Hijacking the top comment to ask @DnDDeepDive to build: - 1 Fighter (CON proficiency + defense)/X Cleric Twilight; - Warforged or Yuan-ti Pureblood; - Any background with Shield or Silvery Barbs; - Get Telekinetic or just ignore this and cast Spiritual Weapon instead; - @6: Cast Spirit Guardians + BA Telekinetic to push an enemy into the AoE, then Twilight Sanctuary (if you do not have Telekinetic, cast Spiritual Weapon now), after that just Dodge + Telekinetic or Spiritual Weapon. For a more AC oriented build, you could swap Twilight for Forge (+AC and Fire Resist)
My feign death story is using the mizzium apparatus. The mizzium apparatus lets one cast spells they don’t know with a successful arcana check, but cast a random spell on a failure. I wanted to talk to someone without potentially being overheard so I planned to use it to cast non-detection before asking my last question. So, Columbo style, I turn back as our party is walking away, raise a finger and say, “Just one last thing.” I then make my rolls, discover I’ve failed the arcana check and will be casting feign death on myself instead of non-detection and get to narrate to my party, “Then Erik falls over, dead.”
One of my favorite Feign Death uses was from my DM, whose NPC Wizard used a Contingency-cast Feign Death to pretend to have died in a fight, in order to hear how we as a party reacted to her death. She had very good reason to think we'd been compromised, so it was a really smart way to know if we were sent to kill her.
My favorite Feign Death story comes from a one-shot I ran. The players needed to hold off an army with yhe help of a few NPCs so civilians could evacuate. Each PC had an NPC they took control of for the fight. One of the players took control of the resident old wizard, had him set up a bunch of Glyphs of Warding and then cast Feign Death on him the moment he first got hit in the fight, letting his familiar run around and trigger the glyphs as needed. Then, once the appriaching army had been weakened with a couple Divine Words, he had the wizard get back up and use a wall spell plus the last few Glyphs to hold them off long enough to let the party escape. The best part was that I had a few players playing the approaching army's generals, and they had no idea the wizard was feigning death 😂
Bounty hunter duo, AKA the old Clint Eastwood, Mario Brega combo. Player A has a bounty on his head, uses feign death spell. Player B turns Player A in for bounty. Player A removed from morgue and they move on to next town.
The 'Juliet' Dagger was created for a High Elf theatre troupe. The wielder can use 'Feign Death' on itself or another willing creature. The target dies a bloody death, with optional dying soliloquy. The effect is ended early with the command phrase "Take your bow".
My favorite use for Feign Death is as a DM. When the party gets to the Big Bad, he puts up a big fight and then when the PCs "kill" him, his Death Ward pops, which triggers his Contingency to activate Feign Death. It's a good way to introduce a main villain early, so when the party inevitably fights him and wins in spite of what CR or my own planning says, the villain now has built-in excuse for me to metagame.
One of the best uses of Feign Death is to milk a chain loc's Imp/Pseudodragon for venom. Unfortunately the rules require the creature to be incapacitated, and FD is the easiest method since you can´t knock them to 0HP (familiars disappear when that happens).
i have no clue what you're talking about so i looked up pseudodragon in 5e and this is what it said. fyi im pretty sure you're confused about some kind of rule or maybe there's something im missing here, this is the pseudodragon's sting attack Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake it awake.
so the pseudodragon puts people unconcious, not just incapacitated (unconcious causes incapacitated, but incapacitated is an entirely different status effect) and feign death has no correlation to that whatsoever. how can you obtain venom from that lmao, your plan is to just sting yourself with your own familiar to farm venom? i'm confused
For me, a good use of Creation Bard's Performance of Creation is to create spell components that are consumed by the spell. A lot of the really expensive components are not attainable with this ability, but there are still some interesting options. 5 levels of Creation Bard and you can create the diamonds for Greater Restoration. 10 levels and you can create the diamond for Glyph of Warding. 15 levels and you get a free Revivify. A Creation Bard with a level in Paladin is basically a free Holy Water dispenser.
Just want to point out, @Creation level 14 the gold limit on what you can create goes away so eventually you're a dispensary for all of those really expensive components so long as the casting time for the spell is a number of hours less than or equal to your proficiency bonus.
@@RoninXDarknight Fair point. I forgot that the gold limit was eventually removed. So a level 14 Creation Bard, besides being able to create diamonds for Revivify, could also create the 25,000 gp diamond required for someone to cast True Resurrection. Also, at that level, they can create multiple items at a time, limited by their Charisma modifier, so a Creation Bard with 20 Charisma could as a single action conjure up 5 diamonds to Revivify the rest of their party after a near TPK.
@@RoninXDarknight This all does make me want to play a Paladin/Creation Bard in a demon or undead-heavy campaign. Something like an Eladrin Ancients/Creation Bardadin soldier for some Archfey in the Feywild.
@@CivilWarMan I'm intrigued but not really seeing what you're trying to do w/a Bard/Paladin multiclass. I don't feel like adding Paladin to Bard gets you much honestly. What am I missing? Then again, I'm weird. My favorite Paladin is Crown XD.
My favorite part of this build is the Feign Death part. You can absolutely cast it on yourself but you are incapacitated. Since you are incapacitated you cant take an action to dismiss the spell on yourself meaning when you cast it you must wait an hour for the spell to end
@@MalloonTarka I like it, but yeah, no defensive benefits and you wake as soon as you take damage, so it might foul your plans - especially since there’s no “anyone who checks you thinks your dead” verbiage - a smart enemy might just try and finish you off.
Weekend at Baldur's (Bernie's). When the player character dies at the start of the campaign several companions do what they must to keep the party going.
I am giving my ranger player Feign Death as an ability attached to his quiver. He can swap one of his weapon attacks to shoot a "Feign Death arrow." I can only imagine the absolutely amazing shinnanigans he will get up to with that ability available to him in the form of an arrow attack. 😅
I'm glad you went creation bard because it reminded me that they have free reign on spells that consume their material components and that caused me to start looking through the spells that consume their material components which reminded me that the graviturgy spell immovable object exists and how with two 6th level slots two boots and 50gp worth of gold dust you can create anti gravity boots which allow you to walk on air (probably at half speed so that you don't accidentally cause both of your boots to be "moving" which would cause you to fall of which case I hope you prepped feather fall) warning for anyone who wants to try this in their own games I'd recommend not using them in combat as that's a good way to get moved in a way that causes you to start moving both boots which will lead to plummeting
Alternative race pick: if you’re rolling for stats, have access to homebrew stat or starting feat options, or have some way of not worrying as much about Abiltiy Scores, go for tortle and tuck yourself into your shell when you feign death to make it *slightly* more survivable
I would want to classify this build as a hybrid support/tank build. Having that many bodies on the field taking hits instead of your allies means greater survivability for the party. It still doesn't come online until later but drawing fire away from allies is always a win!
Conjure a carriage. Stay inside of it. Animate it. Feign death. The dancing object is immune to psychic damage and your enemies won't have line of sight to you if you so choose (curtains, no window at all or lying on the floor).
This is the kind of beautifully absurd and absurdly smart idea that I'm here for. And the character art for this one is possibly my favourite of all time, just for our guy just conked out in the middle of it. Fantastic stuff from both of you, as ever!
Oh my gosh! "Drop Dead Fred"!!! You're killing me! I legit started busting up in my 2nd period class when I got the notification. My students are very curious as to what made me laugh, but they just won't get it!
My only Feign Death story: We were stranded on an unidentified plane of darkness and dust, sheltered in some ruins. I, a wizard/warlock multi class, had begun banishing the party and chaining short rests to get all of us out. It was just me and the paladin last. We saw a dull glow in the distance, three sets of familiar glowing blue eyes. Previously our party had fought one of these monsters, Nightwalkers. Just 1 was enough to mess all of us up and kill one of us, and now the paladin and I were outnumbered. We hid in coffins in the ruins and I cast Feign Death on myself. The Paladin heard the monsters lumber into the ruins, wander around, and leave. After the coast was clear, he emerged to find me seemingly dead…and spent a 300 gold diamond trying to revive me lol.
About the object creation bards can create: it's super DM dependant, but there actually is looney tunes shenanigans if you get yourself a barely self supportive statue then lightly push it to fall on top of an enemy (of course, when it's large, so I guess not this build, but I'm still listening, maybe you'll surprise me!) What's really crazy is I believe the dancing object makes the creation bard the best at damage dealing: genie/hexblade warlock 2 for e.blast, then at character level 12 you get summon celestial; the mote of potential will turn your inspiration into damage and presto! it's a murderous bard
My favourite, and so far only, Feign Death moment was when my cleric was going undercover in a group of evildoers. When he was expected to kill a traitor as a test of loyalty, my cleric used Feign Death to get out of that situation with his morals intact. Thanks for the video as always, Colby!
@dnddeepdive I love concept builds where DPR is not the main criterium 😀 Considering getting incapacitated, wouldn't it be much easier just to cast Sleep on yourself? If you look at how the spell is worded it seems totally fine. Yes, it´s not an hour, but in battle it takes a hyperintelligent enemy to figure out why they should mind you´re not part of the battle. And then you can bring this all online so much earlier 🙂
Used Feign Death to be "interred" within the Dustmen's Morgue in 2nd ed. Planescape, so that I could sneak a look at the Scroll of Names. This was with the intent of solving an intergalactic murder case. The good ol' days
This immediately struck me as one of the whackier concepts I’ve heard. Super fun! I would envision them as a Dreamer and have the pets manifest when they became incapacitated as an expression of their subconscious. Or,maybe you did too good a job on your Artificer pet, and the other pets are THEIR dreams, which they can only manifest by borrowing your magic while you’re out cold! Just my two cents worth of fun. Thanks Colby & Co.!
I have a Feign Death story! We were trying to rescue one of our party member's sister. We needed to perform a ritual to put her soul back into her original body instead of the demon-infested one it was currently in. We needed her alive and she needed to stay still for the ritual to work. Basically, we were able to call out to her and have her temporarily take control of the body for one round of a combat, letting her become a willing creature, so that we could cast Feign Death on her so we could perform the ritual.
Hi! I'm a long-time fan of your channel and saw you mention plans to create a Giant Barbarian Dart Throwing build recently! I've been planning to play exactly such a character and have been brainstorming how to make it as strong as possible over the past couple weeks. I just wanted to share what I had so far. Can't wait to see what you come up with for your eventual build too! Thanks for all you do for the community! ---------------------------------- Race: Bugbear Background: Ruined (for the Alert feat) Alert and Bugbear have great synergy, helping us secure the Surprise Attack damage. Plus as a character concept I'm going with the character originally having been a Cloud Giant, but due to Cloud Giant's tendencies towards gambling and wagers, they drew from the Deck of Many Things, resulting in them being Ruined and turned into a Bugbear, shunned from Giant Society. (If your table doesn't allow a starting feat or backgrounds that grant them you can swap this with Lucky when we pick it at the end of the build) Stats (Point Buy): 14+2 Str, 13 Dex, 15+1 Con, 8 Int, 11 Wis, 9 Cha We'll wear half-plate armor, a shield in one hand, and throw darts with our free hand. This eventually gives us 19 AC which is nice as we'll also be raging, making us a pretty sturdy ranged martial. Levels 1-11, in order: Giant Barbarian 1-6 Pick up ASI-sharpshooter, extra attack, and then our (2d4 +1d6 + str mod + rage bonus) returning elemental dart (I know that technically we can't throw two darts each turn at level 5 since we can't draw and throw in a single attack yet, but this resolves at level 6 and if we really wanted to we could start Fighter at level 1 for thrown weapon style if the DM isn’t willing to bend the rules a bit at level 5 for us) Battlemaster Fighter 1-3 Pick up Archery fighting style, action surge, and maneuvers. I’m thinking of Precision Attack, Quick Toss (to give us bonus action attacks, potentially with a net for a source of advantage), and Ambush (to help secure our Bugbear Surprise 2d6 bonus) Peace Cleric 1 1d4 to our initiative rolls (plus another 1d4 if we can use guidance as well) and one attack per turn. Very helpful securing hits and our Suprise Attack. Battlemaster Fighter 4 ASI-Gunner to cap our AC with 14 Dex and allow us to continue chucking darts even within melee Then Levels 12-20, in order: Gloomstalker Ranger 1-4 Expertise in stealth, Thrown Weapon Fighting Style for another +2 damage on top of our rage bonus. Can pick up Goodberry for healing and Longstrider to cast before combat for reliable increased more mobility. Then of course the gloomstalker bonus attack, increase to our initiative, and potential source of advantage if we’re invisible from fighting in darkness. For the ASI we can pick up Resilient (Wis) to get to 14 Wis and secure our Wisdom saves. Assassin Rogue 1-3 Some added damage from sneak attack, another expertise, bonus action options, and another source of advantage if we beat enemy initiative in round 1 (which we should be at this point given we’ve built around initiative bonuses to secure our Bugbear damage). Auto crits on surprise is nice, and we’ll help secure it next level Gloomstalker Ranger 5 Pass without Trace, Rope Trick, Aid. All can be used outside combat. Helps us secure surprise crits too! Rogue 4 Final ASI, round out the build with Lucky. Our strength never passed 16 but we picked up a lot of opportunities to gain advantage and boost our to-hit bonuses. Lucky can serve that purpose as well but gives us more flexibility in how we apply the reroll. I know that this build might be tough in Tier 1 since we don’t have a bonus action attack that we’d get in a CBE/Sharpshooter build, but we kind of resolve that via Quick Toss (albeit a limited number of uses), plus we’re much more durable than other sharpshooters due to raging, and the attacks we do make are empowered a lot via the oversized weapon, elemental damage, bugbear bonus, etc. I find it to be a fun blend of the two Mid-High Op martial Quick Builds on Tabletop Builds.
The thing I love about these companions is that even if you’re not commanding them, they are still a decent source for damage tanking and control. If you throw them out front the enemy basically has to choose between attacking them at disadvantage or get an opportunity attack. Several even have nice reactions buffs like disadvantage on a critical attack.
50:55 you're basically a crazy cat lady/person in social interactions too though.... a robo-dog and a drake is with you permanently. Between battles you might have the flying carpet and fire spirit as well... A transformed industrialist who learned to value nature and fight on its behalf as a druid, befriending dragons and objects coming alive at your whim... not to mention the potential to influence other pcs, to teach them about the importance and power of friendship. Especially if your other players are minmaxing themselves
A military commander issues 1 order, many people act on it. I say "Sit", both my dogs sit. I say "Close", both my dogs walk at heel. I say "Get'im", both my dogs attack. Bonus action: "Attack that one! ". 1 bonus action, 1 command, all pets/summons/animal companions obey.
If you want more joke builds I’d recommend the self prone lock build. Go wild hunt shifter, lay prone, ranger attacks have disadvantage, and melee is a straight roll since they can’t have advantage. Then I was thinking maybe shadow monk with a barb dip for reckless because they can’t have advantage on you, since your movement is halved you can use shadow monk to bamf around, maybe 2 levels in cleric for free teleports with twilight sanctuary. Alternatively just be wild hunt and go prone from range and be any saving throw spell caster, I just think a shadow monk, barbarian crawling around the map teleporting into darkness is amazing flavor and also having an eventual +20 to movement gives you a 25 foot crawl speed and that’s 55 feet per round with teleporting
I love Dumping CON, especially on tanks. It makes for very fun battles I've played a Barbarian and Paladin with 8 CON. neither died, and both forfilled their role as party tank.
The con 8 reminded me of a character I had for a one shot. It was a level 17 oneshot with my family where we rolled for stats and had whatever magic items, I played a wizard and rolled great everywhere except for a 4. A FOUR. So naturally I got the greatest idea; if I put it in con, I got 3-3 HP per level, so as a level 17 wizard capable of molding the fabric of reality to my will, I had 2 HP. A commoner with a dagger had a 1 in 4 chance to kill me outright. Which of course, I died to a kobold minion in the first fight and had to roll up a new character immediately
I think at low levels, sleep would work well to incapacitate yourself. Just target a point ~ 20ft away from yourself but further from your companions and other allies
That Silvery Barbs bit will always be the cutest. But anyway I am so hear for this wacky experiment. I would love a build that focuses on the spell Tiny Servant. It may see like a bad Animate Dead spell but Tinies beat Skels and Zomberts on AC chance to hit and the low end of damage. Skels have +4 to hit and 2 on the low end for both ranged and melee. Zomberts have a +3 to hit and 2 on melee for the low end. Tinies have 15 AC two more then Skels. They are Immune to poison and psychic. They have +5 to hit and 1d4 +3. But the two biggest thing they have on the undead is 1. you can give them a standing order such as "Attack hostile creatures" at the start of the 8 hour shift. I am pretty sure that that will work for the to jump into the fight right away. And then 2. they have BLINDSIGHT! Darkness shenanigans!
I ❤️ the "NARCOMANCER." I'm using this for my next NPC. Thank you! In earlier editions, the Monk could use Feign Death on himself. I used it whenever the party's Bard used his criminally-bad puns.
Absolutely add the Sleep spell to this build. By level 5, we still only have 23 max hps. Sleep at base level is knocking out 5d8 worth which is 22.5 on avg, and shouldn't vary too far. It actually upcasts very well in this case with an extra 2d8 per slot. Meaning for a 2nd level spell, it's 31.5 on avg, and a 3rd level cast makes it 40.5. So we conk out quite efficiently at most levels. Especially if we've fallen below max hps already. Still a bit dangerous, because any damage could stir us from our sleep, and bring us into a waking nightmare. That makes Feign Death still the only reliable mechanic for staying down, and keeps us resistant to all damage even if we do get targeted or included in an AoE. Meaning our effective hps actually aren't that bad when playing possum. Catnap would be another once per day option for our allies to use in a pinch. It's not concentration, and if we have time post combat to just finish a short rest within 10mins then it's a pretty slick move. Our allies could take this and/or us. Works well with Warlocks/Monks/Fighters in the party. Maybe if we're wrapping up a fight, just need a little extra oomph, and an ally or two have already taken their final turns we could knock them out with us. Timing it is risky, but you could end up with a superb pit stop crew effect. The Monk ally could also throw one punch our way for a tactical Stunning Strike against our terrible Con. We'll definitely make up for the damage lost. Working Warlock 5-7 into this build could get us Tomb of Levistus which is the perfect Reaction for this build if you're only trying to go catatonic in emergency situations. It incapacitates us, and protects us upon taking any damage. While there are no pet subclasses for Warlock, they do get us a ton of 3rd level pact slots to play with. Chain Pact for an Imp to safely spam the help Action for something else's juicier attacks. Like a Summoned Greater Demon, which if you lose concentration on, the demon sticks around for 1d6 more rounds. They don't obey us anymore, but they still are likely to just keep assaulting whatever backline monsters we let them loose on. Summoning two of those right before our Monk comes over to give us a timeout, or any ally/enemy dealing damage to us, would create some exciting nova rounds. Of course we can maintain control on summoning spells for the better part of an hour before deploying the trick. Adding Agonizing and Repelling Blast would get our Sustained DPR up way higher. Our allies could also help knock us out with Sleep, Hypnotic Pattern, or Banishment. Starting as an our Artificer, we're quite vulnerable to Wis saves so Hypnotic would be very effective. We just charge into the fray of enemies if our turn comes right before an allied controller. Sleep for emergencies when we're dangerously low on health. Enough so that the cast would also get another enemy. Banishment may be a bit tougher with prioritizing our Cha, but it could be upcast to target an enemy and us. Best way to protect us by far if we're in a bind. Allies or us could actually use Silvery Barbs if allowed to reroll the save if we make it. Hold Person could also work, but that seems quite likely to turn us into a combustible pinata. Maybe we're out of harm's way though, or the enemies don't have any good means to attack. Efficient spell slot and save.
Feign Death is to my understanding more a DM spell than a player spell. Excellent for fake out deaths or keeping players from tracking someone. Consider that Feign Death is a valid option for Contingency and Glyph of Warding. Also it grants you that resistance to most damage and temporarily nullifies poison. Very much a spell for thematics and crafty clerics
Maybe it's because I'm watching D20 Neverafter, but I imagine this character as a damsel in distress that calls upon all kinds of little critters to aid her and then just faints
Another option is the Tomb of Levistus warlock invocation. It causes the incapacitated condition, and you can use it as a reaction when you take damage. If you can trigger damage on your turn, you can still potentially take an action and bonus action for yourself, trigger damage, and then gain temp hp and be incapacitated until the end of your next turn, allowing your pets to have 2 turns to run free. It's only doable once per short rest though...
A neat touch spell you can cast through a familiar is Magic Stone, granting the Familiar a range attack if you have them already carrying a pouch of sling stones.
While I love the concept, it is far from able to hold up to other pet builds. My favorite pet build is a dragon summoner who takes 10 creation bard with find greater steed, summon draconic spirit, and flavor your dancing item as a mechanical dragon. Summon a dragonnel for your greater steed. Get 3 levels in warlock (pact of the chain) for eldritch blast+agonizing blast for reliable damage and a pseudodragon. Continue to bard 14 and grab dragon's breath and let your familiar have some fun. That is 4 pets, and you can double that if you grab simulacrum from your magical secrets as well. You should have Aid to increase all of their HPs, and grab the inspiring leader feat to throw a temp HP buffer on top that replenishes on a short rest. Side note: I really wish there was a draconic patron for warlocks. Give em a bunch of the dragon themed spells in their expanded list. I may have to create one that is essentially the drakewarden subclass on the warlock class instead of ranger.
I've been playing a Falconer in Last Epoch, and that has inspired a Falconer in D&D I don't know what classes I am planning on exactly yet, but I want to focus on a hawk familiar casting touch spells.
