How do I build my character?

[Jahjohama]

Hello All!

I am new to DnD in general and started at 5E. My half-elf sorcerer and a couple other party members died in our last session and I want to make a new character. I have been reading these forums for the past couple of months and appreciate all of the insightful advice I have seen on the various threads.

I come asking for advice building a character. I haven't settled completely on any specific class, and do not mind if he isn't 100% optimized, would be happy if he can just hold his own and assist the party. I have the theory for the character in mind, just not sure on the best route to take.

He will start at lvl 4 and I want him to be a human variant, noble background (for RP reasons) martial character specialized in dealing with casters. I really like the eldritch knight fighter, but would like to have more casting abilities at earlier levels, I think our game will takes us all to level 10-15 max.

In my mind I see my character "teleporting/moving quickly" into range of the caster and then locking down a spell caster with "silence/dispell/counterspell" type options and dropping them quickly with melee attacks. Some sort of Templar from Dragon Age type build.

I don't have any preference on feats/classes/multiclass options other than I would like him to be Sword and Board and be somewhat viable by level 5-10.

Any suggestions, advice, or input would greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Malifice]

I'm liking Slayer Ranger.

Its the perfect chassis for a Witch Hunter.

I'd probably go Archery with it. If you do take Sharpshooter (4th level feat) and Archery F/S.

[Slybluedemon]

Hello All!

I am new to DnD in general and started at 5E. My half-elf sorcerer and a couple other party members died in our last session and I want to make a new character. I have been reading these forums for the past couple of months and appreciate all of the insightful advice I have seen on the various threads.

I come asking for advice building a character. I haven't settled completely on any specific class, and do not mind if he isn't 100% optimized, would be happy if he can just hold his own and assist the party. I have the theory for the character in mind, just not sure on the best route to take.

He will start at lvl 4 and I want him to be a human variant, noble background (for RP reasons) martial character specialized in dealing with casters. I really like the eldritch knight fighter, but would like to have more casting abilities at earlier levels, I think our game will takes us all to level 10-15 max.

In my mind I see my character "teleporting/moving quickly" into range of the caster and then locking down a spell caster with "silence/dispell/counterspell" type options and dropping them quickly with melee attacks. Some sort of Templar from Dragon Age type build.

I don't have any preference on feats/classes/multiclass options other than I would like him to be Sword and Board and be somewhat viable by level 5-10.

Any suggestions, advice, or input would greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I would go Variant Human, take the Mage Slayer Feat (so you are really good at taking down casters)

Eldritch Knight is nice. You don't even notice the spells when you are face to face with an enemy. I do agree that it sucks to wait a long time for new spells.

Remember that one of the Eldritch Knight's ability is a 30ft teleport when you action surge, you could also take Misty Step as one of your 4 non-restricted spells (for more teleportation action).

Also because you are a noble, when you go to a dinner or a meeting with another high ranking person. Your Eldritch Knight can summon one of your weapons into your hands. You will never be without a weapon if you are getting attacked in a situation were you didn't bring one.

[Unoriginal]

Monks are great for dealing with casters, specially for the "move quickly to caster and shut them down" part.

Can't use a shield well, but the sword is an option.

Could also be a Cavalier fighter with the Mobile feat. You can force the caster to focus on you, which is a good way to shut them down.

Otherwise, if you want more magic than EK... Hexblade Warlock could work.

[iTreeby]

As an alternative to eldrich knight, consider the oath of ancients paladine. They are quite well suited to being an antimagic melee class at fifth level they get misty step which is great for getting where you need to be. I would consider taking magic initiate over mage slayer because the reaction to hit someone after they cast a spell doesn't stop them from casting, the advantage becomes redundant when you hit level 6 and get +Cha to saves. With magic initiate you could get an attack cantrip like booming blade or eldrich blast while rounding out your early level magic.

[Malifice]

Forget everyone else.

Slayer ranger. They're literally Mage slayers.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Hello All!
Martial character specialized in dealing with casters. I really like the eldritch knight fighter, but would like to have more casting abilities at earlier levels, I think our game will takes us all to level 10-15 max.

In my mind I see my character "teleporting/moving quickly" into range of the caster and then locking down a spell caster with "silence/dispell/counterspell" type options and dropping them quickly with melee attacks.

I would like him to be Sword and Board and be somewhat viable by level 5-10.

I personally would go with a Shadow Monk with the Mage slayer feat. At your starting level you have 40' of movement at 6th you have 15' and a bonus action teleport. Once you're in range you have 4 attacks if you need to each with disadvantage on concentration saving throws for the caster, In addition if he cast's a spell or tries to move away he gets hit again or wastes a turn on disengaging. Drop the sentinel feat in there somewhere and you can prevent even that. Oh and you get access to both silence and darkness, Silence stops 90% of spells and darkness stops another 90%.

