--- title: My Favourite D&D 5E Build url: https://0ak.hu/projects/dnd --- # My Favourite D&D 5E Build I think I spent more than half my waking hours towards the end of high school doing things related to D&D (often working from a spreadsheet or reading from a rulebook). Here’s my favorite character that I played in D&D 5e (weekly through the second half of 2022). It’s Draconic 1 / Stars X / Twilight 5, with DEX as the highest stat. (!!) I might write later about DMing. I thought a lot of the build decisions were clever, and I’m really proud of the result. The progression is really, really smooth, with fun new toys at every level, and everything fits together both thematically and mechanically. The module was Ghosts of Saltmarsh, so the vibe was essentially ‘pirates’. I wanted to go Stars Druid (my favorite subclass), for the navigating-by-stars vibe; their best feature is the Dragon constellation, and draconic theming is also nice here because dragons, like pirates, covet treasure. Other party members were a Great-Old-One Warlock, a Knowledge Cleric, a Swashbuckler Rogue. ### Level 0 > **Race** > > Tiefling (Variant: Winged) Flight is really, really good (and no feat races or backgrounds). Flavored to be dragonborn-adjacent. > **Stats** > > Strength: 8 > > Dexterity: 16+2 > > Constitution: 14 > > Intelligence: 11 > > Wisdom: 15+1 > > Charisma: 13 (Highest 3 results of 4d6 with 1s rerolled; any order, and floating stat increases.) Wait, what?? 18 DEX and 16 WIS?? Yep. Druids don’t need _that_ much wisdom (the good spells don’t depend on it), and can’t wear metal (that is, half-decent) armor. The extra point of dexterity will get us to the standard resting 19 Armor Class at level 2, once we equip a shield, and is very nice for initiative and even dart attacks at low levels! 14 CON is standard, and we need 13 CHA to multiclass. 11 INT lets us take advantage of some of the Stars features for INT checks, and we can make up for the 8 STR with Wildshape for utility (which did make a huge difference, netting us 2k gold apiece, which translated to, like, a Wand of Fireball). With point-buy, I’d go 8/14/13+1/8/15+2/13, taking Divine Soul and wearing half-plate (DM permitting). ### Level 1 **Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer 1** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_ > > Level 1: _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_ Sorcerer dip for CON save proficiency, along with _Shield_ and _Silvery Barbs_. You get four free cantrips; don’t pick attacking ones (you’re much better off attacking with weapons, given the 18 DEX and 13 CHA), and the utility is quite nice (this is a role-playing game, after all, not just a battle simulator). Draconic is a surprising pick; why not Divine Soul, Clockwork Soul, or Aberrant Mind? Well, first of all, it’s thematic; don’t be a dirty powergamer. But, actually, it’s the optimal choice: 13+DEX yields 17 AC here at first level (23 with _Shield_). The extra point of HP is also nice (actually, it guaranteed that I’d survive a _Magic Missile_ at 2nd level, letting me choose not to _Shield_, which I remember won us the fight against a wizard guy, I think because it saved a slot for _Thunderwave_, as with his own _Shield_ his AC was too high for us to hit reliably? Taking _Thunderwave_ is fun but generally suboptimal, so I don’t recommend it below.) Right now, it’s optimal for you, an unarmored sorcerer, to go into melee to sponge for the actual martials (you’re tankier than they are, with 17 AC and the two premier defensive reactions; martials lol). With daggers, you have +6 to-hit for 1d4+4 piercing (action) and +6 for 1d4 piercing (bonus action, two weapon fighting); that’s pretty respectable, if not better than some of your martial friends (martials lol). ### Level 2 **Draconic 1 / Druid 1** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: **_Guidance_** , _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, **_Thorn Whip_** > > Level 1: **_Entangle_** , **_Goodberry_** , **_Healing Word_** , _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, **_Thunderwave_** Our first level in druid! _Guidance_ is incredibly useful for ability checks (including initiative!); we’ll get it duplicated next level, but can switch it out with Cantrip Versatility in a bit. Having _Guidance_ at level 2 is worth more than having _Magic