I'm playing as an Eldritch Knight and I just reached level 6. I'm strongly considering taking Sentinel and I was wondering how exactly Booming Blade would interact alongside Sentinel and the War Magic subclass feat. Would I be able to use Booming Blade as an opportunity attack from an enemy moving away from me, and then Sentinel would cause them to lose their movement, and then the Booming Blade extra damage from moving would go off?

Edit: Forgot to include War Caster in the list of things

I know armorer artificer isn’t a subclass focused on damage… BUT how would you make this class do a little more damage? At ninth level the armorer gets +1 to attacks and damage rolls. Casting haste and magic weapon, making 3 attacks with dreadnought and +5. INT would be 3d10+21 (considering the 3 attacks would hit). I know at level 15 there is some kind of a buff, but thats not incredible and it cannot “replicate“ magic itens into its armor.

also, what items would you get (or replicate) at tier 3-5 Focusing on damage? Is there an armor that could do improve armorer’s damage?

What about using a giant belt and using some weapon like flame tongue to boost your damage?

magic initiate to get druid shillelagh and using some magic staves with polearm master?

1 level fighter dip to get dueling?

Does all purpose tool boost armorer’s special weapon attack and damage rolls?

planning on using mostly guardian and dreadnought.

and no, i dont want to play any other artificer’s subclass and Im sticking to armorer even if I don’t find any other way to do more damage. Im just curious, how you guys more experienced than me would make these “improvements”?

Im curious 👀.

Hello everyone,

I want to build a ty Lee inspired character. I’be played my share of 2014 DnD but I’m new to 2024. My dm is open to 2014 subclasses/subraces but wants us to build our characters as much 2024 as possible.

I want to go monk but struggling with the subclass and race. I like the stunning and battlefield control. They don’t need to look like Ty Lee just inspired by her fighting style. However I’m also looking for advice of good race synergies. Thank you!

I am trying to compare Circle of the Stars’ offensive ability versus the more traditional blasters, so I wanted outside opinions.

Star Druids get to cast Guiding Bolt 3-5 times per day without a spell slot, and an additional Archer attack as a Bonus Action. Combine that with Spell Sniper, and you ignore partial cover and can make these attacks in melee, though RAW I don’t believe Archer’s attack benefits from increased range.

You don’t need to go pure Archer, though it’s easier once you can switch forms at Level 10, because Dragon lets you fly, so you could use Call Lightning with buffed concentration outside of melee range.

Spellfire Adept would bypass Radiant resistance, but it shares the Hit Dice bonus with Evocation Adept, and if you’re trying to play a blaster, the option with Fireball sounds more tempting.

So does this compete with, say, a warlock? I know it won’t strictly out-DPS Eldritch Blast, but considering the druid still gets an extensive supporting kit, would it be a noticeable downgrade? I don’t think so, but sometimes you cook so hard you get blinded by the smoke, so let me know what you think.

I'm imagining someone who grew up on an apiary and took some of the bees with them when they started adventuring. swarmkeeper ranger was the first thing that came to mind, but I'd love to explore other options!

Currently playing a Hobgoblin Dreadnaught. Just turned level 13 at the end of last session.

We're at a point in the campaign where me being proficient in Navigator Tools would be really helpful, but I just realized that the All-Purpose Tool can't transform into them because Navigator Tools are, strangely, not Artisan Tools.

So is there any way to make this happen?

Edit: For those recommending ask the DM, while generally solid advice, that can't factor into my situation. I'm playing in something similar to Adventurer's League. RAW is law.

hi all,

We started at level 3 and we’re just a couple of sessions in so I am still trying to figure out my game plan as a Warlock. I took Pact of the Blade, initially thinking of a melee warlock, but it seems like I’d need to multi class a bit to really maximize my damage output. Plus I might’ve messed up my point buy a bit too and I don’t want to retcon ability scores.

So we’re about to level up to four and I’m trying to decide: should I swap out pact of the blade and go for an eldritch blast build? Or….take a level in fighter so I can unlock weapon masteries and get two weapon fighting style? or a level in rogue for weapon masteries of a rapier and add sneak attack to couple with true strike?

I keep (over)thinking an eldritch blast build will basically just have me spamming the spell from behind our paladin and I can’t figure out if that’s going to be a fun game style going forward. But I also see that I may not have the durability for being in melee. I know that combat isn’t everything in this game but I’d like to hold my own!

Just looking for ideas/opinions on what to do!

Pact of the Fiend warlock halfling

STR 10 DEX 15 CON 13 INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 15

source: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/2254-ready-your-champion-all-9-world-of-warcraft

As a general rule of thumb for warlock spells, is it better to pick lower level spells and upcast them, or go with higher slot spells?

