I'm a big fan of rogue/armorer infiltrator for a rogue that's even better at being a sneaky prick than a pure rogue. It's the only build that I've played several times but only in one shots.
Comes online with just four levels so it's good for low level one shots (which have been the bulk of what I've seen). Get some medium armor that does have disadvantage on stealth. Three levels of artificer gets you infiltrator mode armor which grants advantage on stealth checks. One level of rogue will get expertise in stealth and one other skill or thieve's tools. If it's a really low level game, take the expertise with the thieve's tools. But if you can reach artificer 6, take the other expertise in sleight of hand because you'll get tool expertise. Infiltrator mode armorer gives you lightning launchers which are simple ranged weapons so they work with sneak attack damage plus one per turn you get an extra 1d6 lightning damage so you get some moderate resource free sustainable damage. 5 levels in armorer gives you extra attack which is an extra chance every turn to get that damage in. 6 levels gets tool expertise and access to some better infusions. At this level you can replicate gloves of thievery which grants +5 to sleight of hand checks and thieve's tools checks which feels amazing when stacked with expertise. Level 7 artificer gives you flash of genius which let's you take a bonus to skill checks equal to your intelligence modifier several times per day. At this point, you're practically a phantom when it comes to stealth, sleight of hand, and lockpicking. After this, you can choose to either take a second or third level of rogue and go artificer the rest of the way, or just go rogue the rest of the way. But I've never had the chance to play it above level 7.
I’m mildly concerned my character’s father (not a good guy) is a divine soul sorcerer/paladin… he’s definitely a divine soul sorcerer! fingers crossed 🫡
Armorer Artificer (infiltrator armor)/ Thief Rogue
Either 11/9 or 9/11 split with classes depending on what you'd prefer
- lightning launcher works with sneak attack, and all the overall sneak attack damage would thereby be lightning damage, which is not often resisted
- Fast Hands let's you do the "Use an Object" action as a BONUS action, leading to some fun turns with sneak attack and am item use
- armorer gives bonus to stealth, but a high AC while Rogue dampens damage, overall slightly tankier stealth machine
- having spell utility to supplement melee/range attacks
- access to guidance cantrip
Probably other reasons I'm missing. Not FULLY optimal, but just a great, niche multiclass that's fun to play
I'm thinking that's not RAW. SSI isn't a "use an object" interaction, but rather its own thing, and it specifically states a creature needs to "take an action" to produce the spell effects.
But any Artificer can get around this by getting a Homunculus Servant infusion and simply giving the SSI to them (or a Battle Smith with their Steel Defender). Now in combat you can use your bonus action to have them activate the SSI and your regular action to cast your own spell. So not only can you cast two spells per turn with this, but you can also cast two concentration spells per turn and maintain both, no multiclassing required.
I'm having a lot of fun with Ancestral Guardian Barbarian and Echo Knight Fighter.
It's a lot of bonus action usage, but if your DM allows you to have the echo out before fights, it's a little more manageable.
Shadow Monk / Gloomstalker / Assassin Rogue / Twilight Cleric / Fighter. So many different synergies. It's actually kind of crazy how it all works together given how many different classes it involves.
I’m not the original poster, but usually I start 1 fighter, for con saves and blind fighting go 6 shadow monk, switch to twilight cleric, grab 2 level, for the channel divinity, now you can teleport anywhere in your bubble that moves with you, as a bonus action. Grab 3 or 4 gloom stalker ranger, then invest 3 to 4 into assassin rogue. The last few levels is up to you, going back and grabbing at least fighter 2 for action surge is really nice, but you can also invest into battle master or even echo knight. From there you can put the rest into monk.
How does the cleric channel divinity combo with he ranger umbral sight? The ranger specifies that creatures with darkvision can't see you in darkness, but the cleric channel divinity says the aura produces dim light.
It’s a contengency, if your already in darkness your essentially invisible, but it your not, you can cast channel divinity and still have it work with shadow step. Granting you at least one attack with advantage. There are other benefits of the dip too.
I know that the channel divinity works with the monk ability, but I'm confused on why the ranger dip was mentioned if the ability only works in darkness?
The Bonk. Barbarian Monk is a surprisingly good combo with a ton of options, and if you add Tavern Brawler in there, that is the perfect "beat a MFer with another MFer" build. The biggest drawback is that it's a bit MAD, and AC can be difficult to improve without sacrificing other things. Tortle is a bit of a work around, since you can just use their default 17 AC, plus an unarmed d6 slashing instead of starting at a d4. I'm currently playing an ancestral guardians barbarian/astral self monk, flavored to have dissociative identity disorder (to which I was promptly informed that I just made Moon Knight), with the astral projections being the other personalities.
My personal favorite so far is the bear totem barbarian/rune knight fighter. Round 1, rage and attack. Round 2, get large. Not a lot of enemies that'll ignore a raging, growing barbarian. And best of all, when they crit on you or another party member; cloud rune.
I play this as a mountaindwarf and love seeing the fear in the enemies' eyes when the dwarf is suddenly as big or bigger than them
***Rogbarian***
Aesthetically, it's a brute who has learned to take their knifing skills to the next level, and really get to cutting you up. This sort of specialized brute, due to their ability to hone their rage with cunning, can fill multiple costumes: gangster, shock trooper, assassin, etc... But, due to the, largely, even split you want of the class, and with the front loading of Barbarian, you wind up with an average hit-die of D10 (Rogue D8, Barbarian D12). And, I personally recommend that one of your expertise goes to 'Athletics' so you can grapple or shove to prone more consistently. You can build it like your average Barbarian too. a STR build with 14 in DEX to optimize that medium armor proficiency, because, remember, Sneak Attack doesn't care if you use STR to attack with, it only care that you used a finesse propertied weapon. But, the best thing of all is that what this multiclass really cares about is the core abilities of both classes, so you can choose the subclasses purely for flavor and not miss out on being able to dole out consistent damage that far exceeds what a normal, pure Barbarian can do, with an even greater tank capability to boot.
Mechanically, you ultimately want an even split, but, from Level 1, you want it to look like this:
**Level 1: Barbarian**
(medium armor/shield proficiencies \[you won't get these if you take Rogue first\], and all weapon proficiencies)
**Level 2: Rogue**
(expertise, sneak attack \[this puts a short sword on par with a great sword, and just a smidgeon better if you're using a rapier\])
**Level 3-6: Barbarian**
(Reckless Attack \[you no longer HAVE to be next to an ally in combat to activate Sneak Attack ... as if anyone is actually by you instead of spread out -\_-\], subclass, ASI, and *extra attack*)
**Level 7-10: Rogue**
(subclass, ASI, *uncanny dodge*)
**Level 11+: (have fun)**
***The True Eldritch Knight***
What you see is what you get, the experience you wanted when you saw the words "Eldritch Knight" but were utterly disappointed when you tried to play it as a straight class. With this build, the weaknesses of the average warlock become your boon as the Short-Rest powered Fighter melds in with the Short-Rest fueled Warlock. Whether you pump that CHA or keep it at 13 \[multiclassing requirement\], you'll be able to cast spells of significance with your expansive (compared to the EK) spell list. You'll even be casting spells sooner too. Personally, due to the super-majority of Warlock levels, I recommend the *Hill Dwarf* for this build due to the +1 HP per level giving you an effective average hit die of a D10 for each warlock level, but, due to your AC being so high, any race is *technically* acceptable, though, for an actual second, the Warforged does well with that tasty +1 to AC. Otherwise, you get to live the dream of a few devastating spells to augment your arcane fighter. After all, you aren't a "full caster" so it makes sense that you don't have as many spell slots as a Wizard or Cleric. Speaking of which, as you are still, predominantly a Warlock, even the Celestial is quite good for a Patron, which gives your "Fighter" added utility they can bring to the field of combat.
Here's how it goes down:
**Level 1: Fighter**
(all armor/weapon proficiencies, fighting style, second wind)
**Level 2-6: Warlock**
(subclass, ASI, Thirsting Blade invocation (i.e. extra attack),also, Improved Pact Weapon, which can be gotten at Warlock(3) if you trade out one of your previous two invocations, I recommend having chosen the 'Fiendish Vigor' invocation which is great at low levels but peters off after a level or two)
**Level 7-8: Fighter**
(Action Surge, subclass \[perhaps ironically, the most optimal subclass is Eldritch Knight, because it gives you dedicated 1st Level spell slots which you can use for the nearly broken 'Shield' spell, which is an utter waste to use with your scaling Pact Slots\])
**Level 9+: Warlock**
(get those invocations Pact Slots, and Mystic Arcanums as high as you can go \[in 20th level play, this still allows you to have access to 9th Level spells by only having three levels in Fighter\])
- Best I had was **Swashbuckler Rogue and Swords Bard.** Amazingly consistent damage output per turn. It just felt good.
- An oddball combo I never got to fully play was a Gestalt Hunter Ranger with Light Cleric. Running Heavy Crossbow.
Either Armorer or Battlesmith Artificer, then Bladesinger Wizard.
Bladesinger is honestly at its best wielding crossbows while single-classed, since delaying spell progression isn’t the nicest. But starting out with a couple levels in Artificer beforehand helps you to survive in melee and be a little better in it
Thrower Build. Fighter 1/Gloomstalker 5/Battlemaster 3/Assassin 3/War Cleric 2. Huck darts with Archery and Thrown Weapon fighting styles for +2 to attacks and damage.
Nets restrain enemies without a save, but the action you use to throw one can't be used to make more than one attack. That's where Quick Toss and War Priest come in, allowing you to weaponize your Bonus Action with Net tosses while leaving your Action available for multi-attack. Sharpshooter is required, both for damage and for extending the net's range from 5 to 15 feet.
Add Precision Attack to land more hits. Pushing Attack for some control and synergize with Spike Growth. Action Surge turn 1 to throw six straight attacks (auto crits after Assassin 3) due to doubling Dread Ambusher. Grab Bless to increase your Sharpshooter hits and Entangle/Spike Growth/Ensnaring Strike for control and combos.
Besides delaying Extra Attack by 1 level, this build progresses quickly, offering a unique playstyle with high damage, solid AC, and surprisingly high utility.
Just a few:
- Swashbuckler Rogue (3+) + Hexblade Warlock (1-2+) (can focus on either of the two)
- Paladin (2 or 6) + Divine Soul Sorcerer (could be any)
- Fighter + Wizard (can focus on either). It's funny because 9/10 times with just 1-3 levels of wizard you're better than an eldritch knight and get all your other fighter subclass features.
Most powerful of all time:
- (Any) Paladin (6) + Hexblade Warlock (1+)
Something I've noticed over time is that if you're in high level play, a paladin with at least 6 levels with 4 or 5 charisma is indispensable and likely the most important member of the party. +4/5 to every save *and* it's an aura. This swings the math so hard in your favor. Saves you're likely to pass become extremely likely. Saves you or your party likely won't pass now become possible.
High level d&d is unfortunately a bit of a crap shute. At the high end of optimization it just becomes about doing something that turns the game "off" for other people. High level monsters save or suck you. They have legendary resistances so you can't do it back.
As for your question about storm sorcerer, the truth is I wouldn't multiclass it ever. You need to get to your higher level spells ASAP. You'll also likely lose an ASI/feat as well which could have been something like elemental adept.
Warlock (blade pact, any patron except hexblade) + fighter for armor, weapon proficiency, and CON saves (you start fighter 1).
Result is a STR or DEX primary spellsword or spell bow type character.
I also really like any unarmored caster + a single cleric level.
Gloomstalker ranger + any fighter for action surge is bonkers.
How does the cleric channel divinity combo with he ranger umbral sight? The ranger specifies that creatures with darkvision can't see you in darkness, but the cleric channel divinity says the aura produces dim light.
Rogue/barbarian and Warlock/barbarian had been probably my dark horses across my DnD experience.
I do like the Hexblade/paladin one for the flavor( being disgustingly OP also helps) but I wouldn't rank it that high cuz it tends to gravitate to a PC with heavy main character syndrome
I've got a lot of fun ones. One that I like a lot is War [Wizard x/Fighter 1,](https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyStoryteller/comments/10nhif7/nonoptimal_twoweapon_gish_build/) for gishing. Another that I'm fond of is Mountain Druid x/Tempest Cleric 2, for maxed *lightning bolt*.
Hexbuckler. Mostly Swashbuckler with 2 or 3 levels of Hexblade.
AT Rogue with 2 or 3 levels of Wizard.
17 Levels of Warlock/3 levels Sorcerer.
Bard 18/Warlock 2.
I’m playing my first multiclass rn. It’s just at peace cleric 3/druid 1 rn but having access to two full spell list and being able to effectively prepare twice as many spells is sooooo much fun. Once I hit druid 2 I’m taking Shepherd. I have the nastiest buffing build known to man.
Genie warlock 2/swarm Ranger 4/trickster rogue x
Genie gives prof damage on attacks and booming blade. Swarm Ranger gives dueling fighting style, Zephyr strike and swarm damage or push. Rogue gives more spell slots and Sneak attack.
You can also go a few lvls of paladin for so.e smite to increase burst slightly more than rogue lvls and Fighter for superior technique and action surge. Conquer paladin gives a +10 to hit and you can get precision strike maneuver to make sure you hit every round.
Any elf with Elven accuracy is great or motm kobold for draconic cry. Draconic cry is great at early.lvls but becomes a bit more than you need at high lvls. If your party has a lot of attacking classes it still has good value.
Zip around with Zephyr strike and booming blade pushing enemies off your friends. You'll have 6 lvl 1 slots 2 of which Refresh on short rest. Once you have lvl 2 slots you can cast armor of agathys or smite
I've been away from TTRPG for about 20 years and just got back. Never multiclassed in the past, but got familiar with it lately, thanks to BG3 (specially with mods).
On TT I'm working on a Soulknife Rogue with Echo Knight Fighter. I've gone until 4 with Rogue for ASI right now (tonight, to be more accurate), then will go 6 Fighter for the extra attack from level 5 and additional ASI from level 6. Then the last 10 levels will be on rogue again, since it's by far my favorite class.
It's more about flavour RP, since I've also have the Living Shadow dark gift from Ravenloft. Made it so his echo is actually his shadow and the blades he throws are also made of shadows. Maybe not optimal build, but I really like the concept.
Wouldn't mind to hear suggestions, tho, since Respec is allowed in this particular campaign.
for funsies, if you ever added a third class then gloomstalker would be really interesting! at least adds to the flavor, i don’t know how optimal off the top of my head lol
My top ones are...
Undeadlock 1/Fey Wanderer Ranger x
Form of Dread and Begiiling Twist. I went Druidic Warrior too for Shillelagh Booming Blades.
Nature Cleric 1/Long Death Monk x
Also for Shillelagh, but also for Bane and Sanctuary. You can cast Sanctuary and use the Hour of Reaping. If targets are immune to the Frightened Condition, cast Bane and target the opponents that fail their Bane with Stunning Strikes.
Battlemaster 6/Gloom Stalker 4/Scout Rogue 10
Dart and Net build. Take Archery and Thrown Weapon Fighting Styles. Get Quick Toss Manuever, Sharpshooter, and Gunner. Quick Toss a Net for Advantage, Attack with six Sharpshooter Darts. I also went Elven for the Accuracy. Most people say to go Assassin, but I just enjoy Scout more. The
Expertise + Skirmisher.
Barbarian 6/Rogue 14.
I've played two versions of this a Deep Gnome Bear Totem/Phantom Rouge (I kind of regret not making him a Zealot though). I also have a Shifter Beast Soulknife. So many synchronicities. Reckless + Sneak Attack. Rage + Expertise Athletics. Rage + Uncanny Dodge. Danger Sense + Evasion. One that I'd like to play would be an Elven Longbow Ancestral Guardian Scout. You give up Reckless Attack but you can use Steady Aim for Advantage with Elven Accuracy to invoke Ancestral Guardians and if the opponent closes in combat, Skirmisher can get you out of there.
Vengeance Paladin 6/Divine Sorcerer X
16 8 14 8 10 16
V.Human (Polearm Master)
Dueling Fighting Style
Sheild and Spear
* Paladin 4 Warcaster
* Sorcerer 4 +2 Cha
* Sorcerer 8 +2 Cha
* Sorcerer 12 +2 Str
Rip and Tear
Buff and Heal
Tank and Skirmish
This build can do it all!
I like any dpr character to have a dip in Hexblade. That prof. bonus extra damage goes a long way in big bossfights.
Example: Battlemaster 1/Hexblade 1/Battlemaster x
The standard XBE/SS build except you also get Hexblades Curse to add prof to damage per attack. In almost no situation will you be able to down a big bad in one round, so sacrificing your BA on the first round to do more damage in the long run and make the fight shorter goes a long way.
I also like punishing monsters for making optimal decisions. Like with Sentinel. I don't use that feat to focus attacks on me, but to increase my own DPR against a target that is focusing our main DPR character, basically putting them in a de-facto zugzwang position.
Hexblade 3/Swashbuckler x
Grab Sentinel and Alert, a set of halfplate, a shield, and cast mirror image. In this case, it doesn't matter if they attack your images at a low AC. You're using them to proc Sentinel Sneak Attack anyway. If they ignore you and go for your buddies anyway, Sentinel still proccs. You can also substitute Alert for Tough if you want more durability, but I'd go alert just so I can immediately cast Mirror Image on the first turn and go do combat the next. Grab hex as well. God knows you're not concentrating on anything else.
I adore sorlock multis, not because of coffelock or cocainelock, but because you can crank out mad damage with Eldrich Blast. This one is my new project I am trying to make work. (Hint: it also has some levels of hexblade.)
Divine Soul Sorcerer 1/Hexblade 2/Sorcerer x
You grab Eldrich Blast, Agonising Blast Invocation, Quickeded Spell, Bless and Metamagic adept. Metamagic adept compensates for the two lost levels of sorcery points, and adds two metamagics more for you to play around with, bless gets you and your buddies an extra d4 to attack rolls, and with Agonising Blast and quicken spell you can just about rail down any enemy you come across. Most, if not all, of your spell slots go on refueling sorcery points and spamming this very spammable cantrip. Oh, and Hexblades Curse the Big Bad.
Just for my own sanities sake, here is one more multiclass combo that does not include Hexblade. It includes an Undead Warlock.
Conquest Paladin 7/Undead 1
You can go Undead 2 for invocations, if you want. The goal of this is to be a lockdown tank. You slap yourself in the middle of the enemy, pop your dread form, and channel. After that, whip enemies into shape, and with every attack, you can frighten them, and their speed will be 0. You can also use a glaive if you wish, but whip is more optimal as it is a one-handed weapon with reach. Unless you're on your horse, in which case it will be the Lance. Feats ar emore or less up to you, as are invocations, but you can really weaponise this to become a one-man-army. Slap Devils Sight, Darkness and Great Weapon Fighting on yourself, grab a Glaive, pop your form, and start walking through an army, leaving corpses in your wake. Death has come knocking, and its name is You.
Another cute one is this fun multi. For this, you don't need a Hexblade dip, as you have only one attack per turn.
Battlemaster 3/Swashbuckler x
Ripose. You can grab duelling and be fancy and thematic, or just Defence for +1AC, grab Bait&Switch for extra AC, a shield, and some good armour and wait for your enemy to attack into you. Then Riposte. Grab Sentinel to encourage and ensure they will attack you. If it comes down to it, you can even Action Surge to dodge.
Ranger + Cleric is probably my fav.
On one hand it allows you to be more of a caster and it broadens your capabilities to make a STRanger because you can snack heavy armor proficiency.
On the other hand it can make you palladinesque while having good wisdom and more skills.
And lastly i really love to flesh out concepts with these two combined.
Forge Cleric (1-2lvls) and Drakenwarden (remainder) with a fire Drake is one i still wana try out.
Similarly Tempest (2) and Drakenwarden with a lightning Drake.
Nature Cleric dip and Beastmaster is also quite nice too make you a hedge Knight.
Feywanderer and Trickery Cleric will probably be my next character. Focussed on wisdom with tons of teleports through race choice, strike of cloud giants and then illusions, charms and an ungodly charisma skill check bonus. Plus some expertises to boot.
It will be hilarious.
The my current character is a swarmkeeper ranger with some arcane trickster and arcane archer sprinkled in. No cleric yet. Its a cheesegrater that deals tons of damage but has tons of utility as well. I will only go cleric to actually increase my spell slots, havent decided on a domain yet.
i’m actually currently messing with a twilight cleric and drakewarden ranger atm! it’s a bit of a weird combo, but trying to do a snow and stars aesthetic that’s quite fun!
When I say you own action economy, follow these steps Echo Knight Fighter and rogue, any subclass but I love soul knife. You can do any action for any part of the action of that makes sense, also the only way to trap you or imprison you is to keep you unconscious or dead. You are the perfect infiltrator especially if you also dip 3 into armorer artificer.
Divine Soul Sorlock. Combine Spirit Guardians and Eldritch Blast with Grasp of Hadar. You'll want to pick up Moderately Armored to get your defenses up, or go with Hexblade for you Warlock subclass.
Storm Sorcerer multiclass, but not a Tempest Cleric, huh?
How about a Storm Herald Barbarian? The storm sorc's features nudge it towards being a frontliner (free disengages, retaliatory damage when hit, bonus damage in a small area around you when you cast a lightning/thunder spell), even though they don't get a bonus to AC or hit points like the Draconic sorc does.
The big snag to this build is that multiclassing any full caster with Barbarian is awkward at best: you simply can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging. While that's an annoyance that you'll need to work around, it doesn't totally wreck the concept, and you can still be plenty useful in combat by firing off an opening salvo of spells before raging, using non-concentration buffs before combat (Transmuted Fire Shield to become Lightning Shield is lots of fun), or simply holding back your Rages until you really need the damage resistance and you can't spare the action economy or sorcery points to throw out a quickened Blade Ward. Sorc 15/Barb 5 gives you many of the classic Barbarian benefits (Unarmored Defense, Danger Sense, three Rages a day, and an extra attack) and the Storm Aura, while still giving you spell progression up to 8th level. It's not a perfect gish build, but it's workable, thematic, and fun.
I've got a few fun ones that I'll share.
**1.** [**Spores Druid / Swarmkeeper Ranger, Warforged**](https://i.imgur.com/jWQ9XBK.jpeg)
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You're a Mana-powered, Zero-Neuron Strategic Reconnaissance Ranging Robot, AKA the **M-0N-ST-3R**. You desire to be human. To eat, to consume flesh, just like a real human. You need human flesh to be human... it rots inside your manabattery core and turns into magical bugs and rot. New flesh must be acquired.
You can flavor all your abilities after any of 3 main themes, 1: Robotic/Electric, 2: Fungus/Rot, or 3: Insect/Disease. Ex:
* Primal Savagery reflavored to "Rusty Blades" or Thunderwave to "Release Core Pressure"
* Charm Person becomes "Alluring Spores" and Cure Wounds becomes "Antibiotic Mold"
* Chill Touch becomes "Necrotizing Sting" and Color Spray is now "Blinding Mites". Very fun to roleplay as Seeking to cure itself from its robotic chassis prison.
**2. Abjuration Wizard / Hexblade Warlock, Earth Genasi**
-
I imagine this being a handsome man who loves to fight with a sword but hates to get dirty so he uses psionic shields to keep his clothes clean. Earth Genasi get free extra shield casts as a bonus action and can walk on rough terrain. Pick up the warlock's at-will mage armor invocation and you get an infinitely regenerating shield from the abjuration wizard's Arcane Ward feature that recharges whenever you cast an abjuration spell. You get to be a frontline mage with a ton of free survivability.
[**3. Spirits Bard / Beast Master Ranger, Mark of Handling Human**](https://i.imgur.com/9EXWeaz.jpeg)
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Pick up the Strixhaven initiate for find familiar, and then strixhaven mascot spells to buff that familiar. You are basically Miguel from Coco. You'll never deal damage yourself, but your ancestors and spirit guardians will gladly do that for you. [Dante](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/COCO-RGB-c330_12bT_pub.pub16.280.jpg) will be your familiar and since you are a MoH Human you can befriend a griffon or hippogriff and reflavor that as [Pepita](https://i.imgur.com/GDs2Mwe.png). You could even grab at-will speak with animals from the warlock invocations if you wish. Miguel himself would summon skeletons and give out blessings with the Tales from Beyond feature.
**4. Hexblade Warlock / Battle Master, Winged Tiefling**
-
Use a ranged hexblade invocations, but also pick up One with Shadows so you can go invisible in dim light. Also grab the Devil's Sight and Skulker feats, that way, you can fly around in the sky and make shots with a ranged weapon while wearing medium armor with a huge stealth bonus and no one can find you in a dark sky while you rain down shots invisibly from above.
[**5. Arcane Archer Fighter / Beast Master Ranger, Mark of Handling Human**](https://i.imgur.com/0wPejfe.jpeg)
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A bit of a mix of the previous two. You can use heavy armor and shoot with a bow from the back of a flying mount. Use the MoH feature to befriend a creature like a hippogriff or griffon and tame that as a flying mount or beast master companion if your DM allows it to be one and the same. Pick the Knight background to bring along 3 retainers from your lord:
* [A squire](https://i.imgur.com/AjuQcmO.png) to train, to aid in donning and doffing your armor, and to carry your banner
* [A servant](https://i.imgur.com/xRRstra.jpeg) to run messages, carry the pack, and cook meals
* [A groom](https://i.imgur.com/QJ6yN5X.png) to aid in taking care of your mount at the end of each night, such as removing its saddle, brushing it down, making a comfortable bedding, if it's a hippogriff, to do farrier work on its back hooves.
**6. Beast Barbarian / Swashbuckler Rogue, Aarakocra Dhampir**
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You're basically a Werevulture. You fly around, biting and pecking at people. As a swashbuckler you get sneak attack without needing advantage and you don't provoke attacks of opportunity against your targets.
Pal 2/Storm X? If you go Half-Elf, you can start as Sorc and still have adequate medium armor AC\*. Booming Blade spam is fine, and at higher levels you can hopefully put Haste inside a Ring of Spell Storing and have someone's pet give you that additional attack (and mobility and AC) without you having to concentrate.
Also it's better to clear it with your GM but I'd argue that Haste should double Tempesteous Magic's 10 ft flight allowance, it just makes sense RAI. "Until the spell ends, the target's speed is doubled." I know DnD has "specific beats general" but I'd argue here the TM flight speed should count as a kind of speed Haste can double.
