"Dragoon" build

[Undrhil]

This is just something that I'm working on for myself and I wanted to get feedback and thoughts. I am posting it here because I will be playing it in Adventurer's League and I hope anything illegal would be pointed out to me.

It's going to be based on the Bangaa race from Final Fantasy Tactics using the Dragoon class from the same game series.

For the race I want to use, I was kind of up in the air on whether to use Dragonborn, Lizardfolk, or Yuan-ti Pureblood, but Lizardfolk won out because it means I have different options for my classes. As a Lizardfolk, I calculate my AC using Natural Armor at 13 + DEX mod. I also get a Bite attack (modified Unarmed Strike) and the ability to make temporary weapons or tools after a combat using the bones of my fallen foes. The benefit in this is the Natural Armor, which allows me to start as a Rogue and have a 16 AC without worrying about armor. Now, I know that Dragoons wear "heavy armor" in the games, but I think I can fluff my own natural armor as that and leave it as that. And with a feat, I can start donning heavy armor if I so choose.

For the classes, I figured I would start as Sorcerer, which would give me the Jump spell to use twice per day (at level 1). This would give me the first appearances of being a Dragoon. However, Sorcerer's don't use spears, so I'm just an "apprentice" Dragoon. Now, if I go by the Tactics series of games, I would probably want to start as a Fighter (Warrior) which would give me full armor and weapon proficiencies, but I don't have a good Jump yet. Again, an "apprentice" Dragoon.

Level 1: Lizarfolk. STR 14 DEX 14 CON 14* INT 8 WIS 11* CHA 14 (* Lizardfolk get +2 CON, +1 WIS) with the Gladiator background for Acrobatics and Performance skill proficiency.
Level 1: Sorcerer. Spells - Cantrips: Acid Splash, Prestidigitation, Fire bolt, Mending. SL 1: Jump, Shield
Level 2: Rogue. I gain one skill choice (Athletics) and Expertise in two skills (Athletics and something else, potentially Perception or Acrobatics). Sneak Attack is nice but will be useless once I start using a Spear or other spear-like weapon.
Level 3: Fighter. I gain Medium Armor and Shield proficiencies, as well as Martial Weapons. This also gives me Second Wind and a Fighting Style. I'm thinking Great Weapon Fighting since I am considering using a Halberd but the Defense style for +1 AC is nice as well, if it works with the Lizardfolk Natural Armor.
Level 4: Fighter. I gain Action Surge, which will allow me to cast Jump and still make an attack on my first turn in combat.
Level 5: Fighter. Archetype choice - I am thinking of just going Champion for the crit range, but Battle Master could be fun for some interesting controlling in combat.

That's as far as I've gotten with the idea. Another option I had come up with was to go three levels of Bard and choose the College of Valor, which would give me the same armor and weapon proficiency as multiclassing Fighter, but would give me up to caster level 4 spell slots and Bardic inspiration dice, as well as two more Expertise picks. The thing is that a Dragoon in the Final Fantasy games is not a spellcaster. I am merely using spells as a crutch to obtain the abilities that the Dragoon normally has - a fantastic Jump range and a decent attack, mainly.

Now, some of the Dragoon abilities can seem like spells and if I use Dragonborn as my race, I would have a breath attack. The cantrips would be fluffed as breath attacks where possible.

So, how does this sound so far? Anything I'm missing or that I need to address?

 

[Pauper]

I'm a fan of the Final Fantasy Tactics game myself, so this is an oddly interesting challenge. If you're trying to be faithful to the original class, though, there are a few things to consider:

1. In the original FFT game, the Dragoon job isn't available until after you've leveled in a number of other classes -- specifically, you need to be a level 2 Squire to unlock the Archer job, then a level 2 Archer to unlock the Thief job, then a level 3 Thief to unlock Dragoon. So you shouldn't be a Dragoon at D&D level 1 -- depending on which classes you equate to the FFT classes, I'd say Fighter(Squire) 2, Ranger (Archer) 2, Rogue(Thief) 3 would be a good set of prerequisites. Taking your first levels as a fighter would allow you the heavy armor proficiency and polearm proficiencies indicative of the Dragoon job. However, being able to multiclass into Ranger would require a Wisdom of 13 rather than 11, but by dropping Charisma from 14 to 13 you can make this work. (Note that Dragoons generally don't use cantrips, and your main spells are self-targeting, so don't require a high Charisma to function.)

2. Sorc makes sense for Dragoon given the jump abilities, but the second spell should be Feather Fall (representing the ability to jump down long distances) rather than Shield.

3. Since you've also been a Squire, Archer, and Thief, you could justify some of the abilities of those classes based on which FFT abilities you have 'equipped', for instance, using Sneak Attack by 'equipping' Aim.

4. I'm not as familiar with the Bangaa since they don't appear in the original FFT; my understanding, though, is that they have difficulty using spells, which would fit the idea that you're not going to use your cantrips all that often. Alternatively, you could just skip the whole Sorc thing and just take the Magic Initiate feat for the Jump spell at level 4. Since you're only taking the one spell via the feat, you could end up doing MI as a Druid rather than a Sorc, which would allow you to use Cha as an additional dump stat since you already need Wis 13 to multiclass Ranger.

Just a thought, but I think this approach would be more true to the source material, if perhaps not quite as optimized for D&D. That's the price you pay for doing homage characters!

--
Pauper