaction to attempt to reduce the damage by [1d10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Monk level]; if the result reduces the damage to 0, we catch the projectile and can use the same Reaction to throw the projectile (range 20/60) and make an attack.

We get to pick our second subclass, our Monastic Tradition. To get better with our only weapon, we're gonna choose Way of the Kensei. We can now make our rapier a kensei weapon, which will give it extra bonuses. We gain proficiency with either caligrapher's supplies or painter's supplies (choose either), and with Agile Parry, if we make an unarmed strike as part of our Attack, we can gain a +2 to our AC by using our weapon to defend ourselves. We also gain Kensei's Shot, but since we're not using ranged weapons, we'll skip that one.

Level 7 - Monk: Finally, we get our first Ability Score Improvement. We're gonna boost our Dexterity and Constitution, as it will be useful in the next level. Here, we also gain Slow Fall, which helps us when falling, reducing fall damage by [our Monk level x5]. I would also ask your DM if you can take the optional feature Quickened Healing from Tasha's (since we didn't get anything when multiclassing), which lets you spend 2 Ki Points to roll a Martial Arts die and heal the rolled number of Hit Points.

Level 8 - Druid: Time to make some things rot. Multiclassing into Druid once again gives us proficiencies we already have, so we'll jump straight into Spellcasting. Wisdom is our casting ability and we know cantrips and rituals. Druids have access to their full spell list, and they can prepare [our Wisdom modifier + our Druid level] spells each day. We start by choosing two cantrips (Infestation and Resistance) and two 1st-level spells (Jump and Longstrider). We also learn Druidic, a language unique to the druids.

Level 9 - Druid: Although druids gain their signature ability, Wild Shape here, we will not focus on that in this build (we will be using the resource for something else), so allow me to skip straight into picking our third subclass - our Druid Circle. There is absolutely no question here, we're picking Circle of Spores.

From the circle conntected to rot and decay, we pick up our first feature: Halo of Spores. We're surrounded by an invisible aura of spores and bacteria, which we can unleash onto a target. Whenever a creature moves into a space within 10 feet of us (or starts its turn there), we can use our Reaction to deal 1d4 necrotic damage (unless the target makes a Constitution saving throw) which increases as we level up (1d6 at lv. 6, 1d8 at lv. 10, and 1d10 at lv. 14).

We can also channel magic into our own spores to create a Symbiotic Entity. By sacrificing one usage of our Wild Shape, we can awaken the spores on our body and gain [4 Temporary Hit Points per Druid level], as well as the following benefits (which last for 10 minutes or until we lose the THP or until we use Wild Shape again):

When we deal damage from our Halo of Spores, we roll the damage die a second time and add it to our attack

Our melee weapon deals extra 1d6 necrotic damage to any target we hit

We can also get another spell; let's grab Protection from Evil and Good.

Level 10 - Druid: Halfway through the build and we don't unlock anything class-related, only 2nd-level spells. Enhance Ability may aid us in case of saving throws for abilities we do not excel at, and we pick up two spells from our subclass: Blindness/Deafness and Gentle Repose.

Level 11 - Druid: Time for another ASI. Putting two points into Dexterity, we now max our primary damage-dealing and evasive ability. We also collect one more 2nd-level spell, Wither and Bloom, and one more cantrip - Primal Savagery.

Level 12 - Druid: Once again, we do not unlock any class features but we get 3rd-level spells. Let's grab Plant Growth, and get Animate Dead and Gaseous Form from our subclass.

Level 13 - Druid: We get our second subclass feature - Fungal Infestation. We can now spread our spores to a recently killed person or beast. If a Small or Medium creature dies within 10 feet of us, we can use our Reaction to animate it for 1 hour (or until defeated or dismissed) with 1 Hit Point. We can use this feature a number of times equal to our Wisdom modifier per long rest. The Cleanrot knights will now serve us!

Level 14 - Monk: Time to get more sword strikes to our build. We get Extra Attack - we can now attack twice, instead of one time, during a single Attack action (plus unarmed strikes as a Bonus Action). We also get Stunning Strike; when we hit a target with our melee weapon attack, we can spend 1 Ki Point to attempt to stun the target. The target has to make a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of our next turn. Additionally, our Martial Arts die becomes 1d6.

Level 15 - Monk: Our Unarmoured Movement bonus is now +15 feet. At this level, we can now deal extra Punchables™ with Ki-Empowered Strikes; our unarmed attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities. From our subclass, we gain One with the Blade, which gives us the following benefits:

Magic Kensei Weapons: Our kensei weapon attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities.

Deft Strike: When we hit the target with our kensei weapon, we can spend 1 Ki Point to add extra damage to our weapon equal to our Martial Arts die. We can only do so once per turn.

Level 16 - Monk: At this level, we get two really useful abilities to avoid harm. Evasion allows us to take no damage when failing a Dexterity saving throw would make us take half damage (and half damage if we'd normally take full damage). With Stillness of Mind, we can use our Action to shake off one charmed or frightened effect.

Level 17 - Monk: Time for another ASI. Let's put one point into Wisdom and one into Constitution.

Level 18 - Monk: We gain Unarmoured Movement Improvement. We can now effortlessly move across vertifcal surfaces and liquids without sacrificing any loss of movement.

Our Unarmoured Movement bonus is now +20 feet. With Purity of Body we are now sure that the Rot or any of its strains will touch us, as we're immune to poison and disease.

Level 19 - Monk: For the final ASI, we'll put one point into Constitution and leave the last one into Intelligence.

