I'm really enjoying my current dex-based Oath of Ancients Paladin 5/Swords Bard 5/Light Cleric 2, kitted out with gear to inflict radiant damage/radiating orb with a bit of reverberation thrown in. They're a smiting machine, with the extra spell slots from bard/cleric and with the Sword Bard's Slashing Flourish potentially getting four smites in per round (plus with the Mage Slayer feat possibly more). And being dex based, they're not bad at range either with Ensnaring Strike or Branding Smite paladin options plus the Sword Bard ranged flourishes including the one that gets two shots per attack (so four shots per round with extra attack as long as the bardic inspiration lasts). And with radiating orbs galore enemies then struggle to hit my party, and with reverberation knocking them prone my party often gets advantage on attacks. And to save spell slots for smiting I've also focused on ritual spells to help out of combat such as Long Strider, Speak with Dead, Detect Thoughts, Feather Fall and (from the paladin class) Speak with Animals. Plus for when things get really hairy there's the Sanctuary plus Moonbeam combo (Moonbeam from 5th level Oath of Ancients) that can be used to do a bit of damage while healing up.
I'm finding it fun to play because it offers a variety of pretty interesting and effective tactics in combat and out, but also because it's really working for my role play as a Sword Dancer of Eilistraee. I love it when the abilities and tactics for a character help bring to life my vision for them, without too much of a compromise on actually being able to win fights! (I'm slightly disappointed though that my hopes of being able to use the ranged Mobile Flourish to teleport to enemies then smite them doesn't really work given the short range of the teleport: that ability would be more useful if it didn't actually push enemies back!)
I also had a blast with my Jack of All Trades run (one level in each class), partly because of the challenge of thinking up an RP justification and getting the best use of each class (that one took a fair bit of planning), but then she had access to so many dialogue options and skill proficiencies so out of combat she was extremely useful, and even in combat she did okay though admittedly that run was only on balanced difficulty and her effectiveness was increasingly dependent on equipment.
I also have a strength based Open Hand monk (one level cleric of Ilmater) who started getting fun to play a few levels in once he got Tavern Brawler and more punching options, but I've only got up to the start of act 2 so am still feeling my way and will see how the rest of the game goes. My first playthrough was with a Wild Magic sorceror 8/rogue 4 and wild magic was great fun but somehow the character didn't quite work: I'll have to give them another shot now I have a bit more of an idea of what I'm doing. And I have a Durge Gloomstalker heading towards the end of Act 1 but I really haven't worked out how to play that one yet so am reserving judgement. I am thinking of multiclassing into Assassin (which fits my RP for this murderous shapeshifter) and then once they’re available focusing on items that boost critical chance, but as yet the build hasn't really taken off.
EDIT: And how could I have forgotten my divination wizard with one level dip cleric of Mystra?! She was level 8 I think when I screwed up her honour mode run, but I will come back to it. I found the unique mechanic of the portent dice made the character feel interestingly different to play, especially as she’d just recently got the portents that let her earn new dice mainly by dealing different sorts of damage. I’d also given her the Lucky feat (headcannoning it as more by foresight than luck) for more flavour. I tend to like builds that can be effective but take a bit of thinking about how to make them so and that encourage different ways of playing, as well as enhancing roleplay.
Last edited by The Red Queen; 02/10/24 10:42 AM.
