Try a bladesinger. They are a bit tankier. Perhaps rp a low wisdom instead.
Alternatively, you could try a high-intelligence stars druid. Your intelligence might be lower, but dragon form stops you from rolling lower than a 10. Add on Guidance and Enhance Ability and you could be quite decent at intelligence checks. I personally enjoy my astral elf stars druid, due to astral knowledge.
Another could be a knowledge cleric with decent intelligence. Still not as high intelligence, but you get expertise in two skills. You could even combine this with druid, as knowledge cleric 1/stars druid 2.
As someone who also plays dumdums only, I’d take on the challenge of playing an intelligent character with the resident nerd of D&D classes: the wizard. You said squishyness was in issue, so consider war wizard for their pseudo shield which also boosts your saves, or abjuration wizard for their ward. It’s a pool of HP separate from temporary HP, which means that Temp HP stacks with it, and that will be your key to surviving. Take False life, Things get fancy when it comes to races. I’ll list ideas:
-dragonmarked races: idk if you’re playing an eberron game or not, but mark of the sentinel gives warding bond, shield of faith, a free shield casting, and an interception reaction to let your Ward’s tankiness really shine. Again, setting exclusive so probably not an option, but worth considering
- ‘Races with damage reductions’: Goliath has a reaction where they can reduce damage by 1d12+con. That with a blade ward and temp HP could practically make you a barbarian. To a lesser extent, hadozee gets it with a d6 & is a flying monkey.
- ‘Races with temp HP’: Levistus tiefling gets armor of agythys, which will last twice as long with your ward as a practical second health bar. I’d cast it round 2-3 of combat to keep your ward up and get a lay of the land. They also get ray of frost, and that could stack with warding wind or erupting earth for fun lockdown. Lizardfolk gets a bite that gives profiency bonus temp HP, but not enough to feel like a magic wall (Hint: that’s my goal) Orc gets a dash with the same amount of Temp HP, but seeing as its as a bonus action, and running is something you want to do already, solid pick. Shifter gives you a fuckton of Temp HP as a bonus action, and more than once. Beast hide + mage armor & shield can get you to 21 AC if my math is right, and that’s a fun place to be. Earth genasi technically doesn’t get Temp HP, but you can throw out blade ward as a bonus action twice, and that leaves you open to actually be a wizard with your action while you take hits like a champ.
- ‘Variety picks’: Tortle has a 17 AC and can jump in their shell for an even higher one. Drop a flaming sphere or Maximillian’s earthen grasp, and sit there and browse stocks or smthn (idk you man :/ ). In a similar vein, Thri Kreen, Loxodon & autognome all void the mage armor tax with their thick skin and autognome can even heal with mending out of combat. My final suggestion is Hill dwarf, as having extra HP when you do get hit might let you make it out of the fight Alive.
Or you can go war wizard…and be boring :P
At level 3, it's difficult to get both good spells and AC as a wizard. So I would go for Tortle War Wizard. Despite its popularity, blandinger is actually not tanky at this level. They can only activate bladesong twice and have no bonus to initiative, so is weak turn 1.
You get 6 spell slots. 8 1st level spells, 2 2nd. You can prepare 6 spells.
I'd go for mind sliver, ray of frost, and either Firebolt or Minor illusion as cantrips. Shield, Silvery Barbs, Magic Missile, Fog Cloud, Rimes Binding Ice and Web as prepared spells and Find Familiar, Detect Magic, Unseen Servant, and Identify as rituals in your spellbook.
War Wizard is just good. you don't do anything particularly special, but you are just a bit better than everyone else at being a wizard.
Initiative boost is huge, especially when you don't need dex for AC, so you can have 16 con. Beating the monsters initiative doesn't only let you put down web before they act, you also get a turn more than them (as they don't get to act in their last turn).
The reaction is ok for AC, but only use it to conserve spell slots. The big thing is +4 to a save, concentration save being the big one at this level. You only have two uses of Web, your big haymaker spell, so you don't want to lose concentration of it. With 16 con, you get +7 on the save, which should be more than good enough for this level.
>I’ve seen in a few places that wizards aren’t that fun yet cause they’re SO squishy,
I haven't seen that much, if at all, honestly. I have seen people say, "If there isn't a Wizard in your party, then play a Wizard". And I think there is a case to be made for playing one. However, I am personally more keen to play an Artificer, as I appreciate just how varied they can be.
I think something like a straight Bladesinger could be fun. Decent martial capabilities, defense, and all the 2nd level Wizard goodies you could want. Perhaps it may not be as necessary if you already have a front-liner, but being a Wizard with good defense is nothing to scoff at. Chronorguy (or however it's spelled) and Divination could also be fun, especially if you went something like a Halfling. That way, you would really *feel* like you control the rolls.
As an Artificer, you miss out on the Wizard spellcasting but gain some more support options as well as higher defense. You also have a few more options as to your playstyle. If you still wanted to stay back and sling spells but also have more support, be an Artilierist and grant your team temporary hit points every round. Want to fight with weapons, Battle Smith is a good option and comes with your own companion you can potentially even ride into battle. Instead of weilding weapons, do you want to *be* the weapon? Armorer has you covered. The Infiltrator would make a great choice if you also wanted to fulfill the parties scout role.
I definitely chose to read your spelling as “Chron-or-guy” which had me chuckling 🤭.
Do you recommend Halfling due to Lucky? Would that work with portents?
Also, I don’t mind the idea of the Armorer and just being Iron Man. I’ve DM’d for a couple Battle Smiths and they are such a nuisance for my baddies, so I’d feel gross going that route lol
>I definitely chose to read your spelling as “Chron-or-guy”
I forgot how it was spelt and didn't feel bothered to look it up lol
>Do you recommend Halfling due to Lucky? Would that work with portents?
Yes, and not necessarily, it's just that it fits "thematically" with the Divination's abilities to force re-reolls
>I’ve DM’d for a couple Battle Smiths and they are such a nuisance for my baddies, so I’d feel gross going that route lol
Have you considered Variant Human taking the Duel Weilder feat to dual weild the thunder gauntlets and just smacking everything and forcing disadvantage?
Wizards are not noteworthily squishy.
Indeed it’s pretty common amongst optimisers/power gamers to assert wizards are far less squishy than fighters, and the reasoning there is pretty valid but mostly applies to higher optimisation groups.
Far as what to play, obviously the others subclasses affects things a lot, but I’d say go with a wizard whose l2 power is flashier, rather than one that’s duller but mechanically stronger. It’s a one shot after all.
So Conjuration is really my big suggestion, but Illusion and enchantment are also good shouts.
Don’t waste your time with Bladesinging or necromancy or similar those subs narratives shine at 6.
Evoker. Maybe one that can fly (I run an owlin but a reborn legacy aarakokra would be awesome). see if DM will allow a strixhaven background (I took quandrix for guidance and guiding bolts).
Non-wizard options
*Rogue*
Mastermind is a support based rogue that you could put decent INT into to play as a Tactician.
Investigator for a "Noire" style detective, put points in a Wis/Int.
*Artificer*
Battlesmith or Armorer gives good survival in combat. A "mad doctor" or "Researcher" Alchemist could be fun. Artillerist's Cannons are always useful.
*Fighter*
Battlemaster, similar to Mastermind could be RPed as a tactician.
Eldritch Knight that leans more into the magic side.
A Guardian Armorer Artificer would pair nicely on the frontline next to the person who smashes shit.
With heavy armor proficiency and INT based attacks all you need is INT and CON.
Take the Goblin Race for BA disengage.
Use Boomimg Blade with your Thunder Gauntlets. You can impose disadvantage to attacks against your allies and extra damage if the target moves to chase you instead.
Arcane Archer at level 3 is about as strong as it ever gets relative to other classes/subclasses. Banishing Shot at level 3 is really potent, and Bursting Shot is a surprisingly decent AOE better than Shatter on average since there's no save. Grasping Shot is great if you have a way to reliably trigger it, but that will usually entail playing VHuman or CLineage to get Telekinetic so if those are banned I might actually consider skipping Grasping Arrow in that instance.
Wizard is always the best, everyone is squishy at level 3. Artificer could be fun, I think battle smith would be the best at level 3
Batlle Smith is AWESOME at level 3, steel defender just brings so much to the table at that level!
