Crit Fisher 2.0: D&D Build #170

what is the highest percent chance to get a  critical hit on a single attack that a character   can have in DND D 5e without magic items I'm not  talking about things that guarantee a critical   hit like attacking a paralyzed or unconscious  creature or getting surprise on an enemy if   you're an Assassin Rogue right I'm talking about  more run-of-the-mill stuff that doesn't require   any this might not work preconditions to be met  the answer is 27.1% you want to see how to try to   get the most out of having that fantastic  crit chance then keep watching welcome to [Music] D4 hey everybody so here at D4 each week  I take a deep dive into one usually sometimes   more character builds for my favorite role  playing games I like to crunch numbers about   them Theory craft about them uh not so that I can  tell you the right way or the best way to play a   certain character but to explore one potential  way to build something in the hopes of creating   a character that's both really powerful but  also really fun to play so if you enjoy creating   characters for your favorite role playing games  almost as much as you enjoy playing the actual   game itself or if you're just looking for tips  or ideas on how to build something that you're   thinking about playing then welcome home this is  where you belong and I'm so glad you're here so   thank you for watching my name's Colby and yes I  have a man bun and I'm not taking it out just give   me one just one video with the man bun that's all  I ask okay I've got a lot of things on my mind to   share with today's build so let's just jump right  in first I been thinking a lot about crit fishing   lately long time ago I did a crit Fisher build uh  check it out right up there a character who was   trying to you know fish for crits get a really  high crit chance and then when they did get a   critical hit unload with some big damage I think  it worked really well but one comment that I got   a ton of on that video was essentially real crit  Fishers use Elvin accuracy and don't get me wrong   I get it Elvin accuracy powerful feet anyone who's  been watching this channel for any length of time   knows how I feel about it but yeah especially if  you're crit fishing because getting to roll three   d20s to hit when you have Advantage instead of two  is a really nice increase to our chance to get a   critical hit right if you have advantage on your  attacks Elven accuracy brings your crit chance   to just over 14% if you are critting on a 19 or a  20 though plus plus Elvin accuracy that's how you   get to that magic 27% number the big problem with  Elven accuracy in a crit Fisher build is that you   only get that triple advantage or super Advantage  three roles right if you're using Charisma wisdom   intelligence or dexterity for your attack I mean  I guess in that in and of itself isn't a problem   but what is a problem is that the easiest way to  get advantage in game right now which you have   to have in order to benefit from Elvin accuracy  in the first place that you know that just kind   of works all the time whenever you want it is  The Barbarians Reckless attack and you can only   take advantage of Reckless attack if you are using  strength for your attacks so just doesn't really   play nice with Elvin accuracy there are other  ways to get advantage in the game of course plenty   but the vast majority of them rely on you doing  something first and often have a chance of failing   the fairy fire spell knocking your enemy prone the  old Darkness devil sight thing these are all great   but sometimes an enemy will make a save against  them or they can be a nuisance on the battlefield   or perhaps most damningly they take a round to set  up when have you ever cared about setup rounds my   critics may ask and you know what yeah they have  a right to ask because I'm kind of notorious   for building characters who can do a boatload of  damage if everything works just right and if you   take around to set it all up Etc to be fair not  all of my Nova or burst damage builds work this   way but a lot of them do and in those instances  I'll usually be critical of that fact and while   I have done plenty of builds that are meant to  just do big damage right on round one like uh the   Supernova moon to name one but yeah my friend uh  Cobalt pack tactics put out a video recently about   the value of burst damage early in a fight it's  a great vid check it out here if you haven't seen   it and it's had me thinking a lot lately about how  important early damage really is that's not to say   that there aren't times when going Nova later in a  fight is a bad idea maybe you're a Melee character   and you can't get in range of the enemies on round  one maybe you start a fight thinking it'll be a   breeze and you didn't want to blow all of your  resources but the enemies are tougher than you   thought SP and now it's time to put the smack  down maybe you thought you killed the big bad   but then they take on their final form I don't  know but regardless yes generally speaking it's   tactically sound if you're going to burst to burst  right away if possible so you can hopefully take   out an enemy or maybe two before they get a chance  to go making the rest of the fight a lot easier   for your entire party right so when I was thinking  about how to build an Elven accuracy crit Fisher I   decided that I was going to commit to building one  that was going no right on round one finally after   putting out my best builds for every level video  a couple of weeks ago it's actually today as I'm   recording this um but yeah check that out here if  you haven't seen it I was really proud of that one   anyways since then I've also been thinking a lot  about the value of builds that just work sure it   can be fun to put something together that's like  hey if all the cards fall into place and just   the right way and the enemy fails their save and  you get some setup time then this build freaking   rocks but yeah I'm kind of in the mood right now  to just test the limits of what's possible where   I don't have to depend on anyone other than my  own character or anyone's dice rolls for it to   work like I want it to pretty much every time with  all of that in mind then here is my goal for this   build and the rule I'm going to adhere to while  building it goal get to as high a crit chance as   possible that Elvin accuracy crit on a 19 or 20  27.1% magic number as soon as reasonably possible   and have some fun ways to unload big damage when  we do crit which will be often and then the rule   is I have to be able to burst right on round one  no setup required and know if the enemy fails   their save or if you have surprise Shenanigans it  just straight up works and it works immediately   are you with me okay awesome then let's dig in  to DND build number 170 the crit Fisher 2.0 huge   thanks to my good friend Randall Hampton for the  Fantastic artwork that he put together for this   build I love what he does if you're interested  in following him on social media to check out the   other stuff he's done or to potentially reach out  to see if you could commission him to do some art   for your character or even your entire party I'll  put links in the video description as always on   how to do so okay got my character uh the version  of them when they change shape uh the version of   them when they get the enlarge spell cast on them  uh my journal for notes back story Rules book of   course can't forget that ooh the map that I've  been meticulously handcrafting and taking notes   on oh most importantly my dice Kobe you do  realize that there are four other people that   need to share this table with you right who are  you and what are you doing in my living room I'm   your DM dude we've been playing together for like  7 years oh yeah anyways you know why I have all   these aut dude I got to keep track of everything  so many rules and events and names and details I   don't want to forget anything that is happening  or that has happened or that is going to happen   any little detail of it because it's going to ruin  the immersion of this world and this campaign that   we have been so painstakingly crafting together  right but you could keep track of all of this in   one place you know World Anvil I tell you about  it like every game night World Anvil World anvil   tell me again just like I thought okay World Anvil  is like a One-Stop shop for everything you need to   keep track of in a campaign I've got our world  map uploaded there along with what happened in   every location you've been to so far and when  but I've been color coding this on everything   sticky notes I don't need it all right I've got  like a Wiki on the entire world in there all the   political factions all the important characters  important dates vocals and I mean you can put your   character sheet in there as well as your backstory  session notes everything so I don't need this or   this nope just my tablet and my dice yep wow I  feel like I just went through like a cleansing   session with Marie condo or something so much joy  right and the best part is World Anvil works with   basically every ttrp G system out there so when  we play our once a month Star Wars campaign you   can still just get everything you need in World  Anvil so why haven't you told me about this yet   for reals fine how do I sign up again I mean you  can get a free account by going to the URL in the   video description or the pinned comment but if you  want to unlock everything with a paid subscription   just use the code D4 a checkout and you'll save  51% that's gobble dek seriously 51% hogwash nope   over half Flim Flam for reals okay well I don't  want to lose money on this or anything signing   up now hella freaking luah thanks World Anvil for  making my life so much easier and for sponsoring   the video okay let's get back to the build all  right at level one for our starting class here's   the thing how often do I say that after saying  here's our starting class I want Rogue levels   later for this build much later actually but for  me Rogue is one of those classes where if you're   going to take some at some point unless there's  a good reason for starting with something else   I really like to start with Rogue and starting at  Rogue one gives you most of what you need to be a   pretty effective Scout and lock picker for your  party if you want or need to fill that role you   get more proficiencies starting as Rogue thieves  tools proficiency expertise you're a pretty decent   skill monkey even if you don't put any more levels  here for a while so yeah assuming that you want   to go that route as much as I do let's start here  meaning that when we first meet our champion they   are something of a scoundrel but I Envision this  character as being a very driven scoundrel they   are disciplined and rigorous in their training  in the Arts of subterfuge demanding Perfection of   themselves and maybe even those they run with they  might even be like a Thieves Guild or Assassin's   Guild leader I think as for our race well I've  already said that we want Elven accuracy so that   means we're going either half elf or full Elf  right or you know maybe an Aladin or a shadar Kai   those count as elves too and I tend to always be  a little more prone to half elf myself since they   get better starting ability scores but I wouldn't  consider it mandatory necessarily I'm going to   assume we're going half elf as for which subrace  of half elf to choose just pick your favorite I   tend to prefer Dr half elf for the Spells or  wood half elf for more move speed but nothing's   going to be super imperative to the build for our  ability scores I'm assuming Point by as always and   say let's go with a 15 dexterity take a plus two  there a 13 Constitution plus one a 13 Charisma   plus one and then a 13 strength yeah we're going  to be pretty mad multiple ability score dependent   but thanks to half heal we do have an easier time  dealing with that oh and by the way you could   get that strength to a 14 if you really wanted we  needed at least a 13 for multiclassing but I think   I just ass soon put my wisdom at a 10 personally  so anyways do what you want there as for our   equipment uh starting off I'm going to say let's  go Gold by grab some studded leather a Rapier and   a shield though we're not proficient in Shields  just yet as a rogue one Rogue one then we get   thieves can't which is the special coded language  that thieves can use to send messages to one   another uh in a kind of hidden way right then we  get expertise which lets us double our proficiency   bonus with either two skills that we're proficient  in or one skill and then thieves tools right I'm   going to say let's go stealth or thieves tools  but if you aren't really planning on filling the   sneaky scouty rooll for your party feel free to  go perception instead or something else in fact   I might actually take perception over one of those  other two anyways since our wisdom score is going   to be so low and you need perception not just  to you know perceive things but it also helps to   detect traps and find hidden doors right so worth  considering as a rogue one Rogue one we also get   sneak attack which tells us that once per turn if  we have advantage on the attack or are attacking   someone standing next to our Ally we can add a D6  of damage to a hit so long as we're using either a   ranged or finesse weapon and yes damage from sneak  attack doubles on a crit nice before moving