D&D 5E What would you play?

[EroGaki]

I trying to decide on a new character for a 5e game. My previous character, a diviner wizard, is being retired because I dislike the magic system. The party consists of a Wood Elf druid, a Gnome archer ranger, a Human necromancer, and a Human light cleric, none of which are actually melee characters. We have no trapfinder.

I have the classes I'd like to play narrowed down to either a paladin, monk, or rogue. I rolled my stats and they turned out pretty well: 11, 11, 17, 9, 14, 17.

Give these stats and the party composition, what race/class/background combo would you pick that would best compliment the group while being fun? And thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Li Shenron]

I trying to decide on a new character for a 5e game.

...

Give these stats and the party composition, what race/class/background combo would you pick that would best compliment the group while being fun? And thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would roll race/class/background randomly.

 

[PnPgamer]

Those are really spiffy stats for a monk (those 17s can give you 18 ac at beginning) or a paladin. I would advice going with either, and picking an appropriate background for thieves tools proficiency, urchin might be appropriat.

Slight sidequestion, why dont you like the magi system?

 

[GlobeOfDankness]

a few of my friends have just rolled d12s when picking classes and they've had fun with it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Paladin. Always Paladin, for me. Those two 17s put you in great shape for reaching 20 in your core stats, and Paladins benefit hugely from having a 20 Cha, and eventually benefit everyone around them too. If you play as a standard human, you'll be just 2 ABIs from capped stats, meaning many of your Paladin features will be quite potent without sacrificing any melee capability (and you'll have all-around great stats, no negative mods and an odd stat that could be complemented with one of the "half-feats" that give +1 to something, probably Con.)

Since 5e is so generous about using dex in melee, you could even go Dex instead of Strength, wear light armor, and potentially be a decent "trapfinder" (put that 14 into Wisdom, presumably). Or you can go the more typical route, Str and heavy armor, and find traps with your face...once you have the bonus to saves, anyway (which, for you, will start at +4 and soon reach +5, almost as big as the best proficiency bonus!).

Edit:
And yeah, picking the right background can net you all the skills you'd want. Perception, proficiency with Thieves' Tools, etc. There's even a degree of precedent for the street urchin who found faith (or any of a number of other valid archetypes that meld "shady past" with being or becoming religious.)

 

[EroGaki]

Slight sidequestion, why dont you like the magi system?

I feel the concentration mechanic is too restrictive for my tastes. Combined with how few spell slots casters receive now, and the fact that 80% of the spells require concentration...

It's just not my cup of tea. I don't mind having spell capabilities, but i will not be playing a spell dependent class like the wizard again in this edition.

 

[EroGaki]

Oops, I should have mentioned this: the character will be starting at 6th level, not first.

 

[was]

Out of the three choices, I'd also choose a paladin since your party is seriously lacking in the melee combat area. Maybe try a Half Elf character.
...For a brawny build, you might try S. 17, D. 11, C. 17, I. 09, W.11 and Ch. 14. That brings it up to S. 17, D.12, C. 17, I. 10, W.11 and Ch. 16.
...For a finesse build, you might try S. 11, D. 17, C. 17, I. 09, W.11 and Ch. 14. That brings it up to S. 11, D.17, C. 17, I. 10, W.12 and Ch. 16.
...These builds appeal to me because they give you +3 in the three most vital stats and no negative modifiers. The low Int. can hurt some builds but the race gives you 2 extra skills and an extra language.

 

[PnPgamer]

Go for monk and you can go straight to the shadow monk. He has some cool abilities, such as shadow to sahdow teleportation, makes a great scout, as you would have high stats in both dexterity and wisdom, affecting stealth and perception, respectively.

 

[Eejit]

Nah, not shadow monk, elemental monk! With those stats you can spend your level 4 ABI on Elemental Adept: Fire and rock out with Fangs of the Fire Snake!