I couldn't DM this weekend and one of the players ran a one-shot. Another player needed a temporary one-shot character and doesn't have experience building characters whole cloth. So I offered my services, and built him the Swashless Roguelock.

Now the build I gave the player was meant to work on a ship one-shot. So I made choices that I wouldn't have made otherwise. I'll skip the basics of levels, and focus on what I did for this specific build.

Level 1-4

We went with a Swashbuckler Rogue build. Now I had a huge internal debate about going to Rogue 5 for additional sneak attack dice, or going Warlock 2 for the spell slot and evocations. The extra spell slot won out.

Our focus on Swashbuckler is to get Fancy Footwork and Rakish Audacity. This lets you green-flame blade later, and run away to reposition yourself better if you were out of position, and it lets you add your higher charisma (because you want high charisma for a warlock) to your initiative, allowing you to be more likely to go first in a fight.

Level 5-6

We then proceed to Fathomless Warlock. This gives a powerful ranged, bonus action attack, and also allows for swimming and water breathing in case they fell overboard.

Now, the main choices here were of course to get Agonizing and Repelling blasts. You should be pushing people off boats whenever possible.

Racial and Background Choices

This I went with something basic, I gave them a Sailor background, so they could take sail enemy ships if needed, and had them go as a Tiefling of Levistus. Legacy of Stygia gives them the Ray of Frost cantrip (slow down option since we didn't get that evocation) and Armor of Agathys (at 2nd level) and Darkness. These options are just great combat tools. Had them take the Flame of Phlegethos feat at Rogue 4, so that Green-flame Blade and Armor of Agathys causes a strong set of retributive damage to anyone attacking them.

In the end, they didn't get into melee at all (they weren't meant to TRY, the melee portions were there in case things went bad), but it also means they could have skipped the rogue levels completely.

In a longer campaign, I feel like these choices would come up more. But as of right now, I have no testing proving so.

Thanks for Reading!

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I love DnD5e and I keep thinking about one of my first character ideas, the armored mage. The point of it is to be incredibly tanky. The build didn't actually work out. So let's look at the build concept and go from there.

Please forgive me if I gloss over some things that don't relate to the build at a level up. I assume you have some knowledge with the classes already.

Level 1 - Celestial Warlock

So we are starting up as a healer for the party. For your two spells, go ahead and pick up the spells from the Celestial Warlock expanded spell list: Cure Wounds and Guiding Bolt.

You will have 2 bonus action heals per long rest and 1 Cure Wounds.

For cantrips you get Sacred Flame, and Light for free, and you pick up Eldritch Blast and Sword Burst.

We are putting everything into Charisma and Constitution as far as stats go. My personal build had me going higher on Wisdom so I could multiclass into Trickster Cleric, but that was more for RP reasons than gameplay.

Because of the playstyle I recommend races that have free high AC options, like Dwarves, Tortles, Lizardfolk, etc.

Level 2 - 2nd Spell Slot Warlock

You'll get two Eldritch Invocations, the first one should be Agonizing Blast and the 2nd can be anything you don't mind swapping out for later, I recommend Fiendish Vigor, as it doubles your HP for these early levels.

You also get another 1st level spell, I recommend Arms of Hadar or Armor of Agathys.

Level 3 through 5 - Storm Sorceror 3

Here we unlock that secret past you had and start getting Storm Sorceror levels. We get a lot of cool cantrips, I usually pick up Mold Earth, since it's my favorite cantrip. You also learn Primordial.

The Bonus Action 10ft disengage/fly that you get is great for running in, Arms of Hadar everyone and flying out, or getting an extra 10 feet of movement.

Now I went Quickened and Subtle for my meta magic, but that was for RP reasons. I recommend Quickened and Twinned.

As for spells, get what you like, same goes for cantrips.

Level 6 - Warlock 3

Now at this point, I chose to change Fiendish Vigor for Book of Ancient Secrets since I got the Pact of the Tome. I did this because we had a Cleric, Druid and Wizard in the group, and would be able to just take all the Ritual spells I could!

I pick up Flaming Sphere here, as it lets me microwave an enemy with Mold Earth plus the sphere. You can also replace Guiding Bolt with Lesser Restoration.

Pact of the Tome also gives you any 3 cantrips: You will be getting a lot out of your Eldrtich Blasts, so I like getting utility cantrips.

Future of the Build

At this point I recommend going 4/4 to get your ASIs. Then getting to 6 one at a time (go 5 and 6 in one then 5 and 6 in the other). This gets you a ton of resistance.

After that you will be level 12.

I personally went 8 levels into Trickster Cleric for my build, allowing me to make 4th level slots with my 6th level Sorceror, and using that to cast extra Death Proof spells.

You can also go 14 Warlock for Searing Vengeance or 14 Sorceror for the Reaction.

Just follow your heart for the later levels. If you like using the Sorcery points then get Sorceror.