Strong builds?

I thought I’d share some strong builds I’ve found.



A great front man is a bard Archer. Your persuasion and lockpicking will be maxed out with this build. Githyanki is the best race, but Lea’zel isn’t the best choice for this build. Pick up lots of the interesting arrows (acid is best) to use.
Str 8 (Hold on to elixirs of giant strength if forced into melee) Dex 17, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 16.
Performer. Noble, Charlatan, or Urchin background
1: Bard 1, Pick up vicious mockery, light, cure wounds, healing word, and long strider. You can cast long strider on your entire party without spending a spell slot and the extra movement helps. For Skills take Sleight of hand and all of Intimidate, Persuasion, or deception,
2: Bard 2 gives song of rest, an extra short rest, and Jack of all trades, which is a nice little bonus for unexpected checks.
3: Bard 3: College of swords, dueling fighting style, Use slashing ranged strike to hit enemies twice. Grab enhance ability to get advantage on your skill checks. Take expertise in sleight of hand and persuasion.
4: Bard 4: +1 Dex, +1 Con,
5: Bard 5:
6: Bard 6: Extra attack lets you shoot four arrows a turn with slashing flourish
7: Ranger 1: Sacred Flame and Resist fire. You won’t use sacred flame except against zombies, but resist fire is great.
8: Ranger 2: Archery fighting style for +2 to attack with bows, and hunter’s mark to make slashing flourish 4x3d6+Dex.
9: Bard 7: Confusion, Dimension door, and freedom of movement are all great spells.
10: Bard 8: Take Sharpshooter feat or +2 Dex.
11: Bard 9: Seeming is very useful in the final act, but might be better taken as a scroll,
12: Bard 10: expertise in two more skills, Take any two spells. I like Conjure elemental and Armour of Agathys, False Life is nice, but doesn’t stack with the Armour, Counterspell is good to have if you missed it. Fireball is always fun. Misty step can save you some trouble.

Barbarian
Master of combat at every level. There are stronger high level builds, but the barbarian starts strong and finishes strong. Karlach is an excellent choice, as is surprisingly, Asterion. Wood elf is the best race if building your own. Githyanki or Half-orc are also good.
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8
Soldier or outlander background.
1: Barbarian 1: Grab perception and survival, assuming you already have Athletics. Wear medium armor, and use a two-handed weapon.
2: Barbarian 2: Use reckless attack sparingly, it makes you easy to hit.
3: Barbarian 3: Pick wildheart, wolf if you have other melee members in the party or bear if you are the only frontliner.
4: Barbarian 4: +2 Strength
5: Barbarian 5:
6: Fighter 1: Great weapon fighting and second wind
7: Fighter 2: Action surge is amazing
8: Fighter 3: Champion, defense fighting style, and crit on a 19.
9: Fighter 4: +1 Strength, +1 constitution,
10: Barbarian 6:
11: Barbarian 7:
12: Barbarian 8: Take the Durable feat, which includes +1 Constitution.

Monk—Traven Brawler
This build breaks the game at high levels, and can be strong at low levels, too. Githyanki or Wood Elf are best. Drink lots of elixirs of giant strength. Hold onto two hand crossbows so you can shoot with a bonus action.
Outlander or Urchin are good backgrounds.
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 10
1: Rogue 1: Perception, Insight, Sleight of hand are key skills, and build out from there
2: Monk 1:
3: Monk 2:
4: Monk 3: Open hand is best, but shadow monk is fine.
5: Monk 4: Traven brawler feat and +1 Constitution. This is nuts. It adds double your strength to unarmed attacks and damage. An elixir of cloud giant strength gives you +16.
6: Monk 5: Extra attack
7: Rogue 2: Expertise in Perception and sleight of hand.
8: Rogue 3: Thief for two bonus actions, now you can strike 6 times in a turn.
9: Rogue 4: +2 Dexterity,
10: Monk 6:
11: Monk 7:
12: monk 8: +2 Dexterity,

Lightning multicaster:
This is a weird build, but deals ridiculous damage with spells, is very mobile and can heal. It’s a great build for a githyanki to use astral charisma on. Humans do okay. Shadowheart can also do this build.
Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 17,
Noble background.
1: Cleric 1: Tempest for heavy armor and the channel divinity. Pick Guidance, sacred flame, Cure wounds, and healing word.
2: Sorcerer 1: Storm Sorcerer: Grab magic missile and Witch bolt, for cantrips, Bone chill, Ray of frost, and Firebolt.
3: Sorcerer 2: Metamagic: Twin spell and distant spell
4: Sorcerer 3: Grab shatter, and exchange a spell for enhance ability. Metamagic Heighten spell
5: Cleric 2: For the channel divinity to max out the thunder or electric damage.
6: Sorcerer 4: +1 Constitution and +1 Charisma.
7: Sorcerer 5: Lightning bolt, trade a spell for haste. Twinned haste on your frontline is amazing.
8: Sorcerer 6: counterspell
9: Sorcerer 7: Fireball
10: Sorcerer 8: Confusion, for your feat, choose Resilient Constitution to make your concentration checks.
11: Sorcerer 9:Cone of cold,
12: Sorcerer 10: Hold Monster

Thrower fighter:
This build starts strong at level 3 thanks to a ring the first merchant sells that adds a d4 to all thrown damage. Later, it weakens, but stays viable. Half-orc or Githyanki are good races. It’s a good build for Lea’zel.
Str 17, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 8
Soldier or Outlander background
1: Fighter 1: Dueling style
2: Fighter 2:
3: Fighter 3: Eldritch knight, Longstrider, shield, magic missile, ray of frost, and bone chill for your spells. Bind your weapon each day and you can throw it and have it return immediately.
4: Fighter 4: +2 Strength
5: Fighter 5:
6: Fighter 6: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution
7: Wizard 1: Divination. Expeditious retreat, false life,
8: Wizard 2:
9: Wizard 3: Misty step, web, Use scrolls to learn high level spells, especially counterspell and fireball.
10: Wizard 4: Take the Durable feat, which includes +1 Constitution.
11: Fighter 7:
12: Fighter 8: +2 Constitution.

Triple strike and Smite:
This build doesn’t come online until level 10, but then it’s a beast with three main hand attacks a turn, and a great target for haste. Remember to bind your weapon every day. Wyll is a good target for this build as is any Githyanki.
Str 12, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16,
Noble background
1: Paladin 1: Oath of vengeance,
2: Paladin 2: Dueling style
3: Paladin 3:
4: paladin 4: +2 Charisma
5: paladin 5:
6: Warlock 1: The fiend, armor of agathys, eldritch blast, Hex
7: Warlock 2: Devil’s sight, Agonizing blast
8: Warlock 3: Pact of the blade
9: Warlock 4: +2 Charisma
10: Warlock 5: Repelling blast,
11: Paladin 6:
12: Paladin 7: