The Ranger is also good for summoning a horde of wolves/fey.
Note colossus slayer is only 1/round. The Sharpshooter feat is your primary damage boost assumig you can get around the -5 to hit part (bless and archer style more or less cover that).
Yeah, my 9th level cleric used a 4th level bless spell last night to affect all 6 party members. It's such an awesome spell! +1d4 to attacks and saving throws. We were fighting a glabrezu, 3 vrocks, and an NPC wizard with an AC of 25 (after shield, 6th level spells, and 4 melee attacks per round.
I called out bless as being OP/broken in about September last year. Its one of the few lvl 1 spells that basically scales for free and in higher level slots its better than actual buff spells of those levels.
+1d4 to hit is still great at higher levels even better with multiple attacks. Faerie FIre and shield are other level 1 spells that may actually get better as you level up.
Yeah, but the Concentration tag on the bless spell prevented me from using other Concentration spells, like bane, spiritual guardian, etc. AND it burned a 4th level slot, since my party has 6 PCs.
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned the obvious, if somewhat dull, combination of Warlock 1/Rogue (Assassin) X
Take the Eldritch Blast cantrip with the 2 Warlock features that let you cast at 300 ft and add your CHA modifier to the attack, then tack on the feat Spell Sniper for sneak attack cheese. A Half-Elf Rogelock with his double proficiency bonus in stealth would be terrifying.
(I just realized at Level 20 on your first attack you would potentially be rolling 10d8 + 18d6 + CHA, which presumably would be +5 at least. Yeesh!)
Unfortunately that does not work, as Sneak Attack specifies using a finesse or ranged weapon.
You'd also have to go Warlock 2 for invocations. If you went Warlock 3, you could get Devil's Sight and the ability to cast Darkness 2/short rest.
Can you sneak attack with a spell or cantrip? I thought you could only use sneak attack with a finesse weapon or a ranged weapon. I really hope I'm wrong! Is a ranged spell attack considered a ranged weapon?
10d8? I thought eldritch blast did 1d10? Are you thinking of chromatic orb?
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Unlike Pathfinder, 5E clearly distinguishes between "weapon attacks" and "spell attacks". For example, weapons attacks use STR or DEX for attack rolls and also on damage rolls by default, while spell attacks use your spellcasting stat for attack rolls and aren't assumed to apply to damage.
So no, your spells are not "weapons" in 5E.
I think Spell Sneak Attacker would be a good feat.
Spell Sneak Attacker.
Requirements: Sneak Attack, ability to cast a 1st level spell that requires an attack roll.
Benefit: You can make sneak attacks with spells of 1st level or greater.
Special: You can take this feat 2 times. If you do, you can also sneak attack with cantrips.
Most feats do like 3 things. You could combine that into one feat and have it bump Dex or casting stat by 1.
And some only do one. I think sneak attacking with spells could get kind of uber powerful, especially for Arcane Tricksters or Assassins.
For example, chromatic orb does 3d8. An Assassin 8 with the Spell Sniper (or is it Magical Initiate?) feat and the ability to sneak attack with spells could do 6d8+8d6 with this as an opening volley. A high level Arcane Trickster with a lucky sneak attack crit could 8d8 or 10d8 with a higher level spell slot.
Spell Sniper will get you an attack cantrip. Magic Initiate gives you a 1st lvl spell 1/day (and two cantrips). Not terribly scary I think, for the cost of two feats to have a 1/day slightly improved assassination.
I guess. I've only played in two 5th edition campaigns so far, and DMed one, so I'm still being overly cautious with my design decisions.
I'm thinking Assassin/Enchanter would be an absolute blast to play. The synergy there is just eeeevil.
How so?
Stuff like Hypnotic Gaze and Hold Person mixed with stuff like Sneak Attack and Assassinate. Seems like it could be a nasty combo!
Oh yeah, that would be pretty crazy.
I want to try a human Shield Master barbarian/rogue with Expertise in Strength (Athletics) to make targets prone as a bonus action with advantage. Or shove them off cliffs. Maybe combined with a Battle Master fighter or the Martial Adept feat.
I was just picking up the level of rogue for Expertise (Athletics) and probably Perception or Stealth or maybe Acrobatics.
Might as well go Rogue2 if you dip at all, so you can Dash as a bonus action, handy for grappling and moving. I really like Cunning Action.
Might as well go Rogue 4/Barbarian 8 or 16 so I don't lose any feats!
Might as well go Rogue 4/Barbarian 8 or 16 so I don't lose any feats!
With the last stat increase at level 19, you can afford a single one-level dip before you start losing feats. But yeah, that's why I plan to multiclass to Druid after Ranger 5 gets me an extra attack, then back to Ranger eventually to get up to 8, just so I don't lose that last boost.
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With the last stat increase at level 19, you can afford a single one-level dip before you start losing feats. But yeah, that's why I plan to multiclass to Druid after Ranger 5 gets me an extra attack, then back to Ranger eventually to get up to 8, just so I don't lose that last boost.Might as well go Rogue 4/Barbarian 8 or 16 so I don't lose any feats!
Pfffft, what makes you think your archer will last that long? Getting comfortable there in the back with almost exclusively melee-oriented enemies so far? Just wait until you see what's coming soon!
Mystic (Awakened Mind)1/Rogue X to get Mind Thrust sneak attacks... if it's legal...