Stone_ at levels 2-4, because +5 to-hit for 1d6+3 bludgeoning is worse than what we’re doing with daggers. But _Thorn Whip_ is nice, because we can fly: that’s +5 to-hit for 1d6 piercing, and (assuming we’re above the target) an extra 1d6 bludgeoning as they fall prone (which is the main thing we’re after). Also, you could in principle pull someone off a ship, which is quite funny. _Goodberry_ and _Healing Word_ are auto-picks; they’re nice for out-of-combat healing and in-combat reviving, respectively. _Entangle_ is a nice control spell, and _Thunderwave_ is fun. It’s too early for _Absorb Elements_ to be relevant, but we’ll grab it later. You’re a caster now! Pilot like Level 1 by default, but break out the control spells or healing when necessary. Use _Guidance_ liberally, and make _Goodberries_ for the next day with unused spell slots. ### Level 3 **Draconic 1 / Circle of Stars Druid 2** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: _Entangle_, **_Fog Cloud_** , _Goodberry_, **_Guiding Bolt_** , _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, _Thunderwave_ We get our subclass and Wildshape! The Cow is the most useful form; with charge, you’ve got +6 to hit for 1d6+4 piercing, with an extra 2d6 piercing if you charge. Notably, it also has +4 STR, which allowed us to retrieve an extremely lucrative heavy treasure chest from a sinking ship, which translated to some overpowered magical items. Spending Wildshape for an owl familiar is also a very nice default usage. Circle of Stars gives us _Guidance_ (which we already have), along with Proficiency Bonus (currently 2) free uses of _Guiding Bolt_ per day (and we can also cast it with slots). We can also use Wildshape to activate a starry form; currently, Archer’s bonus action attack is the most useful, since we’re not concentrating on anything important yet. We now have some more offensive tools: _Guiding Bolt_ into Archer is a fine burst, giving +5 to-hit for 3d6 radiant (action) and +5 to-hit for 1d8+3 radiant (bonus action). The latter is at advantage if our _Guiding Bolt_ hits; but we could also swap the order if the party rogue is going after us, to give them advantage. Of course, if we spend both Wildshapes, Archer into a Cow’s charge is going to do more. ### Level 4 **Draconic 1 / Stars 3** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: ~~_Entangle_~~ , _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, _Thunderwave_ > > Level 2: **_Pass without Trace_** , **_Spike Growth_** We get 2nd-level spells! In particular, _Pass without Trace_ essentially guarantees surprise by granting +10 stealth, which is effectively a free round of combat before enemies can react. _Spike Growth_ is fantastic (maybe my favorite spell): enemies take 2d4 piercing for every 5 feet they move (or get moved) through its massive 20-foot-radius area. Notable, _Thorn Whip_ allows us to drag enemies through the _Spike Growth_, yielding an extra 4d4 piercing on a hit. This also works well with the party warlock’s _Repelling Blast_, and our own _Thunderwave_. Instead of concentrating on _Guidance_ outside of combat by default, we now concentrate on _Pass without Trace_. This is big! We also have _Spike Growth_, which outputs an insane amount of control and damage (well, maybe Dead is just the best condition you can impose, so it’s all just control). From now on, the Dragon Starry Form is much more valuable than the Archer whenever we’ve cast a big spell: it guarantees at least a 10 + CON + PB (currently 14) on concentration checks, so we’re in pretty much no danger of dropping concentration (especially since we’re so hard to hit). ### Level 5 **Draconic 1 / Stars 4** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, **_Magic Stone_** , _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: **_Absorb Elements_** , _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, **_Gift of Alacrity_** , _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, _Thunderwave_ > > Level 2: **_Misty Step_** , _Pass without Trace_, _Spike Growth_, We get a few things this level, most importantly a Feat. We pick Fey Touched, which raises our Wisdom to 17, gives us a free daily _Misty Step_ and _Gift of Alacrity_ (which we can also cast with slots). The last one is what we were really after: it gives us an extra 1d8 to initiative. Note that _Lucky_ would be