The Time Wizard: d4 #120

foreign [Music]   well hello everybody how's it going welcome to  D4 D4 DND Deep dive this is the show where each   week we take a deep dive into one sometimes  two specific character builds for Dungeons   and Dragons we crunch numbers about them  we theorycraft about them not so that I   can tell you the right way or the best way to  play a specific character but to explore one   potential way to build and play a character in  d d in the hopes of creating something that is   both really fun but also really powerful to  play so if you enjoy creating characters for   DND almost as much as you enjoy actually  playing the game itself or if you're just   looking for tips or ideas on how to build a  particular character you're thinking about   building then welcome home this is where you  belong and I'm so glad you're here thanks for   being here my name is Colby and I will be your  host really quick if you would be interested in   receiving a cheat sheet a step-by-step guide to  help you recreate this character or any of the   other character builds that I do on this channel  for that matter or if you're just interested in   supporting the channel a little more than you  already are I would greatly appreciate it if   you would consider joining as a channel member  there should be a little join button down there   um for two dollars a month you get access to the  library of write-ups of these cheat sheets that I   do for each of my builds so that you don't have to  go back and re-watch the video and take notes if   you wanted to recreate the character yourself huge  thanks to my channel members you guys are awesome   and to everybody else you're also awesome just  watching and liking and commenting and subscribing   are also fantastic ways to support the channel so  thanks to you too you know what's kind of crazy   I don't actually use Wizards all that often for  Builds on this channel I mean of course outside   of my many bladesinger builds of which there are  like 57 at the moment I mean sure I've done an   enchanter I've dipped into war magic scribes  wizard necromancy abduration even and evoke or   two but again aside from blade singers I might  have taken fewer wizard levels than any other   character class in the game I'd be willing to bet  if somebody wants to make that a research project   feel free and that seems a little crazy right for  a channel that focuses on building characters that   are both fun but powerful because as everybody  knows Wizards are the most powerful class in DND   5e right I mean maybe probably arguably but if  that is true why is it true if it's true then it   has to be because of their spell list I think  Wizards as everyone knows get access to more   spells in the game than any other class and spells  as everyone knows are probably the single most   powerful thing that a character can get access  to in D and d5e I would argue does does everyone   know that I keep saying that one thing is for sure  everyone does know that Australia is entire early   people with criminals and criminals are used  to having people not trust them as you are not   trusted by me so I can clearly not choose the wine  in front of you I think it's probably true and and   at the very least is a very easy argument to both  make and support if Wizards really are all that   powerful why don't I use them more often than  builds I think it's for two primary reasons one   they're not all that easy to multi-class with  and I really love multi-classing my characters   as everyone knows okay sorry I'll stop as  characters who want to focus on intelligence   more than anything Wizards can be pretty difficult  to multi-class without going mad well not crazy   but multiple abilities score dependent you've  basically got artificers for nice intelligence   based Synergy and that's about it arguably maybe  with the exception of a couple of subclasses not   to say that getting like a 14 dexterity for either  some Rogue or fighter levels is all that hard but   if you're going rogue or fighter you're delaying  your spells and your spell slots and since Wizards   are primarily amazing because of their spells  it's really difficult to justify delaying that   spell progression for any reason whatsoever and  again I think reason number two why I don't tend   to use them so much is if the thing that makes  them so dang powerful is the really powerful   spells that they get access to usually making a  really strong wizard just kinda means take the   best spells a ton of the subclasses conjuration  illusion transmutation Etc don't really have an   ability in their subclass features that to me at  least scream out this is a really cool and unique   feature that you could totally build a character  around that would be fun and powerful and unique   generally speaking and perhaps more than any other  class in my opinion building a powerful wizard   just means getting better and higher level wizard  spells and it's not that that can't be fun and   powerful and even interesting but it can feel a  little difficult for me to find a way to make say   a conjuration wizard all that interesting or  different when compared to say a transmutation   wizard you know what I mean maybe I'm just really  crappy at making Wizards and yes of course there   are plenty of exceptions to these things and I've  tried to take advantage of them but one of those   exceptions that I haven't really tried to take  much advantage of to date is the chronergy wizard   I did use chronergy magic one time in my first  ever a team up build the two character build   brainy and the Beast or the wizard and the Druid  they were focused on like big area of control   damage and sustained damage over time to those  enemies that you had controlled I think that it   would be an absolute blast to play that duo with  a friend and yeah for the wizard I took chronergy   magic though the Kroner just aspect of that build  was a little bit irrelevant to the build for the   most part I think so today I really wanted to  try to find a way to make the Kroner just shine   in particular thanks to a very powerful and unique  ability that they get that you don't really see   a lot of in dnd5e it's something that could  potentially allow us to do some really powerful   I think burst damage especially among other things  but that is what we're going to be building for   today primarily is Nova damage or burst damage  now word of caution unfortunately this feature   that I'm talking about that I'm eyeballing is one  that kronergists don't get until pretty late in   their character career it's not until character  level 10 which for a lot of us depending on our   table and the adventure that we're playing will be  at the end or very near the end of our character's   career so I guess I will say be warned that the  real power Spike that this character will get when   compared to other wizard builds and other Nova or  burst damage builds will come on relatively late   but when it does come it's pretty dang awesome  and I mean hey good news before level 10 years   still a freaking wizard so you're going to  be among the more powerful characters in DND   5e regardless Without Really Trying that hard  Preamble done I proudly present episode 120 the   