Archer Build (Fighter, Ranger and Rogue builds 5e)

This post will be split into three short builds and will address 3 powerful Archer builds:

Each build is based around the ability to negate the drawbacks of ranged weaponry, while also increasing damage dealt. As we can see in an earlier post about two-handed damage, attack bonuses largely increase the average damage of two-handed damage and Archery attacks (mainly because of the Sharpshooter feat).

Also, with ranged weapon attacks, positioning matters quite a bit. So each build will have some decent mobility to evade melee combat.

Fighter (Battlemaster)

Core abilities: Archery fighting style, Maneuvers, Extra attacks and Ability score improvements

Melee Evasion: Negate the disadvantage with Feinting attack, or use Evasive footwork

Increased attack bonuses: Take Archery fighting style, use Precision attack on important attacks

Increased Damage: Take Dexterity increase as often as possible, increase ability score improvements also allow for more feats

Ranger (Hunter)

Core abilities: Archery fighting style, Horde Breaker/Volley, Escape the horde/Uncanny Dodge

Melee Evasion: Escape the horde gives enemies disadvantage, so you can exit melee easily

Increased attack bonuses: Take Archery fighting style

Increased Damage: Horde breaker vastly increases damage potential, along with spells like Hunter's Mark, Hail of thorns, Cordon of Arrows, Lightning Arrow, and Conjure Volley

Rogue (Assassin or Arcane Trickster)

Core abilities: Sneak attack, Stealth, Cunning Action, Uncanny Dodge/Elusive

Melee Evasion: Disengage as a bonus action with your Cunning Action.

Increased attack bonuses: You can gain advantage more often by using stealth and sneaking/hiding whenever possible.

Increased Damage: You naturally scale damage quite well as long as you pick your targets properly with sneak attack

Powerful Additions to each of these builds:

Melee Evasion
-Halfling race is a surprisingly good choice for an archer build, halfling nimbleness will help you get in potentially sticky situations, naturally stealthy can let you hide more often (lightfoot subrace), and lucky is always a good trait to have. Plus an extra +2 bonus to Dexterity. To a lesser degree, woodelfs allow you to hide more often in a more natural setting (like jungle or foggy terrain)
- Fighter: An alternative to evasive footwork could be using a pushing attack or maneuvering attack (with a unarmed attack) to hit a creature and move it or yourself away , this is generally a more risky move unless the enemy does a lot of damage and you don't want to risk an attack of opportunity
- Rogue (arcane trickster): spells like invisibility or misty step can be useful to get out of melee combat
- Fighter/Ranger: Mobile feat; this feat allows you to make an unarmed attack at close range and then leave an enemies reach to get another attack, because of extra attack (level 5+)
- Crossbow Expert; this feat allows you to use crossbows without worrying about the loading quality, negates the disadvantage of enemies within 5 feet - an excellent pick for any archer build

Increased attack bonuses
- Taking the feat Magic initiate will allow you to gain a couple cantrips and a 1st level spell. Taking bless is a good option here, increasing your attack power and two allies.
- Rogue (arcane trickster): True strike is excellent, and any spell that gives you advantage, like invisibility
- Skulker; this feat increases your ability to hide and land attacks with advantage, this is particularly good for rogue who relies on stealth more than other builds.

Increased Damage
- Sharpshooter feat; this is an obvious choice to increase your ability to shoot targets behind cover and gives increased damage roll at the expense of your attack roll, taking the human variant and getting this early is a great pick especially if your going fighter for the +2 to ranged attack rolls.
- Rogue (Assassin): The alert feat gives you a better chance of going before other enemies, giving you a better chance to get advantage on an attack (and sneak attack).

Have any comments or additions that make a powerful Archer build? Please share them!

Hexblade (Melee Warlock Pure Build)

Warlocks can be a melee class. This might be counter intuitive when initially glancing over the class, but by picking options that compensate for their lack of physical toughness you can produce a character that is both strong on the front lines, and has a powerful arsenal of magic at your disposal.

This post will discuss a viable melee warlock build, for a unique character play style and aesthetic. There are generally two directions to go with when choosing the type of hexblade you can create: Strength-based two-handed (mountain dwarf suggested) or dexterity-based two-weapon fighting (drow suggested);but other interesting builds are possible.

The core abilities of this build are:
- Pact of the Blade - creates a weapon that you are automatically proficient with
- Defensive options (feats, spells, and invocations)

The strategy
- At the beginning of a combat encounter, or right before, buff yourself with defensive abilities.
- Use modifier independent spells to increase the value of your character's less than optimal charisma ability score.

The weakness
Unfortunately this build is a bit more difficult to optimize, since you benefit quite a bit from multiple ability scores.

The warlock has a pool of limited resources. It recovers spell slots quickly, but can leave you with little option from time to time.

Powerful additions to this build
- Hex - if you want to do a two-weapon warlock, this is especially good, otherwise a good source of extra damage
- The Fiend Patron - getting extra temporary hit points each time you kill an enemy is very nice for some extra tenacity
- Fiendish Vigor - extra tenacity
- Armor of Agathys - very good defensive spell that scales well with level
- Races
Half elf - Has a big +2 bonus to charisma and a +1 in two other ability scores
Mountain Dwarf - a +2 in strength and constitution, plus proficiency in medium armor
Stout halfling - +2 in dex and +1 in consituttion
Drow - +2 in dex and +1 in charisma and extra benefit to charisma score
- Multiclassing - its not a bad idea to dip a few levels into other classes for a little bit of extra benefit. Provided they synergize well with the warlock class.
Paladin - As seen in an earlier post (the Corrupted Paladin) there is some good synergy with the divine
Fighter - Getting a fighting style at level one and action surge at level 2 can be a good way to get a few extra actions at the beginning of combat. Especially if you are doing a dual wielding style of warlock.
Sorcerer - If you want a bit of extra flavor to your spells, sorcerer isn't a bad pick. It synergizes well if you have a decent charisma score, the draconic bloodline is quite durable, and sorcery points can be created quickly with your warlock spell slots.

Suggested level progression to 10 
(Strength Based, Mountain Dwarf/Drow or stout halfling - Favor Str/Dex>Con>Cha)
Level 1 - Fiendish Patron, Spells (Armor of Agathys, Hex), Cantrips (True Strike, Blade Ward) - if you have access to Sword Coast Adventurers Guide use cantrips from there, they are more melee based.
Level 2 - Eldritch Invocations (Fiendish Vigor, Devil's Sight(STR)/Armor of Shadows(DEX)), Spell (Expeditious Retreat)
Level 3 - Pact boon (Pact of the Blade), Spell (Darkness(STR)/Mirror Image(DEX))
Level 4 - Ability Score increase (feat - heavily armored(dwarf)/war caster (two-weapon)), Spell (Misty Step), Cantrips (Eldritch Blast)
Level 5 - Invocation (Thirsting Blade), Spell (Fly)
Level 6 - Spell (Remove Curse)
Level 7 - Invocation (One with Shadows), Spell (Dimension Door)
Level 8 - Ability Score increase (Great weapon Mastery, or Heavy Armor Master (STR)/ ), Spell (Counterspell)
Level 9 - Spell (Gaseous Form)
Level 10 - Invocation (Otherwordly leap), Spell (Tongues)

What do you think? Have any additions or alternatives you'd like to add? please comment and let us know!

Two-weapon fighting or Two-handed fighting, which is better?

Two-weapon fighting or Two-handed weapons? It can be a tough question for some, and both can be a fun aesthetic to character building. From a numbers perspective though, which deals more damage? Well this is actually a somewhat complicated question, and it depends on if you mean in a single hit, or over the course of a combat encounter.

As you will see, there are benefits to both options. In summary, two-handed weapons are great for burst damage on a single target, which benefit more from bonuses to attack rolls, and two-weapon fighting deals more consistent damage in smaller attacks (attacking single or multiple targets) which benefit more from bonuses to damage rolls.

How these calculations are done are through average damage per turn. For a d6 it is 3.5, (normally rounded to 4) as is per the usual with dungeons and dragons in 5th edition as can be seen in stat blocks throughout the players handbook or monster manual (health increases per level in the players handbook for example). Also it assumes that there is a 50% chance to hit the enemy, meaning the average damage will change when attack a creature that has a higher/lower AC or adding buffs. It also addresses classes that gain extra attack

Two Handed Weapons

Archery
Archery Fighting Style - Increase attack rolls by +2
Sharpshooter Feat - Decrease attack roll by -5, increase damage roll by 10
Longbow - 1d8 piercing damage
Extra Attack
Viable Classes - Fighter and Ranger
                                 Hit Bonus
Modifier                  +0%              +5%          +10%             +15%          +20 %           +25%

0	10.15	11.6	13.05	14.5	15.95	17.4
1	10.85	12.4	13.95	15.5	17.05	18.6
2	11.55	13.2	14.85	16.5	18.15	19.8
3	12.25	14	15.75	17.5	19.25	21
4	12.95	14.8	16.65	18.5	20.35	22.2
5	13.65	15.6	17.55	19.5	21.45	23.4

Great Weapon Master
Great Weapon Fighting Style and Great Weapon Master Feat
Great Weapon Fighting - reroll damage on 1 or 2
Great Weapon Master - penalty of -5 on attack and +10 on damage
Greatsword or Maul - 2d6 damage
Viable Classes - Fighter and Paladin

                          Hit Bonus

Modifier	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	9.2623	11.11476	12.96722	14.81968	16.67214	18.5246
1	9.7623	11.71476	13.66722	15.61968	17.57214	19.5246
2	10.2623	12.31476	14.36722	16.41968	18.47214	20.5246
3	10.7623	12.91476	15.06722	17.21968	19.37214	21.5246
4	11.2623	13.51476	15.76722	18.01968	20.27214	22.5246
5	11.7623	14.11476	16.46722	18.81968	21.17214	23.5246

Great Weapon Savage Attacker
Great Weapon Fighting Style and Savage Attacker Feat
Great Weapon Fighting - reroll damage on 1 or 2
Savage Attacker Feat - Roll damage twice and take the highest
Greatsword or Maul - 2d6 damage
Viable Classes - Fighter and Paladin

                            Hit Bonus

Modifier	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	10.65575	15.23772	16.62297	18.00822	19.39347	20.77871
1	11.65575	12.82133	13.9869	15.15248	16.31805	17.48363
2	12.65575	13.92133	15.1869	16.45248	17.71805	18.98363
3	13.65575	15.02133	16.3869	17.75248	19.11805	20.48363
4	14.65575	16.12133	17.5869	19.05248	20.51805	21.98363
5	15.65575	17.22133	18.7869	20.35248	21.91805	23.48363

Strengths

Archery - Archery provides great burst damage that benefits greatly from attack bonuses. Additionally this is done at a significant range, reducing the need for high defenses

Great Weapon Master - Like Archery, Great Weapon Master provides excellent burst damage, and benefiting a lot from attack bonuses. It also has the potential to deal even more damage as a bonus action, when reducing your opponents to 0 hp.