on let   me just give a quick shout out and thank you to  my channel members you guys are so awesome I could   not do this without you I really appreciate your  support and if you're not a channel member I'd   appreciate it if you'd consider joining there's  a little button down there it says join click   it and it'll tell you the benefits that you can  get by being a member it's not very expensive you   can get access to the library of writeups that  I create for each of these builds to help you   recreate it yourself a little more easily access  to the D4 Discord server filled with wonderful   lovely people and even access to our monthly  live Q&A Hangout out sessions if you want to   consider it awesome if you don't that's okay too I  appreciate you just being here liking subscribing   especially clicking the notifications Bell  commenting these are all great ways to support   the channel too so thank you for that too okay  at level two with our rogish foundation secured   uh I want to start multiclassing and there's  going to be a lot of that going on with this   build for me I think my character or someone  they care for here maybe has been slighted or   affronted or wounded or maybe even killed but the  one who has has wronged us is a lot more powerful   than we are at the moment for whatever reason  they're a little bit untouchable right now so   we decide to dedicate ourselves to the cause of  Vengeance swearing an oath to get even eventually   doubling down on our discipline and Devotion  to becoming the most deadly maybe anti-hero we   can possibly become whatever your reasons we are  taking yes Paladin levels now wait a de based P   that's right and it's not even my first actually  so as a p 1 we get a couple of features the best   one is lay on hands which gives us five lay on  hands points per Paladin level that we can use   with an action and a touch to either heal one hit  point per Point spent or cure a disease or poison   for the cost of Five Points super efficient  super useful scales nicely uh they reset on a   long rest Divine sense the other feature we get  here is a little bit less impressive I think it   just lets us detect the presence of Undead fiends  or celestials within 60 ft of us not behind total   cover once in a while you'll be glad you have it  at level three we would be a paladin 2 and that   means we get a fighting style and we are going  with dueling here it says that when we make an   attack with a one-handed weapon and have no  weapon in our other hand we can do an extra   two damage alas that does not double on a crit  but we'll take it and I like the idea of a light   armor wearing rap here and shield using Paladin  here which yeah I didn't mention that I guess we   get Shield proficiency when we take Paladin levels  right and it's a bit of a unique take on the class   and I'm here for it the thing that I'm mostly here  for though is of course Divine Smite which says   that when we hit an enemy with a melee attack  we can spend a spell slot to do 2 d8 additional   radiant damage plus 1 d8 more for every spell  slot above first that we spend capping at 5 d8   or fourth level spell slots this is the real thing  that we will be using to blow up our enemies on a   crit and it's going to be spectacular eventually  we also get spells at Paladin 2 here and because   we are going to be so focused on burst damage  this character's sustained damage isn't going   to be quite as amazing right so if it were  me I'd probably Focus Fus on taking spells   here that will bring some nice utility or support  bless is for sure a go-to here adding a D4 to the   attack roles and saving throws of multiple party  members so good and then sure cure wounds for a   backup heal option if you're out of lay on hands  points right at level four we would be a paladin   3 and that means we get Divine Health which makes  us immune to all disease super handy if it ever   comes up in game otherwise won't be that useful  but that's okay because we also at p 3 get our   sacred oath our Paladin subass and we we are going  in case you couldn't tell with my little backstory   with oath of Vengeance this is such a great subass  one of my favorites especially for burst damage   purposes as a Vengeance P we get a couple of new  spells here uh Bane and Hunter's Mark neither of   which we'll plan on using during our Nova round  but might be worth using sometimes outside of   that so I won't complain about them then all  paladins get channel Divinity here which just   like for clerics we can use once per short rest  now every Paladin can use it for harness divine   power letting us recover a spence spell slot once  per day as a bonus action the spell level of which   is equal to half our proficiency bonus rounded  up but then as a Vengeance P we can use it for   one of two additional things abjure enemy lets  us attempt to frighten an enemy for one minute   if they fail their wisdom save against it and if  they do they're not only frightened but also can't   move though both of those effects end if they take  damage even if they succeed though their speed is   still have so at least you get something in that  case the real gem here of course is vow of enmity   which lets us with a bonus action have advantage  on attacks against a single enemy for one minute   or until they're dead or unconscious I really  love this ability on this character since again   it just gives us Advantage right on round one if  we want it no questions asked and that is what   we're building for at level five we would be a  paladin four that means we get our first ability   score increase or feat and yes of course we we are  going to take Elvin accuracy probably my favorite   feat in all of 5e this raises our dexterity for  us by 1 to an ice even 18 and then tells us that   if we make an attack with dexterity or wisdom or  intelligence or Charisma and have Advantage then   we can roll three d20s to try and hit instead  of two putting us at a lovely 14.26% chance to   crit now when we have Advantage anyways and that  is fantastic at level six we would be a paladin   five and that means we get extra attack so that  we can attack twice when we take the attack action   on our turn leading to more chances to crit and  smite our our foes right out of the gate and we   also get second level spells here and sticking  with the like support and utility theme let's   grab Aid to buff maximum hit points and heal also  lesser restoration for a little cure all and then   I mean yeah we're a paladin we kind of have to  take fine Ste right of course we don't really   have to but it would be silly not to I think it  lets us summon a warhorse or something else less   mechanically good if you really want and that  warhorse will just stay with us forever until   