The Sorcadin Catch-22 - D&D: Optimized #57

well hello there how's it going good i hope  i hope you're well welcome to dnd optimized   this is part of the d4 network and it's a show  where each week we take a deep dive into one   sometimes two specific character builds for  dungeons and dragons fifth edition we crunch   numbers about them we theory craft about them  and basically we try to create a character that   is both really fun and also really powerful to  play in game so if you enjoy creating characters   for dnd almost as much as you enjoy playing the  actual game itself then welcome home this is where   you belong and we are super happy to have you here  so thanks for being here my name is colby and i'll   be your host quick favor if you enjoy the content  or if you think you might enjoy the content do me   a favor and click that little like button uh down  there in the corner and that that does a lot for   me and for the channel and for the video so thank  you for that and uh yeah that's all let's jump in   way back when i did my first ever like nova  build or burst damage build the assassiner   i complained that the thing that i didn't like  about nova builds or burst damage builds was   that a lot of the time not all the time but a  lot of the time they really kind of start to   feel samey there are certain abilities that are  really difficult to pass on when you're trying to   you know focus on creating a burst damage or  nova damage character taking two levels of   fighter so that you can pick up action surge is  almost impossible to ignore i think as uh as a   burst or nova focused character if you are a melee  weapon user getting at least a couple levels of   paladin for smite is almost always going to make  you stronger and so here's a case in point the   build that i am going to present today for  the first nine levels at least the build that   i'm going to present today takes the exact  same like multi-class character progression   as the last nova build that i did a few weeks  ago uh the kritlander card number two and i   know that's kind of obnoxious i almost decided to  postpone this build for a few weeks as a result   but instead i actually decided to use this  character today to prove a little bit of a point   here's one thing that i absolutely love about  dungeons and dragons and by absolutely love i mean   it's like one of my favorite things about the game  you can take two characters both of which are a   paladin 2 sorcerer 4 fighter 3 and still make  what feel like to me at least two very different   characters by simply taking a different feat here  some different spells there a different subclass   along the way maybe we can make this character  who might have the same like class levels and   even combat goals as another similar character but  who plays very differently mechanically and that's   of course to say nothing of like the role play and  the story and the persona that you create around   each character right and for me at least that  means almost a limitless opportunity to dream up   fun interesting compelling exciting characters  to explore these fantasy worlds with and   that is glorious so for the build today yes we  are going for burst damage but the super fun thing   about it and that's different really than any  other build i've done i think is that it's totally   designed to like put your enemy in this lose-lose  situation where they have to make a choice   but either choice is going to hurt we're  pushing them around we are doing a lot of   damage with a spell that most people i think  kind of overlook or think is kind of bad   and we really only need a single attack on our  nova round to do the majority of our damage   which really means that we're also going to be  conserving our resources a little better than   most burst damage builds do which is nice now  i have to give a shout out here to uh one of my   longtime subscribers and viewers rob vera i think  it's fair might be vera i suppose but anyway he's   the one who planted the seed for this idea many  many months ago i can't even remember which video   it was that he commented on and and suggested  this build i don't remember all of the details   of it but the kernel or the seed of the build  was definitely was definitely planted by him   so thanks rob and i will say that we are  gonna get a little bit stupid with this build   we multi-class a lot that's not too surprising we  don't even get our second ability score increase   or feet until like level 12 i think we basically  never take extra attack or even great weapon   master even though we're using a heavy weapon  the whole time it's dumb but it's also incredibly   reliable and awesome and hilarious and cool and  really really powerful now i am not going to   really come up with a great story reason for the  multi-classing that we're going to be doing here   i might throw out a suggestion or two along  the way or give you something here in a minute   at the beginning but for this one i'm just gonna  say what i often say on sort of my crazier tons of   multi-classing jumping around builds and that is  you know for this character i would make up your   own custom class and just you know as part of that  class you happen to take x of this class y of that   class z of a third a of a fourth even depending  on your table you don't always necessarily have   to have like a great story reason for why you're  taking you know some levels in x class right now   some dm's really like that but if it were me i  would come up with my character concept early on   here for this character that you plan to make  work through it with your dm before you even   you know start the campaign i would probably  go with something like i'm a half giant half   celestial who has an innate sense of religion  and or duty as well as magical talent but who   for some reason has a knack for undermining the  powerful and rich using a facade of my mesmerizing   performance capabilities to earn their trust and  so my class is a mystical hulk or like a spiritual   robin hood or something like that but regardless  of what you decide to call yourself i'm calling it   the 22 and check out the awesome artwork for this  character concept by my friend randall hampton   um i love his artwork if you're interested in  seeing more of randall's stuff it's all fantastic   check out the video description and i'll post  links so that you can follow him anyway thanks   randall loved this one like i love all of them and  let's jump into the build all right at level one   we are starting off our class as a paladin like  i've mentioned we're mostly here for smite but   if i'm being honest i am generally a fan of the  paladin chassis um there's a lot of nice perks   for it even early on so as for our race first  off no kidding i really do like custom lineage   for this character for story reasons i consider  myself to be a half giant half celestial and   there's not really an existing race in dnd that  fits that mold perfectly so custom lineage gives   you the opportunity to create your own lineage  right in that way but of course we're here for   mechanical purposes as well the plus two ability  score but then the free feet uh there is a feat   that this build is very very dependent upon and i  would much rather start off with it than wait till   level four or even six in in our case not only  that but the feet that we're taking is a half feet   and so it's going to let us start with an 18 in  our most important ability score so that combined   with the free feed just makes it really tough  to beat at level one if you really hate custom   lineage with a white hot passion or if you already  get a free feet at your table take whatever your   favorite race is you lucky bastard i don't have  a really strong recommendation otherwise for this   character how about a tenaci genocides are cool  as for that free feat we are going to take crusher   it's one of my favorite feats out of tasha's  cauldron of everything it gives you a plus one   to your strength or constitution we're going to  take strength and then if you get a critical hit   all attacks against the enemy are made with  advantage for everybody until your next turn   and most importantly once per turn when you hit a  creature with bludgeoning damage you can move them   five feet so long as they are only one size larger  than you remember that for the future that's   important they don't get a saving throw to like  resist that movement you just move them and that's   a big deal and it's actually going to be a  bit of a recurring theme for this build the   no saving throw bit as for ability scores i assume  as always that we're doing the point by method and   so i would recommend starting with a 15 strength  taking your plus two for your ratio there and the   plus one of course for the feet giving you an 18  strength to start then i would go 14 constitution   and a 14 charisma you've got to have at least  a 13 for paladin yes you could take a hex blade   dip here instead in that way focus on charisma  for your spells and your attacks if you're gonna   do this you would be less mad uh multiple ability  score dependent but you would get off to a slower   start damage wise and there's a couple other  things that make it a little bit wonky to me   we'd have to make an even bigger investment into  hex blade if we really wanted to you know get the   most out of it so anyway i'm just skipping it  but it is a viable alternative as for equipment   just kind of standard stuff really i would say  take chain mail and make sure you pick up a maul   a maul is the hardest hitting bludgeoning damage  weapon we can get our hands on and so yes we are   going to be thor here uh using a big hammer and  doing lots of damage with it also of course as a   paladin at level 1 we get the lay on hands feature  which is awesome it gives you you know five points   per paladin level that you can use to heal one  hit point for each point or you can spend five to   cure disease or poison on yourself or an ally  really nice and you get divine sense which is kind   of a utility feature that lets you potentially  sense you know fiends and undead and uh   fae face celestial one of the two celestials at  level two we get a fighting style and when you're   using a weapon with two hands and you're trying  to focus on damage great weapon fighting style is   probably gonna be your go-to you know it lets  you re-roll any ones or twos when you roll   damage for the weapon only and you get a one or  two you can re-roll those you have to keep what   you re-roll as i mentioned before it really only  adds about one damage per attack depending on the   enemy armor class so it's not amazing go ahead  and grab something else if you really want if i   were looking for an alternative it would probably  either be defense to raise my armor class by one   since i'm not planning on using a shield much with  this character or interception which lets us uh   protect our allies a little bit and is nice of  course we also get as a paladin level two divine   smite the main reason that we're here as most of  us know we hit an enemy with a melee weapon attack   and can then pile on some extra damage right it's  2d8 if we burn a first level spell slot for it   and then plus 1 d8 for each additional spell  slot higher than that that we use but it caps   at a fourth level spell slot or 5d8 total and  then we do get spells as well so you know i'm just   going to recommend my favorites here i think bless  is fantastic as most of you know gives us and some   of our allies an extra d4 on our attacks and on  our saving throws cure wounds of course for a heal   when you're out of lay on hands points is nice  and i think for this build i would be a little   remiss not to mention thunderous smite you cast  thundra smite as a bonus action it requires your   concentration but it only lasts until your next  hit lands essentially so your next attack is going   to do an extra 2d6 of thunder damage because we  are the god of thunder after all and then it also   forces a strength save on the enemy's part or else  they are pushed up to 10 feet away and knocked   prone now the same spell slot that you would  use for thunderous smite if you used instead for   divine smite would do a little more damage right  2d8 as opposed to 2d6 but if you're not otherwise   using your bonus action knocking an enemy prone  could mean advantage for you know the rest of your   party at least the melee members of your party  until that enemy stood back up so that might make   it better than divine smite and of course you  know we are building this character for burst   damage i mean in a pinch you could bonus actions  under a smite attack and if the attack hits you   also add a divine smite on top of it all in one  turn all in one attack right it would blow both of   your spell slots and you only have two right now  so i wouldn't advise it generally but sometimes   you're fighting an enemy that just really needs  to die and needs to die fast and doing you know   4d6 plus 2d8 plus 4 for your strength modifier  in a single attack as a level two character would   feel pretty cool at level three we're going to  start taking our sorcerer levels here first up   we get our sorceress origin at level one uh our  subclass and i'm going to recommend divine soul   yes i love this subclass the main reason why i  would want it for this build is not for the fact   that you essentially get access to the entire  cleric spell list which is amazing but it's   for the favored by the gods feature actually so  you get favored by the gods and tells us that if   you fail a save or miss with an attack once per  short rest which is nice you can add 2d4 to the   total possibly changing the failure to a success  as a character who is counting on one big hit for   all of their nova damage and who is not otherwise  gonna have advantage reliably this is really nice   to have add to that the fact that you can add  that to d4 after you know that you've missed   and it's that much stronger really letting you  hold on to it until you absolutely need it and   then of course we do get sorcerer spells now so  the only one that i'm going to say is a must-have   here is going to be the booming blade cantrip it's  an action to cast and as part of the spell you   make a melee weapon attack if it hits you will do  some extra damage once you hit level 5 and beyond   but then also from that point until your  next turn if that creature that you hit   moves of their own free will then they're going to  take some additional damage from moving and we're   going to use both components of that for this  build the cantrip scales so at level 5 it's 1d8   damage for the initial hit and then 2d8 damage if  they move and then it goes up at levels 11 and 17.   so from this point on during our turn we're going  to as our action use booming blade we're going   to hit the target and then thanks to crusher  feet we're going to push them five feet away   ideally you want to target a melee enemy here and  push them so that they're no longer next to you   or any of your allies then on their turn they'll  either be forced to just stand there doing nothing   assuming they don't have a ranged attack option of  course or move up to attack somebody and trigger   that extra booming blade damage this is our first  catch 22 right and for the non-native english   speakers in the audience maybe i should explain  to catch 22 is basically you know when somebody   is put in a situation that's kind of a lose-lose  there's there's no good choice right they're gonna   they're gonna suffer either way anyway this is our  first catch-22 it's weaker than it's going to be   in a couple of levels but it's still a potentially  fun predicament to enforce upon our enemies   as for your other spells that you can get here  you know i would grab guidance to give you or an   ally plus d4 to your next ability check which is  really great especially for utility but can also   be handy in combat sometimes i would take shield  for defense that lets us you know as a reaction   add 5 2 rac when we get hit by an enemy and  and it stays at that 5 ac higher until our   turn which is nice and then i'd probably make  sure to pick up healing word so that you could   heal an ally from 30 feet away as a bonus  action in a pinch you know if they've gone   down unconscious and you can't quite get up to  them because let both lay on hands and cure wounds   require an action and touch so healing word will  be nice in a pinch at level four we are a sorcerer   level two we get font of magic so we now get our  sorcery points right we get one sorcery point per   sorcerer level they reset on a long rest they  will fuel our metamagic options which we're to   get next level for now we can just kind of use  them to create more spell slots for ourselves   which is nice and we can also convert spell slots  into sorcery points later when we actually have   something to do with them right in order to use  our metamagic more often if we've got spell slots   to burn we also do thanks to our multi-classing  with paladin we get second level spell slots here   for us that's probably mostly going to mean you  know up casting smite to do 3d8 damage instead   of 2d8 damage at level 5 we are a sorcerer 3 and  this is kind of where everything starts to come   together so keep in mind booming blade now does  1d8 on the initial attack and 2d8 if they move   and then we get metamagic so we're now going to be  able to use our sorcery points to do cool things   with our spells like cast them without verbal or  somatic components or re-roll the damage dice for   a spell or make the duration of a spell last  longer pick your favorite there's lots of good   ones but make sure to grab quick and spell which  is my favorite and that tells us for two sorcery   points we can cast a spell that normally has a  casting time of an action as a bonus action and   then we also now get second level sorcerer spells  i would just say take your favorites there's lots   of good ones aid web spiritual weapon will be  nice for like our non-nova damage round to bump   our sort of sustain damage misty step of course  but just make sure that you take cloud of daggers   here's a spell that often times gets overlooked  i think by the spell analysts of the d d world at   first glance it's a little underwhelming it takes  an action to cast it requires your concentration   and then it just tells us you fill the air with  spinning daggers in a cube five feet on each side   centered on a point you choose within range a  creature takes 4d4 slashing damage when it enters   the spell's area for the first time on a turn or  starts its turn there at higher levels when you   cast the spell using a spell slot a third level or  higher the damage increases by 2d4 for each slot   level above second so one little five foot cube  most people i think probably look at this and go i   mean i guess maybe to like block a door or to do a  little bit of damage to one character but probably   for only a single turn right but meh there are  two very important aspects to this spell that i'd   like to highlight first off the enemy gets no save  against the damage like i said kind of a recurring   theme here they just take the damage for someone  with a fairly mediocre spell casting ability score   that's super nice second off we're told that they  take the damage when they enter the spells area   for the first time on a turn not on their  or when they start their turn there so   if we could find a way to make them enter the  spell's area of effect when it's not their turn   so from this point on here's how our nova  round looks as a bonus action you quicken   cloud of daggers and you cast it five feet behind  your enemy as an action you cast booming blade   which is allowed even though we cast a spell as a  bonus action because booming blade is a can trip   with a casting time of one action so we are within  the rules here we make our attack and if we hit   we smite and also push them five feet backwards  into the cloud of daggers as that is the first   time that they are entering said cloud on a turn  they take 44 damage and then at start of their   turn they take 4d4 damage from cloud of daggers  and then they think to themselves crap i am   surrounded by a cloud of flying daggers i do not  want to be surrounded by a cloud of flying daggers   they give me owies i will move out of the cloud  of flying daggers wait crap i am sheathed in   booming energy if i move i will take thunder  damage i am sad but you you will be happy now   some of you may want to argue that the enemy  would not take damage upon entering on your turn   and when they start their turn there i would  disagree but i'm happy to let you guys fight   it out in the comments get out your sage advice  compendiums and your jeremy crawford tweets   ready fight one other thing i wanted to mention  about cloud of daggers just because the area says   that it's a single like five foot cube doesn't  necessarily mean that if you're playing on a grid   it can only affect one enemy now some dms may rule  that spell effects like snap to a grid right and   if it's a five foot cube it just inhabits one five  foot cube a lot of others jeremy crawford included   have