time Wizard and really quick before we do jump  into the build I wanted to share a quick word   about the sponsor for the video this week it's  the new 5e adventure campaign by Quest nest called   The Divine Forge now the Divine Forge is actually  more than just a standalone Adventure it's really   more of a 5e supplemental book it's over 300  pages long and it's filled with lots of really   unique and cool locations magic items spells  and of course fantastic NPCs and monsters that   you could take and plug into your own campaign  if you really wanted making it a really nice   Treasure of supplemental DND goodness but as  for the adventure that the book also contains   the Divine Forge takes place in the province of  Talus With Your Heroes caught up in a war with the   Undead from there things unfold and before long  you will find yourself fighting against cultists   attempting to create a blood Elemental planning a  prisoner escape from a stronghold held by drow and   a hobgoblin wizard where they are testing Aether  forged weapons on the innocent you're going to   be trying to stop a green dragon who's attempting  to accelerate their Aging in order to become more   powerful and ultimately attempting to destroy  the Divine Forge itself though you're going to   have to get past more Undead griders and even a  drow warlock Priestess along the way Divine Forge   is currently as of the release of this video in  Kickstarter and have blown well past their funding   goal so yes this project is greenlit it is going  to be published huge congrats to Quest Nest on   that achievement as of this video release there  are only a few days left in the kickstarter so   if all of this sounds as fun to you as it does to  me you should absolutely go back this project I'm   going to put a link in the video description for  how to get there at a appreciate it if you would   use that so that they know I sent you and yeah  help them Reach that next stretch goal as you   probably know there are always lots of fantastic  goodies available for those who back the project   in Kickstarter that you're not going to have  access to if you wait until the kickstarter is   over so don't delay go check them out back them  now I can't wait to see the finished product I   know it's going to be fantastic so big thanks  to questnest and let's jump into the build all   right at level one for our starting class yes we  are starting wizard if you can believe it we're   going to be in this class for quite some time so  when we first meet our character they are not only   interested in the Arcane but in particular they  are interested in how magic can influence time can   it be used to speed things up to slow things down  can it be used to see into the future maybe relive   the past or even pull an event from an alternate  timeline into our own these are all questions   that our hero spends their life in pursuit of  and in fact I think for this particular wizard   they might be drawing their inspiration from an  ancient story that they've heard about a powerful   Mage that was able to control time in these ways  and we are constantly seeking to learn more about   this Legend from history to discover not only if  it were really true but also see how we might be   able to learn from this legendary hero to see if  we too can manipulate time in the ways that this   character from history was able to do as for our  race I'm going to recommend that we go with kobold   here I really love kobold on this build not only  because they're cute Fierce little dragonlings   but above all for their draconic cry feature  that they get which tells us that proficiency   bonus times per day as a bonus action we can let  out a ferocious cry or perhaps an adorable cute   little cry [Music] when you do this until the  start of your next turn you and your allies all   have advantage on attack rolls against any enemy  that was within 10 feet of view and could hear   you when you cried out now a lot of people have  complained that getting this feature instead of   pack tactics which is what kobolds used to have  before Monsters of the Multiverse was a big Nerf   to kobolds but I'm not 100 sure to be honest  not only did this update let us lose the pretty   terrible sunlight sensitivity that kobolds used  to have but we also picked up kobold Legacy which   gives us proficiency or advantage on saves against  fear or a free can trip any of which are nice and   you know pack tactics wouldn't work every round  especially with sunlight sensitivity but also   since it required an ally to be next to someone  that you were attacking which you might get most   of the time but then draconic cry by comparison  gives advantage to all of your allies against   potentially multiple enemies only for one round  sure but that can be kind of amazing if we build   for it and is something we'll definitely be taking  advantage of on this build as for our starting   abilities I assume that we're going with the point  by Method as always and would recommend taking a   15 intelligence and getting a plus two there from  our racial a 15 Constitution and a plus one there   and then a 14 Charisma we want Charisma for some  multi-classing that we're going to be doing later   but it's much later and you might also notice that  this leaves us with a really miserable dexterity   score among other things and since we have no  armor proficiencies this is going to mean that we   will have a very poor Armor class are we a glass  Cannon yeah we're a bit of a glass Cannon and   honestly I'm okay with that I love high-risk High  reward but of course you could go with say a 13   institution plus one a 13 Charisma and get a 14  dexterity for a better armor class you could of   course even take say a one level armorer dip  here right at the beginning that would give   US Constitution saving throw proficiency and  access to medium armor and it wouldn't slow   down our spell slot progression at all which is  nice but I don't want to slow the wizard levels   down at all if I can help it since I'm really  wanting to be line to Kroner just 10 here so   yeah I'm just going straight wizard but feel free  to build a little more defensively if you really   want to as for our starting equipment there's  really nothing special that we need here so I'm   just going to say take the standard stuff nothing  that will need to increase our burst damage other   than our spell book and a component pouch or a  spell Focus right so yep just standard wizard   accoutrement as a wizard one then we get first up  Arcane recovery this tells us that once per day   after a short rest we can recover expended spell  slots equal to half our wizard level rounded up   none of which can be sixth level or higher this  is a really nice way to just get an extra spell or   two later per long rest and more spells are always  good as for the spells that we should take here at   level one I mean of course you should take the  usuals like Shield absorb elements silvery barbs Mage Armor sleep at these early levels at least is  a fantastic control spell but I'm just gonna Focus   here on three while told the dead is generally our  highest damage can trip doing one D12 feeling a   wisdom save so long as the enemy isn't at full  health we