My favorite use of feign death was from our Curse of Strad campaign (contains minor spoilers and tooting of own horns): I played a vistani bard who had found out that the vistani camp outside valaki was run by two brothers, loyal to strad, one of which was looking for his lost daughter. I managed to convince him that i was a psychic who had seen his lost daughter in his dreams and could conduct a ritual with him in order to find her. As part of the ritual, i set up in a horsecart i asked for his consent to cast a spell on him, making him a willing creature for the feign death spell i was actually casting (i take it not every DM would allow this, but i think its reasonable and so did my DM). Then i tied a rope to the leaders lifeless body, atatched the other end to my horse waiting outside, rode out and started a coup of the camp with one of the leaders already "dead" and my companions in position to take out the second. I even played out the ritual at our table by playing "wish you were here" on guitar, which then turned into "blue soul" by graveyard
Nova build idea This is at Level 6: Class: fighter(Samurai from Xanathar’s) Race: Elf Feats: Sharpshooter+Elven Accuracy Dex:18 Nova round(no setup): Use your bonus action on fighting spirit to gain triple advantage on all your attacks for the round. Next, attack twice with your longbow and action surge to attack twice again. Use sharpshooter on every attack against AC 21 and below. Ac 10: 75 damage (rounded up) AC 15: 64 damage (rounded down) This build has an available concentration, no setup, and isn’t custom lineage. You can even attack from 600 feet away with your target behind 3/4 cover with no penalty. You might want to check my math on the damage because this is my first time building something like this.
Colby escapes: Slave to the damage spreadsheet no more! I think the power in the Feign Death trick is getting to use the special abilities of the bard’s animated friend and the Druid’s fire spirit at the same time. Too bad you can’t get the artificer’s spell storying item and let a pet concentrate while you snooze.
A guy I knew bragged that in Everquest he'd use Feign Death to grief other players. He'd aggro a public dungeon, like all of the mobs, Feign Death, and wait for a group to go by. When he cancelled the effect, all the mobs would come at him, but the victims would end up attacking the mobs, thinking they were being attacked themselves.
so, taking it to the logical 20th level conclusion with bard 8 and druid 3 and 4, nets 20 in INT and FINALLY takes us to 10 in CON, for 107 HP. Taking the Astral Drifter background also nets us a total of: 14 Cantrips (including all three of Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation and Druidcraft) and 37 spells (I took this as Twenty Four 1st level, Nine 2nd level, Three 3rd level, and One 4th level) with a total of 18 spell slots up to 8th level (for maximum BBEV irritation... if you're not already irritating them).
This gives me an idea. It would be homebrew and require DM buy-in, but I don't see it breaking anything. Rather than Feign Death, I'd argue with my DM that I should be able to command all my pets that require a bonus action with the same bonus action. That way I could can still concentrate/attacks and maximize your pets abilities. I'd love to see a rule like this to show up in One D&D, like a "Command Pet" bonus action.
"Pris: Must get lonely here, J.F. J.F. Sebastian: Not really. I MAKE friends. They're toys. My friends are toys. I make them. It's a hobby. I'm a genetic designer." hmmm Arcane Designer.
I might have missed an explanation, but everything I see when looking it up says that you can keep concentration during feign death, which would obviously massively change the output. If you see this, what would you use for your concentration?
Maybe your strangest idea ever 🙂 It's like Bilbo in the Hobbit that get knocked out during Battle of the Five Armies and don't awakes up until the battle is over.
The most obvious use or Song of Creation: Make expendable spell components with a gold cost... Another combat use, make a *really big* vial of acid for your ally to throw at an enemy.
If I were ever to play this build (says the forever DM) I think I'd flavor it as some sort of weird hive mind of lesser creatures where the PC is just a hub for their thoughts. A vessel.
I'd work with my Dzm to try and have each companion be a tinker construct that would them combine like the Megazord from Power Rangers. Combining stats and abilities to not make it OP, but fun. Have the Humonculus be the pilot. Haha
you can use song of creation to create mounts (counts as equipment and it says anything from the equipment section as an example) tho some dms might not allow it you can also use it for animate objects but that's concentration
The 8 constitution is strategic, if the enemies knock you out you save a 3rd level spell slot on incapacitating yourself
Exactly! 😂
Hijacking the top comment to ask @DnDDeepDive to build:
- 1 Fighter (CON proficiency + defense)/X Cleric Twilight;
- Warforged or Yuan-ti Pureblood;
- Any background with Shield or Silvery Barbs;
- Get Telekinetic or just ignore this and cast Spiritual Weapon instead;
- @6: Cast Spirit Guardians + BA Telekinetic to push an enemy into the AoE, then Twilight Sanctuary (if you do not have Telekinetic, cast Spiritual Weapon now), after that just Dodge + Telekinetic or Spiritual Weapon.
For a more AC oriented build, you could swap Twilight for Forge (+AC and Fire Resist)
@@igorbertoldo6237This build is so common dude
@@TF2ThriftyIt's not about being common, it's about the numbers and the math rocks that make my brain go BRRR!
@@igorbertoldo6237 You misunderstood, I am saying he already knows about this build because it's been around
My feign death story is using the mizzium apparatus. The mizzium apparatus lets one cast spells they don’t know with a successful arcana check, but cast a random spell on a failure. I wanted to talk to someone without potentially being overheard so I planned to use it to cast non-detection before asking my last question.
So, Columbo style, I turn back as our party is walking away, raise a finger and say, “Just one last thing.” I then make my rolls, discover I’ve failed the arcana check and will be casting feign death on myself instead of non-detection and get to narrate to my party, “Then Erik falls over, dead.”
ha ha! awesome!
Someone wanted to silence Columbo apparently
He had to accuse Death of killing someone of old age for his investigation that episode.
One of my favorite Feign Death uses was from my DM, whose NPC Wizard used a Contingency-cast Feign Death to pretend to have died in a fight, in order to hear how we as a party reacted to her death. She had very good reason to think we'd been compromised, so it was a really smart way to know if we were sent to kill her.
Awesome
My favorite Feign Death story comes from a one-shot I ran. The players needed to hold off an army with yhe help of a few NPCs so civilians could evacuate. Each PC had an NPC they took control of for the fight. One of the players took control of the resident old wizard, had him set up a bunch of Glyphs of Warding and then cast Feign Death on him the moment he first got hit in the fight, letting his familiar run around and trigger the glyphs as needed. Then, once the appriaching army had been weakened with a couple Divine Words, he had the wizard get back up and use a wall spell plus the last few Glyphs to hold them off long enough to let the party escape. The best part was that I had a few players playing the approaching army's generals, and they had no idea the wizard was feigning death 😂
Ha ha awesome!
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new winner for "Colby build most closely resembling the average DPR of a normal player".
😂
Bounty hunter duo, AKA the old Clint Eastwood, Mario Brega combo. Player A has a bounty on his head, uses feign death spell. Player B turns Player A in for bounty. Player A removed from morgue and they move on to next town.
Watch out for the deputy who goes through your pockets for loose change. 😂 OR they auction all your items.
The 'Juliet' Dagger was created for a High Elf theatre troupe. The wielder can use 'Feign Death' on itself or another willing creature. The target dies a bloody death, with optional dying soliloquy. The effect is ended early with the command phrase "Take your bow".
This is the most bizarre D&D build I've seen in ages, and I mean that in the best way possible
Narcomancer is actually perfect 😂
Honestly, that or Sleepy Shepard were my favorite names. What an interesting concept for a character build!
My favorite use for Feign Death is as a DM. When the party gets to the Big Bad, he puts up a big fight and then when the PCs "kill" him, his Death Ward pops, which triggers his Contingency to activate Feign Death. It's a good way to introduce a main villain early, so when the party inevitably fights him and wins in spite of what CR or my own planning says, the villain now has built-in excuse for me to metagame.
ooo... clever. I love it.
works great.. until they decide to decapitate or incinerate him. the PCs i play with do some horrific things regularly LOL
One of the best uses of Feign Death is to milk a chain loc's Imp/Pseudodragon for venom. Unfortunately the rules require the creature to be incapacitated, and FD is the easiest method since you can´t knock them to 0HP (familiars disappear when that happens).
Unfortunately it is just a spirit in the form of those things.
So Im not so sure thats raw.
What am I reading right now...
@@Dogo.R well if a wizard can stick his hand up his bat familiar's butt so he can cast fireball...
this is joke, do not take seriously
i have no clue what you're talking about so i looked up pseudodragon in 5e and this is what it said. fyi im pretty sure you're confused about some kind of rule or maybe there's something im missing here, this is the pseudodragon's sting attack
Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake it awake.
so the pseudodragon puts people unconcious, not just incapacitated (unconcious causes incapacitated, but incapacitated is an entirely different status effect) and feign death has no correlation to that whatsoever. how can you obtain venom from that lmao, your plan is to just sting yourself with your own familiar to farm venom? i'm confused
For me, a good use of Creation Bard's Performance of Creation is to create spell components that are consumed by the spell. A lot of the really expensive components are not attainable with this ability, but there are still some interesting options. 5 levels of Creation Bard and you can create the diamonds for Greater Restoration. 10 levels and you can create the diamond for Glyph of Warding. 15 levels and you get a free Revivify. A Creation Bard with a level in Paladin is basically a free Holy Water dispenser.
Just want to point out, @Creation level 14 the gold limit on what you can create goes away so eventually you're a dispensary for all of those really expensive components so long as the casting time for the spell is a number of hours less than or equal to your proficiency bonus.
@@RoninXDarknight Fair point. I forgot that the gold limit was eventually removed. So a level 14 Creation Bard, besides being able to create diamonds for Revivify, could also create the 25,000 gp diamond required for someone to cast True Resurrection. Also, at that level, they can create multiple items at a time, limited by their Charisma modifier, so a Creation Bard with 20 Charisma could as a single action conjure up 5 diamonds to Revivify the rest of their party after a near TPK.
@@CivilWarManExactly. Or what is probably my favorite use of the ability: Endless Hero's Feasts.
@@RoninXDarknight This all does make me want to play a Paladin/Creation Bard in a demon or undead-heavy campaign. Something like an Eladrin Ancients/Creation Bardadin soldier for some Archfey in the Feywild.
@@CivilWarMan I'm intrigued but not really seeing what you're trying to do w/a Bard/Paladin multiclass. I don't feel like adding Paladin to Bard gets you much honestly. What am I missing?
Then again, I'm weird. My favorite Paladin is Crown XD.
Turns out our friend here is only _mostly_ dead
*Mostly* dead is slightly alive
The Silvery Barbs Mob needs its own build.
I know right?
yes pls
My favorite part of this build is the Feign Death part. You can absolutely cast it on yourself but you are incapacitated. Since you are incapacitated you cant take an action to dismiss the spell on yourself meaning when you cast it you must wait an hour for the spell to end
Sorry everyone - forced short rest!
@@DnDDeepDiveWouldn't it make more sense to cast _Catnap_ instead, since that only lasts 10 minutes, even if it doesn't give you resistance to damage?
@@MalloonTarka I like it, but yeah, no defensive benefits and you wake as soon as you take damage, so it might foul your plans - especially since there’s no “anyone who checks you thinks your dead” verbiage - a smart enemy might just try and finish you off.
Weekend at Baldur's (Bernie's).
When the player character dies at the start of the campaign several companions do what they must to keep the party going.
I am giving my ranger player Feign Death as an ability attached to his quiver. He can swap one of his weapon attacks to shoot a "Feign Death arrow."
I can only imagine the absolutely amazing shinnanigans he will get up to with that ability available to him in the form of an arrow attack. 😅
23:44 GET HIM! GO FOR THE THROAT!!!!
ngl that was beyond adorable.
Should had tried Feign death, but I don't think it would had held them off.....
I laugh every time the Silvery Barbs squad attacks! XD
Enemies: *takes out Fred
Companions: So you have chosen death
I'm glad you went creation bard because it reminded me that they have free reign on spells that consume their material components and that caused me to start looking through the spells that consume their material components which reminded me that the graviturgy spell immovable object exists and how with two 6th level slots two boots and 50gp worth of gold dust you can create anti gravity boots which allow you to walk on air (probably at half speed so that you don't accidentally cause both of your boots to be "moving" which would cause you to fall of which case I hope you prepped feather fall) warning for anyone who wants to try this in their own games I'd recommend not using them in combat as that's a good way to get moved in a way that causes you to start moving both boots which will lead to plummeting
Congratulations to your niece and to all of you with your growing family Uncle Colby! She chose a wonderful singer.
Alternative race pick: if you’re rolling for stats, have access to homebrew stat or starting feat options, or have some way of not worrying as much about Abiltiy Scores, go for tortle and tuck yourself into your shell when you feign death to make it *slightly* more survivable
I would want to classify this build as a hybrid support/tank build. Having that many bodies on the field taking hits instead of your allies means greater survivability for the party. It still doesn't come online until later but drawing fire away from allies is always a win!
Fav childhood film drop dead fred, this build seems so fun
Conjure a carriage. Stay inside of it. Animate it. Feign death. The dancing object is immune to psychic damage and your enemies won't have line of sight to you if you so choose (curtains, no window at all or lying on the floor).
Drop Dead Fred: D&D Build #159
Level 01: (see above) [artificer 1 & race]
Level 02: (see above) [artificer 2 & infusions]
Level 03: (@19:00) [artificer 3 & subclass]
Level 04: (@22:23) [bard 1]
[Silvery Barbarian Mob] (23:42)
Level 05: (@24:06) [bard 2]
Level 06: (@24:37) [bard 3 & subclass]
Level 07: (see above) [bard 4 & ASI]
Level 08: (@32:32) [bard 5]
Level 09: (@33:58) [bard 6]
Level 10: (see above) [ranger 1]
Level 11: (@41:12) [ranger 2]
Level 12: (@41:58) [ranger 3 & subclass]
Level 13: (@44:20) [ranger 4 & ASI]
Level 14: (see above) [druid 1]
Level 15: (@46:52) [druid 2 & subclass]
Level 16: (@48:07) [artificer 4 & ASI]
Level 17: (@48:41) [bard 7]
This is the kind of beautifully absurd and absurdly smart idea that I'm here for. And the character art for this one is possibly my favourite of all time, just for our guy just conked out in the middle of it. Fantastic stuff from both of you, as ever!
