The Sorlock Cheese Grater - D&D: Optimized #47

well hello everybody como estamos hoy  muy bien espero how's it going welcome to   dmd optimized the show where each week we take  a deep dive into one sometimes two character   builds four dungeons and dragons 5e we theory  craft about them we crunch numbers and we try   to create a character that is both super powerful  and also super fun to play in game so if you enjoy   creating characters for d d almost as much as you  enjoy playing the game itself then welcome home   this is where you belong and we are super happy  to have you so thanks for being here uh my name's   colby and i'll be your host before we get started  uh quick favor to ask if you are still watching   and think you might continue to do  so uh do me a big favor and click the   the like button the little thumbs up icon down  there um it really helps a lot actually for me   and for the channel uh for the algorithm so  give me a like if you like it and thank you   um let's jump in to the character build for  the week so the character i'm going to do today   has been the sort of most oft requested build  that i've had on my list of late for the last   several weeks and even months it's essentially  i'm going to give you a little sneak peek it's   essentially focused on using eldritch blast and  the spike growth spell for pretty high sustainable   damage um i think the time has finally come  to dive in and to see if we can figure out a   way to really kind of get the most out of  this character concept that i've seen you   know several people take a stab at before and  recommend and suggest for this version of the   character like i said we're going to be focused  on sustained damage per round and um after   crunching all the numbers on it slight spoiler  alert it just might be might be um the highest   sustained damage dealing character that i've  done in all of my previous 46 episodes to date   um so that's kind of exciting um and i wanted to  talk briefly uh as a preamble before we jump in   about sustained damage per round to sustain dpr um  for those of you who have been watching my channel   for a while you know uh i love creating characters  in this vein right it is by far my most oft used   sort of character role character build  looking for like good sustained damage   i know it's not everybody's favorite cup of tea  necessarily although this character for the record   will have some great burst potential too and you  could even tweak it to get even more but anyway   i don't know why i am just um i'm a huge  sucker for like reliable numbers um i think   it's the reason why i tend to shy away from and  kind of dislike like chaos magic and stuff like   that as we've joked about um often on the channel  um i just want i just want dependability it almost   feels though i think a little counter-intuitive  right in a game where literally almost everything   we try to do hinges on a roll of the dice i  complain about chance and unpredictability   in a way i suppose at least part of the reason  why i create these character builds at all is   is almost to do my very utmost to like eliminate  as much luck or chance um as i possibly can from   the game and to get a character as close  to reliable as possible whether that means   like damage that you can do reliably or damage  that you could survive reliably you know whatever   the role whatever the character sort of archetype  um again that's just me and so yeah like the deck   of many things is probably my least favorite magic  item in the game for example and i know you think   i'm a heretic and that's okay because i love you  anyway so what do we mean when we're talking about   sustained dpr or at least what do i mean you know  i think the way i like to define it at least is   damage that that a character could do like  every single turn without spending like all of   their resources essentially to do it um not zero  resources but few enough that we could reliably   put out those kinds of numbers on every turn for  at least one entire combat round is kind of how i   i guess i've sort of defined it in my head um if  not more and ideally more and often times more   with these builds but you know there are some  that rely say for example on your highest level   spell slot for concentration in order to get that  sustained dpr and in that case yeah oftentimes it   might only be good for like one combat round a day  or something right um but at the very least for an   entire combat session so is dpr a perfect tool no  is it useful though i think so you know of course   we won't always be able to count on the numbers  that we that we crunch and report on every single   turn as there can be so many variables right  for the types of enemies that we fight for the   companions that we fight with for the situation  that we find ourselves in the terrain you know   the role of the dice of course and a myriad  of other factors that can come into play and   and thank goodness for that right or else i think  the game would get a little stale a little boring   um but i like to use dpr um to help me figure  out a character's relative damage potential   and i'm guessing that most of you do as well  now as for the build today a lot of the times   when i multi-class i will kind of come up with  a good sort of story reason for why we're taking   different classes at different times throughout  the build um today i'm going to be bouncing   around a lot sort of back and forth between two  different classes and so i think for that reason   i'm not going to come up with a great story  reason necessarily for this character to be   you know taking level at you know levels in x at  one point levels in y at another if you or your dm   don't love a lot of bouncing around between  two or more classes without a good story reason   feel free to take all of your levels in one class  first and then you know move on to the next class   next if you need to and and let me know in  the comments um what your story might be uh   for this character and your justification for  multi-classing if that's something that you   or your dm you know really like to see um  for a multi-class character as for me i'm   going to call this like my own custom class like  we've done you know in the past sometimes right   it just happens to have you know x of one  class as per the rules and why of a second   and sometimes the the progression of this  particular character class uh is to take x and   sometimes you know it's to take y and that's just  how this particular character class progresses   and you know we'll call it the uh the eldritch  bramble or the briar lock or um the cheese grater i know it's terrible but i i can't help it  because i think it conveys a great image for   what this character actually does in game and so  i present episode 47 the sorlock cheese grater   um what what is that what is that lovely  custom artwork you say um i'm glad you asked   because it gives me a chance to tell you guys  about an upcoming collaboration that i'm super   excited about so this art that you're seeing right  now was specifically uh created for this character   for this episode by a new friend of mine named  randall hampton he's an author and illustrator of   the little game master series of children's books  he is the host of the show drawing conclusions   on the geeks like us twitch channel and he's  a dnd illustrator next month randall and i   are going to be doing a collaboration that i'm  super excited about where basically i'm going to   present my weekly build without him having any  sort of prior knowledge about the the character   that i've created for that week and he's actually  going to draw it as i present the character build   it's going to be a lot of fun stay tuned for  more info on that in coming weeks our plan is to   to record it on the 21st on his twitch channel i  will be posting it here on the 22nd the next day   because we're going to do it at night if you  want to follow randall please do he's he's a   super nice guy and a very talented artist as you  can tell follow him on twitter and or instagram   and i'm gonna post uh links to his twitter and  instagram accounts in the video description so   check that out thanks randall um i really  loved your vision of this uh this eldritch   cheese grater at level one um our class to start  off with is going to be sorcerer actually um i'm   a sucker for proficiency and constitution saving  throws uh when we're going to be concentrating on   a spell regularly and we definitely are so that's  my main reason for wanting to take sorcerer here   though we were planning on taking some levels  in it eventually anyway um i don't mind starting   with it but you don't have to if you really don't  want as for the race we're going custom lineage um   there are two feats that we really really want  and just makes our our early game especially   a lot stronger if we can start off with one of  them as for that free feat we're