indicated that the point of origin couldn't  be like between two little five foot cubes on   a grid right and so be half in one and half in  another and so in that case potentially you could   affect two enemies if they were standing right  next to each other at least for one turn until   you know they moved away it would not barring you  know a very generous dm work like if you put it at   the axis of like a four or five foot cube square  because for the spell to damage an enemy it has   to cover at least half of the cube that they're  standing in but anyway you might be able to get a   little extra damage on a second enemy here and  you can add that topic to the comment fights   at level 6 we are a sorcerer 4. you know we've  got places to go and other classes to see   but i felt like i had to grab a fourth level  of sorcerer here for two reasons one i really   wanted four metamagic points so that i could  use quicken spell at least a couple of times a   day without having to burn spell slots to get more  two i really wanted an ability score increase and   actually there were three reasons because most  importantly i think i wanted more and better   spell slots so as a sorcerer 4 and a paladin 2 we  get 3rd level spell slots here which means that we   can up cast both cloud of daggers and at least one  smite for 4d8 damage and that's awesome we also   yes get our first ability score increase or feet  and i really want to make sure that we're landing   that one big attack and again since a lot of our  damage is now like saving throw free i'm not as   worried about our charisma score yet so i'm gonna  say bump strength so that we're capped at 20 which   feels really nice to be there by level six and so  it's time for a damage report right for our first   damage report i've already explained what we're  gonna do for our nova round but just to summarize   quicken spell cloud of daggers at the third  level booming blade attack with a smite   push them into the cloud i'm assuming that  would be 2d6 plus 5 for our maul and our   strength score right plus 1d8 for the booming  blade plus 4d8 for a third level smite plus 64   for getting knocked into the cloud of daggers for  which they get no save on their turn they take 64   of damage from cloud of daggers for which they get  no save and then 2d8 for moving out of the cloud   for which they get no save of course they could  just decide to stay in your cloud of daggers right   and if they did that's a huge win for us because  on their next turn they're going to take 6 d4   damage which is a little bit more than 2d8 so i'm  just going to assume that they are going to move   so that is a total of 2d6 plus 7d8 plus 12d4  plus 5 over the course of one round i'm also   assuming that you've got your favorite of the  gods available that plus 2d4 to hit if you need it   and so against an enemy with a 10 armor class  assuming all of those things we would do 73 damage   on that one round and against an enemy with a 15  armor class it would be 70 damage again it hardly   goes down because so much of the damage that we're  doing is regardless of their saving throw score or   their armor class we just got to make sure we  get that one hit and man that is right up there   with the best of them when compared to  other nova damage builds that i've done   at this level check the video description if you  want to look at that comparison in some graphs and   spreadsheets it doesn't quite beat out the needler  oh here we go uh at lower enemy armor classes but   um by middle enemy armor class and up it does  admittedly we can only do this level of damage   once per day but we do have some second level  spell slots left over still so that we could   do it again for just a little bit less damage  another time and we also bring you know a little   bit of support functionality that like the needler  for example is missing so it's all good fun times   all right at level seven we're a fighter one there  are many things that we want from fighter but to   be honest um i kind of feel like in practice  most of the things that we pick up from fighter   are there not so much to add to our burst damage  though there is that but really to sort of shore   up some potential weaknesses and or increase the  frequency with which we can burst so as a fighter   at level one we get a fighting style and this is  our second fighting style now i would recommend   taking superior technique it gives us one maneuver  and one superiority die akin to the battle master   subclass that superiority die is only a d6 as  opposed to the d8 that the battle masters kit   but it will be a really nice way to help add  some damage for nova not just for that d6 but for   the effect that comes from it because you know the  the maneuvers that i would recommend well really i   think there's probably three big contenders first  of all trip attack trip attack is a favorite of   mine because you know you make the attack if  it lands you add the d6 of damage and then   if they fail a strength save the dc for which will  be based on your strength score so you've got a   pretty decent chance of succeeding here even  though a lot of enemies have a decent strength   saving throw they will be knocked prone if they  fail that safe meaning that you would then have   advantage on them and so would your other melee  allies until they stood up on their turn and that   will be potentially handy next level menacing  attack is another favorite it gets a similar d6   on the attack when you land it but then they have  to make a wisdom saving throw or else they are   frightened of you until their turn and that's  gonna be nice because they'll have disadvantage   on attacks they can't move closer to you and the  the wisdom save is more likely to be failed by   most enemies if i'm being honest if someone came  up and smacked me with like the world's biggest   golf club and hit me so hard that i flew five feet  backwards into a flying cloud of slashing blades   that they had just conjured i'd be afraid  too i'm gonna assume when we're crunching   the numbers that we're using trip attack for that  advantage that it will give us that said if it   were me playing this character in game i would  think very hard about taking precision attack   instead a d6 of damage is nice and everything  and so is knocking an enemy prone but if you're   blowing quicken spell to set up your nova round  you really really want your booming blade attack   to hit you know fortunately we have favorite  of the gods but if that's spent or not quite   enough it would be nice to have another d6 in your  pocket to add to that attack roll and that's what   precision attack does it also lets you wait until  after the attack roll has been made which is nice   and then also as a fighter at level 1 we get  second wind which lets us heal once per short   rest as a bonus action for d10 plus our fighter  level so between that and lay on hands we've got   a couple of nice little self-heals or even ally  heals with our spells and things too at level   eight we are a fighter two and yes we get action  search which