it gets reduced to zero hit points point or we  dismiss it now the question I always ask with   this spell is should we count it towards the  damage calculations and the answer is usually   sure I know the rules for mounted combat in 5e are  super wonky but the vast majority of tables so far   as I can tell let you both decide where the Steed  goes and let it make attacks against you when you   want to attack regardless of the whole are they  an independent or Mount or they controlled Mount   Shenanigans right the spell description says you  can communicate telepathically and that you fight   as a SE seamless unit that's good enough for me  and apparently most of you as well if you don't   want to count the ste's damage that's fine it's  not a huge amount it'll be like 10ish points of   damage depending on the enemy Armor class they're  not going to have Advantage they're not smiting   it's just a little bump speaking of though  at level six it is time for our first damage report so what is combat look like for us right  now it's fairly simple we charge into battle on   our trusty Steed put vow of enmity on our Target  and smite them twice with a couple of Rapier   attacks using both of our second level spell  slots potentially for 3 d8 each applying the   extra D6 from sneak attack on our first hit now  if you are truly crit fishing you might want to   just hold off on Smite and sneak attack until you  crit right our chance to crit on a single hit is   14% like I've said but our chance on landing at  least one critical hit on our turn since we're   making two attacks is over 26% not bad of course  we've only got guaranteed advantage on a single   enemy per short rest right with vow of enmity  you don't get to transfer it or anything once   your Target's dead so you might just want to Smite  away right from the get-go regardless in the hopes   of taking out at least one enemy on round one as  for our Steed here's something nice thanks to the   war horses trampling charge feature if they move  in a straight line for at least 20 ft and then   hit with a Hooves attack the enemy has to make a  dc14 strength save or be knocked prone if they are   prone the warhorse gets to make a second attack  against them freeze of number crunching I'm just   going to assume that there's a 50% chance that  the enemy is prone on this first round thanks   to our war horses trampling charge I think it's  pretty safe to assume that we'll be able to charge   in on round one right combat starts we're going  to be at least 20 ft away from our enemies most   of the time if not we could probably back up and  then charge but also if the enemy is prone thanks   to trampling charge then we'll have advantage on  attacks against them meaning that we should wait   to see if we knock them prone before we use vow  enmity letting you save it for a second enemy or   maybe a second combat encounter if you have one  before your next short rest right thanks horsey   okay so under those assumptions against an enemy  with a 10 armor class we would on average here do   74 total damage on average during our Nova round  round one and against an enemy with a 15 Armor   class it would be 68 damage and compared to other  Nova damage builds that I've done to date at this   level that's pretty great call it bottom half of  tier one all right CP Fisher now as far as how   well this compares to my original crit Fisher  build it's a little tough to say because that   that build was actually made for sustained damage  right and so it's not really a very good Apples   to Apples comparison I mean it was really more  like a here's the damage you would do on average   but save your smites for when you get a crit  kind of thing so it was sort of a burst damage   build but not a burst on demand build and so  the easiest way to calculate it seemed to be   just assume you only smoked when you got a crit I  know it's a little bit wonky just like this is a   little bit wonky to call it a crit Fisher but then  crunch numbers like you're smiting regardless of   whether you crit or not anyways that build was  averaging DPR that put them into tier 2 so they   were solid but they didn't have Smite by level  six this level so they weren't even capable of   much demand burst on demand burst damage anyways  I'll report back on how we compare in the final   thoughts at the end all right with extra attack  secured along with Smite and several spell slots   to go along with it I think it's time to turn  our attention towards getting an even better   crit chance for this build my favorite  way to do that is via some fighter levels   yeah yeah I'll talk about hex blades a little  later but we get a lot out of a few fighter levels   wait we're leaving Paladin behind AA of protection  is right there dude I know I know you go ahead and   take P 6 first R of protection is awesome to be  fair it's not quite as awesome for us since we   only have a 14 Charisma but it's still nice I  am beholden to the spreadsheet and only really   have my eye on damage which is why I'm doing this  but feel free to be more well-rounded if you're   playing this character in game anyways at fighter  one we get a fighting style we we get another   fighting style and since we've already got dualist  and aren't actually planning on like dual wielding   or using a heavy weapon on this build I'm going  to say let's just grab Superior technique which   lets us learn one maneuver from the battl master  maneuver list and also gives us one superiority   die per short rest to fuel that maneuver with  though it's only a D6 as opposed to the normal   d8 this can potentially add to our Critical Hits  and that's the main reason I want it anyways and   I'd probably grab either trip attack or menacing  attack as both let us add a D6 to our attack when   we hit potentially knocking the enemy prone  or frightening them depending on which one you   take and yeah I'd probably try and save this for  when I crit personally unless you really need it   otherwise at level eight we would be a fighter too  and yeah if we're building for burst damage it's   hard to leave out action surge right which would  let us now take two actions once per short rest   nearly doubling our damage potential on our burst  round now at level 9 I mean since we were going to   get action surge anyways we might as well go just  one more level of fighter so that we can get our   Marshall archetype right our subass because that  would let us pick up the champion archetype that   most vanilla of all subclasses because Champions  get the improved critical feature which says   that we crit on a 19 or a 20 and thus we have  finally arrived at that vaunted 27% chance to   crit on a single attack when we have Advantage  okay at level 9 it is time for our next