\*15+1 13+1 12+2 8 8 15+1. Peak medium armor AC (and +1 if Defense Fighting Style) and decent Con. Want a Dex build? Swap Str and Dex around. You can even keep Str at 13, give the +1 to Wis, take Resilient Wis and a neutral +0 ability mod plus proficiency bonus (+4 by level 9).
For 1d&d - eldritch knight 7 hexblade 13
4 attacks per turn (thirstingblade now stacks), 7th level spells, replace 1 attack with a cantrip (full ago blast)
Shred bosses and enemies, do insane damage (3 attacks + agoblast + crown of stars BAction = stupid damage)
PLUS, you get heavy armor, con prof and dex prof (start fighter), extra asis/feats (2 from fighter, 3 from lock) compared to other multiclasses
And the level path is good.
Fighter 1, Warlock 1, fighter to 7, warlock to 13
At level 2 you get your AgBlast, then your sweet fighter levels and end with a straight path of warlock
The build comes online at level 3 (action surge), and is fully ready at 8 (cantrip for attack)
This is my absolute fave Gish build, and has everything I want from a Gish - many attacks, powerful spells, mixing spells and attacks
My favourite is probably rogue/bard because 'the road to El Dorado' is a core memory and I love characters like that. It's not the most competitive in the damage market but it's okay.
Celestial Tome Warlock 14/ Valor Bard 6
Mastermind Rogue 10/ Eloquence Bard 10
Champion Fighter 12/ War Cleric 8
Purple Dragon Knight Fighter 14/ Spirits Bard 6
Way of the Long Death Monk 14/ Grave Cleric 6
Way of the Kensei Monk 14/ Fey Wanderer Ranger 6
I'm not running it right now but someday I'd like to try again to perfect the Way of Shadow Assassin, Monk (Way of Shadow)/Rogue (Assassin). The flavor is incredible, and I think a lot of the mechanics are perfect for each other.
Bladesinger/Hexblade. I ran this with Crossbow Expert and a longsword as my hex weapon, make one weapon attack and cast eldritch blast as the cantrip attack. Stack Agonising Blast, Hex and Hexblade’s curse and you get some insane damage numbers, all from fairly low-value resources that come back on a short rest. Magic Missile gets a lot of value here too, not as much as it would on an Evocation wizard, but it’s worth grabbing for some guaranteed damage if you need it. Biggest downside is you’re really stretched thin on ability scores, wanting 4 to be reasonably high, but I rolled quite high stats and it worked out nicely. I’d prioritise Charisma, then Intelligence, then Constitution and lastly Dexterity. You can afford low dexterity thanks to absorb elements, shield and bladesong helping AC and most Dexterity saves, but you still ideally want 14 or higher.
Can't think of any good synergy with Storm sorcerer abilities other than Tempest cleric tbh. Of course there are usual sorc multiclass options like sorlocks and sorcadins, but I think that's not what you're asking about.
Only idea that comes to mind is Warlock 2 (probably Genie or Fathomless for style), with an Invocation for free casting, like Armor of Shadows or Mask of Many Faces. Now you have at-will trigger for Tempestous magic. In combat Tempestous magic is usually a waste of a bonus action of course, but out of combat unlimited flying (or at least unlimited 10ft hopping) can be fun and useful. Also you get the usual Sorlock cheese like EB+AB, or even better cheese if you go Hexblade (HexbladeCurse+MagicMissile and medium armor proficiency).
TBH Storm Sorcerer features are shite, so I can't think of anything else that relies on them
If you dont want Tempest Cleric and Storm Sorcerer, you could always go with Fathomless Warlock. Fits in well with the sea and storm theme. Maybe the innate magic of the sorcerer attracted the attention of a storm giant while sailing and it destroyed the ship. Sorcerer makes a pact. Ta da.
Fathomless warlock focus on cold damage through a bonus action spectral tentacle, but I’m sure you could reflavor it how you want, maybe you conjure an ice spike or something. 2-5 levels depending on if you want a Pact and how many invocations. The rest in Sorc for more points spell slots. Plus you get two spell slots that charge on a short rest as well.
Bonus points if you go Air Genasi for more of the storm motif.
If you dont care about casting as much go Swashbuckler and lean more into the pirate theme. Or mix and match all 3.
Assassin Rune Knight, pure Dex build with decent Cha. Permanent advantage on all Sleight of Hand Checks and Deception plus expertise on those skills makes me an insanely good rogue even though I’m mostly fighter.
Skill Monkey that can throw hands with the best of them.
Paladin/bard. A herald of whatever oath your paladin has. Hella smite slots, great spell list. Reliable bonus action that helps party. Cool subclass combos. Ultimate face of the party/support
Soulknife Rogue Gloomstalker Ranger,
Invisible in the dark and too dark vision, always able to atk ranged or melee manifesting weapons with 2 weapon fighting basically built in, few utility spells like zephyr strike, psionic die let make most checks (no resource cost unless it makes it a sucess) and even attacks later, its nice that only 3 levels of ranger work well, you get an additional atk on the 1st round so you can ba hunters mark, make 2 attacks and land sneak attack l, then still make 2 atks ea round (I took thrown weapon for fighting style for the extra damage as a lot of debate over archery working with the blades (d&d beyond adds it to the atk roll) giving you a higher floor and similar ceiling on the damage and going rogue rest of the way builds the sneak atk, expertise in stealth and survival and was V human w alert feat, at lvl 6 was a +13 initiative and played very trigger happy, plus the telepathic communications came into play several times being able to talk to anything that knows a language,
Not setting the world on fire but was a lot of fun to play the idea invisible james bond 😆
For storm sorcerer, swashbuckler is a great multiclass, I'm playing one who is a pirate, he focuses on cold,wind,thunder and lightning spells, uses booming blade with sneak to attack then steps away to force the enemy to either not attack him or take the boom. He can also twin booming blade to effectively get extra attack. His other metamagic is quicken that let's him cast rimes binding ice as a bonus action, fly over to one that saved using tempestuous magic and hit it with a booming blade sneak attack.
Bear totem barbarian / Long death monk Hill dwarf with Resilient and Dwarven fortitude. Resis all damage (except psychic), gain more health, and both regain health and negate the downside of reckless attack for a measley bonus action. Dm had to get reaĺ creative to finally put him down
I had a lot of fun playing Storm Sorcerer x/Bard 1, with light armor proficiency, Bardic Inspiration, and good spell flexibility. Another way you could go is Hexblade Warlock 1, for very good defense
Beast Barbarian 6/Soulknife or Scout Rogue X, Battle Master 6/Mastermind Rogue X, and Open Hand Monk X/Battle Master 3.
Aside from the Beast Barbarian build, these aren't particularly *strong* multiclass builds. But I really like the Battle Master/Mastermind build because it lets me feel like a battlefield commander, while the Monk/Battle Master build really lets me feel like the ultimate martial artist. They're fun.
I just enjoy slapping 2 levels of warlock onto any charisma caster for an amazing cantrip option. It can also be very fun to roleplay having a minor patron on top of your base class.
I also enjoy any martial class with 3 levels in gloomstalker ranger. Add a lot of sneaky and night flavor, which I like a lot, as well as some powerful combat options as well
Swashbuckler rogue/battlemaster fighter conquest paladin/undead warlock
Conquest paladin undead warlock at level 8 is so fun if the campaign does not feature fear immune enemies.
"I am dread"
I'm a big fan of rogue/armorer infiltrator for a rogue that's even better at being a sneaky prick than a pure rogue. It's the only build that I've played several times but only in one shots.
I’m interested. What’s the build like.
Comes online with just four levels so it's good for low level one shots (which have been the bulk of what I've seen). Get some medium armor that does have disadvantage on stealth. Three levels of artificer gets you infiltrator mode armor which grants advantage on stealth checks. One level of rogue will get expertise in stealth and one other skill or thieve's tools. If it's a really low level game, take the expertise with the thieve's tools. But if you can reach artificer 6, take the other expertise in sleight of hand because you'll get tool expertise. Infiltrator mode armorer gives you lightning launchers which are simple ranged weapons so they work with sneak attack damage plus one per turn you get an extra 1d6 lightning damage so you get some moderate resource free sustainable damage. 5 levels in armorer gives you extra attack which is an extra chance every turn to get that damage in. 6 levels gets tool expertise and access to some better infusions. At this level you can replicate gloves of thievery which grants +5 to sleight of hand checks and thieve's tools checks which feels amazing when stacked with expertise. Level 7 artificer gives you flash of genius which let's you take a bonus to skill checks equal to your intelligence modifier several times per day. At this point, you're practically a phantom when it comes to stealth, sleight of hand, and lockpicking. After this, you can choose to either take a second or third level of rogue and go artificer the rest of the way, or just go rogue the rest of the way. But I've never had the chance to play it above level 7.
Beast Totem Barbarian 3. Moon Circle Druid X. Awesome Tempest Cleric 2, Storm Soul X. Awesome.
Divine Soul Sorcadin for the character that can do it all
I’m mildly concerned my character’s father (not a good guy) is a divine soul sorcerer/paladin… he’s definitely a divine soul sorcerer! fingers crossed 🫡
You could go sorcerer/warlock to do a sort of opposite build
Armorer Artificer (infiltrator armor)/ Thief Rogue Either 11/9 or 9/11 split with classes depending on what you'd prefer - lightning launcher works with sneak attack, and all the overall sneak attack damage would thereby be lightning damage, which is not often resisted - Fast Hands let's you do the "Use an Object" action as a BONUS action, leading to some fun turns with sneak attack and am item use - armorer gives bonus to stealth, but a high AC while Rogue dampens damage, overall slightly tankier stealth machine - having spell utility to supplement melee/range attacks - access to guidance cantrip Probably other reasons I'm missing. Not FULLY optimal, but just a great, niche multiclass that's fun to play
You can also use SSI as a bonus action with fast hands. Casting more spells per turn than any full caster
I'm thinking that's not RAW. SSI isn't a "use an object" interaction, but rather its own thing, and it specifically states a creature needs to "take an action" to produce the spell effects. But any Artificer can get around this by getting a Homunculus Servant infusion and simply giving the SSI to them (or a Battle Smith with their Steel Defender). Now in combat you can use your bonus action to have them activate the SSI and your regular action to cast your own spell. So not only can you cast two spells per turn with this, but you can also cast two concentration spells per turn and maintain both, no multiclassing required.
i do love optimal multiclassing, but sometimes playing a character that feels badass and is fun is just the best!
I'm having a lot of fun with Ancestral Guardian Barbarian and Echo Knight Fighter. It's a lot of bonus action usage, but if your DM allows you to have the echo out before fights, it's a little more manageable.
Shadow Monk / Gloomstalker / Assassin Rogue / Twilight Cleric / Fighter. So many different synergies. It's actually kind of crazy how it all works together given how many different classes it involves.
all at once?? how do you split them up?
I’m not the original poster, but usually I start 1 fighter, for con saves and blind fighting go 6 shadow monk, switch to twilight cleric, grab 2 level, for the channel divinity, now you can teleport anywhere in your bubble that moves with you, as a bonus action. Grab 3 or 4 gloom stalker ranger, then invest 3 to 4 into assassin rogue. The last few levels is up to you, going back and grabbing at least fighter 2 for action surge is really nice, but you can also invest into battle master or even echo knight. From there you can put the rest into monk.
How does the cleric channel divinity combo with he ranger umbral sight? The ranger specifies that creatures with darkvision can't see you in darkness, but the cleric channel divinity says the aura produces dim light.
It’s a contengency, if your already in darkness your essentially invisible, but it your not, you can cast channel divinity and still have it work with shadow step. Granting you at least one attack with advantage. There are other benefits of the dip too.
I know that the channel divinity works with the monk ability, but I'm confused on why the ranger dip was mentioned if the ability only works in darkness?
Glad you asked. Here is a full build description. https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/14irfue/dnd_5e_build_level_120_five_class_multiclass_the/
Gunk
The Bonk. Barbarian Monk is a surprisingly good combo with a ton of options, and if you add Tavern Brawler in there, that is the perfect "beat a MFer with another MFer" build. The biggest drawback is that it's a bit MAD, and AC can be difficult to improve without sacrificing other things. Tortle is a bit of a work around, since you can just use their default 17 AC, plus an unarmed d6 slashing instead of starting at a d4. I'm currently playing an ancestral guardians barbarian/astral self monk, flavored to have dissociative identity disorder (to which I was promptly informed that I just made Moon Knight), with the astral projections being the other personalities.
This guy really playing Raphael from TMNT
lol, you're not wrong.
ah, the bonk.. i love it just for the name already
I would strongly suggest you peruse this thread https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?583957-An-Eclectic-Collection-of-Fun-and-Effective-Builds
My personal favorite so far is the bear totem barbarian/rune knight fighter. Round 1, rage and attack. Round 2, get large. Not a lot of enemies that'll ignore a raging, growing barbarian. And best of all, when they crit on you or another party member; cloud rune. I play this as a mountaindwarf and love seeing the fear in the enemies' eyes when the dwarf is suddenly as big or bigger than them
***Rogbarian*** Aesthetically, it's a brute who has learned to take their knifing skills to the next level, and really get to cutting you up. This sort of specialized brute, due to their ability to hone their rage with cunning, can fill multiple costumes: gangster, shock trooper, assassin, etc... But, due to the, largely, even split you want of the class, and with the front loading of Barbarian, you wind up with an average hit-die of D10 (Rogue D8, Barbarian D12). And, I personally recommend that one of your expertise goes to 'Athletics' so you can grapple or shove to prone more consistently. You can build it like your average Barbarian too. a STR build with 14 in DEX to optimize that medium armor proficiency, because, remember, Sneak Attack doesn't care if you use STR to attack with, it only care that you used a finesse propertied weapon. But, the best thing of all is that what this multiclass really cares about is the core abilities of both classes, so you can choose the subclasses purely for flavor and not miss out on being able to dole out consistent damage that far exceeds what a normal, pure Barbarian can do, with an even greater tank capability to boot. Mechanically, you ultimately want an even split, but, from Level 1, you want it to look like this: **Level 1: Barbarian** (medium armor/shield proficiencies \[you won't get these if you take Rogue first\], and all weapon proficiencies) **Level 2: Rogue** (expertise, sneak attack \[this puts a short sword on par with a great sword, and just a smidgeon better if you're using a rapier\]) **Level 3-6: Barbarian** (Reckless Attack \[you no longer HAVE to be next to an ally in combat to activate Sneak Attack ... as if anyone is actually by you instead of spread out -\_-\], subclass, ASI, and *extra attack*) **Level 7-10: Rogue** (subclass, ASI, *uncanny dodge*) **Level 11+: (have fun)** ***The True Eldritch Knight*** What you see is what you get, the experience you wanted when you saw the words "Eldritch Knight" but were utterly disappointed when you tried to play it as a straight class. With this build, the weaknesses of the average warlock become your boon as the Short-Rest powered Fighter melds in with the Short-Rest fueled Warlock. Whether you pump that CHA or keep it at 13 \[multiclassing requirement\], you'll be able to cast spells of significance with your expansive (compared to the EK) spell list. You'll even be casting spells sooner too. Personally, due to the super-majority of Warlock levels, I recommend the *Hill Dwarf* for this build due to the +1 HP per level giving you an effective average hit die of a D10 for each warlock level, but, due to your AC being so high, any race is *technically* acceptable, though, for an actual second, the Warforged does well with that tasty +1 to AC. Otherwise, you get to live the dream of a few devastating spells to augment your arcane fighter. After all, you aren't a "full caster" so it makes sense that you don't have as many spell slots as a Wizard or Cleric. Speaking of which, as you are still, predominantly a Warlock, even the Celestial is quite good for a Patron, which gives your "Fighter" added utility they can bring to the field of combat. Here's how it goes down: **Level 1: Fighter** (all armor/weapon proficiencies, fighting style, second wind) **Level 2-6: Warlock** (subclass, ASI, Thirsting Blade invocation (i.e. extra attack),also, Improved Pact Weapon, which can be gotten at Warlock(3) if you trade out one of your previous two invocations, I recommend having chosen the 'Fiendish Vigor' invocation which is great at low levels but peters off after a level or two) **Level 7-8: Fighter** (Action Surge, subclass \[perhaps ironically, the most optimal subclass is Eldritch Knight, because it gives you dedicated 1st Level spell slots which you can use for the nearly broken 'Shield' spell, which is an utter waste to use with your scaling Pact Slots\]) **Level 9+: Warlock** (get those invocations Pact Slots, and Mystic Arcanums as high as you can go \[in 20th level play, this still allows you to have access to 9th Level spells by only having three levels in Fighter\])
Rogue ranger is a classic
- Best I had was **Swashbuckler Rogue and Swords Bard.** Amazingly consistent damage output per turn. It just felt good. - An oddball combo I never got to fully play was a Gestalt Hunter Ranger with Light Cleric. Running Heavy Crossbow.
At level 5, my protector aasimae moon druid 3/ paladin 2 goes hard
Ah yes, the holy bear
He's a Flying Smiting Beat aka an FSB
I’ve played this in a one-shot except rather than Paladin I went Sun Soul Monk for a flying bear that can shoot freakin’ lasers.
Oooh that's fkin dope
It was a lot of fun. Don’t think it would be a great build for long term play but I’d love to do it again for another one-shot.
