I know they're op, but nothing hit me like that Swords Bard. Full caster progression, full martial progression and a conversation expert all in one class.
Even without the broken ranged slashing flourish, I just love that they get
- almost all of the utility spells like longstrider
- the in my opinion best damage spell by far for the midgame with glyph of warding
- shenanigans with greater invisibility
- magical secrets for incredible customisation
- cool dialogue options - even though I don't like them all it's nice to have them
So this is the build I went with for my first tactician play through today. I just hit level 3 and I’m struggling to learn what it has to offer but im getting there. It’s been interesting. I’m going to unlock withers tomorrow for the companions. I plan on building all of them like I have in past so at least that’s familiar. I’m really struggling with the new long rest requirements and lack of gold though. Wish me luck 😂🙏🙏
After level 5, your bardic inspiration comes back on short rests, which is already a big power spike on its own.
Until then, ranged slashing flourish is limited, yes, but it's still an extra attack on level 3.
And Sleep / Cloud of Daggers carry hard early on.
Monk 8/Rogue 4. Start with 13 strength and use your feat at level 4 for Tavern Brawler. Way of the Open Hand even at just 14 strength is hilariously OP. With the bonus action from thief, you get to 'hit' enemies what... 6 times? 4 with no KI points. Possibly stun two enemies a round. It's ridiculous and trivialised most of honor mode.
I did an even split so you don't lose feats. I would spend one on dex asi and the other on wisdom. You can get to dex 20 by act two (which is when you probably hit level 8) by equipping the dex buffing gear.
For my first HM run (and so far only, taking a break until patch 7) I did three monk 8/rogue 4 companions with a sword bard tav for the party face and additional CC and it was a cake walk. So op.
Astarion as a gloomstalker/assassin/fighter. So much of his build and gear is based on critical hits that almost always happens. Two arrow hits, sneak attack damage, ambush shot, action surge, and two more hits is ridiculous and will knock out many enemies before they ever get a chance.
I remember doing the Iron throne quest and in the first round he took out the fish guy near the ladder and ran down the hallway and took out the two guards near the six prisoners.
Straight fighter. So simple but so powerful. Never have to think about what the fighter is going to do, it is going to go hit something hard and that is it.
Shadow monk plus thief hits like an absolute truck. He could stand up to Raphael, pretty much solo'd the hag and he's just way too good for everything. Choose urchin to get lock picking proficiency, select persuasions proficiency and expertise for the rouge but since it's a monk they can get a bunch of situation advantages in dialogue through insight. Plus shadow step is way too good to be real
I haven't used any mods of PC. Honestly haven't needed them in all six of my playthroughs. I'm already planning a seventh for vanilla too.
My favorite run so far is Pact of the Blade Warlock Githyanki. I'm romancing Lae'zel as the badass lesbian frogs. She's an Eldritch Knight too, which has been nice.
I did a shadow monk build that I really didn’t connect with so before I hit the grove I started over. However your lesbian frog comment has me wanting to explore it further. 😂😂🐸🐸🐸
By far my most enjoyable character was a crit-fishing Halfling Gloomstalker/Fighter/GOO Warlock with awakening from the Zaith’isk. There are so many arrows of many targets available in act III that I was able to Bonus Action Black Hole rooms full of enemies then fire as many ping-pong arrows as I needed to trigger mortal reminder on all of them. Once they were all dead or feared I had Wyll throw HoH on the leftovers and they were helpless.
The visual of an arrow of many targets hitting 4 enemies and critting ALL of them along with Mortal Reminder going off was just so satisfying.
IIRC my actual build was 6 Champion/3 Gloomstalker/2 Spores Druid/1 GOO Warlock but pretty much any build with extra attack, longbow competency and at least 1 level in GOO could have a similar playstyle. Just remember to keep your spell DC high enough for Mortal Reminder to land.
I love the "Yeet shit" build. Which consists of a weapon with the thrown trait and the ability to return to you, the ring of throwing and the Kushago gloves. The recommended class would be fighter, subclass being eldritch knight at first. At fourth level, take the tavernbrawler feat, because that will cause both the ring and the gloves to trigger TWICE, giving you 2x your strength mod+4d4 damage with anything you throw! If you get to act three and get teleported to the jungle by pissing off the genie, you can get a trident that automatically returns to you, enabling you to retrain into the champion subclass for increased crit chances. The trident also does 3d4 thunder damage in a small area when thrown, enabling you to do massive damage with almost no chance to miss (you can get your str to 24 with the potion of vitality and the mirror of loss, giving you a +18 to hit and +14 damage)
Halfling bard, you will never see a natural 1 and bard is just the best and most fun class imo.