damage report since last check we have seen a pretty  massive bump to our no around thanks to doubling   our number of attacks and nearly doubling our  crit chance we've also added a little D6 of   damage potentially 2d6 on a crit right thanks to  Superior technique quite notably with Advantage   Elven accuracy improved critical and four attacks  during our Nova round there is about a 72% chance   that at least one of our attacks will crit during  our Nova round so yeah more often than not on that   opening round we're going to crit at least once so  even if we're smiting on every attack regardless   with a second level Smite for two of them and a  first level Smite for the other two I'd almost   surely be waiting to use sneak attack and my  superiority die until I rolled that 19 or 20 right   there's a really high likelihood that you're going  to get at least one anyways if we went all out   right on round one against an enemy with a 10 AC  we would on average do now 132 damage during our   Nova round and against a 16 AC it would be just  slightly less 124 damage which is double since   last check not surprisingly but very gratifyingly  and compared to other Nova builds I've done to   date at this level that's kind of bottom half of  tier one still really great place to be and sure   you might not want to blow all of your resources  in a single round of combat like this might be   Overkill but if you just wait to crit and then  unload everything that you can when you do you're   going to do 56 damage on average with just that  one hit that's awesome pile on three more attacks   and you are very likely to take out most enemies  that you'd be fighting at this level in a single   round even if you don't blow all of your resources  all right at level 10 now that we've gotten most   of what we need out of fighter and Paladin and our  crit chance as high as it can be the best thing we   can do for our burst damage here is to increase  our spell slots to get us bigger smites and since   we're already a Charisma based Caster that's going  to mean going Bard which could be great warlock   which has some pros and cons or what I'm going  to take sorcerer now let's break that decision   down a little little bit if you're playing up to  or Beyond level 15 definitely consider warlock   I of course strongly considered going hex blade  when putting this spild together some of you have   probably been scratching your head wondering why I  didn't this entire time hex blade would give us a   lot of things we want crit on a 19 eldrich Smite  the big problem was I couldn't get to eldrich   Smite and have Advantage by level six without  a setup round sure I could have gone Darkness   devil site right but that takes around a setup  not to mention that it can be really obnoxious   for everybody else at your table and while going  say Vengeance P or Assassin Rogue combined with   hex blade could have gotten me Advantage without a  setup round I wanted to be able to crit fish with   Elvin accuracy right for our first damage report  and have extra attack which kind of necessitated   Vengeance P plus I've already hit my limit of hex  blade dips this quarter with a hexo and I kind   of already did that hex blade crit Fisher build  anyways uh right up here the locked in Bard right   besides going sorcerer will actually give us more  potential total burst damage over an entire round   even later on in the game for two reasons better  spell slots since multiclassing with Sorcerer And   Paladin combines levels from both to give us more  total spell slot levels right uh sure it's slower   multiclassing with a half cter like Paladin but  warlock spell slots don't mix with other Caster   classes but also because sorcerer will get us to  quickened spell as we will get into eventually but   if you're truly just saving those resources  for when you crit and not just like blowing   a Smite on every single attack that you make  on round one and hoping that at least one of   them becomes a crit then warlock might be a little  better thanks to eldrich Smite which you can apply   to the same attack as Divine Smite if you have  both right in that scenario I mean as a sorcerer   if we wait to crit and then Smite with a fourth  level spell slot and add sneak attack I'm talking   about like character level 15 here we would crit  for 75 damage a as a warlock if you wait to crit   and then hit them with both a Divine SM an eldr  Smite at the same time your warlock spell slots   are only going to be third level at that point  if we followed the build up till this point the   same way anyways but both together would be  8 d8 damage right or 16 d8 on a crit at sneak   attack and you're doing 102 damage on average on  a single critical hit but right we're not building   for a single hit necessarily we're building for  total burst damage potential even though when   you play this character in game you very well may  be saving your smites for crits most of the time   capish okay so why has your disciplined leader  of an Assassin's Guild who has sworn an oath   of Vengeance suddenly started taking sorcerer  levels here I'm not sure perhaps the strain of   their rigorous discipline became too much for  them at some point something broke inside of   them and Unleashed forces of chaos that had been  lying dormant inside but that they had been like   bottling up maybe they actually exacted their  Vengeance fulfilled their oath and in a moment   of exultant fervor manifested some strange new  wild Powers because at level one Sorcerers get   their subass their sorceress origin and I would  like to take wild magic I think feels like a bit   of an opposing Force to the character that we've  been building no I think seeing the pendulum swing   far to the other side for this character could  be really cool though and I bet you could come   up with a great story reason for why it happened  wild magic definitely is not necessary for the   build to work or anything they get a couple of  features here the first wild magic surge is what   they're famous for it says that when you cast  a sorcerer spell of first level or higher the   DM can have you roll a D20 and if you roll a one  then you roll a 100 sided die and see what kind of   surge happens based on the wild magic surge table  which can result in some pretty silly or awesome   or painful stuff happening as usual though when  I take wild magic the thing I'm mostly interested   in here is the tides of chaos feature that they  get which says that once per long rest you can   just give yourself advantage on an attack roll  save or ability check and this might be really   nice to have for those of us Elin accuracy who are  fighting a big fight but we've already used up our   vow of enmity and could really use a crit right  about