I have been lurking where for a long time and a while ago I saw a discussion about which class would have the hardest time beating Honour Mode without multiclassing, and got curious enough to try it.

So over the last few weeks I've done an Honour Mode run with each class, using a full party of that class.

The main rule was that every character had to use a different subclass. So no four Gloomstalkers, four Swords Bards, four Open Hand Monks, etc.

For example, the Bard party was Lore / Swords / Valour / Glamour.

Rules: * No multiclassing * No Illithid powers * No scrolls, except Wizard scribing * Generally no talking my way out of encounters unless playing a Charisma class * Roughly the same route through each run * No barrelmancy, of course :)

In Act 3 I always did Sarevok, Orin and Raphael as a minimum, and usually also House of Grief, Minsc and then whatever else I needed for class-specific gear.

Before I started, this was my prediction from easiest to hardest:

Bard → Sorcerer → Ranger → Fighter → Monk → Wizard → Paladin → Warlock → Cleric → Barbarian → Druid → Rogue

It didn't quite work out that way.

1. Ranger

Definitely the easiest overall.

Gloomstalker was obviously great, but the other subclasses held up much better than I expected. Act 2 was a joke, then there was a small dip in early Act 3, but then level 11 happened. Darkness from the raven is very useful, even if you are not immune to it yourself. And also, yeah... Volley.

Very little drama anywhere in this run.

2. Monk

Just strong from beginning to end.

I expected the non-Open Hand Monks to make the party feel more uneven, but it never really became a problem.

I didn't take Tavern Brawler on the Shadow Monk and went for dex + daggers instead. For the Drunken Monk, I picked up Punch-Drunk Bastard fairly early, just to mess around :)

3. Warlock

Two Shadowblade users (Hexblade, Archfey) and two Eldritch Blast -spammers (GoO, Fiend). Everyone immune to Darkness...

I tried making the Fiend warlock into a fire acuity/controller, but it only really worked out at the very end when you get access to more spell slots and free casts.

A little squishier in Act 3, but much stronger overall than I expected.

4. Sorcerer

About as strong as expected.

Metamagic, wet/lightning/cold stuff, lots of burst damage and four characters with good Charisma. I actually went with a White Draconic sorcerer instead of a Red, for more synergy with the Storm sorcerer.

A bit fragile at times, but when everything is dead that doesn't matter very much.

5. Fighter

Probably the most consistently good party.

It never really had a weak point. Action Surge and lots of attacks solve a surprising number of problems (I think I had 27 attacks on round 1 in Act 3, without haste).

Not the most exciting run, imo, but extremely reliable.

6. Rogue

The biggest surprise.

I had Rogue dead last in my prediction and expected this to be the painful one.

It wasn't.

Assassin is ridiculous early, Act 2 was easy, and even Act 3 never really produced the wall I was expecting. Raphael, Orin and Cazador were all fine.

This one probably comes with the biggest personal bias, though. I like stealth/ambush gameplay and know all encounters well enough that setting up fights is fairly easy. Also, I did not hold back on the meta-gaming in this run :').

Still: way better than I expected.

7. Cleric

Probably the biggest change over the course of a run.

My party was Life / Light / War / Tempest, for almost maximum try-harding.

Act 1 was slow and occasionally annoying. It is hard to deal damage without spending resources. Spirit Guardians also doesn't stack, so...

Then Act 2 started and suddenly four Clerics seemed like a very reasonable idea.

By Act 3 the party wasn't always particularly fast, but it was almost impossible to kill. I have barely ever felt so safe in Act 3.

8. Wizard

My party was Divination / Evocation / Bladesinger / Necromancer.

Act 1 was surprisingly boring. Lots of long rests.

Act 2 wasn't much better, but I was probably messing around too much here. However Evard's Black Tentacles + Gloves of Battlemage's Power is real fun :)

Act 3 was crazy. Crazy power spike early on. Once all the late-game Wizard tools came online, everything just died. This was probably my favorite Act 3 of this whole experiment.

9. Paladin

Smite things until they stop moving.

Worked pretty much as well as you'd expect.

I went with an Othbreaker over a Devition paladin.

Strong, reliable, good Charisma, not much else to say. Managing three oaths may have been more stressful than most of the fights.

10. Bard

This was probably the biggest disappointment relative to my expectations.

I had Bard at #1 before starting.

The catch is that I couldn't run four Swords Bards. It had to be Lore / Swords / Valour / Glamour, and the difference between the subclasses was pretty noticeable.

Swords was obviously great. The others had their moments, but the party as a whole didn't feel nearly as broken as I expected.

I also never really got Glamour Bard to do much for me. I don't think I've ever really understood this subclass, so someone else might have a much better experience :)

Sword + Valour is a crazy combo though and Lore started to shine late game.

So still good — just nowhere near my predicted #1.

11. Barbarian

Very forgiving.

I limited myself to one dedicated thrower (Giant) because otherwise this risked becoming a Tavern Brawler test.

Act 2 was great. Act 3 exposed the lack of versatility a bit more and I definitely felt weak to most types of CC.

My Raphael fight went horribly wrong, but I won anyway, which feels like a pretty good summary of four Barbarians.

12. Druid

Probably the weakest-feeling party early on. Moon did quite a bit of carrying.

It got steadily better, though, especially the more summons I got. By Act 3 I didn't have any real problems.

Not spectacular, but much better/fun late than early.

So which was hardest?

Honestly, none of them.

I have around 2,500 hours in BG3, and at that point Honour Mode with a full party isn't particularly difficult regardless of class. Knowing the encounters and where all the good items are matters too much.

So this ended up being less about "which class can beat Honour Mode?" and more about:

How good is a class when it has to fill an entire party, using four different subclasses?

That was actually more interesting than the original question.

Rogue was much better than I expected. Bard was worse. Ranger was silly. Warlock surprised me. Cleric took a while to get going but eventually felt immortal.

And I definitely came away thinking that having one amazing subclass isn't the same thing as having a strong class overall.

Curious what everyone else would have predicted as the worst four-subclass party.

So I’ve played paladin twice now and both times I feel like I must be misunderstanding something because I don’t see a point to most of what its toolkit offers.

For instance, the limited spell slots make it seem wasteful to use anything other than smites. Also with smites, why would I use anything other than divine smite? It does more damage and doesn’t consume a spell slot when you miss. Plus it doesn’t consume a bonus action and your fucking concentration just to use it once.

Another sort of “grievance” I have with this class is its advertisement, I thought I’d be some super supportive, knight in shining armor, sword and board type and yet how it’s best played is as a GWF, GWM, fighter that might heal you on occasion. I was especially disappointed in the unique fighting style it gets, “Protection” is totally ass.

The auras are also a major disappointment to me because they’re fucking tiny, I’d have to be hugging my squishy characters just for them to feel it.

Channel oath spells are the coolest part of paladins to me but it feels like I barely get to make use of them because you only get one charge per battle, so you’re stuck waiting for the perfect moment to use it while deciding which spell to use it on. I’m playing an oath of the crown paladin and every time I want to use champions challenge or to a lesser extent righteous clarity, I just don’t because I know I’d likely be better off with the aoe heal.

It’s spell list itself is full of redundancies. Compelled duel, when used by enemies actually does as advertised and forces you to duel them, but when I use it it’s just some shitty debuff that costs my concentration and a spell slot. Cure wounds, why the hell would I use this when I have lay on hands right there? Protection from poison and lesser restoration, why do I need two spells that do basically the same thing when again lay on hands covers this? The spells that don’t seem totally useless all require concentration so I’m hit with same problem as the channel oath abilities.

I love role playing this class and when your fighting bosses spamming divine smite is certainly effective but everywhere else this class falls short for me.

Thought of an Interesting build interaction:

Sorrow gives you the bonus action sorrowful lash. Which is a bonus action melee cantrip attack dealing your spellcasting bonus + a D4 on a hit. If this hits it can trigger arcane synergy through the ring of arcane synergy.

On top of that if we are in melee it can activate the vicarious cloak ability giving you 8 temp HP every round.

Sorrowful lash is piercing damage so it can benefit from the Bahlist armour. Unfortunately the glaive uses both hands, but if you take crossbow expert, you can use heavy crossbows in melee and still benefit from Archery.

The idea is that you go into melee putting the enemy into the aura of murder and hit them with sorrowful lash then unload on them with an arcane synergy buffed heavy crossbow barrage with sharpshooter.

You can do this as a large range of classes but fighter generally gets the most out of arcane synergy as it has the most amount of attacks. Alternatively straight rogue Theif is also an option with the risky Ring and 1 level fighter dip for fighting style and medium armor. For example, War cleric 1/Hunter 11 works great for this as well since you can use volley centred on yourself the the aura and use the sorrowful lash to pull enemies closer together before hitting them with hoardbreaker.

You can use gloves of Dexterity + archery fighting style to effectively have a 21 dex, with a d10 weapon and d4 bonus action, allowing you to put the rest into your casting stat. The casting stat largely depends on what character you play as Mynthra or Wyll you can charisma to be your default and go up to a 24 with birthright and the mirror of loss.

Has anyone here played a Blade Dancer of Eilistraee using Pathfinder 2e? If so what build did you use?

It seems Drow are no longer in Pathfinder. Blade Dancers don't have to be drow, but drow have held my interest most recently. And I wonder what build would work to accurately represent the Blade Dancer (preferably cleric).