Level 20 - Monk: Our capstone is Monk 12, which gives us our final subclass upgrade: Sharpen the Blade. We can now imbue our weapon with Ki, spending up to 3 points to increase the weapon's attack force, damage, or both for 1 minute. Our Martial Arts die also changes into 1d8.

---

And that's Malenia, Blade of Miquella, who has never known defeat! (I had to squeeze that last one in!). Let's see what we have here:

First of all, we have a lot of ways to deal damage, depending whether we with to attack with our weapon, our unarmed stikes, or our Rot powers. We have also several ways of sustaining ourselves, whether by gaining Temporary Hit Points, healing with Second Wind, or casting a spell.

Our AC is 17 (+2 if we use Agile Parry), we have 50 feet of movement, a +5 to our initiative, and the average of 163 Hit Points.

This build is also difficult to maintain because of a triple multiclass, which means a lot of resource management: Ki Points, Wild Shape, Spell Slots, Martial Arts die... plus, the many options of attacking and several versions of managing your Action, Bonus Action, and Reaction moveset, this may cause some confusion.

---

Ho boy, that was something. It seems to be a satisfying build, but I also feel like I've spent a bit too much on it. I also had to reschedule the next build, but I'll explain why later. If you want to, I'll also provide commentary on the few controversies with Wizards of the Coast and D&D situation, but all in due time.

Remember that I love you and wish you all a good day or night!

-Nerdy out!

[kanohirren]

How to Make Grian in DnD

Welcome to my first guide on making Life SMP members into DnD 5e characters!

I’ll go level by level and explain the reasoning behind my decisions and how I think it fits them in character. This build assumes starting at level 8 but includes notes on differences if you start at level 1 and progress to 8. Keep in mind that this isn’t intended as a guide on how to play dnd, just how to build this character. I also don't explain every feature but I may briefly touch on it and explain my reasoning for taking it.

Class: Fighter 6 (Eldritch Knight)/Cleric 2 (War Domain)

Race: Aarakocra* (can be humanised)

Base Ability Scores: (uses Tasha's Cauldron of Everything rule that allows for reallocating racial stat bonuses)

Str 10 (+0)

Dex 15 (+2) +2 from race = 17 (+3)

Con 13 (+1) +1 from race = 14 (+2)

Int 10 (+0)

Wis 13 (+1)

Cha 12 (+1)

Background: Courtier

Grian is a well-rounded character with no clear weaknesses but a couple of fields he excels at. He’s good at almost all aspects of the game whether it be combat, social interactions or even just survival. I gave him the Fighter/Cleric multiclass because I felt like it would be an interesting build and made him a dexterity-based fighter because Aarakocra cant fly with any armour other than light armour.

Before moving on to classes, let’s go over the race and background features.

Aarakocra race*:

Flight**: Flying speed equal to walk speed, only works with light or no armour.

Talons: Your unarmed attacks do more damage. Not super good because this is a dex build.

Wind Caller: At lvl 3 you can cast Gust of Wind. A cool spell, find some fun situations to use it in.

*The Aarakocra version used here is the nerfed version from “Mordekainnen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse”.

**If having a flying speed is a problem, a compromise I usually default to is only letting flying speed let you move vertically during your turn, but you cannot end your turn in mid-air or you fall.

Courtier background:

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Persuasion

Court Functionary: You are good at hearing things about important people, as you are one of them. Perfect for if you want to start wars.

At 1st lvl, we start with a level in Fighter. This grants us:

Proficiency in heavy, medium, and light armour, shields

Proficiency in simple and martial weapons

Proficiency in Strength and Constitution saving throws.

Skill Proficiencies: Take Survival and Athletics.

Fighting Style: Choose Duelling if you want to use a sword mostly. Archery is fine too if you want to use a bow.

Second Wind: Bonus action healing. Nice to have.

As a dex build, Grian will be using light armour and finesse or ranged weapons mostly. Ideal weapon would be a rapier and a longbow. The Courtier background involves knowing what’s happening amongst a group of interest, much like how Grian is involved with many major Minecrafters

At 2nd lvl, we take a second level in Fighter, which grants us:

Action Surge: Have a second action in one round once per short rest. Good early for having another attack and scales very well.

At 3rd lvl, we take a third level in Fighter, which grants us:

Subclass: Eldritch Knight

Eldritch Knight grants:

Weapon Bond: Find a shiny weapon? It’s yours now and no one else can have it!

Two Cantrips: Mage Hand (lots of trickery you can do with this) and Blade Ward (in case taking damage is inevitable)

Three 1st lvl spells: Magic Missile (just in case), Shield (good defensive spell) and Fog Cloud (cause lots of chaos and confusion)

As Grian’s Intelligence stat hasn’t been prioritised, I chose spells that don’t involve any rolls so that it’s not really a problem. He’ll get more chaotic use out of the cleric spells that we get later.

At 4th lvl, we take a fourth level in Fighter, which grants us:

Ability Score Improvement OR Feat. Take the Ability Score Improvement and +1 your Dex up to 18 (+4) and your Wisdom up to 14 (+2).

One more spell: Take Tenser’s Floating disk (Take people’s doors and stack them on the disk and then run away without being weighed down)

The dex is always important, improves your stealth so you’re less likely to be caught placing tnt and the wisdom helps your perception but more importantly helps after becoming a cleric.

At 5th lvl, we take a fifth level in Fighter, which grants us:

Extra Attack: More damage output!

With this fifth level in Fighter, we hit the important damage power spike. Now we can get to the more chaotic side of Grian.

