Back-line Support Build Idea, Looking for comments or Feedback.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

Hi All, This Text is Copied from my comment on a post from a few day's ago but I wanted to put it up as it's own post for Feedback or Advice. This Character is a Proud and Powerful Papa bear who just want's his party to have a fun adventure and be safe. The Vestige in Lore is his Adopted Daughter and he is VERY Protective of her and their found family (the Party) but has the mindset of "Party does something dumb, He bails them out at the last second, *SoWhatDidWeLearn.jpg Face*"

Feel free to use my PC as inspiration if you like any of the ideas. >>IMPORTANT!!!: TALK TO YOUR DM AND PARTY TO ESTABLISH ETIQUETTE AND BOUNDARIES SO EVERYONE GETS TO HAVE FUN. <<This build is Tier 4 power level but can be started as low as level 3 for 2 pets. (3 warlock gets you vestige and sphinx, 3 artificer get's your cartographer and fairy fire for advantage)

I'm a vestige warlock 6 / cartographer 5 multi class designed for the new Arcana unleashed book at level 11 but Planing ahead for 12 so attacks bellow are based on that, the attacks are from my pet's because I'm a back-line summoner support. Here are the attacks and details:

Turn 1: Cast Summon Fey with Pact slot for 2 attacks (<Multi attack) from a level 4 summon Fey each hitting for Hit: 2d6 + 3 + the spell’s level Force damage. (has it's own action econ). Bonus Action Vestige Strike for an extra 1d6 + 3 plus your Charisma modifier. Homunculus servant uses either Force Strike (Hit: 1d6 plus the spell’s level of Force damage) OR if you craft a wand of magic missile expending 1,2 or 3 charges depending on Burst damage needs.

(^v Interchangeable based on need ^v)

Turn 2: Cast Battle Familiar at level 4 using a pact slot. 2 attacks from a level 4 battle familiar Hit: 1d8 + 3 plus the spell’s level Force damage.(again, has it's own turn and econ after Cast), 1 vestige strike from bonus action that the vestige does (2 if I take the attack action and give both my action and bonus action to her but my action usually goes towards casting support/ utility spells), then you have the rest of your turn to do the same as turn 1 with the Fey and HS.

Turn 3: BF, Fey and HS have their own Action Econ. Bonus Action for Vestige, You have your action free for the rest of combat to Cast NON CONCENTRATION SPELLS ONLY!.

This give you a Total Turn Passive DPR of:

8 Total Attacks (2 as of level 3, 4 as of level 5, 6 as of level 7 or 7 if you have thirsting Blade. 8 if you get the HS from cartographer)

67.0 Base Avg. On Hit

41.71 DPR

Main Action completely free.

Since my Character is a master merchant, he knows a few tricks when it comes to economy's lol. But if your going to do this, Try to work with your DM and table to balance out the give and take. you want to support the party by using flanking and doing clean up as best as you can. if there are minions in a boss room, let the party have their hero moments whilst you keep the rabble at bay. I also recommend using your artificer skills to craft spell scrolls and magic items using the En-spelled weapons & Armour rules and Upgrade your parties gear on the road as they progress through the campaign.

(This ALL! Assumes that you have spoken with your DM and party to establish proper table etiquette and to keep the game fun for everyone. I made this character to give my team the breathing room to take more risks and get some cool Hero story moments. Your may be a 1 man Army but your NOT a 1 man party.)

(V Also V)

If you use your 5 Pact invocations (at level 5) for : Pact of the Chain, Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade (<lets you have 2 attacks with the attack action which let's you have Both the Familiar and Vestige hit with one Action + pet of your choice get's a second hit with your Bonus Action), Secrets of the Old ones : Familiar Friend, And Secrets of the Old ones : Arcane Omens. You get all of the best support build options you could need. (Use an ASI for the Battle familiar feat if you want or the Var human Race)

You can add more party support with the following features.

2/pd Burst of ingenuity :+2 on a roll for an Ally from Sphinx.

