The recent screen time Dungeons and Dragons has been receiving through Stranger Things, has given audiences a very utopian glimpse into how the game is played. Seasoned players know that sometimes, it is about more than just the glorious moments where everyone by the table cheers and the DM applauds their players. Sometimes, Dungeons and Dragons can simply be about creating goofy characters that push the limits of the game itself.
It is still a mystery if there will even be a dungeon master in the upcoming movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves but if there is, they should thank their lucky stars Michelle Rodriguez’s barbarian isn’t a satyr with the Path of the Beast. Some characters serve the story and some characters break the game. If the DM is unlucky enough, some can do both just fine.
Poison Dart Rogue
Grungs are an incredibly fun race for players to both use as characters, or simply run into. They are, most simply put, an adorable race of small, venomous frogs that just want to enslave whatever they run into.
Their innate abilities to jump very high and poison anyone they touch, when combined with a warlock, rogue, or both, results in a fun character that can jump ridiculous distances, unleash poisonous sneak attacks, and drive the dungeon master crazy.
The Infamous Coffee Warlock
A rather famous build among the Dungeons and Dragons fan base, the Coffeelock is what happens when a multi-class sorcerer or warlock uses tweaks and the eldritch invocation Aspect Of The Moon, to end up with effectively infinite spell slots without ever taking a long rest. The DM will surely have to rework the balancing of their encounters after the one weakness the party warlock has, disappears.
The Perfect Pirate Lord
Art by Audia Pahlevi
If a player ever wishes to play as an incredibly effective pirate captain that can dance around the battlefield, moving in and out of the way of whatever their dungeon master throws at them, the Battle Master fighter/swashbuckler rogue combination is perfect for them.
The footwork, sneak attacks, and cunning actions from the rogue, combined with the maneuvers of a Battle Master fighter makes for a terribly versatile martial character that can manipulate the battlefield without casting a single spell. Not only will the DM watch their monsters perish in a single turn, but they will also have to keep track of a whole lot of actions.
Berry Domain Cleric
There are many different ways to achieve this build. At its essence, what the player needs is a Life Domain Cleric with access to the spell Goodberry. This can be done by simply leveling into Druid. The Goodberry spell, creating 10 berries each worth 1HP may not sound so impressive at first but this is where the cleric comes in.
With the Life Domain Cleric each berry created by the spell heals 4HP. A first-level spell slot being used to heal 40 points is an incredibly rare sight in D&D and every party could use a cleric with a handful of berries. Clerics have always been difficult for dungeon masters to deal with. When you add these broken berries to the mix, the party won’t ever be in real danger.
The Robo-Cleric
Art by macarious on DeviantArt
Warforged as a playable race opens up many interesting avenues for roleplay and character development. Whether they can feel or have faith could vary from table to table. One thing, however, remains the same wherever they are played – they are absolutely perfect as tanks.
A war-forged, forge domain cleric, can easily reach up to 22 AC from the very first level. This armor class makes it nigh impossible for low-level encounters and players to do any substantial damage to the character. Figuring out an encounter where the enemies can damage this character without utterly demolishing the rest of the party may cause some sleepless nights for some dungeon masters.
The Leaping Goat
A Path Of The Beast Barbarian can jump very high and very far. Combining this with the popular playable race “Satyr” which gets a bonus d8 to their jumping rolls. What kind of damage could a Path Of The Beast Satyr could do with a ring of jumping?
Bordering on game-breaking, this character can cover enormous distances in a single leap, landing on their enemies from great heights with their claws drawn and ready for battle. The leaping goat build could end up trolling its way through many of the DM’s meticulously crafted set pieces.
Reed Richards With A Spear
It is a long-running meme in the world of Dungeons and Dragons that the way players view bugbears is akin to Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four. Their elongated limbs trait gives them a reach of 10 feet and in some cases the player can make them reach even further.
If the player chooses to play a bugbear fighter Battle Master with spear mastery, then they could end up with a reach of 25 feet! That distance is equal to the movement speed of some playable races. If the player plays their cards right, they could move around the battlefield, poking at their DM’s creations from long range.
Too Angry or Calm To Die
Immortality could quite possibly be the most sought-after prize in the entire genre of fantasy. Fictional settings are filled with villains, wizards, and many others looking for a way to cheat death. A half-orc monk could be the answer.
A Way of the Long Death Monk at 11th level can expand a ki point and refuse to die. The stakes are what make encounters. Those stakes don’t often get any better than life or death. Take away the latter of the two and you’re left with no stakes. The relentless endurance trait that half-orcs possess would grant the player another extra life, essentially taking the tabletop game into early Super Mario Brothers territory.
A Hexblade Paladin
Paladins and warlocks are usually pitted against each other. In the old days of strict character alignments and generic lawful good paladins, this combination would have been impossible but today, the “Pallock” as it is known, is a favorite among players.
Multiclassing into Paladin has many benefits for the player but the combination of divine smite and hexblades’ curse is enough to justify the existence of this build. This character also allows players to bombard NPCs with both righteous paladin tirades and edgy warlock monologues for the price of one.
Echolas
Art by The Inkogre in ArtStation
The echo knight is a build with immense potential, no matter how the player chooses to build their character. A fun and surprising way to utilize this class is through ranged weapons. If the cards are played right, an echo knight with a bow can cause all kinds of havoc, reigning down arrows from multiple angles, while changing the location of their echo to further confuse their enemies.
With the party essentially gaining an extra member just for combat, all the careful hours of fiddling with challenge ratings could possibly go out the window.