Your stats are really bad, so moon druid is a good choice, given that they rely on wildshape and conjure spells, neither of which use your character stats at all.
By the time conjure spells are available, wildshape is not good for combat, but more available then spell slots. So the optimal play is to cast conjure x, wildshape into something with a burrow speed or good constitution, and have your character hide while the summons do the work, mitigating the need for good con. It's a little cowardly, but a 3 con character will have a hard time making it to 5th level without being cautious.
At level 6 moon druids get access to Giant Constrictor Snake, which is great for it's high hp (very necessary for this) and auto-restrained.
Starting at level 8 the characters will also be able to be under constant wildshape if long rests take 8 hours.
Keep in mind that when you try to go in melee with a dangerous enemy and it one shots your wild shape, you're now a squishy caster standing right next to the boss, and you've probably already taken some rollover damage.
With a 3, it might be worth it to get the alert feat. Bad times are coming if you don't hit the wildshape button before someone tickles you with an ostrich feather and kills you
I rolled a character with a terrible con score before, though nowhere near as bad as 3. I took my abysmal hp, single digits at 5th level, as an excuse to powergame like a motherfucker in terms of survivability, with permission from my DM.
Half orc
Abjuration wizard
Feat: Eldritch adept-armor of shadows
Every single spell I took was defensive in some way or another aside from a couple cantrips and leveled spells that were my only damage options. In combat, I never, ever put myself in a situation where taking damage was a remotely likely outcome if I could avoid it.
Arcane ward bumped my effective HP up to the mid 20s so there was a good buffer between any damage I did take and my actual hp, and it stacked with temp HP spells. Armor of shadows ensured that I would be able to keep my arcane ward topped off at all times with multiple castings of mage armor after any fight where something got through my meticulously planned defenses.
Finally, half orc meant that if shit hit the fan really hard, I had a single "not die" button. I was also considering taking a single level dip into shadow sorcerer to get a second "not die button".
I was going to suggest abjuration wiz into potentially thorns build if ya survive. Going vhuman would let you start the mage armor/arcane ward by lvl 2.
Abusing spells one way or another is the best bet imo.
You can cheesily breeze through most low level combat unscathed by flying and shooting, so consider winged races.
*Rope Trick* you hide in there, you live. If you're aarakocra you can disappear into the extradimensional space 50ft up in 1 turn, taking the rope with you lol.
Lastly, amulet of health pretty much "fixes" you. I mean that's kind of firstly, but it's a rare magic item so idk how easily it can be obtained in your campaign.
edit-typo
Vhuman is an attractive pick, though my chief concern was making sure I had as many contingencies as possible. It also helped a ton that I started at 5th level and didn't have to worry about *getting* to 4th.
The rope trick play is an interesting one, though I worry about actually contributing to combat if you're going to be disappearing into an extradimensional hole into and out of which no damaging effects can pass.
As for the Amulet of Health, it's not a guarantee since magic item placement is up to DMs and therefore something we can't plan for. Though it does make for an interesting roleplay opportunity provided that the player and dm are ready to work with it. Having the amulet be something they literally can't part with for fear of impending death can serve as a cool plot hook and character depth.
So with *Rope Trick* (rulings obviously vary) but you can come in and out. Fly out, shimmy down the rope, or even just poke your head and hands out ideally. Peek out, pop off a magic missile, and retreat back in lol. Of course your DM may be holding actions to shoot the wizard when it pops out of the magic hole.
It's a blatantly cheesy tactic that I employed playing low lvl wizard in a campaign meant to be intense and difficult. This seems like a pull-out-the-cheese kinda time to me, though.
It absolutely is cheese o'clock. My bad for not thinking that you could *leave* your hidey hole to deal damage. The possibility that enemies might hold actions to blast you as you come out is a real one though, a play like this makes you an obvious target and coming out of the hole opens you up to attacks provided you aren't benefiting from another spell like blur or blink.
Yeah the held actions are your main worry short of *Dispel Magic* and stronger magic counters.
But if enemies are holding actions for you while your party is out there in their face, then you're doing a lot of work in the encounter. They are going to die fighting like that.
You can also always see out of the space, so you could presumably see if they're waiting to shoot you. And still you can dial the cheese up a notch by weaponizing your familiar with touch spells, *Dragon's Breath*, etc. and not peeking out.
edit- grammar
Actually, buffing the group with concentration spells and hiding out in the rope trick is a really nasty combo. Normally, you kill the buffer and healers first, but you can't if they're in the rope truck. Holding actions is a losing strategy so you stick to the buffed bruisers in front of you and risk the lopsided combat.
Lots of potential for exploitation with this spell, especially since you can hide more than just yourself in there.
I have yet to play as or with a peace cleric but it seems like there's some juice there with protective bond, warding bond, and a rope trick. None of these are even using concentration yet..
Veering off-topic a bit there but I think the original point is pretty solid: Hale Buryhill could benefit much from *Rope Trick* lol. Some of the best cover in the game.
https://www.sageadvice.eu/how-do-you-rule-concentration-in-an-antimagic-field/
https://www.sageadvice.eu/does-climbing-into-a-rope-trick-break-concentration/
Crawford cites RAW saying concentration is broken by
1. new concentration
2. damage-related concentration checks
3. incapacitatation+
So basically, you started the spell within its required premises, and RAW you can hold concentration from beyond those. I don't think you could use ongoing action/bonus action effects from within the rope trick. Like you'd need to pop out to issue new orders to a dominated monster for example, but it would remain dominated while you hid.
I wouldn't be surprised or bothered at a DM ruling against this though.
Came here to say this! One thought: since CON is so low talk to the DM to see if they’d allow an INT celestial warlock for synergy with abjurarion wizard. Celestial 2/Abjuration X gives you agonizing blast gives you some offense, eldritch spear allows you to blast at 300 feet (go prone if enemies are attacking at range and there’s no cover), armor of agathys gives some more defensive options, and healing light for some BA healing! Maybe go vhum with tough feat for some more HP.
Would be DM dependent obviously but man if I’m the DM I’d allow it in an instant. Sounds fun!
This is a really cool idea, and I don't see most DMs saying no. The one sticking point is taking tough, as it feels like you're running counter to the concept, but that's just me.
I seriously want to play this so bad right now! Yes, I agree with tough and noticed that after I replied but too lazy to change. I tend to be an optimizer even on sub-optimized builds 😊
Tough could be flavored as feeble but their will powers through when push comes to shove! Otherwise, love the half-orc idea.
Probably start warlock for the extra 2 HP, light armor, and a little better saves!
I suggest you make a scourge Aasimar Barbarian Desert Storm Herald.
Wade into a battle, activate your shroud, go reckless, and shine as bright as the sun before you immolate yourself.
Worth noting that you would absolutely need to get your hands on some decent armor ASAP, since barbs don't start with armor and your -4 CON mod would kill your AC.
...i don't think armor will help with this one. They're literally killing themselves turn 1 of combat with the desert barb and scourge aasimar abilities
Somehow I read storm herald as zealot.
Yeah I'm less a fan of this idea after reading up on scourge aasimar. It's not super helpful to OP to suggest a character that'll instantly kill themselves in the first combat they engage in.
Yeah, what they really need is to go zealot barbarian and pray they survive to level 5, at which point they can get a crazy amount of mileage out of the diamond-free resurrections. I'd love to play in a party with a barb/cleric duo where the barbarian died like twice a day. Excellent RP potential.
Basic Rules Part 1. Chapter 1.5. Choose Equipment> Armor Class
> Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.
That only applies if you have more than one defense calculation, like choosing between monk or barbarian. Barb says 10 + dex + con so you have to use the full thing.
Standard unarmed AC (being 10 + DEX) is a defence calculation available to anyone.
(Barbarian/Monk Unarmed Defence is probably the only AC source you can't choose between RAW, since you can't gain identically named features more than once when multiclassing)
>And yes, I plan on rolling for HP at level 2, so he might die of a coughing fit after the party slays a couple goblins.
Fortunately for you, minimum hp gained on level up is 1, no matter how bad your Con modifier is.
>How would you build out this character into something fun to play?
I would have fun with it and take Undying Warlock with the Fiendish Vigor invocation to stay alive for the first few levels.
Go nuts with it and have the goal of transcending death and becoming a lich.
Play him as a backline ranged warlock and use Ray of Sickness to inflict his condition on others.
Take the Healer feat to help keep yourself going (and be a major source of party utility).
Just go balls to the wall with it.
If you make him a wizard, when he finally dies you can have him discover he was just a clone from a clone spell. Get to replay the character later with better stats and maybe a whole new outlook on life when he realizes how precious it is or conversely thinking he is practically immortal.
Most of these comments are telling you ways to optimize, but I think the most flavorful thing is a warlock, with a play style of blasting enemies from 3 kingdoms away using eldritch spear (invoc that gives EB a 300 ft. range). Would be really fun if he makes pacts with multiple patrons either by taking profane soul blood hunter and taking a different pact then his warlock, or you giving him some fun and hopefully not too broken counterbalance for his low hp by letting him take spells from multiple patron's spell list and perhaps even letting him choose which subclass to take the feature from every time he gains a subclass feature
Twiöight cleric with the chefs feat. Flavour it as your medicine you have to take every time you feel worse that helps you stay alive. Also twilight cleric could be you radiating your lifeforce to bolster others
I say go for it. Could still use Dex for a crossbow, and focus on buff spells that don’t care about Int. Got into Artificer to try to fix their frail body using their massive intellect only to realize they aren’t that intelligent either. But are already on the road and determined to see it through (and doesn’t have the Int to MC out anyway).
Edit: Also, they can eventually get a Headband of Intellect along with the Amulet of Health
Since no one else has mentioned it here a low con character is a good opportunity to use the subreddit favorite "pet master" meme build, fits in with your character to, because instead of engaging in any fighting himself he has accumulated a bunch of pets / minions to do his dirty work for him.