going crusher   actually so the crusher feat gives you a plus one  to strength or constitution will take constitution   um we are told that a critical hit that deals  bludgeoning damage gives you advantage on all   of your attack roles thereafter on that turn  which is really great actually a nice little perk   and then most importantly for us once per  turn when you deal bludgeoning damage you   can move the target five feet to an unoccupied  space if the target is no more than one size   larger than you they don't get a save there's no  restriction on what direction they're moved so   long as it's unoccupied um many of you know why  i'm doing this some of you may be scratching   your head a little bit right now and for those  of you that are scratching your head just hang   tight it'll make sense soon as for your abilities  i assume point by as usual so we're going to start   with a 15 charisma and then take the plus 2 from  our custom lineage ratio there so we've got a 17   charisma we'll go 15 constitution plus one from  the feet so we're starting with a 16 constitution   which is really nice and a 14 dexterity as for  equipment pretty standard stuff you don't really   need anything special here just right now we're  we're just trying to stay alive um as for the   sorceress origin yes sorcerers get their subclass  at level one and we are going to go wild magic   i know i know i just spent several minutes talking  about how i hate chaos and randomness in the game   and then the first thing i do is take the wild  magic sorcery for my sorcerer subclass and i even   promised i used this in a build previously uh it  was the thorn lock i believe here we go um which   would have coincidentally been a great name for  this build had i not already used it but anyway   yeah i used it there and i promised i'd never do  it again and here i am to be honest with you i   i don't actually consider the the subclass  here the the sorceress origin super important   um if you like having a better spell list for  uh you know from aberrant mind uh or clockwork   go for it if you like having access to the clear  expo list um you know take divine soul if you   really love shadow magic for whatever reason  uh do it i just happen to like the level one   feature for wild magic better than most and the  level six feature better than i think all others   for this particular build so let's get into a  wild magic sorcerer really quickly we are told   your innate magic comes from the forces of  chaos that underlie the order of creation   you might have endured exposure to raw magic  perhaps through a planar portal leading   to limbo the elemental planes or the far realm  perhaps you were blessed by a fae being or marked   by a demon or your magic could be a fluke of your  birth with no apparent cause however it came to   be this magic churns within you waiting for any  outlet so wild magic surge is the first feature   that you get and let's just get this over with  okay fine i will confess even i have to admit   that wild magic surges would probably be hilarious  and fun and awesome in the game when they happen   we're told that you know when you choose a storage  in the first level your spell casting can unleash   surges of untamed magic once per turn the dm can  have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a   source or a spell of first level or higher if you  roll a one then you roll on the wild magic surge   table to create a magical effect and it's this  big long table filled with all different kinds   of crazy things that could potentially happen  right the truth is most of the things that could   potentially happen to you on this wild magic surge  table are either innocuous like growing a beard   of feathers that lasts until you sneeze or your  hair falls out and then grows back the next day or   are straight up boons casting levitate on yourself  recovering hit points or like all of your spells   deal max damage um some of course are either minor  nuisances or downright potentially catastrophic   for your character like turning into a sheep  for one minute or casting fireball centered   on yourself or not being able to speak and  thus not be able to cast spells with verbal   components right um but regardless more often  than not you'll either be like okay cool or at   the very least that is freaking hilarious um even  when the thing that happens is bad so i can live   with that right the reality is your dm might not  is probably not going to have you rolling on the   surge table all that often especially since  we're not going to actually be casting   sorcerer spells particularly that frequently  at least not in like the early and mid game   so let me know i'm actually curious let me know  in the comments if you would like the funniest   awesomest or most devastating thing that's ever  happened to you or to one of your friends you know   playing a wild magic sorcerer here um obviously  it can make for some great story moments but   the the thing that was more attractive to me uh  here was the tides of chaos feature that you get   as a wild magic sorcerer once prolonged rest  you can t you can get advantage on one attack   one ability check or one save and you regain this  feature each time your dm has you roll on the wild   magic surge table so now at least there's a little  silver lining to having to roll on that table even   if it's a bad result right and an advantage is is  nice it's kind of an at-will inspiration almost   um so can't complain about that right we also of  course get spells as a first level sorcerer we   get some can trips we get some first level spells  um nothing too crazy here i just kind of get the   usuals for damage for survivability um so we're  talking mage armor of course would be really good   we're a little bit squishy but mage armor plus  our dexterity gives us a 15 armor class which   isn't terrible for now um just make sure that  you're standing 25 feet away from your friends   when you cast it on yourself at the beginning  of the day in case like a fireball explodes   stupid wild magic pick up like firebolt and or  thunderclap you know message ice knife burning   hands for some aoe you know things like that the  usuals at level two um it's time to build up the   core of our character now so we are going  warlock warlock one um at warlock level one   we also get to choose our subclass our other  worldly patron and we are going with the genie   subclass um i i think honestly this is my favorite  warlock patron for for pure flavor at least   um and also it's really powerful uh do you  here's what we're told you have made a pact   with one of the rarest kinds of genie a noble  genie such entities rule vast fifes on the   elemental planes and have great influence  over lesser genies and elemental creatures   noble genies are varied in their motivations  but most are arrogant and wield power that   rivals that of lesser deities they delight  in turning the table on mortals who often   bind genies into servitude and readily enter  into pacts that expand their reach so um now   our magic i'm guessing our wild magic has somehow  attracted uh this patron this this genie of ours   and so we enter into a pact with them and we  do at level one have to choose our genie kind   we get a choice of a few and we are going to take  the dao genie as our genie kinda that's important   um it will affect a couple a couple of important  things for us first off it gives us access to a   staple spell that we will be relying on pretty  much for our entire career which we'll get to   in a minute and in addition it's going to  affect the type of damage that we do so   so the next feature that we gain access to here  is the genies vessel feature um there's so many   awesome things about the genies vessel that i need  to talk about so our genie gives us a tiny object   that grants us a measure of their power it's it  can be an oil lamp an urn a ring etc etc and while   we are touching it we can do two things one our  bottled respite so or respite if you prefer as   an action once per day you can go inside your like  magic lamp um i love how the script gets flipped   here right the the genie doesn't live in the lamp  and they don't come out when we rub it but we can   go inside it if we want to um it's your own sort  of cushy little home away from home you can hear   what's going on outside while you're in there you  can remain inside for a number of hours equal to   two times your proficiency bonus so not quite a  long rest yet but you can exit as a bonus action   uh or if you die you'll come out as well or if  your vessel is destroyed you'll pop out as well   and you can leave things inside of it which is  super cool it's almost like a poor man's bag   of holding really if it gets destroyed you can  bring it back with a one hour ceremony that can   be performed during a short or a long rest so it's  just a cool little utility nice to have feature in   addition we get the genies wrath