will have reason to want to actually   be making attack rolls with our spells instead  of casting spells against enemy saves thanks to   the advantage that we get from draconic cry yes  but also for other reasons so I'd be sure to grab   Firebolt here as it does 1d10 of damage if we  hit the enemy with a spell attack chromatic orb   is probably our best single Target burst damage  spell at this level again since we're kobolds you   draconic cry you get advantage and the chromatic  orb is a spell attack roll that we're making right   it does 3D Elemental damage of a damage type of  your choice and if we're using it with Advantage   it will do more damage on average than magic  Missile all the way up to an enemy Armor class   of 18 or higher and we're not going to see a  lot of that at early levels right if we didn't   have Advantage magic Missile actually outshines it  from an enemy AC of 12 or better so maybe having   both so you can use one or the other depending  on the situation but finally I would just make   sure to grab find familiar as it is infinitely  useful thanks to the abilities that are familiar   has both to scout ahead for us but also of course  for the familiar's ability to take the help action   on their turn and Grant a party member advantage  on an attack meaning sure we could even get that   Advantage if we hadn't used draconic cry so long  as our familiar is alive but we're also going to   want to use that familiar later on during our Nova  round at level 2 Wizards get their subclass their   Arcane tradition and yes as I've said we're going  with chronergy magic here's what Wizards of the   Coast or maybe better yet Matt Mercer has written  about chronergists focusing on the manipulation   of time those who follow the chronergy tradition  learn to alter the pace of reality to their liking   using the ramping of anticipatory dunamis energy  these Mages can bend the flow of time as adroitly   as a skilled musician plays an instrument lending  themselves and their allies an advantage in the   blink of an eye it's short it's sweet it's totally  on point so as a chronologist we get two really   nice abilities here right off the bat first off  chronal shift this tells us that twice per day   it's too bad it's not proficiency bonus times per  day but oh well after a creature we can see within   30 feet of us makes an attack a saving throw or  an ability check we can use our reaction to force   them to re-roll and we can wait until after we see  if the role succeeds or fails now this works a lot   like silvery barbs though it can be used either  defensively against an enemy or offensively and   it's really really really strong for sure I would  save this for those times when we really need   someone to fail or succeed on a saving throw I  think for the most part though of course it could   be really handy to pull out if like an enemy gets  a critical hit or drops an ally to zero hit points   Etc just remember that we've got two uses of this  a day plus this already Barb spell two if we took   it a lot of nice ways to force re-rolls here and  then we also get the temporal awareness feature   which lets us add our intelligence modifier to  our initiative roles which is especially great   for us since we likely have a lousy dexterity  modifier at level 3 we get second level spells   and the possibilities as always with Wizards are  almost endless from levitate and invisibility   for utility purposes to web and hold person for  really nice control and everything in between   the one that I will concentrate on here for burst  damage is scorching Ray scorching Ray is an okay   spell it's honestly not all that amazing now  it can become pretty amazing if you find some   great ways to add lots of damage on a hit like  we did with our flamethrower build a while back   but unfortunately we don't have any of those  things currently so we simply get to do two D6   damage on three rays that we can hurl either at  the same enemy or multiple enemies the good news   is that we can potentially have advantage on all  of those Rays thanks to draconic cry making the   66 total damage that the spell would do here a lot  better than it otherwise would be at level four we   get our first ability score increase or feat and  I'm going to say that we go with the Fey touched   feat one of my favorite Feats in the game and I  want it for three reasons first off it's a half   feet letting us bump our intelligence by one  so our intelligence is now at a nice even 18   second it lets us learn the Misty step spell  which is amazing teleportation always handy   but then third yes it lets us learn a first level  spell from any spell list so long as it's either   an enchantment or a divination spell and I want  hex hex is typically only available to warlocks   it's an enchantment spell and I want it for these  early levels as it will really help our scorching   Ray Nova damage quite a bit as a quick reminder  with hex you cast it as a bonus action it requires   concentration but thereafter every time you hit  your hexed enemy with an attack you do an extra D6   of damage to them again the potential nice thing  about scorching Ray is that it fires multiple Rays   Each of which are considered an attack so we can  potentially rack up a few extra d6s here if we   use them all in the same hexed Target right once  our initial Target dies we can transfer the hex   to someone else with a bonus action and then  Firebolt them for a d10 plus a D6 making it a   nice little cantrip we can even use our familiar  to give ourselves advantage on that Firebolt on   subsequent non-nova turns right so yeah X is going  to let us do a little better burst damage during   our Nova round that said you very well may want to  use your concentration for something else like web   at this level and if you were to decide to go that  route I would not blame you in the slightest I'm   just trying to push as much burst damage onto this  character as I possibly can since especially at   this very first damage report that we're going to  get to soon they're not going to look particularly   great at level 5 if you are going to stop playing  this character by level 9 or sooner there's a   strong argument here to take a couple levels of  fighter maybe here or maybe after this level to   pick up action surge so that we could cast two  slotted spells on our turn during a Nova round   if we really wanted to if your focus was primarily  on burst damage right I'm kind of assuming that we   want to be a blaster wizard yes but we're also  really interested in just being a wizard Wizard   and that we care as much or more about all of the  other other amazing things that we get to do as a   wizard with our amazing and Powerful spells and  we can live without the extra burst damage that   picking up action surge would give us also again  of course like I said I'm b-lining for chronergy   10 here so yes we would be a wizard five and  that means third level spells and yeah so many   amazing third level spells especially for wizards  counter spell fly hypnotic pattern fear haste and   Tiny Hut but I'll just make special mention of  two first up Fireball or I suppose if you prefer   lightning bolt now both spells do 8 D6 damage and  if you're counting that's