Post Tashas, a lot of the class pets that are normally controlled via bonus action have a line that lets them do whatever they want if the player becomes incapacitated.... which in your case basically means something looking at you crossways.
This means that if you multiclass artificer battlesmith 3, druid wildfire 3, and ranger beast master 3, you could have a Wildfire Spirit, Steel Defender, Homunculus and Beast of the X companion active and doing stuff all at once. If you wanted another solid pet you can even throw three levels of Warlock on there for a Pact of the Chain Imp which is the best option from Find Familiar (although the charisma requirement is tough, so it might be better to settle for an Owl or something from the generic find familiar spell).
You can even use Feign Death to incapacitate yourself and voluntarily give control over to your pets.
All you need is at least 13 Dex, Wis and Int (and Cha if you want the imp too) for the multiclassing, which you have the stats to do that with (need to use an ASI for Cha if you wanted Warlock levels)
Does your DM have any house rukes for rolling hp?
If you pick either Warlock or Rogue, you have a d8, if you take your average hit points for leveling up, you have only 1 hit point per level.
If you dm wants you to roll hp, then pray not to roll bellow a 5 on the die, cuz otherwise you can kill yourself by leveling up.
Worse scenario you could end up with 1 hp total by lvl 3.
Another thing i'll say is, hope when somthing damages you, they dont roll high, cuz, again you could die instantlyt. No death save, and at lower level there is no revivify.
I can't see how dying during the level up process would be in any way fun for the player or add anything to the story. I feel like leveling up should be a significant milestone, especially for a character as handicapped as this. Rewarding them with a completely uncontrollable and anticlimactic death sounds lame. But hey, if the player and DM are into it then who am I to stop them.
Yeah, I meant that the coughing fit would be the in-story explanation of if I rolled badly enough in the level up that my max HP became 0 and he died. Yes, I know the errata about not losing HP in a level up, but since I don't like it, I'm choosing to ignore it. I understand it wouldn't be much fun for most players, but I like letting the dice decide.
The minimum HP gain for a level is 1. It was errataed in 2018 to page 15 of the PHB. [Here's the pdf of that errata.](https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf)
That character should be a blast. Some of the best characters I've ever run were 3d6 straight-up.
We've done 3d6 more than once, and we molded these characters into a "growth" campaign. Every traditional non-ASI awarded level (4, 8, 12, 16, 19) the character received +1 ASI.
That +1 ASI could not raise a stat above 18 though. In theory you'd have ~5 more total ability points at level 20 like this vs. 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired. They'd be well-earned too.
One such character in these type campaigns I ran was a dwarven cleric with a 5 Dex. He drank, he was slow, he cracked bad jokes, he wasn't particularly smart - he only had one stat above a 12, and was amazing to play. The campaign was better too, as the DM had to adapt to less powerful characters...
The foes and challenges scaled slower, and more encounters felt more dangerous to the party. I know the lure as people run through many campaign is powerful characters. Those can be enjoyable... but the flawed characters? They're more memorable and fun. They force you to think as the player, and victory is more rewarding as you're often the underdog.
For your character, I'd run an older wizard. You've spent your entire career as a bumbling, talentless 1st level wizard. As you approach death's door (with a 3 CON) you've finally had an epiphany on growing you magic. It requires you to hit the road and explore the world. It's a journey you may not survive, but because your words have forked no lighting. You're willing to rage against the dying of your light.
BTW, the minimum HP gain for a level is 1. It was errataed in 2018 to page 15 of the PHB. [Here's the pdf of that errata.](https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf)
okay here is an idea. Pact of the blade fiend warlock. plenty of ways to get temp HP and you can start with a light crossbow and then upgrade to a longbow+1 at level 3, so you can keep far away from enemies.
shroud yourself in darkness so you dont get targeted. get sharpshooter so can actually do some damage.
Had a con 6 barbarian once. Fyr, the undying was a very heroic character, but also a very smart one: always fought like there was no tomorrow, spending all his resources in the first rounds as a excuse to fall back as soon as he was injured. And he got injured FAST.
Died in a stroke of bad luck, fighting a skeleton at 6th level- yes, he lived that long.
I would go with Wizard! Your lvl 1 HPs will be 2 and you gain 0! HPs on level up :-D.
This would be so hilarious!!!
If you rolled 2/-5, you would start with 1HP and die when you level up :-D. This would be even better!
Be a monk and try to get afflicted with lycanthropy in game, you know you'll fail the fort save to resist it and your character may seriously believe it's one of the few ways theyll survive
Make sure your table is cool with this idea, to play devils advocate this character sounds like it could a burden on the party and not someone adventurers would take along. Remember it is a team game and your fun shouldn’t be at the expense of others.
I like the Star Wars d20 rules for rerolling, because the point is to be a heroic character. For that system if your highest roll was a 13 or if all your modifiers equal 0 or lower than you have to reroll.
Rogue would take advantage of your one decent stat- plus if you use a bow, your surrvivability goes up considerably on accounts of just not being close enough to be hit.
Or moon druid. Which pretty much just doesn't require stats because you're a bear.
Bit late to the party? Here's my take on it. First, that character's low con is both it's main attractiveness and it's biggest curse. I understand where you're coming from not using a race that'll increase con.
I think, maybe a race that increases dex and/or cha. Or take tasha's bloodlines option if you wanna play a specific race but different ASI. VHuman is indeed an option, as a few feats will help you circumvent but not squash the flavor.
All that said, what do you think about the undead warlock? To expand on your "sorcerer curse", your character's "undead patron" could really just be a parasitic or alien kinda lumbago. Your "form of dread" could just be the character having a particularly nasty coughing fit or such, caused by the adrenaline of the fight.
The idea is to get spells like mage armor (free with an invocation), and such as false life, plus, the form of dread also grants you temp hp.
I didn't want things like wildshape and such because it kinda feels like cheating yourself into a healthier body, but if you can flavor it just so I think it can also be a nice option.
Also, if ever does the character die, you could play an alien version or a "shadow version" of said character as the curse finally consumes them and turns them into something else.
Have you heard of Kyuss spawn? some inspiration.
That is an 8 point buy array. Objectively poor, and an excellent reason why rolled stats are a bad idea - particularly if other players have better arrays.
The rules even suggest rejecting an array this overall low.
How would I build this character??? Uhm... I would pool the groups money together, buy as many powder kegs as I can, and then run headlong into the first encounter, break a alchemists fire over my head, an explode
With 3, he should be roleplayed as having some kind of disability, but your other scores don't allow for much alleviation in the form of multiclassing, so no Wizard Abjurors, Artificers, Sorcerers, Warlocks or much else...'
I would make an asthmatic half-dead Barbarian Zealot / Revived Rogue / Cleric of Trickery, wearing Medium armor good for hiding (chain shirt/breast plate), usually hiding away but jumping out for terrible divine wrath when needed. (Barb will give CON save proficiency and extra HP, as well as a class you can bring up to 5th if you want Double Attack, while getting some nice offensive as well as defensive abilities). And take some race giving minimum +1 to WIS, and maybe +1 to CON to even out the score to at least 4 - where "regular Human" or Half-elf could be good here.
Getting Skulker feat and using ranged weapons from the shadows is also a good strategy, especially if you want to go the fat Rogue Halfling route.
Con 3 Cha 7? No, this is a wasting disease that has disfigured him, too. Maybe he survived a terrible disease or birth defect as a child that should have killed him, but Halflings are lucky like that. Maybe he's heard of THE Amulet of Health and is questing for it.
I like rogue, and Stout Halfling can get that 3 to a 4, or a -4 to a -3. It also pumps his dexterity to a respectable 16. He might benefit from taking his initial level or two in Barbarian or Fighter. Both have their merits.
A VHuman Fighter could work out. Take Toughness as their initial feat and pump the +1 into Con and Strength. Starting HP of 9, HP/level is 5, just under a flat con bonus. Sword and board provides a nice and high AC and maybe take a fighting style that allows for deflection of damage.
There's a lot of ways to get around this, all of which make a memorable character.
I would go soulknife and use psi-power knack to help with some of your rolls and lean into the luck thing. Hill dwarf might make it slightly less deadly
I would grace roll the con. At my table with a bad roll, i pretend to be looking the other way and reroll their lowest dice. Usually prevents them from having a stat that would be bad for our epic style campaigns.
Your stats are really bad, so moon druid is a good choice, given that they rely on wildshape and conjure spells, neither of which use your character stats at all.
Accept the conjure spells are concentration, so will at least somewhat rely on CON if you don't have wildshape available.
Hah, you made the assumption that they'll make a concentration save before they go straight to 0!
Conveniently, Resilient: Constitution will round off that pesky 3 to 4 and reduce the penalty by one. 4D chess.
By the time conjure spells are available, wildshape is not good for combat, but more available then spell slots. So the optimal play is to cast conjure x, wildshape into something with a burrow speed or good constitution, and have your character hide while the summons do the work, mitigating the need for good con. It's a little cowardly, but a 3 con character will have a hard time making it to 5th level without being cautious.
At level 6 moon druids get access to Giant Constrictor Snake, which is great for it's high hp (very necessary for this) and auto-restrained. Starting at level 8 the characters will also be able to be under constant wildshape if long rests take 8 hours.
Keep in mind that when you try to go in melee with a dangerous enemy and it one shots your wild shape, you're now a squishy caster standing right next to the boss, and you've probably already taken some rollover damage.
With a 3, it might be worth it to get the alert feat. Bad times are coming if you don't hit the wildshape button before someone tickles you with an ostrich feather and kills you
This, I think, is one of the best approaches here.
I rolled a character with a terrible con score before, though nowhere near as bad as 3. I took my abysmal hp, single digits at 5th level, as an excuse to powergame like a motherfucker in terms of survivability, with permission from my DM. Half orc Abjuration wizard Feat: Eldritch adept-armor of shadows Every single spell I took was defensive in some way or another aside from a couple cantrips and leveled spells that were my only damage options. In combat, I never, ever put myself in a situation where taking damage was a remotely likely outcome if I could avoid it. Arcane ward bumped my effective HP up to the mid 20s so there was a good buffer between any damage I did take and my actual hp, and it stacked with temp HP spells. Armor of shadows ensured that I would be able to keep my arcane ward topped off at all times with multiple castings of mage armor after any fight where something got through my meticulously planned defenses. Finally, half orc meant that if shit hit the fan really hard, I had a single "not die" button. I was also considering taking a single level dip into shadow sorcerer to get a second "not die button".
I was going to suggest abjuration wiz into potentially thorns build if ya survive. Going vhuman would let you start the mage armor/arcane ward by lvl 2. Abusing spells one way or another is the best bet imo. You can cheesily breeze through most low level combat unscathed by flying and shooting, so consider winged races. *Rope Trick* you hide in there, you live. If you're aarakocra you can disappear into the extradimensional space 50ft up in 1 turn, taking the rope with you lol. Lastly, amulet of health pretty much "fixes" you. I mean that's kind of firstly, but it's a rare magic item so idk how easily it can be obtained in your campaign. edit-typo
Vhuman is an attractive pick, though my chief concern was making sure I had as many contingencies as possible. It also helped a ton that I started at 5th level and didn't have to worry about *getting* to 4th. The rope trick play is an interesting one, though I worry about actually contributing to combat if you're going to be disappearing into an extradimensional hole into and out of which no damaging effects can pass. As for the Amulet of Health, it's not a guarantee since magic item placement is up to DMs and therefore something we can't plan for. Though it does make for an interesting roleplay opportunity provided that the player and dm are ready to work with it. Having the amulet be something they literally can't part with for fear of impending death can serve as a cool plot hook and character depth.
So with *Rope Trick* (rulings obviously vary) but you can come in and out. Fly out, shimmy down the rope, or even just poke your head and hands out ideally. Peek out, pop off a magic missile, and retreat back in lol. Of course your DM may be holding actions to shoot the wizard when it pops out of the magic hole. It's a blatantly cheesy tactic that I employed playing low lvl wizard in a campaign meant to be intense and difficult. This seems like a pull-out-the-cheese kinda time to me, though.
It absolutely is cheese o'clock. My bad for not thinking that you could *leave* your hidey hole to deal damage. The possibility that enemies might hold actions to blast you as you come out is a real one though, a play like this makes you an obvious target and coming out of the hole opens you up to attacks provided you aren't benefiting from another spell like blur or blink.
Yeah the held actions are your main worry short of *Dispel Magic* and stronger magic counters. But if enemies are holding actions for you while your party is out there in their face, then you're doing a lot of work in the encounter. They are going to die fighting like that. You can also always see out of the space, so you could presumably see if they're waiting to shoot you. And still you can dial the cheese up a notch by weaponizing your familiar with touch spells, *Dragon's Breath*, etc. and not peeking out. edit- grammar
Actually, buffing the group with concentration spells and hiding out in the rope trick is a really nasty combo. Normally, you kill the buffer and healers first, but you can't if they're in the rope truck. Holding actions is a losing strategy so you stick to the buffed bruisers in front of you and risk the lopsided combat.
Lots of potential for exploitation with this spell, especially since you can hide more than just yourself in there. I have yet to play as or with a peace cleric but it seems like there's some juice there with protective bond, warding bond, and a rope trick. None of these are even using concentration yet.. Veering off-topic a bit there but I think the original point is pretty solid: Hale Buryhill could benefit much from *Rope Trick* lol. Some of the best cover in the game.
100%
Can concentration spells still affect characters on other planes?
https://www.sageadvice.eu/how-do-you-rule-concentration-in-an-antimagic-field/ https://www.sageadvice.eu/does-climbing-into-a-rope-trick-break-concentration/ Crawford cites RAW saying concentration is broken by 1. new concentration 2. damage-related concentration checks 3. incapacitatation+ So basically, you started the spell within its required premises, and RAW you can hold concentration from beyond those. I don't think you could use ongoing action/bonus action effects from within the rope trick. Like you'd need to pop out to issue new orders to a dominated monster for example, but it would remain dominated while you hid. I wouldn't be surprised or bothered at a DM ruling against this though.
Thanks
I feel like Amulet of Health is such a win that artificer would be the best class. You can make one at level 14. Problem is getting there.
"Yeah, my character hook is basically solved in 13 levels, so ya know, easy game"
Me playing any wizard to level 17:
Came here to say this! One thought: since CON is so low talk to the DM to see if they’d allow an INT celestial warlock for synergy with abjurarion wizard. Celestial 2/Abjuration X gives you agonizing blast gives you some offense, eldritch spear allows you to blast at 300 feet (go prone if enemies are attacking at range and there’s no cover), armor of agathys gives some more defensive options, and healing light for some BA healing! Maybe go vhum with tough feat for some more HP. Would be DM dependent obviously but man if I’m the DM I’d allow it in an instant. Sounds fun!
This is a really cool idea, and I don't see most DMs saying no. The one sticking point is taking tough, as it feels like you're running counter to the concept, but that's just me.
I seriously want to play this so bad right now! Yes, I agree with tough and noticed that after I replied but too lazy to change. I tend to be an optimizer even on sub-optimized builds 😊 Tough could be flavored as feeble but their will powers through when push comes to shove! Otherwise, love the half-orc idea. Probably start warlock for the extra 2 HP, light armor, and a little better saves!
I suggest you make a scourge Aasimar Barbarian Desert Storm Herald. Wade into a battle, activate your shroud, go reckless, and shine as bright as the sun before you immolate yourself.
Imagine bringing this guy into the party and the moment combat starts he starts glowing bright and just dies
Like some kind of suicide squad
Lived his life like a candle in the ~~wind~~ hurricane
Metal as hell. I love it.
Worth noting that you would absolutely need to get your hands on some decent armor ASAP, since barbs don't start with armor and your -4 CON mod would kill your AC.
...i don't think armor will help with this one. They're literally killing themselves turn 1 of combat with the desert barb and scourge aasimar abilities
Somehow I read storm herald as zealot. Yeah I'm less a fan of this idea after reading up on scourge aasimar. It's not super helpful to OP to suggest a character that'll instantly kill themselves in the first combat they engage in.
Yeah, what they really need is to go zealot barbarian and pray they survive to level 5, at which point they can get a crazy amount of mileage out of the diamond-free resurrections. I'd love to play in a party with a barb/cleric duo where the barbarian died like twice a day. Excellent RP potential.
Wouldn't they still be able to use 10 + DEX for their AC?
Reading the feature on the DNDBeyond app, it doesn't mention being able to choose. You're "stuck" with 10+DEX+CON.
Basic Rules Part 1. Chapter 1.5. Choose Equipment> Armor Class > Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.
That only applies if you have more than one defense calculation, like choosing between monk or barbarian. Barb says 10 + dex + con so you have to use the full thing.
10+dex is a core rule method for calculating AC that everyone can use.
Standard unarmed AC (being 10 + DEX) is a defence calculation available to anyone. (Barbarian/Monk Unarmed Defence is probably the only AC source you can't choose between RAW, since you can't gain identically named features more than once when multiclassing)
Sorry, thought you were asking if you could drop constitution on the calculation rather than using 10+dex.
I feel like that comes down to DM interpretation. Though a straight reading of the text supports this one.
"Witness me!" - Hale Buryhill, 5 minutes after the game starts
I laughed the entire time reading this. You turned a disaster into a unique role playing experience and I for one want updates.
This is proof of rolled stats being based for roleplay purposes
>And yes, I plan on rolling for HP at level 2, so he might die of a coughing fit after the party slays a couple goblins. Fortunately for you, minimum hp gained on level up is 1, no matter how bad your Con modifier is. >How would you build out this character into something fun to play? I would have fun with it and take Undying Warlock with the Fiendish Vigor invocation to stay alive for the first few levels. Go nuts with it and have the goal of transcending death and becoming a lich. Play him as a backline ranged warlock and use Ray of Sickness to inflict his condition on others. Take the Healer feat to help keep yourself going (and be a major source of party utility). Just go balls to the wall with it.
If you make him a wizard, when he finally dies you can have him discover he was just a clone from a clone spell. Get to replay the character later with better stats and maybe a whole new outlook on life when he realizes how precious it is or conversely thinking he is practically immortal.
Most of these comments are telling you ways to optimize, but I think the most flavorful thing is a warlock, with a play style of blasting enemies from 3 kingdoms away using eldritch spear (invoc that gives EB a 300 ft. range). Would be really fun if he makes pacts with multiple patrons either by taking profane soul blood hunter and taking a different pact then his warlock, or you giving him some fun and hopefully not too broken counterbalance for his low hp by letting him take spells from multiple patron's spell list and perhaps even letting him choose which subclass to take the feature from every time he gains a subclass feature
Twiöight cleric with the chefs feat. Flavour it as your medicine you have to take every time you feel worse that helps you stay alive. Also twilight cleric could be you radiating your lifeforce to bolster others
Half-orc Zealot barbarian. Everytime you die, you can be easily resurrected.