now kind of thing right also we're told   that the DM can just have you roll on the wild  magic surge table anytime you cast a first level   sorcerer spell or higher and afterwards you regain  the use of your advantage so hey if you and your   DM are up for some potential Insanity you might be  able to have another source of Advantage somewhat   regularly as for the sorcerer spells that we get  at sorcerer one here I mean of course we should   grab shield and silvery barbs speaking of finding  more ways to give yourself Advantage right but I'm   especially interested in booming blade and ore  green flame blade both of them do extra damage   on a hit and then more damage either if the one  you hit moves before your next turn in the case   of booming blade or damage to an adjacent enemy  in the case of green flame blade right now we're   not going to be using these yet in fact not till  the end of the build since casting these cantrips   would take our entire action and it's not going  to be as good as just taking the attack action   but yeah like I say we will make use of them  later at level 11 we would be a sorcerer 2 and   that means we get font of magic these are just our  sorcery points right we get one per sorcer level   and we can use them right now just to create more  spell slots for ourselves which is great later we   might want to also sacrifice spell slots to get  more sorcery points uh once we can use those for   meta magic which we would pick up next level  level 12 we'd be a sorcerer of three we get to   learn two metamagic options and I'm going to  go for my favorite of course quick and spell   which lets us cast a spell with a casting time  of an action as a bonus action instead very nice   and as for the second one to take go ahead and  pick your favorite maybe grabbing twin spell or   subtle spell or whatever your preference might be  unfortunately I'm not planning on making use of   Quicken spell yet because we need our bonus  action still on round one for vow of enmity   right if you are somehow able to get your vow  going before combat begins or don't mind waiting   until round two to go Nova sure quickening a a  booming blade on your Nova round or green flame   blade is a really nice way to add a little more  Nova damage at the moment both of those cantrips   hit for an extra 2 d8 damage on a hit those would  double on a crit right and there's no reason you   couldn't also add a Smite to that hit as well or  even sneak attack if you crit right I'm not going   to assume that we're doing this yet though like  I said I don't want any contingencies for this   burst damage to just work right on round one we  get second level sorcerer spells here though too   and yeah there are lots of great options here of  course Misty step mind Spike invisibility spider   climb Vortex warp web but the only one I'm going  to mention for consideration on our Nova round is   my darling Baby Shadow Blade it's great in that  it conjures a simple finesse weapon in your hand   that does a ton of damage per hit 2D eight as a  second level spell more if you upcast it but yeah   the problem with it for this build is that it not  only requires concentration but also costs a bonus   action to cast like I've said we still need our  bonus action for vow of enmity unless of course   we're fighting in dim light or Darkness because  remember with Shadow Blade you have advantage   on all of your attacks if you're standing in dim  light or darkness in that case absolutely summon   the blade on round one with your bonus action then  make your attacks enjoying some extra damage from   the blade assuming you don't have an amazing magic  rape here by now which of course you might and not   needing vow of enmity I'm not going to assume  that we're doing this of course like I've been   saying no contingencies no setup rounds but this  will be really nice to have for those times that   you're fighting in a dimly lit area right or again  maybe if you can somehow get the spell off like   before combat begins don't forget that thanks to  how multiclassing with spellcasters works we do   have third level spell slots now if we wanted to  upcast a Shadow Blade for 3d8 damage per hit or if   we wanted to use those spell slots for 4 d8 smites  at level 13 we would be a sorcerer of four meaning   we get an ability score increase or feat and that  would let us get our dexterity to 20 and cap it   finally which will be a nice increase to both our  hit chance and our Armor class and our damage on   a hit and all of our Rog skills and utility okay  at level 13 it is time for our next damage report   since last check we have capar dexterity picked  up more and higher spell slots for smiing plus   picked up some nice utility potential and general  versatility that comes from sorcerer levels and   spells our tactics though haven't really changed  much and so against an enemy with a 10 Armor   class here we would on average do 167 damage  and against a 17 Armor class it would be 159   during our Nova round only a few points lower  right I just this is why I love Elven accuracy   so much it almost makes the enemy AC irrelevant  or practically so but compared to other Nova   builds that I've done to date uh this puts us more  like in the middle of tier 2 by comparison we've   plateaued a bit since last time we're still in a  great place we just want to do more than simply   increase our Smite damage if we want to see bigger  gains which we will try and do here shortly at   level 14 it finally makes sense from the spread  sheets perspective anyways to just go ahead and   grab Paladin 6 now we've kept our dexterity with  sorcerer levels and taking one level of Paladin   does just as much for our spell slots as taking  another level of sorcerer would remember when   multiclassing half casters with full casters we  take the number of half Caster levels cut them in   half round down and then add that number to the  full Caster levels when trying to figure out how   many spell slots we have right so Paladin five  was only getting us two levels of full Caster   essentially for spell slot purposes going to  P 6 gets us three levels of full Caster follow   me and yeah that also means we get the arguably  overpowered AR of protection which increases our   saving throws by our Charisma modifier and does  the same for all of our allies within 10 ft very   nice uh but would be nicer if we had a higher  Charisma must resist X blade dip anyways yes uh   this means then that we have four LEL spell slots  now so we can if we want Smite for the cap of 5   d8 on a hit right or 10 d8 on a crit at level 15  since we only have one fourth level spell slot I   figure let's take one more sorcerer level making  us a sorcerer five so that we can have two of   them at least plus