actually significantly   less damage than scorching Rey would do if cast  as a third level spell if we had hex on a Target   right scorching raid now would also do 8d6 for  the spell itself but then four D6 more if we   hit one single Target with each of those rays  and they were hexed but of course the benefits   to Fireball or lightning bolt are that they can  damage multiple enemies right either in a 20-foot   radius sphere or a 100 foot line respectively  whereas scorching Ray on a single Target would do   12 D6 damage in total but again only to one Target  also with Fireball and lightning bolt if the enemy   fails their save they're still going to take half  damage and that's a pretty big deal since you're   always doing some damage with the spell no matter  what unless they're immune to the damage type of   course I still do think that there will be times  that scorching Ray would be the better choice   particularly when going up against a single enemy  naturally or if you just really needed to burst   down one single enemy as quickly as possible for  whatever reason but just know your options I also   want to make mention of slow here it is such a  fantastic spell and frankly as a chronologist   who is supposed to be this master of time right  I think grabbing it and probably haste too for   that matter are important if for no other reason  thematic reasons but mechanically speaking as well   slow is just such a great spell you can hit up to  six yes six creatures with it that are within the   40-foot cube of its area and then it just throws  out a slew of nasty debuffs on those who failed   their saving throw against it their move speed is  halved they have a -2 penalty to their Armor class   and their dexterity saving throws they can't use  reactions and on their turn they can only either   take an action or a bonus action but not both  and regardless they can't make more than one   attack per turn if they have multi-attack finally  there's even a good chance that you might force a   spellcaster to take two turns to cast a spell that  normally would only take one and I really love   that thanks to the -2 to Armor class penalty slow  both increases our damage and provides a really   nice debuff control and in that way it sort of  lets us have our cake and eat it too here instead   of forcing us to choose between doing more damage  or controlling and debuffing our enemies right   your entire party will almost assuredly benefit  more from you concentrating on slow low than they   would you concentrating on Hex at this point but  the burst damage numbers will look a little bit   better with hex except for at very high enemy  armor classes but at level 6 as a chronologist   we get momentary stasis and this tells us that  intelligence modifier times per day we can use   our action to force a large or smaller creature  to make a constitution saving throw and if they   fail they're encased in a field of magical energy  until either the end of our next turn that's nice   or when they take damage now when they're encased  in this way they're incapacitated which means   no actions no reactions and they have a speed of  zero that's some really nice single Target control   potentially that doesn't require concentration but  it is limited by the fact that it costs an action   and it allows for an enemy Constitution Save which  is a bit of a bummer still it'll be nice to pull   out if you're looking to conserve spell slots or  just really wanted to lock down a single enemy for   an entire round alright so at level 6 it is time  for our first damage report and here's what combat   is going to look like for us right now first off  I will assume that we're using hex because I'm a   slave to the spreadsheet but if you have the spell  slot for it and especially if you're fighting   multiple enemies feel free to pull out slow or  even fear or hypnotic pattern instead anyway   assuming hex on round one we would hex our Target  with our bonus action and then throw out a fire   bolt for a little damage or alternatively feel  free to use momentary stasis on your target right   on round one preventing them from doing anything  and sort of calling out your target right leave   that one alone he's mine but round two is our  Nova round the best we can do currently for single   Target damage is to get within 10 feet of as  many enemies as possible but at least our Target   draconic cry which don't forget will benefit our  allies as well and then throw out a scorching   Ray on the Target that we have hexed at the third  level doing eight D6 of damage on four Rays plus   46 more for hex for a total of 12 D6 to a single  Target with each of those attacks being made with   advantage and thus against an enemy with a 10  Armor class we would on average do 46 damage and   against an enemy with a 15 Armor class it would  be 41 damage and so yeah that's not amazing but   it's not terrible it puts us about mid-tier 3 when  compared to other Nova or burst damage builds that   I've done to date at this level and you can check  in the video description to see the spreadsheets   and graphs that show you those comparisons but of  course you are bringing a lot of potential utility   support and control to the game in addition to  just Nova damage because well you're a wizard   I'm not worried about you you'll be just fine at  level 7 we get fourth level spells and I'm kind   of just gonna say pick your favorites I mean all  The Usual Suspects should be considered of course   from polymorph to dimension door and everything in  between using scorching Ray on a hexed Target is   still our best burst damage option but don't  forget also to check out the spells that are   available only to cronergists and gravitar just  sometimes you know to get these dunamansi spells   to show up in DND Beyond reliably I think the  best way is just to go into spells and then choose   dunamansi for the spell tag and filter it that  way there are lots of good and fun and Powerful   options here assuming that your DM allows them I  guess and I mean if you're playing a chronomancer   I'm not sure why they wouldn't I'm not planning on  using any of them in combat during our Nova round   but they're definitely worth looking into at level  8 we get another ability score increase for feet   and I think it's kind of a no-brainer to just bump  our intelligence here taking it to 20 and capping   it if we're building for damage increasing both  our chance to hit and the chance of our saving   throws being able to stick is really good but  at level 9 we get fifth level spells so fine   we get to the first part of what really made  me want to go chronomancy with this character   fifth level spells are among the best in the  game for their level I think so many good ones   synaptic static I just love for both the damage  and the debuff while the force is one of the best   control spells out there hold monster is amazing  for automatic criticals on almost any enemy in   the game but the one I really want to focus on  here is you guessed it animate objects so animate   objects is one of the best damaging spells in the  game potentially I haven't used it in a build for   quite some time so let's refresh ourselves  on the details you cast it with an action   it