D&D 5E The most Powerful out of Combat Characters

[CTurbo]

Since nobody has mentioned it at all, I'm going to give a shout out to the PALADIN as one of the more OP characters in and out of combat. They can literally do everything well.

 

[Saeviomagy]

That is correct.

But I would take the bad faith out of that statement and say instead that it's the player who pays attention, who engages with the scene, and who makes solid decisions based on that in pursuit of automatic success over rolling that fickle d20 that is the most powerful character, regardless of class or build.

Similar to "how do I kill my players" threads, you're confusing character and player. Otherwise I'd say the most powerful character is the one being run as a DMPC...

 

[iserith]

Similar to "how do I kill my players" threads, you're confusing character and player. Otherwise I'd say the most powerful character is the one being run as a DMPC...

Since they are not real, characters cannot pay attention, engage with the scene, or make solid decisions. It's the player who does that. So I would say any player who does those things controls the most powerful character at the table.

 

[Mephista]

Rogue, Bards, Warlocks and Rangers are all filled to the brim with non-combat options. Stealth actions, social actions, magic trickery and wilderness exploration, respectively.

Clerics, Wizards, Sorcerers and Druids all have spells to deal with day-to-day things as well, but that's far more limited than the experts listed above.

 

[Gwarok]

Wizards, Bards, Rogues, in that order I think. For the wizard depends on the level, but high level ones with lots of spells can do just about anything, especially once they can cast Planar Binding at 7th or above. Bards have expertise x 4 plus spells, plus they get the Modify Memory spell option which can be HUGE in affecting the world around you. But a high level Wizard is hard to take out once they get Clone, plus having a Simulacrum on hand at all times to assist is always nice.

 

[Gwarok]

Since nobody has mentioned it at all, I'm going to give a shout out to the PALADIN as one of the more OP characters in and out of combat. They can literally do everything well.

Paladins are pretty sick, but OOC their main skillset would likely stem from a high CHA which is always nice OOC, but I think Bards and wizards(13+ anyways) would probably have the edge.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Since they are not real, characters cannot pay attention, engage with the scene, or make solid decisions. It's the player who does that. So I would say any player who does those things controls the most powerful character at the table.

And if two players do those things? Or if all players do those things? Or if a player does those things but feels hamstrung by a character? As a somewhat strawman argument, one could easily create a character that is unable to engage scenes, and one can certainly create characters that engage scenes, so there's at least a binary measure. Is it truly impossible that a character might exist that engages scenes better than other characters?

So...
The best character is one that best allows a player to engage with the group, with scenes, and best allows all involved to create powerful scenes. Characters with some backstory, but enough gaps the DM can fill in. Characters with personality, both positive and negative aspects but no absolutely crippling traits ("afraid of monsters" would be fine, even though disadvantageous. "catatonic when encounters monsters" seems like it would be incredibly limiting).

But above all, I think the best character is one that the entire group can enjoy interacting with.

I could make an argument that the most powerful character might end up being the opposite of that.

 

[iserith]

And if two players do those things? Or if all players do those things? Or if a player does those things but feels hamstrung by a character? As a somewhat strawman argument, one could easily create a character that is unable to engage scenes, and one can certainly create characters that engage scenes, so there's at least a binary measure. Is it truly impossible that a character might exist that engages scenes better than other characters?

So...
The best character is one that best allows a player to engage with the group, with scenes, and best allows all involved to create powerful scenes. Characters with some backstory, but enough gaps the DM can fill in. Characters with personality, both positive and negative aspects but no absolutely crippling traits ("afraid of monsters" would be fine, even though disadvantageous. "catatonic when encounters monsters" seems like it would be incredibly limiting).

But above all, I think the best character is one that the entire group can enjoy interacting with.

I could make an argument that the most powerful character might end up being the opposite of that.

I do agree that the best character is one that the entire group enjoys. It still takes an effective player to make the character do that though. Effective players matter more than mechanically-capable characters in a game where the DM decides on success or failure before engaging the mechanics.

 

[LapBandit]

Full casters starting with the wizard and bard.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I do agree that the best character is one that the entire group enjoys. It still takes an effective player to make the character do that though. Effective players matter more than mechanically-capable characters in a game where the DM decides on success or failure before engaging the mechanics.

You aren't wrong, but this line of argument seems to be missing the point of the question to a degree.

If a player came up to me as the DM and said "I'd like to make a character who is the best at things outside of combat, what qould you recommend" responding "Be an effective player" or "All characters can interact with the scenario equally" is a bit disingenuous and/or unhelpful to the question being asked of me.

They aren't untrue answers, but the player wants to know what mechanical class and sets of abilities tend to translate well into out of combat capability, not that paying attention and engaging with the scene are the best ways to accomplish things out of combat.


Sure, an ineffective player can make even the most mechanically tuned character near useless and a highly effective player can make a character with few mechanical aspects geared towards out of combat ability the best in the party. I'd say the majority of people would recognize that, but what do those mechanically tuned characters look like?