They’re often based on a character from an existing IP or a person in the real world.Ībsurdist builds throw caution - and gameplay - to the wind in favour of searching for higher meaning through comedy. The true mark of an excellent absurdist build enables comedy and brings joy to the campaign without derailing it into a complete circus. ABSURDIST BUILDSĪbsurdist builds are most potent in the hands of a veteran player who can utilise their strengths, cover their weaknesses, and play in a way that doesn’t dominate or ruin the game to have their fun. They haven’t entirely forsaken gameplay, but they focus on taking advantage of more esoteric rules and interactions. They look to be the marriage of “silly” and “optimized” and represent an excellent middle ground between min-maxing and making the character itself into a joke.Ĭreative builds make up for what they forfeit in optimisation in uniqueness. They choose to forfeit optimization in the efforts of having fun but don’t completely lose the pursuit of being a good character in gameplay either. They aren’t jokes per se, but they don’t take the game very seriously either. CREATIVE BUILDSĬreative builds focus on a concept or esoteric ruling whilst still attempting to function reasonably well within their gameplay aspects. Optimised builds focus on bringing out the very best of each class and complementing for strong gameplay potential. Still, players should be cognisant that players playing less optimal builds deserve to have their moments and fun as well. While these builds will be forfeiting some of their higher-level class features, they offer more versatility within their designated role than a single-class character.Ī highly optimized build in a player’s hands with excellent game knowledge can often tip the scales in the party’s favor just by playing their character correctly. OPTIMISED BUILDSĪs advertised, optimized multiclass builds focus on creating an optimal character to fit within a role or to round out some of the weaknesses of an existing class. We will score each build on three axes: Optimisation, Creativity, and Absurdity. Multiclassed spell casters do not gain a second set of spell slots they share one set of spell slots between the two classes. For instance, to multiclass into Barbarian, a player character must first have at least 13 Strength.
To multiclass, a character must meet certain prerequisites. This means that a multiclassed character cannot obtain their capstone bonus. Before we start, let’s clear up the basics of multiclassing.Ī multiclassed character has separate levels for each class, all adding up to twenty levels.