requires your concentration and then for the  next minute you can animate up to 10 non-magical   objects that you can direct with your bonus  action now once given an order the objects will   continue to follow your command until their task  is complete and for most of us that should mean   mean that you can simply say something like attack  the creature I'm attacking or something like that   and then you shouldn't need to use your bonus  action every single round to direct them but some   DMS May disagree there and require you to use your  bonus action every round talk it over with them   beforehand for sure now we could animate larger  objects to get fewer of them and sometimes there   will be situations where that will be the right  call but generally we're going to want to animate   10 tiny objects and my favorites tend to be silver  coins for the sake of overcoming attacks from   non-silvered weapons but yeah tiny objects are the  best generally here because while they only do a   D4 plus four each they have the best hit chance  of all the potential sized creatures a plus eight   which is not bad at all there is one important  thing to discuss with the animate object's spell   however and it's this if an enemy has resistance  to bludgeoning piercing and slashing damage from   magical attacks these animated objects are  probably only doing half damage now I have seen   a lot of people make the argument that because  these objects are animated by a spell they should   be considered as their attacks being magical and  of course your DM may decide to rule that way in   which case congratulations I'm not gonna fight  you about it but the consensus seems to be that   though they're animated by Magic the slam attack  that they make isn't considered magical itself   and thus no overcoming resistance and you know I  don't actually feel too bad about this if that's   the case at your table for a couple of reasons one  the spell is really really strong even doing half   damage it's still pretty decent damage especially  since it can be done round after round after round   likely without even requiring your bonus action  to do so but then two there might not actually   be as many enemies in DND 5e that have resistance  to bludgeoning piercing and slashing damage from   non-magical attacks as you might think I think  most of us have this impression that like after   level six or seven or eight just about every  enemy we fight is going to have resistance to   bludgeoning piercing and slashing damage from  non-magical attacks right but the truth is of   the 2500 or so official non-home brewed enemies in  DND 5e only about 250 of them have this resistance   that's only about 10 percent now sure at higher  levels it becomes more common but okay we're   level nine now of the 640 or so enemies that are  challenge rating 9 and above only about 120 of   them have this resistance that's still less than  20 percent so building a character like we are   doing this week to really take as much advantage  of animate objects as we possibly can might not be   as bad an idea as some people might think now  sure your DM may decide that they're going to   bring in mostly monsters with this resistance if  you insist on always using the spell or Homebrew   their monsters to have it they might also  just start handing out Fireballs to every   other enemy so that they can wipe out your coins  in one Fell Swoop but I mean these tiny animated   objects do have an 18 dexterity with 20 hit points  so they're likely going to make their saving throw   against most area of effect spells and depending  on the spell that probably means that it's going   to take a couple of castings of a certain spell  to wipe out all of your coins at least right in   the end I love the spell it's powerful and of  course one thing that makes it really shine   on this build is our little kobold selves since  we would be giving advantage to all 10 of those   animated objects during our Nova round thanks to  our draconic cry and that really increases the   potency of what we can do finally keep in mind  that the spell well does scale really nicely as   well adding two more animated objects for every  level we upcasted which we will definitely plan   on doing when we crunch numbers and speaking of at  level 9 it is time for our next damage report and   since last we checked things have changed quite a  bit for us at this point on round one we'd want to   cast animate objects with our action use our bonus  action to tell them what to do then on round 2 our   Nova round again we'd run up draconic cry use a  scorching Ray spell at the fourth level the damage   is worse without hex but since we have advantage  on our attacks it's still going to be the best   single Target burst damage option we have you know  if we're pretty confident that the enemy is going   to fail their save against a fireball or even  blight which is even better for single Target but   it's a con save you know feel free to go another  route of course especially if you can get multiple   enemies in a fireball but yeah since we're focused  on single Target and we have advantage on the   attacks and almost a 10 chance to crit with those  scorching Rays we're gonna be better off going   back route for single Target but then our animated  objects on their turn would potentially do 10d4   plus 40 damage all attacking with Advantage not  bad at all and of course the best part of this is   that our sustained DPR would be pretty dang nice  on subsequent rounds as well we could just throw   out can trips with our action round after round  or even non-concentration leveled spells when need   be letting our animated objects do most of the  heavy lifting for us damage wise but during our   Nova round against an enemy with a 10 Armor class  we would on average do 106 damage and against an   enemy with a 16 Armor class it would be 95 so  we've broken the century mark and that is more   than double since last time we checked we're  now kind of more like near the bottom of tier   2 compared to other Nova builds that I've done at  this level to date we're moving on up and we're   still bringing all the potential utility control  and even support that a wizard can bring but if   you thought that that was as good as it was going  to get for animate objects you were wrong because   at level 10 this is where everything really end  finally comes together for this build because   you see as a kronergist at level 10 we get Arcane  abandons and it is quite simply one of if not the   best level 10 wizard ability in all of 5e in my  opinion here's how it works once per short rest   when you cast a spell of fourth level or lower you  can freeze the spell in time and condense it down   to a little gray bead for one hour you can give  this bead to another creature and that creature   can use their action to release the spell the  spell would use our attack bonus and spell save   DC but the spell treats the creature who released  it as its caster for all other purposes meaning   yes if it's a concentration spell that other  creature can concentrate on the spell for you   and thus we can essentially have two concentration  spells going at the same time and that is amazing   so yeah this functions very similarly