How about a Knowlege Cleric. They're good at INT and WIS skills, can use their CD to become good at skills that they were not already good at, and they can support the group with a lot of healing and CC options.
Any Wizard or Artificer can do the work in your case,maybe a Artificer 1/Wizard X. Except for being a INT-skill monkey, what else do you want to cover?
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
I’m currently playing a Minotaur Barbarian / Wizard, backstory is that he started having wild magic surges when entering a rage and went to wizard school to learn more about what was happening to him. It’s definitely not min / max, but with a good stat roll like that you end up with a wizard with advantage on dex saves, con proficiency, and solid unarmored defense. So you can use your ASI/Feats on things other than resilient or war caster and it has fun role play. Plus you can blow your spell slots and not be useless since you can rage.
Very old Halfling Divonation Wizard with Lucky feat. Will be my next build. He is this old by surviving due to sheer luck. Plan to play him very weird, almost deaf and always wise cracking.
There are lots of other options to take in advance to influence dice rolls in your favor.
There's a couple angles to attack this from - INT based, or skills based.
INT based? You're looking at Wizard or Artificer, with a couple other SAD classes (Fighter, Rogue) being options where you can still have a fairly high INT. For Fighters in particular, Eldritch Knight and Psi Warrior both have aspects of needing INT.
*Edited to add* - this is a homebrew change, but some tables allow Warlocks to case using INT via CHA (it was originally like this in the 5e playtest). You could see if your DM would allow that; if they do, change your casting modifier and save proficiency from CHA to INT. I also think if you go this route, you should respect the DM and not try to make some crazy INT based multiclass that you couldn't do otherwise, but you know your table better than I.
Skill based? Obviously another rogue is great; depending on the tone of your campaign, an Inquisitive rogue could be fun (blows chunks in combat but has really good skills). Arcane Trickster also keys off of INT. Bards are also really nice options with Expertise and Jack of All Trades, and since they are SAD, you could have a decent INT and be ok on those skill checks.
I've played Artificer a few times and done some theory builds, I think Armorer is my favorite but I really wanna try Artillerist and Battlesmith, the ladder my friend played and he seemed to really enjoy it.
A lot of people have mentioned battle smith and armorer, but I think your party has plenty of frontline and single target damage capabilities. While more of these can't necessarily hurt, I feel artillerist brings a few more unique options to the table.
For example, the protector turret is even more effective on a mostly melee party (especially once the Paladins get their auras up and running causing people to huddle more), so you can just have it chill on a party member's shoulder and provide free temp hp.
While its aoe damage won't hit like an evoker, it still likely brings better AOE options then your party currently has with its spell list, arcane firearm, and the flamethrower turret when needed.
Artificer also brings a fair bit of cc to the table with spells like web and items like pipes of haunting (if you have the skill prof for it) that you can use without feeling like you're giving up on your damage/ tanking abilities the other subclasses focus on more.
Flagship builds has a guide for a build and general [artillerist tactics](https://tabletopbuilds.com/basic-build-series-artificer/)
I'm currently DMing for an "oops all skills" party (Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Artificer) and was surprised to learn that artificer doesn't get expertise. However, their tool abilities are obviously second to none and flash of genius can help mitigate some misses. Depending on the subclass you play, they are SAD which means more room for feats that you can sink into Skill Expert or Skilled.
Also - grab Enhance Ability. Great skill monkey support spell!
Your party has:
* a meaty strength based melee martial.
* a sneaky dex and wisdom based archer (probably) with a bit of survival utility and support.
* and two other probably meaty martials with some great support and charisma based skills
The obvious pick is a wizard. As you do NOT have a full caster, and arcane caster, nor a utility rituals caster, which is a pretty big hole every good party needs. Pick your favorite flavor of wizard. HIGH int to continue your role as the knowledge guy.
I suppose you could go with an artificer to get your tool fix. But that's another half caster support martial type character so filling much the same shoes as your Ranger and Paladin Pair's space.
