Original Video:
*This article is an edited version of the script for this video
Race:
Vedalken. We’re mainly here for Vedalken Dispassion to get advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. If you can’t use setting specific races the Gnome has a similar but slightly less powerful ability called Gnome Cunning. It gives advantage on the same 3 saves but only against magic.
Ability Scores(point buy):
Str: 12(+1)
Dex: 15(+1)
Con: 15(+1)
Int: 8
Wis: 13
Cha: 8
Ability Score Priorities(if rolling):
#1 Con
#2 Dex
#3 At least 13 in Str for multiclassing
Ideal Equipment:
-Halfplate Armor
-Shield
-Rapier
Levels 1-3: Barbarian 1-3
-Rage. Gives us a bit more damage and more importantly resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
-Danger Sense. Gives advantage on dexterity saving throws. Now with this at only level 2 we have advantage or proficiency in all saving throws
-Reckless Attack. If you’re focusing 100% on defense you would obviously never use this but in most cases you should be durable to enough to use this without worrying about it.
-Primal Path: Path of the Totem Warrior
—Totem Spirit: Bear. This gives us resistance to all damage except psychic damage while raging. One of the most popular subclasses in the game for defense and for good reason.
Levels 4-6: Fighter 1-3
-Fighting Style: Defense.
-Second Wind. A little bit of extra healing once per short rest
-Action Surge. This is less useful for a build focusing on defense but there will still be times where we want to do some extra damage and we can use this
-Martial Archetype: Battle Master
—Maneuvers:
—Bait and Switch, switch places with an ally for a big boost to AC
—Menacing Attack, makes enemies frightened on a failed Wis save which would give them disadvantage on their attacks.
These are the best two in terms of defenses, for the others you can just pick whichever maneuvers you’d like. Evasive Footwork and Parry could be ok but we’ll get similar features that are much better from our next multiclass.
Levels 7-15: Rogue 1-9
-Sneak Attack. some extra damage once per turn
-Expertise. Athletics or Acrobatics would be a good choice to get out of grapples
-Cunning Action. Being able to Dash and Disengage as a bonus action will be good for helping us position ourselves on the battlefield
-Roguish Archetype: Phantom
—Wails from the Grave: A little bit of extra damage to a 2nd target
—Tokens of the Departed: This is the main reason we’re here. Having a soul token with us grants advantage on death saving throws and Con saves.
-ASI or Feat: Resilient: Wis. Wisdom saves happen a lot and they are currently our weakest of the 3 primary saves Dex, Con, and Wis.
-ASI or Feat: Medium Armor Master. Another +1 to our AC
-Uncanny Dodge. Anytime we take damage from an attack we can cause it to deal half damage. This in combination with resistance will make big hits deal almost no damage to us
-Evasion. One of the best defensive abilities in the game allowing us to take no damage on a successful Dex save or half damage on a failed save.
Levels 16-20: 3 Variations
-Rogue 13 for Ghost Walk
-Barb 6 for an extra Rage
-Fighter 6 for an extra ASI or Feat
For either fighter or barbarian you’d get extra attack which would let you land menacing attack and your sneak attack more often.
Regardless of which of these you go for you’ll get at least one more ASI or Feat. Some good picks would be Lucky which we would usually use to reroll saving throws, the Tough feat to boost our hp, or just boosting your Con score would be a good option as well.
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