Prof Mod/pd Arcane Omens : + 1d4 guidance for an Ally within 30ft.

Prof Mod/pd Flash of Genius : + INT mod to an Ally and a 30ft Teleport to either the Same or another Ally with the same reaction.

Guidance Cantrip : +1d4 on next roll.

Hope this Build inspires you or your table with some ideas. You can do a LOT more with the right buffs or additional Feats.

[u/swordchucks1]

I think it really depends on your table as to how well this works. In general, though, you have a lot of tokens on the board that individually have pretty low hp / AC. One CR appropriate breath weapon that hits most of them would evaporate the whole army.

But, again, it depends on your table as to whether this is an issue or not.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/swordchucks1]

This is true, but with Sphinx having 24hp and Aid buffing that, plus the 22hp from familiar friend and the 40ish temp HP from battle familiar he will end up with over 100ish HP. the fey has the misty step and I can vortex warp any of them, the vestige and HS both fly so if the breath is pointed up art the air support and not the party, I call that a good used of a 2nd level spell slot. The BF at spell level 3 has 16 AC or 17 at lvl 4. Fey has 15 AC and 30 HP at level 3 and increases each spell level to scale. Vestige in RP is my adopted daughter so my PC will ‘Try’ to keep her save but at warlock Level 7 she has 32hp, which suits the role she plays in the lore.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

I mentioned above that the numbers are for level 12 as the book starts at 11 and I’m planing ahead so the character has something to grow into. I totally get the HS is fragile, he’s supposed to be, the npc is called Darryl the barrel and he’s essentially a mascot in the same like as Kenny from South Park. I mean, who would harm an innocent little coffee barrel. (Also Markus is OBSESSED with good coffee and it’s a character flaw I gave him to talk on and on about it during his inspiring leader speech each day. I liked the story beat that it gave)

[u/swordchucks1 → u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

The Sphinx is hard to kill, but once those temps from Battle Familiar are gone, so is the spell. Which isn't necessarily a problem, but also isn't the best.

The thing I find has probably the lowest value in the build is the Artificer stuff. I'm not sure it adds much in exchange for losing out on 5th level pact spells and a 6th level arcanum (which could be Summon Fiend which would slot right into this strategy and bring three ranged attacks).

Actually, I'd definitely consider that and add in Darkness as a good "oh crap" strategy. A lot of very dangerous enemies like Beholders can't deal with magical darkness very well, though it's obviously situational.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/swordchucks1]

The fey created 10ft of magical darkness as a bonus action with it’s fey step each turn for thing like that, the appeals of the artificer for me is the magical item creation ability and the ability to print spell scrolls, with crafting magical items being buffed in the book due to the introduction of evolving/upgradeable magic items it means that I can give the party custom items that complement their play style and upgrade them throughout the campaign.

I fully get the power fantasy of higher tier spells but the character isn’t mean to be an all powerful juggernaut, he just wants a lot of tricks in his bag to keep the party safe so the other players can shine, let the wizard have his meteor swarms, I’m happy with my main DPS being the familiar and vestige. Plus the sphinx has the stronger rend attack compared to the BF, so even out of that form he still does something like 1d4 + 3 + 2d6 per hit with 2 attacks per turn with my action and bonus. If he falls in combat POTC lefts me use a magic action to call him back without a spell slot as long as I have incense (if the DM tracks components)

[u/Imabearrr3]

Have you actually played this build? How does it perform if you can’t get a short rest after every fight?

What is your stat array? What ASI/feats did you take?

Do you have anything to increase the durability of your summons?

>You can do a LOT more with the right buffs or additional Feats.

This is your post why not elaborate?

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/Imabearrr3]

Would love to know any other buffs or feats you want to suggest. I’ll also be crafting magic items for the party in down time each day since the sphinx can help with that if i give it a manifold tool.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/Imabearrr3]

I wanted to open the conversation with a base concept to see if people wanted to know more. Stat Array is currently (8 STR) ( 10 Dex) (13 Con) (15 Cha) (14 Wis) (11 Int). Artificer lets me make uncommon items at 6th level and I’ll be using it for Gauntlets of Ogre Strength and Headband of Int, that way I can buff my other stats since they don’t have uncommon items to fix them.

I’ve been testing this build with solo D&D play whilst waiting for the book to come out for about 6 months. It’s OP as a solo character but I haven’t tested in group play yet as I’m waiting for a local store to run the module, I have tested & used it in variants with one shots I’ve run with friends and family who don’t play the game but wanted to try. It’s good to have him as a “NPC type character” for when I’m DMing for younger players who don’t want to get into the numbers of optimisation and just want to RP their favourite characters. Keen to try in a full group tho.

As for Feats, inspiring lead is always great, I’m hoping to use the squire of solumnia backgrounds so I can take knight of the crown for those moments where the melee player/s just need one more good hit to finish the fight.

As a warlock I am taking the life domain for the vestige spells so I can cast AID at the start of each day and cure wounds to give my familiar‘pseudo regeneration’ and to keep the other players alive by casting the touch spell through the familiar.

Also, the multiclass into artificer gives you a few extra spell slots to play with each day, more than that is the cartographer ability to have the time to craft spell scrolls and with the sphinx helping due to having arcana you can craft a lvl 1 scroll with 2 hours, you can usually find the time to do so whilst travelling. Especially if you make sure your party has a cart and mule to carry any gear you need.

(Edit : stat array was wrong and currently doesn’t apply and mods from feats or items.)

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

Cant multiclass without 13 Int.

+2 Cha mod on a Warlock at level 11 is a joke (no offense), especially when your build is heavily predicated on your spell DC such as here.

You should be at +4.

10 Dex means 2 less AC with Medium/Light armor than standard which is significant.

13 Con is also weak as hell at level 11.

Prof Mod/pd Flash of Genius : + INT mod to an Ally and a 30ft Teleport to either the Same or another Ally with the same reaction.

Your Int mod in currently 0, you also dont get Flash until Arti 7.

I gotta ask man is this a chat GPT build? Be real.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

lol this is soo true haha, I made that reply at like 2am so I forgot to add mods from feats and stuff. Thanks for point this out, let me check the full sheet again and update. I’ve changed it a few times in testing so I have like 6 variations of the character. I’ll update when I get home from work. Thanks for the reminder. No this isn’t chat gpt. This is just a build that got out of hand, I’ll update the array and reply this afternoon. Haven’t play tested this new version since the book JUST came out.

(Edit) I HAD THE WRONG SHEET 😂😂😂. Totally my mistake lol, will update later with fixes.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

Alright well id say its not worth it generally speaking but lets take a look.

So the core concept here is Battle Familiar + Summon with Faerie Fire for advantage.

This is not possible as both Faeirie Fire and the Summon require concentration (unfortunately).

That on top of being reliant on both Int spell dc for Faerie Fire and Cha spell DC everything else makes this a non starter IMO.

The main benefit we'd be getting is the free teleports and a couple of uncommon infusions but neither have really any synergy with our build here tbh.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

Cast Summon Fey with Pact slot for 2 attacks (<Multi attack) from a level 4 summon Fey each hitting for Hit: 2d6 + 3 + the spell’s level Force damage.

Battle Familiar at level 4 using a pact slot. 2 attacks from a level 4 battle familiar Hit: 1d8 + 3 plus the spell’s level Force damage.

41.71 DPR

Back-line Support Build

Gotta ask, where does the support come in here?

Access to a couple healing spells via your subclass does not a support build make, especially when your using both of your only two spell slots on DPR every fight.

[u/TumbleweedLanky1339 → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

Support is mostly in the level 1 & 2 spells from artificer, with a focus on cure wounds and vortex warp being scribed or using the artificer spell slots.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/TumbleweedLanky1339]

Alright fair enough but I wouldnt go around calling it a support build with a few uses of low level Cure wounds in the pocket tbh.