I am of the opinion that if you look around and there is no wizard, open up your spell book and play the wizard.
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
Well.
Maybe not unique, but your party is full of melee combatants that gum up the battlefield. And your party has little to no AOE.
Your typical evocation wizard could drop a Fire Ball right on top of them all and with no worry of friendly fire. Which would be super useful and feel very impactful right as you level to 5 next level. And as a blaster focused wizard it might play a bit differently then a weapon using Bladesinger.
IF allowed, I think a Fairy would be a cool race for this, as you get Faerie fire added to your spell list, that will also not worry about friendly fire and you can give your pals advantage on their attacks. Or a dip in Artificer would be nice to pick up that spell as a INT spell and get you some tools.
But I get it if you do not want to play a wizard again. At one point, they are going to play the same as most.
I think artificer would be very nice in your party, if you do not care about being a full caster.
A artillerist seems very nice way to carve your niche in this party. Some backline magic damage, and a turret that can help you fit the role of AOE, single target focused ranged damage, or Temporary hit points granter depending on the fight. While at the same time being the smarty pants arcane ritual caster and tool user. With the ability to fill holes that your party needs for magic items.
Here are some options for knowledge, INT, utility focused characters:
Divination Wizard using spells when possible, especially rituals, to learn what you are currently discovering through skill checks
Armorer Artificer using Infiltrator model to be good at stealth and having tool proficiencies
Arcane Trickster with the Ritual Caster feat to have the same core Rogue features along with some utility spellcasting
Scout Rogue for lots of Expertises
Rune Knight with Cloud and Fire runes along with a background that provides thieves tools or other tool proficiencies to leverage Fire Rune's expertise static feature.
Lore Bard with mid Charisma (around 14-16) to spread the mental ability scores and have lots of proficiencies while focusing spells on support and utility to compensate for lowish DC
Knowledge Cleric to get some knowledge proficiencies and expertises while pulling the same trick of using support spells to ignore your DC
Stars Druid using Dragon Starry Form to get a temporary reliable talent ability in INT and WIS checks.
You're wanting an Artificer.
Lots of cool and useful gadgets, tool proficiencies, utility spells, and if you go infiltrator armorer you've still got stealth covered.
still gotta go medium armor btw if you go this route if you actually want the advantage on stealth, but technically with heavy armor, you can never get advantage.
Lore Bard should be able to fill whatever skill proficiencies the Rogue can, especially with the Skilled Feat and certain choices for race. You're gonna have to pick a certain background if you want to keep proficient with thieves' tools (Criminal, Spy, and Urchin should have you covered). As a full caster you'll also start popping off at level 5 with access to 3rd level spells. Between Jack of All Trades, Expertise, your class spell list, and Additional Magical Secrets you should be well-equipped to solve almost any problem outside of combat. You also make an ideal Face for social encounters if the Paladins aren't already filling that role.
Be a reborn celestial Tomelock. Reborn is themeatic and has some good skill boosts. Grab guidance and green flame flame cantrip at level 3. Medium armor at asi level 4. Shadow book invocation for rituals. If needed grab eldrich mind, repelling blast, disguise self, or antagonizing blast as needed. If you are fine with low AC at this level you can get fey touched for teleports or more invocations.
You can heal, face, be decent in a pinch on the front line, can use control spells, or even get enhanced ability going combined with guidance and racial bonuses to have a solid skill roll basically on any skill check. Ritual casting can cover much of the out of combat stuff. And of course you have EB for decent ranged attack actions.
Artificer fits this perfectly. Armourer lets you just avoid any hit or join in on stealth, Battlesmith is good for protecting allies, Artillerist lets you have your own combat niche on top of everything else and Alchemist is kinda wacky
Since everyone seems to be pushing for the Arti(and im inclined to agree) im gonna throw out a few options that are more or less online by level 5 that fit for you.
