D&D 5E Human Eldritch Knight Build - Help Needed

Nori

First Post
I recently managed to get my human fighter to level three following my first (ever) two games of D&D. My partners asked me, now that my fighter is level three, what sub-class was I going to pick.

After searching around, I managed to find my favorite sounding class and was a bit embarassed when I called it "Arcane Warrior" even though its clearly called Eldritch Knight. Here are my stats so far.

STR: 16
DEX: 12
CON: 13
INT: 13
WIS: 12
CHA: 11

Not sure if this helps, but he is a Hermit Fighter. I was attempting to make a Hedge-knight like character.

His name is Reinier Travelyan.
 

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pdegan2814

First Post
The first thing that stands out at me is the odd-numbered Con and Int scores. You'll want to boost both of them to 14 fairly early on. I'd also strongly recommend the War Caster feat, so you can perform somatic components of spells while you're carrying a sword & shield. Your Int score will likely never reach the heights of a full caster's spellcasting stat, so it may be good to focus on spells that don't require a spell attack roll or an enemy saving throw. Something like the Shield spell early on will definitely come in handy, and if that's the only think you use your 1st-level spell slots for that's not a terrible thing. Protection From Evil & Good can be handy IF you find yourself running into those monster types. Obviously if you're in an undead- or fiend-heavy campaign, it becomes more useful. Pay close attention to the levels where you can take a spell from any school. The 2nd-level list has some great buffs like Blur, Mirror Image and Invisibility. For cantrips, if I was building an EK I'd look strongly at the Booming Blade & Green-Flame Blade cantrips from the Sword Coast book. They don't require a spell attack roll, you make a regular weapon attack. It does mean you'd only make that one attack on your turn, so keep that in mind when you're at higher levels and have multiple attacks. But GF Blade can hit two creatures at once, the 2nd without any sort of roll. If there's two enemies standing next to each other, swing at the one with the lower AC, and the higher-AC guy just takes the damage automatically. With Booming Blade, you can lock an enemy in place unless he wants to take a double-dose of Thunder damage. Good way to keep someone focused on you and off the squishier members of your party. And the damage from both of those cantrips scales as you level up, so they could be situationally better than simply attacking multiple times.

Did you choose Human or Human(variant) for your race? If it was the variant, what feat did you start with? What does your Fighter use as his primary weapon?
 

Nori

First Post
I chose Human Varient (Illuskan from the Storm Coast, hometown of Neverwinter). My feat was chosen as Sentinel because I utilize the longsword and Shield style.

These suggestions are great because I never heard of these spells or cantrips from the book I was using, and them being from the Storm Coast adds to the effect of my character having lived there.
 

pdegan2814

First Post
Then War Caster would definitely be on the shortlist for taking at Level 4, even before boosting your stats. It lets you cast spells when you get opportunity attacks, which means you could cast Booming or Green-Flame Blade when they try to step out of your reach. Though Sentinel also means their movement drops to 0, so they'll likely never trigger the extra damage from Booming Blade, something to consider. Even so, the initial blast of damage from either cantrip will definitely boost your opportunity attacks nicely. So I'd say your stat bumps at levels 4, 6 and 8 should probably be Str+2, Con+1/Int+1 and War Caster, the order would be up to you. I definitely wouldn't save War Caster for level 8, in fact I'd think hard about taking it at 4. Which stats get raised first will depend on your experiences in the campaign, whether it matters more to boost your offense early or your defense. If you find yourself facing groups of little enemies a lot, Thunderwave could be a useful spell, I'm guessing little guys don't regularly have high Con scores for the save required. :)

Mage Hand is also a good utility cantrip to have around, you can use it for things like opening unlocked doors & chests that might be trapped, etc.
 

Nori

First Post
Sweet, this is a lot of help because I am only a few quests away from getting to level four. So to have a great idea of what my character will get is a big bonus for me. Now, just have to flesh out his history a bit.
 

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