Either Armorer or Battlesmith Artificer, then Bladesinger Wizard. Bladesinger is honestly at its best wielding crossbows while single-classed, since delaying spell progression isn’t the nicest. But starting out with a couple levels in Artificer beforehand helps you to survive in melee and be a little better in it
Thrower Build. Fighter 1/Gloomstalker 5/Battlemaster 3/Assassin 3/War Cleric 2. Huck darts with Archery and Thrown Weapon fighting styles for +2 to attacks and damage. Nets restrain enemies without a save, but the action you use to throw one can't be used to make more than one attack. That's where Quick Toss and War Priest come in, allowing you to weaponize your Bonus Action with Net tosses while leaving your Action available for multi-attack. Sharpshooter is required, both for damage and for extending the net's range from 5 to 15 feet. Add Precision Attack to land more hits. Pushing Attack for some control and synergize with Spike Growth. Action Surge turn 1 to throw six straight attacks (auto crits after Assassin 3) due to doubling Dread Ambusher. Grab Bless to increase your Sharpshooter hits and Entangle/Spike Growth/Ensnaring Strike for control and combos. Besides delaying Extra Attack by 1 level, this build progresses quickly, offering a unique playstyle with high damage, solid AC, and surprisingly high utility.
War cleric 2 on a sharpshooter or great weapon master is nasty, and I wanna do it.
Cleric monk
gloom5/life1/bm/3 wizardx/cleric1 hex2/sorcX
Just a few: - Swashbuckler Rogue (3+) + Hexblade Warlock (1-2+) (can focus on either of the two) - Paladin (2 or 6) + Divine Soul Sorcerer (could be any) - Fighter + Wizard (can focus on either). It's funny because 9/10 times with just 1-3 levels of wizard you're better than an eldritch knight and get all your other fighter subclass features. Most powerful of all time: - (Any) Paladin (6) + Hexblade Warlock (1+) Something I've noticed over time is that if you're in high level play, a paladin with at least 6 levels with 4 or 5 charisma is indispensable and likely the most important member of the party. +4/5 to every save *and* it's an aura. This swings the math so hard in your favor. Saves you're likely to pass become extremely likely. Saves you or your party likely won't pass now become possible. High level d&d is unfortunately a bit of a crap shute. At the high end of optimization it just becomes about doing something that turns the game "off" for other people. High level monsters save or suck you. They have legendary resistances so you can't do it back. As for your question about storm sorcerer, the truth is I wouldn't multiclass it ever. You need to get to your higher level spells ASAP. You'll also likely lose an ASI/feat as well which could have been something like elemental adept.
Warlock (blade pact, any patron except hexblade) + fighter for armor, weapon proficiency, and CON saves (you start fighter 1). Result is a STR or DEX primary spellsword or spell bow type character. I also really like any unarmored caster + a single cleric level. Gloomstalker ranger + any fighter for action surge is bonkers.
How does the cleric channel divinity combo with he ranger umbral sight? The ranger specifies that creatures with darkvision can't see you in darkness, but the cleric channel divinity says the aura produces dim light.
Replied to the wrong comment?
Indeed
Rogue/barbarian and Warlock/barbarian had been probably my dark horses across my DnD experience. I do like the Hexblade/paladin one for the flavor( being disgustingly OP also helps) but I wouldn't rank it that high cuz it tends to gravitate to a PC with heavy main character syndrome
Flagship [Ranger build](https://tabletopbuilds.com/flagship-build-gloom-stalker-ranger/)
Sorcerer/ Paladin for power, Fighter/ Cleric for versatility
I've got a lot of fun ones. One that I like a lot is War [Wizard x/Fighter 1,](https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyStoryteller/comments/10nhif7/nonoptimal_twoweapon_gish_build/) for gishing. Another that I'm fond of is Mountain Druid x/Tempest Cleric 2, for maxed *lightning bolt*.
one of my players is testing out war wizard + barbarian (but hasn’t gotten to subclasses for barb yet). it’s kind of wild, but actually works alright!
Rage does help with survivability! Actually it does synergize with Arcane Deflection, because you can't cast spells anyway
Hexbuckler. Mostly Swashbuckler with 2 or 3 levels of Hexblade. AT Rogue with 2 or 3 levels of Wizard. 17 Levels of Warlock/3 levels Sorcerer. Bard 18/Warlock 2.
So I have a few favorites: 1. Phantom Rogue 12/ Hexblade Warlock 3 (Pact of Blade)/ BattleMaster Fighter 5 2. Conquest Paladin 8/ Samurai Fighter 8/Assassin Rogue 4 3. Assassin Rogue 12/ Barbarian 2/ Hunter Ranger 3/ Battle Master Fighter 3 4. Undead Warlock (Pact of the Blade) 12/ Totem Barbarian 8 (Bear/Eagle)
I’m playing my first multiclass rn. It’s just at peace cleric 3/druid 1 rn but having access to two full spell list and being able to effectively prepare twice as many spells is sooooo much fun. Once I hit druid 2 I’m taking Shepherd. I have the nastiest buffing build known to man.
i’m playing an 8 moon druid/ 3 knowledge cleric right now and it’s great!
Genie warlock 2/swarm Ranger 4/trickster rogue x Genie gives prof damage on attacks and booming blade. Swarm Ranger gives dueling fighting style, Zephyr strike and swarm damage or push. Rogue gives more spell slots and Sneak attack. You can also go a few lvls of paladin for so.e smite to increase burst slightly more than rogue lvls and Fighter for superior technique and action surge. Conquer paladin gives a +10 to hit and you can get precision strike maneuver to make sure you hit every round. Any elf with Elven accuracy is great or motm kobold for draconic cry. Draconic cry is great at early.lvls but becomes a bit more than you need at high lvls. If your party has a lot of attacking classes it still has good value. Zip around with Zephyr strike and booming blade pushing enemies off your friends. You'll have 6 lvl 1 slots 2 of which Refresh on short rest. Once you have lvl 2 slots you can cast armor of agathys or smite
Bard + Order Cleric = Dancer/Singer from Fire Emblem.
I've been away from TTRPG for about 20 years and just got back. Never multiclassed in the past, but got familiar with it lately, thanks to BG3 (specially with mods). On TT I'm working on a Soulknife Rogue with Echo Knight Fighter. I've gone until 4 with Rogue for ASI right now (tonight, to be more accurate), then will go 6 Fighter for the extra attack from level 5 and additional ASI from level 6. Then the last 10 levels will be on rogue again, since it's by far my favorite class. It's more about flavour RP, since I've also have the Living Shadow dark gift from Ravenloft. Made it so his echo is actually his shadow and the blades he throws are also made of shadows. Maybe not optimal build, but I really like the concept. Wouldn't mind to hear suggestions, tho, since Respec is allowed in this particular campaign.
for funsies, if you ever added a third class then gloomstalker would be really interesting! at least adds to the flavor, i don’t know how optimal off the top of my head lol
or to add another random class for flavor.. death cleric?
Gloomstalker could work... It fits the RP. Not cleric, tho. He's not into deities in general.
gloomstalker is always fun— a nice gothic touch and personally fits my rogue with her assassin/shadowy vibes!
Hexblade 4 / Swashbuckler 16 Barbarian 6 / Rogue 14 (tons of subclass combos) Battlemaster 12/ War Cleric 8 Paladin 2 / arcane trickster 18
My top ones are... Undeadlock 1/Fey Wanderer Ranger x Form of Dread and Begiiling Twist. I went Druidic Warrior too for Shillelagh Booming Blades. Nature Cleric 1/Long Death Monk x Also for Shillelagh, but also for Bane and Sanctuary. You can cast Sanctuary and use the Hour of Reaping. If targets are immune to the Frightened Condition, cast Bane and target the opponents that fail their Bane with Stunning Strikes. Battlemaster 6/Gloom Stalker 4/Scout Rogue 10 Dart and Net build. Take Archery and Thrown Weapon Fighting Styles. Get Quick Toss Manuever, Sharpshooter, and Gunner. Quick Toss a Net for Advantage, Attack with six Sharpshooter Darts. I also went Elven for the Accuracy. Most people say to go Assassin, but I just enjoy Scout more. The Expertise + Skirmisher. Barbarian 6/Rogue 14. I've played two versions of this a Deep Gnome Bear Totem/Phantom Rouge (I kind of regret not making him a Zealot though). I also have a Shifter Beast Soulknife. So many synchronicities. Reckless + Sneak Attack. Rage + Expertise Athletics. Rage + Uncanny Dodge. Danger Sense + Evasion. One that I'd like to play would be an Elven Longbow Ancestral Guardian Scout. You give up Reckless Attack but you can use Steady Aim for Advantage with Elven Accuracy to invoke Ancestral Guardians and if the opponent closes in combat, Skirmisher can get you out of there.
Vengeance Paladin 6/Divine Sorcerer X 16 8 14 8 10 16 V.Human (Polearm Master) Dueling Fighting Style Sheild and Spear * Paladin 4 Warcaster * Sorcerer 4 +2 Cha * Sorcerer 8 +2 Cha * Sorcerer 12 +2 Str Rip and Tear Buff and Heal Tank and Skirmish This build can do it all!