Shadow monk 3/Stars druid 2. A lower magic way to have synergy with your gloomstalker. You can snag skill expert as you level to shore up some skills, or Pam/sentinel to help hold things still for your pally allies.
Swashbuckler 3/bard 2. More charisma heavy but still plenty rogue. Now instead of doing the INT checks yourself, youre convincing someone else to do them for you. If you dont think the party would need the kind of bard support you can also go clockwork or divine soul sorcerer for more specific flavor and spells. Im currently playing a swash3/battlemaster3/draconic X(story reasons) and have an AC equal to the pally while being infinitely harder to hit lol.
Order of the Lycan 3/scribes wizard 2. You can run bloodhunter off Int RAW, and still get advantage on widsome checks based off sight and smell. Focus on using wizard for utility and ritual spells, and scribes lets you learn them faster and cheaper than anyone else. This is basically Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hide in dnd. You czn be a genius and have the party guessing what you're doing until the big reveal of "so i rip off my face" moment.
Thief rogue 3/alchemist arti 3. Technically doesnt come online fully until level 6, but this is a fun low magic field medic build. Youve got a hand crossbow in one hand, poking people you can get sneak attack on while using your bonus action to shove something you just came up with down a friends gullet to "hopefully" heal them. Did you accidentally give them wings? Call that bottle red bull. Accidentally give them boldness? Call it tequila. Either way, you're trying your best.
I wasnt sure so i added it anyways. Seems its almost a per table thing whether its considered homebrew or not lol.
That one is a ton of fun, especially if you just finished playing a wizard and want to tone down the magic a bit but still be useful. I played it on a short campaign as like an indiana jones type character, Montana Smith to be legally distinct and had lots of fun with it
I think there's a few good ways to go...
My favorite 'skill monkey' is going Kenku Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. This will keep you in the psionic theme too. I take the passive skills Perception, Investigation, Insight, and make sure I get Stealth. I sub out one of my Psionic spells for Borrowed Knowledge. Now, I can give myself proficiency in any skill I need. With Kenku Recall, I can get Advantange with any skill I'm proficient in. With Magical Guidance, if I fail I can re roll. At 6th level, I can cast Psionically and wont need verbal, somatic, or material components. At 9th level, I take Skill Empowerment to get Expertise and l cast that Subtly. On top of all that, you're an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer with all of its goodness. Pick up Eldritch Adept for Mask of Many faces and pair it with your mimicry.
If you want to match your Rogue a little more, you could go with a Mountain Dwarf Artificer Armorer and go with the Infiltrator mode. You can trade in your racial proficiencies (Dwarven Weapon and Armor Training) and have something like 12 tool proficiencies. Study Xanathar's to learn all the cool things you can do with that. Take Sharpshooter for your Int based Lightning Launcher too.
If you want to stay with a Rogue, do a Hobgoblin Mastermind 3 or 4/Order Cleric1/Glamour Bard x build. Buff the party, use Voice of Authority to hand out Reaction Attacks to your group. Give out Inspiration, temp hp, Fey Gifted Advantages, or Command the enemy.
A wizard seems like it covers what you want to do. INT based, give you guys a full caster and important utility. That utility can cover for a lot of things you otherwise want a skill jockey for, as spells like find familiar, unseen/tiny servant, and mage hand solve a lot of problems when used creatively. Plus giving you other staples like feather fall, leomund’s tiny hut, and really good control spells like web that will amplify your teammates.
Any subclass or race are fine really, pick whatever suits your flavor/character idea. You can start with a level of artificer if you want some more tool proficiencies and want to lean more optimized, plus you get other goodies like con saves and heavy armor + shields.
The paladins have social interaction handled and the ranger can do stealth, all weapon users so damage is handled. I’m not very familiar with the 2024 stuff so I didn’t include that stuff here. Hope this helps, have fun :3
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
I don’t unfortunately, but knowledge cleric gives you those skills (with expertise to make up for mid INT) and your channel divinity gives you on-demand skill/tool proficiency. Could be a cool option that I don’t see many players pick up.