sure I mean that means we get  third level sorcerer spells and I mean yeah I'd   love to have Spirit shroud or haste and add those  to the damage report not to mention counter spell   and fear and hypnotic pattern and fly and all the  other great third level spells right the problem   with you know things like Spirit shroud or haste  is that they require a setup so so no I'm just   going to say pick your favorite here and yeah if  you can get one of those off before combat starts   go for it I still think Shadow Blade's going to  be a little bit better depending on what magic   weapon you'd be replacing Shadow Blade with if you  had one but yeah I don't want to have to sacrifice   my bonus action or action on round one to cast  any of these spells if I'm trying to prioritize   Nova damage right from the getg go kind of crazy  right I'm not assuming that we're concentrating on   anything this whole freaking build feels almost  sacrilegious but hey it is nice knowing that we   can do big burst right away without needing to  make any assumptions I think at level 16 with a   couple of fourth level spell slots under our belt  for smiting now finally I think I'd actually want   to end the build with some more Rogue levels to  give ourselves two more damage bumps a fairly   big one and a fairly small one so yeah we're  ending where we started we've come full circle   here so this means we'd be a rogue two here and  that gives us [ __ ] action this lets us Dash   disengage or hide as a bonus action instead of  an action that's kind of nice but then finally   for us at level 17 we would be a rogue three and I  really wanted to get to this level in Rogue I wish   I could have gotten here sooner because it gives  us our Rogue subass our rogish archetype and what   do you think I'm going with I mean sure Arcane  trickster would be nice to help out our spell slot   progression this would mean a fifth level spell  slot among other things but I want to go assassin   why primarily because of the assassinate feature  which tells us sure that if we hit an enemy that's   surprised then the attack is an automatic crit but  that's just gravy here as far as I'm concerned for   this build again I want this character to be  something that just works right on round one   without any kind of contingencies or setup or  anything so sure if you can surprise your enemy   congratulations but no what I'm most interested  in here is the fact that also with assassinate   you have advantage on attacks against anyone who  hasn't gone in combat yet wait a sec you might be   saying we already have Advantage thanks to vow  of enmity isn't this redundant kind of sure but   not really because while it is nice to just get  advantage on demand vow of enity takes a bonus   action and I was okay relying on that while I  was building up everything else because we got   so much out of all the other classes that we took  first I tried crunching the numbers and working   this in sooner and it just didn't make sense  mathematically anyways to sacrifice bigger smites   from sorcerer but now that we've gotten pretty  much everything that we need from those other   classes going back to Rogue here will essentially  let us free up that bonus action during our Nova   round meaning we could use it to you guessed it  quick and booming blade or green flame Blade with   our bonus action on round one instead of using vow  of emity which now that we're level 17 by the way   are going to hit for an extra 3d8 damage very nice  we also get Steady Aim which says that we can use   our bonus action to give ourselves advantage on  our next attack this turn but only the next attack   right not every attack and we have to sacrifice  our movement to do it again sure maybe outside   of round one if you just really need advantage on  an attack and you've used up your tides of chaos   ability right you could use this then maybe just  booming Blade with your action even hoping for a   big huge critical right the small damage bump I  mentioned comes from the fact that sneak attack   goes up to 2d6 here uh with three levels of Rogue  right and that will be 4 D6 on a crit and so for   our final damage report since last check we've not  only capped our potential damage from Divine Smite   and increased our sneak attack a bit but we've  also added a fifth attack on our nov round thanks   to a quickened booming blade or green flame blade  attack as well as picked up some nice defensive   and utility options along the way oh and by the  way with five attacks in a round now that we're   quickening a booming blade right our chance of  getting at least one critical hit during our Nova   round has gone up to almost 80% so awesome and  so against an enemy with a 10 Armor class here on   average we would do 247 damage and against an ac1  18 it would be 236 and that's a nice bump putting   us kind of top of tier 2 compared to other burst  damage builds that I've done to date at this level   which is again fabulous so let's break it down  here with some final thoughts the tier score for   this build if you take the damage that they did  at every armor class we calculated for at each of   the four damage reports and just averaged it all  into one big number we end up with a 139 putting   them in the upper half of tier 2 not surprisingly  so okay couple of big questions to address here   first of all how does this build compare to the  first crit Fisher build I did numbers wise again   we're not really comparing Apples to Apples  because that build was looking at sustained   damage and this one's burst right but I think  the reality of any crit Fisher build is that   you're not really building for sustained damage  right the idea is to get a critical hit and when   you do pile on every kind of additional damage  thing you can pile on for a big Nova Kaboom with   that first build though I kind of went hey when  you crit you're going to hit super hard but you   don't really know when that's going to happen so  we'll call it a sustained damage build and I guess   the problem with that approach on a crit Fisher  build is that a lot of the time you're going to   crit on an enemy when they're already super low  and so if you really do like Smite and things   every time you crit a lot of times that damage is  just going to be Overkill burst damage is just so   much more effective when you can do it on demand  and especially when you can do it right on round   one at least that way your likelihood of getting  Overkill damage is a lot less unless your ally   beat you in initiative and already got a Target  Whitted down for you before your turn but in   that case hopefully you can move on to a second  target before your turns over and either take   them out too or just about kill him right anyways  if we