feature here  so once per turn when you hit with an attack   you um you get to add your proficiency bonus  in damage once per turn and since we went down   for our genie kind that damage is bludgeoning  damage and since we took the crusher feet that   means that when we hit them with an attack even  if it's a spell attack like eldritch blast right   the extra two points of damage we do right  now because that's our proficiency bonus   will be bludgeoning damage which means we could  if we wanted to move the enemy uh that we hit   five feet right forced enemy movement is  always really handy but especially powerful for   us as you will soon see um as for the spells that  we get as a first level warlock yes you know of   course make sure we pick up eldritch blast that's  going to be our go-to spell here for this build um   as most of you know it requires an action to  cast it sends a beam of crackling energy to   an enemy within 120 feet we we make an attack to  hit right it's an attack roll not a saving throw   and if i'm not mistaken it's the only cantrip  in dungeons and dragons that it scales like all   cantrips do all damaging can't trips do right  at 5 11 and 17 levels 5 11 and 17 but instead   of just doing more damage at those levels  it actually lets you fire an additional beam   for the same amount of damage the 1d10 that  the first one does right so it thus allows   you to make additional attacks as you as you  level up right and thereby do all of the cool   things that getting more attacks can let you do  like i discussed at length in the flamethrower   episode a couple of weeks ago um eldritch blast  rocks it's incredibly powerful we can make it more   powerful with invocations which we'll do here in a  minute as for the other spells that you get again   nothing too crazy fairly standard i might pick  up lightning lure as it could potentially give us   another way to move our enemies um other than  that you know i would say pick up hex at this   level to use for your concentration to do a little  extra damage on hit um and you know other things   that are maybe unique to warlocks like armor of  agathis which can add to our tankiness and also   return some damage to enemies if they hit us stuff  like that um one thing to remember sorcerer spell   lots and warlock spell slots are like oil  and water right unlike when you multi-class   with other spell casters when you multi-class with  warlock they don't mix right um right now you have   one warlock spell slot that refreshes on a short  rest and two sorcerer spell slots that refresh on   a long rest and never the twain shall meet you  can use either spell slot to cast spells that   you've learned from the other class right if you  want to but just keep them separate at level three   we are a warlock ii that means we get a second  spell slot thank goodness so now we have two   warlock spell slots that reset on a short rest and  we get our eldritch invocations um fragments of   forbidden knowledge that imbue us with an abiding  magical ability those all-important warlock   features that bring so much power and versatility  to the warlock class i would love to have all of   them unfortunately we only get to choose two  right now so we're going to take agonizing   blast which lets us add our charisma modifier  to each beam of eldritch blast it's our target   making this cantrip damage really good sustainable  damage per round comparable to like a weapon user   right at this level and then repelling blast for  our second uh invocation which says that when we   hit an enemy with eldritch blast we can move  them up to 10 feet away from us in a straight   line no saving throw they just get moved right 10  feet away more more enemy movement that's that's   very good and very important for us keep in mind  that with repelling blast we can move the enemy   every single time we hit them with elder splash  it doesn't put a limit on the number of times   we hit them as we get more blasts right so every  one you know once we get to level five we're going   to be able to hit them twice we could potentially  move them with each of them 10 feet all right   level 4. we are a warlock 3 and here we  go so first up we get our packed boon   um our genie bestows a boon on us for our  loyal service and we're probably going to   want to take i think packed of the chain um over  the other options pack to the talisman isn't isn't   a bad one either but i like packed to the chain a  little more it lets us use the find familiar spell   which we can cast as a ritual and we get some fun  and slightly more powerful forms that our familiar   can take you know when compared to the wizard  that has the fine familiar spell otherwise take   the one that you want i'd probably go for imp  as i think they're generally the most powerful   we won't really be using them for much though  other than like scouting and for fun and flavor   and to give ourselves advantage as well um so  yes the imp can turn invisible right and then   it will stay invisible until it attacks  or loses its concentration as though it   were concentrating on a spell that means that  it can on its turn because it has a different   initiative order than we do in its own turn  it can um you know tickle the enemy's bum   and distract them and thereby give us  advantage on you know our at least our   first and currently only i guess eldritch blast  attack right and the nice thing about it is   you know tickling the enemy's bum does not break  invisibility um invisibility is broken by losing   concentration or by attacking but not by taking  the help action now um some of you might want to   debate whether you know how that works exactly  rules is written whether he the imp can give   us advantage every single turn maybe by holding  their action until right before you go et cetera   et cetera if you want to get into that debate feel  free to do so in the comments or even check out   the slide and into my dms episode where we kind of  went over that and sort of the quick ruling at the   beginning of the show i'm going to assume going  forward now that we are getting advantage on our   first eldritch blast um beam uh and again like  i say right now we only have one but anyway   um that's going to change in a second and that  actually does wonders for like our damage and our   reliability on forcing enemy movement and  speaking of which yes as a warlock iii we now get   second level spells and the one that we really  need to talk about is the spike growth spell   so we only have access to this because we chose  dao as our genie kind warlocks do not otherwise   get access to spy growth nor do sorcerers for that  matter spike growth requires concentration takes   an action to cast lasts 10 minutes and creates  magical briars and spikes and thorns on the ground   in a 20-foot radius so for those using a grid  that's like an eight by eight square right that   is difficult to rain so enemies move at half speed  when they're moving through it and when a creature   moves into or within the area they take 2d4  piercing damage for every 5 feet they travel no   saving throw no check against their ac they just  take the damage and now our nucleus is complete   beneath the robes we find a warlock  and beneath the warlock we find his   nucleus going forward this is how combat looks for  us round one cast spike growth try to get as many   enemies in the area of effect as possible round  two start grading the cheese right you pick a   target that's probably between you and the spike  growth or maybe even still inside the the area   hit them with an eldritch blast uh move them  10 feet for doing so thanks to your invocation   and so that's going to cause them to take  a little extra damage right 2d4 for every 5   feet that they move so 44 damage there and then  apply the bludgeoning damage that you get from   dow genie right it's two extra damage but because  it's bludgeoning and because we have the crusher   feet now you can move them an additional five feet  right for 2d4 more damage on top of what you've   already done and you giggle with glee as your  enemy screams at all the thorny damage and rinse   and repeat in a moment i'm gonna put this up on  a grid actually using roll20 not a sponsor yet so   we can kind of talk about the area of effect and  the damage and some important things to consider   but let's get a couple more levels first before i  do that one note about crusher some of you may be   asking is it really so important to get that extra  five feet of movement that we would like sacrifice   a whole feet to get it um in my mind yes doing  an extra 2d four of damage once per turn is nice   but couple that with the fact that it just gives  us more ways to like manipulate and position and   move our enemies exactly where we want them  i think is definitely worth taking especially   early on since right now we don't have other  ways to move an enemy in a direction that we   want other than a push right