At 6th lvl, we multiclass into Cleric, which grants us:

Three Cantrips: Take Guidance (good spell), Thaumaturgy (fun spell) and Spare the Dying (mainly for Scar)

1st lvl spells: As a prepared caster, Clerics can swap out their spells after a long rest. My suggested default spells are: Bless, Sanctuary and Ceremony (get that marriage buff).

Subclass: War Domain

War Domain grants:

Extra Prepared Spells: Divine Favor and Shield of Faith

Bonus Proficiencies: Martial Weapons and Heavy Armour. Both redundant because we started Fighter.

War Priest: Another attack as a bonus action with number of uses scaling with Wisdom. Goes well with being a fighter.

Ready to start a war? Cleric and this subclass especially makes Grian extra ready to start a war and fight his way to victory. As a Cleric, Grian of course worships the mighty Boatem Pole!

At 7th lvl, we take a second level in Cleric, which grants us:

Channel Divinity: Turn Undead. Good for all the zombies and skeletons that keep spawning around you.

Channel Divinity: Guided Strike. Give yourself a +10 to an attack roll once per long rest. Really good if you just desperately need to land a hit.

One more prepared spell: Command (Need a war started? Just point at a button and tell someone else to “Press”!)

At 8th lvl, we take a sixth level in Fighter, which grants us:

Ability Score Improvement OR Feat: Take the ASI to bring your dex from 18 (+4) to 20 (+5)

Maxed out dex is good. Alternatively, you could bump your wisdom up to 16 instead if you want stronger spells.

Summary:

Final stats:

Str 10 (+0)

Dex 20 (+5)

Con 14 (+2)

Int 10 (+0)

Wis 14 (+2)

Cha 12 (+1)

Two Attacks as an action, a third as a bonus action (limited uses)

Rapier (if Duelling was chosen): +5 (dex) +3 (prof. bonus) = +8 to hit. 1d8 + 5 (dex) + 2 (duelling) piercing dmg.

Longbow (if Archery was chosen): +5 (dex) +3 (prof. bonus) +2 (archery) = +10 to hit. 1d8 + 5 piercing.

And that’s it for Grian! I hope this build captures the chaotic nature of Grian while also maintaining his prowess a just about everything. If you have any feedback or questions, I’d love to read them! ^^

Next will be Scar!

[rebelcourtesan]

My D&D 5e Character Build for Angel Dust

I've created a character build for Angel Dust before, but I want to redo it since I've seen him in action and with a better understanding of his character and his abilities.

Angel Dust is a skilled fighter and protective of his friends so I want to create a build that reflects that.

Long post below with spoilers.

Stats (From Highest to Lowest)

Dexterity: (Top Stat) Angel Dust is not only a flexible dancer, but is a a crackshot with tommy guns.

Charisma: (2nd Highest) Angel Dust isn't top porn star of Hell for nothing.

Constitution: (3rd Highest) Angel Dust is no push over. He's used to taking hard drugs and dealing with rough porn scenes.

Wisdom: (4th Highest) While he comes across as self-centered, he does care about his friends and looks out for them.

Strength: (5th Highest) He's not the strongest, but he can handle egg bois just fine.

intelligence: (Dump Stat)

Race

Angel is going to be a reskinned Half-Elf.

He'll gain +2 to Charisma and add the two additional Ability points into Dexterity and Constitution.

Darkvision of 60 feet

He'll have advantage on saving throws against being charmed because he knows he's the sexiest thing in Hell.

Magic can't put him to sleep. I'd say it's because he's built up a resistance to sedatives due to drug use.

Can choose two skills to be proficient in. Choose Persuasion and Acrobatics

Background

Since Angel Dust was a mobster when he was alive, we're going to give him the Criminal background. This will give him proficiency in Deception and Stealth.

Being a porn star in Hell is akin to being a Pop Idol.

Classes

We're going to start Angel off as a Bard. He is an entertainer after all, acting and dancing are part of being a Bard.

Level 1 - Bard 1st Level

Angel adds proficiency to Charisma and Dexterity saving throws.

He gains proficiency in three skills, so select: Performance, insight, and Perception.

Angel gains Bardic Inspiration, as a bonus action he can grant an ally a 1d6 to add to any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. He can do this equal to his Charisma modifier and they refresh after a long rest.

Angel gains spells, but I would flavor these as instead of magic, he's using skills and seduction.

Cantrips:

Friends - being seductive, Angel gains advantage on Charisma check on a target of his choice.

Vicious Mockery - (You sack of poorly packaged horseshit!) Angel insults a target forcing them to succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and has disadvantage on their next attack roll. The damage goes up as Angel levels up.

Spells

Tasha's Hideous Laughter - Angel tells a joke and the target must succeed a Wisdom saving throw or fall prone overcome with laughter.

Bane - Angel can choose up to three creatures who must make Charisma saving throws or have 1d4 reduced from attack rolls or saving throws.

Charm Person - Angel can choose a target who must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by Angel. They perceive him as a friendly until attacked or harmed by Angel or his allies.

Silvery Bards - If Angel sees an enemy make a successful attack roll on an ally, as a reaction he can force the enemy to reroll and take the second result. Then he can give an advantage to an ally for their next attack roll, saving throw, or ability check.

I'm addicted to the madness...

Level 2 - Bard 2nd Level

Angel gains Jack of All Trades which lets him add half his proficiency bonus to any skills that do not have proficiency.

He also gains Song of Rest. During a short rest, he gives allies an extra 1d6 to roll when they roll hit dice to regain hit points.