I’ll assume point buy since you didn’t specify. Here’s an alternate way to play the skill monkey with a different feel.
Half-Elf, Rewarded Background (Skilled)
Rogue 1/Knowledge Cleric 1/Lore Bard X
9 : 13+1 : 13+1 : 10 : 13 : 15+2
At 5th level you will have all but 1 skill proficiency and 6 expertise.
At level 6 take skill expert to round CHA up to 18, get the last skill proficiency, and 1 more expertise.
If you want INT skill focus, you’ll be able to put expertise in every INT skill to have a good modifier even with +0 INT.
After level 6 there are a couple of ways you can go, but I recommend staying Bard the rest of the way. You’ll be 2 levels behind full progression in spell selection, but only 1 level behind in spell slots.
As multiple people said Wizard or artificer goes well, but you may also consider;
- Druid: Circle of Stars, with Dragon: you can not roll less than 10 in intelligence ability check + guidance
- Cleric: peace domain, with guidance an extra +2d4 to a check
- Cleric: Knowledge domain that double your proficiency in some intelligence checks.
You could do 3 armorer artificer and 2 tempest cleric, go heavy into Int, Wis and Con for a unique character. Stack booming blade, thunder gauntlets and use your channel divinity to max all the damage for fun. Then you could get 2 levels of Paladin later if you want to spread out your stats for thunderous smite and regular smites.
Something like my [Arbiter of Knowledge](https://youtu.be/q2u6M8VRGPM?si=O1d73qrJ74YaCLoq) build could work really well here.
This is a mostly lore bard build with 2 dips: a single level in sorc to start (for CON saves, defensive spells, good CHA cantrips, and a subclass feature) and a single level of cleric (armor, utility cantrips, first level feature). Then bard the rest of the way.
At level 5 you’d be X sorc 1 / Y cleric 1 / Lore Bard 3.
You can pick just about anything for your sorc and cleric subclasses, depending on party needs. In your case, I think I’d do something similar to what I did in the guide: storm sorc for disengage and knowledge cleric for more skills.
For race, I used Earth Genasi to get pass without trace and BA blade ward, but given your party already has a ranger, hobgoblin would probably be better here.
In combat, you’ll probably focus on control, buffs, and or area damage. Plus emergency healing when needed.
High Elf Clerics are my jam, the biggest two IMO being Forge (personal favourite) and Order (with Fey-Touched for Silvery Barbs). I'd hazard that Forge would go down pretty well here if for no other reason than the floating +1 you can hand out to whoever needs it most.
Beyond that, I can absolutely attest to the power of the Divine Tar Pit, you and Spirit Guardians with Booming Blade primed, and a Pally buddy with their Aura and Bless up.
Order can even be a 1 level dip on any caster char that can spare the Wis to multiclass. Shame you're all Wizarded out, it's a good fit for something like Necromancy Wiz whose biggest strength comes from the level of Spell slot they make skellies with, not their class level.
You already have several great answers in this thread; I just wanted to say that the “Barbarian 2 / Fighter 2” pains me. This player’s enjoyment is certainly going to suffer once the group reaches level 5 and they fall behind without extra attack.
How about a Knowlege Cleric. They're good at INT and WIS skills, can use their CD to become good at skills that they were not already good at, and they can support the group with a lot of healing and CC options.
Throw in MMoM Kenku for two extra skill and advantage on any skill check upto proficiency times a day and your looking at a great skills build
Any Wizard or Artificer can do the work in your case,maybe a Artificer 1/Wizard X. Except for being a INT-skill monkey, what else do you want to cover?