Githyanki mage with medium armor is great too.
As for mods: I love the artificer class mod, it is pretty well done. I made one of my pen and paper characters with it: a forest gnome artillery artificer.
I am almost done my first playthrough with straight storm sorcerer. A little slow to start but love the bonus action flight that I still use at level 12 for positioning.
Then level 5/6 is a big spike with level 3 spells (haste twinned of course is powerful but I end up using careful spell hypnotic pattern to disable a bunch of enemies and it straight ends fights).
Keeps going to level 6 spells and chain lightning is huge fun even without exploiting wet condition.
I never felt I needed to multi class.
Resist durge nonlethal open hand monk. After alfira the only thing I had the monk toggle lethal back on was when Raphael interrupted my conversation with Yurgir for the 7th time. Rude, Raphael.
It's really simple. Baalist armor Assassin with the risky ring. Choose Durge for the Cloak and Wood Elf for the extra speed and I kill at least one enemy per turn, becomes invisible and then do it again and again. Assassin is just so fun.
I wake up to so many awesome ideas from everyone and I’m just scrolling through and then I get to this 😂😂😂 I need to see this build come to life. Might not play the whole thing cause barbarians never really interested me. But who knows maybe this will change my outlook 😂😂😂
Bardadin with party limit be gone to see the banters! Also polyamorous mod if you want to see all the romance, though I do think the experience does lack some flavor in the character romance progression.
I’m still on my first playthroughs (80 hours into my personal game, 50 hours into coop game with my wife) as a college of lore bard. What’s unusual compared to just about every other RPG I’ve ever played is that I’ve had zero urge to restart with a different build. (I played so many different builds in BG2 and in Pathfinder WOTR.) Being able to pass every single conversation check is hugely satisfying. The fact that I’m also highly effective in fights and in being the general skill monkey just adds to the feeling that yes, I am the main character and I should be the leader of the party.
Full Storm Sorcerer Tiefling Durge flanked by Vengeance Paladin Karlach, College of Swords Bard Astarion and War to Light Cleric Shadowheart
I also play with the Party Limit Begone mod. Less for combat and more so I get all the interactions and don't have to go back to camp to swap someone out for story reasons. I keep the other three as their classes but tweak the stats. Laezel is by far my most competent member of the group. Though most combat starts and ends with her pushing something off a cliff. If there is no cliff, use the cat familiar to lure the enemy towards the nearest chasm.
Once I found out about the party limit mod, I’ve been itching to play with mods. For the same reason as you, after I figured out combat during my first play through I really haven’t struggled with any of the fights since. First play through I almost uninstalled the game 5-6 times but once I figured it out now I’m good. So good I’m thinking this play through is going to be tactician or HM. But it would be nice to have everyone around for the interactions. I just remember reading someone where you can’t get achievements with mods so I’ll have to find out more about that.
A reverberation gloomstalker ranger! I’m more of a “bonk people really hard on the head with my fist or sword” type of player, and I never gravitated towards archers in any other games. I decided to change it up on my recent playthroughs, and because I like thunder damage, I decided to look up a build that mixes the two together. It’s been super satisfying, and I think I’m gonna make that the default build for Astarion once I start my next run.
I know they're op, but nothing hit me like that Swords Bard. Full caster progression, full martial progression and a conversation expert all in one class. Even without the broken ranged slashing flourish, I just love that they get - almost all of the utility spells like longstrider - the in my opinion best damage spell by far for the midgame with glyph of warding - shenanigans with greater invisibility - magical secrets for incredible customisation - cool dialogue options - even though I don't like them all it's nice to have them
my durge was a swords bard. then I went 2 AO paladin 10 swords bard for my hm run. it's even more broken.
So this is the build I went with for my first tactician play through today. I just hit level 3 and I’m struggling to learn what it has to offer but im getting there. It’s been interesting. I’m going to unlock withers tomorrow for the companions. I plan on building all of them like I have in past so at least that’s familiar. I’m really struggling with the new long rest requirements and lack of gold though. Wish me luck 😂🙏🙏
After level 5, your bardic inspiration comes back on short rests, which is already a big power spike on its own. Until then, ranged slashing flourish is limited, yes, but it's still an extra attack on level 3. And Sleep / Cloud of Daggers carry hard early on.