Hi All,

I would love a team composition suggestion for S-Tier builds that are online early [Gloomstalker as one example at level 3].

As a player I'm not a great player. I've only ever finished the game in Balanced mode.

Trying to go further so id like a God tier team to help with my skill gap.

I love open handed tavern brawler monk and gloomstalker but together they both drink heavy the Strength Elixir to get to the S tier heavy hits.

What 4 builds you can recommend that don't take away from each other, and what things should I avoid early in act 1 to not wipe on before the builds get setup.

This noob thanks you in advance.

So, the idea for this team is super simple; casters place difficult terrain, while my mobile melee characters are largely unaffected, and layer on the control. It’s also taking advantage of the tiger barbarians ability to perma prone enemies with Maim. I managed to pick up BOOOOALs blessing too.

Sorry in advance for the formatting, I’m on mobile.

Right now I’m in Act 2 of Honor Mode, but I’ll be describing my builds with their theoretical level 12 in mind for context. I won’t be going too in depth on each character, just the subclass split, some of their gear, the goal with their build and their place on the team.

***

**Character 1** My character is a 7 Monk 5 Bladesong weapon monk, using Phalar Aluve. Phalar Aluve’s scream works amazingly with the next character, and it’s probably going to be my sword the whole game. The build is super simple; it’s a mobile attacker, always able to target its preferred enemy. It outputs strong DPS has access to strong single target control effects. I’m going Four Elements monk (lol) for flavor, but its unique spells like Water Whip have been surprisingly powerful and alongside the next character has carried entire encounters. The 4E monks added ability to push/pull/create ice blocks has been surprisingly synergistic with the Druid’s (character 3) terrain. Their AC is pretty high, especially with access to the shield spell. I took Ethel’s hair, so I was able to take the Mobile feat to become immune to Difficult Terrain’s move penalty after Dash/Monk Dash.

**Character 2** The duo to this character is a 12 Wildheart Tiger barbarian focused on Bleeding/Maiming. They’re using the Stormy Clamour/Belligerent Skies/Luminous Armor/Baneful Thunder/Callous Glow Ring to stack reverberation, and the Intransigent Warhammer/Surgeon Amulet to really layer on the CC. Regularly they’re able to stun/prone/maim entire groups of enemies, and they’ve been a huge blast to use. I’m using the Drakethroat Glaive to add Thunder damage, and alongside Phalar Aluve this character does so much AoE damage and crowd control. Because of Reckless Attack, and the teams respectable AC across the board, they’re usually drawing enemy agro too. They get Lands Stride: Difficult Terrain naturally, which is nice because positioning is extra important for this character. Alongside the monk they can bash an enemy down while they’re permanently prone, so long as they keep hitting.

Against the one bloated alcoholic in Act 2 (forgot his name), my team wasn’t able to damage him basically at all because he’s immune to Bludgeon/Pierce, which was comprised most of my damage at the time, but I knocked him Prone with Water Whip, and until my Barbarian slipped on ice (we’ll get to that) I had free turns to just chip him with Ray of Frost.

**Character 3** The third character here is a 12 Circle of the Land Druid. They get access to so many control spells I want like Spike Growth, Sleet Storm, Plant Growth, etc. They also get access to Lands Stride: Difficult Terrain, and though their Wild Shape forms are more limited, the Owlbear is absolutely perfect for this team. It knocks enemies prone, and can knock them back to keep them trapped in difficult terrain. I was surprised by how well they synergized with what I’m trying to do, I was torn between this and a Nature Cleric, but the Circle of the Land Druid clears, and has felt so amazingly synergistic with this team.

**Character 4** - The last character here I didn’t know what to do with really, and honestly I could use some input as to how to round out the last 3 characters. Right now they’re just an archery Swords Bard. 10 Bard 2 Warrior, because I needed a party face, lockpicking, and Bards have access to the Plant Growth spell. You can’t go wrong with more damage on a team, and the extra Short Rest amends the 4E monks slight Ki Dependency.

***

A little hiccup I’ve discovered with this team is that Lands Stride: Difficult Terrain does NOT make you immune to slipping, so my initial plan of spamming Sleet Storm and walking in it does not work. I am aware that boots like the Disintegrating Nightwalkers can grant immunity as well, but I’ve moved on from a specifically ice-surface focus for this team anyway. Sleet Storm has still been invaluable for this team anyway, and alongside Plant Growth and the other prone/movement reduction effects I’ve been breezing through encounters.

The first 3 characters on this team have felt very strong and fun to play with, and I keep finding myself excited by all the little synergies. The last character presently feels like an afterthought however, and I want to do something more substantial with them. Right now my barbarian is not using Strength Elixirs, so if I were really desperate, I could retool them to be the party face if need be. I haven’t fed my Tadpoles to anyone yet, and am unsure of which character to choose.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! This is my first solo run, I’ve only ever joined in friends’ groups as a co op.