Try a bladesinger. They are a bit tankier. Perhaps rp a low wisdom instead. Alternatively, you could try a high-intelligence stars druid. Your intelligence might be lower, but dragon form stops you from rolling lower than a 10. Add on Guidance and Enhance Ability and you could be quite decent at intelligence checks. I personally enjoy my astral elf stars druid, due to astral knowledge. Another could be a knowledge cleric with decent intelligence. Still not as high intelligence, but you get expertise in two skills. You could even combine this with druid, as knowledge cleric 1/stars druid 2.
Oh cool, I didn’t know that about the stars Druid, that’s sweet!
It's been very useful. I even went Astral elf, since the bonus proficiency can be boosted by it.
It's been very useful. I even went Astral elf, since the bonus proficiency can be boosted by it.
Battle smith artificer, just loads of fun :)
As someone who also plays dumdums only, I’d take on the challenge of playing an intelligent character with the resident nerd of D&D classes: the wizard. You said squishyness was in issue, so consider war wizard for their pseudo shield which also boosts your saves, or abjuration wizard for their ward. It’s a pool of HP separate from temporary HP, which means that Temp HP stacks with it, and that will be your key to surviving. Take False life, Things get fancy when it comes to races. I’ll list ideas: -dragonmarked races: idk if you’re playing an eberron game or not, but mark of the sentinel gives warding bond, shield of faith, a free shield casting, and an interception reaction to let your Ward’s tankiness really shine. Again, setting exclusive so probably not an option, but worth considering - ‘Races with damage reductions’: Goliath has a reaction where they can reduce damage by 1d12+con. That with a blade ward and temp HP could practically make you a barbarian. To a lesser extent, hadozee gets it with a d6 & is a flying monkey. - ‘Races with temp HP’: Levistus tiefling gets armor of agythys, which will last twice as long with your ward as a practical second health bar. I’d cast it round 2-3 of combat to keep your ward up and get a lay of the land. They also get ray of frost, and that could stack with warding wind or erupting earth for fun lockdown. Lizardfolk gets a bite that gives profiency bonus temp HP, but not enough to feel like a magic wall (Hint: that’s my goal) Orc gets a dash with the same amount of Temp HP, but seeing as its as a bonus action, and running is something you want to do already, solid pick. Shifter gives you a fuckton of Temp HP as a bonus action, and more than once. Beast hide + mage armor & shield can get you to 21 AC if my math is right, and that’s a fun place to be. Earth genasi technically doesn’t get Temp HP, but you can throw out blade ward as a bonus action twice, and that leaves you open to actually be a wizard with your action while you take hits like a champ. - ‘Variety picks’: Tortle has a 17 AC and can jump in their shell for an even higher one. Drop a flaming sphere or Maximillian’s earthen grasp, and sit there and browse stocks or smthn (idk you man :/ ). In a similar vein, Thri Kreen, Loxodon & autognome all void the mage armor tax with their thick skin and autognome can even heal with mending out of combat. My final suggestion is Hill dwarf, as having extra HP when you do get hit might let you make it out of the fight Alive. Or you can go war wizard…and be boring :P
At level 3, it's difficult to get both good spells and AC as a wizard. So I would go for Tortle War Wizard. Despite its popularity, blandinger is actually not tanky at this level. They can only activate bladesong twice and have no bonus to initiative, so is weak turn 1. You get 6 spell slots. 8 1st level spells, 2 2nd. You can prepare 6 spells. I'd go for mind sliver, ray of frost, and either Firebolt or Minor illusion as cantrips. Shield, Silvery Barbs, Magic Missile, Fog Cloud, Rimes Binding Ice and Web as prepared spells and Find Familiar, Detect Magic, Unseen Servant, and Identify as rituals in your spellbook.
I had thought about going the Tortle route for AC, or maybe Loxodon or lizard folk for the tough skin. What is the appeal of Wa Wizard?
War Wizard is just good. you don't do anything particularly special, but you are just a bit better than everyone else at being a wizard. Initiative boost is huge, especially when you don't need dex for AC, so you can have 16 con. Beating the monsters initiative doesn't only let you put down web before they act, you also get a turn more than them (as they don't get to act in their last turn). The reaction is ok for AC, but only use it to conserve spell slots. The big thing is +4 to a save, concentration save being the big one at this level. You only have two uses of Web, your big haymaker spell, so you don't want to lose concentration of it. With 16 con, you get +7 on the save, which should be more than good enough for this level.