to the  artificer's spell storing item except that we get   it at a level earlier level 10 as opposed to level  11 for them and it can hold up to a fourth level   spell as opposed to only a second level spell for  artificers and we're Wizards we've got way better   spells granted the spell storing item gets a lot  more charges than we do but hey that's worth it   so okay who are we giving this little bead to  why are we Familiar of course there's nothing   in the rules that would prohibit our familiar  from casting or concentrating on a spell here   we're told that a familiar can't attack but it  can take other actions as normal so as long as   the spell we're putting into our bead isn't an  attack spell we should be good alright in that   case the next question is what spell should we  be using here now now obviously you should really   be using an awesome control spell like fear or  hypnotic pattern and not just selfishly trying   to pad your own damage numbers you glory hog  but of course that's not what I'm going to do   actually you know what hold on I'm gonna argue  that at this level at least we can do both enter   the slow spell yes so if you recall slow will  not only seriously hamper what an enemy can do   on their turn but it will also lower their Armor  class by two and for us and our allies and our   little flying coins that's going to continue to do  really great things for our damage Hooray at level   11 I was tempted to start multi-classing here  but I really wanted to get to sixth level spells   because while of course you should probably take  Mass suggestion or maybe contingency like a real   wizard would we are going to take disintegrate  I mean disintegrate is the highest single Target   burst damage spell available to us at the moment  and really throughout any Wizard's career until   they get meteor swarm doing a whopping 10 D6  plus 40 damage if it works but there is a big   caveat to disintegrate it's not and attack spell  meaning we get no benefit from our draconic cry   here though of course our animated objects still  do as well as our other attacking allies instead   with disintegrate the enemy makes a dexterity  saving throw against it and if they succeed   they take zero damage now fortunately for us the  slow spell that our familiar is concentrating on   lowers not only the enemy Armor class but  also their dexterity saving throws by two   what's more our spellsave DC at this level is a  very respectable 17 and I mean dexterity isn't   typically a particularly great saving throw for  most enemies in DND 5e we're level 11 right now   the average plus to deck save for a challenge  rating 11 monster in the monster manual at least   is only a plus three subtract two from that  if they're slowed and they have a very slim   chance of making their save against disintegrate  of course you'll definitely run into monsters with   a better plus to their deck save from time to  time and you'll definitely get monsters who get   a lucky role from time to time and in those cases  blowing our sixth level spell slot on disintegrate   is going to feel really really bad fortunately  we have silvery barbs and chronal shift so we   can make them re-roll that successful save and  probably fail for all of these reasons I think   disintegrate is definitely worth considering and  using here if for no other reason then it just   feels really cool honestly I mean if you reduce  an enemy to zero hit points with disintegrate   they just into fine gray dust which is kind of  awesome it's also really handy to take out things   like enemy force fields and stone walls and it  scales by 3d6 for every level you upcasted so   it outpaces pretty much any other single Target  damage spell so some really fantastic scaling   there yes I want disintegrate but at level 12  I think it's finally finally time to take some   levels in another class this is absolutely not  something that you should feel you have to do   in fact a lot of people are going to argue that  you're crazy for thinking about it it means we'd   be giving up 7th 8th and 9th level wizard spells  not to mention the really fantastic kronergist   feature convergent future but in the end I have  my sights set on a particular spell and I really   need to take levels in another class to get that  spell before we end this build at level 17 and   the spell is going to do really great things for  both hour burst damage and also our sustain damage   as well as for the damage of our allies so yes at  this point in our character's career I think they   become focused like a laser on that legend that  I mentioned earlier about the one who was able   to control time in a way greater even than we've  been able to achieve thus far we are searching   out all that we can learn about this ancient  Champion to see if we can't finally unlock the   secret of their power but whatever your reasons we  are taking barred levels now and so as a Bard one   we get Bardock inspiration first off telling us  that Charisma modifier times per day and that's   kind of a bummer because it means only two for us  we can with our bonus action give a D6 to which   is our Bardock inspiration die to an ally within  60 feet of us who can hear us that Ally can then   use that inspiration die in the next 10 minutes on  an attack roll ability check or saving throw super   useful really handy and a nice use for our bonus  action that we can take advantage of when we're   not draconic crying or maybe casting a bonus  action spell our allies will appreciate it no   doubt as for what spells we should take here keep  in mind that bards use Charisma as their spell   casting stats so I would try to take spells here  that are more focused on support and that just   work without allowing for like an enemy saving  throw so yeah grab cure wounds and especially   healing words third so that your team has a nice  little backup healer who can bring allies back   from unconscious with a bonus action and from Rage  we are building our support at level 13 we would   be a part 2 and that means we get Jack of all  trades this is such a great feature it really   helps us improve our already strong utility with  Jack of all trades if you make an ability check   that doesn't already include your proficiency  bonus you can add half of your proficiency bonus   rounded down yes this can apply to our initiative  roles which are ability checks and so now we get   to add our intelligence waterfire and half our  proficiency bonus which is kind of awesome we   have a plus seven to our initiative roles now with  a crappy dexterity score we also get song of rest   which tells us that when anyone in our party is  spending hit dice to recover hit points during   a short rest we can play a lovely tune or tell a  soothing tale and then they get to add an extra   D6 of hit points to whatever they recover for our  level 13 damage report things have again changed   for us quite a bit first off thanks to how multi  classing works we currently have a seventh level   spell slot meaning that we could upcast our  animate objects to have 14 tiny little coins   flying around and cutting into our enemies we are  also having our familiar concentrate on the slow   spell thanks to Arcane abeyance lowering enemy's  Armor class and dexterity Saves by two among the   other fantastic debuffs that it brings and now  casting disintegrate with our action instead of   scorching Ray and yes I'm going to go ahead and  assume that we're using either silvery barbs or   chronal shift to force an enemy to re-roll their  save if they succeed initially greatly increasing   the likelihood of success there and thus against  an enemy with a 10 Armor class and a plus zero to   their dexterity save we would on average during  our Nova round here do 169 damage and against an   enemy with a 17 and a plus seven it would be 149  damage and that's awesome another huge bump since   last check and this puts us comfortably now in  like the top half of tier two compared to other   burst damage builds at this level I really love  the way that we're climbing the ladder here while   simultaneously improving our support and utility  capabilities as we go it's fantastic at level 14   we would be a barred three and that means second  level Bard spells the main one I'd be sure to   grab here is lesser restoration which will let  us cure diseases the blinded deafened poisoned   or even paralyzed conditions as well really  nice spell to have when you need it and our   support capabilities just keep getting better we  also at this level get expertise and who doesn't   love expertise I love expertise I bet you love  expertise that guy doesn't love expertise because   he's a jerk with expertise you choose two skills  you're proficient in and double your proficiency   bonus for them awesome pick your favorites you  might want like perception and maybe acrobatics if   you've got proficiency there those will probably  be the things that would help us most in common   bad anyway to avoid grapples among other things  but I mean I wouldn't be mad if you took Arcana   in religion you do you we also though get our Bard  subclass our Bard College and we are gonna go with   the College of lore because yes we are intent on  Gathering all the lore we possibly can about this   time master of old now keep in mind that not  all bards have to be musicians right and while   you certainly could be I definitely imagine this  character to be one who is more of a Storyteller   than your run-of-the-mill dandelion yaskir Bard  personally they might not even like performing   all that much perhaps saving their storytelling  exclusively for their close friends and family   alone but as a lore Bard we get first up bonus  proficiencies you just straight up get to gain   three scope efficiencies of your choice and that's  really pretty dang nice for utility you could grab   if you didn't have them before acrobatics and  stealth here and use your expertise on those   if you she really wanted regardless you are truly  becoming a very fine jack of all trades indeed we   also as a lower bar get cutting Words which is a  lot of fun cutting words lets us use our reaction   and one of our bardic inspiration dies when an  enemy succeeds on an attack roll ability check or   damage roll really wish they would have included  the saving throw there but oh well anyway when an   enemy succeeds on one of those things we use our  reaction roll our Bardock inspiration die and we   get to lower that enemy role by a D6 our current  bardic inspiration die and we even get to wait   until after that enemy roll to decide if we want  to use it between this silvery barbs and Chrono   shift we've got lots of uses of our reaction  if we need it to really make sure that either   an enemy fails when we really really need them to  fail or sometimes an ally succeeds when we really   really need them to succeed there's definitely a  similar flavor here to this character as to the   um the ultimate re-roller that I did a while  ago it it feels very like warping the reality   of time ish right and I really love it at level  15 we would be a barred four and that means we   get another ability score increase or feat we  probably better take resilient Constitution here   and let's be honest with as dependent as we are  on our concentration for damage we should have   taken this feed a long time ago if we didn't start  with like a level one artifice or dip right as is   if you haven't taken it by now I definitely do so  to give us Proficiency in our constitution saving   throws and thus concentration checks if you are  going to do this of course consider starting your   Constitution score out as an odd number so that  you can enjoy a nice little bump to your modifier   now at level 16 we would be a barred five and  that means first up our Bardock inspiration   diet jumps up to a d8 letting us be just a little  more helpful to our allies when we Inspire them or   a little more detrimental to our enemies when we  cutting words them we also get font of inspiration   better yet which means that uses of our bardic  inspiration reset on a short rest now instead   of a long which is super nice for those of us  with only i-14 Charisma score especially kinda   makes me wish we would have bumped our Charisma  last level instead stupid fence and then yes we   get third level Bard spells the one that I think  I'd be sure to grab here is motivational speech   unless your party already has a solid and reliable  way to get temporary hit points as motivational   speech lets us with a one minute speech give up to  five party members temporary hit points and then   so long as they have the temporary hit points  they will also have advantage on wisdom saving   throws and they will get advantage on their  next attack after they're hit by an attack it   can be upcast for more temporary hit points too  which is nice since the five temporary HP that   it grants at this level isn't going to last very  long against monsters that were fighting at level   16 but still every little bit helps and there  might be times when an enemy is going to start   out combat with a spell that requires a wisdom  saving throw or something right or a dragon fear   and having advantage on that save will be great  but finally for us at level 17 we would be a   part 6. well first up we get counter charm  and this not so great ability tells us that   as an action we can start a performance lasting  until our next turn that gives us and our allies   advantage on saving throws against being Charmed  or frightened again like I've said before if you   could use this as a reaction it would be a lot  better oftentimes fear and charm effects don't   allow for a save once we're under their influence  and regardless having to use up an entire action   makes it a pretty subparability but you know what  you might have a really great story about a time   when you or someone at your table used countertarm  to really great effect and if so I really want to   hear about it in the comments so please share  convince me and maybe the rest of us that it's   not as terrible on ability as we think but then  the main reason that I wanted Bard and lore Bard   in the first place was for the lovely and amazing  additional magical secrets that Laura Parts get   at level 6. this lets us learn two spells from  any classes spell list just like regular magical   secrets that all bards get at level 10. so long  as here at this level for us they are third level   spells or lower and you