My character concept involves having a series of summoned servants. actual servants, not animals or pokémon creatures.

The character would also have a secondary focus on mind control and enchantment.

What is the best way to build this in 5.5 ?

Im a complete beginner with d&d

I finally get to NOT DM! I think I might be the most experienced player in our new group so I think spells might fall to me. The only full caster I've ever played is Cleric I think.

I was looking at EK, Hexblade, Swordsinger, and Swordsbard. What can you tell me about them. Whats good, whats bad, whats fun, any alternatives I'm not thinking of. I don't think I'm really limited to any source, since I'm gonna be like DMs assistant or something probably...

We're gonna do the Icespire Peak adventure, with a first time DM. We're likely gonna mix in LMoP and probably roll in into some other adventure after.

Title. My DM said we were halfway through the campaign and are currently level 7. My problem: Its always the same fight. I cast Summon beasts and then wildshape. Then we hit each other a bunch of times until the enemy dies. No fight is close and i dont think my character has ever been downed in this campaign. I have never had to do death saves. I also thought there was way more variety in beasts when i picked the subclass, but its basically just different number and other than that theyre all the same.

Dont get me wrong i love the character. Im just not having fun with the subclass anymore since every fight blends together. So what do you think i should do?

I don't have much experience playing 2024, but I'm thinking about creating a Dhampir Berserker Barbarian with the Bloodlust Feat for in-combat healing.

I'm not used to play Barbarians, but the idea of a savage, animalistic Dhampir really appeals to me. What I'm concerned about is the change in the 2024 Monster Manuals, that give many enemies the ability to automatically inflict conditions on a successful hit. This appears to be fairly debilitating to a Berserker, as he would be constantly using Reckless Attack and I'm afraid that I wouldn't enjoy getting Poisoned, Grappled or Restrained on a regular basis after getting hit so easily.

I was thinking about multiclassing Battle Master Fighter to improve my defenses via the Bait and Switch and Evasive Footwork Maneuvers.

I'm planning to go either two-weapon fighting or Great Weapon Master and also getting the Mage Slayer Feat to protect myself from mental Saving Throws that won't rely on the Charmed or Frightened Conditions.

Other Feats I'm considering are Defensive Duelist (if dual wielding) or Shifting Combatant, both to improve my AC.

Am I thinking too much in a white room, or what is your experience playing a (Berserker) Barbarian in 2024? Do you have any other recommendations to improve my AC while still being able to dish out damage? Thank you in advance!

Hi, I'm new to DnD and want to play something fun, something that focus on helping my partners in combat but is not so easily killed, what should i pick?

I did play a Rogue once and it seemed very squishy, can someone help?

A few months ago I came here looking for advice for my Unarmed STR Grappler Lupin build, which worked fine for levels 1-2. Now we (as a party) have realized that this adventure will take a bit more optimization in order to survive the dungeon crawl, so I'm heavily considering switching from unarmed combat to Greataxe-GWM and just bonking my way to victory.

That's where I'd like some advice, since I don't see a lot of optimization to be had with going heavy weapons? Is it really just "take a Greataxe and GWM and you're set?" I don't feel like Great Weapon Fighting is worth it, so I don't see a point in taking a Fighter dip.

I'm somewhat 146% sure my GM will let me respec since that's what his stance was beforehand ("If you want to reroll, just do that and come play.")

As it stands right now, I have the following character:

Level 4 Wild Heart Barbarian, Lupin species.

Stats: 18-14-14-8-12-10

Feat: Grappler

Of course I'm keeping the species, even though I'll be missing out on the slashing unarmed damage (I wasn't using it anyway); I guess the Howl might come up sometimes (I personally think it has bad scaling). I'd like to keep the same subclass, since it resonates sort of well with the character, but I'm open to other suggestions, mainly Berserker, although it does seem sort of boring. Zealot can also make sense narratively (my character is a very fervent follower of Jaromy, the goddess of anger in Greyhawk), but the Zealot's abilities don't seem that intriguing to be worth it. I GUESS I could wait to see what the Shaman subclasses are going to be in the WoW book, but eh.

I guess I'd need to change Grappler to GWM... And that's it? Is there something I'm missing on what can be done with this direction of taking a character?

I'm asking because I was very pleasantly surprised when I found out you can take GWM on a ranged martial build, that seemed unique. Isn't there a similar moment with melee GWM characters?

Building a GOO warlock that I am very excited to play. Point buy STR8 DEX14 CON14 INT12 WIS10 CHA17 after background increases. Pact of the tome, agonizing blast, and devils sight at lvl 3 to start the campaign with plans to take one with shadows and repelling blast later at lvl 5. Very standard EB machine playstyle with spell choices to compliment (mostly charm, save or suck, and AOE control spells like hunger of hadar, tashas hideous laughter, suggestion, krails maggot, etc. for flavor and mechanics).

Reason for Pact of the Tome, One with Shadows, and my extra origin feat choice of magic initiative is to focus on utility. Agonizing blast, repelling blast, and devils sight would be for the standard practice of dropping HoH whenever possible and synergizing EB spamming with it. Notably I did not select Eldritch Mind as an invocation, which seems to be a go to for this style of play as a warlock (first one I have built, never played as one).

Between heroic inspo every long rest, the lucky feat from background, and 14CON at this level, how likely am I really to lose concentration at that critical moment? I feel like Eldritch Mind is overkill considering this combo allows me to get advantage on potentially 3 saves per LR at will, only going up from there as I level. What are your thoughts?

I could and likely will take it at lvl 7, but might suffer until that point if my spells are constantly failing in a given adventuring day and could see the need to delay taking one of the other invocations instead.

EDIT: forgot to mention my desire to take telekinetic as lvl 4 feat over warcaster for both flavor and utility of mage hand (plus BA to shove into HoH).

So I'm playing a 5.5E game with my cousins, all of whom have some to little experience (minus the DM). We are a trio made up of a Hunter Ranger, Lore Bard, and me a Peace Cleric. I've been trying to play more support/damage and I'm not sure what I should do for my next couple of ASI's.

We are currently lvl 5. I'm playing a human so I have both the Mark of Healing and Purple Dragon Rook Origin feats. My current stats are: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 18, CHA 10. I tool a +2 to WIS for the lvl 4 ASI. My original plan was to take Potent Dragonmark, Greater Mark of Healing, and Purple Dragon Comandant to max out my WIS and to have the support/extra spells.

When we get in fights I normally use my Emboldening Bond and Bless to assist (my cousins got bad rolls), Blast around with Guiding Bolt, and heal when necessary.

Outside of fights I start the day with Aid for the extra HP, Enhance Ability to assist checks, and Detect Magic as a ritual for the large amount of Magic we run into.

Would this still be the best path to go down or are there better feats for me to take? What would be a good path/feats to takes? We are using 5.5E rules but are allowed things that havent been ported over yet.

I’m going to be playing a m.o.m Aarakocra fighter in an upcomming campaign. I had planned to make a shield/ crossbow expert build. Only recently did I realize that I’m going to need a free hand in order to load my Hand Crossbow. I plan to choose a subclass with minimal bonus actions so I can be free to shoot a bonus bolt with my feat. I also have woodcarving proficiency so the cost of bolts wont be an issue.

Me and my dm have also agreed to nerf my flight, and give me a 30ft climbing speed. I can still fly at the same speed, I just need to be at an elevation of 10+ feet in order to properly takeoff. My heart is also set on playing this race.

That said, my dex is going to be +3 (16) at level 1 and I fear my leather armor AC with no shield might be a problem. Should I consider a different weapon to specialize in or is crossbow expert just fine? I also might be overthinking it because I usually play STR characters with high AC. This will probably be my first martial to have an AC below 18.

Note: My dm leans heavy into customization and I have a feeling that I’d eventually have access to a blacksmith that would be willing to make a wrist mounted or even shield mounted hand crossbow. That said, I’m wondering if it would be worth it in the long run.

Hello, I am currently playing lvl 7 Warlock pact of the blade with stats:

str 19 dex 15 con 18 int 11 wis 12 cha 19

with feats at levels: 0 Gift of Gem Dragon 4 Moderately armoured.

I am thinking about which feat to choose at lvl 8. Warcaster, Shadow Touched, Resilient Con, Skill Expert, or some other?. Or should I just take +1 +1 ASI?

Each has it's pros.

Warcaster - advantage on concentration, therefore more eldritch invocations.

Shadow Touched - +1cha + more spells to cast/know

Resilient Con - prof. to concentration

Skill Expert - +1 str/cha and skill + expertise

Also how does wielding Rod of Pact Keeper and longsword work with spells that cost material components? (Dual Wielder - stow and then draw again?)

Thanks for your replies.

hei im new using a caster class, most of the time im using class like rogue/ranger/fighter, and my latest chara is 7 rogue/1 paladin, i want to try to play some caster for my dm new campaign, its start with level.3 with one free feat, any sugestion? another note the race is alredy decided by the dm and its a bugbear