What about a paladin/warlock multiclass to Divine Smite with warlock spell slots over and over and over again?
What about a paladin/warlock multiclass to Divine Smite with warlock spell slots over and over and over again?
Doesn't work. Divine Smite specifically calls out Paladin spell slots.
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Rats!
No offense.
;-)
Doesn't work. Divine Smite specifically calls out Paladin spell slots.What about a paladin/warlock multiclass to Divine Smite with warlock spell slots over and over and over again?
That being said, the multiclassing of 5E doesn't differentiate spell slots other than Warlock, making it dubious as to what spell slots you can use if you multiclass a paladin.
This might have been clarified by errata at some point, but as I understand it you can cast a paladin spell with any spell slot you have (other than warlock), thus, any spell slot you possess (except warlock) is a paladin spell slot. E.g. a Paladin 5 / Sorcerer 15 would be able to spend their 9th level slot on a Smite if they so desired. It's not the most optimal choice, but it is permitted, as I understand it.
As for horrible combos... Ranger/Rogue is vicious. Paladin/Sorcerer or Paladin/Bard (both legal and actually flavorful if going Oath of Ancients) are brutal.
Also: College of Valor bard archer cherry-picking swift quiver to out-shoot everything on the planet at 10th level, or as a melee character grabbing spirit guardians and spiritual weapon to out-warpriest the War cleric.
The Divine Smite ability specifically states that you have to spend a paladin spell slot. I wish it didn't, but it does. How badass would a paladin of vengeance/fiend pact warlock be? I mean, it's still badass, but not as badass as it could have been.
Oh, well.
Do you think a lot of bards pick circle of power at 10th level?
I think a monk/ranger could be interesting. Adding hunters mark to flurry of blows sounds crazy.
Do you think a lot of bards pick circle of power at 10th level?
Circle of power is powerful and useful against spellcasters, but it wouldn't be my first choice as a bard. Not when spirit guardians, fireball, haste, spiritual weapon and swift quiver are up for grabs.
I think a monk/ranger could be interesting. Adding hunters mark to flurry of blows sounds crazy.
The problem with hunter's mark is that it burns a bonus action to switch targets, same as hex. This makes it less useful for a character that wants to use its bonus action for something else each round, such as making offhand attacks or martial arts punches. So while it sounds crazy... it actually isn't.
The main advantage of going for the Ranger levels is actually Horde Breaker and the fighting style (Duelist) for a free attack and more damage overall. Again: Errata may have clarified this, but as-written the monk's flurry is not using their offhand for wielding a weapon etc, so technically duelist should apply to all four (or five) attacks.
What works very nicely as well is blending Monk and Cleric, which not only gives you spirit guardians to blend everything that has the unfortunate privilege of starting its turn near you, but gets to apply divine favor to those four attacks, and heal itself if it has to. Never mind going the Light domain and throwing fireballs at your enemies. Dipping 2 levels of fighter for Action Surge and a fighting style doesn't hurt either.
Speaking of dipping fighter: most spellcasters benefit from 2 fighter levels as their first levels. Full weapon and armor proficiency, Con as a proficient save (hurrah concentration!) and finally Action Surge for improved action economy once per short rest. Sure, you lose a spell level, but you get so much for it.
Doesn't work. Divine Smite specifically calls out Paladin spell slots.What about a paladin/warlock multiclass to Divine Smite with warlock spell slots over and over and over again?
Completely incorrect. A multiclass Paladin/Warlock can use warlock slots for divine smite just as a multiclass Paladin/Wizard can use any of his spell slots for divine smite.
Verified in sage advice: http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/05/12/covert-warlock-spell-slots-to-sorcery-p oints/
Doesn't work. Divine Smite specifically calls out Paladin spell slots.What about a paladin/warlock multiclass to Divine Smite with warlock spell slots over and over and over again?
Completely incorrect. A multiclass Paladin/Warlock can use warlock slots for divine smite just as a multiclass Paladin/Wizard can use any of his spell slots for divine smite.
Verified in sage advice: http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/05/12/covert-warlock-spell-slots-to-sorcery-p oints/
Sage advice isn't actually considered to be gospel / errata, and more of a "here's how I think it would go". There's a number of very odd calls that has been made in SA.
The Warlock is flavorful, but mechanically flawed and putting way too much emphasis on eldritch blast (despite the fact you need only 2 warlock levels to get full benefit of it). The autoscaling spell slots is an awesome idea, but then they chickened out by having a huge chunk of the warlock spell list not scale with spell level. As it stands the effectiveness of the class is entirely dependent on how many short rests you take during the day... and my experience with 1 hour short rests is that number is very, very small. If any.
So is it balanced to have a Warlockadin smiting with their pact magic slots? Eh. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably no worse than using Sorcerer or Bard slots for smiting.
Is it actually what the authors intended? Probably not. They did try to make Pact Magic its own distinct thing (for better or worse).
That's not even the real Sage Advice - it's a copy SA run by someone not a part of WotC, unoffiliated with the actual Sage Advice. You can tell because it's .eu and not a part of the Wizards website. Note that the real sage advice did not put that same information up.
So what it really boils down to is - ask your GM.
A fighter/warlock using Action Surge, eldritch blast, and Repelling Blast might be fun: pushing an opponent back up to 80 feet back at 17th level+.