more thematic for Stars (consider the 6th-level feature); it’s probably a side-grade. Our PB (and so our to-hit on everything, and our free _Guiding Bolt_ supply) goes up from 2 to 3. Our _Thorn Whip_ damage also goes from 1d6 to 2d6. We also get a 3rd-level slot; _Pass without Trace_ and _Spike Growth_ are worth a 3rd-level slot, but we could also upcast _Thunderwave_ through a spike growth for 28 average damage on a failed save (9 on a success). We also get access to Wildshape creatures up to Challenge Rating 1/2 (notably the Warhorse) or with swim speeds (notably the Giant Poisonous Snake, who we’ll see more of next level…). At this point in the campaign, we’ve gotten enough gold to get some very nice items (Sentinal Shield for advantage on initiative, Wand of Fireballs for, well, _Fireballs_). If you’re keeping track at home, our initiative if we cast _Guidance_ (we can’t always afford _Pass without Trace_) is now 2d20kh1 + 4 + 1d8 + 1d4, yielding at least 20 more than 80% of the time. Go first. Lay down control. Hit things harder than the martials (lol), with _Fireball_ if needed. Heal when necessary. ### Level 6 **Draconic 1 / Stars 5** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Minor Illusion_, _Magic Stone_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: _Absorb Elements_, _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, _Gift of Alacrity_, _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, ~~_Thunderwave_~~ > > Level 2: _Misty Step_, _Pass without Trace_, _Spike Growth_ > > Level 3: **_Conjure Animals_** , **_Sleet Storm_** Whereas last level we got a bunch of small things (well, and the Wand of Fireballs), this level we get a single fantastic feature: _Conjure Animals_, the keystone of this build. We also pick up _Sleet Storm_ for extra control, which is also thematic. (No favorable reading for _Plant Growth_.) We also pick up a Wand of Web, for some extra control (we have a ton of resources now). We unprepare _Thunderwave_, as its damage is now relatively low, and our low-level slots are more valuable for spending on _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, and _Healing Word_. With _Conjure Animals_, we can summon eight Giant Poisonous Snakes. These things are monsters: 18 DEX (so +4 initiative, 14 AC, and +6 to-hit), a ten-foot reach and Blindsight range, and on a hit they do 1d4+4 piercing along with 3d6 poison (CON save DC 11 for half). That is, against a monster with AC 15 and a +4 CON save, we should expect to do 65 damage. That’s like hitting three enemies with _Fireball_, but it’s single-target, and we can do it again on the next turn (depending on how many snakes survive until then). It’s certainly much more than your martial friends are doing. _Conjure Animals_ also doubles as a great control spell (_Wall of Flesh_?), since you control eight squares with your snakes. Of course, opportunity attacks are again a massive boost to damage output. Summon snakes. Profit. Note that your best action may very well be to Dodge, to impose disadvantage on incoming attacks to help protect your concentration… except that Dragon Starry Form makes your concentration pretty much unbreakable, and you may have several _Fireballs_ to throw. ### Level 7 **Draconic 1 / Stars 5 / Twilight Domain Cleric 1** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: **_Light_** , _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, **_Mending_** , _Minor Illusion_, _Magic Stone_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, **_Thaumaturgy_** , _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: _Absorb Elements_, **_Ceremony_** , **_Command_** , **_Detect Magic_** , **_Faerie Fire_** , _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, _Gift of Alacrity_, _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, **_Sleep_** > > Level 2: _Misty Step_, _Pass without Trace_, _Spike Growth_ > > Level 3: _Conjure Animals_, **_Plant Growth_** , _Sleet Storm_ We deepen our relationship with the night by becoming a Twilight Domain Cleric. Remember how opportunity attacks being a massive boost to damage output? _Command: Flee_ generates those on ~~command~~ demand. _Ceremony_ and _Detect Magic_ are generally useful; we pick up _Healing Word_ via Cleric, to free up a prep slot for _Plant Growth_ via Druid. We also have a 4th-level slot now, but again it