Angel also gains a new spell: Heroism - He can encourage an ally to be their best and they become immune to the frighten condition and gains temporary hit points equal to Angel's Charisma modifier at the start of each of its turns.

Level 3 - Bard 3rd Level

At this level Angel gains Expertise which lets him double his bonus in two proficiency skills. Choose Persuasion and Performance.

At this level, Bards choose a subclass. For Angel Dust, we're going into College of Lore.

He gains three new skills to be proficient in so choose. Intimidation, Medicine (from drug use), and Sleight of Hand.

He also gains the Cutting Words ability. As a bonus action, h e can spend a Bardic Inspiration die to subtract from an enemy's attack roll or saving throw.

Angel also gains a new spell: Suggestion - Angel can influence a creature to do as he wishes if they fail a Wisdom saving throw.

Angel Dust loves to suck . . .popsicles . . and dicks.

Level 4 - Bard 4th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Point both points into either Charisma or Dexterity. We want these maxed out as soon as possible.

Angel also gains a new spell - Enhanced Ability: Angel encourages someone to be the best they can be by granting them advantages on one ability check while the spell is ongoing.

Level 5 - Bard 5th Level

At this level, Angel Dust's Bardic Inspiration die become 1d8s and with Font of Inspiration, he can refresh his Bardic Inspiration die after a short rest.

Angel gets a new spell - Antagonize: he can provoke an enemy into making a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, they take 4d6 psychic damage and will attack any target of Angel's choosing or takes disadvantage on its next attack. On a successful saving, only takes half damage.

Eat lead, sucker!

Level 6 - Fighter 1st Level

Alright, now we're switching gears. Now that we got Angel where he can self-guard his friends, we're going to make him a dangerous mobster by going into Fighter. Since most of his fighting relies on range weapons, having a high dexterity works in his favor!

Angel gains a fighting style, choose Archery. This nets him +2 to attack rolls with ranged weapons.

He also gains Second Wind. As a bonus action, he regains 10 + Fighter Level in hit points. He regains this after a short or long rest.

Level 7 - Fighter 2nd Level

Angel now has Action Surge. When activated, he can performed a second action on a turn. This refreshes after a short or long rest.

Level 8 - Fighter 3rd Level

Angel can go into a Fighter subclass. For this build, he'll go into Champion.

With Improve Critical, he scores a critical hit on a 19 and 20.

Angel isn't just good at sex.

Level 9 - Fighter 4th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Put points into Charisma to improve his Bard Spells and grant him more Bardic Inspiration or into Dexterity to increase his AC or let him hit more often and deal more damage with range weapons.

Level 10 - Fighter 5th Level

Angel gets Extra Attack, which allows him to make two attacks whenever he uses the Attack Action.

Level 11 - Fighter 6th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Again, put points into Charisma and Dexterity until they are maxed out.

Level 12 - Fighter 7th Level

The Champion Subclass gives Angel Remarkable Athlete. With a long jump he can cover a distance of feet matching his Strength modifier.

Angel draws on his past as a mobster to fight Exorcists.

Level 13 - Fighter 8th Level

Ability Score Improvement: Again, we want to max out both his Charisma and Dexterity.

However, if you already maxed out Charisma while close to maxing out Dexterity, you could take the Athlete feat instead.

Add 1 point to Dexterity

Angel can use only 5 feet of movement to stand from prone

Climbing does not cost him extra movement

He can make a running long or high jump using only 5 ft instead of 10 ft of movement

Level 14 - Fighter 9th Level

Angel gains Indomitable which will allow him to reroll a failed saving throw, but must keep the second result. He can do this once every long rest.

Level 15 - Fighter 10th Level

As Champion, Angel Dust gets a second Fighting Style. Choose Close Quarters Shooter - This let's Angel attack an enemy within 5 ft with a range weapon without penalties. It also lets him ignore three-quarters cover of targets within range. This also grants him another +1 bonus on range attacks.

Level 16 - Fighter 11th Level

Angel gets an Extra Attack. He can now attack three times whenever he takes the attack action.

Level 17 - Fighter 12th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Put points into either Charisma and/or Dexterity. We want to improve Angel's Bard spells while improving his range attacks and AC.

Level 18 - Fighter 13th Level

Angel gets a second Indomitable (allowing him to reroll a failed saving throw). Both refresh after a long rest.

Level 19 - Fighter 14th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Like before, put points into Charisma and/or Dexterity. We want both of these stats maxed out.

Level 20 - Fighter 15th Level

Angel attains Superior Critical, allowing him to deliver critical hits on 18-20 on the die.

Angel Dust, a charismatic mobster.

With this build, you should have the both sides of Angel's personality, the whimsical porn starlet who can stand against Exorcists and other demons.

[viptvseries]

V. I. P. Season 1

[stick-or-treat]

I LOVE THIS RULE AND I THINK PEOPLE SHOULD USE IT MORE

I can't remember if this was in the 2014 PHB or added later in Tasha's or something... But I just love imagining Intelligence (Intimidation), or Charisma (Stealth) or idk Dexterity (Performance) for juggling or whatever, it's just fun, THIS IS A FUN RULE

[asmallorb]

PIZZA TOWER the Towers & Toppins AU: Character Creation P2

Oh my god it’s the Gustavo and Brick hour. (I love this loop so much omg).