Great Weapon Savagery - Great Weapon Savagery gains benefits from both attack and damage bonuses in a more balanced way. It has the potential to deal more damage on average without outside help.

Weaknesses

Archery - Like all ranged attacks, environmental and positioning factors can have a big impact on your ability to be effective in combat.
Great Weapon Master - You have a lower chance to hit, so some turns may feel uneventful since you will miss more often.
Great Weapon Savagery - No extra or situational benefits. Additionally you will be rolling and re-rolling quite a lot of dice, so its good to be organized.

Powerful options

Archery - As a Ranger, take the horde breaker option for the potential to do immense damage in one turn to two opponents. As a fighter the Battle Master archetype allows you to increase your ability to maneuver yourself and allies with , as well as negate the disadvantage penalty from adjacent enemies with the Feinting Attack maneuver
Great Weapon Master - As a fighter, take the battlemaster archetype and the Precision Attack maneuver to increase the odds of landing that heavy hit. As a paladin the Vow of Enmity for the Oath of Vengeance class option or the Sacred Weapon from the Oath of Devotion class option, can reduce the penalty to attack for a short while; and make sure to keep bless up.
Great Weapon Savagery - A half-orc fighter that takes the champion archetype has the potential to do extremely high damage on a more consistent basis with critical hits. For a paladin, the Vow of Enmity allows for a higher chance for a critical hit.

Dual Wielding Weapons

Polearm Mastery
Great Weapon Fighting Style and Polearm Mastery Feat
Great Weapon Fighting - reroll damage on 1 or 2
Polearm Mastery - deal 1d4 damage as a bonus action
Polearms - 1d10 damage
Extra Attack
Viable Classes - Fighter and Paladin
                                     Hit Bonus

Modifier	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	6.75	6.9	7.05	7.2	7.35	7.5
1	8.25	8.4	8.55	8.7	8.85	9
2	9.75	9.9	10.05	10.2	10.35	10.5
3	11.25	11.4	11.55	11.7	11.85	12
4	12.75	12.9	13.05	13.2	13.35	13.5
5	14.25	14.4	14.55	14.7	14.85	15

Duel Wielder
Two-weapon Fighting Style and Dual Wielder Feat
Two-weapon Fighting Style - You deal modifier damage on your off hand
Dual Wielder Feat - Off hand does not have to be light
Battleaxe, Warhammer, or Longsword - 1d10 damage
Viable Classes - Fighter and Ranger

                             Hit Bonus

Modifier	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	6.75	6.9	7.05	7.2	7.35	7.5
1	8.25	8.4	8.55	8.7	8.85	9
2	9.75	9.9	10.05	10.2	10.35	10.5
3	11.25	11.4	11.55	11.7	11.85	12
4	12.75	12.9	13.05	13.2	13.35	13.5
5	14.25	14.4	14.55	14.7	14.85	15

Martial Arts
Monk Martial Arts and Savage Attacks
Martial Arts - attack with off hand as a bonus action (1d4 and 1d6 at level 5)
Savage attacker - Roll Damage twice and take highest
Quarterstaff - 1d6 (1d8 versatile)

                           Hit Bonus

Modifier	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	7.8125	7.9625	8.1125	8.2625	8.4125	8.5625
1	9.3125	9.4625	9.6125	9.7625	9.9125	10.0625
2	10.8125	10.9625	11.1125	11.2625	11.4125	11.5625
3	12.3125	12.4625	12.6125	12.7625	12.9125	13.0625
4	13.8125	13.9625	14.1125	14.2625	14.4125	14.5625
5	15.3125	15.4625	15.6125	15.7625	15.9125	16.0625

Sneak Attack
Rogue Sneak attack and Savage Attacks
Sneak Attack - deal extra damage (3d6 at level 5) with one of your attacks
Rapier and Shortsword/Scimitar - 1d8 piercing damage and 1d6 damage

                             Hit Bonus
Modifier

	+0%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%
0	9.25	10.175	11.1	12.025	12.95	13.875
1	10.25	11.175	12.1	13.025	13.95	14.875
2	11.25	12.175	13.1	14.025	14.95	15.875
3	12.25	13.175	14.1	15.025	15.95	16.875
4	13.25	14.175	15.1	16.025	16.95	17.875
5	14.25	15.175	16.1	17.025	17.95	18.875

Strengths
Polearm Mastery - This option gives you the ability to hit at a further range as well as
Duel Wielder - With an average damage output similar to Polearm mastery, it can deal large amounts damage in larger quantities.
Martial Art Savagery - Like polearm mastery and duel wielder, bonus damage greatly increases the average damage output of this option.

Weaknesses
Polearm Mastery, Duel Wielder and Martial Art Savagery -  All of these option essentially have the same disadvantage which is a smaller amount of damage each turn. Since not all attacks will hit each turn, it may seem that you are dealing less damage.
Sneak Attack - The increased damage from sneak attack relies heavily on your ability to get your sneak attack in. So you will have to stay close to allies or find ways of gaining advantage quite often.

Powerful options
Polearm Mastery - As a paladin choose Oath of Vengence for the damage boosting spells (smite spells and hunter's mark) as well as the maneuverability and synergy from higher level abilities. As a fighter choosing maneuvers that activate on a hit can allow you to use them when its not your turn, allowing for some superior battlefield control.
Duel Wielder - As a ranger, choose colossus slayer and use hunters mark as often as possible for increased damage on each strike, this greatly increases your average damage. As a fighter, the champion archetype will allow for a higher chance to deal critical damage, since you will be attacking more often.
Martial Art Savagery - Taking the Way of the Open Hand increases your battlefield presence as well as giving you better defensive options. Savagery increases damage greatly especially at higher levels.
Sneak Attack Setups - Taking Arcane Trickster can give you a flanking ally (with find familiar) or set you up for a more consistent way to attack with advantage (with true strike).

Conclusion

Considering that normally a character will have something like a 16 ability modifier for their main damage dealing stat we can use that as a base-line for our attack modifier. As well as having the hit bonus at +0%, since we're going to assume no outside help (help from spells or other classes) and an average AC of the creature. We'll then order the highest to lowest damage, on average, for each option.

Highest
13.7 - Greater Weapon Savagery
12.3 - Martial Art Savagery
12.3 - Archery
12.3 - Sneak Attack
11.3 - Duel Wielder
11.3 - Polearm Mastery
10.8 - Greater Weapon Mastery
Lowest

That's all for now. Thank you for reading and please comment if you have any questions or you feel I've made a mistake. Also, if you have suggestions for other topics that you would like to see me write about, please let me know. Have a great day!

Druids: The Invincible 'Elephant' in the Room

On paper, Druids seem to be a particularly powerful class, but upon further inspection I think you may find that this not necessarily the case. Perhaps you have noticed while skimming through the players handbook and looking through the classes, that Druids have a particularly powerful level 20 ability called "Archdruid". This lets them use their wild shape an unlimited amount of times.

Considering the current rules for wild shape, this is potentially an incredibly powerful ability, and may give the appeal that Druids are invincible once they acquire this. So, taking the Circle of the Moon, you have the following traits that attribute to this notion of immortality:

• Use a bonus action to assume the form of a beast of CR as high as 6 (an unlimited number of times per day
• You can cast spells that don't have a material components, up to 9th level
• Heal self as a bonus action each turn (1d8 per spell slot spent, up to 9d8)

Potentially you have a buffer of 126 hit points each round (Mammoth hit points at CR6). Which means that a creature will have to do more than 126 hit points each round to actually damage your character. Otherwise, you can merely transform into an animal each turn, continuing to recharge your buffer zone of health.

However, this is not as powerful as it seems. 

Why this is NOT broken.

Although the pros to the Druid's 'Archdruid' ability are quite apparent, there are big few cons to wild shape that are not laid bare. This makes the ability much weaker than could be perceived as 'invincible'.

Creatures at high levels potentially deal a lot of damage each round. Let us consider an encounter with 3 Erinyes (a CR 12 demon) against your party of 5 level 20s. This is a hard encounter, but quite doable. They decide that the Druid has ticked them off and want to focus their attacks on the Druid, and bring him down, he's currently at full life and in Mammoth form. Each demon deals an average of 105 damage each turn (315 total). This will take out any druid with less than 180 hit points in 1 round.

In wild shape your AC is very low (AC 13 as a Mammoth). Using the average damage does not accurately represent what will happen, but gives an idea of what kind of damage output a creature can do. However, if you are the focus of enemies, having a low AC will mean that almost every time, you're going to be hit. If they can deal a decent number of damage, which most do, they'll be able to take you out of your wild shape very quickly.

Beasts don't normally deal a lot of damage or have fantastic abilities, for something at level 20. Taking the Mammoth as an example dealing 25 damage on average with gore or 29 damage with stomp, to a prone target, with a +10 to hit. Compare that with a regular cantrip at level 20, like thorn whip. Thorn whip deals a bit less damage (16 damage) but has a range of 30ft, and pulls a creature closer 10 feet towards you, with a +11 to hit (20 Wisdom); To compare that to a warlock who can average 44 damage with eldrich blast and the Agonizing Blast invocation, with a range of 120 feet.

Animals with high a high CR are usually very large. As you might find while adventuring, sometimes it's not very effective to have large allies - they get in the way. This might seem minor but it can cause your party's combat strategies to take a big hit, which is a pretty big deal - if you want to be an effective team. It might be more effective in some cases to use something with a lower CR in these cases.

If you're constantly wild shaping, what are you contributing to the group? Its something you should ask while in combat as a druid. And, if you are being damaged constantly, you're effectively healing for that amount of damage which is quite good. This is very effective for as a tank character at lower levels, but is diminished at higher levels. The bottom line is that wild shape is more situational than it might seem, which will likely come more apparent as you level up a druid to higher levels.

Lastly to address the self healing. It will become apparent that the healing is not an effective way to use up spell slots, even though it is only a bonus action to use. Spell slots are a resource that are only replenished after a long rest, making it something you want to use wisely. Powerful abilities use the highest spell slots and usually have more than 1 effect or can be used in more than a few different situations. To compare, would you give up the ability to cast a level 6 spell, like heal that recovers a guaranteed 70 hit points with a range of 60ft and ends disease, blindness, or deafness, so you can recover 6d8 (average of 30 hit points) as a bonus action? The answer is: only if its an emergency.

