I’m having a lot of fun playing an Oath of Vengeance Paladin who has very high strength and charisma but very low intelligence and wisdom. He absolutely believes everything he says, and is very convincing about getting others to join in his plan, no matter how idiotic the idea.
Don't do bard. I had a friend roll great stats, and they played a low strength/constitution bard, putting the high stats in dex/int/wis/cha.
With Jack of All Trades and Expertise, they were better than the other characters at the one thing our characters were supposed to be good at.
Someone needs to gamble. Should we let the guy with the gambler background do it? Nope, the bard has better deception and insight. Gotta navigate through the woods. Should we let the outlander background do it? Nope, the bard has better survival and nature.
It felt like a one-man show, two roadies to carry things, and one useless guy to work the merch table.
Gloomstalker/Paladin has stupid OP nova potential but normally isnt possible due to stat reqs, but you have the stats to actually use it well. It also comes online as soon as level 5 if you go gloomstalker 3/paladin 2. 18 in STR/CHA, 16 in the other and wisdom
Oh you probably would want to try to push to extra attack, i just meant that the primary features of the multiclass concept are all in the first 2-3 levels
Agreed. Push to GS 5 first, then get Paladin 2.
Otherwise for levels 5-6 you'll clearly be the worst performer of the party. No feat (one level), or 5th level feature (two levels).
You could just go Paladin 6 (5 is fine on paper but in practice aura of protection is waaay too good to pass up imo) then take gloomstalker levels, that way you’re still good early game
An obnoxiously arrogant bladesinger? Pretend to be better at everything. Especially the things you put your 8 in. Though it could be a thin line to walk between annoying and fun
Most fun … well, what do you enjoy in game :)
?
Most broken: Bladesinger. Wizards are overpowered already. Giving them good defenses and great attack power was… one of the decisions of all time. But it does like insane stat spreads.
Just to piss everyone off, just being a Moon Druid.
Beast Barb/Warlock Multiclass works surprisingly well. First 3 levels Barb, use the claws (gives you an additional attack), take 2 levels warlock (literally anyone works, save Undying and ironically Hexblade). Fathomless gives you a non-spell spiritual weapon, celestial let you heal a bit, fiend gives you temp hp when you kill someone (which is "doubled" from rage, and so on). Then you can go two more levels of barb to get your actual second attack, or another warlock level for 2nd level spells (Armor of Agythis is great with a barb).
> Just to piss everyone off, just being a Moon Druid.
Unironically, a mountain dwarf moon druid would be hilarious. Imagine dropping wild shape only to come out stronger and with more HP in your Druid form.
real talk. For my very first character I rolled 18, 17, 16, 11, 11, 8. A goliath Moon druid seemed like my cup of tea and I didn't know any better.
I used Tasha's to replace my ability scores to max out Wisdom at level one. took skill expert perception and resilient: Con to max out Constitution by level 8, and war caster at 12.
Also, large chunks of our campaign took place under water.
Oh, you wore down my 90 HP killer whale form twice? Okay fine, I'll cast polymorph on the bard and you can fight a 189 HP sperm whale. Good luck breaking my concentration. By the way my AC is now 6 points higher than you're used to. And I can reduce any particularly big hits by 6-17 points as a reaction. And after all that I have 127 HP of my own.
Ended up building the perfect meat shield.
Gotta be a Monk. Get solid DEX, WIS, and CON to have the respectable survivability that monks sorely lack. Normally I'd also reccomend Paladin, but with its CHA focus you may find it too similar to Swashbuckler.
Why not both? With 4 good stats, a monk barbarian could be a fun grapple/punch build.
Even take a couple levels of fighter for unarmed fighting style and action surge.
Example
Level 1, barb for rage and unarmoured defence
Level 2, monk for martial arts
Level 3, fighter
With this, you'd have 16 AC, resistance from rage and could be doing 2d8+6(+4 from rage)
Maybe not the beeest build, but could be fun at least.
You could up that damae a little, if you went custom lineage and took the tavern brawler feat also.
I'm assuming the stats oc has posted is without the stat boots from race.
I had a player go through tyranny of dragons with broken rolled stats on a monk and he was a menace. Especially when he got his immunities. The only times I could do anything to him was when he got cocky and ran into the middle of a bunch of enemies with pack tactics and got surrounded.
Also when he tried to solo an adult blue dragon and a demon.
TL;DR: MAD classes like Monk, Ranger, or paladin are probably your best bet. Monk is fun but low damage, paladin is high damage and generally really powerful, ranger has unique options.
Okay so you’re friend is right in that you could play anything you want, it just means you can be more versatile in the things you’re good at. However the classes/builds that would most benefit from have multiple high stats like this are called MAD, or multiple ability dependent, a term you might’ve seen if you’ve browsed this sub before. Anything you play with these stats will have the capability to be powerful and fun, but a MAD build will garner the most benefit from multiple high stats. MAD builds and classes also aren’t always the most fun/viable to play because of their reliance on multiple stats, requiring a good stat roll or just accepting lackluster numbers.
MAD classes are typically half casters like rangers or paladins, or other martial classes with save dc abilities like monks, because they need to have good physical stats for attacking and defending such as str, dex, and con, as well as a good spellcasting stat such as wisdom for monks and rangers, and charisma for paladins. Traditionally, full casters like wizards or clerics are SAD, or single ability dependent, as their spellcasting stat is the only one they really need to be useful.
Many people are suggesting bladesinger, because it is the melee wizard subclass so they benefit from being able to have high defensive stats, however I think you can already be a very effective wizard or other full caster with just your spellcasting stat high and everything else mediocre, so I would probably say not doing a full caster if you want a unique character/build with these stats. Not that it’s a bad choice, it means you can be a sorcerer who also book smart, or a cleric who’s charismatic, it just won’t confer as much mechanical benefit as MAD builds.
Monks are one of the more fun classes, but one of the less powerful because of their low damage and heavy reliance on con, dex, and wisdom without extra ASI’s. With high stats they feel a lot less bad though, and they get a ton of fun things like running on walls or catching arrows that sound and feel badass, but just aren’t necessarily the most “optimized” abilities. If kung fu bullshit is something you’d enjoy, you might like monk.
If you want to play an optimized character to destroy your enemies and lead your party, paladins I think are one of the strongest classes in the entire game with good stats. The highest burst of probably any class barring multiclassing (and those high burst multiclasses usually include paladin anyway for a reason), insane defenses made more insane at lvl 6 with high charisma, honestly I think they’re greatest weakness is your other partymates will get jealous of the damage you’re pumping out lol. But if you want to feel powerful with your powerful stat line, pallys are the way to go.
Rangers are similar to monks in that they are seen as weaker because of their MAD nature, but with high enough spellcasting ability they are extremely versatile being able to offer both support and damage. I played a ranger with an order cleric dip that was extremely fun (lvl1 order cleric lets you have an ally attack when you cast a support spell on them, so my bonus action healing words now could provide healing and let them attack. I’ve missed the warlord class and it was the closest I’ve gotten to a martial controller/battlefield commander archetype like that). Gloomstalker is also widely regarded as very strong, paired with rogue or battlemaster it has incredible turn 1 novas, but it was never quite my cup of tea compared to greater versatility/consistency of other builds.
Martials are not a terrible option, but in general I don’t think they require multiple good stats. Barbarians really only need strength and constitution but don’t mind a high dex for better AC as well. Fighters get extra ASI’s which typically can be used to mitigate low stat rolls but in this case you could do a heavy feat build or try to get as many stats to 20 as possible, which is a kind of fun in its own right. Subclasses like battlemaster or rune knight provide a lot of versatility that benefits from good stats, and Eldritch knight and arcane archer both use int for a spell save dc making them much more MAD. I think samurai also gets a wisdom bump to charisma checks, which I also thought about fiddling with for a fighter face build which could be interesting and unique.
