Our D&D character build this week is the way I *wish* I would have built my Shadow Monk back when I first started playing 5e: much stronger sustained damage with even *more* juicy, shadowy flavor :).
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Character Concept:(0:00)
Humblewood Tales (sponsor):(4:50)
Level 1:(6:40)
Levels 2-6:(12:03)
Levels 7-9:(26:00)
Levels 10-13:(31:44)
Levels 14-17:(43:49)
Final Thoughts:(49:15)
Outtakes:(51:52)
Math/Graph for this episode: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ljU4ZZ3xgd4LG4aK2lUSFMEFay8K2ktfxWRSbG9rw3Q/edit?usp=sharing
Sustained DPR Comparisons (3 Tabs): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HPMg7cDqOC-0-vNFgEV9E5WQLDdCOdI64Vbnu60pC78/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?582779-Comprehensive-DPR-Calculator-(v2-0))
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide – Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100340
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200111
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Celtic Impulse – Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100297
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400051
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400022
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Artist: http://incompetech.com/
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Warlock makes everything better
Have you ever planned a build that uses Order of Scribes Wizard Subclass? I play with one on a one shot discord server, and i would love to see your point of view and idea of optimization on this one. 🙂
Thematically wood elf also gets weapon training 🙂
Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that you can cast darkness as a shadow sorcerer using points and see within it, but not as a monk using your ki points?
I think instead of bumping cha at the end I would take sentinel, it would give you more attacks which is good if buffing through spirit shroud, and it would enable you to keep them in the darkness if using any of the spells that generate that.
I like trying to flavor attacks around the outcomes of roles. Even misses can be fun because you can flavor those into setups for other attacks. On the topic of using your body as a weapon, I flavored a missed attack followed into a crit by saying, “Swinging her quarterstaff overhead down onto the orc, she didn’t factor in the sidestep. Thinking quickly, she twisted as she landed, took a knee, and followed through with that momentum to cause the staff to rocket back up into the poor orc’s groin.”
It was a big hit at the table when all the guys that pictured it did the same face. So yes, in a way I am with you on flavoring using your body as a weapon.
I've been trying to make almost this exact character for months now. ❤️
i would love to see a build around eldritch blast! and make it all about how many eldritch blast we can make!
Which join subscription tier gives you access to the step by step spread sheet thing for the character? copper or silver?
A gunk would have been great, as in shadow monk 8, fighter battlemaster 8, ranger gloomstalker 4. Get a gun or a crossbow with crossbow expert or gunner, add sharpshooter and you have a teleportation range that deal a lot of damage and use his ki and his superiority dice to increase his hit chance and even roll with advantage.
You could cast it on something you carry, cover the object like a lantern, have the fae place it on the big creatures head somehow.
I always thought this was a cool combo of warlock and monk, both getting back stuff on short rests and adding hex to so many attacks.
but anytime I brought it up people said "hex is terrible" "this multiclass is unoptimized"
but it seems underrated and really fun to play
Regarding Dedicated Weapon and the desire to stay purely unarmed as a monk… it depends on the subclass and the weapon. Way of Shadow with longsword is definitely one of the more palatable combinations for me though: shouldn't a ninja have a katana?
I joined your channel! I downloaded your write ups and really wanted to thank you for your efforts. My one complaint I have (triggered by my OCD) is the naming of your files. ## Title, ## – Title, ##- Title and of course ##: Title. DUDE!
Legendary urn of whispering warriors. Lol. The ending bloopers are always so amusing. Thanks for keeping them in somewhere. Sorry it took so many days to finish the video. Life does that sometimes I guess.
Oh btw Colby, just a suggestion for your guys' dnd tinder app thing:
You guys probably already thought of this but if not, I'd suggest being able to search or somehow group games by age (like minors vs non minors). Just a thought
Colby, I couldn't find your Ep 4 write up so I rewatched it and did the best I could. You may have to check it, but it could serve as a good start if you'd like it.
Rock'n'Roll Music !
Sanctuary vessel sounds so rad
Just started a Yuan-Ti Pureblood Necromancer, and due to some quirks of character creation (Wisdom of 4, a trinket of a monster that gives unsettling dreams if one sleeps near it, the question of why his civilization had been intending to sacrifice him and had put him in an enchanted sleep as they got ready to feed him to an Anathema before they fell allowing him to awaken centuries later), he's going to multiclassing Great Old One Warlock… I'm currently thinking I'll be going Necro 6 / GOO 5 then go back to Necro for a level and start alternating to acquire new spell levels with the ultimate goal of Necro 9 / GOO 11. As a Yuan-Ti I'll "only" be able to raise a horde of 396 skeletons and zombies + 2 ghouls at that point by working around the clock but I think I'll manage with that endgame army if my DM lets me get enough corpses and 5 days to prep (I haven't done the math yet on if I were to somehow reincarnate as an Elf for that sweet 4 hour long rest but yeah you get the idea 3 5th level pact magic slots combined with Raise Dead from Wizard is basically obscene; at level 11 I'll have like 132 but it'll take 7 days to get them ready)
If I'm gonna ask to reflavor a weapon, I'll generally try to keep it mechanically similar to some degree, like a handaxe/light hammer as a shield (on a Kensai), a club as knuckles, a dagger as a katar, that kind of thing.
