What class for Curse of Strahd ?

[Laserlight]

We'll be starting CoS in a few weeks, and have decided on a party entirely of half elves (including SCAG variant half elves). Starting at L1, stopping at or around L10, so there's no need to consider L14 features no matter how cool they are. Stats to be taken from a 6x6 grid, so likely to be a bit better than point buy.

The other four will be taking Ancients paladin, Arcane Trickster rogue, Divine Soul sorc, Monster Hunter ranger.

I will need to be the Face, at least for Deception.

What class would you take? If multiclassing, what order would you take them?

[Callin]

Tell us about yourself. What kind of characters do you like to play and what kind do you think would fit well with your party style?

Zealot Barb would work for CoS as would anything that can deal some Radiant Damage.

[Captain Bob]

Bard or Warlock mayhaps? Would be suuuper interesting to be a celestial warlock in Barovia...particularly given that your group doesn't really have a healer? Unless your sorc. is filling that role...then go bard, or a different patron perhaps. Could hexblade for the melee fun...or ask your DM if he'd make patron interactions happen while you're in Barovia - could be interesting. In terms of bard...school depends if you feel like stabbing it up or sticking to pure casting, but all the subclasses are fun.

**This campaign has interesting moral choices and implications for particularly good or evil characters (or characters influenced by such beings...A la warlock patrons) - this could make for some fun conflict within your own roleplay and between the party if you so choose for it.

[Laserlight]

Tell us about yourself. What kind of characters do you like to play and what kind do you think would fit well with your party style?

I lean toward casters, for the variety of options available. Currently playing a buff/utility/control wizard, so I don't want to simply repeat that. Before that was a straight warlock--great for RP but tactically a bit dull. I don't particularly care for monk or druid.

[SociopathFriend]

We'll be starting CoS in a few weeks, and have decided on a party entirely of half elves (including SCAG variant half elves). Starting at L1, stopping at or around L10, so there's no need to consider L14 features no matter how cool they are. Stats to be taken from a 6x6 grid, so likely to be a bit better than point buy.

The other four will be taking Ancients paladin, Arcane Trickster rogue, Divine Soul sorc, Monster Hunter ranger.

I will need to be the Face, at least for Deception.

What class would you take? If multiclassing, what order would you take them?

I would advise you take a healer if you want pure mechanics.

Without any specific spoiler- there's a lot of nasty stuff that realm has to offer and you can't depend on others to take care of it for you. If your DM forces you to travel between destinations and encounter along the way- this becomes even more important. A Cleric or Druid will be tremendously useful. You could easily be TPK'd as a result of one bad encounter and one or more bad saves.

You have two classes with you that take Charisma as a primary stat and a Rogue probably isn't too shy on it either- let them have a crack at it otherwise you'll have to roll up a Bard or another Rogue- Deception isn't something most classes get without relying on background IIRC.

[Puh Laden]

1 choose Warlock
2 choose the invocation that lets you cast disguise self at will (fun fact: you can disguise yourself as Strahd as it’s not restricted by creature type but body shape)
3 get actor feat at level four
4 impersonate important NPCs
5 profit

[Captain Bob]

If you've already done the Warlock business, I'd probably steer towards bard if you really need to hit the Charisma skill angle...otherwise playing a Cleric of any domain would be massively useful and potentially in your wheelhouse given the caster inclination. Fun bit about that is your domain pick can change how you play pretty significantly, with War and Tempest domain offering semi-melee options (ALSO forge Cleric gives you juicy sweet magic weapons from level 1...stronk, this).

[Laserlight]

If you've already done the Warlock business, I'd probably steer towards bard if you really need to hit the Charisma skill angle...otherwise playing a Cleric of any domain would be massively useful and potentially in your wheelhouse given the caster inclination. Fun bit about that is your domain pick can change how you play pretty significantly, with War and Tempest domain offering semi-melee options (ALSO forge Cleric gives you juicy sweet magic weapons from level 1...stronk, this).

I pretty much have to cover Deception; pally and rogue players just don't want to do it, and the sorcleric sounds like he's going to stick to the straight and narrow. So it sounds like I need to think about a Bard with the Restoration spells and some healing. Maybe start hexblade and then swordbard.

[Captain Bob]

I'd think carefully about dipping in a 1-10 campaign like that, since Bard Extra attack is already a level late... you'd be getting it at 7 even if you only took one level of Warlock.