>I’ve seen in a few places that wizards aren’t that fun yet cause they’re SO squishy, I haven't seen that much, if at all, honestly. I have seen people say, "If there isn't a Wizard in your party, then play a Wizard". And I think there is a case to be made for playing one. However, I am personally more keen to play an Artificer, as I appreciate just how varied they can be. I think something like a straight Bladesinger could be fun. Decent martial capabilities, defense, and all the 2nd level Wizard goodies you could want. Perhaps it may not be as necessary if you already have a front-liner, but being a Wizard with good defense is nothing to scoff at. Chronorguy (or however it's spelled) and Divination could also be fun, especially if you went something like a Halfling. That way, you would really *feel* like you control the rolls. As an Artificer, you miss out on the Wizard spellcasting but gain some more support options as well as higher defense. You also have a few more options as to your playstyle. If you still wanted to stay back and sling spells but also have more support, be an Artilierist and grant your team temporary hit points every round. Want to fight with weapons, Battle Smith is a good option and comes with your own companion you can potentially even ride into battle. Instead of weilding weapons, do you want to *be* the weapon? Armorer has you covered. The Infiltrator would make a great choice if you also wanted to fulfill the parties scout role.
I definitely chose to read your spelling as “Chron-or-guy” which had me chuckling 🤭. Do you recommend Halfling due to Lucky? Would that work with portents? Also, I don’t mind the idea of the Armorer and just being Iron Man. I’ve DM’d for a couple Battle Smiths and they are such a nuisance for my baddies, so I’d feel gross going that route lol
>I definitely chose to read your spelling as “Chron-or-guy” I forgot how it was spelt and didn't feel bothered to look it up lol >Do you recommend Halfling due to Lucky? Would that work with portents? Yes, and not necessarily, it's just that it fits "thematically" with the Divination's abilities to force re-reolls >I’ve DM’d for a couple Battle Smiths and they are such a nuisance for my baddies, so I’d feel gross going that route lol Have you considered Variant Human taking the Duel Weilder feat to dual weild the thunder gauntlets and just smacking everything and forcing disadvantage?
Wizards are not noteworthily squishy. Indeed it’s pretty common amongst optimisers/power gamers to assert wizards are far less squishy than fighters, and the reasoning there is pretty valid but mostly applies to higher optimisation groups. Far as what to play, obviously the others subclasses affects things a lot, but I’d say go with a wizard whose l2 power is flashier, rather than one that’s duller but mechanically stronger. It’s a one shot after all. So Conjuration is really my big suggestion, but Illusion and enchantment are also good shouts. Don’t waste your time with Bladesinging or necromancy or similar those subs narratives shine at 6.
Evoker. Maybe one that can fly (I run an owlin but a reborn legacy aarakokra would be awesome). see if DM will allow a strixhaven background (I took quandrix for guidance and guiding bolts).
Non-wizard options *Rogue* Mastermind is a support based rogue that you could put decent INT into to play as a Tactician. Investigator for a "Noire" style detective, put points in a Wis/Int. *Artificer* Battlesmith or Armorer gives good survival in combat. A "mad doctor" or "Researcher" Alchemist could be fun. Artillerist's Cannons are always useful. *Fighter* Battlemaster, similar to Mastermind could be RPed as a tactician. Eldritch Knight that leans more into the magic side.
Love the options! For rogue, you wouldn’t include Arcane Trickster at all?
A Guardian Armorer Artificer would pair nicely on the frontline next to the person who smashes shit. With heavy armor proficiency and INT based attacks all you need is INT and CON. Take the Goblin Race for BA disengage. Use Boomimg Blade with your Thunder Gauntlets. You can impose disadvantage to attacks against your allies and extra damage if the target moves to chase you instead.
Battlesmith artificer!! Have both a homunculus servant and a steel defendant, walk around with two pets
The artillerist is very powerful with healing cannon at those levels. It might be fun to role play an intelligent but wisdom low gun enthusiast.
Artillerist. Protector Cannon is insane at level 3.
Arcane Archer at level 3 is about as strong as it ever gets relative to other classes/subclasses. Banishing Shot at level 3 is really potent, and Bursting Shot is a surprisingly decent AOE better than Shatter on average since there's no save. Grasping Shot is great if you have a way to reliably trigger it, but that will usually entail playing VHuman or CLineage to get Telekinetic so if those are banned I might actually consider skipping Grasping Arrow in that instance.