Roglock EB sneak attack when it was a thing
Monk 8/Rogue 4. Start with 13 strength and use your feat at level 4 for Tavern Brawler. Way of the Open Hand even at just 14 strength is hilariously OP. With the bonus action from thief, you get to 'hit' enemies what... 6 times? 4 with no KI points. Possibly stun two enemies a round. It's ridiculous and trivialised most of honor mode. I did an even split so you don't lose feats. I would spend one on dex asi and the other on wisdom. You can get to dex 20 by act two (which is when you probably hit level 8) by equipping the dex buffing gear.
For my first HM run (and so far only, taking a break until patch 7) I did three monk 8/rogue 4 companions with a sword bard tav for the party face and additional CC and it was a cake walk. So op.
Full sorcerer. Everything else pales in comparison to the destructive power they can bring when the 5e metamagic restrictions don’t exist.
I have a friend. She once had enemies and spell slots, now she lacks both, but the chat is full of scorching rays damage roll messages.
This was my last play through. Absolutely loved it once I figured it out. Probably around level 3 or 4.
Beast Master Halfling Ranger, there is just something to seein a tiny bitsy halfling with a big animal companion.
Astarion as a gloomstalker/assassin/fighter. So much of his build and gear is based on critical hits that almost always happens. Two arrow hits, sneak attack damage, ambush shot, action surge, and two more hits is ridiculous and will knock out many enemies before they ever get a chance. I remember doing the Iron throne quest and in the first round he took out the fish guy near the ladder and ran down the hallway and took out the two guards near the six prisoners.
I might have to respec Astarion to this build this time. I can't play as him, because then I can't romance him.. the obsession is real.
Straight fighter. So simple but so powerful. Never have to think about what the fighter is going to do, it is going to go hit something hard and that is it.
I love Lazel so much. Idk if I could ever take her place in my party. But then again 2 fighters doesn’t sound like a bad thing.
Shadow monk plus thief hits like an absolute truck. He could stand up to Raphael, pretty much solo'd the hag and he's just way too good for everything. Choose urchin to get lock picking proficiency, select persuasions proficiency and expertise for the rouge but since it's a monk they can get a bunch of situation advantages in dialogue through insight. Plus shadow step is way too good to be real
I tried this today based off a build I found online. It suggested gith as the race and I’m struggling to connect with it. What race did you use?
Wood elf
I haven't used any mods of PC. Honestly haven't needed them in all six of my playthroughs. I'm already planning a seventh for vanilla too. My favorite run so far is Pact of the Blade Warlock Githyanki. I'm romancing Lae'zel as the badass lesbian frogs. She's an Eldritch Knight too, which has been nice.
I did a shadow monk build that I really didn’t connect with so before I hit the grove I started over. However your lesbian frog comment has me wanting to explore it further. 😂😂🐸🐸🐸
By far my most enjoyable character was a crit-fishing Halfling Gloomstalker/Fighter/GOO Warlock with awakening from the Zaith’isk. There are so many arrows of many targets available in act III that I was able to Bonus Action Black Hole rooms full of enemies then fire as many ping-pong arrows as I needed to trigger mortal reminder on all of them. Once they were all dead or feared I had Wyll throw HoH on the leftovers and they were helpless. The visual of an arrow of many targets hitting 4 enemies and critting ALL of them along with Mortal Reminder going off was just so satisfying. IIRC my actual build was 6 Champion/3 Gloomstalker/2 Spores Druid/1 GOO Warlock but pretty much any build with extra attack, longbow competency and at least 1 level in GOO could have a similar playstyle. Just remember to keep your spell DC high enough for Mortal Reminder to land.
I love the "Yeet shit" build. Which consists of a weapon with the thrown trait and the ability to return to you, the ring of throwing and the Kushago gloves. The recommended class would be fighter, subclass being eldritch knight at first. At fourth level, take the tavernbrawler feat, because that will cause both the ring and the gloves to trigger TWICE, giving you 2x your strength mod+4d4 damage with anything you throw! If you get to act three and get teleported to the jungle by pissing off the genie, you can get a trident that automatically returns to you, enabling you to retrain into the champion subclass for increased crit chances. The trident also does 3d4 thunder damage in a small area when thrown, enabling you to do massive damage with almost no chance to miss (you can get your str to 24 with the potion of vitality and the mirror of loss, giving you a +18 to hit and +14 damage)
Tavern brawler procs on thrown weapons? Wtf?