tells us that you know once per short   rest we can get another action on our turns  we could get two whole actions so sure on our   nova round now we could quicken cloud of daggers  booming blade attack with a smite knock the enemy   back and knock them prone potentially even and  then action surge and make a second booming blade   attack with smite you gotta be careful here  though if you hit with your first attack and   push them back you've got to step up now right to  make that second attack and then ideally back away   when you're done so that they will have to choose  between moving or staying in the cloud right we   want that catch 22. now ideally they'll have  disadvantage on that attack for a number of   reasons they could be prone or feared of course  you could always wait to push them back until   you've action surged and make that second  attack to avoid you know taking an attack   of opportunity but if that second attack misses  you're really gonna be kicking yourself i mean   if you've knocked them prone on the first attack  you will have advantage on that second attack so   there's a good chance of making that hit but still  something to be wary of and of course you know the   nice thing about action surge is you don't have to  use it to make another booming blade attack right   alternatively i mean wouldn't it be great  if you're out of sorcery points and and you   don't want to burn any spell slots to get  more to give yourself another nova round   you could cast cloud of daggers as an action  action surge and then booming blade knock them   back right so now you've got multiple options to  potentially nova a little more frequently so if   you're out of sorts three points if you're out  of spell slots but you still want to go golfing   action search would give you an opportunity to  do so and nova damage is just a lot more fun when   you can do it more frequently at level 9 we are a  fighter 3. thus far there has been a little bit of   a weakness i think with our build it doesn't work  against huge creatures remember the crusher feat   only knocks back enemies if they are no more than  one size larger than you let's solve that problem   here so yes at level three fighters get their  martial archetype their subclass and we are going   with i think my favorite martial archetype for  fighters which is the roon knight and i haven't   done a rune knight for a minute it's been since my  collaboration video with treant monk i think check   that out there if you have not seen it but yeah  i love rune knights they can bring a lot of power   and versatility to a class that i think sometimes  can feel a little vanilla here's what we read   about them rune knights enhance their martial  prowess using the supernatural power of runes   an ancient practice that originated with giants  rune cutters can be found among any family of   giants and you likely learned your methods first  or second hand from such a mystical artisan   whether you found the giant's work carved into a  hill or cave learned of the runes from a sage or   met the giant in person you studied the giant's  craft and learned how to apply magic runes   to empower your equipment it's delicious so  as a rune knight we get proficiency in smith's   tools we learn the giant language those are nice  things and then we get the rune carver feature   so we now get to learn two runes that we can carve  into a weapon or armor and then we can draw upon   the power of those runes once per short rest each  rune the two that i would recommend are first off   cloud this is incredibly powerful we get advantage  on sleight of hand and deception checks okay   that's not that powerful but then when you or  an ally within 30 feet are hit by an attack roll   you can as a reaction force that attack  to target another creature potentially   enemy ideally an enemy that you can see  within 30 feet using the same attack role   regardless of the range and i will say  having experienced this in-game that getting   hit by a critical hit and then forcing that  critical hit to attack your enemy's ally is   like one of the funnest things that you can do in  dnd it's so great as for the second rune i'm going   to recommend fire room and for this build this is  equally amazing so with fire rune we can first of   all we get to double our proficiency bonus when we  use tools that we're proficient with but then also   when we land a weapon attack we can invoke the  rune to deal an extra 2d6 of fire damage and force   a strength save on the target or else they are  restrained and that means they can't move attacks   against them have advantage and their attacks  have disadvantage and they have disadvantage   on dexterity saving throws how amazing is it going  to be when you hit your enemy with your mallet and   knock them back into a cloud of flying daggers and  when they get there they find themselves wrapped   in fiery chains preventing them from leaving said  cloud of flying daggers the answer is a so amazing   what's more if you knocked them prone and  restrained them they are not going to be able   to stand up right until they free themselves from  those chains now unfortunately it is a strength   saving throw that they get to make to not be  wrapped up in those chains and also unfortunately   the dc is based not on your strength for for  arun knights but on your constitution and our   constitution score isn't amazing so the likelihood  of these chains actually sticking isn't fantastic   but if they do fail they will take another 2d6 of  fire damage at the start of their turn each turn   until they break those chains they get to make a  saving throw at the end of each turn regardless   that 2d6 the initial 2d6 fire damage that you do  is going to hit no matter what whether they're   shackled or not and so all together this is just  perfect but wait there's more because we also as a   rune knight get the giants might feature and it  is perfect for us because remember what i said   about crusher not working against huge creatures  well incomes giant smite to solve that problem   proficiency bonus times per day which right now  for us is four as a bonus action we can grow to   a large size and so now we can use crusher on  creatures that are one size larger than large   which is huge we also get advantage on strength  checks and saves which is great if we want to   say i don't know grapple a target after our nova  round is over to both keep them from getting   to our allies but also to hold their face  in something like a cloud of daggers that   might come in handy oh and once per turn one  of our attacks gets an extra d6 of damage   so for a damage report at level 9 it's it's  potentially going to take a round to set up   if we want to activate giant's mite no we don't  have to if we're not fighting any huge creatures i   don't know if i would wait a turn to get into  my nova damage so you know you could wait and   activate it on round two if you wanted to but just  for fun let's assume that you have giant smite on   okay so like round one you bonus action giants  might then maybe make an attack cast a spell   whatever then on round two if you wanted to blow  most of your resources on one glorious nova round   you could potentially quicken cloud of daggers  again at the third level then booming blade the   enemy if it hits you'd apply your mauls two d6  plus 5 for strength your giants might 1d6 your   trip attacks 1d6 your fire runes 2d6 booming  blades 1d8 and a third level smite for 4d8   and then crushing blow them into your cloud of  daggers where they would take 64 where they would   potentially land prone wrapped in fiery chains  and sheathed in booming energy all while being   cut up by a cloud of flying daggers you would  then potentially action surge step up and   booming blade again this time with a second level  smite for another 2d six plus five for your maul   plus one d8 for booming blade plus 3d8 for smite  then on their turn they're going to take 64 for   cloud of daggers and probably step out unless of  course they are shackled by fiery chains still   in which case they would take 2d6 more damage  from the fiery chains and more cloud of daggers   damage on their next turn oh who are we kidding  they're not going to be alive on their next turn   because that's a total of 8 d6 plus 11 d8 plus 12  d4 plus 10. i'm not assuming that they're shackled   also again i'm assuming that you've got that plus  two d4 on your first attack and advantage on the   second attack because they're prone yes i fully  realize that this is all best case scenario stuff   that won't always play out but if it did against  an enemy with a 10 armor class you would do   120 damage on average and against an enemy with  a 16 armor class it would be 115. all right so   at this point i i really consider the core of  the build fairly complete i mean in fact i might   even go so far as to say that we were kind of done  with the core by level 5. regardless i think there   are a lot of ways we could go from here if your  campaign is going to go to level 10 and beyond   sticking with fighter or going back to paladin are  both valid options to get ability score increases   feats potentially a paladin oath and i mean we  still don't have extra attack about that though to   be honest with booming blade and especially with  the booming blade upgrade that's just around the   corner i really don't miss extra attack that much  on this build i know some of you may think that's   heretical but just keep in mind that if we  take the attack action we can't use booming   blade on our turn without spending resources and  i like to save those resources for our nova round   this means that yes finding a way to get extra  attack would let us make another 2d six plus five   attack on our turn but we would potentially give  up the 3d8 to get it if we're making an attack on   a melee enemy on our turn knocking them back and  forcing them to choose between doing nothing or   moving up right and taking that extra booming  blade damage i'm not saying that extra attack   isn't potentially valuable especially if we have  a lot of spell slots to spend on more smites   i just don't see it as a huge priority on  this character obviously but speaking of   spell slots on the other hand i do see that as  our most important priority from this point on   at least until we can you know get enough spells  to sort of cap our smites and upgrade our cloud   of daggers a little bit more so yeah we want  more of them and we want higher level ones   as a charisma based caster we've got a few options  there i would rather not go warlock because the   warlock spell slots don't stack with your other  spell slots so we would sort of be forced to   start over do you know what i mean even though  they refresh on a short rest and that's nice   but you only get two per short rest forever and  yeah again they don't they don't increase the the   spell slot level of your other spell slots so that  basically leaves us with going back to sorcerer   which would be perfectly viable option especially  if we were more interested in higher level spells   more than you know adding damage to our nova round  necessarily for me though i think my preference   here would be to go barred first of all because  bards are awesome and they get lots of nice ways   to make our character a little more well-rounded  primarily i suppose i like the additional burst   damage we can pick up by going this route and it's  been a minute since i've done any bard levels so   it sounded fun so yes at level 10 our celestial  giant hybrid is taking bard levels and we are   a bard one perhaps we're doing this to infiltrate  the inner court of some rich and oppressive noble   to undermine them financially or politically i  would actually love to hear like the backstory   or character arc that you would come up with  for this particular character a paladin sorcerer   roon knight bard so let me know in the comments if  you've got any good ideas as a bard at level one   we get bardic inspiration as a bonus action  one creature other than you within 60 feet   we can basically give them inspiration to inspire  them using song or uh or oration and please have   a song at least occasionally when you give  out inspiration or maybe like a cool quote   or a speech or something funny it always adds  great flavor to any game but then your ally for   the next 10 minutes can then use this inspiration  die which you've given them which is a d6 for now   to add to any ability check attack roll or saving  throw for now we can only use this charisma   modifier times per long rest which means only  two for us which is kind of a bummer but we will   try to fix that eventually we also get spells of  course barred spells first level spells can trips   i would just say pick your favorites there are  some fantastic ones for fun and flavor and utility   like vicious mockery hideous laughter and  especially i think dissonant whispers which   can be paired nicely with booming blade actually  if you use it on a target who's been hit by your   booming blade yours or someone else's i guess  for that matter causing them to run away and   trigger that additional booming blade damage for  moving at level 11 we are a bard two and this is   a big level for us so we get jack of all trades  which you know if you're not proficient in the   skill you now get to add half of your proficiency  bonus when making an ability check with that   skill very nice for utility mostly and then we  get song of rest which tells us that when you   and your allies are spending hit dice to  recover hit points during a short rest   your music or oration soothes them to let you  add an additional 1d6 of healing not amazing but   every little bit helps more importantly i  think we get fourth level spell slots now   thanks to our multi-classing for stronger  smiting and stronger cloud daggering   and at level 11 booming blade gets a bump too  so the initial attack does 2d8 on that first hit   with it and then if they move they take  3d8 damage at level 12 we are a bard three   we get expertise so you choose two skills that you  are proficient in and you double your proficiency   bonus for them if it were me i would probably go  with perception and athletics i think for better   grappling checks when i needed them but do what  you want we also get second level bard spells   pick your favorites same as last time you know  lots of great options especially for control and   for utility and then we get our bard college  our subclass i originally planned on going   swordsboard here and i was actually really  excited to you know get to use a strong   subclass that i haven't used since the bard  locker uh oh that's my fifth card i think   but in the end i think we need to go with the  college of whispers it's just it's a lot better   for our nova round due both to the bigger damage  that they get to add and because of the fact that   swords bards don't get to add their extra  damage unless they take the attack action   which would be worse for us than simply casting  booming blades since we don't have extra attack   right now and while sure swords eventually  would get extra attack it's not until level   six barred and we could pretty easily pick up  that feature from another class if we wanted   still if you wanted to go swords bart here i would  say go for it and live your life with no regrets   as for us yes we're going whispers and whispers  bards are awesome so we get words of terror   first of all this is incredibly dark and sinister  and i love the juicy flavor of it you speak to   a humanoid alone for at least a minute and then  they have to make a wisdom save or be frightened   of you for an hour i can't imagine that this  actually sees a lot of use in most campaigns   but if you have seen this at your table especially  if you've done it yourself but regardless let me   know i'd love to hear that story actually and  what happened to that creature and what was   said if anything specifically was said by the  character for that one minute as they planted a   little seed of terror in their target's mind and  then of course we also get psychic blades which   is the main reason that we're here so once per  turn when you hit a creature with a weapon attack   you can expend a use of your bardic inspiration  remember we only have two per day at the moment   to deal an extra 2d6 of psychic damage and  there's no reason that you shouldn't be able   to stack this with divine smite at level 13 we are  a bard 4 and we get 5th level spell slots first   of all because of multi-classing divine smite was  capped at fourth level spell slots for damage but   i almost said call of duty is not capped because i  abbreviated it in my notes as cod call of duty has   no cap so yeah cloud of daggers has no cap so you  can up cast it so fifth level cut of dagger spell   is going to do 10 d4 damage ideally twice in a  round right we also as a bard 4 get an ability   score increase or feet a smart person would  probably go for like resilient constitution here   but i'm a [ __ ] who only cares about  damage so i want to bump my charisma   and there there is actually even an argument  to be made i think for taking great weapon   master here but for me you know because we do so  much extra damage when we hit from giants might   and from smites and booming blade and pushing into  clouded daggers that hitting is is just much more   important even than that plus 10 damage would be  from the great weapon master so with no reliable   source of advantage on the first hit at least that  minus five to hit penalty that great weapon master   imposes just really makes it worth not even using  even on like middling armor classes and above   on the other hand we are getting all kinds of new  needs for a high charisma score most especially   for more uses of our inspiration and psychic  blades so if we bump our charisma here to a 16   we'd at least get to use it three times per  day right as for a damage report at level 13   our tactics haven't really changed much since last  time but we do have better spells for smiting and   for up casting cloud of daggers and we get to  add psychic blades to our nova round as well   yay so against an enemy with a 10 armor class  we would on average do 172 damage in a round   and against an enemy with a 17 armored class it  would be 166. looking good at level 14 we are at   bard 5. i really want just one more level in bard  here i think because we get a lot at fifth level   so starting off we get third level barred  spells pick your favorites um there are some   great ones hypnotic pattern cat nap tiny hut  you know super great for utility and control   our bardic inspiration goes to a d8 now which is  nice psychic blades goes to 3d6 now which is nice   and best of all we get font of inspiration and  this tells us that we get our bardic inspirations   back on a short rest now so that means more  helping your allies and more using psychic   blades and as i said doing burst damage is always  more fun when you can do it more often at level 15   i think we've gotten our most important  features from bard now but the bonus damage   the utility and most importantly lots of spell  slots so i think for me i'm probably going to   finish the character off by going back to my  roots and finally after passed through all of   these trials and tribulations that my character  has passed through swearing my oath and for me   that oath is going to be the oath of conquest  apparently we've been doing a lot of conquering   in our 15-level career thus far and that's for  one primary reason like clerics all paladins   get a channel divinity that they can use once per  short rest and paladins get two options for that   channel divinity the second is my favorite for  this particular build and that is guided strike   so guided strike tells us that when you make an  attack roll after you see the roll but before   the dm says if it hits or not you can add 10 to  the roll just a flat 10. again you know with so   much at stake for us on like one or two big hits  having another big buff to add to our attack that   we can use if and when we need to is just really  really nice my original plan was actually to go   straight to pally 3 right at the beginning  to pick this up but then i remembered that   favorite of the gods though it's not quite as good  works very similarly and so i decided that it was   a little more important for us to get started  on our sorcerer levels to get you know to get   the metamagic and to get those better spells and  spell slots if you wanted to go pally 3 right at   the beginning i wouldn't fault you but now you  know between this favorite of the gods and even   potentially precision attack if you took that all  of which reset on a short rest we should very very   rarely miss when we need to hit most our second  channel divinity option as a conquest paladin   is also nice and is the one that i was most  interested in when i built my undead support lock hey stupid five card limit per video conquering  presence which forces enemies within 30 feet   to make a wisdom save or be frightened of us and  that's great we also of course get divine health   as a paladin at level 3 making us immune to  disease which is nice for the rare occasion   that that comes up at level 16 we're a paladin  for we get another ability score increase or feet   and now that we have that plus 10 to hit  once per short rest i am even more tempted   to take great weapon master if you did it would  increase your damage during your nova round by a   little bit up until you hit an enemy armor class  of about 18 or so but at this level an enemy ac   of 18 is not particularly uncommon right and in  fact you'll very often see better than that and   with so many dice at stake here if we hit i think  i would just as soon not use my big to hit bonuses   if i can help it save that favor of  the gods for a failed saving throw   like a smart person speaking of saving throws if  you've gone this long without taking resilient   constitution you might as well wait at this  point because aura of protection is just around   the corner to that end and to increase all of  our other spellcaster features and abilities   and barco inspirations i'm probably just going  to bump charisma again here to a charisma 18.   also keep in mind we do have six level  spell slots now thanks to multi-classing   and finally for us at level 17 we are a  paladin 5 and that means we get extra attack   at level 17 i mean come on honestly though  depending on your weapon which admittedly could   be an amazing magic weapon at this point right and  depending on if you're fighting a melee enemy who   doesn't have a ranged damage option i still might  not even take the attack action outside of my nova   round even now that we have extra attack because  one more weapon attack could just be as little   as 2d6 plus 5 versus the 3d8 damage that booming  blade does on its initial attack which is slightly   better of course admittedly if you had even a plus  one magic weapon that magic weapon then outpaces   booming blade right for for a single attack but  if your enemy is going to get knocked back and i'm   talking outside of nova round here if the enemy  is gonna get knocked back five feet and their   melee and they're going to move up on their turn  taking that extra 4d8 from booming blade which   it does now at this level that's going to beat  out most extra attacks with all but the most   powerful magical weapons however now that we have  lots and lots of spell slots to burn smites with   extra attack will undoubtedly be a nice  bump to our nova round no question as i   mentioned yes booming blade now does 3d8  on the initial attack 4d8 if they move   and we do get second level paladin spells at this  level too i mean you got to take fighting steed   right but otherwise knock yourself out so for  our final damage report this is what a best case   scenario nova route looks like if we wanted to  burn every resource possible to blow something up   to get a hole in one as it were we get giant smite  going round one as a bonus action again i probably   wouldn't do this unless you were fighting a  huge enemy or you know you knew a fight was   about to break out and you had a round to kind  of prepare but then on round two you would bonus   action quicken cloud of daggers at the sixth level  and then as your action booming blade for 2d6 plus   5 for your strength plus 3d8 for booming blade  using your plus 10 to hit if you have to assuming   you hit you add 1d6 for giant smite 1d6 for trip  attack 2d6 for fire rune 3d6 for psychic blades   and a 5d8 smite knocking them back into your cloud  of daggers where they would take 12 d4 damage   then you step up action surge taking the attack  action now and hitting them with a 2d6 plus 5   attack and another 5d8 smite two times hopefully  with advantage if they are prone or restrained   uh by your fire rune then on their turn  they take another 12 d4 damage from cloud   of daggers and if they move 4 d8 damage from  booming blade for a grand total of 24 d4 13 d6   and 22 d8 plus 15. and against an enemy with  a 10 armor class that would be 225 damage   on average and against an enemy with  an 18 armor class it would be 222.   i'm really happy to see us break the 200 level  now and i'm also really happy about how little   the damage drops as the enemy ac goes up thanks  to so much of our damage happening regardless   of the enemy's saving throw or armor class and  even applied with a plus 10 or plus 2 d4 to hit   if we need it compared to other nova builds that  i've done damage wise this is definitely in the   top half of the class but final thoughts i think  more important for me than the numbers though   this might be the funnest concept of all the nova  builds i've done well okay maybe tied with like   the blade singer nova and the mercy monk for  me which i played by the way mercy monk in a   one shot couple of weeks ago when we couldn't do  our tales of an area campaign and ah it was fun   and that made me miss monks but i digress  this character the catch 22 i want to play   so bad like it's literally i think at the top of  my next to playlist right now whether that means   for you know our next campaign whenever that  happens or even maybe a future one shot just like   the sheer glee of that big huge hit knock back  into the cloud of daggers and seeing your enemies   face as they go ah crap what do i do i just don't  think that would get old all game i really don't   but but even if it did like you you get a lot  of additional sort of utility and versatility   with this character as well i mean i imagine that  after my nova round was over i would probably be   grappling my enemies fairly often especially if  i've got giant smite activated you know holding   them into the cloud of daggers maybe dropping my  maul and picking up a one-handed weapon to make   extra attacks with that weapon as i've got them  grappled in the cloud of daggers or maybe even   grabbing two of them and holding both of them in  the cloud of daggers right that's that's going to   be great to sort of protect your allies a lot of  the time and also you know do some nice sort of   damage to the enemy each round while you control  them and again you could grow to a large size and   grapple a huge creature even and do that throwing  out inspiration to my friends as bonus actions   redirecting attacks with cloudrune it just it  just sounds like an absolute blast to play so i   hope you get a chance to try it out sometime in  the near future and i hope i do too but anyway   that's our show for the week so i love you  guys thank you so much for watching thank   you for your support i really truly appreciate  it you know if you're not subscribed please do   so and like and comment and consider joining the  channel even all of those things but uh anyway   i hope you have a fantastic week i hope to talk  to you very soon and until then take care see ya you

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 57,404

Keywords: D&D Optimized, Sorcadin, D&D, dnd, dungeons & dragons, burst damage, nova damage, Oath of Conquest, Paladin, Divine soul, sorcerer, Rune Knight, Fighter, Whispers, Bard, Cloud of Daggers, Booming Blade

Id: 1jrIzC72AJ4

Length: 58min 9sec (3489 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021