I want you to be my sensei. What does sorcerer do in that build besides give haste?
D&D 5E eldritch knight multiclass
- Thread starter victorcrossman
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I want you to be my sensei. What does sorcerer do in that build besides give haste?
Flamestrike
Legend
Speeds up spell slot progression, giving you enough slots to spam more higher level divine smites. Invisibility comes in very handy on an Assassin. Also (quicken spell) + (haste/ mirror image/ other buff) is highly useful on a frontline fighter.
Laughably, for defence it also gets Charisma to saves, access to the shield spell, mirror image and counterspell, heavy armor. I expect (in full plate) it to have an AC of 19 (plus 7 from haste and shield) fairly routinely, not including items.
The fact it also has expertise in two skills, cunning action, two fighting styles, battle master maneuvers, action surge, channel divinity, lay on hands, is immune to fear, can pick locks and disarm traps, several metamagic options, Second wind, and 2d6 sneak attack is really just gravy.
Oh... and 6th level slots (with 2nd level paladin spells known and 4th level Sorc spells known).
You could ditch Sorcerer for Bard (Lore) if you want the exact same slots (and smites), but a more limited spell list in exchange for expertise in two more skills (again), jack of all trades (including a +3 to initiative), song of rest, bardic inspiration (and cutting words) and proficiency in a further 4 skills of your choice (just so you can laugh at the Rogue 20 crying next to you). You can used your Lore Bard 6 ability to plunder 2 spells of your choice to make up for the less cool bard spell list.
In the latter option, you get to buff the party and sing about how awesome you are before turning invisible, using your bonus action to hide, slinking into a monsters room, and going all righteous murder on its ass.
Only weakness is ASI's. You only get three. You'll need them though as one is going on GWM (to trigger the bonus action attack on a crit, which is guaranteed thanks to assassinate), and Alert looks good to guarantee going first with an additional +5 to initiative and preventing any fool from surprising you.
You can dump dex (heavy armor and expertise in stealth, pass with out trace if needed), int needs only an 11, Con and wisdom 10-12's , with Strength 17 and Cha 15. First ASI is split between Cha and Str. Take Fighter at 1st, then Paladin for the full 6, then assassin for 3 (bringing your assasinate + smite online) then another of fighter for action surge, then sorcerer (or bard) for the rest. Plays like your standard Paladin tank from 1-6.
I advise doing your best to get a belt of Giant strength, and whatever item spams Cha to 19. A +3 greataxe and a cloak of invisibility rounds it out nicely. Grab a potion of gaseous form as backup to escape any forcecage shenanigans also.
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houser2112
Explorer
I think 6 levels of EK will only buy you 2 caster levels, which would put you at caster level 16, and thus you'd miss out on 9th level spells.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
How six attacks? I only count five. Two normal plus one from Haste plus two from Action Surge.
Flamestrike
Legend
GWM feat triggers on a crit, allowing an extra attack as a bonus action.
All his attacks that land on a surprise round are crits (Assasinate ability).
Minsc
Explorer
Holy Moley. I can't believe I never noticed how freakin OP half orc + Assassin 3 is. I mean, I did, but I was always calculating the power of a backstab, therefore I was gimping my crits.
Great axe + auto-crit + half orc racial crit + GWM crit bonus is downright nasty. I applaud you.
Minsc
Explorer
What's the Fighter 3 for? Champion crit bonus? BTW, I don't think I could ever find a DM to let me play a Paladin/Assassin multiclass, but my version will have some Barbarian levels in there.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
I ran a one-off one time for a guy who wanted to see if he could kill Tiamat with a twentieth-level party. Using paladin/assassin/battlemasters it turned out that yes, he could. IIRC the first guy did about 320 points of damage, and she was dead before the second PC finished his turn. (Everyone rolled in the 40s for stealth, so she was definitely surprised.) It was pretty anticlimactic really, which is fun in it's own way (one minute she's enjoying being back on the prime material, then suddenly everything explodes with pain and she's back on Avernus going "what just happened?)--but I would never want to play a PC like that. Too utterly focused on assassination alpha strikes. Not my style.
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Minsc
Explorer
Wow.
Well, I could never play a character quite like that anyway, but I think the fun of it would be the build-up. Multiclass in 5e is tricky, because there don't seem to be many "clear winners" on levels to stop at. I mean, I know a lot of people map out their "builds" and know what their multiclassed 20th level character will look like, but knowing which character level to advance which class is tricky. Which is fun.
Also just noticed that great weapon fighting style works on every damage dice you roll... Sneak attack, smites, half orc racial, everything! It only specifies conditions of wielding a melee weapon two handed...
Sadly no two handed finesseweapons exist... Yet.
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