When times are hard and things are hard I stand strong and I shine bright.
Nice video, like always, can you make an Gestalt Character? I would love to see what you gonna choose
I like watching your videos and getting ideas for classes I want to play. I was wondering if you can do a Echo Knight build? Thank you!
if you are using flanking rules you could flank with the fey which might be easier to sell your dm on than 5 foot of darkness and enemies running off. also teleporting to the fey would be fun 🙂
I had a similar idea behind my last character, but I started with 3 levels of gloomstalker ranger, then 8 levels of way of shadow monk, and then assassin rogue. With blind fighting as my ranger fighting style and the darkness spell, I could deal a considerable amount of damage. In natural darkness, it was even better, because I was an orc, and could move a ridiculous number of feet in the first round to deal a metric butt ton of damage… usually to unsuspecting victims.
Wow! Randall's artwork this episode was amazing
Nice video thanks!
Also, congrats on your acting career. Can't wait for Season 4 of The Boys!
Hi! I really enjoyed this video!
But that's not why i'm commentating. I recently had to create a lvl 10 character for a oneshot. On which i resulted in a lvl7 oathbreaker paladin and 3 lvl sword bard. BUT it got me thinking, the lvl 7 oathbreaker adding cha to an attack that can use dex or str seems pretty good. So my challange to you is to make either a nova or a sustain chracter using atleast a lvl 7 oathbreaker paladin!
I came up with a build that you might like to take on. It's a sustained damage build that focuses on 2 adjacent enemies. You need 6 levels in Bladesinger for their special extra attack. 3 levels of Hunter for Horde Breaker, and 3 levels in Rogue for Phantom. After that I would continue Rogue. You get a lot of versatility from Rogue stuff and 6 wizard levels. This uses two weapon fighting (I'd take that fighting style from Ranger) probably get the two weapon fighting feat as well. Maybe elven accuracy. You are using a shadow blade and shortsword (or rapier if you have the feat). If there's 2 adjacent enemies you hit enemy 1 with upcast shadowblade, horde breaker lets you attack enemy 2 with it as well. Then you cast green flame blade with rapier or shortsword on enemy 1, doing additional damage to enemy 2. Then you can attack enemy 1 with shadowblade again with bonus action. Then you do your full sneak attack dice to enemy 1 and half to enemy 2 with any of those hits. That's 4 attacks every round and the only resource you used is a 3rd level slot for shadow blade. Now you attack as much as a 20th level fighter.
Hey Colby, I've been tossing around this idea after playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. There is a Mythic path called Swarm-That-Walks, and the concept seems really cool. My idea to try to rebuild this was a swarmkeeper ranger with warlock levels. I've debated going Dao for a cheesegrater build, pushing enemies farther than ever before with the crusher feat. Flavor the swarm as sand and have your genie vessel be an hourglass. Ive debated the archfey warlock for just a stupid amount of fairies. I was hoping we could see your expertise in number crunching to see where this could go. Thanks bud!
Hey, I have a character concept idea. ‘The oneiromancer’/‘the dreamer’ a character focused on sleep and dreams. Possibly focussing on enchantment and illusion spells and possibly some divination (if you want to lean into the oneiromancy idea) and likely with fear and or charming effects. Love your videos, keep up the good work.
I just recently discovered the channel, and am loving it. I wanted to see if you could optimize a build using a Yklwa. It's my favorite weapon, and after seeing what you can do with a sling, I wanted to throw it out there
Build idea: MacGuyver/A-Team – 2 levels Knowledge Domain Cleric and at least 6 levels any Artificer. Channel divinity gives proficiency in any desired toolset. Artificer tool expertise gives expertise in any known toolset. Queue up the ‘80s building montage music and build your butt off for a solid 10 minutes. I’m picturing a deep gnome with a Mr. T hairstyle!
Why wouldn’t you take the free monk shadow teleport at level 6?
Something I noticed right away on your channel is that each video is the exact same volume. Which for me is a huge appreciation. And you have a nice speaking voice. I always find that I put your channel on right before bed because good content, and I know the next video will be the same volume.
Apologies for the question; you had promoted an app that helps you find a group to play with – what was the name of it again?
I think you are misinterpreting the darkness spell, in regards to disadvantge, your allies would not be attacking normally, they would be at disadvantage, otherwise there would be no point to the spell, it just causes disavantage on both sides unless you can see via Devil Sight or similar, or you can flank opponent in the darkness.
Keep in mind that you can regain ki points in half an hour. Sometimes, you have half an hour of time but not a full hour 🤷🏻♂️
Worth noting is that the dark patch created by Summon Fey doesn't prevent you from seeing if you have dark vision. That is specific to the darkness spell, not magical darkness in general. This has been confirmed.
Undead Warlock patron is, IMO, a better choice. Form of Dread is a big help here.
3 attacks at level 5 with beast barbarian 😛
FSY! Sorry, it's not relevant to the video, but I was an FSY Counselor this summer, so seeing it got me excited.
You could ready your own action for the trixie fae to get in position, cast darkness, and then you do the entire thing. You would lose your reaction and therefore most likely an opportunity attack but it works