so that lets us pull  as well or move them sideways or even up in the   air some are going to say if we wanted to just to  kind of make sure that we keep them exactly where   we want try and keep them in the middle of that  briar patch as it were all right at level five   i actually think i'm going back to sorcerer for  a minute um you don't have to do this doing so   gives us some great burst damage potential  and maybe more importantly actually lets us   get our whole rotation going with the spike  growth and things right in the opening round   instead of having to wait a turn feel free to  stay warlock right now if you'd really prefer   but for us at sorcerer level two eldritch  blast fires twice that that doesn't have   to do with our sorcerer level actually  now that we're level five eldritch blast   fires twice which is huge for our damage and uh  especially because we get to push two times now   with two beams and then um as sorcerer level two  we get font of magic so we get our sorcery points   uh we use these to fuel our metamagic options  primarily um the next level because we don't   have any currently but for now we can just use  them to create additional source for spell slots   uh which is not a terrible thing of course we  could also convert spell slots into sorcery points   there's no point in doing that now because we  can't do anything with those sorcery points   yet but eventually we will be making  great use of that feature all right   at level six we're going sorcerer three  um we get second level sorcerer spells and   there are lots of good options here you take  whatever you find most useful fun or powerful i'm   not gonna get into it too much there's some great  options but then we also get metamagic right so   we get the ability to twist our spells to suit our  needs and we get two metamagic options here that   let us do really powerful kind of extra things  with our spells at the cost of our sorcery points   right uh you can only use one per spell unless  otherwise noted and first off we definitely   want to get the quicken spell metamagic  option this lets us for two sorcery points   take a spell that normally requires an action  to cast and cast it as a bonus action instead   now keep in mind that if we cast a spell as a  bonus action no matter what kind of spell it is   whether it's a cantrip spell slot whatever using  quicken spell to do so the only other spell we can   cast on that turn is a cantrip that requires an  action to cast fortunately for us eldritch blast   meets that requirement so yes you could quicken  eldritch blast and then use your action to cast   eldritch blast again thereby getting it twice  or for example quicken spike growth on your very   first turn and then as your action use eldritch  blast and now you're kind of grating the cheese   right from the beginning right instead of having  to wait until the next turn for the second   metamagic option i would probably go with seeking  spell it's new to tasha's cauldron of everything   and it lets us reroll the d20 if we miss  with a spell that requires an attack roll   we can even use it if we've already used another  metamagic option on that spell which is great   sometimes it's just going to be really important  for you to hit and move your target so this will   be really nice to have when you really need  it subtle spell could also be really nice   letting you cast a spell without somatic or  verbal components meaning meaning you might   be able to for example like lay down some spike  growth without your enemies noticing until it's   too late and kind of you know get the jump on  them there at the beginning i suppose you'd have   to work the material components to spike growth uh  stealthily because uh subtle spell just lets you   forego the verbal and and and somatic right but  anyway um a nice potential option i think okay   so i promised that i would use kind of some roll  20 here to um you know give us a little bit of a   an idea as to how this might work in game so  um here's here's us okay and these are our   little allies over here here's the bad guys we're  fighting like some trolls and orcs or whatever   so beginning you know round one this is you you're  going to quicken spike growth and cast it like   this behind your enemy that you're going to be  attacking um and then you're going to eldritch   blast them boom boom they move 10 feet doing so  taking the eldritch blast damage and of course   the damage from spike growth you're going to hit  them again with your second eldritch blast beam   to knock them here and then you know with  one of those attacks whichever one that hits   if you want to you can move them thanks  to crusher an extra five feet that might   just be the here you know you might want to  pull them forward whatever you want to do   keep in mind that on subsequent rounds if  you wanted to um you could if you had the   sorcery points to do so and of course you can  convert your sorcerer spells to sorcery points   which i would probably do at least at least  convert one or two spell slots so that you can   you know do a couple of quicken spells right um  but so for burst damage here you could you could   potentially fire eldritch blast twice right so  one beam two beams that's your quicken spell   then three beams four beams and one of them with  the crusher you maybe pull them forward i think   five feet and then on their turn right they're  gonna have to decide if they're a ranged enemy   i guess they can make range attack so try and do  this against melee enemies they want to get to   you they either have to run through all of this  right which would be silly or they probably go   boom boom they take an extra 2d4 of damage  going through that final square that was   difficult to rain so that cost them 10 feet 15  feet 20 feet 25 feet 30 feet they have to dash   5 10 15 20 25 30 and they'd still only  be right here at the end of their turn so   that's now of course fantastic control uh as  well as damage that you've been dealing to this   particular character not to mention you know  these other characters that maybe you caught   in your little spike growth area so let's do  a damage report for level six um i'm assuming   that we're hitting an enemy just with two eldritch  blasts you know we don't have the sorcery points   currently anyway to sort of call that sustainable  right to quicken a spell every single turn   um so just two outreach blasts one with advantage  thanks to our bum tickler um both of them with a   plus three to damage from agonizing blast  because that's our charisma modifier right now   pushing the enemy through 10 feet of of thorns  and thistles one of those attacks pushing an   additional or pulling an additional five feet  of move speed through the briar patch and   doing an extra three damage uh thanks to to our  um genie patron that's our proficiency bonus   right now for a total of 2d 10 plus 10 d4 plus 8  damage so against an enemy with a 10 armor class   that is 43 damage per round on average and  against an enemy with a 15 armor class that's   34 damage per round on average um pretty solid  dpr i would call it a kind of upper half of   the pack when compared to other sustained  damage builds that i've done which is good   it also provides some really nice control of  course though potential drawback right it could   potentially make things a little difficult for  your allies depending on how many of them are   melee and whether or not they have to wade through  your briar patch to get to the bad guys right   we'll kind of talk about that a little bit more  in the final thoughts but something to keep in   mind all right at level seven um we're a sorcerer  four and we get an ability score increase or feet   i'm going to recommend taking telekinetic  telekinetic was again new to tasha's and it's   just it's a fantastic feat especially for us it's  a half feet first of all which means that we get   to bump our charisma by one and we had a 17 before  so now we're an 18 which is fantastic and then   as a bonus action we can force an enemy to  make a strength saving throw against our spell   dc which is a 15 at the moment not terrible  or be moved five feet away from or towards us   um so now we have a sort of a weaponized bonus  action since that means we get to drag them   through spike growth right if we um and so  it's great to use if we don't have or don't   want to spend um you know sorcery points to do  a quicken spell as a bonus action now we can   you know at least get this telekinesis going to to  move them cause them to take damage and increase   our control and our ability to kind of position  the enemy where we want them positioned um the   biggest downside of course to telekinetic is that  the enemy gets to make a strength save which is   among the higher saving throws that most enemies  that you'll face at least at most tables anyway   in dnd among the higher saving throws the enemies  have still it should work