compare the burst damage capability of that   first crit Fisher build assuming that they were  just going to blow all of their resources early   on in in an attempt to eliminate a Target or two  and not just only smiting on a crit Etc they were   doing 60 to 90 points of damage less at level  17 depending on the enemy Armor class if they   just tried to go Nova on round one right they  had Advantage basically all of the time thanks   to Reckless attack and some decent survivability  thanks to rage better sustained damage thanks to   a great weapon master so yeah a very different  build still pretty solid in its own right it   clocked in as a tier 2 sustained damage build  like I said but again I think if you're really   building a crit Fisher you're better off getting  that crit rate even higher with Elven accuracy   and being able to burst On Demand right on  round one and in that light I think 2.0 is   a much better build the other thing that just  has to be said here is you know I'm comparing   this to all the other Nova builds that I've done  to date the majority of those if I'm not mistaken   either have some sort of contingency or have  a setup round or sometimes both so we're not   really comparing Apples to Apples here either  when I compare these to other Nova builds if I   allowed myself a setup round which I was going to  do originally and maybe we do cast Shadow Blade   right or haste or Spirit shroud and then go Nova  on round two our damage is going to be way higher   it would have put this comfortably into tier one  so yeah I don't know maybe I should have like   reported the numbers where they could potentially  be in a best case scenario but then just sort of   told you what they would be if you just wanted  to try and burst on round one and let you decide   right I mean really you can probably figure it out  for the most part and still make a very educated   decision do you want to take a round and try and  get a concentration spell going first if so yeah   round two is going to be that much better but  you might have let an enemy survive for an entire   round who otherwise might have been dead and was  is that really worth it h maybe not but you know   what I think my favorite thing about this build  is it's just so atypical I mean we're a dexterity   based Paladin wearing light armor we're a Nova  damage build who uses a shield and a Rapier for   their entire career looking over my spreadsheets I  think this is the highest Nova damage dealer I've   ever built that uses a shield so yeah especially  once we can get to Aura of protection and if we   moved things around a bit to favor Charisma a  little more this character would have some Fant   fantastic survivability as well as utility and  support capabilities right and like I've said   I've never planned on using a concentration spell  that we had a lot of great ones available to us I   love the idea of going Nova on round one to get  the odds of the fight going in our favor and   then sure on round two throw up Spirit shroud  to bolster your sustained damage or bless for   support or whatever else your party needs most  we can burst we can support we got great defense   some decent utility even solid control options  eventually and might have been filling the role   of the party's Rogue for our entire career to boot  I love the unique flavor here combined with the   like doit all aspect of the build too in the end  I think it would be an absolute blast to play it   would bring so much versatility to the table so I  certainly hope that you get to try it out sometime   for yourself but whether you do or not that's  the build for the week I hope you enjoyed it I   hope you know how much I love you you guys are so  awesome thank you for all that you do for me for   the channel thanks for not laughing too hard at  my man bun this week I hope you have a fantastic   day and a really great week and if you don't  please hang in there you can do this I hope that   you do good and be kind and stay safe and that I  see you again very soon but until then take care [Music] bye all right let the man bun jokes begin   now come on let me have it  leave them in the comments oh have you guys been watching the X-Men 97 have  I talked about that before in outakes I feel like   I have it is so good and I didn't realize I  like I I kind of stopped watching for a minute   and they released the final three episodes and I  just watched the second to last one while I was   eating just before recording and I got to say it's  amazing that I even recording right now and that I   didn't just keep going right into the last episode  but it's pretty fantastic and it's bringing in a   lot of the stuff from like my favorite comic  series from the '90s oh I don't want to give   any spoilers but some good stuff check it out oh  that is such a pretty peachy Rosy Hue to the light   when you see it in person it looks a lot more  like a blush but for some reason the it like goes   yellow the light is too bright and uh the camera  can't handle it so you get kind of that Sunburst   which looks kind of cool too but I'm a little  sad that you miss out on the on the pretty on   the pretty blush color that I've got going there  maybe I need to upgrade my camera all right let's   see experiencing technical difficulties with the  teleprompter come on buddy What's your deal remote   not working hold please sorry just stop this okay  that's better 27 point and as for which sub as for   which sub oh you're focusing on the dragon again  aren't you I can tell stop it stop oh there you   go but I want to sit here can't I sit here and  you just not focus on the dragon apparently not   all right fine I'm scooting up get a little closer  don't be shy get a little closer with air it extra   dry isn't it crazy how commercial Jingles just  stick with us forever and ever and ever all right   oh okay don't move stupid at level three we would  be a paladin 2 and that means we get a fighting stool a fighting stool is that like a  sounds like the worst weapon ever um   okay that's the stool that you're sitting  on when a barf fight breaks out you know   what I just realized oh no I couldn't never  mind if they are prone and that is it is a   in now that we're quickening now that  we're quickening I got a squeaky eyeball   sometimes when I rub it it goes can  you hear that is that gross sorry

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 37,466

Keywords: dnd, D&D, dungeons & dragons, crit fisher, critical, burst, damage, nova, paladin, vengeance, rogue, assassin, fighter, champion, sorcerer, wild magic, multi class, guide, how to, best, build, character, creation, tips, tricks, optimize, min max

Id: 7-nxopj-9eM

Length: 49min 38sec (2978 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2024