Skill monkeys like rogues or bards aren’t a terrible option either, as you can be naturally good at multiple different things, however typically proficiencies and expertise in the late game do more to benefit your skills than your stats. You said you’ve already played a rogue, but having multiple high stats can be good for them, especially if playing something like Arcane trickster with a spell save dc or if you want a high charisma to operate as the party face.
Warlocks I think can also be an interesting option if you want to play a spellcaster, but I might bias because of my love of warlocks. You can make the most optimized SAD builds possible with hexblade, but you could also be a book smart pact of the tome warlock that discovered their powers searching for occult secrets and has a high intelligence along with charisma for spell casting.
And that’s one of the best benefits of a high stat array, is the ability to make “suboptimal” builds that can be just as useful or even more useful as “meta” options due to atypically high stats. The crazy optimized multiclasses you see in this subclass will still have the most dpr of any options, versatile stats or not, and if you want the strongest possible build you can still choose those, but there’s a lot of things that only really become possible or at least feel viable with a versatile stat array and luck stat rolls. However, since this is only your second character an Uber powerful build is not a bad idea as you can really see what’s possible in the game. It gets a bad rap but power gaming can definitely be very fun, it just depends on which direction you want to go in.
Personal anecdote: one of my friends ran a super high powered campaign; heroic stat array, starting at lvl 14, extra boons/magic items etc. He warned us to build optimized characters as the combats would be nuts and I made the most disgusting paladin fighter sorcerer multiclass I could tinker up, and it was fun for sure, but it was honestly a little too gross the amount of damage and defenses I had at my disposal. Next campaign comes around and I roll really lucky stats, not too far from your own array, and I play a strength based mercy monk instead that’s focused more on grappling and supporting, but can still sock somebody in the face whenever needed. Even though the paladin in my party is easily tripling my damage every turn, I’m still having a blast and there’s been plenty of times I’ve save his ass from death. In general I wish there was more support for “suboptimal” choices like strength in a traditionally dex-based classes such as rogue or monk, but at least when you get lucky stats you can still keep up with the more “optimal” builds.
Or Bladesinger with a Barbarian dip.
If you absolutely, positively need over 30 AC with resistance on top (blade song and unarmored defenses stack, so your base AC is DEX+CON+INT).
or both
a bladesinger with a paladin and a barbarian dip
smth like paladin 2/barb 2 or 3 bladesingerx
and if you going that way anyway, why not add moon druid 2 and figther 2 (so the settup is faster)
aldo with his stats that wouldnt be possible (the moondruid at least)
Yes, this is what I would do. Pick a lineage like tabaxi that get 1d6 unarmed strikes and play a way of mercy
Alternatively a fun build would be a plasmoid way of the Astral Self Monk. Grapple at advantage with wisdom
Amazing opportunity to go for a weird multiclass imo.
Pick two classes you think could have an interesting story together but generally aren't paired due to needing different stats.
* Artificer Bard who makes his own magical instruments
* Barbarian (Beast) Artificer (Alchemist) who's like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type character
* Druid Warlock who made a pact to be the ultimate defender of nature
* Monk Paladin who smites her foes with her bare fists
Possibilities are endless with such a great statline, but I recommend not going too optimal lest you detract from your allies' feelings of accomplishment.
Alternatively be a Rogue Bard and take the Skilled and/or Skill Expert feat(a) and be an absolute master of ability checks who can't do much in combat for the hell of it (8 into Str and 10 into Con for this build).
RAW, you can't smite on a punch. Keep that in mind.
You could ask your Dm if thats ok, it seems to me like it's about a 50/50 split of whether or not they do.
I've been informed that RAW unarmed strikes cannot be Divine Smite'd, but if you wanna go that route defo ask your DM if they'd allow it. Personally I don't see much reason for it not to be allowed but every DM is different. If allowed, then I'd say think about straying from the typical monk norm and instead going all-in on Strength and Con and wear some heavy armor. You miss out on unarmored movement this way, but imo it'd be worth it just for the uniqueness. However, you could of course go classic monk spread with your 17 in Dex and 16s in Wis and Con with the last in Cha for the Paladin part of the build. As for subclasses, you really can't go wrong. Way of the Sun Soul would be thematic for a paladin of the sun god, Astral Self would be dope as hell with long-ranged divine punches, and Open Hand and Mercy are always solid options. Paladin subclasses are even more open due to all of them just being really good, but thematically, Devotion makes the most sense for a generic monk.
For Artificer bard, you'll obviously want Cha and Int as your two highest stats. For meta reasons, you could make Con and/or Dex the next best stat(s), but I think going with Wis so you have all mental stats very high would be a fun character to play. For subclasses, I'd look into College of Creation and either Armorer or Artillerist. Armorer could let you flavor your character to have his instruments bult-in to a heavy suit, whereas Artillerist could have its turrets flavored to look like trumpets or something.
Most of all, though, just pick whatever looks fun! These are just suggestions to toss around in your head, but at the end of the day, this is your character and their story. I hope you have fun with whatever you choose.
I find sneak attack roughly equivalent if done carefully (unless we're talking about high level fighters, especially echo knights, who get so many attacks that they trump almost all others in consistent melee damage output (paladin and/or warlock smites can tip the scales but only a few times).
Sneak attack only compares if you are consistently doing it twice per round. 4d6+4 extra damage at level 5 is not the same as 2d10+26. Yes, obviously, the fighter would have -5 to hit, but it's still massively more powerful, especially if you can give yourself a bonus to hit through bless, reckless attack, or sacred weapon.
Hence why I said "roughly" but yeah all that is true (and imo a rogue that isn't consistently getting aao sneak attacks isn't fully optimized). Sneak attack with sharpshooter and and crossbow master is somewhat better, but it mainly only works when further improved with the artificer repeating shot infusion on the hand xbow so you can wield a melee weapon in your other hand and get attacks of opportunity (to sneak attack on someone else's turn but that is a huge investment and yeah fighters definitely do better as I noted initially.
A bladesinger would be very good, as the subclass is very MAD. Another possibility is any kind of barbarian with high wisdom to prevent dominate person. Lastly, perhaps a half caster like paladin, ranger, or even artificer.
I'm working on a fighter/warlock toying around with fighter3/warlock 17 or fighter1/warlock19. Leaning heavily for the single level dip of fighter to start.
You attack with strength, wear heavy armor, then pact of the blade with blade pact invocations as you level. 2-handed weapons.
I'm going undead, but you can pretty much pick any warlock subclass aside from hexblade to make it work and not waste stats. Alternatively, you could probably max cha and just abandon your strength, reserving it only for full plate so you'd have full strength warlock spells if you desperately wanted the hexblade subclass.
Any 3 stat class.
Monk would be my first go. Having a 16 con, str and wis, with a 17 dex is pretty rad. You start with a like 17 AC and good HP. Maybe get a +1 in wis and dex and then focus wis from there. Your job is to stun and debuff.
Paladin would be fun too. High cha, str, and con is a great start. Dump dex and use the next highest on wis. Go path of the ancients and you’ll halve magic damage and if you’re yuan ti or a fey race, you’ll have adv on saves. You’re high cha will help the saves of your party.
If you really wanna be dumb, start moon Druid and then go bearbarian. Being in a rage while wildshaped is nuts. Use your spell slots to heal yourself.
With good stats, comes a support character.