[Laserlight]

I'd think carefully about dipping in a 1-10 campaign like that, since Bard Extra attack is already a level late... you'd be getting it at 7 even if you only took one level of Warlock.

Yeah. On the other hand, one level gives Hex, Shield, and only needing to pump CHA. And by L7 I would think my opener would be a spell rather than a melee attack, wouldn't it? Haven't really played a gish before.

[agnos]

Hexblade 1 Bard should be good. I’d recommend working in some Pally levels too, but I don’t think you’re going that deep.

[Laserlight]

Hexblade 1 Bard should be good. I’d recommend working in some Pally levels too, but I don’t think you’re going that deep.

I was tempted to add some paladin but the Ancients pally is a fairly new player (new to group, new to 5e) and I don't want to crowd her. If we were starting at L8, I could go Hex1/Pal2/Bard5 while she was Pal8, but we're starting at 1.

[jaappleton]

Are you using XGtE as well?

If so, Trickster Rogue. You get to be the face, the Rogue, AND you get an excellent spell list for dealing with Curse of Strahd, plus XGtE nets you Holy Weapon. Put it on the Paladin and just wreck.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Presumably someone has Persuasion or at least a good CHA score. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get by with only the best Social skill. Personally I wouldn't let "we need a Face to use Decption" to dictate my build in this situation. But you know your group better than we do.

[GlenSmash!]

I would say Life Cleric.

They're always a good option. More so in CoS.

[the_brazenburn]

Do you <have> to be the face? Sorcerers and paladins both have high Cha and decent conversational stats, while any rogue worth his salt should take Deception. What your party really needs is a healer or buffer to keep yourselves alive: an especially important task in CoS. If you need to be a face, go with bard, but life cleric fills the healer role much better.

[Captain Bob]

I'm sure the hexblade dip would work, I'd just hesitate to call it better than running college of swords all the way through. Basically the hexblade route means you sword and board, given the single-weapon limitation 'attuning' a weapon to use Cha. This is the best thing you pick up, but you're basically obligated to also take a SCAG weapon cantrip in my opinion to keep your at-will viable until extra attack - that said, at level 5 you're hitting for 2d8 with your Cha modifier, +2 from dueling without accounting for hex or hexblade's curse, which isn't shabby.

But there are also a few issues here. Your maximum at-will damage setups take more than one bonus action to setup (basically action economy, spell slots, and short rest availability may limit your benefits), Hex eats up your concentration to accomplish this, and you can't cast shield anyways when you're in the thick of it unless you're already accounting for taking warcaster somewhere along the line. This route also sort of puts you in a weird place until later levels...you lag behind by delaying your extra attack even further, and you also end up delaying your spell progression - pushing back access to the beginnings of power-tier goodies from your 3rd level spells. I guess I'd just suggest thinking about all that junk before you dive in - your role as a support caster sort of clashes with what you're grabbing from warlock on a few fronts.



ANYWAYS sorry for the wall of text - but I think it's worth some thought.

[Laserlight]

Do you <have> to be the face? Sorcerers and paladins both have high Cha and decent conversational stats, while any rogue worth his salt should take Deception. What your party really needs is a healer or buffer to keep yourselves alive: an especially important task in CoS. If you need to be a face, go with bard, but life cleric fills the healer role much better.

Yes, I do. The sorc/rogue/paladin could be good at it, but those players just don't want the job.

I'm hoping the Divine soul and the paladin can carry some of the healing load. I considered being a pure buffer/control/healer, but that's exactly what my godwizard is doing now.

[Laserlight]

ANYWAYS sorry for the wall of text - but I think it's worth some thought.

Yeah, I was just rereading Hexblade and thinking ”bonus action to Hex, bonus to Curse, now I'm really set, aaaaaand the fight's over.”

[Mortis_Elrod]

Considering your group i would have went with cleric and use Insight as a way to be a face. Its a more direct way to be a face relying on asking the right questions and seeing if others are lying but its effective too.

But since you want deception....

Start Bard.
Bard 1>
Hexblade 1 >
Bard 2>
Bard 3>
Bard 4>
Hexblade 6.