Daddy Colby gives us an ASMR "Sleeper?🤔😅" build? Sign me up! 😂 (I'll see myself out. 🤣)
Oh my gosh! "Drop Dead Fred"!!! You're killing me! I legit started busting up in my 2nd period class when I got the notification. My students are very curious as to what made me laugh, but they just won't get it!
My only Feign Death story: We were stranded on an unidentified plane of darkness and dust, sheltered in some ruins. I, a wizard/warlock multi class, had begun banishing the party and chaining short rests to get all of us out. It was just me and the paladin last. We saw a dull glow in the distance, three sets of familiar glowing blue eyes. Previously our party had fought one of these monsters, Nightwalkers. Just 1 was enough to mess all of us up and kill one of us, and now the paladin and I were outnumbered. We hid in coffins in the ruins and I cast Feign Death on myself. The Paladin heard the monsters lumber into the ruins, wander around, and leave. After the coast was clear, he emerged to find me seemingly dead…and spent a 300 gold diamond trying to revive me lol.
enjoying build.. and I love that song. you got a great voice for John Denver.
About the object creation bards can create: it's super DM dependant, but there actually is looney tunes shenanigans if you get yourself a barely self supportive statue then lightly push it to fall on top of an enemy (of course, when it's large, so I guess not this build, but I'm still listening, maybe you'll surprise me!)
What's really crazy is I believe the dancing object makes the creation bard the best at damage dealing: genie/hexblade warlock 2 for e.blast, then at character level 12 you get summon celestial; the mote of potential will turn your inspiration into damage and presto! it's a murderous bard
“No summoning an anvil above an enemy” well that crushed my dreams immediately 🤪🤪🤪
Also this made me want to build a character around Wile E. Coyote
So say we all.
Summon an anvil with a rope tied to it, trailing end in your hand, onto the open beam above the enemy. Pull rope. Voila!
These type of builds are the builds I watch d4 for. We all know how to do a PAM Lock well, but this is such a unique idea.
I need an updated Asharadlons Stride build. That's by far my favorite build you've done
Love these builds around specific constraints! What an interesting blend of classes!
Hi, thanks for the shout-out. And for the build!
Narcomancer is what I'm going with.
My favourite, and so far only, Feign Death moment was when my cleric was going undercover in a group of evildoers. When he was expected to kill a traitor as a test of loyalty, my cleric used Feign Death to get out of that situation with his morals intact. Thanks for the video as always, Colby!
@dnddeepdive I love concept builds where DPR is not the main criterium 😀
Considering getting incapacitated, wouldn't it be much easier just to cast Sleep on yourself? If you look at how the spell is worded it seems totally fine. Yes, it´s not an hour, but in battle it takes a hyperintelligent enemy to figure out why they should mind you´re not part of the battle. And then you can bring this all online so much earlier 🙂
Narcomancer ! I dig it !
Used Feign Death to be "interred" within the Dustmen's Morgue in 2nd ed. Planescape, so that I could sneak a look at the Scroll of Names. This was with the intent of solving an intergalactic murder case. The good ol' days
this one and the asharladon strider are sure "tier one" of fun and geeat build ! nice job
This immediately struck me as one of the whackier concepts I’ve heard. Super fun! I would envision them as a Dreamer and have the pets manifest when they became incapacitated as an expression of their subconscious. Or,maybe you did too good a job on your Artificer pet, and the other pets are THEIR dreams, which they can only manifest by borrowing your magic while you’re out cold! Just my two cents worth of fun. Thanks Colby & Co.!
I have a Feign Death story! We were trying to rescue one of our party member's sister. We needed to perform a ritual to put her soul back into her original body instead of the demon-infested one it was currently in. We needed her alive and she needed to stay still for the ritual to work. Basically, we were able to call out to her and have her temporarily take control of the body for one round of a combat, letting her become a willing creature, so that we could cast Feign Death on her so we could perform the ritual.
Oh man I’m EXCITED to see what you do with this build
Hi!
I'm a long-time fan of your channel and saw you mention plans to create a Giant Barbarian Dart Throwing build recently! I've been planning to play exactly such a character and have been brainstorming how to make it as strong as possible over the past couple weeks. I just wanted to share what I had so far. Can't wait to see what you come up with for your eventual build too! Thanks for all you do for the community!
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Race: Bugbear
Background: Ruined (for the Alert feat)
Alert and Bugbear have great synergy, helping us secure the Surprise Attack damage. Plus as a character concept I'm going with the character originally having been a Cloud Giant, but due to Cloud Giant's tendencies towards gambling and wagers, they drew from the Deck of Many Things, resulting in them being Ruined and turned into a Bugbear, shunned from Giant Society.
(If your table doesn't allow a starting feat or backgrounds that grant them you can swap this with Lucky when we pick it at the end of the build)
Stats (Point Buy):
14+2 Str, 13 Dex, 15+1 Con, 8 Int, 11 Wis, 9 Cha
We'll wear half-plate armor, a shield in one hand, and throw darts with our free hand. This eventually gives us 19 AC which is nice as we'll also be raging, making us a pretty sturdy ranged martial.
Levels 1-11, in order:
Giant Barbarian 1-6
Pick up ASI-sharpshooter, extra attack, and then our (2d4 +1d6 + str mod + rage bonus) returning elemental dart (I know that technically we can't throw two darts each turn at level 5 since we can't draw and throw in a single attack yet, but this resolves at level 6 and if we really wanted to we could start Fighter at level 1 for thrown weapon style if the DM isn’t willing to bend the rules a bit at level 5 for us)
Battlemaster Fighter 1-3
Pick up Archery fighting style, action surge, and maneuvers. I’m thinking of Precision Attack, Quick Toss (to give us bonus action attacks, potentially with a net for a source of advantage), and Ambush (to help secure our Bugbear Surprise 2d6 bonus)
Peace Cleric 1
1d4 to our initiative rolls (plus another 1d4 if we can use guidance as well) and one attack per turn. Very helpful securing hits and our Suprise Attack.
Battlemaster Fighter 4
ASI-Gunner to cap our AC with 14 Dex and allow us to continue chucking darts even within melee
Then Levels 12-20, in order:
Gloomstalker Ranger 1-4
Expertise in stealth, Thrown Weapon Fighting Style for another +2 damage on top of our rage bonus. Can pick up Goodberry for healing and Longstrider to cast before combat for reliable increased more mobility. Then of course the gloomstalker bonus attack, increase to our initiative, and potential source of advantage if we’re invisible from fighting in darkness. For the ASI we can pick up Resilient (Wis) to get to 14 Wis and secure our Wisdom saves.
Assassin Rogue 1-3
Some added damage from sneak attack, another expertise, bonus action options, and another source of advantage if we beat enemy initiative in round 1 (which we should be at this point given we’ve built around initiative bonuses to secure our Bugbear damage). Auto crits on surprise is nice, and we’ll help secure it next level
Gloomstalker Ranger 5
Pass without Trace, Rope Trick, Aid. All can be used outside combat. Helps us secure surprise crits too!
Rogue 4
Final ASI, round out the build with Lucky. Our strength never passed 16 but we picked up a lot of opportunities to gain advantage and boost our to-hit bonuses. Lucky can serve that purpose as well but gives us more flexibility in how we apply the reroll.