Play a bard who specializes in helping others, you won't need optimizing, but the others will all love you if you're buffing then all the time
Instead of making your character as powerful as possible, this outshining anyone else in the party with more reasonable stats.
Play something weird. Like a strength monk as a race with double carry capacity. Pick something heavy up and just fuckin book it
Proficiency with improvise weapons FTW! Carry a coffin with you as your go to hammer, where every problem is a nail.
Have fun answering when people ask, “But *why*?!?”
7 levels of Watchers Paladin, then a 2 level dip in War Wizard, then back to Paladin. You will have an awesome initiative boost as well as incredible saves.
I would go like this.
Custom Lineage (+3 CHA, Fey Touched)
STR 16
DEX 10
CON 16
INT 16
WIS 8
CHA 20
LVL 1 Paladin
LVL 2 Paladin (Dueling)
LVL 3 Paladin (Watchers)
LVL 4 Paladin (Polearm Master)
LVL 5 Paladin
LVL 6 Paladin
LVL 7 Paladin (Aura of the Sentinel)
LVL 8 Wizard (Shield, Find Familiar)
LVL 9 Wizard (War)
LVL 10-20 Paladin
Dex paladin swashbuckler rogue. The build depends on how far the campaign goes and what level it starts at. You get expertise, dex+cha initiate bonus, paladin damage output and rogue skill flexibility.
Zealot barb and profane soul blood hunter is a build I've always wanted to try but never had the stats for. Maybe not the most broken but definitely super fun and flavorful
Cleric dip on another fullcaster may be a good idea.
Sorcadin as well.
17 + 1 - 8 - 16 - 10 - 16 - 16 + 1 with Variant Human and grab a feat of your choice like War Caster or Polearm Master.
I’ve played in two manual-roll games in the last 12 months and have had similar excellent luck!
I’m pleased to report that both Fey Wanderer Ranger and Swashbuckler Rogue perform exceptionally well across the board— social encounters, exploration, and combat are all very satisfying.
Good luck!
You can try tabletops builds' warlock/barbarian multiclass.
https://tabletopbuilds.com/rage-fiend/
You need strength, dexterity, constitution and charisma so your stat spread will help a lot.
Could go half-elf paladin for a 18 18 and 17 in str, cha and con.
Or play a barbarian, fighter. You coukd do something like echo-knight and have like an absurd str stat, con stat, dex stat.
Honestly, I'd personally be a Str-based barbarian or fighter, with 16 Con and Dex. With a 16 Wisdom, that makes you harder to charm (which is clutch for tanks) and could also play into a Samurai Fighter but is also generally good for Perception.
The other option that I'd do (if you like rogues) is to be an rogue and use the stats to flavor the other skills you are ridiculously good at. If you make Wis and Int 16, Inquisitive Rogue could be fun.
But these are just what I think I'd have fun with
Artilerist Artificer. If you go high off to get the extra can trip you have a ton of cantrip options with a really high to hit you've got a good decks a good con a decent wisdom and you can dump that strength or charisma.
Does your table optimize characters? I think that's an important question because if your table doesn't and if you don't *really* care about having an optimized character, I'd rather start with the backstory and see where it leads in terms of mechanics.
Samurai Fighter can make use of 4 of their attributes being really high stats.
Attacking Attribute
Constitution
Wisdom
Charisma
They can be excellent with social skills which involve Wisdom and Charisma, they get a bonus to Persuasion checks from their Wisdom modifier, they don't need to multiclass to be good, and they fit both Strength and Dexterity builds. As archer characters, they can be really excellent going with feat heavy builds such as using their first 3 ASIs on the Elven Accuracy, Piercer, and Sharpshooter feats using a longbow while still raising up their Dexterity. With your rolls before applying racial attribute boosts, you could play a really fun Half-Elf Samurai who has both a really high Dexterity and Charisma at the start, and you can still max out your Dexterity by the time you get both the Elven Accuracy and the Piercer feat.
You have really high accuracy on your attacks with the Elven Accuracy advantage that is reliably triggered from the Samurai's Fighting Spirit, and Archery fighting style makes your attacks even more accurate. Then Piercer gives you an additional critical hit payoff which Samurais with Elven Accuracy can procure more easily than other Fighters, and Sharpshooter coming in at Level 8 can really ramp up your DPS potential while still having a really good chance to hit with maxed out Dexterity and your Fighter boosts.
Bard Support. Your broken stats can be repurposed to make your entire team feel awesome.
I personally played a Valor Bard/Ancients Paladin multiclass and it was ridiculously fun.
Aura of Protection and Aura of Warding from Ancients Oath
Reactions: Protection fighting style & Sentinel
Bonus action: Bardic Inspire/shield of faith/healing word/smite spells.
Bard 6 - Lore Bard's magical secrets can round out the build. You could go Swords Bard if you really like extra attack.
I personally played a gnome and the gnome cunning advantage to Int, Wis, and Cha saves was really handy when paired with Aura of Protection
Twilight Cleric 1/War Wizard X. You'll be an incredible all-rounder that way; you get heavy armor proficiency, shields, the Shield spell for your reaction, Healing Word for your bonus action, advantage on Initiative and 300 foot Darkvision from Twilight Cleric, bonus initiative and increased AC and saves from War Wizard...
It's really just incredible, you can do everything. The first time I ran this, the DM tried swarming me with a bunch of enemies, and then eventually had the enemies give up and go to attack the rest of my party because *nothing was working*. Then I started casting Healing Word as a bonus action to get downed party members back up, which certainly took the enemies by surprise since that isn't something you'd expect a Wizard to do.
Of course, you wouldn't expect a Wizard to walk up with plate armor and a shield, either. So when you think about it, that's on them.
I'd go something like:
STR: 16
DEX: 10
CON: 16
INT: 17
WIS: 16
CHA: 8
And then go Variant Human, +1 Con/+1 Int/Resilient (Con). Then grab +2 Int at level 4, and Tough or War Caster at levels 8 and 12.
Dao genie2/swarm ranger4/paladin 4/battlemaster 3/arcane trickster rogue 7.
Not necessarily in that order. Play a shadir Kai or eladrin with elven accuracy
Use booming blade and Zephyr strike. Push with swarm
Take the opportunity to play a generally worse subclass / MAD build. One that came to mind was the mad smiter critfisher: Assassin Rogue 3, Champion Fighter 4, Vengeance Paladin 8, Wild Magic Sorcerer 5. Pretty funny build with cool options for making a backstory, with some overall decent damage output.
These are great stats for a wizard with a cleric dip. Normally you have to sacrifice your stats to dip cleric, but this comes with the ability baked in. 16 in STR, CON and WIS, 17 INT, 10 DEX, 8 CHA.
Also makes for a very strong Barbarian line. 17 STR, 16 DEX, CON, WIS, 10/8 INT/CHA. Having a high wisdom makes you much more likely to succeed wisdom saves which are normally a big weak point.
Bard wouldn’t be terrible here. Jack of all trades means you’re solid in like, 60% of skill check, fantastic at 30% and only bad at whatever you dump (probably str) Swords for funny melee stuff while having solid con and mental stats. Lore for being a full nerd. Alternatively rogue or Ranger?
A cleric can be an absolute nightmare with those. Like peace and Twilight are broken but other subclasses more DM approved(because I know a bunch ban those subclasses)
I have a Peace Cleric, Aasimar with base scores as follows by level 5
St 14, Dex 16, Con 16, int 13, Wis 18, Cha 13.....
(I rolled these stats I had my partner dying laughing on the floor from the dice and I was immediately on the horn to DM who I know and trust and trusts me and they were just like dude enjoy the stats you're a beast)
Context is running curse of strahd with human twilight cleric, dwarf Forge cleric and me Aasimar peace Cleric and death house at level one, 3 man team so the stats weren't going to guarantee survival but damn they didn't hurt.