more often than not um   but i would like to get our dc a little bit  higher and to that end at level eight we're   gonna go back to warlock for a minute so we're a  warlock four um and we get another ability score   increase our feet i'm gonna say you know we bump  our charisma so we're capped now at a charisma   20 and and that feels really nice you know  getting that capped as soon as we possibly can   especially since we don't have other ways  inherently to you know increase our chance to   hit or you know get advantage other than that  on that first attack thanks to our familiar   and also especially now that our enemy movement  at least some of our enemy movement thanks to   telekinesis is potentially dependent upon our  spell dc i really wanted to get that charisma up   as quickly as possible and as high as possible at  level 9 we are a warlock 5 and this is a really   important level for us so important in fact that  i seriously considered you know trying to rush to   warlock 5 first before taking any sorcerer levels  um you may want to do that and if so that's fine   to me getting to quicken spell felt a little more  important for this build so that we could start   the cheese grating like right you know from round  one on most fights but anyway at warlock 5 we get   a third invocation and we want to take grasp of  radar so once on each of our turns when you hit a   creature without rich blast you can move them in a  straight line up to 10 feet closer to you up until   this point keeping someone inside our briar patch  was a little tougher since we could really only   push um you know now the crusher feet let us move  them back five feet and telekinetic five feet more   too so that's that's nice and and we don't have  enough eldritch blasts at this point for it to   really negatively affect us and keep us from  being able to keep him inside the briar patch   um but with this with grasp of hater we can now  push and pull which is fantastic right and really   helps us you know kind of keep them positioned  right where we want them as it were most enemies   could still get out even of the middle of  the briar patch with just a dash right but   they're going to take a lot more damage for it if  they're kind of closer to the middle when they do   that it's a bummer that grasp of hadar only works  once per turn as opposed to repelling blast right   which which can work on every eldritch blast if  we want but once per turn should be enough for   us to keep them in the briar patch at least until  very late when we're just getting tons and tons of   eldritch blasts which i'll talk about later anyway  we also as a warlock five get third level spells   there's lots of great ones uh none of which are  going to really change our go-to combat tactics   here so i'm not going to really get into any  of them pick your favorites obviously you know   counterspell and dispel magic are great options  and pretty important fly is super useful though we   might not need that later hypnotic pattern great  for control right you guys know there's lots of   great third level spells pick your favorites um  let's do a damage report now at level nine so   we're still just making two eldritch blast  attacks but now our plus to hit is three higher   than we were at last check thanks to you know  bumping that charisma and our proficiency bonus   going up um we also get more movement options  including a bonus action that's going to let   us do an extra 2d four of damage by dragging uh  dragging the enemy an extra five feet on our turn   uh assuming they fail their saving throw of course  so against an enemy with a 10 armor class and a   plus zero to their strength save we're going to be  doing 55 damage per round on average and against   an enemy with a 16 armor class and plus six to  their strength save which you'll hardly ever   see at this level uh it would be a 44 damage per  round on average so we've gone up some not a ton   we've slipped a little more towards the middle  of the pack versus other sustained damage per   round builds that i've done and again of course  for those who don't know check out in the video   description like the links to the graphs that  i'm using to like compare these sustained damage   builds to one another and also put you know the  numbers for this particular build there as well so   as far as i'm concerned we've sort of completed  the core of the build right for first we had the   nucleus and now the core is complete um we we  do great sustained damage per round we've got   some solid control we put out we can put  out some pretty impressive burst damage   um with the help of quicken spell to like double  fire eldritch blast so the question is where do we   go from here um if we're happy with our current  sustained dpr and we really wanted to push the   like the s the burst damage potential we could  take a couple levels in fighter right that   would give us action surge and let us potentially  fire off three eldritch blasts in a single round   that would be nice if we really wanted to push  into like higher levels of caster to pick up   those more powerful high level spells i would  say we probably just focus on straight warlock   from here um though straight sorcerer  wouldn't be a terrible option either   um what about some of you are asking yourselves  the swarmkeeper ranger i've seen a lot of people   recommend going swarmkeeper in a build like this  because at level three swarmkeepers get this cool   feature that says when they hit with an attack  once per turn their swarm can essentially move   an enemy up to 15 feet in any direction so long  as it's horizontal and they fail a strength saving   throw against your spell dc the problem in my  opinion with going swarmkeeper here is this   15 more feet of movement would for sure be  really nice that's 6d4 more damage per turn   but here's the thing the enemy is going to  get to make a strength save against it right   which like i said is probably already going to  be pretty high on average and it's against our   ranger spell dc which is based on our wisdom and  we have not been prioritizing wisdom in this build   i think at this level the enemy is going to make  that saving throw more often than not and unless   we're willing to sacrifice a lot to kind of bump  our wisdom i just don't think it's worth it right   and even then i mean we're talking three levels  first of all to get there and a couple of ability   score increases probably to get a semi-reliable 64  of damage per turn and it just doesn't feel that   great to me yeah we'd get some other nice things  from ranger right medium armor proficiency shield   that sounds nice you'd get some utility more spell  slots um but i i just don't think it's worth it   i think there is definitely a build out there for  a swarmkeeper cheese grater right i just don't   think it's this one you may disagree and if so and  you really want to go ranger here knock yourself   out as for us i think we're going to sort of split  the rest of our time between warlock and sorcerer   there are some great reasons for picking up more  levels in each i think and you guys know me right   i i love to kind of push the limit of anything  as far as i can so with this briar patch thing   i really want to kind of see how far we can take  it and even if that means foregoing other things   like higher level spells and stuff like that um  so that's what we're doing and uh it's going to be   a lot of fun and we're going to get some really  cool tricks along the way so let's see where we   go so at level 10 we're sticking with warlock  and we're going to be a warlock 6. this is   one of those fun tricks that i just mentioned  so as a genie warlock we get an elemental gift   feature and our genie grants us two things one  is resistance to bludgeoning damage because   we chose dao as our genie kind and you know  what that's actually pretty powerful bludgeoning   damage is a fairly common uh damage type that  we see from monsters in games so that's great   more importantly i think we get the gift of  flight so proficiency bonus times per day as   a bonus action we get a flying speed of 30 feet  and it lasts for 10 minutes that's incredible   it's not just for fantastic utility purposes but  but here's here's what i love about it so what i   would really love to be able to do right now is  find sort of more ways to slow our enemies that   are stuck in our briar patch almost any enemy  could could actually get out of the briar patch   even if they were in the very middle of it just  by dashing right and of course while forcing them   to waste their turn dashing causing them to take a  bunch of damage doing so is great i would love to   make things even stickier for our target so now if  we can fly we could potentially hit our enemy once   right to sort of push them into the middle  of the briar patch and then fly up above them   and hit them with an eldritch blast using grasp  of hadar and pull them towards us 10 feet into   the air this means that they would fall and take  1d6 of damage by falling 10 feet and while that is   worse than the 4d4 that they would take  by moving through 10 feet of thorns   if you take any damage from falling you're  knocked prone rules as written right and so now   on their turn they have to use half of their  movement speed to stand up many monsters would   only then be able to move one square um to you  know for the rest of their movement and then   dashing would probably just barely get them out  of the spike growth area uh assuming 30 feet of   movement um and depending on where they are in  the spike growth right but this gets even better   at the next level because when we're level 11  and we're a warlock 7 we get a fourth invocation   and i would take lance of lethargy as our  invocation this tells us that once per turn   when we hit an enemy with eldritch blast  we can reduce their move speed by 10 feet   until the end of our next turn so let's take a  look at roll 20 again really quick to kind of   talk about what this might look like when  you kind of do this all together so let's say   you're in combat you've got spike growth down  on the ground and this is kind of what the   battlefield looks like right as your bonus  action you give yourself the gift of flight   ideally you do this before combat even starts so  that you don't have to spend a bonus action here   but anyway so you're flying now first thing you  do is you hit your enemy with your first eldritch   blast moving them back 10 feet maybe applying the  you know the crusher feet to give you another five   and then you can fly 5 10 15 20 25 let's say  you go 30 to here and you are you're in the   air though you're 10 feet above the enemy at  least 10 or 15 feet and keep in mind moving   diagonal is still just considered five feet of  movement so this should work fine you hit them   with eldritch blast this time using lance of  lethargy and you pull them towards you right so   they they fly up into the air and maybe they land  here i moved my character out of the way so as to   not cause confusion but you're basically right on  top of each other right so now the monster is here   you apply your lance of lethargy sorry i think  i said lance of lethargy before i meant grasp of   fader you guys know what i'm talking about but  they have lance of lethargy applied to them as   well and so their move speed assuming there are  30 you know 30 feet of move speed enemy their   move speed is now 20 feet so on their turn they  stand up from being prone right so now they have   10 feet of move speed left and where do they  go they probably go this way this cost them 10   feet of move speed so now they're out of move  speed and maybe they dash right and so they go   you know 10 feet of move speed 10 feet of move  speed since they only have 20 feet of move speed   this is as far as they can get they can't get  out of the briar patch and so on our turn we were   right here we could you know fly back around here  and start blasting them again you know doing the   same thing or fly over here kind of lift them  up in the air so they land and blah blah blah   et cetera et cetera anyway it just becomes a lot  easier to kind of keep the enemy contained in the   briar patch uh until they're dead now obviously  this isn't going to work on every enemy right but   when it does it will be glorious eldritch blast by  the way at level 11 fires three times now and that   does absolute wonders for our damage and uh our  control um and we also get fourth level spells   as a warlock level seven and again i would say  you know pick your favorites um it's not going to   change our tactics too much uh dimension door is  of course fantastic in a pinch you could quicken   dimension door teleport to the other side of  the briar patch right as an enemy was like about   to make their escape and then as your actions  sort of blast them back into the middle right   other than that again i'd say pick your favorites  um keep in mind one thing if you are going to do   this pull them into the air to knock them prone  trick wait to do so until your last attack for   that turn right because once you succeed and they  go prone you're going to have disadvantage to hit   them if you're making ranged attacks against  them also there is no reason keep in mind why   you need to be using all of your eldritch blast  lasers on a single enemy right in fact if it were   me especially now that i can fly i i can very  much imagine like primarily my tactic being to   sort of skirt around the edge of the briar patch  blasting you know as many enemies as i can back   into the middle um so as to keep them away from my  friends keep them snared keep them taking damage   when they try and move into attacking position  etc etc of course something to talk over with   your allies your allies may want an enemy or two  or three outside of the briar patch so they don't   have to wade in there to go get them right but  anyway potential great option for both damage and   control at level 12 um the thing that i want to  focus on now more than anything is getting more   attacks more consistently and so to that end i  think the best way to accomplish that is for us to   get more sorcery points so we're going back to  sorcerer for a minute um so as a sorcerer level   five we get third level sorcery spells um again  i would say your choice there's a lot of great   options none of which i'll really focus on i would  probably grab fireball for some decent area of   effect damage but otherwise knock yourself out at  level 13 we are a source for a six and um you get   the bend luck feature from uh wild magic sorcery  which is actually like the main reason why i   wanted to go wild magic when another creature you  can see makes an attack an ability check or a save   as a reaction you can spend two sorcery points and  roll a 1d4 to add or subtract from the roll and   you can even wait until after they roll to decide  if you want to do that so it can be a really   nice way to help an enemy fail their save their  strength save against your telekinesis for example   um or you know to help an ally succeed in an  attack or an enemy fail at a at a saving throw   you know when your friend's casting a spell help  the enemy fail to saving throw just a really nice   little sort of on-demand bless or bane which  i love okay so level 13 damage report here's   the thing at this point we have six sorcery points  from our sorcery levels sorcerer levels and we can   potentially convert our sorcerer spell slots into  up to 19 more sorcery points for a total of 25.   that's a that's a total of 12 uses of quicken  spell per long rest right now you may think it   would be foolish to blow all of our sorcery spell  slots on uh sorcery points you'd probably be right   i've never claimed to not be a fool with so many  at our disposal i think it's fair to say that we   could call you know using quicken spell every  turn somewhat sustainable it would vary at each   table of course how many combat encounters do you  have per long rest how long do those encounters   typically last but for example if each combat  encounter lasted like four or five rounds on   average which i think is fairly typical and you  have even three encounters per long rest which   i also think is fairly typical that's a that's a  quicken spell on pretty much every turn or almost   every turn at the very least i'm confident  that we could use quicken spell every turn   for at least one entire combat encounter per day  probably two um and maybe even more at least and   and still have some spell slots for casting shield  or misty step or counter spell etc when we need it   um and and of course this bike growth spell itself  because we do have those warlocks ball slots don't   forget so i'm going to assume now that we're  getting two rounds of eldritch blast uh every   turn when i crunch the numbers obviously you can  shrink those numbers down if you'd rather not be   so fool hardy and instead just using your bonus  action to like telekinetically move a target five   feet for a little more damage in positioning don't  forget it does cost us a bonus action to convert a   spell slot into sorcery points so you'd probably  need to be doing that like between combats right   and just you'd have to guess a little bit  at how many spell slots you're going to need   you're going to want to save how many sorcery  points you're going to need but assuming we   do that though you know on every turn we'd now  be making six eldritch blast attacks per round   uh one with advantage all doing plus five from  charisma plus 44 for thorns damage plus 2d4   and plus 5 on one of those attacks right  due to the genie wrath and crusher combo   no for number crunching purposes i'm not  doing the fly above them lift them up into   the air maneuver here just because i'm trying  to maximize our damage but i think it's a neat   trick and i think you should totally use it on  especially on monsters with 30 feet or less of   move speed for the record then this is a total  of 6d10 plus 26d4 plus 35 damage against an enemy   with an armor class of 10 we would be  doing on average 129 damage per round   and against an enemy with a 17 armor class  it would still be 100 100 damage per round well crap we're we're blowing every other  build out of the water at this point and   honestly even for the characters that are sort  of close uh the blade singer the death cleric   um by the way the death cleric was doing  you know their damage to two targets right   they were using their highest level spell slot for  concentration and so definitely those numbers that   i report on that are putting out if you look  in the graph are only usable like one combat   encounter per long rest and and in the blade  singer's case i was assuming that the target   wasn't resistant to non-magical damage that you're  doing from animate objects and in hindsight i   kind of wish i hadn't assumed that at level 13  because it seems fairly unlikely depending on   your table and the monsters that you typically  fight right these numbers are making me nervous   because they're really high so let's keep  going and see how far we at level 14.   um if you feel like you really need more spell  slots for sorcery points to kind of maintain that   you know high sustained dpr or if there are  like fourth fifth sixth level sorcerer spells   that you really want feel free to just stick with  sorcerer here um i think i prefer going warlock   uh going back to warlock for a few reasons  that we will get into as we go um so first of   all uh warlock eight which is what we would be  here you get an ability score increase or feed   um there's actually quite a few  good ones to choose from i think um   for me it's between three crossbow expert  uh would be really nice because it lets us   make ranged attacks from five feet away without  disadvantage right typically we have disadvantage   and for those times that an enemy is up in your  business being able to like push them away with   your eldritch blast and not have disadvantage  on that attack would be a really nice to have   i think resilient wisdom would be a great choice  here because it lets us bump our wisdom but then   also add our proficiency bonus to our wisdom  saves and particularly as we start to get higher   level i think a good wisdom save is important  to keep us from getting controlled mostly by   enemy spellcasters and things like that um i  think faye touched might be my favorite choice one   it also lets us bump our wisdom so you know if  you're gonna do this and you're planning ahead   i probably take an odd wisdom score when you're  when you're creating your character i didn't even   talk about it but it lets us bump our wisdom  by one and then gives us the ability to cast   misty step and one other spell of our choice  from the divination or enchantment school   once per day without spending a spell slot um i  think that movement becomes increasingly important   for this character uh as we get higher level  especially to try and bounce around from one   side of the other you know of the briar patch to  try and keep the enemies contained and positioned   um and since we're planning on using so  many of our spell slots for sorcery points   being able to have you know a misty step once per  day without spending a spell slot is super nice at   level 15 we are a warlock nine and we get a fifth  invocation i would recommend taking eldritch mind   the truth is i wish i could have gotten this  invocation a long time ago as it gives us   advantage on our checks to maintain concentration  and this and concentration is so important for   our damage obviously for spike growth right  um now that we have both proficiency in our   constitution saving throws and this invocation we  should very very rarely be dropping spike growth   we also get fifth level spells of course there's  lots of great options synaptic static is probably   my favorite as it provides like fireball level  damage almost with a fireball sized radius of 20   feet but requires an intelligent save instead  of dexterity meaning it's much less likely to   be resisted by most enemies that you'll typically  face and best of all if the enemy fails their save   they have to subtract a d6 from all of their  attacks ability checks and concentration checks   for one minute they get to make a save at the end  of their turn to try and you know lose that that   debuff but anyway your whole team will love you  when you use this right the best part of being   a ninth level warlock of course is the fact that  you have two fifth level spell slots that reset on   a short rest that in and of itself is absolutely  amazing and i hope that you're using your   sorcerer spell slots your second level sorcerer  spell slots to be casting spike growth um unless   you really really need the sorcery points because  it doesn't up cast for any benefit spike growth   and you could use those lock uh spell slots for  cooler stuff but of course that's something that   you'll have to manage and figure out as you go  um one other spell that i will mention here is a   bestow curse so it's a fantastic spell it's a  third level spell um that i didn't talk about but   you touch a creature they make a wisdom save  and if they fail it you can curse them in   one of the following ways they either will  have disadvantage on saves and checks with   an ability score of your choice  disadvantage on attacks against you   a wisdom save at the start of their turn and if  they fail it they spend their turn doing nothing   or they'll take an extra 1d8 of damage from you  on each attack the problem with it is that it   requires concentration that's why i didn't talk  about it before and our concentration is spoken   for of course however if you cast it using a fifth  level spell slot or higher it does not require   concentration which is why i'm talking about it  now which just makes the spell mind-bogglingly   amazing if uh you have the spell slot to cast it  now um i would love to assume that we've cast this   on our enemy when i crunch the numbers for the  next damage report i don't think i will though   it's it's the problem is it's an action to  cast even if it doesn't require concentration   it's an action to cast so that means even  if we quickened it say in round one or two   or whatever then the only other spell we could  cast as a cantrip so we'd you know we'd quicken   maybe we quick and spike growth eldridge blast  and then quicken bestow curse and then eldritch   blast i mean by the time that we kind of really  get to see the benefit from this and by round   three where we're back to like double uh eldritch  blast every round the target's probably dead right   so and and it just it took too long to kind of  get going if you can somehow get this off before   combat starts or maybe get spike growth off before  combat starts and then start with like a quickened   curse bestow curse and then eldritch blast and  kind of go from there i would say go for it if   you're up against like a big bad that's going  to take you know is going to take several rounds   to bring down you know i'd maybe recommend  considering using this otherwise you're   probably not going to be using bestow curse that  much at level 16 you are a warlock 10 and as a   genie warlock 10 you get the sanctuary vessel  feature so now when you enter your vessel   which you can only do once per day by the way  did i mention that earlier i'm not sure if i   did but anyway when you enter your vessel um you  can choose to bring up to five willing creatures   with you you guys want to play at my house this is  so great right so you can bring your whole party   probably depending on your party size i suppose  and if you stay there for just 10 minutes you   can benefit from a short rest which is amazing  it's like the cat nap spell right and anyone who   spends hit dice to regain health while they're in  there taking their little short rest can add your   proficiency bonus to the hitpoints that they gain  even more amazing look at you little team player   you know maybe the barbarian won't be quite  as mad at you now for all of the thorns that   they're constantly having to pick out of their  heels finally at level 17 we are a warlock 11.   