know what I want what  I really really want don't do it I'm not gonna   do it if you said Crusaders mantle you win it's  true for over a year now I've had the following   written on my to-do list for Future character  builds Crusaders mantle plus animate objects a   two character build or is there a way to get them  on the same character Kroner just question mark   and yeah I think the only way we could get there  before level 17 is by either going lore barred or   War domain cleric since Crusader's mantle is  only typically available to paladins and War   domain clerics and yeah honestly I considered  going War domain with this build instead of   lorbard among other things it would be nice in  that it would give us heavy armor and shield   proficiency that would have done great things for  our survivability but I don't know everything else   about war clerics seems to be better suited for a  great weapon user and I plan on doing a war cleric   great weapon user sometime in the future and  I preferred the additional utility and support   functionality from lorbard personally I wouldn't  fault you for going more cleric instead if you   really really wanted anyway yeah getting to this  point was kind of the inspiration for this entire   build and even though we didn't get here until  Level 17 I'm super thrilled to be getting here   so okay Crusaders mantle it's not the greatest  spell ever it requires concentration and then   gives all allies within 30 feet an extra D4 of  radiant damage to their weapon attacks you and   your allies truly might still be better off with  your familiar concentrating on slow right but man   when you're up casting animate objects to a ninth  level spell like we can now that means 18 animated   checks and with Crusaders mantle that means 18 D4  more damage made with Advantage during our Nova   round but still 18 D4 more damage on subsequent  rounds just not with Advantage so yeah this   does amazing things for both our Nova and our  sustained DPR 18d4 is kind of a lot what's more   our other allies would benefit from the spell too  and yeah again not only during our Nova round but   for as long as our familiar can hold on to their  concentration so PS if you haven't been doing so   tuck your familiar into your backpack after they  cast the spell there's nothing that says they have   to maintain line of sight after casting either  slow or Crusader's mantle so that might help them   stay a little bit more safe anyway but alright for  our final damage report here at level 17 like I   said we're now potentially casting animate objects  at a ninth level spell to have 18 little coins or   daggers flying around we've added another D4 to  each of their attacks meaning that our animated   objects alone will be doing potentially 36 D4 plus  72 damage and that's a little local if we used our   8th level spell slot for disintegrate again not  suggesting you do either of these things just   exploring the possible disintegrate would do 16  D6 plus 40 damage as well and even though we're   no longer slowing our enemies and so not getting  a minus two to the enemy deck save we do still   have either silvery barbs or chronal shift to  help ensure that they fail that very important   deck save and thus against an enemy with a plus  10 to their AC and a plus zero to their dexterity   saving throw on average we would do 266 damage  during our Nova round and against an 18 AC and a   plus 8 to save it would be 208 and again another  massive gain compared to last check this builds   scales better than almost anything that I've  done to date Landing us kind of in the bottom   of Tier 1 compared to other burst damage builds  at this level and that just makes me so proud   look how far you've come little time wizard  alright let's wrap it up with some final   thoughts the tier score for this character if you  take the damage that they do at all of the armor   classes and plus to saves that we calculate for at  each of the four damage reports and just average   them all into one big number we end up with a 115  and that puts us right at the very bottom of tier   two so honestly not a bad place to be especially  when you consider where we started we just really   weren't doing a ton for Nova damage in our early  career in the attempt to get to level 10 chronergy   as soon as possible for that sweet sweet Arcane  of bands right so yeah at the end of the day   this character is going to be a serious Powerhouse  first and foremost because they're mostly a wizard   so it just kind of comes with the territory but  I love how much burst damage we can potentially   do especially later while at the same time doing  some really nice things for the rest of our team   whether that severely hampering our enemies  via the slow spell or giving most of our team   a nice damage bump via Crusader's Mantle when you  combine it with all the control utility and even   support that the time wizard brings to the table  especially they might be my favorite wizard of all   time next to the blade singer of course don't  worry thingy you'll always be my number one but   that is the build for the week so I hope you  guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making   it I had a blast more than that I hope you  know how much I love you because I truly do   you're amazing thank you so much for all  that you do for me for the channel I hope   that you'll check out the other content in the  channel if you're not currently in the habit   of doing so but more than that I hope that  you stay safe and that you be kind and good   and happy and that I see you again very very  soon but until then take care bye-bye [Music] oh I'm already recording I remember that  time you told me love is touching Souls   well surely you've touched mine Cause part  of you pours out in me in these lines from   time to time whoa you're in my blood like  holy wine it tastes so bitter and so sweet I   could drink a case of you darling and I would  still be on my feet I would still be on my feet [Music] Joni Mitchell one of the greatest of all time I  have a really hard time with her voice it just   is a little bit like fingernails on a chalkboard  for me don't know why but if you're looking for   an amazing cover of that particular Joni Mitchell  gem a case of you look up it was a song done a few   years ago on The Voice the show The Voice and the  girl's name who sang it it was Maddie something   Maddie the voice a case of you Google that and you  can thank me later because it is gorgeous my creep   every time stop it well I already said that so don't say that  don't say that or well yeah just say that do say   that but they're definitely worth well just say  that twice now who say that I have to redo ugh   um I need to redo some math I hate having to redo  some math in the middle of recording the episode   okay do this whole thing over okay let's do this

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 81,436

Keywords: D&D Optimized, dnd, dungeons & dragons, 5e, spells, chronurgy, wizard, magic, lore, bard, character creation, build, how to, guide, tips, tricks, damage, dpr, burst, nova, animate objects, overpowered, min max

Id: KNPe7WXwFvo

Length: 59min 20sec (3560 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2022