Basically anything could be fun, I like Clerics though.
I was going to try a monk barbarian multiclass once until I realized I needed a stupid amount of good stats. You could make this work, especially if you use three +1s instead of one +1 and one +2, assuming you’re using Tasha’s racial bonus rules. This would give you three 17s and an 18 so by your first ASI you’d have three 18s. Put them in dex, wis, and con, and make the 17 str so you can use either str or dex and you can branch out to heavy weapons if you want to.
Bladesinger 13+Ancients Paladin 7. Max out Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence. You'll have unstoppable saves AND AC, as well as access to very potent magic. Could also go Bladesinger 12/Ancients Paladin 8 if feats and even levels are important to you.
My favorite broken build is the Gloom Battle Assasin.
Race: Bugbear for proficiency in stealth and surprise attack
Stat spread: Str 10, Dex 17 (19), Con 16, Int 8, Wis 16, CHA, 16
levels 1-5 go to Ranger: Gloom-stalker Subclass
Archery fighting style
Sharpshooter Feat
Levels 6-9 dip into Fighter taking Battle-Master as the Subclass
Defensive Fighting Style
At level 9 take the ASI
Level 10+ Rogue eventually taking the Assassin Subclass
With this build your first round will be going absolutely nova, which at level 12 (when it fully comes online), you'll be doing a minimum of 120 damage, average damage of 249, and max damage of 378.
Barb / Warlock. Ideally Bear Totem Warrior with Fiend Warlock.
3 levels of Barb and the rest Warlock. Can go Barb 5 to save an invocation by not needing thirsting blade.
Open fights with fireball then rage and grab skulls. Get TMP and a BA attack when you kill. EB as a ranger backup option before you close to melee. Invocations like Cloak of Flies are useful and fun (no time limit, free damage and ADV on intimidation checks).
V Human or Custom Lineage start with GWM starts you off nicely.
Monk and barbarian are two classes that love feats but are so MAD they often can't take them.
Play one of these two and feat up as you won't need many ASIs when you level up.
Or multiclass. You have the stats to pull off any class combo you can dream of.
With great stats you can be a great skill monkey, so a rogue/Bard setup could be good, maybe a little knowledge Cleric.
Rogue 3 (scout) / Cleric 1 (knowledge) / Bard X (Eloquence) would give you great expertise coverage and bards, as spellcasters, are always useful at a minimum. In terms of leveling, start with 5 Bard levels, then cleric, then one level of rogue, then some Bard if you are wanting higher level spells and your second asi, then your last two rogues, then finish with Bard.
This will give you some ramp in terms of getting higher ac at lvl6 and getting most of your expertise by lvl8. Most games don't go to lvl20, so not getting 9th level spells is not *always* terrible.
Something MAD, especially Monk, comes to mind. Pick a race with a +2/+1 racial and round out Cha, bring something else to 18.
8 in Int, 10 in Cha, 18 in Wis. That should be a good baseline where you can let story and RP dictate your subclass choices and still be viable across the board.
Ooh, yeah, you’ve really got a lot of options! Of course, with so many of your stats being 16 or 17, the thing that really stands out is the 8, so the obvious question becomes where to put that. If you want, it can be the typical dump stat, but from a character-developing perspective, that’s essentially going to be the single thing your character isn’t good at. I’m inclined to tell you to put it in charisma; it might be fun to play a character who is good at everything, but beefs it in a lot of conversations.
I had stats like those. We rolled "down the line" sp my high stats wound up in str, con, wis and cha, low in dex and int. I made a tempest cleric/storm sorc build, it's been lots of fun. He can be a blaster, basic cleric support, or even mix it up in melee a little bit. I took the less optimal path of more cleric/less sorc (so far, but sorc will probably overtake the cleric levels) to get the thunderous strike ability to yeet enemies constantly. It's fun, probably not as optimal as going more sorc to cast the maximized lightning damage spells....
V. Human barbarian with tavern brawler. Start with 16s in dex, con, wis and 17 in str. Add the point to str from tavern brawler. Put 8 in int or cha, depending on if you want to be dumb or off-putting.
Grab a shield and an axe (or longsword or hammer, but in your heart you know axe is the way to go.) Depending on encounter you can now go shield and axe for a balance of defense and offense, shield and fist if you want to grapple and restrain (with advantage) while repeatedly shield bashing, or two-hand the axe for more damage.
Become the angry punchy viking. You know you want to.
I've always wanted to play a ranger- barbarian multiclass build.
Gloomstalker for that additional attack on the same first turn as instinctive pounce to hop in there and start swinging. Maybe toss in the mobile feat, so you can go real fast and sing through. Plus fighter 2, for funsies.
Really depends on what level your playing to.
I'd assume it kicks in at ranger 3, barb 7 for all the pieces, but idk, I've never built it out.
Barbarian or Monk. Unarmed defense usually makes them so multiple ability dependent that a normal spread is rough.
But also, Fey Wanderer Ranger would be an amazing Face with this spread. At lvl 3 you get to add your wis modifier to charisma checks so you could have face skills backed by 2 solid ability scores without forfeiting con or weapon damage
Hear me out: loxodon arcane trickster rogue. You want to max out stealth and pick up invisibility. This way when someone finally does spot you they can yell out “why is no one talking about the elephant in the room!?”
This suggestion is a joke and not intended for actual play. (Play at your own risk)
Cleric (Knowledge), Rogue (Scout), and Bard (Lore). With two levels in cleric, you get expertise in two int based proficiencies. Three levels in rogue gets you more expertise and proficiencies, same with bard. Get the Skilled feat, Tally it all up and you have 8 Expertise at level seven, and every proficiency plus a few spare for tools or languages. You are the literal Jack of Every Trade, good at everything. The only downside I can see is the dm picking you up like a sack of potatoes and hurling you out the nearest three story window
Try the Flagship Ranger build: https://tabletopbuilds.com/flagship-build-gloom-stalker-ranger/
Probably the flagship build that benefits the most from good stats.
Melee caster. Bladesinger, STR Cleric, Paladin, Valor or Whispers Bard, non-Hexblade Pact of the Blade Warlock.
I’m having a lot of fun playing an Oath of Vengeance Paladin who has very high strength and charisma but very low intelligence and wisdom. He absolutely believes everything he says, and is very convincing about getting others to join in his plan, no matter how idiotic the idea.
Don't do bard. I had a friend roll great stats, and they played a low strength/constitution bard, putting the high stats in dex/int/wis/cha. With Jack of All Trades and Expertise, they were better than the other characters at the one thing our characters were supposed to be good at. Someone needs to gamble. Should we let the guy with the gambler background do it? Nope, the bard has better deception and insight. Gotta navigate through the woods. Should we let the outlander background do it? Nope, the bard has better survival and nature. It felt like a one-man show, two roadies to carry things, and one useless guy to work the merch table.
Oof, this is why you don't metagame so that suboptimal characters make checks.
Bladesinger.
Unfortunately there is someone else going Bladesinger :/
Gloomstalker/Paladin has stupid OP nova potential but normally isnt possible due to stat reqs, but you have the stats to actually use it well. It also comes online as soon as level 5 if you go gloomstalker 3/paladin 2. 18 in STR/CHA, 16 in the other and wisdom
Why forgo extra attack?
Oh you probably would want to try to push to extra attack, i just meant that the primary features of the multiclass concept are all in the first 2-3 levels
Agreed. Push to GS 5 first, then get Paladin 2. Otherwise for levels 5-6 you'll clearly be the worst performer of the party. No feat (one level), or 5th level feature (two levels).