Cons: Not sword and Board, No other spells. You could however multiclass out after Level 6 and grab some hexblade stuff.

[bid]

Cons: Not sword and Board, No other spells. You could however multiclass out after Level 6 and grab some hexblade stuff.
Yes, get medium armor and use Cha to attack, on a class that lives for Dex20 / Wis20 and doesn't wear armor.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Yes, get medium armor and use Cha to attack, on a class that lives for Dex20 / Wis20 and doesn't wear armor.

Meh, that's a good point. I should have just said warlock, as I was going more for the spells and still keeping it short rest based.

[Jahjohama]

Thank you all for your awesome replies! I really think the ranger and monk look great. However, I feel the paladin - ancient oath will be closest to what I am envisioning for my character.

I am thinking I will go paladin 6 or 7 (for aura of warding) and then multi class into a college of lore bard, focusing more on the power of words and stories, rather than the emphasis on music. I feel this will go well with my noble background for RP reasons.

I rolled dice yesterday with my DM. Here is what I have to work with going human v and starting at lvl 4, I will end up with the following.

STR - 17 - human v +1 lvl, 4 ASI + 2 = 20
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 11
WIS - 13
CHA - 15 - human v +1 = 16

I am going to take the dueling fighting style (S&B) but am torn on which feat I should take. I am thinking of taking either magic initiate or shield master. Please let me know if I should allocate my stats differently, if I should multi class in a different way, or if I am approaching feats in an ineffective manner.

Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome.

Thank you!

[Ventruenox]

Both Magic Initiate and Shield Master are good choices. It may come to a question of how you envision your character's combat approach. Are you more offensive, or defensive in your tactics?

If you choose Shield Master, you will shore up your defenses versus the oh-so-common Dex saves. While you have the HP to weather most effects, they still take their toll between long rests. When going up against casters, you can even say "Fireball? What Fireball?" While there will be some competition for your bonus action for casting some of the smite spells, most of your spell slots will end up being Divine Smites anyway, so little issue there. If you are in a party with other martial melee characters, they will love you for knocking the enemy prone for them. If you are supporting ranged casters, the bonus action shield shove will go to waste.

Magic Initiate has too many variations to discuss them all. You could get a decent ranged option by pulling from Warlock/Sorcerer lists, keeping in mind that the spell attacks and DC key off of your spellcasting ability score. Or you could get some synergetic melee options and utility from the Wizard lists.

Booming Blade works rather well with your Wrathful Smite spell to force your opponent to eat extra damage, then smack him again with your reaction as he flees. Burn another slot to Divine Smite. Casting a spell as your action also means that you don't utilize your Extra Attack at 5. You could potentially also have a mount and a familiar for some amazing mobility and scouting potential if you want. The utility coming from those Bard levels won't come online till halfway through the campaign most likely.

Think about your role in the party, and what your other party members may be capable of.

[Sirithhyando]

I am going to take the dueling fighting style (S&B) but am torn on which feat I should take. I am thinking of taking either magic initiate or shield master. Please let me know if I should allocate my stats differently, if I should multi class in a different way, or if I am approaching feats in an ineffective manner.

Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome.

Thank you!

Since you said earlier you wanted some magic earlier, I'd go with magic initiate. Though think also about warcaster, S&B won't let you work well with material (? or was it somatic... afb, sorry) component... anyway, it could limit your possibilities for spell.

That aside, you'll have a good charisma and magic initiate : warlock will give you one of the best offensive cantrip in the game.

[Vogie]

I would've actually suggested Hexblade Blade warlock. You'd be an armored duelist, with decent casting throughout, and you'd grab Relentless hex at 7 to be able to blink toward your targets as a bonus action, as long as they're afflicted with Hex, Hexblade's Curse or Bestow Curse.

[Jahjohama]

I actually really like the idea of the hexblade, but don't fully grasp how the warlock; hexblade works.

If it's not too much to ask. Could you please give me an overview on how it would/should be built, played and why?

My goal would be for my character to specialize in taking out enemy casters by disabling/preventing their magic and killing them as quickly as possible through melee combat.

My character is a highly educated nobleman who has a personal vendetta against casters and the warlock does make a lot of sense to me for rp puposes...

[Nidgit]

Are you set on Vuman? If you're taking an ASI at L4, you'll get a bit more out of it if you instead go Half-Elf with starting stats 18 STR 14 DEX 16 CON 11 INT 13 WIS 16 CHA and then a feat at 4 instead. Essentially, you trade maxed strength for better Con and Half-Elf perks like darkvision and fey ancestry.