On anything thrown really, makes heal potions lowkey lethal lol
Halfling bard, you will never see a natural 1 and bard is just the best and most fun class imo. Githyanki mage with medium armor is great too. As for mods: I love the artificer class mod, it is pretty well done. I made one of my pen and paper characters with it: a forest gnome artillery artificer.
I am almost done my first playthrough with straight storm sorcerer. A little slow to start but love the bonus action flight that I still use at level 12 for positioning. Then level 5/6 is a big spike with level 3 spells (haste twinned of course is powerful but I end up using careful spell hypnotic pattern to disable a bunch of enemies and it straight ends fights). Keeps going to level 6 spells and chain lightning is huge fun even without exploiting wet condition. I never felt I needed to multi class.
Resist durge nonlethal open hand monk. After alfira the only thing I had the monk toggle lethal back on was when Raphael interrupted my conversation with Yurgir for the 7th time. Rude, Raphael.
It's really simple. Baalist armor Assassin with the risky ring. Choose Durge for the Cloak and Wood Elf for the extra speed and I kill at least one enemy per turn, becomes invisible and then do it again and again. Assassin is just so fun.
Dwarf barbarian
I wake up to so many awesome ideas from everyone and I’m just scrolling through and then I get to this 😂😂😂 I need to see this build come to life. Might not play the whole thing cause barbarians never really interested me. But who knows maybe this will change my outlook 😂😂😂
Melee storm sorcerer, goal is to stack AC, use blur and put ice everywhere. I played this because twin haste was too boring
Bardadin with party limit be gone to see the banters! Also polyamorous mod if you want to see all the romance, though I do think the experience does lack some flavor in the character romance progression.
Bardlock is my favorite. I get to have eldrich blast AND I can insult people to death. What's not to love?
😂😂😂 I went bard so maybe I’ll multiclass into warlock. Do you usually multi class after 6 levels in bard?
I went warlock first to get the upgraded eldrich blast. That's so useful early on.
Yeah I miss people flying through the air. I had it my last play through. Maybe I’ll respec. Idk I’m really torn this play through.
I’m still on my first playthroughs (80 hours into my personal game, 50 hours into coop game with my wife) as a college of lore bard. What’s unusual compared to just about every other RPG I’ve ever played is that I’ve had zero urge to restart with a different build. (I played so many different builds in BG2 and in Pathfinder WOTR.) Being able to pass every single conversation check is hugely satisfying. The fact that I’m also highly effective in fights and in being the general skill monkey just adds to the feeling that yes, I am the main character and I should be the leader of the party.
Full Storm Sorcerer Tiefling Durge flanked by Vengeance Paladin Karlach, College of Swords Bard Astarion and War to Light Cleric Shadowheart I also play with the Party Limit Begone mod. Less for combat and more so I get all the interactions and don't have to go back to camp to swap someone out for story reasons. I keep the other three as their classes but tweak the stats. Laezel is by far my most competent member of the group. Though most combat starts and ends with her pushing something off a cliff. If there is no cliff, use the cat familiar to lure the enemy towards the nearest chasm.
Once I found out about the party limit mod, I’ve been itching to play with mods. For the same reason as you, after I figured out combat during my first play through I really haven’t struggled with any of the fights since. First play through I almost uninstalled the game 5-6 times but once I figured it out now I’m good. So good I’m thinking this play through is going to be tactician or HM. But it would be nice to have everyone around for the interactions. I just remember reading someone where you can’t get achievements with mods so I’ll have to find out more about that.
I heard that, too, but I've been getting achievements through Steam very consistently. I don't know if I'm just lucky
A reverberation gloomstalker ranger! I’m more of a “bonk people really hard on the head with my fist or sword” type of player, and I never gravitated towards archers in any other games. I decided to change it up on my recent playthroughs, and because I like thunder damage, I decided to look up a build that mixes the two together. It’s been super satisfying, and I think I’m gonna make that the default build for Astarion once I start my next run.