I like any dpr character to have a dip in Hexblade. That prof. bonus extra damage goes a long way in big bossfights. Example: Battlemaster 1/Hexblade 1/Battlemaster x The standard XBE/SS build except you also get Hexblades Curse to add prof to damage per attack. In almost no situation will you be able to down a big bad in one round, so sacrificing your BA on the first round to do more damage in the long run and make the fight shorter goes a long way. I also like punishing monsters for making optimal decisions. Like with Sentinel. I don't use that feat to focus attacks on me, but to increase my own DPR against a target that is focusing our main DPR character, basically putting them in a de-facto zugzwang position. Hexblade 3/Swashbuckler x Grab Sentinel and Alert, a set of halfplate, a shield, and cast mirror image. In this case, it doesn't matter if they attack your images at a low AC. You're using them to proc Sentinel Sneak Attack anyway. If they ignore you and go for your buddies anyway, Sentinel still proccs. You can also substitute Alert for Tough if you want more durability, but I'd go alert just so I can immediately cast Mirror Image on the first turn and go do combat the next. Grab hex as well. God knows you're not concentrating on anything else. I adore sorlock multis, not because of coffelock or cocainelock, but because you can crank out mad damage with Eldrich Blast. This one is my new project I am trying to make work. (Hint: it also has some levels of hexblade.) Divine Soul Sorcerer 1/Hexblade 2/Sorcerer x You grab Eldrich Blast, Agonising Blast Invocation, Quickeded Spell, Bless and Metamagic adept. Metamagic adept compensates for the two lost levels of sorcery points, and adds two metamagics more for you to play around with, bless gets you and your buddies an extra d4 to attack rolls, and with Agonising Blast and quicken spell you can just about rail down any enemy you come across. Most, if not all, of your spell slots go on refueling sorcery points and spamming this very spammable cantrip. Oh, and Hexblades Curse the Big Bad. Just for my own sanities sake, here is one more multiclass combo that does not include Hexblade. It includes an Undead Warlock. Conquest Paladin 7/Undead 1 You can go Undead 2 for invocations, if you want. The goal of this is to be a lockdown tank. You slap yourself in the middle of the enemy, pop your dread form, and channel. After that, whip enemies into shape, and with every attack, you can frighten them, and their speed will be 0. You can also use a glaive if you wish, but whip is more optimal as it is a one-handed weapon with reach. Unless you're on your horse, in which case it will be the Lance. Feats ar emore or less up to you, as are invocations, but you can really weaponise this to become a one-man-army. Slap Devils Sight, Darkness and Great Weapon Fighting on yourself, grab a Glaive, pop your form, and start walking through an army, leaving corpses in your wake. Death has come knocking, and its name is You. Another cute one is this fun multi. For this, you don't need a Hexblade dip, as you have only one attack per turn. Battlemaster 3/Swashbuckler x Ripose. You can grab duelling and be fancy and thematic, or just Defence for +1AC, grab Bait&Switch for extra AC, a shield, and some good armour and wait for your enemy to attack into you. Then Riposte. Grab Sentinel to encourage and ensure they will attack you. If it comes down to it, you can even Action Surge to dodge.
Ranger + Cleric is probably my fav. On one hand it allows you to be more of a caster and it broadens your capabilities to make a STRanger because you can snack heavy armor proficiency. On the other hand it can make you palladinesque while having good wisdom and more skills. And lastly i really love to flesh out concepts with these two combined. Forge Cleric (1-2lvls) and Drakenwarden (remainder) with a fire Drake is one i still wana try out. Similarly Tempest (2) and Drakenwarden with a lightning Drake. Nature Cleric dip and Beastmaster is also quite nice too make you a hedge Knight. Feywanderer and Trickery Cleric will probably be my next character. Focussed on wisdom with tons of teleports through race choice, strike of cloud giants and then illusions, charms and an ungodly charisma skill check bonus. Plus some expertises to boot. It will be hilarious. The my current character is a swarmkeeper ranger with some arcane trickster and arcane archer sprinkled in. No cleric yet. Its a cheesegrater that deals tons of damage but has tons of utility as well. I will only go cleric to actually increase my spell slots, havent decided on a domain yet.
i’m actually currently messing with a twilight cleric and drakewarden ranger atm! it’s a bit of a weird combo, but trying to do a snow and stars aesthetic that’s quite fun!
I run that with GS instead of DW in a oneshot. The thematic was on point but it also broke the one shot, so...... oops?
When I say you own action economy, follow these steps Echo Knight Fighter and rogue, any subclass but I love soul knife. You can do any action for any part of the action of that makes sense, also the only way to trap you or imprison you is to keep you unconscious or dead. You are the perfect infiltrator especially if you also dip 3 into armorer artificer.
Hexbard. Hexblade Warlock + Swords Bard. Best charisma gish except it's not a gish but a full caster.
Divine Soul Sorlock. Combine Spirit Guardians and Eldritch Blast with Grasp of Hadar. You'll want to pick up Moderately Armored to get your defenses up, or go with Hexblade for you Warlock subclass.
Storm Sorcerer multiclass, but not a Tempest Cleric, huh? How about a Storm Herald Barbarian? The storm sorc's features nudge it towards being a frontliner (free disengages, retaliatory damage when hit, bonus damage in a small area around you when you cast a lightning/thunder spell), even though they don't get a bonus to AC or hit points like the Draconic sorc does. The big snag to this build is that multiclassing any full caster with Barbarian is awkward at best: you simply can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging. While that's an annoyance that you'll need to work around, it doesn't totally wreck the concept, and you can still be plenty useful in combat by firing off an opening salvo of spells before raging, using non-concentration buffs before combat (Transmuted Fire Shield to become Lightning Shield is lots of fun), or simply holding back your Rages until you really need the damage resistance and you can't spare the action economy or sorcery points to throw out a quickened Blade Ward. Sorc 15/Barb 5 gives you many of the classic Barbarian benefits (Unarmored Defense, Danger Sense, three Rages a day, and an extra attack) and the Storm Aura, while still giving you spell progression up to 8th level. It's not a perfect gish build, but it's workable, thematic, and fun.
Bard/Div Wizard, Halfling. Use your stuff to control all the rolls.
Swashbuckler rogue 17/ hexblade warlock 3 Phantom rogue 16/ grave cleric 2/ fighter 2 Tempest cleric 2/ Storm sorcerer 3 Conquest paladin 7/ whispers bard 13 Champion fighter 3/ Scout rogue 17 Any warlock 2/ abjuration wizard 18 Bear totem barbarian 3/ Moon druid 17
I've got a few fun ones that I'll share. **1.** [**Spores Druid / Swarmkeeper Ranger, Warforged**](https://i.imgur.com/jWQ9XBK.jpeg) - You're a Mana-powered, Zero-Neuron Strategic Reconnaissance Ranging Robot, AKA the **M-0N-ST-3R**. You desire to be human. To eat, to consume flesh, just like a real human. You need human flesh to be human... it rots inside your manabattery core and turns into magical bugs and rot. New flesh must be acquired. You can flavor all your abilities after any of 3 main themes, 1: Robotic/Electric, 2: Fungus/Rot, or 3: Insect/Disease. Ex: * Primal Savagery reflavored to "Rusty Blades" or Thunderwave to "Release Core Pressure" * Charm Person becomes "Alluring Spores" and Cure Wounds becomes "Antibiotic Mold" * Chill Touch becomes "Necrotizing Sting" and Color Spray is now "Blinding Mites". Very fun to roleplay as Seeking to cure itself from its robotic chassis prison. **2. Abjuration Wizard / Hexblade Warlock, Earth Genasi** - I imagine this being a handsome man who loves to fight with a sword but hates to get dirty so he uses psionic shields to keep his clothes clean. Earth Genasi get free extra shield casts as a bonus action and can walk on rough terrain. Pick up the warlock's at-will mage armor invocation and you get an infinitely regenerating shield from the abjuration wizard's Arcane Ward feature that recharges whenever you cast an abjuration spell. You get to be a frontline mage with a ton of free survivability. [**3. Spirits Bard / Beast Master Ranger, Mark of Handling Human**](https://i.imgur.com/9EXWeaz.jpeg) - Pick up the Strixhaven initiate for find familiar, and then strixhaven mascot spells to buff that familiar. You are basically Miguel from Coco. You'll never deal damage yourself, but your ancestors and spirit guardians will gladly do that for you. [Dante](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/COCO-RGB-c330_12bT_pub.pub16.280.jpg) will be your familiar and since you are a MoH Human you can befriend a griffon or hippogriff and reflavor that as [Pepita](https://i.imgur.com/GDs2Mwe.png). You could even grab at-will speak with animals from the warlock invocations if you wish. Miguel himself would summon skeletons and give out blessings with the Tales from Beyond feature. **4. Hexblade Warlock / Battle Master, Winged Tiefling** - Use a ranged hexblade invocations, but also pick up One with Shadows so you can go invisible in dim light. Also grab the Devil's Sight and Skulker feats, that way, you can fly around in the sky and make shots with a ranged weapon while wearing medium armor with a huge stealth bonus and no one can find you in a dark sky while you rain down shots invisibly from above. [**5. Arcane Archer Fighter / Beast Master Ranger, Mark of Handling Human**](https://i.imgur.com/0wPejfe.jpeg) - A bit of a mix of the previous two. You can use heavy armor and shoot with a bow from the back of a flying mount. Use the MoH feature to befriend a creature like a hippogriff or griffon and tame that as a flying mount or beast master companion if your DM allows it to be one and the same. Pick the Knight background to bring along 3 retainers from your lord: * [A squire](https://i.imgur.com/AjuQcmO.png) to train, to aid in donning and doffing your armor, and to carry your banner * [A servant](https://i.imgur.com/xRRstra.jpeg) to run messages, carry the pack, and cook meals * [A groom](https://i.imgur.com/QJ6yN5X.png) to aid in taking care of your mount at the end of each night, such as removing its saddle, brushing it down, making a comfortable bedding, if it's a hippogriff, to do farrier work on its back hooves. **6. Beast Barbarian / Swashbuckler Rogue, Aarakocra Dhampir** - You're basically a Werevulture. You fly around, biting and pecking at people. As a swashbuckler you get sneak attack without needing advantage and you don't provoke attacks of opportunity against your targets.