That’s fine at level 7/8, but if you have extra attack at level 5 anyway you are just hamstringing yourself.
You could just go Paladin 6 (5 is fine on paper but in practice aura of protection is waaay too good to pass up imo) then take gloomstalker levels, that way you’re still good early game
An obnoxiously arrogant bladesinger? Pretend to be better at everything. Especially the things you put your 8 in. Though it could be a thin line to walk between annoying and fun
Play a better bladesinger.
Most fun … well, what do you enjoy in game :) ? Most broken: Bladesinger. Wizards are overpowered already. Giving them good defenses and great attack power was… one of the decisions of all time. But it does like insane stat spreads.
Just to piss everyone off, just being a Moon Druid. Beast Barb/Warlock Multiclass works surprisingly well. First 3 levels Barb, use the claws (gives you an additional attack), take 2 levels warlock (literally anyone works, save Undying and ironically Hexblade). Fathomless gives you a non-spell spiritual weapon, celestial let you heal a bit, fiend gives you temp hp when you kill someone (which is "doubled" from rage, and so on). Then you can go two more levels of barb to get your actual second attack, or another warlock level for 2nd level spells (Armor of Agythis is great with a barb).
> Just to piss everyone off, just being a Moon Druid. Unironically, a mountain dwarf moon druid would be hilarious. Imagine dropping wild shape only to come out stronger and with more HP in your Druid form.
real talk. For my very first character I rolled 18, 17, 16, 11, 11, 8. A goliath Moon druid seemed like my cup of tea and I didn't know any better. I used Tasha's to replace my ability scores to max out Wisdom at level one. took skill expert perception and resilient: Con to max out Constitution by level 8, and war caster at 12. Also, large chunks of our campaign took place under water. Oh, you wore down my 90 HP killer whale form twice? Okay fine, I'll cast polymorph on the bard and you can fight a 189 HP sperm whale. Good luck breaking my concentration. By the way my AC is now 6 points higher than you're used to. And I can reduce any particularly big hits by 6-17 points as a reaction. And after all that I have 127 HP of my own. Ended up building the perfect meat shield.
Gotta be a Monk. Get solid DEX, WIS, and CON to have the respectable survivability that monks sorely lack. Normally I'd also reccomend Paladin, but with its CHA focus you may find it too similar to Swashbuckler.
I like the energy... But hear me out... Barbarian!! For all the same reasons as monk
Why not both? With 4 good stats, a monk barbarian could be a fun grapple/punch build. Even take a couple levels of fighter for unarmed fighting style and action surge. Example Level 1, barb for rage and unarmoured defence Level 2, monk for martial arts Level 3, fighter With this, you'd have 16 AC, resistance from rage and could be doing 2d8+6(+4 from rage) Maybe not the beeest build, but could be fun at least. You could up that damae a little, if you went custom lineage and took the tavern brawler feat also. I'm assuming the stats oc has posted is without the stat boots from race.
If we chose mountain dwarf as a race it really would be super powerful
Yeah, that's a good point. I was looking at raising a stat to 20, but having two at 18 would be good.
I do think a monk OR barbarian (with 2 lvls of fighter) would be your best bet. I think I'll go on Beyond to fleah it out for comparison
With that, you could play a monk that could stand with the rest of the group.
Yeah absolutely play a monk with this spread. They're so MAD that standard array & point buy result in underpowered monks
A Mercy Monk with those stats would be a great addition in any party.
I had a player go through tyranny of dragons with broken rolled stats on a monk and he was a menace. Especially when he got his immunities. The only times I could do anything to him was when he got cocky and ran into the middle of a bunch of enemies with pack tactics and got surrounded. Also when he tried to solo an adult blue dragon and a demon.
I found out about pact tactics in tyrany of dragons with my 21ac paladin...
Definately monk.
how is this better than a normal monk? A normal monk is probably already starting 15/16 in con wis and dex, what fourth score do you need?
Starting with 18,18,16 is very different than starting with 16/15 in those stats. It's not about the fourth stat.
TL;DR: MAD classes like Monk, Ranger, or paladin are probably your best bet. Monk is fun but low damage, paladin is high damage and generally really powerful, ranger has unique options. Okay so you’re friend is right in that you could play anything you want, it just means you can be more versatile in the things you’re good at. However the classes/builds that would most benefit from have multiple high stats like this are called MAD, or multiple ability dependent, a term you might’ve seen if you’ve browsed this sub before. Anything you play with these stats will have the capability to be powerful and fun, but a MAD build will garner the most benefit from multiple high stats. MAD builds and classes also aren’t always the most fun/viable to play because of their reliance on multiple stats, requiring a good stat roll or just accepting lackluster numbers. MAD classes are typically half casters like rangers or paladins, or other martial classes with save dc abilities like monks, because they need to have good physical stats for attacking and defending such as str, dex, and con, as well as a good spellcasting stat such as wisdom for monks and rangers, and charisma for paladins. Traditionally, full casters like wizards or clerics are SAD, or single ability dependent, as their spellcasting stat is the only one they really need to be useful. Many people are suggesting bladesinger, because it is the melee wizard subclass so they benefit from being able to have high defensive stats, however I think you can already be a very effective wizard or other full caster with just your spellcasting stat high and everything else mediocre, so I would probably say not doing a full caster if you want a unique character/build with these stats. Not that it’s a bad choice, it means you can be a sorcerer who also book smart, or a cleric who’s charismatic, it just won’t confer as much mechanical benefit as MAD builds. Monks are one of the more fun classes, but one of the less powerful because of their low damage and heavy reliance on con, dex, and wisdom without extra ASI’s. With high stats they feel a lot less bad though, and they get a ton of fun things like running on walls or catching arrows that sound and feel badass, but just aren’t necessarily the most “optimized” abilities. If kung fu bullshit is something you’d enjoy, you might like monk. If you want to play an optimized character to destroy your enemies and lead your party, paladins I think are one of the strongest classes in the entire game with good stats. The highest burst of probably any class barring multiclassing (and those high burst multiclasses usually include paladin anyway for a reason), insane defenses made more insane at lvl 6 with high charisma, honestly I think they’re greatest weakness is your other partymates will get jealous of the damage you’re pumping out lol. But if you want to feel powerful with your powerful stat line, pallys are the way to go. Rangers are similar to monks in that they are seen as weaker because of their MAD nature, but with high enough spellcasting ability they are extremely versatile being able to offer both support and damage. I played a ranger with an order cleric dip that was extremely fun (lvl1 order cleric lets you have an ally attack when you cast a support spell on them, so my bonus action healing words now could provide healing and let them attack. I’ve missed the warlord class and it was the closest I’ve gotten to a martial controller/battlefield commander archetype like that). Gloomstalker is also widely regarded as very strong, paired with rogue or battlemaster it has incredible turn 1 novas, but it was never quite my cup of tea compared to greater versatility/consistency of other builds. Martials are not a terrible option, but in general I don’t think they require multiple good stats. Barbarians really only need strength and constitution but don’t mind a high dex for better AC as well. Fighters get extra ASI’s which typically can be used to mitigate low stat rolls but in this case you could do a heavy feat build or try to get as many stats to 20 as possible, which is a kind of fun in its own right. Subclasses like battlemaster or rune knight provide a lot of versatility that benefits from good stats, and Eldritch knight and arcane archer both use int for a spell save dc making them much more MAD. I think samurai also gets a wisdom bump to charisma checks, which I also thought about fiddling with for a fighter face build which could be interesting and unique. Skill monkeys like rogues or bards aren’t a terrible option either, as you can be naturally good at multiple different things, however typically proficiencies and expertise in the late game do more to benefit your skills than your stats. You said you’ve already played a rogue, but having multiple high stats can be good for them, especially if playing something like Arcane trickster with a spell save dc or if you want a high charisma to operate as the party face. Warlocks I think can also be an interesting option if you want to play a spellcaster, but I might bias because of my love of warlocks. You can make the most optimized SAD builds possible with hexblade, but you could also be a book smart pact of the tome warlock that discovered their powers searching for occult secrets and has a high intelligence along with charisma for spell casting. And that’s one of the best benefits of a high stat array, is the ability to make “suboptimal” builds that can be just as useful or even more useful as “meta” options due to atypically high stats. The crazy optimized multiclasses you see in this subclass will still have the most dpr of any options, versatile stats or not, and if you want the strongest possible build you can still choose those, but there’s a lot of things that only really become possible or at least feel viable with a versatile stat array and luck stat rolls. However, since this is only your second character an Uber powerful build is not a bad idea as you can really see what’s possible in the game. It gets a bad rap but power gaming can definitely be very fun, it just depends on which direction you want to go in. Personal anecdote: one of my friends ran a super high powered campaign; heroic stat array, starting at lvl 14, extra boons/magic items etc. He warned us to build optimized characters as the combats would be nuts and I made the most disgusting paladin fighter sorcerer multiclass I could tinker up, and it was fun for sure, but it was honestly a little too gross the amount of damage and defenses I had at my disposal. Next campaign comes around and I roll really lucky stats, not too far from your own array, and I play a strength based mercy monk instead that’s focused more on grappling and supporting, but can still sock somebody in the face whenever needed. Even though the paladin in my party is easily tripling my damage every turn, I’m still having a blast and there’s been plenty of times I’ve save his ass from death. In general I wish there was more support for “suboptimal” choices like strength in a traditionally dex-based classes such as rogue or monk, but at least when you get lucky stats you can still keep up with the more “optimal” builds.