I'm playing an S&B Ancients Paladin right now and I can't tell you the amount of times I wish I had better ranged attacks. If you determine that you're not going to dip Warlock or another full caster, I'd strongly consider taking a ranged cantrip as part of Magic Initiate.

[Jahjohama]

I would be open to being half-elf as well. For my background/story he is a human nobleman and if half-elf is the better option I don't mind making it work for rp reasons.

Also - I definitely want my guy to be offensively focused in combat. Thank you for the advice on having some sort of ranged combat to reliably use. Makes me wonder if I should approach this from another angle.

[Ventruenox]

If your DM allows for 3rd party material, you may find Matt Mercer's Blood Hunter (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/classes/blood-hunter) to your liking. It functions similar to a cross between Eldritch Knight and a Ranger, but with a dark mystic bent. There are also a couple of Blood Maledicts (short rest recharge debuffs) that specifically target casters, and comes online as early as level 2. One of the archetypes of this class allows for Warlock pacts to be made. Another archetype embraces lycanthropy for a speed and power boost. It is a tricky class to understand, and takes a few read throughs, but it is rather powerful and could fit perfectly with your character concept.

[Jahjohama]

We are only allowed to use published material. I don't believe he would allow the use of the Matt Mercer material, but that class sounds really cool.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Shield Master's great on a paladin, especially post-5. Hit, prone, hit again with advantage. High five the other melee members of the party, they're gonna be so happy with you.

This gives V-Human a specific advantage- you can get the Prodigy feat from Xanathar's and double proficiency on Athletics. If your DM isn't homebrewing monsters, there isn't a single monster in the game with Athletics proficiency. I've never seen a humanoid NPC with it, either. That means if you manage a high strength and double proficiency, you'll almost never fail to use your trick. And it's a death sentence to a wizard.

Speaking of, Shield Master's also good if you've got a trigger happy wizard, or are fighting a trigger happy wizard. It's not the evasion ability, but it's close. Since you hate mages, this is a beautiful way to completely gimp them.

Have you seen the Sorcadin yet? Mixing Oath of Ancients 7 (later, when you get to it) with the Sorcerer can have explosive results. Look for Gastronomie's guide, you'll be an absolute monster in combat.

EDIT: Gastronomie's Sorcadin guide found right here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502673-Unlimited-Blade-Works-The-Guide-to-the-Ultimate-Paladin-Sorcerer-Multiclass)!

[bid]

Are you set on Vuman? If you're taking an ASI at L4, you'll get a bit more out of it if you instead go Half-Elf with starting stats 18 STR 14 DEX 16 CON 11 INT 13 WIS 16 CHA and then a feat at 4 instead. Essentially, you trade maxed strength for better Con and Half-Elf perks like darkvision and fey ancestry.
Another for half-elf. You get darkvision, fey ancestry and skill versatility for free.

And you still have access to prodigy, if you want to go wrestler later on.

[Vogie]

I actually really like the idea of the hexblade, but don't fully grasp how the warlock; hexblade works.

If it's not too much to ask. Could you please give me an overview on how it would/should be built, played and why?

My goal would be for my character to specialize in taking out enemy casters by disabling/preventing their magic and killing them as quickly as possible through melee combat.

My character is a highly educated nobleman who has a personal vendetta against casters and the warlock does make a lot of sense to me for rp puposes...

That'll work well with Hexblade - You'd refluff it as you're just a normal noble with an magical weapon who is getting rid of those pesky "real" spellcasters, because wizardry requires dedication to study of magic, while Sorcerers get their magic from their bloodline.

There's 2 ways to do it -

First, if you want heavy armor, you would want either 1 level in Fighter or 2 levels in Paladin to begin, then go full warlock for the rest of the way. You then won't really need to go hexblade specifically, because you will already be starting the game with 20 Strength by your first ASI. You may still want to do so for the extra Hexblade's curse that gives expanded crit range and access to the Shield spell. If you don't, see if Raven Queen Warlock would be allowed - it's UA, but it'll give you the ability to cast Silence, then swoop in and cut those casters to ribbons.

Otherwise, you'll just go straight hexblade warlock, with the following stats:
STR - 14
DEX - 15 - human v +1 = 16
CON - 14
INT - 11
WIS - 13
CHA - 17 - human v +1 lvl, 4 ASI + 2 = 20

That'll give you 16 AC with scale mail, or 17 with Half plate. Once you reach 5, you'll have Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite, and one more invocation. Like the above poster stated, your main rotation will be starting the boss fight off with a curse or Hex, then either run or blink in, smacking them down. You can keep your smites to only be used on crits for higher DPS, or you can crit fish by using a smite to knock down your target on first blow, allowing your second attack to be with advantage.