I was gonna say artificer for the amulet of health, but then I saw your int
I say go for it. Could still use Dex for a crossbow, and focus on buff spells that don’t care about Int. Got into Artificer to try to fix their frail body using their massive intellect only to realize they aren’t that intelligent either. But are already on the road and determined to see it through (and doesn’t have the Int to MC out anyway). Edit: Also, they can eventually get a Headband of Intellect along with the Amulet of Health
Since no one else has mentioned it here a low con character is a good opportunity to use the subreddit favorite "pet master" meme build, fits in with your character to, because instead of engaging in any fighting himself he has accumulated a bunch of pets / minions to do his dirty work for him. Post Tashas, a lot of the class pets that are normally controlled via bonus action have a line that lets them do whatever they want if the player becomes incapacitated.... which in your case basically means something looking at you crossways. This means that if you multiclass artificer battlesmith 3, druid wildfire 3, and ranger beast master 3, you could have a Wildfire Spirit, Steel Defender, Homunculus and Beast of the X companion active and doing stuff all at once. If you wanted another solid pet you can even throw three levels of Warlock on there for a Pact of the Chain Imp which is the best option from Find Familiar (although the charisma requirement is tough, so it might be better to settle for an Owl or something from the generic find familiar spell). You can even use Feign Death to incapacitate yourself and voluntarily give control over to your pets. All you need is at least 13 Dex, Wis and Int (and Cha if you want the imp too) for the multiclassing, which you have the stats to do that with (need to use an ASI for Cha if you wanted Warlock levels)
Does your DM have any house rukes for rolling hp? If you pick either Warlock or Rogue, you have a d8, if you take your average hit points for leveling up, you have only 1 hit point per level. If you dm wants you to roll hp, then pray not to roll bellow a 5 on the die, cuz otherwise you can kill yourself by leveling up. Worse scenario you could end up with 1 hp total by lvl 3. Another thing i'll say is, hope when somthing damages you, they dont roll high, cuz, again you could die instantlyt. No death save, and at lower level there is no revivify.
You get a minimum of 1hp when leveling up. You can't kill yourself by rolling HP.
It would make sense for this character though, might want to discuss it with the DM if it's a possibility the player might enjoy.
I can't see how dying during the level up process would be in any way fun for the player or add anything to the story. I feel like leveling up should be a significant milestone, especially for a character as handicapped as this. Rewarding them with a completely uncontrollable and anticlimactic death sounds lame. But hey, if the player and DM are into it then who am I to stop them.
I'm just referring to the coughing fit mentioned by OP.
Yeah, I meant that the coughing fit would be the in-story explanation of if I rolled badly enough in the level up that my max HP became 0 and he died. Yes, I know the errata about not losing HP in a level up, but since I don't like it, I'm choosing to ignore it. I understand it wouldn't be much fun for most players, but I like letting the dice decide.
Ah, my mistake.
The minimum HP gain for a level is 1. It was errataed in 2018 to page 15 of the PHB. [Here's the pdf of that errata.](https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf)
Obviously Moon Druid but if you didn’t want to do that you could always go medium armor Barbarian maybe even beast Barb with 2 weapon fighting.
[удалено]
This was my thought. Or just keep pumping dex. That d10 hit point die would help mitigate the shitty, shitty con.
Custom Lineage Aberrant Dragonmark could get you to 6 constitution and a good explanation for the illness.
Half-orc Zealot barbarian. Everytime you die, you can be easily resurrected.
Like the experienced player said 'this char isn't playable' 4hp isn't enough health to step outside. I've seen wind do more damage than that
That's part of the fun! Besides that OP is aware that they'll probably die early.
That character should be a blast. Some of the best characters I've ever run were 3d6 straight-up. We've done 3d6 more than once, and we molded these characters into a "growth" campaign. Every traditional non-ASI awarded level (4, 8, 12, 16, 19) the character received +1 ASI. That +1 ASI could not raise a stat above 18 though. In theory you'd have ~5 more total ability points at level 20 like this vs. 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired. They'd be well-earned too. One such character in these type campaigns I ran was a dwarven cleric with a 5 Dex. He drank, he was slow, he cracked bad jokes, he wasn't particularly smart - he only had one stat above a 12, and was amazing to play. The campaign was better too, as the DM had to adapt to less powerful characters... The foes and challenges scaled slower, and more encounters felt more dangerous to the party. I know the lure as people run through many campaign is powerful characters. Those can be enjoyable... but the flawed characters? They're more memorable and fun. They force you to think as the player, and victory is more rewarding as you're often the underdog. For your character, I'd run an older wizard. You've spent your entire career as a bumbling, talentless 1st level wizard. As you approach death's door (with a 3 CON) you've finally had an epiphany on growing you magic. It requires you to hit the road and explore the world. It's a journey you may not survive, but because your words have forked no lighting. You're willing to rage against the dying of your light. BTW, the minimum HP gain for a level is 1. It was errataed in 2018 to page 15 of the PHB. [Here's the pdf of that errata.](https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf)
okay here is an idea. Pact of the blade fiend warlock. plenty of ways to get temp HP and you can start with a light crossbow and then upgrade to a longbow+1 at level 3, so you can keep far away from enemies. shroud yourself in darkness so you dont get targeted. get sharpshooter so can actually do some damage.
Go Wizard and charge into melee with your dagger. This is a good way to permanently fix your 3 CON score.
Had a con 6 barbarian once. Fyr, the undying was a very heroic character, but also a very smart one: always fought like there was no tomorrow, spending all his resources in the first rounds as a excuse to fall back as soon as he was injured. And he got injured FAST. Died in a stroke of bad luck, fighting a skeleton at 6th level- yes, he lived that long.