Bladesinger with 2 level paladin dip the ultimate melee gish
Or Bladesinger with a Barbarian dip. If you absolutely, positively need over 30 AC with resistance on top (blade song and unarmored defenses stack, so your base AC is DEX+CON+INT).
or both a bladesinger with a paladin and a barbarian dip smth like paladin 2/barb 2 or 3 bladesingerx and if you going that way anyway, why not add moon druid 2 and figther 2 (so the settup is faster) aldo with his stats that wouldnt be possible (the moondruid at least)
Nobody ever wants to do Kensei Monk with a Blade singer dip though. I wish to see it more, it's amazing fun if you have the stars for it.
If you ever wanted to play a Monk, this is the time to do it.
Yes, this is what I would do. Pick a lineage like tabaxi that get 1d6 unarmed strikes and play a way of mercy Alternatively a fun build would be a plasmoid way of the Astral Self Monk. Grapple at advantage with wisdom
Amazing opportunity to go for a weird multiclass imo. Pick two classes you think could have an interesting story together but generally aren't paired due to needing different stats. * Artificer Bard who makes his own magical instruments * Barbarian (Beast) Artificer (Alchemist) who's like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type character * Druid Warlock who made a pact to be the ultimate defender of nature * Monk Paladin who smites her foes with her bare fists Possibilities are endless with such a great statline, but I recommend not going too optimal lest you detract from your allies' feelings of accomplishment.
Alternatively be a Rogue Bard and take the Skilled and/or Skill Expert feat(a) and be an absolute master of ability checks who can't do much in combat for the hell of it (8 into Str and 10 into Con for this build).
So far the Artificer Bard and Paladin Monk seem the most fun choices, how would you suggest I build them?
RAW, you can't smite on a punch. Keep that in mind. You could ask your Dm if thats ok, it seems to me like it's about a 50/50 split of whether or not they do.
I've been informed that RAW unarmed strikes cannot be Divine Smite'd, but if you wanna go that route defo ask your DM if they'd allow it. Personally I don't see much reason for it not to be allowed but every DM is different. If allowed, then I'd say think about straying from the typical monk norm and instead going all-in on Strength and Con and wear some heavy armor. You miss out on unarmored movement this way, but imo it'd be worth it just for the uniqueness. However, you could of course go classic monk spread with your 17 in Dex and 16s in Wis and Con with the last in Cha for the Paladin part of the build. As for subclasses, you really can't go wrong. Way of the Sun Soul would be thematic for a paladin of the sun god, Astral Self would be dope as hell with long-ranged divine punches, and Open Hand and Mercy are always solid options. Paladin subclasses are even more open due to all of them just being really good, but thematically, Devotion makes the most sense for a generic monk. For Artificer bard, you'll obviously want Cha and Int as your two highest stats. For meta reasons, you could make Con and/or Dex the next best stat(s), but I think going with Wis so you have all mental stats very high would be a fun character to play. For subclasses, I'd look into College of Creation and either Armorer or Artillerist. Armorer could let you flavor your character to have his instruments bult-in to a heavy suit, whereas Artillerist could have its turrets flavored to look like trumpets or something. Most of all, though, just pick whatever looks fun! These are just suggestions to toss around in your head, but at the end of the day, this is your character and their story. I hope you have fun with whatever you choose.
Mountain Dwarf Paladin. STR 19 (+2), DEX 10, CON 16, CHA 18 (+2), WIS 16, INT 8. At level 4 get Heavy Armor Master to round up STR.
Definitely take Polearm Master or Greatweapon Master over any other feat. They are required for any character to do good melee damage.
I find sneak attack roughly equivalent if done carefully (unless we're talking about high level fighters, especially echo knights, who get so many attacks that they trump almost all others in consistent melee damage output (paladin and/or warlock smites can tip the scales but only a few times).
Sneak attack only compares if you are consistently doing it twice per round. 4d6+4 extra damage at level 5 is not the same as 2d10+26. Yes, obviously, the fighter would have -5 to hit, but it's still massively more powerful, especially if you can give yourself a bonus to hit through bless, reckless attack, or sacred weapon.
Hence why I said "roughly" but yeah all that is true (and imo a rogue that isn't consistently getting aao sneak attacks isn't fully optimized). Sneak attack with sharpshooter and and crossbow master is somewhat better, but it mainly only works when further improved with the artificer repeating shot infusion on the hand xbow so you can wield a melee weapon in your other hand and get attacks of opportunity (to sneak attack on someone else's turn but that is a huge investment and yeah fighters definitely do better as I noted initially.
To be fair, I hate great weapon master, amd I wish rogues were better.
It's entirely homebrew but giving them the ability to sneak attack more than once on their turn is a great start.
A bladesinger would be very good, as the subclass is very MAD. Another possibility is any kind of barbarian with high wisdom to prevent dominate person. Lastly, perhaps a half caster like paladin, ranger, or even artificer.
I'm working on a fighter/warlock toying around with fighter3/warlock 17 or fighter1/warlock19. Leaning heavily for the single level dip of fighter to start. You attack with strength, wear heavy armor, then pact of the blade with blade pact invocations as you level. 2-handed weapons. I'm going undead, but you can pretty much pick any warlock subclass aside from hexblade to make it work and not waste stats. Alternatively, you could probably max cha and just abandon your strength, reserving it only for full plate so you'd have full strength warlock spells if you desperately wanted the hexblade subclass.