I personally like Hexblade but you can go with whatever build you want. This leaves you some highly customized options. Here are some examples

Devilish Trickster: Fiend + Whispers
Enchanting Fey(better since half-elf): Glamour+Archfey
The Singing Blade: College of Blades +Hexblade
Seeker of Untold Mysteries: Lore+Great Old One. (ma want to switch levels around)
A REAL Paladin : Valor + Celestial
Burning Blade: Blades College + Fiend
Shadow Blade: Whispers +Hexblade

There's alot is the point and if your team wants heals they can look at the paladin and sorcerer, or you can use your messily song of rest. Unless of course you are also Celestial patron.

[polymphus]

Grave Domain cleric? Your party lacks a healer/support guy and you'd be that, plus the undead tracker. I am honestly not sure how vital a face is in Strahd -- I've run the campaign and the players didn't have one, and it barely slowed them down at all. It definitely slowed them down less than not having a buffs/healing guy would've.

[Asmotherion]

We'll be starting CoS in a few weeks, and have decided on a party entirely of half elves (including SCAG variant half elves). Starting at L1, stopping at or around L10, so there's no need to consider L14 features no matter how cool they are. Stats to be taken from a 6x6 grid, so likely to be a bit better than point buy.

The other four will be taking Ancients paladin, Arcane Trickster rogue, Divine Soul sorc, Monster Hunter ranger.

I will need to be the Face, at least for Deception.

What class would you take? If multiclassing, what order would you take them?

I think a Hexblade Shadow Sorcerer; it would be both a brilliant chance to try out those two new subclasses (and since you're half elf, you're playing with +2 to Cha), and very thematic in a CoS campain. You'll practically feel at home there, and won't have any problems with your Sanity Score (probably).

On the other hand, if you want to have a reason to resist the Undead Temptations better, you can try the reverse Sorlock (Divine Soul-Celestial) but unless your origins are from something a bit south-west in the moral compass, you may have some trouble with your sanity score there.

CoS in my experiance at least is usually played with Sanity Scores... The more tolerant you are to undead things walking around, the less likelly you are to loose those.

As for the level up:

Sor 1 for con saves
War 2 Invocations
Sor 2 Metamagic (plus, if you leave Sorcerer Behind it will be a real bother to get back in latter on).

From this point on, any level you take is practically a boon. Warlock 3 is your Pact (Blade most likelly), and Warlock 4 is a Feat. Sorcerer 4 is Also a Feat, so take it before or after Warlock 3 is up to you. Warlock 5 is an extra Invocation, wile Sorcerer 5 gives you access to 3rd lever spell slots (and a lot of Sorcery Point equivalent).

Since you play at Level 10, The breaking points are:
Warlock: Lv 3 (You want Agonising Blast and the Magic Weapon Invocation to Gish Better, and that's not going to happen 'till level 3
Warlock Lv 4 (Take the Feat)
Warlock Lv 5 (One more Invocation, probably Eldritch Smite)
Warlock Lv 6 (For the ability to spawn a Specter instead of getting Sorcerer 3rd level spell slots, choose at your own option)

I would not suggest more than this. Beware that you are not going to get a second attack by default, but there are a couple of ways around this; either use a polearm, and take the PAM feat, or use Sorcery Points to Quicken Booming Blade for a limited second Attack. You can always take the Invocation, but you have more important invocations to take either way.

Hope this was helpfull. :)

[Laserlight]

So, we rolled our stats at the end of tonight's session.

18 17 16 16 13 10

[Captain Bob]

**** dude, play whatever you want! You can afford a 16 in Cha, just take whatever social skills you want to be proficient with. In all seriousness I'd at least consider delving into the world of clerics if you aren't set against the idea. Could even do a tempest cleric with the SCAG variant, nab some booming blade fo-free. Or just make an insane bard / warlock / <insert thing that has 20 charisma at level 1>.

[Laserlight]

Yeah. ”Okay, this is my opportunity to play the most MAD combination I ever wanted.”

[Spore]

I would say Life Cleric.

They're always a good option. More so in CoS.

Personally I find the tools granted by the Light cleric I DM for particularly useful at times. Though I would play a Circle of the Land Druid in that particular group and setting because all the classical angles are accounted for. Divine, arcane, mundane monster hunting. But there is no one to better understand the suffering of the land than a druid.

Plus CoS can be deadly but does not require an optimized party by any means.

[Gtdead]

Celestial Warlock. Healing Support, Radiance and Fire damage, High Cha and you have access to the Mask of Many Faces invocation.