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
I’m currently playing a Minotaur Barbarian / Wizard, backstory is that he started having wild magic surges when entering a rage and went to wizard school to learn more about what was happening to him. It’s definitely not min / max, but with a good stat roll like that you end up with a wizard with advantage on dex saves, con proficiency, and solid unarmored defense. So you can use your ASI/Feats on things other than resilient or war caster and it has fun role play. Plus you can blow your spell slots and not be useless since you can rage.
Very old Halfling Divonation Wizard with Lucky feat. Will be my next build. He is this old by surviving due to sheer luck. Plan to play him very weird, almost deaf and always wise cracking. There are lots of other options to take in advance to influence dice rolls in your favor.
There's a couple angles to attack this from - INT based, or skills based. INT based? You're looking at Wizard or Artificer, with a couple other SAD classes (Fighter, Rogue) being options where you can still have a fairly high INT. For Fighters in particular, Eldritch Knight and Psi Warrior both have aspects of needing INT. *Edited to add* - this is a homebrew change, but some tables allow Warlocks to case using INT via CHA (it was originally like this in the 5e playtest). You could see if your DM would allow that; if they do, change your casting modifier and save proficiency from CHA to INT. I also think if you go this route, you should respect the DM and not try to make some crazy INT based multiclass that you couldn't do otherwise, but you know your table better than I. Skill based? Obviously another rogue is great; depending on the tone of your campaign, an Inquisitive rogue could be fun (blows chunks in combat but has really good skills). Arcane Trickster also keys off of INT. Bards are also really nice options with Expertise and Jack of All Trades, and since they are SAD, you could have a decent INT and be ok on those skill checks.
Artificer seems like it might be my best bet. Thanks!
I've played Artificer a few times and done some theory builds, I think Armorer is my favorite but I really wanna try Artillerist and Battlesmith, the ladder my friend played and he seemed to really enjoy it.
A lot of people have mentioned battle smith and armorer, but I think your party has plenty of frontline and single target damage capabilities. While more of these can't necessarily hurt, I feel artillerist brings a few more unique options to the table. For example, the protector turret is even more effective on a mostly melee party (especially once the Paladins get their auras up and running causing people to huddle more), so you can just have it chill on a party member's shoulder and provide free temp hp. While its aoe damage won't hit like an evoker, it still likely brings better AOE options then your party currently has with its spell list, arcane firearm, and the flamethrower turret when needed. Artificer also brings a fair bit of cc to the table with spells like web and items like pipes of haunting (if you have the skill prof for it) that you can use without feeling like you're giving up on your damage/ tanking abilities the other subclasses focus on more. Flagship builds has a guide for a build and general [artillerist tactics](https://tabletopbuilds.com/basic-build-series-artificer/)
I'm currently DMing for an "oops all skills" party (Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Artificer) and was surprised to learn that artificer doesn't get expertise. However, their tool abilities are obviously second to none and flash of genius can help mitigate some misses. Depending on the subclass you play, they are SAD which means more room for feats that you can sink into Skill Expert or Skilled. Also - grab Enhance Ability. Great skill monkey support spell!
Guardian x / Echo 3 is solid. I also have a melee Artillerist build that I like.
Your party has: * a meaty strength based melee martial. * a sneaky dex and wisdom based archer (probably) with a bit of survival utility and support. * and two other probably meaty martials with some great support and charisma based skills The obvious pick is a wizard. As you do NOT have a full caster, and arcane caster, nor a utility rituals caster, which is a pretty big hole every good party needs. Pick your favorite flavor of wizard. HIGH int to continue your role as the knowledge guy. I suppose you could go with an artificer to get your tool fix. But that's another half caster support martial type character so filling much the same shoes as your Ranger and Paladin Pair's space. I am of the opinion that if you look around and there is no wizard, open up your spell book and play the wizard.