we get our third warlock spell slot now which is  huge so now we have three fifth level spell slots   that refresh on a short rest all the other casters  are jealous very jealous of you um you get your   first mystic arcanum a six level mystical conum  um just in case you didn't know six level spells   and beyond for warlocks don't use your spell slots  instead um you get to choose one sixth level spell   and cast it once per day there are so many great  six level spells to choose from mass suggestion is   potentially game breaking in some scenarios and  depending on your dm i love soul cage arcane gate   is nice to have when you really need it but  the one i would probably take for this build   is scatter so with scatter we're told up to five  creatures within 30 feet of you and remember you   can fly now so you can position yourself pretty  effectively for this have to make a wisdom save   or be teleported to an unoccupied space that  you can see within 20 feet 120 feet of you sorry   can you imagine the dismay on your enemies  faces when they finally wade through all   the briars and brambles and get out of the briar  patch and then on your turn you quick and spell   scatter pull them all back right into the middle  and then just keep blasting away at them they will   be so defeated they will be so sad one thing to  note also a creature can willingly fail their save   for this spell meaning that you know you can  use it on your friends to like get across a   ravine when a bridge is out or something like  that can be really handy to have in a pinch   most importantly of course at level 17 eldritch  blast now fires four times when we cast it   um meaning that uh we get you know two more blasts  if we're quick and spell you know using it to get   two rounds off um that's eight total beams not to  mention 20 more feet of movement on on the enemy   right one other thing to mention here i rarely  take my builds past level 17 because so few of   us actually play the game at this level and beyond  but one of the other main reasons why i wanted to   finish in warlock was because if we go all the way  to level 20 and we keep taking warlock levels from   here then we get the ultimate ability from genies  which is limited wish which is really really   strong basically lets you cast any six level spell  or lower from any class and you don't need to meet   the requirements or even have the expensive spell  components that would otherwise be required so   now once you use this feature you can't do  so again until 1d4 long rests have passed   um but it's incredibly powerful obviously and it  would be a shame to be a genie warlock and never   get this feature so anyway final damage report  at level 17 we now have eight eldritch blasts   and 85 feet of movement per turn um now only 15  feet of that can be in a direction other than   a push away right the other the other 70 feet has  to be us pushing them away and so keep in mind   that there's only two there's only 40 total  feet of of thorns in a given direction so i   think that the most we'd actually be able to sort  of drag them over back and forth is like 70 feet   worth of uh spike growth damage here even though  we're we can potentially move them up to 85.   um feel free to play around with that in roll 20  and let me know if you think i'm wrong but that's   the best i could do after playing with it for just  a couple of minutes so anyway final damage report   against an enemy with 10 armor class we would be  doing 159 damage per round on average and against   an enemy with an 18 armor class it would be 130  damage per round on average and that's not burst   damage that's sustained or at least sustainable  for like an entire combat encounter or two per   day if not more so how does this sustained damage  compare to other dpr builds that i've done let's   find out in the final thoughts um i kind of have a  lot to say here so bear with me as for where this   build ranks in uh relation to my other you know  in my other sustained damage per round um builds   that i explained in a little short video that i  did quite a while ago well ladies and gentlemen   we have a new champion um this one beats out blade  singer by about half a point with their with their   ranking score coming in at a 77 uh rounded down  it's like 77.3 or something like that the reality   is um not only that but the numbers that i've  been giving you are probably suppressed a little   because most enemies would likely be moving on  their turn to try and get out of the briar patch   right so your damage per round would very often  be at least a little bit higher now of course that   ranking system that i use is not really all that  useful it's just some very oversimplified math   that i primarily created just as a way to kind of  separate my builds from one another so i could fit   them all in a single graph right what's more this  build of course as we've talked about is dependent   upon the use of sorcery points uh every single  turn and you might run out of them but if you're   going to call foul for that then you have to be  even harsher on some of my other builds right that   rely on the highest spell slot you have available  for your concentration like blade singer and death   cleric or my my first sorlock build uh right the  eldritch uh what did i call that one the eldritch   sorcerer if we define sustainable as sustainable  for at least an entire combat encounter and   maybe more like i said at the beginning then this  definitely qualifies now of course there are other   potential weaknesses to this build uh most notably  it depends a lot on enemy position they might not   always be in the position that you want them to  every single round right where are they when they   start the fight where are they in round two etc  and of course there are always ways to counter it   um but that actually gets me to i think the  most important point that i want to make here   honestly i feel like the biggest drawback to  this build might be that it has the potential   to be like a little too game breaking i could i  could even see like the softest most kind-hearted   lenient dm out there kind of throw their hands up  after a few levels of this and just be like okay   fine from now on all of my enemies can fly and  or you know i'm gonna have multiple spell casters   in every single encounter that will all have  the counter spell spell so that every time you   try and cast spike growth they're just going  to counterspell it etc and when that happens   you'll go from being like overpowered  to like fairly trivial really quick now   of course every character in dnd as far as i'm  concerned can potentially be countered if you have   a dm determined to do so that's determined to like  counter you and play a tactics game against you   right um i think most dm's the good ones anyway in  my personal opinion um wouldn't actively seek to   counter your character unless between the two  of you you've talked and you agreed that like   that's the type of game you want to play but the  more powerful your character is the more tempting   countering you starts to become for your dm i  think so as always but maybe especially with this   build make sure you talk with your dm uh about  the character that you want to create how it's   going to work in game and whether or not they are  on board with the potential disruption and damage   that you're about to cause like for their combat  encounters um no that does not mean that like they   have to agree to you know fill every single one of  your combat encounters with nothing but creatures   who only have 30 feet of movement speed can't fly  can't cast counterspell et cetera et cetera but   work through it talk talk with them about it right  so that you can both sort of manage expectations   as to how well this is going to work in game how  frequently it will work in game and that that will   be to like mutual satisfaction right um and of  course talking with your fellow players here is   also especially important i think if you have a  party full of mostly melee characters they might   get really annoyed with you if they have to go  wading through you know your briar patch every   single time they want to get into range of of  you know attacking an enemy um of course most   combat encounters will have multiple enemies so  you could always focus on just kind of cheese   grating one letting the other ones get out so that  you know your allies can also mix it up in melee   but just work that out like in a session zero or  whatever before you play that would be my advice   that is the build for the week i love you guys so  much i had a lot of fun creating this character i   would love to play it in game same with all of my  characters but i hope that you enjoyed it as well   please do subscribe and like and comment um so  that we can bring you more and better content   especially uh consider joining the channel  if you would i would really appreciate it um   it's not very expensive but it does give  you one little perk of getting like a little   written cheat sheet uh for my build each  and every week that's it i hope you have a   fantastic day i hope to see you again very  soon and until then take care thanks guys

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 115,169

Keywords: D&D Optimized, D&D, dnd, dungeons & dragons, 5e, guide, how to play, sorlock, warlock, sorcerer, genie, dao, wild magic, spike growth, eldritch blast, crusher, telekinesis, dpr

Id: R1azejLmDP8

Length: 73min 27sec (4407 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 29 2021