Gustavo:

Race: Forest Gnome

I honestly don’t know for sure that Gustavo in game is a gnome and the creators have not confirmed as much (as far as I’m aware), but it is a popular headcannon simply for the fact that his first playable appearance is in the gnome forest level. Regardless of any legitimacy, in the world of fantasy adventure, he would make for a perfect little gnome based off his look, that and gnomes are perfect throwing size for a certain barbarian with the Tavern Brawler feat. He’d specifically a forest gnome to play further into fanon and his new fantastical origin. 

Class: Ranger

The woods are the perfect place to hunt and forage for pizza ingredients, and an understanding of nature would be perfect for the cultivation of herbs. Such a task requires one to become attune to the natural world. Ranger is also a nice counterweight to Peppino’s more hands on moveset, Rangers have spellcasting, a bit of healing and they have proficiency in all sorts of ranged weaponry such as long bows and crossbows. The optimal stat distribution for a ranger leans more into dexterity and wisdom, and comically, intelligence is a dump stat. Which just feels right somehow for Gustavo, like -- he’s not stupid, but I feel like he's not going to win a scholarship anytime soon either. Finally there’s a particular ranger subclass that lines up perfectly with his moveset.

Subclass: Beast Master

The beast master subclass is quite easy to picture. Your thing is that you have animal buddy, specifically a Primal Companion. The beast follows your commands and acts on your turn, and later down in levels you get even more abilities that empower your animal companion and yourself in unison. 

Brick would naturally stand in as Gus’s Primal Companion. There are stats for a giant rat but it counts as a small creature, and Brick is a medium sized creature at the very least. I think it’s more than reasonable to homebrew something more appropriate. Perhaps we can give him something along the lines of a the Giant Badger stat block, get rid of the dig speed and give him the Pack Tactics ability from the Giant rat. 

But that’s of course if you’re using the rules pre-Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, which simplifies things by supplying three generic stat blocks (land, seas or sky) for the animal, having the player pick one (land in this case) and then they can just say ‘my animal companion looks giant rat’. Also the ranger subclass is all over improved by changing it so that when you command your animal companion, it’s a bonus action instead of a full action. Good stuff. 

Now where it gets fun is that if Brick counts as medium sized, and Gustavo being a gnome would put him in the small size category, that means Gus can easily use Brick as a mount! Which is so vital to Gustavo and Brick’s dynamic. 

And that’s it! A short and sweet one. Just like Gustavo. 

[bergdg]

One D&D Guesswork

Now that we’ve had a few playtest documents released, we can begin to see the direction the game designers of One D&D are heading. Using what we’ve seen so far, I have some thoughts and guesses on what we will see for the rest of the classes that will be released: what we will see for the different groups and some potential directions for some of the class without playtest documents.

As a sidenote – I know there’s a lot of discussion going on right now concerning the future of the Open Game License (OGL) and other associated documents. Recent developments point towards a few different directions, and, having been both part of a 3rd-party content project in 2021 and the consumer of 3rd-party content, I’m waiting with the rest of the community on what it will all look like in the end, and how it will affect community content going forward. But, I am not going to go into that discussion as part of this post.

Read on past the line to see my thoughts on what might lie in store. Mayhap they will spark some thoughts of your own.

Group Abilities

In the Expert document, it was revealed that each class in the Expert group was going to have the Expertise ability, either at 1st or 2nd level. I think there will be a similar ability granted within each group moving forward.

For the Priest group, we already saw that the Cleric’s Channel Divinity ability had received an upgrade. Paladins also have Channel Divinity in 5th Edition, although it differs based on the subclass. I think we will see Paladins gaining Channel Divinity at an earlier level, with Divine Sense being a class-wide Channel Divinity ability. For Druids, I think that Wild Shape will be flavored as their Channel Divinity ability, with the alternate Wild Companion rule from Tasha’s being a second Channel Divinity option.

For the Warrior group, their group feature needs to be about combat. And, other than Extra Attack, the Fighter’s Action Surge ability is a great way to get some extra damage in. My guess is that Action Surge will be extended to all classes in the group and the number of uses will be tied to your character’s proficiency bonus. Monks can sort of do this with Martial Arts, and Barbarians would enjoy the buff that some extra actions would allow.

For the Mage group, their group feature needs to be about spellcasting, and I think it will involve recovering Spell Slots. Wizards have Arcane Recovery, Sorcerers can use Sorcery Points to regain spell slots, and Warlocks recover all of their spell slots during short rests instead of having to wait for a long rest. I could see the One D&D team finding a way to merge these abilities in some way, even if it is just the same ability name with differences noted for each class.

Subclasses

I'm already writing a series of what subclasses I think we'll see for classes that have already been released as playtest material: Bard, Cleric and Ranger (with Rogue coming next week). I give some initial thoughts in some of the sections below, and I plan to continue with each class after they are released.

Fighters

Many would argue that the Battle Master subclass is the best of the Fighter subclasses, and maneuvers really enhance what Fighters are capable of. With the desire to equalize spell casters and non-casters, I could see all Fighters getting access to something like Manuevers to up their tactical advantage. That would be a great differentiator: Monks would have access to Ki, Barbarians would Rage, and Fighters would have “tactics” (using this term to differentiate it from maneuvers gained via the Battle Master subclass). I could see ‘tactics’ giving you bonuses / abilities based in your Strength / Dexterity modifier and having a number of uses equal to your proficiency bonus.

Monks

With Rangers getting some major upgrades in recent updates, I am really hoping that Monks get some love in the same way and become the ultimate unarmed warrior. With the Unarmed Fighting style as a template, I could see a d6 being the base Martial Arts die instead of a d4, making a d12 be the die for high-level monks instead of a d10. The higher average damage from the get-go paired with access to Action Surge would be a major boon already to this class. And then with the right polish on the 4 subclasses that will be included (probably Astral Self, Open Hand, Mercy, and Shadow), we would have a solid option again.