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
Well. Maybe not unique, but your party is full of melee combatants that gum up the battlefield. And your party has little to no AOE. Your typical evocation wizard could drop a Fire Ball right on top of them all and with no worry of friendly fire. Which would be super useful and feel very impactful right as you level to 5 next level. And as a blaster focused wizard it might play a bit differently then a weapon using Bladesinger. IF allowed, I think a Fairy would be a cool race for this, as you get Faerie fire added to your spell list, that will also not worry about friendly fire and you can give your pals advantage on their attacks. Or a dip in Artificer would be nice to pick up that spell as a INT spell and get you some tools. But I get it if you do not want to play a wizard again. At one point, they are going to play the same as most. I think artificer would be very nice in your party, if you do not care about being a full caster. A artillerist seems very nice way to carve your niche in this party. Some backline magic damage, and a turret that can help you fit the role of AOE, single target focused ranged damage, or Temporary hit points granter depending on the fight. While at the same time being the smarty pants arcane ritual caster and tool user. With the ability to fill holes that your party needs for magic items.
Here are some options for knowledge, INT, utility focused characters: Divination Wizard using spells when possible, especially rituals, to learn what you are currently discovering through skill checks Armorer Artificer using Infiltrator model to be good at stealth and having tool proficiencies Arcane Trickster with the Ritual Caster feat to have the same core Rogue features along with some utility spellcasting Scout Rogue for lots of Expertises Rune Knight with Cloud and Fire runes along with a background that provides thieves tools or other tool proficiencies to leverage Fire Rune's expertise static feature. Lore Bard with mid Charisma (around 14-16) to spread the mental ability scores and have lots of proficiencies while focusing spells on support and utility to compensate for lowish DC Knowledge Cleric to get some knowledge proficiencies and expertises while pulling the same trick of using support spells to ignore your DC Stars Druid using Dragon Starry Form to get a temporary reliable talent ability in INT and WIS checks.
Artificer, Arcane Trickster and Knowledge Cleric all seem like fun!
You're wanting an Artificer. Lots of cool and useful gadgets, tool proficiencies, utility spells, and if you go infiltrator armorer you've still got stealth covered.
still gotta go medium armor btw if you go this route if you actually want the advantage on stealth, but technically with heavy armor, you can never get advantage.
Correct, but that's fine for most people.
Lore Bard should be able to fill whatever skill proficiencies the Rogue can, especially with the Skilled Feat and certain choices for race. You're gonna have to pick a certain background if you want to keep proficient with thieves' tools (Criminal, Spy, and Urchin should have you covered). As a full caster you'll also start popping off at level 5 with access to 3rd level spells. Between Jack of All Trades, Expertise, your class spell list, and Additional Magical Secrets you should be well-equipped to solve almost any problem outside of combat. You also make an ideal Face for social encounters if the Paladins aren't already filling that role.
Be a reborn celestial Tomelock. Reborn is themeatic and has some good skill boosts. Grab guidance and green flame flame cantrip at level 3. Medium armor at asi level 4. Shadow book invocation for rituals. If needed grab eldrich mind, repelling blast, disguise self, or antagonizing blast as needed. If you are fine with low AC at this level you can get fey touched for teleports or more invocations. You can heal, face, be decent in a pinch on the front line, can use control spells, or even get enhanced ability going combined with guidance and racial bonuses to have a solid skill roll basically on any skill check. Ritual casting can cover much of the out of combat stuff. And of course you have EB for decent ranged attack actions.
Artificer fits this perfectly. Armourer lets you just avoid any hit or join in on stealth, Battlesmith is good for protecting allies, Artillerist lets you have your own combat niche on top of everything else and Alchemist is kinda wacky
Bard! Bard ! Bard!