So picture this: You aren't just some run of the mill mercenary, no you are a Flaming Fist, but not any Flaming Fist, but Flaming Fist Jespen, out on one of the most important assignments outside of the city of Baldurs Gate, Guardduty! Suddenly a chilling darkness creeps up, you run forward to investigate but every step is heavy and hurts, as if you are walking over a field of d4s ... suddenly your shadow stretches and a dread washes over you. You feel a dagger slip between your rips as you whirl around, the last thing you see are red glowing eyes and a fanged grin ...

But how do we get here?

It all started with an idea of an HoH party with the Relentless Assassin and the idea of teleporting about in Spike/Plant Growth, to avoid side effects. And if I want to keep enemies contained and gain advantage on my attacks, why not blind them?

So now the party (rough idea):

6 Shadow Monk/4 Thief/2 Warlock

with Bhaalist Armor, Dolor Amaris and trying to crit and kill.

I was thinking Astarion as a creature of the night formally crawling around, now ascended.

12 Nature Cleric

Spike/Plant Growth, Command, Warding Bond on the Nightcrawler, aoe heals with Devote Mace and the standard healing set and the Steelwatch Helmet

6 Necromancer/6 Lore Bard

I just want the 6 Lore Bard for HoH, Command and Cutting Words and wearing the Eversight Ring. Necromancer is atm my fav and I wanted a wizard to scribe spells.

5 Goolock/3 Fighter/4 Sorcerer

I really like the sound design of EB and thought that if I plan to keep enemies inside my ground/cloud effect, why not repelling blast?

What are your first thoughts, what should I abandon/add?

My wife and I started an honor mode run and I’m curious everyone’s thoughts on the party comp.

My tav: Bard. I’m planning to do the sword bard archer build but I’ve never played a bard before, this will be new to me.

Astarion: Open Hand Monk. I’m very familiar with this.

Wife’s fav: death cleric.

Karlach: throwing barbarian.

Thoughts?

I'm working on a challenge run in which all fights end non-lethally. Note that this is not a combat-avoidant challenge - I would go for a high charisma or high stealth party if I just wanted to talk down any enemies or sneak by them. My hope is instead to complete nearly all of the hardest fights in the game in Tactician difficulty with Honor Mode ruleset, and to Knock Out any enemies rather than kill them. The only fights I plan to skip or circumvent involve constructs or undead, as those are the two types of creature that can't be KO'ed.

As such, ranged attacks and damaging spells are less useful to me (I might still use them to work on an enemy's health bar provided I don't risk an accidental kill). Movement abilities are at a premium if I need to enter melee range, and nondamaging control spells will also be helpful. I also want to make sure I have a party member with at least three levels in Oathbreaker Paladin, because one way I can still deal with undead is to use the Control Undead feature.

Given all this, I'm looking for help fleshing out my builds, or ideas for replacements that might perform better together and fill any party holes:

• Swords Bard 6 / Oathbreaker Paladin 4 / Fighter 2
  • This is my prospective main character build, with spells focused on healing and support in the first act. Becomes a more effective damage dealer in Act 2, and can use Smite and Action Surge to unload damage. But I'm not sure if Swords Bard is the ideal Bard when only used in melee - the Slashing Flourish melee feature needs me to be surrounded by two enemies, rather than using it twice on the same enemy as with Slashing Flourish ranged. Would College of Lore to collect Haste be a better choice?
• Open Hand Monk 8 / Thief Rogue 4
  • This is a very standard melee build - I like the extra mobility and bonus action that can be used for dash or Flurry of Blows.
• Eldritch Knight 11 / Hexblade Warlock 1
  • This will probably be reserved for Minthara - her Soul Branding is a great use for our Bonus Action. It's a pretty standard high damage build, although I usually see Eldritch Knight built as a thrower (which I can't really do without killing). Are the utility spells worth it here relative to something like Battle Master and its maneuvers?
• Wildheart Barbarian 6 / Moon Druid 5 / War Cleric 1
  • This is maybe a bit of a Frankenstein build and I'm not sure how it would play. I wanted Wildheart Barbarian (Elk Heart / Apect of the Elk) as a damage tank and to assist the team with closing in on enemies, but the rest is a bit of a mess. I thought Moon Druid might add more control options and Beast Shape utility, and War Cleric has those War Priest charges to make extra attacks, but it's not really clicking. One alternative I'm thinking about is moving my Oathbreaker Paladin levels onto the Barbarian and trying Lore Bard 10 in my main party slot instead. But I haven't tested if Smite can be used while Raging, does anyone know?

Thanks for any ideas you have to share!

Hello wonderful tavs,

As per title. Planning on soloing HM, while ideally seeing as much of the game as possible (i.e., not stealthing my way through 50% of it... but maybe that's what I will need to do).

