Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MoocowTG Oct 01, 2015 17:01:57	My question is, what's the best way to minmax a gish? The way I see it, there's a few options using the standard point buy. All of these have high AC and should be able to hold their own in melee:   Sorcerer, level 9, Favoured Soul: Drow 18 dex, 14 con, 16 cha, 10/8/8 to rest as preference War Caster Rapier/shield     This gives you 19 ac with mage armour and shield, or if your DM rules mage armour doesn't work with a shield, drop war caster for 20 dex, which results in 18 ac, and an empty hand, or just use studded armour + shield with war caster for 18 ac. If you don't like Drow, you can multiclass as a rogue or something to get rapier proficiency, or use a crappier weapon. As a favoured soul you get two attacks in melee with a rapier, and full spellcasting progression (+ spells from your favourite cleric tree) with a decent spellcasting stat and high AC. The real crux of this build is quickened spell where you can cast a spell of your choice and still get two melee attacks.   Fighter 1/ Sorcerer 8, Favoured Soul: Human Variant: War Caster Fighting style: Great Weapon Fighter 20 str, 14 con, 16 cha, 10 dex, 8/8 others Greatsword   This gives you 18 AC with plate, and a nice chunk of melee damage with a greatsword and great weapon fighter, and full spellcasting ability. Get Great Weapon Master later on if you can afford it.   This aswell gives you 2 attacks and a spell cast with quickened spell as well as the above class benefits, at the cost of multiclassing and low dex(a good stat).   The downsides of sorcerers in melee is the low HP, although it can be mitigated by a high base AC and the shield spell.     Warlock 9, Pact of Blade Lightfoot Halfling 20 dex, 16 con, 16 cha, 8/8/8 (MEGA MINMAX) Rapier w/ Pact   This will give you 2 attacks for 1d8 + dex + hex, and eventually + cha, along with some great gish spells such as armor of Agathys, hellish rebuke, and darkness with the dark vision invocation. 18 AC with the mage armour invocation, and a free hand for casting.   Fighter 1, Warlock 8, pact of Blade Human Variant: Great Weapon Master Fighting Style: Great Weapon fighting 20 str, 14 con, 16 cha, 10 dex, 8/8 Greatsword   Same as the sorcerer basically except with warlock spells, and less reliance on war caster   Warlocks suffer from a heavy reliance on short rests, so it depends on your DM. They have great gish spells though.     Bard 9, Valor Human Variant, War Caster Rapier/shield 20 dex, 14 con, 16 cha, 10/8/8 others   19 ac with shield/studded, 20 ac if you find mage armour, 2 attacks, full bard progression, what's not to like?   you're probably noticing a trend here   fighter 1, bard 8, valor Human Variant, Great Weapon Master Feat Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting Greatsword 20 str, 14 con, 16 cha, 10 dex, 8/8 18 ac, etc, etc   Lastly there's eldritch knight, Arcane trickster, and Paladin, those are fairly well defined though, and not very spellcasty for my preference, they are still, however, valid choices.     The build I've been leaning towards is a Sorcerer, but I can't decide on a dex or str build. The str build does more damage but the dex build doesn't need to multiclasses necessarily, altough it does need Drow which have an awful setback. With Stoneskin and Shield and other goodies the low hitpoints may not be a huge problem.     My question is: Which of these is the most powerful? Are they at all viable compared to full melee classes or ranged casters? What are the best spells to take when gishing these classes? Does anyone have other gish builds they'd like to share?
#2 peteyrock Oct 01, 2015 20:25:53	Dat Sorcerer build for sho. That character will be highly mobile, can lay down sick area damage, and can manipulate minds almost as much as a Warlock. Like Force Unleashed level gishing; nevermind the number crunching
#3 FunkySpunk Oct 01, 2015 23:33:08	Not a fan of Drow, but that first Sorcerer rocks!   Fighter 1/Warlock X is a great build too.    Have you considered variant human, half elf, or dragonborn Paladin 6/Sorcerer X?  Not as spellcastery as you're going for, but it's a great combo. You'll almost never be hit in melee, and your saves will be through the roof.    I'd look for some way to boost WIS though, it's a pretty common save that you really don't want to fail.
(Reply to #3) Veleria	FunkySpunk wrote:
#5 BloodMoon666 Oct 03, 2015 23:51:21	What the hell is a gish?!
#6 Slagger_the_Chuul Oct 04, 2015 0:16:02	BloodMoon666 wrote:
#7 BloodMoon666 Oct 04, 2015 1:43:31	....wait there's a band called The Smashing Pumpkins and they have a released album? What is this world coming to...
(Reply to #7) jaappleton	BloodMoon666 wrote: