Interesting class synergies

I had this thought in another thread (the one about "max sustained dpr") but didn't want to derail it.

D&D is (usually) a game of cooperation between multiple characters, so I always find those discussions about optimum builds of a single character kind of odd. An interesting intellectual exercise for some, but not terribly...useful?...in the greater game.

A more interesting question, at least for me, is what are some interesting/fun/crazy synergies between multiple characters? For the sake of simplicity, I'm limiting it to 4 characters, and only multiclassing when it's necessary that abilities are combined in one character for the trick(s) to work.

For example, recently I've been thinking about Grave Domain cleric and Rogue. We've got this in a campaign I'm running, and even at low level it's a pretty neat trick: the cleric uses his Path to the Grave ability, then the rogue sneak attacks for double damage.

Even better would be a Rogue Assassin. And even better, a Half-orc Rogue Assassin. At high levels, when the stars all align, there's the potential for ridiculous damage.

For my other two characters I'd use a Ranger or Druid, and a Portent Wizard.

Here's the plan:
- Rogue (or Wizard familiar) scouts out the BBEG
- The druid or ranger casts Pass Without Trace and the wizard casts Invisibility on everybody
- The party sneaks up to within 30' of the BBEG...OR the Wizard just teleports them within range. (There are really numerous ways to get the drop on the BBEG.)
- BOOYAH! The party (hopefully) surprises the BBEG.
- If the rogue beats the cleric on initiative, he/she Holds Action until the cleric uses Path to the Grave
- Cleric uses Path to the Grave
- Rogue Sneak Attacks the BBEG.
- Wizard uses Portent to cause the BBEG to fail the Con save vs. Death Strike.

The numbers:
- 1d6 for shortsword (I hate rapiers) + 9d6 sneak attack = 10d6 + 5
- It's an automatic critical, because of Assassination. 20d6 + 5
- Half-orc adds one more die on a crit. 21d6 + 5
- Purple worm poison adds 12d6. 33d6 + 5
- All damage doubled from Path to the Grave 66d6 + 10
- All damage doubled again from Death Strike 132d6 + 20

That's....wait for it...482 damage on average.

And approximately a 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000002% chance of doing 812 damage. (I didn't type that randomly; that's really about the chance of getting all 6's.)

Something I've been playing around with is Mastermind 3/Chainlock 3. Between your familiar and Master of Tactics you can use Help to give advantage to two other party members a round and still have your actual action left over to blast away. If you have the right two other party member that's excellent action economy and I'd bet there's a ton of good party builds that could kick some serious butt using it.

Fenris-77 said:

Something I've been playing around with is Mastermind 3/Chainlock 3. Between your familiar and Master of Tactics you can use Help to give advantage to two other party members a round and still have your actual action left over to blast away. If you have the right two other party member that's excellent action economy and I'd bet there's a ton of good party builds that could kick some serious butt using it.

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So who benefits most from advantage? Sharpshooter/GWM?

Elfcrusher said:

So who benefits most from advantage? Sharpshooter/GWM?

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A rogue benefits the most from a single grant of advantage (i.e. the advantage is on the next attack.) If it's a full round of advantage, it would benefit the character with a lot of attacks +GWM/SS the most.

Monk + a GWM/SS character work really well together. A 5th level monk can force 4 Con saves a turn if needed to stun someone, giving a full turn of advantage to everyone. An elven accuracy + GWM/SS character scales amazingly well when in that situation, since tri-vantage is almost doubling damage for GWM/SS characters.

This is pretty much how my Tomb of Annihilation game went. We had a Grave Cleric, a Rogue, and a Diviner. At one point (the group was 5th level at the time), they encounter the King of Feathers. Cue the synergy.

Grave Cleric uses Path of the Grave. Diviner had rolled one 20 for his portent. Rogue attacks KoF with a sneak attack. Diviner grants his portent, turning it into a crit. Path of the Grave doubles the crit.

They almost one-shotted the King of Feathers...it was disgusting and I was sad.

TwoSix said:

A rogue benefits the most from a single grant of advantage (i.e. the advantage is on the next attack.) If it's a full round of advantage, it would benefit the character with a lot of attacks +GWM/SS the most.

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I think this mostly applies to ranged rogues who can't hide. Melee rogues generally/usually already get sneak attack, and if they miss they can try again with their offhand (which is sorta like having advantage, in terms of hit probability). Assuming a similar attack bonus, though, a GWM has a much lower chance to hit because of the -5. The crossover point would depend on the AC of the target.

Monk + a GWM/SS character work really well together. A 5th level monk can force 4 Con saves a turn if needed to stun someone, giving a full turn of advantage to everyone. An elven accuracy + GWM/SS character scales amazingly well when in that situation, since tri-vantage is almost doubling damage for GWM/SS characters.

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In this scenario I'd also want a cleric (or some specific subclasses) to case Bane. The monk could stun multiple targets more easily.

Elfcrusher said:

I think this mostly applies to ranged rogues who can't hide. Melee rogues generally/usually already get sneak attack, and if they miss they can try again with their offhand (which is sorta like having advantage, in terms of hit probability). Assuming a similar attack bonus, though, a GWM has a much lower chance to hit because of the -5. The crossover point would depend on the AC of the target.

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Sure. I mean, giving advantage to someone who has advantage already isn't that synergistic.

I'm just saying that if you're going to give advantage to any one attack, it should be the rogues. Not merely to enable the sneak attack, but to make sure it lands. Giving the rogue's 3d8+5d6+5 sneak attack (assuming shadow blade/booming blade) a 20% greater chance to land is better than giving the Xbow Fighter's 1d6+15 attack a 30% greater chance to land.

Elfcrusher said:

In this scenario I'd also want a cleric (or some specific subclasses) to case Bane. The monk could stun multiple targets more easily.

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I mean, stunning strike + bane on weenies is a pretty nice combo, I agree. I value the monk stun more on high priority, high hit point targets though.

quivering palm + portent - if you can bait the legendary saves, GG for anything

Elfcrusher said:

A more interesting question, at least for me, is what are some interesting/fun/crazy synergies between multiple characters? For the sake of simplicity, I'm limiting it to 4 characters, and only multiclassing when it's necessary that abilities are combined in one character for the trick(s) to work.

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Love it! Great idea for a thread!

Elfcrusher said:

Here's the plan:
- Rogue (or Wizard familiar) scouts out the BBEG
- The druid or ranger casts Pass Without Trace and the wizard casts Invisibility on everybody
- The party sneaks up to within 30' of the BBEG...OR the Wizard just teleports them within range. (There are really numerous ways to get the drop on the BBEG.)
- BOOYAH! The party (hopefully) surprises the BBEG.
- If the rogue beats the cleric on initiative, he/she Holds Action until the cleric uses Path to the Grave
- Cleric uses Path to the Grave
- Rogue Sneak Attacks the BBEG.
- If the BBEG makes its Con save versus Death Strike, Wizard uses Portent.

The numbers:
- 1d6 for shortsword (I hate rapiers) + 9d6 sneak attack = 10d6 + 5
- It's an automatic critical, because of Assassination. 20d6 + 5
- Barbarian adds one more die on a crit. 21d6 + 5
- Purple worm poison adds 12d6. 33d6 + 5
- All damage doubled from Path to the Grave 66d6 + 20
- All damage doubled again from Death Strike 132d6 + 20

Click to expand...

A few quick points of order that don't diminish from the amazing synergy you laid out above:

- The Divination Wizard would need to use Portent before the Con save vs Death Strike.
- I think you meant "Half-Orc" rather than "Barbarian"
- I think the damage doubling at the Path to the Grave step should include a "+10" rather than "+20"

Sorry, not trying to be the D&D mechanical equivalent of the grammar police. I just want your example to shine its brightest possible.

Now, I want to see a video of someone rolling 132d6s in this scenario! I think the visual of that far outweighs the tedious tallying to follow.

DM Dave1 said:

- The Divination Wizard would need to use Portent before the Con save vs Death Strike.
- I think you meant "Half-Orc" rather than "Barbarian"
- I think the damage doubling at the Path to the Grave step should include a "+10" rather than "+20"

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Fixed! Thank you!

Now, I want to see a video of someone rolling 132d6s in this scenario! I think the visual of that far outweighs the tedious tallying to follow.

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This is pretty much the main reason I want to try it.