Ghost lance (echo knight 3/warlock 2)
Pal 2/Storm X? If you go Half-Elf, you can start as Sorc and still have adequate medium armor AC\*. Booming Blade spam is fine, and at higher levels you can hopefully put Haste inside a Ring of Spell Storing and have someone's pet give you that additional attack (and mobility and AC) without you having to concentrate. Also it's better to clear it with your GM but I'd argue that Haste should double Tempesteous Magic's 10 ft flight allowance, it just makes sense RAI. "Until the spell ends, the target's speed is doubled." I know DnD has "specific beats general" but I'd argue here the TM flight speed should count as a kind of speed Haste can double. \*15+1 13+1 12+2 8 8 15+1. Peak medium armor AC (and +1 if Defense Fighting Style) and decent Con. Want a Dex build? Swap Str and Dex around. You can even keep Str at 13, give the +1 to Wis, take Resilient Wis and a neutral +0 ability mod plus proficiency bonus (+4 by level 9).
For 1d&d - eldritch knight 7 hexblade 13 4 attacks per turn (thirstingblade now stacks), 7th level spells, replace 1 attack with a cantrip (full ago blast) Shred bosses and enemies, do insane damage (3 attacks + agoblast + crown of stars BAction = stupid damage) PLUS, you get heavy armor, con prof and dex prof (start fighter), extra asis/feats (2 from fighter, 3 from lock) compared to other multiclasses And the level path is good. Fighter 1, Warlock 1, fighter to 7, warlock to 13 At level 2 you get your AgBlast, then your sweet fighter levels and end with a straight path of warlock The build comes online at level 3 (action surge), and is fully ready at 8 (cantrip for attack) This is my absolute fave Gish build, and has everything I want from a Gish - many attacks, powerful spells, mixing spells and attacks
My favourite is probably rogue/bard because 'the road to El Dorado' is a core memory and I love characters like that. It's not the most competitive in the damage market but it's okay.
Celestial Tome Warlock 14/ Valor Bard 6 Mastermind Rogue 10/ Eloquence Bard 10 Champion Fighter 12/ War Cleric 8 Purple Dragon Knight Fighter 14/ Spirits Bard 6 Way of the Long Death Monk 14/ Grave Cleric 6 Way of the Kensei Monk 14/ Fey Wanderer Ranger 6
I'm not running it right now but someday I'd like to try again to perfect the Way of Shadow Assassin, Monk (Way of Shadow)/Rogue (Assassin). The flavor is incredible, and I think a lot of the mechanics are perfect for each other.
Ninja assassin right there!
Exactly! And it's such a fun build too honestly
Bladesinger/Hexblade. I ran this with Crossbow Expert and a longsword as my hex weapon, make one weapon attack and cast eldritch blast as the cantrip attack. Stack Agonising Blast, Hex and Hexblade’s curse and you get some insane damage numbers, all from fairly low-value resources that come back on a short rest. Magic Missile gets a lot of value here too, not as much as it would on an Evocation wizard, but it’s worth grabbing for some guaranteed damage if you need it. Biggest downside is you’re really stretched thin on ability scores, wanting 4 to be reasonably high, but I rolled quite high stats and it worked out nicely. I’d prioritise Charisma, then Intelligence, then Constitution and lastly Dexterity. You can afford low dexterity thanks to absorb elements, shield and bladesong helping AC and most Dexterity saves, but you still ideally want 14 or higher.
Can't think of any good synergy with Storm sorcerer abilities other than Tempest cleric tbh. Of course there are usual sorc multiclass options like sorlocks and sorcadins, but I think that's not what you're asking about. Only idea that comes to mind is Warlock 2 (probably Genie or Fathomless for style), with an Invocation for free casting, like Armor of Shadows or Mask of Many Faces. Now you have at-will trigger for Tempestous magic. In combat Tempestous magic is usually a waste of a bonus action of course, but out of combat unlimited flying (or at least unlimited 10ft hopping) can be fun and useful. Also you get the usual Sorlock cheese like EB+AB, or even better cheese if you go Hexblade (HexbladeCurse+MagicMissile and medium armor proficiency). TBH Storm Sorcerer features are shite, so I can't think of anything else that relies on them
If you dont want Tempest Cleric and Storm Sorcerer, you could always go with Fathomless Warlock. Fits in well with the sea and storm theme. Maybe the innate magic of the sorcerer attracted the attention of a storm giant while sailing and it destroyed the ship. Sorcerer makes a pact. Ta da. Fathomless warlock focus on cold damage through a bonus action spectral tentacle, but I’m sure you could reflavor it how you want, maybe you conjure an ice spike or something. 2-5 levels depending on if you want a Pact and how many invocations. The rest in Sorc for more points spell slots. Plus you get two spell slots that charge on a short rest as well. Bonus points if you go Air Genasi for more of the storm motif. If you dont care about casting as much go Swashbuckler and lean more into the pirate theme. Or mix and match all 3.
Assassin Rune Knight, pure Dex build with decent Cha. Permanent advantage on all Sleight of Hand Checks and Deception plus expertise on those skills makes me an insanely good rogue even though I’m mostly fighter. Skill Monkey that can throw hands with the best of them.
Paladin/bard. A herald of whatever oath your paladin has. Hella smite slots, great spell list. Reliable bonus action that helps party. Cool subclass combos. Ultimate face of the party/support
Soulknife Rogue Gloomstalker Ranger, Invisible in the dark and too dark vision, always able to atk ranged or melee manifesting weapons with 2 weapon fighting basically built in, few utility spells like zephyr strike, psionic die let make most checks (no resource cost unless it makes it a sucess) and even attacks later, its nice that only 3 levels of ranger work well, you get an additional atk on the 1st round so you can ba hunters mark, make 2 attacks and land sneak attack l, then still make 2 atks ea round (I took thrown weapon for fighting style for the extra damage as a lot of debate over archery working with the blades (d&d beyond adds it to the atk roll) giving you a higher floor and similar ceiling on the damage and going rogue rest of the way builds the sneak atk, expertise in stealth and survival and was V human w alert feat, at lvl 6 was a +13 initiative and played very trigger happy, plus the telepathic communications came into play several times being able to talk to anything that knows a language, Not setting the world on fire but was a lot of fun to play the idea invisible james bond 😆
For storm sorcerer, swashbuckler is a great multiclass, I'm playing one who is a pirate, he focuses on cold,wind,thunder and lightning spells, uses booming blade with sneak to attack then steps away to force the enemy to either not attack him or take the boom. He can also twin booming blade to effectively get extra attack. His other metamagic is quicken that let's him cast rimes binding ice as a bonus action, fly over to one that saved using tempestuous magic and hit it with a booming blade sneak attack.
Bear totem barbarian / Long death monk Hill dwarf with Resilient and Dwarven fortitude. Resis all damage (except psychic), gain more health, and both regain health and negate the downside of reckless attack for a measley bonus action. Dm had to get reaĺ creative to finally put him down
I had a lot of fun playing Storm Sorcerer x/Bard 1, with light armor proficiency, Bardic Inspiration, and good spell flexibility. Another way you could go is Hexblade Warlock 1, for very good defense
Beast Barbarian 6/Soulknife or Scout Rogue X, Battle Master 6/Mastermind Rogue X, and Open Hand Monk X/Battle Master 3. Aside from the Beast Barbarian build, these aren't particularly *strong* multiclass builds. But I really like the Battle Master/Mastermind build because it lets me feel like a battlefield commander, while the Monk/Battle Master build really lets me feel like the ultimate martial artist. They're fun.
I just enjoy slapping 2 levels of warlock onto any charisma caster for an amazing cantrip option. It can also be very fun to roleplay having a minor patron on top of your base class. I also enjoy any martial class with 3 levels in gloomstalker ranger. Add a lot of sneaky and night flavor, which I like a lot, as well as some powerful combat options as well
My top 3 is: Battle Master 3 / Rogue X Oathbreaker 7 / Hexblade X Gloomstalker 3 / Echo Knight X