I know that this build might be tough in Tier 1 since we don’t have a bonus action attack that we’d get in a CBE/Sharpshooter build, but we kind of resolve that via Quick Toss (albeit a limited number of uses), plus we’re much more durable than other sharpshooters due to raging, and the attacks we do make are empowered a lot via the oversized weapon, elemental damage, bugbear bonus, etc. I find it to be a fun blend of the two Mid-High Op martial Quick Builds on Tabletop Builds.
Dude I loved drop dead Fred as a kid, one of my favorite childhood movies.
The thing I love about these companions is that even if you’re not commanding them, they are still a decent source for damage tanking and control. If you throw them out front the enemy basically has to choose between attacking them at disadvantage or get an opportunity attack. Several even have nice reactions buffs like disadvantage on a critical attack.
I've been wanting a creation Bard build on this channel. I played one recently and had a blast with its creation abilities.
50:55 you're basically a crazy cat lady/person in social interactions too though.... a robo-dog and a drake is with you permanently. Between battles you might have the flying carpet and fire spirit as well...
A transformed industrialist who learned to value nature and fight on its behalf as a druid, befriending dragons and objects coming alive at your whim... not to mention the potential to influence other pcs, to teach them about the importance and power of friendship. Especially if your other players are minmaxing themselves
A military commander issues 1 order, many people act on it. I say "Sit", both my dogs sit. I say "Close", both my dogs walk at heel. I say "Get'im", both my dogs attack.
Bonus action: "Attack that one! ". 1 bonus action, 1 command, all pets/summons/animal companions obey.
If you want more joke builds I’d recommend the self prone lock build. Go wild hunt shifter, lay prone, ranger attacks have disadvantage, and melee is a straight roll since they can’t have advantage. Then I was thinking maybe shadow monk with a barb dip for reckless because they can’t have advantage on you, since your movement is halved you can use shadow monk to bamf around, maybe 2 levels in cleric for free teleports with twilight sanctuary. Alternatively just be wild hunt and go prone from range and be any saving throw spell caster, I just think a shadow monk, barbarian crawling around the map teleporting into darkness is amazing flavor and also having an eventual +20 to movement gives you a 25 foot crawl speed and that’s 55 feet per round with teleporting
I love Dumping CON, especially on tanks. It makes for very fun battles
I've played a Barbarian and Paladin with 8 CON. neither died, and both forfilled their role as party tank.
The con 8 reminded me of a character I had for a one shot. It was a level 17 oneshot with my family where we rolled for stats and had whatever magic items, I played a wizard and rolled great everywhere except for a 4. A FOUR. So naturally I got the greatest idea; if I put it in con, I got 3-3 HP per level, so as a level 17 wizard capable of molding the fabric of reality to my will, I had 2 HP. A commoner with a dagger had a 1 in 4 chance to kill me outright. Which of course, I died to a kobold minion in the first fight and had to roll up a new character immediately
I think at low levels, sleep would work well to incapacitate yourself. Just target a point ~ 20ft away from yourself but further from your companions and other allies
Our Necromancer Surgeon would use Feign Death as general anesthesia for performing surgeries! Very flavorful
I always love the artificial restriction builds! The magic touch sorcerer is one of my favorites.
That Silvery Barbs bit will always be the cutest.
But anyway I am so hear for this wacky experiment. I would love a build that focuses on the spell Tiny Servant. It may see like a bad Animate Dead spell but Tinies beat Skels and Zomberts on AC chance to hit and the low end of damage. Skels have +4 to hit and 2 on the low end for both ranged and melee. Zomberts have a +3 to hit and 2 on melee for the low end.
Tinies have 15 AC two more then Skels. They are Immune to poison and psychic. They have +5 to hit and 1d4 +3. But the two biggest thing they have on the undead is 1. you can give them a standing order such as "Attack hostile creatures" at the start of the 8 hour shift. I am pretty sure that that will work for the to jump into the fight right away. And then 2. they have BLINDSIGHT! Darkness shenanigans!
A cool concept for this build can be that you fall asleep and all your dreams come to life
I ❤️ the "NARCOMANCER." I'm using this for my next NPC. Thank you!
In earlier editions, the Monk could use Feign Death on himself. I used it whenever the party's Bard used his criminally-bad puns.
Absolutely add the Sleep spell to this build. By level 5, we still only have 23 max hps. Sleep at base level is knocking out 5d8 worth which is 22.5 on avg, and shouldn't vary too far. It actually upcasts very well in this case with an extra 2d8 per slot. Meaning for a 2nd level spell, it's 31.5 on avg, and a 3rd level cast makes it 40.5. So we conk out quite efficiently at most levels. Especially if we've fallen below max hps already. Still a bit dangerous, because any damage could stir us from our sleep, and bring us into a waking nightmare. That makes Feign Death still the only reliable mechanic for staying down, and keeps us resistant to all damage even if we do get targeted or included in an AoE. Meaning our effective hps actually aren't that bad when playing possum.
Catnap would be another once per day option for our allies to use in a pinch. It's not concentration, and if we have time post combat to just finish a short rest within 10mins then it's a pretty slick move. Our allies could take this and/or us. Works well with Warlocks/Monks/Fighters in the party. Maybe if we're wrapping up a fight, just need a little extra oomph, and an ally or two have already taken their final turns we could knock them out with us. Timing it is risky, but you could end up with a superb pit stop crew effect.
The Monk ally could also throw one punch our way for a tactical Stunning Strike against our terrible Con. We'll definitely make up for the damage lost.
Working Warlock 5-7 into this build could get us Tomb of Levistus which is the perfect Reaction for this build if you're only trying to go catatonic in emergency situations. It incapacitates us, and protects us upon taking any damage. While there are no pet subclasses for Warlock, they do get us a ton of 3rd level pact slots to play with. Chain Pact for an Imp to safely spam the help Action for something else's juicier attacks. Like a Summoned Greater Demon, which if you lose concentration on, the demon sticks around for 1d6 more rounds. They don't obey us anymore, but they still are likely to just keep assaulting whatever backline monsters we let them loose on. Summoning two of those right before our Monk comes over to give us a timeout, or any ally/enemy dealing damage to us, would create some exciting nova rounds. Of course we can maintain control on summoning spells for the better part of an hour before deploying the trick. Adding Agonizing and Repelling Blast would get our Sustained DPR up way higher.
Our allies could also help knock us out with Sleep, Hypnotic Pattern, or Banishment. Starting as an our Artificer, we're quite vulnerable to Wis saves so Hypnotic would be very effective. We just charge into the fray of enemies if our turn comes right before an allied controller. Sleep for emergencies when we're dangerously low on health. Enough so that the cast would also get another enemy. Banishment may be a bit tougher with prioritizing our Cha, but it could be upcast to target an enemy and us. Best way to protect us by far if we're in a bind. Allies or us could actually use Silvery Barbs if allowed to reroll the save if we make it. Hold Person could also work, but that seems quite likely to turn us into a combustible pinata. Maybe we're out of harm's way though, or the enemies don't have any good means to attack. Efficient spell slot and save.
My favorite (non team up) build of yours is the Pokémon Trainer, it's what got me into watching your videos! I'm so excited about this one
Feign Death is to my understanding more a DM spell than a player spell. Excellent for fake out deaths or keeping players from tracking someone. Consider that Feign Death is a valid option for Contingency and Glyph of Warding. Also it grants you that resistance to most damage and temporarily nullifies poison. Very much a spell for thematics and crafty clerics
Maybe it's because I'm watching D20 Neverafter, but I imagine this character as a damsel in distress that calls upon all kinds of little critters to aid her and then just faints
Another option is the Tomb of Levistus warlock invocation. It causes the incapacitated condition, and you can use it as a reaction when you take damage. If you can trigger damage on your turn, you can still potentially take an action and bonus action for yourself, trigger damage, and then gain temp hp and be incapacitated until the end of your next turn, allowing your pets to have 2 turns to run free. It's only doable once per short rest though...