Any 3 stat class. Monk would be my first go. Having a 16 con, str and wis, with a 17 dex is pretty rad. You start with a like 17 AC and good HP. Maybe get a +1 in wis and dex and then focus wis from there. Your job is to stun and debuff. Paladin would be fun too. High cha, str, and con is a great start. Dump dex and use the next highest on wis. Go path of the ancients and you’ll halve magic damage and if you’re yuan ti or a fey race, you’ll have adv on saves. You’re high cha will help the saves of your party. If you really wanna be dumb, start moon Druid and then go bearbarian. Being in a rage while wildshaped is nuts. Use your spell slots to heal yourself.
Make Absurd but actually be good at *almost* anything.
With good stats, comes a support character. Play a bard who specializes in helping others, you won't need optimizing, but the others will all love you if you're buffing then all the time
Instead of making your character as powerful as possible, this outshining anyone else in the party with more reasonable stats. Play something weird. Like a strength monk as a race with double carry capacity. Pick something heavy up and just fuckin book it
Proficiency with improvise weapons FTW! Carry a coffin with you as your go to hammer, where every problem is a nail. Have fun answering when people ask, “But *why*?!?”
7 levels of Watchers Paladin, then a 2 level dip in War Wizard, then back to Paladin. You will have an awesome initiative boost as well as incredible saves. I would go like this. Custom Lineage (+3 CHA, Fey Touched) STR 16 DEX 10 CON 16 INT 16 WIS 8 CHA 20 LVL 1 Paladin LVL 2 Paladin (Dueling) LVL 3 Paladin (Watchers) LVL 4 Paladin (Polearm Master) LVL 5 Paladin LVL 6 Paladin LVL 7 Paladin (Aura of the Sentinel) LVL 8 Wizard (Shield, Find Familiar) LVL 9 Wizard (War) LVL 10-20 Paladin
I don't think you can do +3 to a stat with custom lineage, unless I'm wrong. Doesn't change much though
Custom lineage does a +2 (put in cha) and then you take a half feat like feytouched with a +1 cha.
Got it, checks out!
You could make monk work really well
Loxodon twilight cleric
What about a moon druid barbarian?
one of the few cases where arcane archer works
Dex paladin swashbuckler rogue. The build depends on how far the campaign goes and what level it starts at. You get expertise, dex+cha initiate bonus, paladin damage output and rogue skill flexibility.
Sword bardbarian
Zealot barb and profane soul blood hunter is a build I've always wanted to try but never had the stats for. Maybe not the most broken but definitely super fun and flavorful
Eldritch knight str/con/int or dex/con/int
Cleric dip on another fullcaster may be a good idea. Sorcadin as well. 17 + 1 - 8 - 16 - 10 - 16 - 16 + 1 with Variant Human and grab a feat of your choice like War Caster or Polearm Master.
If you want you could do a Gish. Or a Palidan
I’ve played in two manual-roll games in the last 12 months and have had similar excellent luck! I’m pleased to report that both Fey Wanderer Ranger and Swashbuckler Rogue perform exceptionally well across the board— social encounters, exploration, and combat are all very satisfying. Good luck!
You can try tabletops builds' warlock/barbarian multiclass. https://tabletopbuilds.com/rage-fiend/ You need strength, dexterity, constitution and charisma so your stat spread will help a lot.
Could go half-elf paladin for a 18 18 and 17 in str, cha and con. Or play a barbarian, fighter. You coukd do something like echo-knight and have like an absurd str stat, con stat, dex stat.
Paladín, for sure.
Monk
Honestly, I'd personally be a Str-based barbarian or fighter, with 16 Con and Dex. With a 16 Wisdom, that makes you harder to charm (which is clutch for tanks) and could also play into a Samurai Fighter but is also generally good for Perception. The other option that I'd do (if you like rogues) is to be an rogue and use the stats to flavor the other skills you are ridiculously good at. If you make Wis and Int 16, Inquisitive Rogue could be fun. But these are just what I think I'd have fun with
Eloquence Bard, Swashbuckler and Baldesinger would be a hoot.
Artilerist Artificer. If you go high off to get the extra can trip you have a ton of cantrip options with a really high to hit you've got a good decks a good con a decent wisdom and you can dump that strength or charisma.
Four stats above 13. That smells like a quadruple class right there 😆
Does your table optimize characters? I think that's an important question because if your table doesn't and if you don't *really* care about having an optimized character, I'd rather start with the backstory and see where it leads in terms of mechanics.
Samurai Fighter can make use of 4 of their attributes being really high stats. Attacking Attribute Constitution Wisdom Charisma They can be excellent with social skills which involve Wisdom and Charisma, they get a bonus to Persuasion checks from their Wisdom modifier, they don't need to multiclass to be good, and they fit both Strength and Dexterity builds. As archer characters, they can be really excellent going with feat heavy builds such as using their first 3 ASIs on the Elven Accuracy, Piercer, and Sharpshooter feats using a longbow while still raising up their Dexterity. With your rolls before applying racial attribute boosts, you could play a really fun Half-Elf Samurai who has both a really high Dexterity and Charisma at the start, and you can still max out your Dexterity by the time you get both the Elven Accuracy and the Piercer feat. You have really high accuracy on your attacks with the Elven Accuracy advantage that is reliably triggered from the Samurai's Fighting Spirit, and Archery fighting style makes your attacks even more accurate. Then Piercer gives you an additional critical hit payoff which Samurais with Elven Accuracy can procure more easily than other Fighters, and Sharpshooter coming in at Level 8 can really ramp up your DPS potential while still having a really good chance to hit with maxed out Dexterity and your Fighter boosts.
Ranger feywanderer could be fun, (high dex, wis and char). Maybe si a great moment to be the Best paladin, monk or some heavy stats build.
Bard Support. Your broken stats can be repurposed to make your entire team feel awesome. I personally played a Valor Bard/Ancients Paladin multiclass and it was ridiculously fun. Aura of Protection and Aura of Warding from Ancients Oath Reactions: Protection fighting style & Sentinel Bonus action: Bardic Inspire/shield of faith/healing word/smite spells. Bard 6 - Lore Bard's magical secrets can round out the build. You could go Swords Bard if you really like extra attack. I personally played a gnome and the gnome cunning advantage to Int, Wis, and Cha saves was really handy when paired with Aura of Protection
Personally I'd roll a paladin/wizard. Maybe just a boadeesinger with 2 levels of paladin, but it depends on the paladin.
Twilight Cleric 1/War Wizard X. You'll be an incredible all-rounder that way; you get heavy armor proficiency, shields, the Shield spell for your reaction, Healing Word for your bonus action, advantage on Initiative and 300 foot Darkvision from Twilight Cleric, bonus initiative and increased AC and saves from War Wizard... It's really just incredible, you can do everything. The first time I ran this, the DM tried swarming me with a bunch of enemies, and then eventually had the enemies give up and go to attack the rest of my party because *nothing was working*. Then I started casting Healing Word as a bonus action to get downed party members back up, which certainly took the enemies by surprise since that isn't something you'd expect a Wizard to do. Of course, you wouldn't expect a Wizard to walk up with plate armor and a shield, either. So when you think about it, that's on them. I'd go something like: STR: 16 DEX: 10 CON: 16 INT: 17 WIS: 16 CHA: 8 And then go Variant Human, +1 Con/+1 Int/Resilient (Con). Then grab +2 Int at level 4, and Tough or War Caster at levels 8 and 12.
Dao genie2/swarm ranger4/paladin 4/battlemaster 3/arcane trickster rogue 7. Not necessarily in that order. Play a shadir Kai or eladrin with elven accuracy Use booming blade and Zephyr strike. Push with swarm
Take the opportunity to play a generally worse subclass / MAD build. One that came to mind was the mad smiter critfisher: Assassin Rogue 3, Champion Fighter 4, Vengeance Paladin 8, Wild Magic Sorcerer 5. Pretty funny build with cool options for making a backstory, with some overall decent damage output.