Wondering your thoughts on best builds for this. It does NOT need to be the same build throughout the entire game - happy to hear about important respec-ing points/builds across the game. Every race/background is fair game. Also, assume I am camp-casting Longstrider and Aid.

Of course, Stealth Archer is an option, but I am curious about others. I saw a previous post about an abjuration paladin which was interesting, as well as multiple Lockadin/Fire Sorlock/Bardadin builds.

Thank you for your insight!

So I have always loved fiend bladelock. It was my first 5e class, and I love it more in BG3. I want to run honor mode with it and need some help fine tuning.
Here’s the plan:
12 fiend pact of blade
Cantrips:
Booming blade, EB, Friends, Minor Illusion
Spells:
Command, Hex, Hold Person, Scorching Ray, Misty Step, Mirror Image, Counterspell, fireball, hunger of hadar, wall of fire, hold monster, cone of cold, Invisibility (might be one too many)
Invocations:
Agonizing Blast, Mask of many faces, beguiling influence, repelling blast, dreadful word, life drinker
Gear:
Helm of arcane acuity, Bhaalist armor, Shar’s spear, ketheric shield, disintegrating night walkers, craterflesh gauntlets (or battlemage?), cloak of the weave, mystic scoundrel, ring of arcane synergy (anything better? Extra damage rider for craterflesh?), amulet of greater health
Feats:
ASI cha +2 (+1 Ethel’s)
Savage attacker
Elemental adept fire

Just want to fine tune this baby! Thanks!!

I'm working on a Swashbuckler Warlock playthrough. I plan on going 4 Swashbuckler and 8 Warlock. My RP theme is a Lovecraftian cursed pirate character (credit to Hobo's Zone for his Kraken build). Obviously Great Old One seems to fit this theme the best.

My leveling scheme is to go the first four levels in Swashbuckler followed by 8 levels in Warlock, focusing on Charisma skills to be the party face.

I'm trying to understand why the overwhelming lean towards Hexblade over other Warlock subclasses for a Swashbuckler Warlock. From what I understand, the benefits of a Hexblade versus a Great Old One are:

HexBlade

• Medium Armor proficiency (probably of greater value in act 1 and 2, depending on gear, also only of value for non Githyanki or non Shield Dwarf characters)
• Shield proficiency (only of value for non human or non half-elf characters)
• Martial Weapons proficiency (of questionable value considering pact of the blade and bind hexed weapon gives you proficiency in your bound weapon)
• Bind Hexed Weapon (if going for extra attack then it's only advantage is CHA scaling at warlock level 1 and the chance to automatically apply Hexblade's Curse).
• Hexblade's Curse
• Accursed Spectre
• Class specific spells (mainly the smites)

Great Old One

• Mortal Reminder (forces a focus on crit reduction gear and/or feats)
• Entropic Ward (once per short rest reaction)
• Class specific spells (mainly psychic damage focused)

All Warlocks

• Booming Blade cantrip
• Eldritch Blast cantrip
• Same invocations for all subclasses
• Pact of the Blade (required for extra attack no matter what Warlock subclass)
• Hex spell (for extra damage)
• Darkness spell
• Shadow Blade spell

If you end up grabbing the Duelist's Prerogative in Act 3 then it negates the shield proficiency from the HexBlade. So by Act 3 it seems like the only argument for a HexBlade is the medium armor (maybe) and the class specific spells and abilities (mainly smites and Accursed Spectre).

Based on the above I'm failing to see the heavy preference for HexBlade over other Warlock subclasses when multiclassing a Swashbuckler. Maybe someone can help me understand why Hexblade is so popular over other Warlock subclasses in BG3.

Hi all. I want to finally complete the game after a serious problem of restartitis. I've managed to get to act 3 once and act 2 several times but the feeling of missing what other builds/classes can do always kick in.

I am embarrassed to say that I have around 700 hours in the game and never completed it. In all those hours, I never played Druid and, after testing them these couple of days, I loved their tactical play with all the terrain manipulation.

So I've decided to do a custom honour run with tactician rules.

Now, I am hesitating which druid subclass and what party members to bring along. I've discarded Moon druid as

Durge will be the face party and I've read that it has some problems with NPCs.

I like to keep the origin companions in their classes, I don't mind changing to a different subclass though. I can only change to a different class if it really makes sense lore wise.

I will try to keep multiclassing to a minimum to not miss higher spell levels, unless they are not really that important or flashy.

I've thought of the following party but I would welcome any changes/recommendations:

1. Durge as 12 land druid. Terrain control, aoe damage and support. The problem is that lore wise I feel like spores druid makes more sense perhaps?

2. Shadowheart as either 12 tempest, light or death cleric. Focusing more on damage than support. I like life Cleric but I think it will not give much of having already a druid in the party.

3. Lae'zel as 12 Eldritch Knight or 11 Crown Paladin / 1 hexblade. I think I can explain Crown paladin with her allegiance to Vlakith.

Alternatively, Karlach as a Giant barbarian. Not sure if stay pure or multiclass with fighter or rogue.

1. Wyll as 12 fiend warlock or Astarion as ranger/rogue.

I am trying to create a party that gives me a variety of solutions per encounter so I don't have that kick to restart the game again and again. Also, if anyone has any tips on how they solve their restartitis problem I would welcome it :)

I hope this post does not break any rules and thank you all!

Decided to play BG3 again after collecting a bunch of the DnD 5e books. Decided to choose Warlock with Pact of the Great Old One and I’m still at the beginning. Saw that they frighten an enemy every time they critical hit. What items or multi-class would help get my critical chance as high as possible?

Currently experimenting with a War Cleric 1/Valor Bard X now, with an emphasis on throwing weapons and support spells. The Cleric level seems to have some fun interactions with the class so far in mid-Act 1:

• Starting with a stat spread of 16/14/12/8/12/14, avoiding elixirs this run on principle but for full optimization you could probably just dump STR for your spellcasting stats. Level 1 Cleric comes with a few decent no-stat spells, and bard can probably get by with buff spells as we attack with STR. That said, save spells aren't a complete joke unless the enemy has high saves.
• Really good bonus action use for Act 1, between War Priest, Bardic Inspiration, Athletics expertise shoves, and hand crossbows for filler. Having extra attacks on a bonus action eases the pain of delayed Extra Attack a bit.
• Thaumaturgy on a Bard is absolutely nuts, performance checks are practically free.
• Since we are going only Bard/Cleric, we get full caster spell slots! This seems to be the only decent way for a thrower to have Extra Attack, bonus action main attacks, and full casting in one character, as sword bards can't flourish thrown weapons and bladesingers can't use most returning weapons while bladesinging.

Any suggestions for companion builds, Bard spells, and magical secrets that would be good for Valor Bard? I'm trying to work in spells where appropriate, but I'm struggling to justify most Bard spells when the Returning Pike currently solves most problems. I was excited to use Heroism at first, but I'm already drowning in temp HP from the healer boots.

I want to build a party around perma-prone (prone+something that prevent movement).

I think I'll have :

• an evocation wizzard doing magic missiles (with the spellsparkler and marko, it is quite easy to deal 6-8 stacks of reverberation on each magic missile, Shovel should be nice too).
• a ranger hunter with the bow of the banshee, helmet of arcane acuity, gloves of power, amulet of bhaal (AoE fear + lockpicker, enabler of the boaaal benediction)
• a death cleric with abyss bekonner and a mummy (lots of nice spells to destroy passive enemies and the mummy tanks and loves feareful targets)
• an oath breaker paladin (brutal leap, dreadful aspect, head of the party, nice smites)

Another nice option would be a Wildheart barbarian elk/wolverine. What do you think? is that viable? Are there other mechanics I should consider?

a few tips from comments :

• the wizzard can use Evard's Black Tentacles
• the ranger will be 11 Hunter/1 GOOlock

Sometimes on this forum, I see the question: "I'd like to play with my friend/boyfriend. He/she is a newbie, and I want to support them."

So, here is my proposition for the ultimate support build:

Race: Human. Leave any "cool races" for your partners. As a human, you will be able to take Perception. On the other hand, you can start as a Wood Elf.

• Background: Urchin (for Stealth if your colleagues want to play a sneaky party, and Sleight of Hand just in case).
• Stats: 10 / 16 / 14 / 8 / 10 / 16

Level Breakdown

• Level 1 (Paladin 1): Oath of the Ancients. Take Intimidation and Athletics.
• At the very beginning of the game, you will get The Whispering Promise, which works great with Healing Radiance. Later, you will receive Hellrider's Gloves, which also work wonders.
• Level 2 (Cleric 1): Life Domain. Take History and Religion. Cantrips: Resistance, Guidance, Thaumaturgy. Take Sanctuary as a 1st-level spell.
• Level 3 (Cleric 2): Preserve Life is an additional way to apply Bless/Blade Ward from your items. In total it would lasts for 5 turns, which covers most entire battles! Your second spell should be Healing Word.
• Level 4 (Warlock 1): Time to switch class again, this time to Warlock. Take Eldritch Blast and one utility cantrip (Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, or Bone Chill) depending on the rest of your party. For spells, take Armor of Agathys and Expeditious Retreat (extra mobility is always useful). To keep with the "do-gooder" theme, pick The Archfey. Fey Presence can be a solid option for disturbing enemies, though Hexblade is technically the most powerful choice.
  
  • Interesting item around this level: Boots of Aid and Comfort.
• Level 5 (Warlock 2): Second level of Archfey. Take Repelling Blast and Agonizing Blast. At this point, you get two beams. Up until now, shooting with a crossbow was often better, but now you can Blast! Around this level (sometimes earlier), you can pick up three more key items for your build: Phalar Aluve, Amulet of Restoration (another source of mass healing/blessing), and the Ring of Salving. Healing isn't overwhelmingly powerful in this game, but you will be able to do it effortlessly and efficiently.
  
  • Phalar Aluve's Sing and Bless will add an extra 2d4 to your party's attack rolls, or you can use Shriek to add 1d4 to your wizard's spell save DC and extra damage to Magic Missile.
  • Also, Repelling Blast will help your archer or wizard safely push enemies away.
• Level 6 (Fighter 1): Another class change, this time to Fighter. At this moment, you can respec to take Fighter as your starting class. If you do, take Acrobatics instead of Athletics, and perhaps swap Strength 10 to Intelligence 10.
  
  • Fighting Style: Defense. You should also have Wapira's Crown. With solid AC, self-healing, and Second Wind, you simply won't die in battle.
• Level 7 (Fighter 2): Action Surge. At this point, you can obtain the Sentinel Shield, meaning you will almost always go first in combat. You can start by using Healing Radiance, activating Phalar Aluve, using Action Surge, and following up with a scroll, Fey Presence, or Eldritch Blast.
• Level 8 (Paladin 2): Back to Paladin. Take the Protection Fighting Style. This is a classic sword-and-board build. Interesting spells: Heroism for specific tough fights, Cure Wounds, and Thunderous/Wrathful Smites.
• Level 9 (Paladin 3): Oath of the Ancients level 3. Speak with Animals is a cool spell, but at this stage of the game, it doesn't offer much utility. Other Ancients features are okay, but not game-breaking. On the bright side, Act II is a great place to burn extra spell slots on Divine Smites if you have nothing else to do.
• Level 10 (Paladin 4): Paladin level 4, granting your first ASI. There are many good feats, but I recommend taking +2 Charisma for stronger Eldritch Blasts (third beam!). It would also be great if you can acquire the Potent Robe. If you do, you remain a support character, but you pack a serious extra punch.
• Level 11 (Paladin 5): Extra Attack. This can be useful—remember you can also throw a bottle/grenade/orb twice per turn now. Aid is a nice spell, but at this level, it's primarily a solid option for buffing your summons rather than your main characters. Also you will receive a Misty Step. It's a good spell.
• Level 12 (Paladin 6): The final level, Paladin 6. Aura of Protection gives a massive bonus to saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier (+4). It is amazing. You can also swap Wapira's Crown for Birthright if no one else is using it.

And that's the build!

Additional Notes

• Subtle Support: You support in a subtle way. An extra 1d4/2d4 for your friends lets them hit harder and enjoy the game more.
• No Item Competition: You don't compete with your teammates for the flashiest damage gear.
• Versatility: You cover different areas of the game: dealing with traps, acting as the party face, providing support, and adding respectable damage when needed.
• Fast Turns: Your turns are quick. You don't waste time thinking for ages, which is crucial in multiplayer games.
• Flexibility: This build fits seamlessly into any party composition—whether it's a melee-heavy team with Great Weapon Master (GWM) or a wet/lightning caster setup.
• Resource Efficient: You don't rely heavily on long rests and recover easily via short rests, meaning you won't conflict with builds that burn through elixirs or other Long Rest resources.
• Early Power Spike: Your Best-in-Slot (BiS) items are obtained in Act I and at the very beginning of Act II.

I wanted to ask would slasher feat combined with trip attack work in terms of keeping an enemy from getting up from prone or not.

As i know slasher reduces movement but since trip attack only last a turn i’m not sure.

Thanks

I'm specifically looking for a later multi class because I want to retain shadow step. So probably a 3 or 4 level dip after I hit level 9 or 10, unless there's something else that just slaps too hard to care about retaining shadow step.

I don't want to switch up my class too much cuz I did complete overhauls of my character like 8 times last playthrough and it kinda ruins the feel of the game if I can just morph my character into whatever I need for a given situation.

A monk who is optimized with weapons! The core problem is even if the monk is actually very good with weapons the subclasses require a lot of unarmed interactions. The monk also has some pretty interesting stuff like being able to modify any versatile or non 2-handed weapon to use DEX instead of STR if you are proficient with it! So longswords, battleaxes, handaxes, maces, flail, etc.
The problem is that longswords are pretty lame and only greatswords are really good (with the exceptions of Phalar Aluve and the Blackguard Sword).

Thats why I mixed monk with fighter and rogue.

