The Combat Medic - D&D Optimized #55

hello neighbor how's it going welcome  to dmd optimized part of the d4 network   this is the show where each week we take a  deep dive into one sometimes two specific   character builds for dungeons and dragons 5e  we theory craft about them we crunch numbers   and basically try to create a character that  is both really powerful but also really fun to   play in game if you enjoy creating characters for  dungeons and dragons almost as much as you enjoy   actually playing the game itself then welcome  home this is where you belong so we are super   happy to have you here and thanks for being  here um my name is colby and i'll be your host   before i jump into the episode this  week really quick i just wanted to   give a little plug for the membership option in  the channel if you enjoy the content i hope that   you'll consider becoming a member there should be  a little button down here that you can click on   that tells you to join it's only like a dollar or  two a month i don't have a lot of perks currently   maybe one day when i have more time to think about  that kind of thing but right now at the two dollar   level anyway you get a little cheat sheet for  every build that i do that makes it a little bit   easier to recreate the character yourself if you  wanted to mostly it's just a way for you to show   support for us and just help me create more and  better content so anyway thank you for those who   are members really appreciate you guys and for  everybody else i really appreciate you too thanks   just for being here and watching and and liking  and commenting and that that's also really helpful   and a great way to support me so thanks okay  let's jump in the build that i'm gonna do today is   among the more quirky i think that i've ever  done uh i had a blast with it you know i take   a few pretty underpowered subclasses i think  and a fairly like constrained character concept   and try to make it work and i i was really pleased  with the result i think it would be a lot of fun   to playing game i hope you guys will enjoy it  and i'm really excited to share i have received   a lot of requests to do this character that i'm  about to present today and i will admit that   i've always been pretty surprised every time i get  the request to do a build like this it's basically   a character that's focused on healing but without  using magic or at least without casting spells   uh to heal their allies a lot of people really  seem drawn to the idea of what i'm gonna call a   combat medic or like a battlefield triage type  character the first time that i got the request   it seemed super niche and a little odd but  the more people have been asking for it and   the more that i've thought about it the more  appealing the idea has become to me there's   just something really cool about a character i  think who relies not on like magic or even divine   aid to heal their allies but who instead relies  on nothing more than their knowledge their wits   their skill their sheer passion for for keeping  their comrades alive um and well science i suppose   i think you know ever since hemingway probably  maybe sooner we've we've romanticized the idea   of the you know the combat war medic who will put  their own life on the line like in the thickest   heat of battle who will you know throw down their  weapon to rush to their companion maybe with a   shot of morphine and some bandages and you know  patch him back up get him back in the fight and   the idea of creating that character that archetype  in dnd sounds pretty fun to me and maybe a little   challenging but i like i like a good challenge  so so that's okay that's part of the draw i think   so that's what we're gonna do today the truth is  i think having a healer quote unquote in your dnd   party who who doesn't necessarily focus on trying  to keep their allies in tip-top shape all of the   time but instead is there to kind of pat you up  get you back on your feet when you go down is   probably the best and most efficient way to play  a healer in dnd as we've discussed at length in   other like support focused builds that i've  done but most notably i think in the support   lore bard episode that i did i kind of talk about  that quite a bit in the preamble if you want to   check that out but i will say that this  build is definitely going to be more akin to   like the sorcerer with magic touch okay here we  go card number two uh or the windrunner three or   the pokemon trainer for uh oh i gotta save one  the anti-mage the whooper will uh rogue in that   its focus will be like not how do i create a  character that's incredibly powerful full stop   but more how do i take this character concept uh  or story that i really like along with the sort   of the limitations that i've artificially placed  on myself while creating this character concept in   the name of staying true to that character or that  story and then make it as effective and as strong   as possible within those constraints that's  kind of what we're going for here right also   as a character that we are primarily trying to  optimize for healing or at least like triage   healing i'm going to refrain frankly from a lot  of calculations charts and graphs with this one   in part because i'm just not convinced that  quantifying like heels per round healing per   round is all that useful or accurate frankly  and in part to save myself some time since i   was doing most of the prep work for this episode  while i was on vacation last week i will also   say this while the focus of the character  will be to sort of heal first their healing   is not going to be amazing and so i want to make  sure that they're also able to fill other roles   and do other things at least somewhat effectively  so that they can feel useful and versatile and   you know feel like they're making valuable  contributions to their party all of the time   even if they're not like kind of getting somebody  back up on their feet right so they're going to   be a little bit of a jack of all trades master of  none even though we're not taking any bard levels   so the spirit of the build here will be  again to create a character who is truly   part of the fight but the first to answer the  call when their companion goes down and cries out   medic you know the only real rule that i'm  going to place on myself is that this character   cannot cast spells to directly heal their  allies i am planning on using no fewer than   three subclasses to get us there and every one of  them especially two i think are largely regarded   by most of the dnd community as severely  hampered in their optimization ability   i don't know if that's a word underpowered so i'm  sort of giving myself this artificial constraint   and then trying to make it work with three fairly  weak subclasses which while a fun challenge   kind of feels like i'm working with three hands  tied behind my back and i only have two hands   so we're gonna have a lot of fun with this one i  really love trying to find ways to make something   viable within constraints and handicaps it's  like a fun little puzzle so those are my little   warnings and caveats prelude finished i am  happy to present episode 55 the combat medic   let's jump in all right at level one for our  starting class we're actually going to start with   rogue we got a couple of nice things from  rogue here to start including a lot of extra   proficiencies a little extra damage and maybe  most importantly for me the ability to function   as the party's rogue no adventuring party  worth their salt would leave home without   someone who can scout and scout stealthily for  that matter and pick locks and you know find   traps and disarm them etc and while that won't be  the primary sort of function of the character and   and what we focus on while we're building them  they should be able to function perfectly fine   in that role filling i think an important  utility niche niche niche both are viable that will help you not feel quite as bad  about the not amazing damage that you'll   be dealing when you're not performing  triage on your allies right as for our   race i'm going to say you know there's a very  important feat for this build that it just   really can't function very well without and  i would much rather have it now rather than   waiting until level four or later to get it so i  would start with variant human or custom lineage   you know custom lineage does give us dark vision  so that kind of you kind of get a benefit there   you could go very inhuman otherwise though now  if you already get a free feet at your table i   would say honestly take whatever race that feels  best to you if it were me i might just go like   boring old regular human to get a plus one to  all of my stats it would let you start with   some pretty nice decent scores like across the  board and it would sort of further help us with   kind of the jack of all trades thing that we've  got going i think as for the free feet that we   are going to take obviously we're going with the  healer feet if you need to heal without spells   this is probably the best way to do it so first  off let's go over a couple of things as a reminder   one if an ally goes unconscious anyone can use  an action to make a medicine skill check and   that's a wisdom-based skill check right with a  dc of only 10 not very high to stabilize them   alternatively you could use a healer's kit  they cost five gold they have 10 charges   they're filled with bandages salves and splints so  perfect for any self-respecting combat medic and   as an action you can expend a charge to stabilize  an unconscious creature without needing to make   a medicine check for most people this is really  only useful if you have a terrible wisdom score   right or you're a terrible roller i suppose  because again you only need a medicine check of a   with a dc of 10 in order to stabilize somebody  without a healer's kit but yeah without the   healer feet that's really all that a healer's kit  does it lets you stabilize someone without needing   a medicine check doesn't actually heal them  right and a stable but unconscious person won't   like wake up for 1 d4 hours whereupon they will  you know come out of unconsciousness with one hit   point so stabilizing them might keep them from  dying but it's not really going to help much   in a fight with the healer feet however when  you use a healer's kit to stabilize someone   you actually give them one hit point which  means that they are conscious and they can   take their turn assuming they don't get hit again  before their turn that is you cruel dm that in   and of itself is pretty great even better as an  action you can expand a use of the healer's kit   to restore 1d6 plus 4 plus the characters hit die  or in our case their level right in hit points you   can heal for that much and that's actually pretty  decent i mean at this level at level 1 that is 8.5   healing to a first level character it's  it's pretty decent especially early on   probably more than a cure wound spell cast at  the first level now they can only be healed in   this way by the healer's kit once per short rest  so it is fairly limiting and i mean i guess it   makes sense right applying neosporin and band-aids  to the same cut over and over probably isn't going   to do much good but it's still some really nice  triage healing in a pinch now as this will be   one of the main sources of healing in our career  it goes without saying that we're going to need   to stock up on lots and lots of healing kits which  at this level might be a little cost prohibitive   maybe your dm will at some point let you get like  a homebrew magic item that's like a never-ending   healing kit i don't know but uh you might need  to take some donations at first to make sure   that you've got you know a few of these in your  backpack so that you can use them when you need   them as for our ability scores using as always the  point by method i assume i'm going to recommend   that we start with a 14 dexterity and take our  plus two there and then a 14 wisdom and a 14   intelligence i really wanted a high dexterity  so that we could be a good rogue and also of   course to help our damage and our armor class as  well as our initiative etc as for wisdom the the   truth is you don't actually have to have a high  wisdom score here for this build assuming that   we're using healer's kits with the healer feet  a higher wisdom score doesn't actually help us   much to to heal more that said wisdom is a really  important saving throw typically for us to have   and also as a rogue especially i'd like to have a  decent wisdom score so that we can have a better   perception check when we're checking for traps or  you know trying to find hidden doors things like   that and it does seem a little silly not to have  a good medicine check on this character regardless   of whether it actually benefits our healing  as for the intelligence we're going to need   that for multi-classing purposes unfortunately  that's going to leave us with a 12 constitution   which is a real bummer but um you know unless  you wanted to sacrifice some of your wisdom to   bump your constitution instead that's that's an  alternative fortunately we will have some ways to   deal with the fact that we're a little bit squishy  as a rogue medics aren't really supposed to spend   all of their time on the front lines anyway  right so get in get out that's going to be the   tactic for us as for your equipment i'm going to  recommend that you go with the gold buy option and   pick up a short bow or like a rapier if you want  to be in melee i'm going to recommend going range   so short bow studded leather thieves tools basic  necessities and then if you have any money left   over as many herbalism kits as your money can  buy eventually i'm going to want to get a hand   crossbow on this character but right now they're  a little too expensive so kind of pick one up   when you can when you can afford it as a level  1 rogue we get expertise first of all which lets   you double your proficiency bonus in two skills of  your choice that's fantastic if it were me again   in the name of being a good rogue i would probably  like double my bonus for stealth and probably then   you get to double your bonus when you use your  thieves tools as an option if you want you might   want to double your you know medicine proficiency  in the name of being a good healer or something   else for that matter but anyway for me it'd be  stealth and thieves tools we also of course get   sneak attack as a level one rogue it's a nice  benefit to going rogue here we're not going to   be getting extra attack anytime soon anyway so a  little buff to our once per turn damage will be   really nice again as a reminder to take advantage  of that extra 1d6 sneak attack damage you have to   be making an attack with advantage or against  an enemy who's standing within five feet of   one of your allies basically and then finally we  get thieves can't which is kind of the thieves   language it's nice for role play and utility at  level two we get cunning action which tells us   that we can take a bonus action to dash disengage  or hide those things usually require an action   so that's really pretty nice again it will let us  more uh reliably sort of get out of combat without   putting ourselves in danger and cunning action  will actually come into play quite a bit for this   build i think and not necessarily for the default  things that we typically use it for because at   level three we get our roguish archetype our  subclass and we are going to go with the thief   on the one hand the thief is like the  quintessential rogue right on the other   i've never actually used a thief before in any  of my builds because at least from a numbers   optimization perspective i think they just don't  really bring a lot to the table at least until   17th level which is really late although they are  chock full of flavor and utility which is really   cool so here's what we read about the thief you  hone your skills in the larcenous arts burglars   bandits cut purses and other criminals typically  follow this archetype but so do rogues who prefer   to think of themselves as professional treasure  seekers explorers delvers and investigators   in addition to improving your agility and  stealth you learn skills useful for delving   into ancient ruins reading unfamiliar languages  and using magic items you normally couldn't employ   okay so maybe for this thief you didn't  necessarily grow up in a street gang   but are instead the indiana jones of the sword  coast i really like this idea actually for   this character and so i'm gonna build on that you  might even teach at a university by day and go on   daring dungeon delves at night to uncover ancient  artifacts that you bring back to the university to   study or maybe donate them to a local museum so  that's my story and i'm sticking to it so as a   thief we get a couple of features here of course  we get second story work which basically lets us   climb without a movement penalty and increases  our running jump distance by our dex modifier so   probably won't come up a lot in most campaigns  but some nice little utility stuff and then we   also get fast hands and this is the main reason  why i wanted to go with thief but the way that   i'm hoping we can use this might require a little  convincing on the part of your dm bear with me so   fast hands lets us use our cunning action which  remember required a bonus action to do some   additional things so we can also now as a bonus  action make a slight of hand check we can use our   thieves tools to disarm a trap or open a lock or  most importantly for us use an object now for most   players most of the time this probably won't come  up that much i don't think as usually when we're   making sleight of hand or thieves tools checks  it's not during combat but for us this has the   potential to be kind of amazing again depending  on your dm so a healer's kit is an object   it normally requires an action to use we  however can use it as a bonus action now   freeing up our action to do other things like  say shank an enemy with our scalpel or rapier   or shoot him with a bow or even like drag an  ally to safety now we can i think unquestionably   use a bonus action to bring an ally back from  unconscious and give them one hit point as per   the healer feat what gets a little more tricky or  suspect however is the other half of the healer   feat that lets us heal our allies for 1d6 plus  4 plus their level right see we're not really   told that when you use a healer's kit you can do  this heal we're specifically told as an action you   can spend one use of a healer's kit to heal them  right that's not exactly the same thing i am 100   confident that the vast majority of dms if you  talk to them beforehand and tell them about the   character that you're trying to create the concept  that you're going for the fact that you're taking   this subclass for this reason that you've taken  a feat for this reason right are going to be okay   saying yeah sure you can use a bonus action to  use the healer's kit whether you are stabilizing   them and giving them one hit point or giving  them a 1d6 plus 4 plus their level once per   short rest you know kind of thing but there  probably are a few stickler dms out there   who would say no this action is different than the  use an object action and therefore doesn't benefit   from fast hands i would be curious actually you  tell me if you've ever seen this in game and   how your dm ruled and also how how you would rule  it at the table but i'm just going to assume that   going forward we can now use a bonus action to  heal an ally for 1d6 plus 4 plus their level again   remember only once per short rest per ally right  but even if you can't you still should be able to   at least bring them to one hit point when they  go unconscious as a bonus action thanks to fast   hand and the healer feat which will be a really  nice way to free up your action to potentially   administer some additional first aid to them which  we'll get to in a minute or again do other things   like drag them to safety make an attack etc and  i i love this image of a field medic who is so   skilled and so quick that they can run in bandage  somebody up you know maybe wave some smelling   salts under their nose i don't know super quick  and then still jump up and like fend off attackers   all in the same turn keep in mind that if you  can bring your ally back to consciousness as a   bonus action even if it's just by giving them one  hit point they are no longer incapacitated which   means that if they are lying next to an enemy  a melee enemy who's just felled to them you can   get sneak attack damage on that enemy so make sure  that you wake up your ally first with your bonus   action and then take your action to make your  attack so you can get that sneak attack damage   finally at level 3 your sneak attack damage  goes to a 2d6 now so that's great at level 4   something in our character's story has turned them  toward the study of artifice if we're going with   the indiana jones archaeologist motif maybe you  discovered an ancient civilization in your studies   or in your exploration that has mastered the art  of artifice and you've picked up a trick or two   from them and you're hoping to learn more perhaps  on the other hand you have a friend at the   university that you teach at who is an artificer  themselves and you've been swapping trade secrets   with them regardless we're going to take smartify  levels here to further augment our scientific   abilities to heal our companions and yes i know  artifice doesn't necessarily have to equal science   but for me for this character it does um now  as an artificer we pick up some proficiencies   which are important to mention we get proficiency  with medium armor and shields which we didn't have   before so keep in mind that if you wanted to take  a rapier say into the fight you can now do so with   a shield making that option a little more viable  i still think you're generally going to be safe   for shooting at a distance but if you're running  into the thick of it to you know save your fallen   companions you might not always have that luxury  as for medium armor you know with studded leather   in a 16 dexterity we're sitting at like a 15 armor  class right now with scale male we'd be at a 16   and of course there are better medium armors  than scale male go ahead and equip the medium   stuff unless you're more concerned about yourself  checks which as a rogue you probably should be   so you know until we can bump our decks up  higher and or find magical light armor etc   this is going to be kind of something that you're  going to have to weigh the pros and cons of and   make a decision as an artificer at level 1 we get  magical tinkering this is mostly for utility and   some flavor it basically lets us do things like  take a mundane object and make it be able to shed   light or play back a recording it's fun and neat  and then of course as a level one artificer we get   spells now some people might cry foul here and  say i was supposed to create a non-magic user   the rule i gave myself to remind you was that i  wasn't going to use spells to directly heal my   allies and i'm going to stand by that rule but let  me just say that as far as like the spirit of this   character goes i think wizards of the coast is in  my corner on this one this is how they talk about   artificers and spells as an artificer you use  tools when you cast your spells when describing   your spell casting think about how you are using a  tool to perform the spell effect if you cast cure   wounds using an alchemist supplies you could  be quickly producing a salve spoiler alert   if you cast it using tinker's tools you might have  a miniature mechanical spider that binds wounds   when you cast poison spray you could fling foul  chemicals etc the effect of the spell is the same   as for a spell caster of any other class but your  method of spell casting is special now whether or   not you decide to use spells is entirely up to you  i don't personally have a problem with it because   maybe they're not really spells in your mind but  i'm also not really going to recommend frankly any   spells for you to take here or talk about them you  get some can trips you get some first level spells   um you know i guess for me i'd take mending as a  cantrip i mean you are an artificer after all and   it makes perfect sense i think that you're not  actually using arcane magic to to you know mend   something you're tinkering with it and message can  be really nice for communicating with your team if   you're scouting ahead as a rogue right and maybe  you've tinkered some sort of like radio earpiece   that you can you know talk to your companions with  or something but beyond that pick your favorites   i think if it were me personally playing this  character i would refrain from casting any   spells but maybe those two can trips here that  i could like reasonably justify and re-flavor as   not really being magical but that's me you do what  you need to do we will have a use for those spell   slots however coming up shortly so at level five  we are an artificer too and we get infused item   which is fantastic um you know our tinkering has  improved to the point that we can improve an item   and or make it magical i i put that in air quotes  again because i totally think of this as more   like sciency than like arcane magic personally  a clockwork homunculus would be really cool   but they are fairly fragile unless you take a  lot of artificial levels and they can only use   an attack if you use your bonus action to have  them make an attack and our bonus action is   often going to be spoken for especially like  for healing purposes if it were me i think i   would probably just improve my armor class  by one with the enhanced defense infusion   and then take the repeating shot infusion which  lets me improve a ranged weapon to make it both   plus one and ignore the loading property it also  produces ammunition on its own when you fire it   which means that you could actually start using a  hand crossbow and a shield now if you took this as   you won't need a free hand to load the crossbow  but let's be honest the main reason we wanted to   go with hand crossbow here is because it feels  a lot more indiana jones than a short bow did   and yes of course you could use a whip too if  you really wanted to but i already did a rogue   build uh the whippoorwill uh oh that's my fifth  card i need more cards at level six you are an   artificer three and you get the right tool for  the job feature it's mostly for utility but with   an hour of uninterrupted work we can produce  a set of non-magical artisans tools whichever   we might need you know there's a long list of  available artisan tools that includes things like   leather workers tools tinkerers tools and even  alchemists supplies speaking of which we also get   our subclass at level three and yeah i'm taking  what i think is the weakest artificer class of   them all the alchemist i have had so many requests  to do an alchemist build and while i don't plan on   going really heavy into alchemy and artificer  here at least we got this far right so here's   what we read about the alchemist an alchemist  is an expert at combining reagents to produce   mystical effects alchemists use their creations  to give life and to leach it away alchemy is the   oldest of artificer traditions and its versatility  has long been valued during times of war and peace   okay so not much of a description there for  lore based on how weak the features of this   subclass are and how little time they put into  the description of the subclass i'm thinking   wizards of the coast might have had to rush this  one to get xanthars out in time i don't know   anyway we get we get proficiency with alchemist  supplies so that's convenient because we can   now make them ourselves cool make yourself some  alchemist supplies and then we get experimental   elixir so this is the main reason that we're  here once per long rest and if we expend a   spell slot for it more on that in a second we  can create an experimental elixir as an action   a player can drink the elixir or administer it to  someone else you are supposed to roll on a table   when you create the elixir when you at least when  you do it once prolonged rest and doing so will   randomly produce one of six elixirs that let the  drinker do things like fly or gain armor class or   even transform a la like a dr jekyll and mr hyde  which is kind of cool but if you use a spell slot   you can choose the effect and one of those effects  is that you can create a healing elixir that heals   the drinker for 2d4 plus our intelligence modifier  which is 2 right now so 2d4 plus 2 which is   exactly the same amount as a healing potion can  heal these elixirs expire at your long rest so   the question again is are these healing elixirs  magical on the one hand sure you're using a spell   slot to create them right and healing potions  are listed as magical potions on the other   i don't know why they necessarily have to be  we're told that proficiency with an herbalism   kit which contains clippers mortar and pestle  and pouches and vials used used by herbalists   to create potions is required to create a potion  of healing it seems like it's more like wise women   botanical science than it is magic to me at the  very least i think it would be easy to argue that   even if the potion is magical it doesn't have  to be due to anything other than like the herbs   and plants used in its creation have magical  properties themselves akin to like the king's   foil plant that aragorn uses to heal frodo after  he gets stabbed by the nozzle blade just trying   to increase my nerd cred over here even if you are  convinced that the potions themselves are magical   i still feel okay that i can use them and stay  within the little artificial restraint i gave   myself at the beginning not to use spells to  directly heal an ally i'm not praying to any god   or drawing upon the arcane to heal it's science  now we could only reliably create three of these   per day because we only have three spell slots and  the other one elixir per long rest that you can   create is random now your dm might let you choose  for that one too if they're nice i don't see why   they wouldn't considering you know the character  that you're trying to create here but anyway so   at this point we have some pretty decent little  healing that we can administer to our companions   once per short rest for each of them hopefully  as a bonus action we could use a healing kit to   bring them up with 1d6 plus 4 plus their level  3 times per day we could also i think as a bonus   action because you are using an object right  to administer this potion to pour it down their   throat so fast hands should apply i think so as  a bonus action you know administer like a shot of   morphine basically or you know this elixir that's  maybe how i would look at it to our downed ally   with this healing elixir right for two d4 plus  two and if we burn through all of those things   well our companions need to find a way to survive  a little bit longer but anyway at the very least   we can bring them back from unconscious with one  hit point as a bonus action thanks to our healing   kit and healer feet right and there's no limit on  how many times we can do that per short rest it's   just limited by the number of healing kits we have  and i mean of course we could combine all of these   for a more potent round of healing and not just  wait until our companion you know goes unconscious   pouring an elixir down their throat as a bonus  action and then healing them with the healer's   kit as an action right so do i do a damage report  for those who are new to this channel i usually do   a damage report at levels 6 9 13 and 17 and talk  about how much damage this character can deal or   how much they can take if they're like a tank  type character or more rarely how much they can   heal per round with this character who's built  as like a jack of all trades it feels a little   unnecessary frankly i mean i guess in a single  round they could potentially heal 1d6 plus 4 plus   6 at this level with the healer's kit and then  2d 4 plus 2 with the elixir for a total of 20.5   damage on average so okay there's your damage  report 20.5 it doesn't come close to the starry   twilight character that i built for healing  but actually is technically more than a lore   bard than the lore bard could do in a single  round by casting a third level cure wound spell   um with their disciple of life bonus but you  know it's not very sustainable obviously and it's   not really meant to be remember you are the one  they're talking to when they cry out medic right   you're not standing at the back lines constantly  chanting prayers to your deity and blessing your   allies with divine intervention you're also  not playing your magical loot in order to   somehow stitch up their wounds you're using  your wits you're using your speed and your   brains to bat your friends up and keep  fighting and for what it's worth you do   more damage than the other healer builds that  i've done with your d6 hand crossbow plus   one because of your infusion plus your dexterity  bonus of three and your 2d6 sneak attack damage   and you're a decent rogue to boot again lots of  versatility and value that you bring to your party   despite the fact that your numbers aren't blowing  anybody away so at level seven you might want to   take another level of rogue or artificer here for  an ability score increase your feet we haven't had   one yet it would be really nice especially i think  to bump our dexterity to do more damage increase   or increase our armor class and of course you  know improve our all-important rogue features   but again i built this character for triage  non-magical healing and there's one more thing   that we can get that i think satisfies the  spirit of this character in that vein and   gives us some other nice bonuses as well so for us  our character here has perhaps risen in the steam   in the esteem of their allies and companions  people have begun to take notice of our heroism   of our bravery of the way that we throw caution  to the wind when our allies are in danger and we   risk our own lives in order to save our companions  we probably would have gotten a medal of honor by   now many times over in fact were we playing  this character in the modern era so someone   perhaps the local captain of the town guard  perhaps the head of the rotc at our university   what's the medieval version of the rotc the city  watch for that matter what does rotc even stand   for ravenloft or the curse ridicule our thespian  comrades righteous ostriches that cook anyway   someone has approached us in an attempt to recruit  us for their cause or perhaps has simply offered   us some additional martial training so that we can  protect ourselves in combat as well as our allies   perhaps a near brush with death has caused us  to seek out this training whatever the reason   may be we are taking some fighter levels here as  a fighter at level one we get a fighting style   and you know if you really want to lean into the  protect my allies at all cost here um i think   interception is the clear choice as a reaction it  allows you to impose a shield or a weapon between   your ally and their attacker and reduce damage  that they would take by 1d10 plus your proficiency   bonus it's a reliably fantastic way to help reduce  damage to your allies and protect them but it does   mean that you would need to be standing next  to them almost constantly to actually use it   right and that might mean being in melee yourself  which i would probably again advise against for   this character personally if you wanted to improve  your damage because as we like to remind ourselves   sometimes the best way to protect your allies is  by killing the thing that's trying to kill them   right i would go for the archery style that gives  us a plus two to hit with your hand crossbow which   is really really good damage wise is for sure the  best fighting style that's out there so that's   what i would probably take if i were playing  this character we also as a fighter level one get   second wind which lets us as a bonus action heal  ourselves for 1d10 plus our fighter level once per   short rest that's really nice and we're actually  going to get more use out of this later at level 8   we are a fighter 2 which means we get action surge  now you can potentially do even more burst healing   to a downed ally potentially you could administer  as a bonus action an elixir thanks to fast hands   another elixir as an action and then action surge  and use the healer's kit for even more healing   for the record i would not do this except in  rare circumstances your healing resources are   very limited and i think it would be best to save  them to just bring a target back from unconscious   like unless you have the elixirs to spare or you  know it's a really important fight and you've   got to keep somebody up or you know as healthy as  possible or you know potentially of course if you   wanted to use the healer's kit right before you  begin your short rest so your ability to heal them   with it gets recharged after the short rest  is over right and that will kind of help your   companions save on like hit dice spending too  many hit dice when they're healing giving them   a little heal before the short rest during the  fight once you've patched them up you know drag   them to safety or keep shooting so yeah my concept  for the character is bonus action heal using one   of your resources that you have available to you  and then probably action again pull him to safety   or keep firing at level 9 we are a fighter 3  and we get our martial archetype our subclass   and uh we're going to go drum roll with the  banneret aka the purple dragon knight yep a thief   an alchemist and a purple dragon knight all  rolled into one super underpowered character this character is just a a walking meme for  underused and underpowered subclasses but   seriously people this works i'm telling you  so purple dragon knights hail from cormier   which is a country in fairune that you may or  may not play with in your particular campaign   if you do not then they are simply known  as bannerets which coincidentally are not   members of the bruce banner fan club nor are  they tiny little baby banners it's so cute   but they are simply a knight leading their vassals  into the field under their own banner i love it   let's read about the purple dragon knight so  pledged to protect the crown they take the fight   against evil beyond the kingdom's borders they are  tasked with wandering the lands as knight's errant   relying on their judgment bravery and fidelity to  the code of chivalry to guide them into feeding   evildoers a purple dragon knight inspires  greatness in others by committing brave deeds   in battle check the mere presence of a knight  in a hamlet is enough to cause some orcs and   bandits to seek easier prey a lone knight is a  skilled warrior but a knight leading a band of   allies can transform even the most poorly  equipped militia into a ferocious warband   a knight prefers to lead through deeds not words  the night's actions can awaken reserves of courage   and conviction in allies that they never suspected  they had look at how far you've come from thief to   scholar tonight i'm so proud so if you weren't  the party's acknowledged leader before this you   probably are now i would think unless perhaps  you're playing like a reluctant purple dragon   knight who has been knighted without knowing  or maybe even wanting it that could actually be   kind of a fun little kink in your character story  but perhaps you've always been like a banner at   noble um and now like a larger threat has surfaced  and it's required you to like abandon your more   scholarly pursuits and take up your banner take up  that role even if reluctantly anyway i i i like i   like the story arc here for for this character so  anyway as a bannerette as a purple dragonite or a   pdk as i will call them you get rallying cry it's  perfect for us so rallying cry lets us inspire   our allies to fight past their injuries when you  use second wind again that's a bonus action once   per short rest right it heals yourself but now  you can also heal up to three other creatures   within 60 feet that can see or hear you they will  regain hit points equal to your fighter level i   love this i love it flavor wise it's the it's the  quintessential sergeant right yelling on your feet   soldier get back into the fight you know as they  pick their comrades up out of the mud slap them on   their back and inspire them to keep fighting  despite their injuries now it's not a ton of   healing but it does scale pretty nicely and it's  another nice non-magical heel and it's a group   heel that we can use from range it's the only one  of our heels that can do both of those things so   between this our fast hands healing elixir and  our fast hands healer's kit our bonus action will   potentially very often be used for healing maybe  even more than just to bring somebody up after   they've gone unconscious but especially in that  case when an ally goes down and i anticipate that   we will otherwise be making attacks with our  action like any good soldier professor thief   okay so i mean damage report at level 9 the  maximum amount we could heal in a single turn   for what it's worth is two healing elixirs and a  healer's kit uh application with help from action   search that would be four d4 plus four uh plus  one d6 plus four plus nine for a total of 30.5   damage on average not bad but again i really  don't anticipate that you'll actually be doing   this much healing all in one round so the question  now is where do we go from here i think there are   a lot of options going back to rogue for more  sneak attack damage evasion uncanny dodge more   expertise etc would not be a bad option at all  you could do more alchemist levels among other   things that would get us more healing elixirs  a way to like grant temporary hit points when   someone drinks one of your healing elixirs  which is nice and more and better infusions   but much of the artificer's power comes from their  spells even though they're only a half caster   and i i'm just not sure that i would want to  with this character really make much use of   those spells at all other than to just create more  healing elixirs but the healing elixirs themselves   don't don't go up in the amount that they heal  when you use a higher level spell slot to create   them unfortunately so for me i think i would  prefer to stick with the pdk here for one thing   i think it just feels right for the character  arc that i envision for this character but more   important than that for me you know more fighter  levels both improve our rally and cry which again   is the only group and ranged heel that we have  but it also will improve our hit points as we get   a d10 for our fighter levels um it will improve  our offensive capabilities which are admittedly   pretty lackluster currently and so it would just  kind of round the character out a little more   nicely i think and make you feel a little more  useful a little more versatile so at level 10   we're going fighter 4 and we get our very first  ability score increase or feet yikes there are a   lot of options here if if we had a higher charisma  i think i probably would have gone with inspiring   leader a i think i think it's totally on point  for the character thematically but also because it   lets you have like a reliable source of temporary  hit points for your entire party unfortunately it   has a prerequisite of a 13 charisma which we just  can't get to with this character so apparently   you're a very uninspiring leader or at least just  grumpy why do you guys keep going down you're the   worst band of adventurers i've ever seen if i have  to waste one more bandage on your sorry butt i'm   gonna kick it all the way back to kormir we built  this character to be a non-magical medic first so   you could take the chef's feet it does let your  party heal a little bit more during a short rest   and it lets them eat a treat treats that lets  them gain some temporary hit points but it's only   temporary hit points equal to your proficiency  bonus so it's not a ton i think if i were   playing this character i'm probably gonna bump  my dexterity here our armor class has not been   great our rogue abilities have been languishing  somewhat with a 16 dexterity not to mention you   know our damage not being particularly fabulous  so i'm going to take our dexterity to 18 here   but if you want to make treats you totally  should at level 11 we would be a fighter 5 and   even though we had not been building for damage  finally getting extra attack is very welcome   so you know now during our action surge we could  actually put out some decent damage making four   attacks right because you typically get two  attacks when you take the attack action now with   extra attack and if you got another action you'd  get two more attacks so you'd get four attacks   total for 46 plus 16 damage if they all landed  again assuming that we're using a hand crossbow   not amazing but you know it'll it'll be nice when  you need it at level 12 we would be a fighter   level 6 and we get another ability score increase  or feat hooray for fighters and again you know for   the same reasons i'm taking dexterity to 20 here  at level 13 we would be a fighter level 7 and   we get the royal envoy feature from purple dragon  knights which gives us proficiency and persuasion   and actually you basically get to double your  proficiency bonus when you make a persuasion check   as though like we were getting expertise here in  persuasion you know now even with our low charisma   we're actually pretty persuasive not a terrible  utility feature here and i mean damage report   you know i suppose the most healing that we  could provide in a single turn to our allies   now would be to use rallying cry as our bonus  action to heal seven hit points to three allies   and then plus two d four plus two for an elixir  plus one d six plus four plus 13 for our healer's   kit if you action surge to do that that would  be 48.5 healing on average in a single turn   okay that's that's not bad at level 14 we're a  fighter eight and we get yet another ability score   increase or feet so thank goodness they're coming  on fast here honestly this one was a little bit of   a tough call for me i suppose if we increased  our intelligence we could get a teeny bit   more healing out of our elixirs i might want to  take resilient wisdom here to bolster one of our   more important but currently fairly weak saving  throws you could take mobile to let you like more   easily get around the battlefield to heal your  allies and maybe pull them to safety you know   give you a little more move speed but i think if  it were me i would probably take the sharpshooter   feet here to bolster my damage i'm i'm tempted  to take crossbow expert because it would allow   us to basically get one more attack per round let  us you know with our hand crossbow you'd get to   make a bonus action attack with a hand crossbow  now but we kind of have a lot of demands on our   bonus action at the moment and as for sharpshooter  even though we don't have like a built-in source   of a way to gain advantage on our attacks assuming  we took the archery fighting style that plus two   to hit goes a long way to temper the minus  five to hit we get from sharpshooter right   so as a reminder when with a sharpshooter feet  when you're using a ranged weapon we can take a   minus five to hit but then if it hits it adds  plus 10 flat plus 10 to our damage which will   really bolster this character's offensive prowess  we can also shoot further without disadvantage and   ignore one half and three quarters cover with the  sharpshooter feet so it looks like our practice   with our little pistol our little hand crossbow  has been paying off at level 15 we are a fighter 9   we get indomitable so once per long rest you  can re-roll a failed saving throw that's nice   if it's like a dexterity or intelligence  saving throw which we're proficient in   might be handy if it's a wisdom or constitution  saving throw which we get a little bump to   but if it's like a strength or charisma save we're  probably going to fail that saving throw on the   second try anyway so can be useful once in a while  you'll be really glad to have it at level 16 we   are a fighter level 10 and we get inspiring surge  uh this is a nice little feature for our baby   banner actually when we use our action surge which  probably means that we're doing like a little bit   of burst damage ourselves right we can choose  an ally within 60 feet and they can use their   reaction to make a weapon attack it's too bad  that this doesn't just grant them the benefit of   your action surge as well right it's not like the  pdk is op pdk no op pdk up but on the right ally   this could actually mean quite a bit of extra  damage especially again since you're coupling   it with your own action surge right that you're  probably applying your sharpshooter bonus to   this this will be some pretty decent burst  damage when you need it finally at level 17   we are a fighter level 11 and we get that  unique and incredibly potent ability uh the   extra extra attack which means that we can now  take three attack when we take the attack action   and yes this means that if you use your action  surge that's six attacks in a single turn   potentially all with sharpshooter can be pretty  decent burst damage especially coupled with   inspiring surge it's pretty late in the  game but hey so for our final little   pseudo-damage report the maximum amount of  non-magical healing our little pdk combat medic   could do in a single turn blowing action surge  if we wanted to would be um 11 times 3 for our   rally and cry plus 2d 4 plus 2 for an elixir  then action surge and do 1d6 plus 4 plus 17   for our healer's kit uh that'd be a total of 64.5  damage on average and you know what that's not   half bad for a non-magical triage healer but also  for what it's worth if you blew action surge on   attack action taking two attack actions and  you're using sharpshooter and you combined   your inspiring surge with it even if the enemy  that you gave an extra weapon attack to only did   as much damage with their weapon attack as you do  which frankly isn't a ton you could probably find   better options by level 17. when you combine it  with sneak attack you would do 138 damage to an   enemy with a 10 armor class and 91 damage to  an enemy with an 18 armor class you know again   not half bad for a character who's supposed to be  the triage medic so final thoughts i i don't often   make a lot of well-rounded characters as most of  you probably know it doesn't really tend to be   my mo but i had a lot of fun with this character  i really did you know sometimes giving yourself   artificial restrictions via a character  concept i think can really help you like get   super invested in your character and make the role  play that much better not to mention the actual   character creation as well i really love the way  that this character can do so much with if we're   being honest so little right some of the weakest  subclasses in the game it turns out can combine   to make a pretty viable character who can rogue  who can heal and even put out some decent damage   if you build them right and that to me anyway is  what makes character optimization in dnd so dang   fun so anyway that is the episode for the week i  i feel like it was maybe a little quick which is   rare for me so you're welcome or sorry depending  on your opinion of the length of my typical videos   anyway i love you guys you're fantastic thanks  for watching i hope you have a fantastic day   and please check out the rest of the content on  the channel from d d university to the tales of an   area to slide into my dms there's a lot of stuff  out there not just these character optimization   builds so anyway i hope you'll enjoy all of it  and that you'll like and subscribe and all of   those things but anyway have a fantastic  day and we'll talk to you soon take care

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 11,199

Rating: 4.9689121 out of 5

Keywords: D&D Optimized, dnd, D&D, dungeons & dragons, purple dragon knight, alchemist, thief, fighter, artificer, rogue, healer, 5e, guide, how to

Id: _Am28IWw3-s

Length: 54min 20sec (3260 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021