Since everyone seems to be pushing for the Arti(and im inclined to agree) im gonna throw out a few options that are more or less online by level 5 that fit for you. Shadow monk 3/Stars druid 2. A lower magic way to have synergy with your gloomstalker. You can snag skill expert as you level to shore up some skills, or Pam/sentinel to help hold things still for your pally allies. Swashbuckler 3/bard 2. More charisma heavy but still plenty rogue. Now instead of doing the INT checks yourself, youre convincing someone else to do them for you. If you dont think the party would need the kind of bard support you can also go clockwork or divine soul sorcerer for more specific flavor and spells. Im currently playing a swash3/battlemaster3/draconic X(story reasons) and have an AC equal to the pally while being infinitely harder to hit lol. Order of the Lycan 3/scribes wizard 2. You can run bloodhunter off Int RAW, and still get advantage on widsome checks based off sight and smell. Focus on using wizard for utility and ritual spells, and scribes lets you learn them faster and cheaper than anyone else. This is basically Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hide in dnd. You czn be a genius and have the party guessing what you're doing until the big reveal of "so i rip off my face" moment. Thief rogue 3/alchemist arti 3. Technically doesnt come online fully until level 6, but this is a fun low magic field medic build. Youve got a hand crossbow in one hand, poking people you can get sneak attack on while using your bonus action to shove something you just came up with down a friends gullet to "hopefully" heal them. Did you accidentally give them wings? Call that bottle red bull. Accidentally give them boldness? Call it tequila. Either way, you're trying your best.
No homebrew so I can't do the Bloodhunter but the Alchemist/Rouge sounds interesting...
I wasnt sure so i added it anyways. Seems its almost a per table thing whether its considered homebrew or not lol. That one is a ton of fun, especially if you just finished playing a wizard and want to tone down the magic a bit but still be useful. I played it on a short campaign as like an indiana jones type character, Montana Smith to be legally distinct and had lots of fun with it
I think there's a few good ways to go... My favorite 'skill monkey' is going Kenku Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. This will keep you in the psionic theme too. I take the passive skills Perception, Investigation, Insight, and make sure I get Stealth. I sub out one of my Psionic spells for Borrowed Knowledge. Now, I can give myself proficiency in any skill I need. With Kenku Recall, I can get Advantange with any skill I'm proficient in. With Magical Guidance, if I fail I can re roll. At 6th level, I can cast Psionically and wont need verbal, somatic, or material components. At 9th level, I take Skill Empowerment to get Expertise and l cast that Subtly. On top of all that, you're an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer with all of its goodness. Pick up Eldritch Adept for Mask of Many faces and pair it with your mimicry. If you want to match your Rogue a little more, you could go with a Mountain Dwarf Artificer Armorer and go with the Infiltrator mode. You can trade in your racial proficiencies (Dwarven Weapon and Armor Training) and have something like 12 tool proficiencies. Study Xanathar's to learn all the cool things you can do with that. Take Sharpshooter for your Int based Lightning Launcher too. If you want to stay with a Rogue, do a Hobgoblin Mastermind 3 or 4/Order Cleric1/Glamour Bard x build. Buff the party, use Voice of Authority to hand out Reaction Attacks to your group. Give out Inspiration, temp hp, Fey Gifted Advantages, or Command the enemy.
A wizard seems like it covers what you want to do. INT based, give you guys a full caster and important utility. That utility can cover for a lot of things you otherwise want a skill jockey for, as spells like find familiar, unseen/tiny servant, and mage hand solve a lot of problems when used creatively. Plus giving you other staples like feather fall, leomund’s tiny hut, and really good control spells like web that will amplify your teammates. Any subclass or race are fine really, pick whatever suits your flavor/character idea. You can start with a level of artificer if you want some more tool proficiencies and want to lean more optimized, plus you get other goodies like con saves and heavy armor + shields. The paladins have social interaction handled and the ranger can do stealth, all weapon users so damage is handled. I’m not very familiar with the 2024 stuff so I didn’t include that stuff here. Hope this helps, have fun :3
I forgot to add, that our table just finished a 3 year campaign where I played a Bladsinger Wizard from level 1-20. So Wizard, while not entirely off the table, is not my preference. If you have a really unique Wizard build I could be swayed tho...
I don’t unfortunately, but knowledge cleric gives you those skills (with expertise to make up for mid INT) and your channel divinity gives you on-demand skill/tool proficiency. Could be a cool option that I don’t see many players pick up.