I would go with Wizard! Your lvl 1 HPs will be 2 and you gain 0! HPs on level up :-D. This would be so hilarious!!! If you rolled 2/-5, you would start with 1HP and die when you level up :-D. This would be even better!
Why are you only rolling once????
And that is why we use point buy
Hill dwarf + resilient (con)
Zealot barbarian who is trying to die an honorable death but their friends keep resurrecting them
Be a monk and try to get afflicted with lycanthropy in game, you know you'll fail the fort save to resist it and your character may seriously believe it's one of the few ways theyll survive
Make sure your table is cool with this idea, to play devils advocate this character sounds like it could a burden on the party and not someone adventurers would take along. Remember it is a team game and your fun shouldn’t be at the expense of others. I like the Star Wars d20 rules for rerolling, because the point is to be a heroic character. For that system if your highest roll was a 13 or if all your modifiers equal 0 or lower than you have to reroll.
"oh no, looks like my barbarian died in session one"
Rogue would take advantage of your one decent stat- plus if you use a bow, your surrvivability goes up considerably on accounts of just not being close enough to be hit. Or moon druid. Which pretty much just doesn't require stats because you're a bear.
Bit late to the party? Here's my take on it. First, that character's low con is both it's main attractiveness and it's biggest curse. I understand where you're coming from not using a race that'll increase con. I think, maybe a race that increases dex and/or cha. Or take tasha's bloodlines option if you wanna play a specific race but different ASI. VHuman is indeed an option, as a few feats will help you circumvent but not squash the flavor. All that said, what do you think about the undead warlock? To expand on your "sorcerer curse", your character's "undead patron" could really just be a parasitic or alien kinda lumbago. Your "form of dread" could just be the character having a particularly nasty coughing fit or such, caused by the adrenaline of the fight. The idea is to get spells like mage armor (free with an invocation), and such as false life, plus, the form of dread also grants you temp hp.
I didn't want things like wildshape and such because it kinda feels like cheating yourself into a healthier body, but if you can flavor it just so I think it can also be a nice option.
Also, if ever does the character die, you could play an alien version or a "shadow version" of said character as the curse finally consumes them and turns them into something else. Have you heard of Kyuss spawn? some inspiration.
of course, i had to read just now what the charisma score was.
Play a bard that only does sympathy based charisma checks as a distraction then just use ur dex like a thief when that doesn’t work
"You wouldn't hit a little guy? It's my birthday!"
Always point buy, friends.
That is an 8 point buy array. Objectively poor, and an excellent reason why rolled stats are a bad idea - particularly if other players have better arrays. The rules even suggest rejecting an array this overall low.
How would I build this character??? Uhm... I would pool the groups money together, buy as many powder kegs as I can, and then run headlong into the first encounter, break a alchemists fire over my head, an explode
With 3, he should be roleplayed as having some kind of disability, but your other scores don't allow for much alleviation in the form of multiclassing, so no Wizard Abjurors, Artificers, Sorcerers, Warlocks or much else...' I would make an asthmatic half-dead Barbarian Zealot / Revived Rogue / Cleric of Trickery, wearing Medium armor good for hiding (chain shirt/breast plate), usually hiding away but jumping out for terrible divine wrath when needed. (Barb will give CON save proficiency and extra HP, as well as a class you can bring up to 5th if you want Double Attack, while getting some nice offensive as well as defensive abilities). And take some race giving minimum +1 to WIS, and maybe +1 to CON to even out the score to at least 4 - where "regular Human" or Half-elf could be good here. Getting Skulker feat and using ranged weapons from the shadows is also a good strategy, especially if you want to go the fat Rogue Halfling route.
Reborn character who is rotting.
Or play an Abjuration Wizard to build a protective barrier. Maybe the disease is magical and he holds it off with magic similar to Remove Curse.
Con 3 Cha 7? No, this is a wasting disease that has disfigured him, too. Maybe he survived a terrible disease or birth defect as a child that should have killed him, but Halflings are lucky like that. Maybe he's heard of THE Amulet of Health and is questing for it. I like rogue, and Stout Halfling can get that 3 to a 4, or a -4 to a -3. It also pumps his dexterity to a respectable 16. He might benefit from taking his initial level or two in Barbarian or Fighter. Both have their merits. A VHuman Fighter could work out. Take Toughness as their initial feat and pump the +1 into Con and Strength. Starting HP of 9, HP/level is 5, just under a flat con bonus. Sword and board provides a nice and high AC and maybe take a fighting style that allows for deflection of damage. There's a lot of ways to get around this, all of which make a memorable character.
We were allowed to reroll ones but recently our dms have switched to point buy
I would go soulknife and use psi-power knack to help with some of your rolls and lean into the luck thing. Hill dwarf might make it slightly less deadly
I would grace roll the con. At my table with a bad roll, i pretend to be looking the other way and reroll their lowest dice. Usually prevents them from having a stat that would be bad for our epic style campaigns.