Sorcerers

While I don’t know if it would stick, I could see a future playtest where, instead of being a Charisma-based spellcaster, sorcerers would become Constitution-based. This would better play into the flavor of it being a natural ability, whether inherited from their bloodline or their surroundings or gained from some entity that wasn’t giving their power through a pact (which is Warlock territory).

Wizards

When Jeremy Crawford announced that each class would only have 4 subclasses in the “One D&D Player’s Handbook,” a lot of people got to wondering what that would mean for Wizards, as there are 8 schools of magic and those made up the core subclasses in 5th Edition. My guess is that we won’t see any subclasses in One D&D based around the schools of magic, especially with the move to differentiate between Arcane, Divine, and Primal spells. Instead, we will see something like the Holy Orders from the Cleric playtest document, in which you would have an ‘area of study’ for your wizard. Then, you would say something like “I’m an Order of War Magic Wizard specializing in Evocation and Abjuration magic.” Subclasses would then be modeled after the existing non-school subclasses: Order of Bladesinging, Order of Scribes (which I think will be the “base” wizarding subclass), Order of War Magic, and Order of Runecraft (which is a “live” 5E playtest subclass, most likely showing up in Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants).

Warlocks

In all the playtest material currently released, all classes are now getting their subclass at 3rd level. Of all the classes, this goes against the flavor of the warlock (as we currently understand it) the most. You make your deal with your patron, right? But the same could have been said for Clerics, who pick a deity to follow. However, with the handling of Clerics in their playtest document, I could see this pattern still working – you would still pick your patron at first level, but that pact isn’t fully realized until 3rd level, where the patron would then grant unique abilities based on their type (and beginning your true subclass path). This would fit the flavor, as many patrons could be seen as being of multiple types – like a Demonic Archfey or a Fathomless Old One. In addition, I think Eldritch Blast will now be the 1st level Feature of the Warlock class, making it a cantrip no longer. This will be the first way to begin expressing your connection to your patron.

Wrap-Up

Anyways, what do you think we'll see with the future of One D&D? How much of my guesswork will really happen?

@dailyadventureprompts - would be interested to hear your ideas

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #24: Dark Sakura

today on Grailfinders we’re making the big bad of Heaven’s Feel, Dark Sakura. she’s Sakura, but dark! I admit we haven’t played F/SN yet (heresy, I know), so if we get any lore wrong I profusely apologize. she’s got that grail gunk all up in her, so you know we had to give her the ol’ sorlock treatment. she’s a Great Old One Warlock for that GOO, and a Clockwork Sorcerer to get some of her own power. with those two in place, we have everything we need for omnipotence! maybe.

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

Ancestry & Background

Sakura’s a Human, or at least she was before the goopening, and she grew up with a special pattern on her that’s teaching her magic. that’s a Mark of the Sentinel if I ever heard it, giving her +2 Charisma and +1 Dexterity (thank you Tasha), as well as the Sentinel’s Intuition for a d4 bonus on all Insight and Perception checks. the most important part of hiding yourself from people is making sure they don’t know if you know that they know what you know, y’know? you can also use the Guardian’s Shield once a day for a free casting of the shield spell, and you’re a Vigilant Guardian, letting you throw yourself between an ally and an attack once a day. we’re not really using that last one here, but maybe you’ll use it during Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, who knows. bacon grease really hurts, so maybe that counts as an attack?

you also get an extended spell list, but we’ll just go over the ones we want as we get them.

you’re also a Haunted One, because dear christ is the Matou family fucked up. on the plus side, you’re proficient in Arcana and Religion. that totally makes up for the trauma, right?

Ability Scores

your highest stat is Charisma. if you want people to think you’re doing alright, you need to lie to them constantly, and that’s a lot of charisma checks. also, your magic comes from within, and also from a cup, and also from a cup within, and all of those are charisma based. second up is Constitution. you can keep fighting with like, 80% of your body gone, so yeah. you’re pretty tough. third is Intelligence, as magic in Fate is a mix of sorcery and wizardry- it would feel weird to have this low, even if we don’t need it. this means your Dexterity is just okay. as implied by that bit about your body getting torn apart, you clearly don’t get out of the way of attacks easily. which kind of makes sense, you’re still just a teenager with magic powers. speaking of, your Wisdom’s low. I don’t want to assume as to how you got a grail stuffed inside you, but I will say it probably makes it hard for you to focus on stuff. that means we’re dumping Strength. you are a teenage girl. plus you’re going to have plenty of minions to do all the heavy lifting for you. I hear one of them is the strongest in the world.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: starting off as a warlock gets you proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Deception and History. you also get an Awakened Mind from your GOO! (that’s Great Old One btw, but both work to describe grail mud) that gives you an Awakened Mind, letting you speak telepathically with anyone nearby as long as they know at least one language. I know the grail let Medusa speak Japanese but wouldn’t it be funny if it didn’t? now you’re prepared.

The grail will also give you Pact Magic like all warlocks, allowing you to cast spells using your Charisma for the spell modifier and save DC. You only have one first-level spell slot at the moment, but it recharges each short rest, and you’ll receive more and stronger spell slots over time. Eldritch Blast gives you a basic ranged attack that any caster should know, while Infestation allows you to call upon the grail mud to poison a nearby creature while also forcing them to move one space in a random direction. If your DM is fond of pits and hazards, you will be fond of this spell.

For your leveled spell, you can bring the mud to bear against anyone near you with Arms of Hadar, attacking friend and foe alike around you, while also preventing them from making reaction. For your second spell, go on the defensive with Shield of Faith giving you or an ally +2 AC for up to ten minutes. Any damage avoided is effectively damage healed, if you think about it.

2. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations to shape the grail mud to your liking. with these you can don an Armor of Shadows for free castings of Mage Armor on yourself, instantly adding an extra 3 points of AC while not wearing armor. you can also use Agonizing Blasts, adding your Charisma modifier to all damage done by your Eldritch Blast.

Speaking of dealing damage via Eldritch Blast, your new spell this level is Hex. With this spell, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to your target every time you hit them, and they also get disadvantage on all checks made with an ability of your choosing. If your target falls to 0 HP before your hour is up, you can even move it to another target! Given how many attacks Eldritch Blast can fire off in a single turn, this is a great boon to any killer of humanity.

3. Warlock 3: At third level, warlocks receive their Pact Boon, an extra special gift from your patron to shift the tides of battle! When you enter the Pact of the Talisman, anyone can wear it and add a d4 to a failed check up to your proficiency times a day. If you know what’s coming, you can be better prepared for it. Failing that, you can at least pretend you were prepared for it and make your rolls better anyway.

You also gain second level spells this level, and Hold Person is a doozy! One creature of your choice needs to make a Wisdom save, and if they fail, they’re paralyzed for up to a minute, or until they make another Wisdom save at the end of their turn.

A paralyzed creature is Incapacitated, and fails all strength and dexterity saves. In addition, all attacks against them gain advantage, and attackers within 5’ of the creature always deal critical damage whenever they hit. If you want to kill a humanoid as quickly as possible, this is how you do it.

4. Warlock 4: At fourth level, warlocks gain their first Ability Score Improvement, allowing us to round out your Dexterity and Charisma at the same time! We still can’t summon Saber Alter just yet, but you can use a Sword Burst for more or less the same effect. You also gain your first pseudo-summon this level thanks to Phantasmal Force. This illusion can be of anything you wish, but if you make an illusion that would deal damage to the creature, they will take a little psychic damage each turn.

5. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks learn third level spells. Counterspell will allow you to no-sell just about anything in the game, when it works. Countering the right attack or escape attempt can instantly make you the MVP of any encounter, which feels appropriate for a holy grail.

You can also don a Cloak of Flies thanks to your new invocation. With this, you deal poison damage to every creature within 5’ of you while also gaining advantage on Intimidation checks, at the cost of disadvantage on all other forms of charisma. You can use this once a short rest, and it has no time limit! it’s literally free damage.

6. Warlock 6: In contrast, your new Entropic Ward is free anti-damage. Whenever a creature attacks you, you can react to give it disadvantage. If this causes the attack to miss, your next attack against the attacker is made at advantage. You can only use this once per short rest, but I’m sure most people would prefer to have as few stab wounds as they can manage.

You can also further spread the mud’s influence thanks to the Hunger of Hadar, making a 20’ radius sphere of darkness that slows movement within it and deals damage to anything that starts and ends its turn within it.

7. Sorcerer 1: now we’re going to jump back to Sorcerer real quick and pick up some regular Sakura spells. you can argue we should’ve done this class first then, but I wanted the extra HP. so yes, you have Spells, you cast them with Charisma too. these refresh on long rests, but you can use warlock spell slots for sorcery spells and vice versa. this also doubles your cantrip count with the addition of Fire Bolt, Frostbite, Lightning Lure, and Chill Touch so this level isn’t 100% regular Sakura. you can also use Magic Missile if you like multiattacking but hate missing, and Silvery Barbs for another way to make the infinite power of the grail work for you. react and force someone to re-roll an attack, save, or check. if they fail, you can give an ally advantage on their next attack, save, or check. it’s great.

speaking of roll fuckery, you’re a Clockwork Soul, which lets you Restore Balance. 90% of the time grails are doing the exact opposite, but whatever, it lets you remove advantage or disadvantage from a d20 roll you can see Proficiency times per day. you can make the grail do literally anything, so everything we do here is 100% canon. people will believe that, right?

8. Sorcerer 2: second level sorcerers get a Font of Magic, so you can burn spell slots to make sorcery points and burn points to make sorcerer spell slots. if you’re not aware of the “coffeelock” gimmick, this lets you turn warlock slots into sorcerer slots, then short rest to regain the warlock slots for infinite magical power. as long as you can stay awake and not die in the process, at least.

to help you not die, here’s False Life! it gives you temporary HP! that’s almost as good as healing!

9. Sorcerer 3: third level sorcerers get Metamagic! it lets you customize spells almost as much as your invocations let you customize you. Heightened spells give one creature in their effect disadvantage on their save for 3 points, while Quickened spells let you cast an action spell as a bonus action. you blast hard, and you blast fast. it makes sense, given the magical reactor you’re stealing power from.

also you can cast Alter Self now! I don’t know what your cool red and black dress thing is supposed to be made out of, but if it’s made out of you, now you can make it by using the Change Appearance option. you can also choose an Aquatic Adaptation or Natural Weapons if you want.

10. Sorcerer 4: fourth level sorcerers get an ASI to max out your Charisma for the strongest spells, as well as the cantrip Mind Sliver to mess up human brains even more, and Maximillian’s Earthen Grasp for a sorta giant. why make a giant the size of a mountain when you can make a giant out of a mountain? think smarter, not harder. (it restrains a creature for up to a minute if it fails a strength save and you can make the hand crush people while grabbed.)

11. Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks can use fourth level spells like Dominate Beast, turning any beast you can see into your loyal companion for up to a minute, forcing it to obey any command you give it. Most of our enslavement tactics only work on humanoids, so if you have to fight Hessian Lobo, this can help bring him into the fold.

If that’s not beastly enough, you become a Sculptor of Flesh this level, letting you cast Polymorph once a day with a warlock spell slot. This will transform you into a beast with a CR equal to or lower than your level for up to an hour. This is effectively summoning a giant to fight for you while also giving you a much larger HP pool to work with. You can’t cast spells while polymorphed, but I don’t think you need to if you’re a T. Rex.

12. warlock 8: at level 8 u get another asi, this time you’re getting lucky! congrats, some people have to stay up all night for that one. with this, yu can re-roll a creature’s attack, check, or save (as long as it directly affects u) up to 3 times a day! you can’t loop the whole war, but you can loop an attack or two. or three, if you were paying attention!

you can also summon a guardian of faith now, it’s only large so pretty small for a giant, but it blocks an area and stabs stuff for radiant damage! plus these are concentration free, so you can make as many as you want!

13. warlock 9: ninth level warlocks get fifth level spells, and if you really wanna make a shadow giant, then you need BIGBY’S HAND!!! it makes a big hand you can control. sure it’s not the whole thing, but all the cool giant boss fights only let you hit one body part anyway. also yer eldritch blast is a lance of lethargy now, so once a turn you can knock 10’ offa someone’s move speed for the next turn. that’s why this build’s so late!

14. warlock 10: tenth level warlocks can toll the dead and deal extra damage to anyone not at full health, but more importantly you get a thought shield! your mind cant be read by anybody you don’t wanna deal with, and you get resistance to psychic damage bc the amount you block gets launched back at the sender! you’re mostly mud by this point, i think. you ever try to make mud freak out? doesn’t go well.

15. warlock 11: leventh level warlocks get a mystic arcanum, a fancy way of saying you have normal spell slots now that only work for the one spell you get them for. no upcasting allowed past this point! now you can create undead! wit this you can turn up to three corpses into ghouls that’ll stay under your control for 24 hours. you can refresh this control with another casting, or you can just let them run free on the populace, your choice. boom, creepy skeletons, done!

16. Sorcerer 5: fifth level sorcerers got Magical Guidance, giving you another way to boost failed checks if you got the points for it. also, you can dispel magic now. if you couldn’t counter it, at least you can cut through it after the fact! (kinda ironic you died to rulebreaker, huh?)

17. Sorcerer 6: at sixth level clockwork sorcerers become a Bastion of Law, letting you spend sorcery points to give yourself a barrier to block up to 5d8 incoming damage.

18. warlock 12: at twelfth level you get your last asi, makin you tough! that’s 36 hp now, and another 2 every time you level up from here on out! if you want to heal a lot of hp, you need a lot of hp. or not, you can just turn into a huge giant crab if ya want. you also get the protection of the talisman this level, letting whoever is wearing it get an extra d4 on their save proficiency times a day! you’re just better than everyone, huh?

19. Warlock 13: a thirteenth level warlock gets a seventh level arcanum like Finger of Death. it kills people and can turn them into your zombie minions, just like the grail mud.

20. Warlock 14: all of this is nice of course, but it’s not warping a servant to serve you indefinitely. thankfully, that’s why you can now create thralls! you can use your action to touch any incapacitated humanoid and charm them indefinitely, or until they get hit with a remove curse spell. as long as you two are on the same plane, you can also talk to each other with your minds!! just. convince someone to play Saber. alter them. boom, salter.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Create Thrall is a huge boon, letting you turn just about anyone into your minion for practically free. there’s no save, even! while finding an incapacitated humanoid sounds daunting, it’s easier than you’d think with a liberal sprinkling of heightened Hold Persons. suck a servant into goop and make them your servants. or zombies, or just lie to them!

as a sorlock you get infinite magic as long as you’re willing to work without sleep, which lets you blast away with your strongest spells without issue. well, not your strongest spells since those are arcanum, but still, infinite upcast Magic Missiles and Hungers of Hadar. it’s nice!

of course if you want to talk defense, infinite spell slots means infinite sorcery points means infinite shields. your infinite magical power makes Bastion of Law just a silly power to have, with no limit to the number of times you can use it outside of how much mana you have to burn meaning you can block up to 5d8 damage every turn with no limit outside of your patience. this is on top of your decent (for a caster) hp, as well as an ungodly number of ways to block, disadvantage, and stymie attackers at every turn. if someone somehow manages to fight you directly, it’s going to be a while before they can even pretend to land a hit on you.

Cons:

it a good thing you have those shields, because your AC is terrible without them. 15 AC isn’t bad, of course, but it means you’ll have to use every trick in your book if you get cornered by someone with actual fighting experience.

also, that big pro I put up there with the Bastion of Law? it takes a bonus action to burn a slot into points, then an action to make the shield. that’s your entire turn gone every time your shield needs to be refreshed. if someone really gets you on your backfoot, you can last a while, but that’s about all you can do. this is why you need the minions.

but now that I brought up that “ungodly number of ways to block attacks”… you have an ungodly number of ways to block attacks. that means not only do you have to be really paying attention to the DM’s turns, you need to keep an eye on all those methods of defense so you A) can use them well, and B) you don’t burn through them too quickly. complexity isn’t a death sentence, but you should know it before going all-in on a build. some people just want to relax in D&D, after all.