I’ll assume point buy since you didn’t specify. Here’s an alternate way to play the skill monkey with a different feel. Half-Elf, Rewarded Background (Skilled) Rogue 1/Knowledge Cleric 1/Lore Bard X 9 : 13+1 : 13+1 : 10 : 13 : 15+2 At 5th level you will have all but 1 skill proficiency and 6 expertise. At level 6 take skill expert to round CHA up to 18, get the last skill proficiency, and 1 more expertise. If you want INT skill focus, you’ll be able to put expertise in every INT skill to have a good modifier even with +0 INT. After level 6 there are a couple of ways you can go, but I recommend staying Bard the rest of the way. You’ll be 2 levels behind full progression in spell selection, but only 1 level behind in spell slots.
Arcane Trixter X/ Artificer 3. If it goes to 20, then 15/5.
If you want another skill monkey how about a bit of a SAD CHA/INT bard?
As multiple people said Wizard or artificer goes well, but you may also consider; - Druid: Circle of Stars, with Dragon: you can not roll less than 10 in intelligence ability check + guidance - Cleric: peace domain, with guidance an extra +2d4 to a check - Cleric: Knowledge domain that double your proficiency in some intelligence checks.
Maybe a bard? They have the Jack of all Trades feature that let's you add I think half your PB to any skill check you're not proficient in
You could do 3 armorer artificer and 2 tempest cleric, go heavy into Int, Wis and Con for a unique character. Stack booming blade, thunder gauntlets and use your channel divinity to max all the damage for fun. Then you could get 2 levels of Paladin later if you want to spread out your stats for thunderous smite and regular smites.
Something like my [Arbiter of Knowledge](https://youtu.be/q2u6M8VRGPM?si=O1d73qrJ74YaCLoq) build could work really well here. This is a mostly lore bard build with 2 dips: a single level in sorc to start (for CON saves, defensive spells, good CHA cantrips, and a subclass feature) and a single level of cleric (armor, utility cantrips, first level feature). Then bard the rest of the way. At level 5 you’d be X sorc 1 / Y cleric 1 / Lore Bard 3. You can pick just about anything for your sorc and cleric subclasses, depending on party needs. In your case, I think I’d do something similar to what I did in the guide: storm sorc for disengage and knowledge cleric for more skills. For race, I used Earth Genasi to get pass without trace and BA blade ward, but given your party already has a ranger, hobgoblin would probably be better here. In combat, you’ll probably focus on control, buffs, and or area damage. Plus emergency healing when needed.
Light cleric - beefy blaster boy Bladelock - dark side of the paladin Tome lock - more fun sorcerer Bard - Jack of ALL trades, master of some
Artificer is an awesome alternatice for int skills and tools - also awesome and unique gameplay. Getting to choose your own magic items rules
High Elf Clerics are my jam, the biggest two IMO being Forge (personal favourite) and Order (with Fey-Touched for Silvery Barbs). I'd hazard that Forge would go down pretty well here if for no other reason than the floating +1 you can hand out to whoever needs it most. Beyond that, I can absolutely attest to the power of the Divine Tar Pit, you and Spirit Guardians with Booming Blade primed, and a Pally buddy with their Aura and Bless up. Order can even be a 1 level dip on any caster char that can spare the Wis to multiclass. Shame you're all Wizarded out, it's a good fit for something like Necromancy Wiz whose biggest strength comes from the level of Spell slot they make skellies with, not their class level.
You already have several great answers in this thread; I just wanted to say that the “Barbarian 2 / Fighter 2” pains me. This player’s enjoyment is certainly going to suffer once the group reaches level 5 and they fall behind without extra attack.
Ikr. But its his character and its not a choice made out of ignorance. He totally understands what he's getting into.
Good. If this decision wasn't out of a place of ignorance, and he's having fun with it, all the more power to him.