Low Level Character Concept - Holy Storm Priest - D&D5e

  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.

Thanks for Reading!

If you like this build, let me know over on twitter @PangoriaF

You can also support me on Ko-Fi where I sell dnd PDFs.

You can also gain exclusive access to other things I'm working on over on my Patreon.

I'm planning to do videos of these builds on my youtube channel.

If you need any special work done for your business or personal projects, check out Fiverr! It's a great place to get character drawings for your campaign!

Chrono Trigger - Episode 4

Chrono Trigger - Episode 3

Low Level Character Playtest - The Armored Mage - D&D5e

 So I played the armored mage that I wrote about last week.

I was level 10 though, so it wasn't the level 5 build, but it did bring in quite a bit of information for how I would want to change things.

So let's start with what I did, what worked, what was lacking, and what I would change.

What I Did

So I built this as a Minotaur. Since this was a one-shot, we had a bunch of magic items, so my focus was more on having an action economy. My DM let me use Hammering Horns after Booming Blade. So that I could boom someone then toss them over my head. I also had a belt that increased my strength, and a way to fly. While those helped keep me in play with everyone else, I really felt like there were things missing in the build.

What Worked

Booming Blade as an attack was just perfect. I could focus on my Intelligence almost exclusively and used a magic item to enhance my strength. At 5th level, you'll be doing weapon+str/dex+1d8 damage. It's nice and consistent. You also add those extra psi-warrior d6s for a few attacks per fight.

Leveling up as Artificer gave me access to Sanctuary, which is surprisingly a great tank spell when you have a support build in your group. Actually Artificer gave a lot of options for the character and was a great 3rd class to step into. I would definitely try to go, full Artificer, if I were to go into it though.

I never got hit, as for my saves though ... Arcane Deflection almost never came up by 10th level, because either I rolled too low or too high. I don't want to say no to it just because of these 5 fights though. But this does lead me to:

What Was Lacking

This build is very reliant on Reactions and had almost no Bonus Actions except for an Artificer spell and a racial ability.

The power level of spells wasn't very high, so you can really just hold on to Silvery Barbs (again a reaction!), and having magic missile as a ranged attack option, that you know will hit is very useful.

The build also wants so strongly to attack with Booming Blade and has no synergy with the extra attack from Fighter or Artificer in that regard. Which is why I started thinking:

What I Would Change

As far as subclass recommendations, I feel like Psi-Warrior leaves you over filled with reaction possibilities and didn't interact well with the spell casting aspects of the build, while it worked fine with Booming Blade, which is your focus. So, if you are not going past level 3, I would have to change the recommendation of Psi-Warrior, to perhaps Battle Master (for additional Maneuvers).

You really want to get a bonus action attack. My DM allowed my Minotaur to use hammering horns with Booming Blade, though the wording does make it less likely for other DMs to approve it. Eldritch Knight lets you do a bonus action attack after the cantrip, and later on, after casting a spell.

Either way, if you only go 3 fighter levels and don't go to a full 8 or 18, you will not get enough benefit from the Psi-Warrior aspect of the build.

The Armorer suggestion worked great, but like I said earlier, the spell levels never reached high enough, and so you were mostly sitting on reaction spells like shield, silvery barbs and feather fall. Actually, because of how this actually played out, getting Arcane deflection wasn't worth it even as a free mini shield spell. Instead, I think going with the new Bladesinger (which is open to more races and gives you an extra attack with a cantrip) is actually the stronger option, even though you literally can't bladesing in heavy armor. This would be my recommendation if going deeper into wizard levels.

In the end, I played with the Artificer 3rd class option. You really don't want to use your spells for attacking with this playstyle. While the Artificer class gave things to do, it also takes too long to gain the cool benefits, especially when it's your third multiclass and it doesn't really kick off with cool stuff until 6th and 10th levels.

This build is one of the few that I would say should focus on certain racial abilities. If your DM allows it, I'd go with a Centaur or Minotaur for bonus action hoofs or horn toss. Goblin also has a benefit that you can run up, Booming Blade, then disengage making them have to chase you and trigger the boom.

Thanks for Reading!

If you like this build, let me know over on twitter @PangoriaF

You can also support me on Ko-Fi where I sell dnd PDFs.

You can also gain exclusive access to other things I'm working on over on my Patreon.

I'm planning to do videos of these builds on my youtube channel.

If you need any special work done for your business or personal projects, check out Fiverr! It's a great place to get character drawings for your campaign!

Chrono Trigger - Episode 2

Hello Gaymers, it's your Retro Sovreign, Pangoria Fallstar!

This time we get play an oldie but a goodie with Chrono Trigger. So now it's time to see the past, the future, and everything in between so stay tuned.

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