doesn’t do much extra for us. (I guess we could put around 50 hit points worth of enemies to _Sleep_, which we get for free along with _Faerie Fire_? But that’s worse than just summoning eight snakes.) We pick up some general utility cantrips, too. Twilight Domain also gives us advantage on initiative (so give the Sentinal Shield to the party cleric, and pick up a +1 shield instead). Note that, since we’re putting down big control or area-of-effect damage spells, it’s most valuable to focus on our own initiative. We can also give our now 300-foot Darkvision to the rest of the party daily for an hour (or more, at the cost of a spell slot). Have fun with _Command_. ### Level 8 **Draconic 1 / Stars 5 / Twilight 2** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Light_, _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Mending_, _Minor Illusion_, _Magic Stone_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thaumaturgy_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: _Absorb Elements_, **_Bless_** , _Ceremony_, _Command_, _Detect Magic_, _Faerie Fire_, _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, _Gift of Alacrity_, _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, _Sleep_ > > Level 2: _Misty Step_, _Pass without Trace_, _Spike Growth_ > > Level 3: _Conjure Animals_, _Plant Growth_, _Sleet Storm_ So the initiative bump was nice and all, but what we were really after from the Twilight Cleric was the feature we get now: Twilight Sanctuary. Every short rest, we can activate a fountain of temporary hit points for ourselves and our allies, including the rather fragile snakes. It’s only 1d6+2 for now (it’ll go up by 1 with every additional level), but since it refreshes every turn, we end up adding a lot of effective hit points. This feature is so broken that 1d6+2 is good even at level 8 (whereas a straight-classed Twilight Cleric would be delivering 1d6+8, or about twice as much, at this level). Make your snakes much harder to kill. ### Level 9 **Draconic 1 / Stars 5 / Twilight 3** > **Spells** > > Cantrips: _Light_, _Guidance_, _Mage Hand_, _Mending_, _Minor Illusion_, _Magic Stone_, _Prestidigitation_, _Shape Water_, _Thaumaturgy_, _Thorn Whip_ > > Level 1: _Absorb Elements_, _Bless_, _Ceremony_, _Command_, _Detect Magic_, _Faerie Fire_, _Fog Cloud_, _Goodberry_, _Gift of Alacrity_, _Guiding Bolt_, _Healing Word_, _Shield_, _Silvery Barbs_, _Sleep_ > > Level 2: **_Aid_** , _Misty Step_, **_Moonbeam_** , _Pass without Trace_, **_See Invisibility_** , _Spike Growth_ > > Level 3: _Conjure Animals_, _Plant Growth_, _Sleet Storm_ We pick up _Aid_, for more hit-point boosting. (We’ll use this on our party members, rather than on the snakes.) We also get a 5th-level slot, with which we can upcast _Conjure Animals_ and summon twice as many snakes. This scaling is great; even though we’ve spent almost half our levels on multiclassing, our most powerful option is exactly that of a straight-classed Druid’s. Our PB goes up to 4, and our Twilight Sanctuary scales by a point. By this point, you know how to pilot the build. ### Level 10+ **Draconic 1 / Stars X / Twilight 5** From here on, the campaign’s pretty much over. The main draw of this build is the incredible progression during all the levels of typical play. However, for completion’s sake, two more levels of Twilight Cleric yield a feat (pick Telekinetic or Lucky or something) and then 3rd-level cleric spells, notably _Spirit Guardians_, which also upcasts fantastically (and might be somewhat more reliable, once we start running into more enemies at this tier who are resistant or immune to our snakes). From then on, push more Stars Druid levels to get: > **Level 12:** Cosmic Omen > > **Level 13:** 4th-level spells (_Polymorph_, _Wall of Fire_, …), 7th-level slots > > **Level 14:** Feat (the other one of Lucky or Telekinetic) > > **Level 15:** 5th-level spells (_Wall of Stone_, _Planar Binding_, …), 8th-level slots > > **Level 16:** Twinkling Constellations > > **Level 17:** 6th-level spells (_Conjure Fey_, _Hero’s Feast_, …), 9th-level slots > > **Level 18:** Feat > > **Level 19:** 7th-level spells (_Mirage Arcane_, _Plane Shift_, …) > > **Level 20:** Full of Stars So, we hit level 20 with a capstone from our main subclass. Unfortunately, we do miss out on 8th- and 9th-level spells. But 32 snakes will make you feel better.