A neat touch spell you can cast through a familiar is Magic Stone, granting the Familiar a range attack if you have them already carrying a pouch of sling stones.
This build sounds super fun. I've got a buddy who would absolutely love taking this to its silliest extreme 😂
This one definitely sounds like the most fun to play, for me Specifically, of all the builds so far.
Sleeping Beauty and her Beasts would also be a good title
"The Yamcha" made me almost spit my dinner 😂😂
While I love the concept, it is far from able to hold up to other pet builds. My favorite pet build is a dragon summoner who takes 10 creation bard with find greater steed, summon draconic spirit, and flavor your dancing item as a mechanical dragon. Summon a dragonnel for your greater steed. Get 3 levels in warlock (pact of the chain) for eldritch blast+agonizing blast for reliable damage and a pseudodragon. Continue to bard 14 and grab dragon's breath and let your familiar have some fun. That is 4 pets, and you can double that if you grab simulacrum from your magical secrets as well. You should have Aid to increase all of their HPs, and grab the inspiring leader feat to throw a temp HP buffer on top that replenishes on a short rest.
Side note: I really wish there was a draconic patron for warlocks. Give em a bunch of the dragon themed spells in their expanded list. I may have to create one that is essentially the drakewarden subclass on the warlock class instead of ranger.
I've been playing a Falconer in Last Epoch, and that has inspired a Falconer in D&D
I don't know what classes I am planning on exactly yet, but I want to focus on a hawk familiar casting touch spells.
My favorite use of feign death was from our Curse of Strad campaign (contains minor spoilers and tooting of own horns):
I played a vistani bard who had found out that the vistani camp outside valaki was run by two brothers, loyal to strad, one of which was looking for his lost daughter. I managed to convince him that i was a psychic who had seen his lost daughter in his dreams and could conduct a ritual with him in order to find her. As part of the ritual, i set up in a horsecart i asked for his consent to cast a spell on him, making him a willing creature for the feign death spell i was actually casting (i take it not every DM would allow this, but i think its reasonable and so did my DM). Then i tied a rope to the leaders lifeless body, atatched the other end to my horse waiting outside, rode out and started a coup of the camp with one of the leaders already "dead" and my companions in position to take out the second. I even played out the ritual at our table by playing "wish you were here" on guitar, which then turned into "blue soul" by graveyard
Nova build idea
This is at Level 6:
Class: fighter(Samurai from Xanathar’s)
Race: Elf
Feats: Sharpshooter+Elven Accuracy
Dex:18
Nova round(no setup):
Use your bonus action on fighting spirit to gain triple advantage on all your attacks for the round. Next, attack twice with your longbow and action surge to attack twice again.
Use sharpshooter on every attack against AC 21 and below.
Ac 10: 75 damage (rounded up)
AC 15: 64 damage (rounded down)
This build has an available concentration, no setup, and isn’t custom lineage. You can even attack from 600 feet away with your target behind 3/4 cover with no penalty.
You might want to check my math on the damage because this is my first time building something like this.
Writing this at the beginning of the concept: Really hoping there's no concentration summon in here, since you can't concentrate when incapacitated 😅
Colby escapes: Slave to the damage spreadsheet no more! I think the power in the Feign Death trick is getting to use the special abilities of the bard’s animated friend and the Druid’s fire spirit at the same time. Too bad you can’t get the artificer’s spell storying item and let a pet concentrate while you snooze.
A guy I knew bragged that in Everquest he'd use Feign Death to grief other players. He'd aggro a public dungeon, like all of the mobs, Feign Death, and wait for a group to go by. When he cancelled the effect, all the mobs would come at him, but the victims would end up attacking the mobs, thinking they were being attacked themselves.
I laughed so hard when you were naming it and said Yamcha. I’m almost 31 and will always love re watching dbz
so, taking it to the logical 20th level conclusion with bard 8 and druid 3 and 4, nets 20 in INT and FINALLY takes us to 10 in CON, for 107 HP. Taking the Astral Drifter background also nets us a total of:
14 Cantrips (including all three of Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation and Druidcraft) and 37 spells (I took this as Twenty Four 1st level, Nine 2nd level, Three 3rd level, and One 4th level) with a total of 18 spell slots up to 8th level (for maximum BBEV irritation... if you're not already irritating them).
Liked just for the title as soon as I saw it. Movie was a classic from my childhood!
This gives me an idea. It would be homebrew and require DM buy-in, but I don't see it breaking anything.
Rather than Feign Death, I'd argue with my DM that I should be able to command all my pets that require a bonus action with the same bonus action. That way I could can still concentrate/attacks and maximize your pets abilities. I'd love to see a rule like this to show up in One D&D, like a "Command Pet" bonus action.
Drop Dead Fred is one of my favorite movies of all time, ever since I was just a little guy I wished I'd had an imaginary friend ❤
Always enjoy your videos! Thanks Colby!
"The Yamcha" 😂😂😂
I just got the permission to play the Humble Wood Mapach as an Opossum ... this build fits waaay too perfect for that xD
"Pris: Must get lonely here, J.F.
J.F. Sebastian: Not really. I MAKE friends. They're toys. My friends are toys. I make them. It's a hobby. I'm a genetic designer."
hmmm Arcane Designer.
I might have missed an explanation, but everything I see when looking it up says that you can keep concentration during feign death, which would obviously massively change the output. If you see this, what would you use for your concentration?
Being incapacitated breaks concentration… www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/spellcasting#Concentration
I imagine at least one pet would be like 'the fights over lazy bones! You can get up now!'
Every time the Silvery Barbs mob attacks it makes me smile its so cute
Maybe your strangest idea ever 🙂
It's like Bilbo in the Hobbit that get knocked out during Battle of the Five Armies and don't awakes up until the battle is over.
The most obvious use or Song of Creation: Make expendable spell components with a gold cost...
Another combat use, make a *really big* vial of acid for your ally to throw at an enemy.
This is the kinda of thing I personally like. Not awful, but it is different rather than the typical stack damage in a straight line.
I think this is the most interesting idea I've seen in ages!
If I were ever to play this build (says the forever DM) I think I'd flavor it as some sort of weird hive mind of lesser creatures where the PC is just a hub for their thoughts. A vessel.
Use that creation with artificer to use tools you need or just dungeon exploration items. Heck even a med kit if needed
I'd work with my Dzm to try and have each companion be a tinker construct that would them combine like the Megazord from Power Rangers. Combining stats and abilities to not make it OP, but fun. Have the Humonculus be the pilot. Haha
LOL
Noice! I am Powa Ranga!
you can use song of creation to create mounts (counts as equipment and it says anything from the equipment section as an example) tho some dms might not allow it you can also use it for animate objects but that's concentration
Hats off to whoever came up with the Yamcha, someone buy that person a beer.
Comatose Pokémon trainer was the best title for this kind of build that I've seen
You chose VIOLENCE when you suggested the "Yamcha".... savage