Low Level Builds II
Let’s have some fun and do more low levels. Below are a couple of my personal favorites. We usually set some disqualifying rules here, but not today. Everything goes. Multiclass into as many classes as you want, play whatever race you want, and take whatever feats you want. We will be going up to level 5 max. The stats are determined via point buy.
The Screaming Stealth character - Rogue/Barbarian Build
Race: Mark of Passage Human (+2 Dex., +1 Con. Courier Speed, Intuitive Motion, Magical Passage, Spells of the Mark)
Stats: Str. 10, Dex. 16, Con. 14, Int. 10, Wis. 14, Cha. 12
1st level Rogue - Expertise, Sneak Attack.
2nd level Ranger - Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer
3rd level Barbarian (2 Barbarian / 1 Rogue) - Reckless Attack
I know that people will argue about my stat distribution. Sure, you could reduce Wisdom and Dexterity and add those points to your Constitution, thereby increasing your hit points. I completely understand why people would do this. My thought process was to give myself a bit more flexibility down the road if I needed it. Plus, I am sick of failing Wisdom saves in the early game.
We start as a barbarian, obtaining our rage and unarmored defense abilities. With Dexterity and Constitution modifiers both at +2, we’ll have a 14 Armor Class. I normally would not buy a shield for a barbarian, which in hindsight is dumb if you are not going two-handed weapon fighting, which we will not. Purchase the shield for an Armor Class 16. As for weapons, you can buy whatever your heart desires, but you’ll need a rapier for this build. A barbarian with a rapier may go against everything you envision when you think about this class, but the versatile property is one of the biggest reasons this entire build works. You can also buy a short sword or scimitar, but why take a d6 weapon when a d8 weapon is available. Nothing says you have to purchase it now, but I like to be prepared, so that’s what I am getting.
After we get those first precious 300 experience points, we take our first level in rogue. Now with a sneak attack, our character can start dishing some great damage for a 2nd level character. If you haven’t purchased your rapier, now is the time. Damage on a ‘normal’ attack is mundane at best, but given the right situation, your character can be quite deadly
Melee Attack, no rage, no sneak attack - 7 avg. Damage. Rapier 1d8 (4.5), +3 modifier.
Melee Attack, rage, no sneak attack - 9 avg. Damage. Rapier 1d8 (4.5), +3 modifier, +2 rage bonus.
Melee Attack, rage, sneak attack - 13 avg. Damage. Rapier 1d8 (4.5), +3 modifier, +2 rage bonus, 1d6 sneak attack (3.5).
Now things get very deadly if you can surprise your target. I’m not going to get bogged down in the issues with surprise in 5e. Let’s assume that you can surprise your target and not think about it too hard. The bugbear is proficient in stealth, but when you take your rogue level, you gain expertise, so there is some overlap, but Bugbear’s surprise attack racial trait is what we are looking at.
Rapier 1d8 (4.5) + 3 Str modifier + 2 rage bonus + 1d6 sneak attack (3.5) + 2d6 bugbear surprise attack (7) = 20 avg damage.
So that’s fun. When we reach the 3rd level, we’ll go barbarian again, primarily for the reckless ability. After you can surprise your target, I’m sure you are feeling pretty good about yourself. Reckless improves the odds that you will hit your target in this round since it is a common misperception that surprise automatically means that you attack at advantage. Based on RAW, this is not true. We play with variant rules in our campaign that surprise comes with an advantage, but that may not be the case everywhere. Reckless will guarantee that you will have advantage not only on your surprise attack but on everyone thereafter if you so choose. This allows your party members to get in position, at which time you will hopefully no longer need to use the ability.
We will stop here, but you have a ton of flexibility moving forward with this build. Work on increasing your Dexterity, buy studded leather, and increase your Armor Class if you want to be tankier. Add more damage early on by going Path of the Bezerker (1d6 damage on your first attack) or Assassin, eliminating the need to reckless and scores a critical hit when your surprise your target. That’s 31 points of damage before they even get a chance to strike back. There’s also synergy with any number of feats depending on which direction you want to go. In conclusion, it may seem odd to combine the loud and brutish barbarian with the rogue's sneaky stealth, but somehow it works.
The Spell Sniper - Warlock/Sorcerer Build
Race: Variant Human (Feat - Spell Sniper)
Stats: Str. 10, Dex. 14, Con. 14, Int. 8, Wis. 12, Cha. 16
1st level Sorcerer - Draconic Bloodline - Red Dragon Ancestor, Draconic Resilience.
2nd level Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 1) - Archfey Patron.
3rd level Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 2) - Eldritch Invocations Eldritch Spear, Agonizing Blast.
4th level Sorcerer (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 2) - Font Magic.
5th level Sorcerer (Sorcerer 3/Warlock 2) - Metamagic Distant spell, Quickened spell.
This is the tried and true spell sniper build found throughout the internet, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include it here. My biggest issue with this build is how often you will be rolling initiative when the targets are over 1000 feet away? That said, it’s still fun to think about, so I wanted to make sure I included it, especially since it makes a fun low-level build that transitions nicely at higher levels.
I know, I know… another variant human build. Sorry, but you’ll need to take the Spell Sniper feat to maximize this build as quickly as possible. The first couple of levels are straightforward and are interchangeable. Your 1st level Sorcerer can go any origin, so I took the Draconic bloodline for the AC. Plus, I’ll eventually get wings, and I like flying. For the Warlock, I went with the Archfey Patron. Faerie Fire and Sleep are two nice spells to have in the chamber. It goes without saying you take Eldritch Blast as a cantrip. As of this moment, our Eldritch Blast has a range of 240 feet.
We grab our 2nd level in Warlock and pick up the invocations, Eldritch Spear, and Agonizing Blast. Our cantrips range is now 300 feet base, and then we double that for a total of 600 feet. Adding 3 points of damage doesn’t hurt either. At the 4th and 5th levels, we grab two more levels in Sorcerer. Being a 3rd level Sorcerer gives us access to that wonderful Metamagic, and we grab the Distant and Quickened spells. With the distant spell, we take that 600 feet and double it giving us a range of 1200 total feet with Eldritch Blast at 5th level; 300 range (Eldritch Spear) x 2 (Spellsniper feat) x 2 (Distant Spell Metamagic) = 1200 ft.
Is it sexy? No, not really, but that’s not the point. If the target can move 30 ft and dash every round, it will still take 20 rounds, or 2 minutes, to reach you. Assuming you hit every round, even if you did average damage, that’s 16 points of damage per round, or 320 points of damage before they’d be in melee range. Plus, that doesn’t even count when you quicken spell your eldritch blast for another 16 points of damage on a bonus action.
Pack Fighting Tank - Kobold Artificer/Fighter
Race: Kobold (+2 Dexterity, Darkvision, Grovel/Cower/Beg, Pack Tactics, Sunlight Sensitivity)
Stats: Str. 13, Dex. 12, Con. 14, Int. 16, Wis. 10, Cha. 8
1st level Fighter - Defense Fighting Style, Second Wind
2nd level Artificer (Fighter 1 / Artificer 1) - Magical Tinkering, Spellcasting
3rd level Artificer (Fighter 1 / Artificer 2) - Infuse Item
4th level Artificer (Fighter 1 / Artificer 3) - Battlesmith, Right Tool for the Job
This is a build for those of you that enjoy going against the grain. There aren’t a ton of Artificer combos out there, but I’m sure that will change with the release of Tasha’s. The artificer is a conflicted character class. It seems like it wants to be a front-line fighter, but your highest stat needs to be Intelligence. No matter, though, as it’s a fun class that can be easily supplemented by taking a dip into several classes. To make this build work, you are not technically taking a dip into fighter since you’ll start at level one as a fearsome kobold fighter who can grovel quite well. Why? Because to get proficiency in heavy armor, we need to start as a fighter. We are taking the seemingly boring Defense fighting style, as it will help you survive now, and every little bit helps since we’re going for a tank build. Let’s not fool ourselves, though; we are not the powerhouse front-line fighter we dream of being. That comes later. Finally, save every coin you have because you will want to buy plate mail at some point. For now, get chain mail, a shield, and a war pick. War picks are cheap, do the same amount of damage as other martial weapons, and swords are boring.
At the 2nd level, we take our first level in artificer. It isn’t anything to write home about, but you do pick up some spells and a couple of neat tinkering abilities. Make sure to take the mending cantrip. You’ll need it when we take the Battle Smith specialization. Buy a bag of ball bearings and have fun using your magical tinkering ability to cast light on a bunch of them for throwing down the dark dungeon hallway. You’ll need a lot of them since they only give off a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet, but what else do you have to do when you’re sitting around the campfire listening to the same old bard songs?
At the 3rd level, we go artificer again. We can start to infuse items, allowing us to become the mighty fighter we have always dreamed of. You’ll need to make sure you take the Enhanced Weapon and Enhanced Defense infusions. The other two can be anything you want but remember you’ll only be able to infuse two items at once until the 6th level. Infuse both the war pick and shield, so they are each +1. We can use the kobold’s Intelligence modifier for attack and damage rolls and stand toe-to-toe with many a foe once we do that. Let’s take a second to see what we’ve got going on.
Armor Class - 20 (Chain Mail, Shield +1 with infusion, +1 Defense Fighting Style)
Action - Attack with +3 Int modifier, +2 proficiency, +1 weapon = +6 to hit
Damage - Average Damage (Warpick) 4 + 3 Int. modifier, +1 weapon = 8 average damage
Sure your damage isn’t great, but you’re a kobold standing on the front lines with the best of them. You can always increase your damage by taking either the booming blade or green-flame blade cantrip.
I’m sure by now, you’ve grown tired of using the kobold’s Grovel, Cower, and Beg trait to give an ally advantage. Cower no more, for it’s time for you to have advantage! At the 4th level, we are going Battle Smith and constructing our Steel Defender. My kobold would make its appearance that of a dragon named Sparky, but to each their own. Sparky is our best friend and ally now, allowing you to be using the Pack Tactics trait whenever possible. Since Sparky goes after you, here’s the sequence of events that will need to take place in the first round:
Move up to the target and use the Ready action to hold your attack until Sparky is within 5 feet of the target.
Have Sparky move to within 5 feet of the target
Your readied attack is triggered.
Sparky will take the Dodge action, and now the target attacks it at disadvantage if they try to hit your faithful companion.
Now that you’ve set up your target, you can increase your damage by proxy. This build is light on Bonus Actions, allowing you to use yours to have Sparky attack. That’s an additional 6 average damage per round. It can even move around the target to provide another ally with flanking (if you use those rules) but make sure to keep Sparky alive. If it needs to heal up, it can always use its Repair action, but better use your bonus action to allow it to Disengage and get behind you. Good old Sparky can fix himself from there.
As you look forward to the next few levels, there are some neat options. Take another level in Artificer next, go ASI, take two points in Strength, buy plate mail, and now have a 5th level kobold with a 22 Armor Class. Or take the next level in fighter to action surge to get off another attack. My favorite though has to be this; Take two more levels in fighter and go Rune Knight. Playing around with the runes is fun, but I’ll be using the Giant’s Might feature to become a large kobold every opportunity I can, becoming the mighty dragon of my dreams.
So there is the next round of lower-level combos for people to try. Got any lower level combos that are fun, interesting, and maybe a little OP? Please share them with us in the comments below.
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