Thank you again for reading. If you have any suggestions or comments - please don't hesitate to comment.

Power gaming table!

Today I also wanted to present a special post to help all the power gamers out there. Provided that this post will help you in determining what abilities or stat increases you might want to take - I highly suggest you do not use this chart while actually playing. Many DMs would consider this cheating (as would I).

How does your AC hold up against the monster's attack? Is your attack bonus high enough to make a difference? Is that +1 bonus worth it? What kind of character progression should I take? This post may help you decide.

Below is a matrix of chances to hit. That is, each number within the grid is a percentage chance for an attacker to hit a defender. For example, If an attacker with a +5 bonus attacks a defender with 13 AC, what is the chance I will hit them? The answer, looking on the chart is 0.65 (or 65%), if that attacker is inflicted with the spell Bane (-1d4 to their attack roll) that chance is reduced to 0.60-0.45 (or 60-45%).

                                                                              Attack Bonus

AC	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95
6	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95
7	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95
8	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95
9	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.95
10	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95	0.95
11	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	0.95
12	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95
13	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90
14	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80	0.85
15	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75	0.80
16	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70	0.75
17	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65	0.70
18	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60	0.65
19	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55	0.60
20	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50	0.55
21	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45	0.50
22	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40	0.45
23	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.40
24	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30	0.35
25	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25	0.30
26	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20	0.25
27	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20
28	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10	0.15
29	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.10
30	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05

Below this is the average monster statistic based on Challenge rating. To guess what a monster might have in a fight, simply determine how many monsters are in the combat. If there is only one, it is likely that the AC and Attack of the monster is close to the CR of your level, if there are many it is likely that it is slighly lower than your level.

CR   AC   Attack Bonus

0      <13      <+3

1/8     13         +3

1/4     13         +3

1/2     13         +3

1        13         +3

2        13         +3

3        13         +4

4        14         +5

5        15         +6

6        15         +6

7        15         +6

8        16         +7

9        16         +7

10      17         +7

11      17         +8

12      17         +8

13      18         +8

14      18         +8

15      18         +8

16      18         +9

17      19         +10

18      19         +10

19      19         +10

10      19         +10

21      19         +11

22      19         +11

23      19         +11

24      19         +12

25      19         +12

26      19         +12

27      19         +13

28      19         +13

29      19         +13

30      19         +14

Death Temple Guardian (Hill Dwarf Monk 5e Build)

Think a monk can't tank?! I think I can convince you otherwise. Today's build is based on the monk, a powerful and versatile option for a melee-type character. This particular build utilizes the Way of the Long Death from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

With this build you will be able to withstand most attacks on the front line, without sacrificing too much in the way of damage and versatility. The idea behind the build is avoiding damage instead of taking much damage. The Way of Long Death helps considerably with this, giving the character some buffer zone for their hit points. The ability that really allows this build to shine is the Patient Defense, giving all attacks disadvantage on attacks against you. However, if the situation arises where you need to switch your strategy, you still have access to the other powerful abilities that the Monk class has to offer.

Core abilities used in this build:

• Patient Defense - This underrated ability is extremely powerful for damage mitigation, and just not seen in many other classes. Although it costs 1 Ki point, Ki points recharge on a short rest so it can be used fairly often.
• Touch of Death - This ability increases your temporary hit points each time you reduce an enemy to 0 hp within 5 feat of you, scaling with your monk level.
• Unarmored Defense - Increase Dexterity and Wisdom to maximize AC survival potential.

The Strategy:

• At level 2 and above utilize Patient Defense as often as possibly giving enemies disadvantage against you, greatly increasing your survival chances. That is, save your Ki for defensive maneuvers instead of damaging attacks. If necessary, when you run out of Ki it might also be worth using an action to use Dodge, if your being focused on in the fight.
• Close the distance between yourself and your enemies. Attack weakened enemies when fighting within melee range, keeping up temporary hit points.

The Weaknesses:

• This build allows for little defense in the way of saving throws against spells and effects until level 14, when you gain Diamond Soul.
• At first levels AC is somewhat low compared to other defensive builds.

Hill Dwarf  is the suggested race for this build because of the needed boost in Constitution, health, and Wisdom, although it takes a hit in Dexterity, also primary stat for this build. As you level, consider taking stat boosts instead of feats, as all 3 stats are important for defensive abilities. Consider boosting Wisdom first to increase your temporary hit points and AC, then Dexterity to further increase your AC - relying on your Dwarven ancestry for the boost in hit points each level. At 11th level you are able to recover from near-death experiences, potentially granting Reckless Endurance (Recover to 1 hp instead when reduced to 0 hp) 11 times per short rest, amazing resilience!

Powerful Additions to this build:

• Although sub-optimal for the purposes of this build, if using the Way of the Four Elements make sure to take the Eternal Mountain Defense at 11th level to cast Stoneskin. Also instead of boosting Wisdom first, go with Constitution and Dexterity for increased hit points and AC.
• Other races that make acceptable Death Temple Guardians: Wood elves, Ghostwise Halflings, and Humans

Hit point/ AC progression (not counting magical items):

Str 10 / Dex 14 / Con 16 / Int 10 / Wis 16 / Cha

1. AC:15 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 12, +1 hp/level, resistance/advantage to poison
2. AC:15 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 21 (+9), Patient Defense
3. AC:15 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 30 (+9) + Temp Hp: 6, Touch of Death, Deflect Missiles
4. AC:16 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 39 (+9) + Temp Hp: 8, +2 Wis (18)
5. AC:16 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 48 (+9) + Temp Hp: 9
6. AC:16 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 57 (+9) + Temp Hp: 10
7. AC:16 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 66 (+9) + Temp Hp: 11, Evasion, Stillness of Mind
8. AC:17 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 75 (+9) + Temp Hp: 13, +2 Wis (20)
9. AC:17 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 84 (+9) + Temp Hp: 14
10. AC:17 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 93 (+9) + Temp Hp: 15, Purity of Body
11. AC:17 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 102 (+9) + Temp Hp: 16
12. AC:18 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 111 (+9) + Temp Hp: 17, +2 Dex (16)
13. AC:18 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 120 (+9) + Temp Hp: 18
14. AC:18 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 129 (+9) + Temp Hp: 19, Diamond Soul
15. AC:18 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 138 (+9) + Temp Hp: 20
16. AC:19 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 147 (+9) + Temp Hp: 21, +2 Dex (18)
17. AC:19 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 156 (+9) + Temp Hp: 22
18. AC:19 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 165(+9) + Temp Hp: 23, Empty Body
19. AC:20 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 174 (+9) + Temp Hp: 24, +2 Dex (20)
20. AC:20 (Wis+Dex),  Hp: 183 (+9) + Temp Hp: 25

The Bardic Healer (5e build)

What is a powerful build? how is it defined? For most people it refers to the how much damage you can possibly do every round on your turn. However, this isn't the case for everyone, with the last build 'Nature's Beast' we explored some of the most tenacious options in the game - today we're exploring the best healing options in the game where I argue that Bard is one of the best option for healing.

At first glance through the Player's Handbook you might think that the Life Domain Cleric is hands down the best healing class. This isn't actually always going to be the case, because as a healer your top priority is damage mitigation over direct healing. Think of your hit points are a resource, instead of constantly refilling that resource, its better to prevent any loss from it. Therefore you will want the best and most rapid ways to mitigate damage. The best class for damage mitigation is Bard (Lore College), because of the spells and options for them.

How do you mitigate or prevent damage? Have you ever heard the term "The best defense is a good offense"? This is because one way to mitigate or prevent damage is to use outright offensive tactics to stop incoming damage sooner. Another way is to lower their ability to do damage by making them miss more often, or just generally do less damage. Effectively you heal a character for the amount you prevent - before the damage has even taken place! Direct healing is still needed of course, but should be considered inferior to damage prevention.

In early game, the easiest way to mitigate damage is with the spells Bane or Bless, available to: Bard and Cleric. According to our current argument, Bane will be slightly better of the too since it has the potential to increase damage by lowering the enemies ability to make saves, including vicious mockery. As you progress you gain more options to control the battlefield and fill in any weaknesses.

The core abilities of this build are:

• Bane and Vicious Mockery - Bane is an important spell that should be used near the beginning of combat. Deal with any creatures that save against it by using Vicious Mockery, giving them disadvantage on attacks.
• Bardic Inspiration (Cutting words) - Against creatures susceptible to charm effects, this is absolutely critical. Use it to lower their attack, increasing their chance to miss, use it to lower their damage when they roll an AoE effect decreasing the overall damage, significantly. It is an effect that can be used somewhat often, and becomes a much more common ability at Bard level 5, where it recharges as a short rest. Regular Bardic inspiration should be used when facing enemies not susceptible to charm effects or when saving throws against effects are a common threat.

The strategy:

• Know thy enemies - At the beginning of every encounter, attempt to learn as much as you can about the dangers so you know what to expect and/or how to hinder your opponent, increasing your effectiveness and adjusting your strategy appropriately. Utilize your high skill potential to gather the following information:
• What type of damage are they likely going to do? AoE elemental damage? Single target physical damage? Is it poisonous?
• What saves are they likely susceptible to? ie ogres and beasts (lower intelligent creatures) are more susceptible to Bane than creatures like Cambions or Drow, who have a high Charisma bonus.
• Damage prevention - pay attention on other peoples turns, as well as the enemies. Find out what kind of damage they do and if they fight in a pattern.
• Savor your spell slots - think hard before spending a spell slot at the beginning of the encounter to cast heal or even Bane. In an endurance game, you don't want to run out of spell slots too early. Sometimes players get 1 shot by an enemy - this is the prime time to use an early heal to get them back into the fight and dealing damage.
• Supplement direct healing with healing potions - stock up on healing potions when you can, use them as needed.

The weaknesses:

• Since your substituting your spot in the party for a potential damage dealer you might want to take a few damaging and crowd control options in situations where you might ineffective as a healer. Keep damage dealers at their full damage potential whenever possible.

Being a good healer in D&D is an efficiency game. Whats the best way to balance the odds of winning in the favor of your group? This should be a question you always ask yourself as a healer, and so is normally more of a challenging role. One helpful mindset to keep and to help weigh the importance of stat boosting/debuffing is this:

1. Increasing/Decreasing an attack roll by 1 increases/decreases the chance for it to hit by 5%. Therefore bane/bless changes the chance to hit by 5-20%
2. If an ally's AC is 16 and a creature's attack is +5, that creature has a 50% chance to hit, Bane reduces the attacks chance to hit on average by 15% to 35%. Additionally cutting words reduces this chance an additional 5-30% with an average of 20% to 15% a huge decrease in chance to hit.
3. If that creature hits for 2d6+3 you potentially prevent 11 damage on average

For the Bardic healer, it is important to have your Charisma as high as possible - make it a priority to increase it to 20 as quickly as possible. Next consider keeping Constitution and Dexterity relatively high and Intelligence to increase knowledge rolls.

Powerful additions to this build:

• Lesser Restoration - This is the quintessential spell in a healer's arsenal. As you level, you will run into more and more creatures and hazards that will bestow conditions to you and your allies. Removing these conditions as quickly as possible will keep everyone in the fight, making it end sooner.
• One option is to take a level in Fighter or 2 levels in Paladin for the Protection fighting style and the option to carry a shield. This allows you to utilize your reaction to give attackers - only do so if you feel comfortable about getting into close range with enemies.
• At level 6, 10, 14, and 18 a Bard is given the option to take spells from any class in the game consider the following powerful healing spells not normally available to the Bard - remember to choose damage mitigation spells over others (*-damage mitigation, **-particularly powerful):
• Level 1 spells
• Bless** (Take at level 6)
• Protection from Good/Evil*
• Sanctuary*
• Shield of Faith*
• Level 2 spells
• Aid*
• Barkskin*
• Blindness/Deafness*
• Prayer of Healing
• Protection from Poison*
• Level 3 spells
• Aura of Vitality
• Counterspell** (Take at level 6)
• Dispel Magic*
• Protection from Energy** (Take at level 10)
• Remove Curse
• Revivify
• Mass Healing Word
• Level 4 spells
• Aura of Life** (Take at level 10)
• Aura of Purity
• Death Ward**
• Stoneskin**
• Level 5 spells
• Greater Restoration ** (Take at level 14)
• Level 6 spells
• Hero's feast
• Heal
• Level 7 spells
• Conjure Celestial* (Take at level 14)
• Level 8 spells
• Holy Aura** (Take at level 18)
• Level 9 spells
• Mass Heal

What do you think of the build? Coming soon for healer builds is the Nature Domain Cleric, another powerful build for healers.

Nature's Beast (The Tenacious Half Orc Barbarian/Paladin 5e multiclass build)

Want to be the toughest character on the battlefield, able to withstand any punishment available to you? Then this may be the build for you. This build combines the toughness of the Half Orc and the most defensive abilities possible in the Player's Handbook - it sacrifices most of its damaging potential of Barbarian and Paladin for pure survival skills. Constitution, Dexterity and Charisma are the most favored ability scores.

The core abilities of this build are:

• Rage (Bear Totem) - this ability gives you resistance to piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage. At Barbarian level 3 it gives you resistance to all damage (except for psychic).
• Paladin Spells - paladin spells, particularly Shield of Faith, grant powerful effects for survival tactics.

The strategy:

• Rage frequently when in combat and always remember to attack each turn to keep Rage up.
• While rage is down, make use of Paladin spells, keep up Shield of Faith as often as possible.
• It is good to keep Antitoxins and any items that can increase your ability to recover from conditions.

The weaknesses:

• This build doesn't allow much room for customization or damage - so if your allies aren't pumping out enough damage each turn you might find yourself in a bad situation
• Conditions that affect your character will be the biggest weakness to your character.

The beginning levels can be taken in either class, however early access to defensive fighting style, and the option for starting with lower Charisma is favorable. This also gives you the ability to heal yourself with a bonus action on your turn, if needed. After second level put 4 levels into Barbarian. Subsequent levels should be taken in Paladin for increased self healing and damage mitigation. This build has a more set path and so instead of 'Powerful additions to this build' I decided to go with...

Sequence to this build:

1. Choose Con as your most important Stat. Dex is a close second so that you gain as much AC as possible, shoot for 16. Charisma is a distant 3rd - as each are important against spells. Just make sure you have enough stats to take levels in Barbarian (13 str).
• Str 11 / Dex 14 / Con 15 / Int 10 / Wis 10 / Cha 12 (using 27 point buy system), +2 Strength, +1 Con from racial traits bumps Strength to 13 and Con to 16
• Ability score increases: +2 Dex, Medium Armor Master, +2 Con, +2 Con, Tough Feat
2. Take the first two levels in Paladin and take the Defensive fighting style at the 2nd level. Take the starting wealth option rolling for (5d4x10, averaging 150gp). Buy the following equipment:
• Scale Mail, Shield, 3 handed weapons (bludgeoning, slashing and piercing), any other equipment needed for survival (packs good if you can afford it)
• Save up for half-plate as soon as possible, in normal circumstances you should get the money for this around level 5, depending on the campaign style your in.
3. Take the following spells in respectful priority for 1st level spell options at 2nd level Paladin: Shield of Faith, Heroism, Protection form evil.
4. Take the next 4 levels in Barbarian and choose the Bear Totem at level 3 Barbarian.
5. Next take the rest of the levels in Paladin, at 3rd level take the Oath of the Ancients. This gives a constant resistance to spells at 10th Paladin level and an additional 'Relentless Endurance-like ability at Paladin level 15. As well as it gives the remaining 4 Ability score increases and options for spells that further increase the character's toughness.
6. The following are powerful spell options for this build:
1. Lesser Restoration
2. Aid
3. Aura of Vitality
4. Death Ward
5. Aura of Purity
6. Aura of Life

Level progression should look something like the following list for your AC, HP, and defensive options. This list doesn't account for defensive magical options you might come across, potentially giving you more AC (+1-3 AC, as well as a +1 AC from Cloak of Protection).

1. AC: 18 (Shield, Scale mail), HP: 13, Relentless Endurance
2. AC: 21 (Shield, Scale mail, Shield of Faith), HP: 22(+9), Spells, Defensive Fighting Style
3. AC: 21 (Shield, Scale mail, Shield of Faith), HP: 32(+10), Rage (Resistance to non-magical damage)
4. AC: 21 (Shield, Scale mail, Shield of Faith), HP: 42(+10), Danger Sense, +2 Dex
5. AC: 22 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 52(+10), Bear totem (Resistance to all damage, except psychic)
6. AC: 22 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 62(+10)
7. AC: 22 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 71 (+9), Divine Health
8. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 80 (+9), Medium Armor Master
9. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 89 (+9), Level 2 Paladin spells
10. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 98 (+9), Aura of Protection
11. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 107 (+9), Aura of Warding
12. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 128 (+10), +2 Con (+12 hp)
13. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 138 (+10), Level 3 Paladin spells
14. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 148 (+10), Aura of Courage
15. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 158 (+10)
16. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 184 (+11), +2 Con (+16 hp)
17. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 195 (+11)
18. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 206 (+11), Cleansing Touch
19. AC: 23 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith), HP: 217 (+11), Undying Sentinel
20. AC: 28 (Shield, Half-plate, Shield of Faith, Defensive Duelist), HP: 228 (+11), Defensive Duelist

The result is an awesome build that can withstand almost any form of punishment.

Corrupted Paladin (Paladin/Warlock 5e multiclass)

This build combines the tenacity of the Paladin with the power and versatility of the Warlock for a deadly and fluid combination. The true synergy power between the Paladin and Warlock is the Paladin's smite and the Warlock's ability to regain spell slots each short rest allowing the paladin to use Divine Smite quite often.

This build requires a minimum Paladin level of 2, and the first level should be taken in Paladin. This character is primarily considered a melee character to utilize the strength-based abilities of the Paladin (including smite) and heavy armor. Charisma is a highly favored ability score, since both Paladin and Warlock spells and abilities use this score. Constitution, as usual, is extremely important for survival. At level 3 and further, levels should be put in Warlock, taking melee option abilities as you level.

The core abilities of this build are:

• Divine Smite - Deal an extra 2d8 radiant damage on a melee hit and +1d8 against fiends/undead when you expend a spell slot.
• Warlocks regain all spell slots during a short rest.

The strategy:

• As often as possible, utilize Divine Smite on hits to increase melee power - which can be then replenished during a short rest.

The weakness:

• Although few monsters are resistant to radiant, this build focuses on radiant damage. Explore alternative damage sources for backup.
• This build is mainly suited for single target damage, facing multiple enemies can pose a problem. If you have access to Sword Coast Adventures book, use the Green Flame cantrip to increase your AoE potential without sacrificing your spell slots on AoE spells.

For many levels Warlock is granted only two spell slots, limiting the number of Divine Smite's per encounter. However, the damage for each Divine Smite increases as the Warlock levels since the effective spell level increases - cappng at 5d8 radiant damage at Warlock level 9. One thing to note is, if you decide to level both Paladin and Warlock, the levels do not stack for effective caster level (ie. Paladin 6/Warlock 6 gives effective caster level of 3, not 9 - but you can still cast spells with an effective spell level of 3 with Pact Magic, using Warlock spell slots instead of Paladin spell slots). Therefore, how you build this warlock should be consistent with the role you wish to fulfill.

Powerful additions to this build:

• Going the full melee powerhouse with a two-handed sword, great weapon fighting (fighting style), great weapon master (feat), savage attacks (feat), with Oath of Vengeance with Vow of Enmity and Life Drinker (Pact of the Blade Invocation) - in total requiring a minimum of Paladin 3/ Warlock 12 for massive burst damage potential. 
• Warlock abilities that maximize your tenacity are: Fiend Patron (Dark One's Blessing, Fiendish Resistance), Fiendish Vigor (invocation), and Armor of Agathys (spell).

Paladin and Warlock combined together may or may not turn the Dungeon Master's (DM's) stomach a bit. This is because many DM's prefer the Good only Paladin dogma, so it's worth talking to your DM to see his point of view on the matter and try and come up with a compromise. One thematic synergy that can be made is the Oath of the Ancients and the Fey Patron to create a sort of 'Nature's Warden' type of character. This Nature Warden build allows you to focus on a particular theme while still using the Divine Smite combo, and also giving you great crowd control options.

Below is the damage scale comparison between a Battle Master Fighter, two-weapon Rogue, and the Corrupted Paladin. All builds considering optimized build for single target damage. The y-axis represents damage, and the x-axis represents levels. Green = maximum damage, Red = Average damage and Blue = Minimum Damage.

Corrupted Paladin

Battle Master Fighter

Two-weapon Rogue

Like the build? have your own additions to the build?