D&D 5E Help me Build this lvl 20 Character

[FrogReaver]

What would you say about the 1 lvl dip in cleric and 1 lvl dip in fighter? If I do just 1 lvl dip in cleric it will be in the Forge Cleric because of the heavy armor and the blessing of the Forge And I get 1 extra ASI. But If I dip in fighter I can have the knowledge domain and get 2 new skills with expertise. And there's the matter of the Trickery cleric that has a very nice Channel Divinity.

-Do not do a single level dip in fighter in any circumstance. The only real reason to take fighter levels as a wizard is to get action surge.

-A single level dip in cleric is okay but less optimized than going straight wizard because it slows your access to higher level spells.

-If you are already level 18+ and dip a level of cleric I'm not opposed but I also don't think a few points of AC and access to level 1 cleric spells amounts to anything important at that level anyways. So at that point it's just about character concept, why would a level 18+ wizard stop pause his pursuit of learned magic and start worshiping a deity. It's just a very peculiar place to take your first level of cleric and mechanically the benefit is so small at that point.


There are reasons to think about taking cleric levels, but it's not because you can edge out a few extra points of AC at level 18+. Good reasons to play a cleric/wizard multiclass include:

Wanting to be a wizard but feeling your party needs some healing magic.
An interesting character concept.

 

[Yunru]

It's far from a small difference in AC.

With a Dex mod of +2, a Wizard goes from 12 AC (15 with Mage Armor), to an AC of 17 with medium armour. That's an increase of +5 (+2, plus spell slots).

 

[FrogReaver]

It's far from a small difference in AC.

With a Dex mod of +2, a Wizard goes from 12 AC (15 with Mage Armor), to an AC of 17 with medium armour. That's an increase of +5 (+2, plus spell slots).

A +2 or +3 difference in AC at level 18+ isn't enough of a difference to worry about at that level.

 

[Yunru]

A +2 or +3 difference in AC at level 18+ isn't enough of a difference to worry about at that level.

That's when it'll make the most difference, as enemy to-hit will be highest.

 

[FrogReaver]

That's when it'll make the most difference, as enemy to-hit will be highest.

Sure, but it's still not enough of a difference to matter IMO

 

[CTurbo]

Ok if you're starting at level 1, I'd probably start with a single level of Knowledge Cleric, and then go Wizard from there. I can understand wanting some extra health and AC so if that's important to you, then great. Start 14 Dex, 15 Con, 16 Int. Breastplate + shield would give you 18AC which is great for a Wizard. 19AC if you can get your hands on some Mithral Half Plate. Your ability to heal will really help your survivability too. You could even hide the fact that you can heal from your team if you'd like. It certainly fits your theme. Grab Res(Con) at some point, but otherwise get Int bumped ASAP. I don't think I'd bother with Warcaster since even holding a shield, your other hand should be free all the time, and you're not going to need Res(Con) AND Warcaster for Con checks.

Forget the Fighter level.

Are you sold on Evocation? I just think that school is so blah. You should really reconsider Abjuration especially as a Deep Gnome. The Svirfneblin Magic feat is great even moreso for an Abjurer.

 

[J Neto]

Ok if you're starting at level 1, I'd probably start with a single level of Knowledge Cleric, and then go Wizard from there. I can understand wanting some extra health and AC so if that's important to you, then great. Start 14 Dex, 15 Con, 16 Int. Breastplate + shield would give you 18AC which is great for a Wizard. 19AC if you can get your hands on some Mithral Half Plate. Your ability to heal will really help your survivability too. You could even hide the fact that you can heal from your team if you'd like. It certainly fits your theme. Grab Res(Con) at some point, but otherwise get Int bumped ASAP. I don't think I'd bother with Warcaster since even holding a shield, your other hand should be free all the time, and you're not going to need Res(Con) AND Warcaster for Con checks.

Forget the Fighter level.

Are you sold on Evocation? I just think that school is so blah. You should really reconsider Abjuration especially as a Deep Gnome. The Svirfneblin Magic feat is great even moreso for an Abjurer.

Is it that good? I mean, as a Gnome I already have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma Saving Throws. So Th 14th lvl feature get's less powerful. The Arcane Ward doesn't do that much. It's the maximum of 45 HP. At lvl 20 that's like 1/3-1/4 of an attack. The only thing that really shines is the "proficiency in counterspell".

 

[FrogReaver]

Is it that good? I mean, as a Gnome I already have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma Saving Throws. So Th 14th lvl feature get's less powerful. The Arcane Ward doesn't do that much. It's the maximum of 45 HP. At lvl 20 that's like 1/3-1/4 of an attack. The only thing that really shines is the "proficiency in counterspell".

A level 20 wizard will have maybe 100ish hp. Adding 45 effective hp is pretty strong.

 

[CTurbo]

Is it that good? I mean, as a Gnome I already have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma Saving Throws. So Th 14th lvl feature get's less powerful. The Arcane Ward doesn't do that much. It's the maximum of 45 HP. At lvl 20 that's like 1/3-1/4 of an attack. The only thing that really shines is the "proficiency in counterspell".

Yes. The resistance to ALL spell damage is still huge, even for a Gnome.

A level 20 wizard will have maybe 100ish hp. Adding 45 effective hp is pretty strong.

Yep and it's a 45hp that you can literally replenish just by doing Wizard stuff. Most of your best most spammable spells are going to keep it filled.

 

[J Neto]

Yes. The resistance to ALL spell damage is still huge, even for a Gnome.



Yep and it's a 45hp that you can literally replenish just by doing Wizard stuff. Most of your best most spammable spells are going to keep it filled.

I forgot about the resistence to spell damage. It does make it a lot better. However I don't usually fight a lot of casters. Now about the replenishment, At lvl 18 you can just spam shield out of combat to replenish it (spell mastery), but until then you don't replenish much with it You replenish 6 points with counterspell and dispel magic (That I won't use that much, since I'm probably not fighting a lot of casters) and only 2 points with shield and absorb elements.

I was considering changing Evocation to Illusion tho, but I'm afraid that the GM's will just nerf it because "I just run through illusions" and truesight (at higher lvl). But Illusory Reality seems SO GOOD.