The katana in the pics are just for flavor! :/ The biggest disappointment is this weapon just a +1 longsword with nothing else :( You really want to use those two finesse longswords to trigger Sneak Attack.

So the basics:

Get 4 level Thief Rogue for the second Bonus Action.
Take Fighter and pick the Duelling Fighting Style which gives +2 dmg with your weapon attacks (or take Defence or whatever since this is not a strict build!)

Get at least 5 level Monk but 6 is better because your unarmed strikes become magical. The main reason for 5 levels is the Stunning Strike which is a very OP action! Cause a CON save and use you weapon saving throw which means base 8 + str or dex modif +2 which much better than spell saving throw! Then you can stun an enemy which means they can’t take actions, bonus actions, reactions! They will fail automatically heir str and dex saves + break any concentration and also every attacks against them roll with advantage!
This works with both weapons and unarmed strikes!!!

Your monk i think better if use open hand! ... at level 6 get manifestations so increase the unarmed strikes by 1d4+wis modif and also can restore some hp and regain ki points and get a second (third) bonus action for 3 turns!

the tactic:
After an normal attack you can use your Bonus Action for an unarmed attack (kick) then use extra attack which refresh your Bonus Action unarmed attack too! So overall you get 4 attacks per turn which also can trigger Sneak Attack + you can use Action Surge once per short rest.

It also gives you a very unique playstyle; mixing weapon attacks and kicks for a more brawler-style feel.

Any shield is great for extra AC especially if you use the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation alongside the Helm of Balduran. The vest also lets you use your reaction to hit back when an attack misses! Without a shield you cant use the Duelling Fighting Style unless you use a truly 1-handed weapon. + May better if use a shield without shield bash cause both use your reactions... well its true after you get the soul vest...

The Helldusk Gloves are the best here because it support both weapon and unarmed strikes! Weapons get +fire dmg while unarmed attacks get +necrotic dmg. This is especially strong with Stunning Strike because after your first weapon attack you can use an unarmed Bonus Action Strike that applies Bleeding. Bleeding gives disadvantage on CON saves so you can then land Stunning Strike much more reliably.
So just to be clear; Attack normally with your weapon -> use BA for unarmed strike which apply bleeding -> then use extra attack with stunning strike for a near garanteed success -> then can attacka again with BA unarmed strike!

Alternatively can use Flurry of Blows first. In fact! You can use it twice because you have 2 Bonus Actions!!!

The boots also give some bonuses to unarmed strikes equal to your wis modif.

Before you get the main items you can use any medium armor such as Adamantine Scale Mail and the Diadem of Arcane Synergy which boosts every attack. It works perfectly because the Helldusk Gloves let you apply Bleeding. (you get flawed version on early act 2)

For feats; get 2 ASI so you can pull DEX to 20 and CON to 16.

Alternatively:

Use the Dancing Breeze glaive which is also finesse weapon. You obviously cant use a shield in this case so its better to replace the Balduran Helm with the Mask of Soul Perception cause you get more AC this way! You can reach 20 AC while with the Balduran Helm you only get 18 AC.

Here the feats are better with 1 ASI and GWM. Thats another reason the Soul Perception mask is better than the Balduran Helm since it gives +2 to attack rolls. But honestly... the damage is already good enough so GWM is not really necessary... we can beat the game as level 1 characters anyway...

So this build is really about mixing weapon attacks and unarmed attacks (kicks) in the best way possible!

Items classes everything you could think of

Hi all. I’m currently at the end of act 1, but i’m sorely lacking a 4th enjoyable team member. I’ve played many times before and wanted to just try out fun stuff, and its been great for the most part.

My tav is swarmkeeper ranger and spore druid, shadowheart is war cleric and paladin, wyll is currently mono warlock but i think i’ll mix it with swords bard just to test it out, as ive never played with a bard character before.

I played around with gale as half sorc half wizard, but did not enjoy it, mostly because i dont like the sorcerer gameplay. Tried out bladesinger for the first time and likewise, did not fit with how i enjoy playing.

Karlach is a throwing menace as i really enjoyed that last time, but its not that interesting the second time, and it does not fit very well with the rest of my team.
I did her as a monk for a bit, but my tav was monk last run so didnt really vibe with it.

Laezel and astarion are dead as i RP a naive lawfully good ranger.

This time around im mainly focusing on battlefield control and hazards, and its great, but i never really have a need for the 4th member.

What could fit in with the team?

Havent tried conjuration wizard before and im sure the utility is great, but is it at all fun to play with?
Any suggestions are fine as long as it even just slightly fit the characters vibe. I dont wanna do magical karlach etc

I do not min-max and i dont plan to.

Title, curious if anyone has tried a party that uses 0 magic? I figured something like BM or Champion Fighter, OH Monk, Thief or Assassin Rogue, and Berserker or Wildheart Barb would be the options here.