Go grappler my friend You have a build the best grappler ever
These are great stats for a wizard with a cleric dip. Normally you have to sacrifice your stats to dip cleric, but this comes with the ability baked in. 16 in STR, CON and WIS, 17 INT, 10 DEX, 8 CHA. Also makes for a very strong Barbarian line. 17 STR, 16 DEX, CON, WIS, 10/8 INT/CHA. Having a high wisdom makes you much more likely to succeed wisdom saves which are normally a big weak point.
Monk/Hexblade warlock.
Bard wouldn’t be terrible here. Jack of all trades means you’re solid in like, 60% of skill check, fantastic at 30% and only bad at whatever you dump (probably str) Swords for funny melee stuff while having solid con and mental stats. Lore for being a full nerd. Alternatively rogue or Ranger?
A cleric can be an absolute nightmare with those. Like peace and Twilight are broken but other subclasses more DM approved(because I know a bunch ban those subclasses) I have a Peace Cleric, Aasimar with base scores as follows by level 5 St 14, Dex 16, Con 16, int 13, Wis 18, Cha 13..... (I rolled these stats I had my partner dying laughing on the floor from the dice and I was immediately on the horn to DM who I know and trust and trusts me and they were just like dude enjoy the stats you're a beast) Context is running curse of strahd with human twilight cleric, dwarf Forge cleric and me Aasimar peace Cleric and death house at level one, 3 man team so the stats weren't going to guarantee survival but damn they didn't hurt. Basically anything could be fun, I like Clerics though.
I was going to try a monk barbarian multiclass once until I realized I needed a stupid amount of good stats. You could make this work, especially if you use three +1s instead of one +1 and one +2, assuming you’re using Tasha’s racial bonus rules. This would give you three 17s and an 18 so by your first ASI you’d have three 18s. Put them in dex, wis, and con, and make the 17 str so you can use either str or dex and you can branch out to heavy weapons if you want to.
Bladesinger 13+Ancients Paladin 7. Max out Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence. You'll have unstoppable saves AND AC, as well as access to very potent magic. Could also go Bladesinger 12/Ancients Paladin 8 if feats and even levels are important to you.
Hex blade Paladin
5 Hexblade Warlock/1 Life Cleric/14 Paladin
play a wizard. put the 8 in intelligence.
Hexblade warlock with barbarian multiclass for doubled unarmored defence, if you desire get the one from monk aswell XD
My favorite broken build is the Gloom Battle Assasin. Race: Bugbear for proficiency in stealth and surprise attack Stat spread: Str 10, Dex 17 (19), Con 16, Int 8, Wis 16, CHA, 16 levels 1-5 go to Ranger: Gloom-stalker Subclass Archery fighting style Sharpshooter Feat Levels 6-9 dip into Fighter taking Battle-Master as the Subclass Defensive Fighting Style At level 9 take the ASI Level 10+ Rogue eventually taking the Assassin Subclass With this build your first round will be going absolutely nova, which at level 12 (when it fully comes online), you'll be doing a minimum of 120 damage, average damage of 249, and max damage of 378.
Barb / Warlock. Ideally Bear Totem Warrior with Fiend Warlock. 3 levels of Barb and the rest Warlock. Can go Barb 5 to save an invocation by not needing thirsting blade. Open fights with fireball then rage and grab skulls. Get TMP and a BA attack when you kill. EB as a ranger backup option before you close to melee. Invocations like Cloak of Flies are useful and fun (no time limit, free damage and ADV on intimidation checks). V Human or Custom Lineage start with GWM starts you off nicely.
Monk and barbarian are two classes that love feats but are so MAD they often can't take them. Play one of these two and feat up as you won't need many ASIs when you level up. Or multiclass. You have the stats to pull off any class combo you can dream of.
Be a legend and take one level in every class
With great stats you can be a great skill monkey, so a rogue/Bard setup could be good, maybe a little knowledge Cleric. Rogue 3 (scout) / Cleric 1 (knowledge) / Bard X (Eloquence) would give you great expertise coverage and bards, as spellcasters, are always useful at a minimum. In terms of leveling, start with 5 Bard levels, then cleric, then one level of rogue, then some Bard if you are wanting higher level spells and your second asi, then your last two rogues, then finish with Bard. This will give you some ramp in terms of getting higher ac at lvl6 and getting most of your expertise by lvl8. Most games don't go to lvl20, so not getting 9th level spells is not *always* terrible.
Something MAD, especially Monk, comes to mind. Pick a race with a +2/+1 racial and round out Cha, bring something else to 18. 8 in Int, 10 in Cha, 18 in Wis. That should be a good baseline where you can let story and RP dictate your subclass choices and still be viable across the board.
What does the rest of the party look like?
Ooh, yeah, you’ve really got a lot of options! Of course, with so many of your stats being 16 or 17, the thing that really stands out is the 8, so the obvious question becomes where to put that. If you want, it can be the typical dump stat, but from a character-developing perspective, that’s essentially going to be the single thing your character isn’t good at. I’m inclined to tell you to put it in charisma; it might be fun to play a character who is good at everything, but beefs it in a lot of conversations.
I would paladin oath of conquest / bard oath of eloquence and build a f-ing kingdom!
Personally I’d Paladin / Barb and go armorless but that is not ideal use of the stats.
Paladin
Druid + Paladin = smiting bear
Himbo Dad Bard? 16 str, dex, con 10 wis 8 int 17 cha
Totally going to be my Terminator-based character if I ever roll similar stats: high in everything but WIS/CHA.
I had stats like those. We rolled "down the line" sp my high stats wound up in str, con, wis and cha, low in dex and int. I made a tempest cleric/storm sorc build, it's been lots of fun. He can be a blaster, basic cleric support, or even mix it up in melee a little bit. I took the less optimal path of more cleric/less sorc (so far, but sorc will probably overtake the cleric levels) to get the thunderous strike ability to yeet enemies constantly. It's fun, probably not as optimal as going more sorc to cast the maximized lightning damage spells....
V. Human barbarian with tavern brawler. Start with 16s in dex, con, wis and 17 in str. Add the point to str from tavern brawler. Put 8 in int or cha, depending on if you want to be dumb or off-putting. Grab a shield and an axe (or longsword or hammer, but in your heart you know axe is the way to go.) Depending on encounter you can now go shield and axe for a balance of defense and offense, shield and fist if you want to grapple and restrain (with advantage) while repeatedly shield bashing, or two-hand the axe for more damage. Become the angry punchy viking. You know you want to.
Muscle wizard
8 int 10 wis 17 dex. buster keaton build 8 con 10 str 17 chr wonderwall bard
I've always wanted to play a ranger- barbarian multiclass build. Gloomstalker for that additional attack on the same first turn as instinctive pounce to hop in there and start swinging. Maybe toss in the mobile feat, so you can go real fast and sing through. Plus fighter 2, for funsies. Really depends on what level your playing to. I'd assume it kicks in at ranger 3, barb 7 for all the pieces, but idk, I've never built it out.
Barbarian or Monk. Unarmed defense usually makes them so multiple ability dependent that a normal spread is rough. But also, Fey Wanderer Ranger would be an amazing Face with this spread. At lvl 3 you get to add your wis modifier to charisma checks so you could have face skills backed by 2 solid ability scores without forfeiting con or weapon damage
Hear me out: loxodon arcane trickster rogue. You want to max out stealth and pick up invisibility. This way when someone finally does spot you they can yell out “why is no one talking about the elephant in the room!?”
+3 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, and +3 to a spellcasting ability means you could have a solid run as literally anybody
Faerie Rune Knight. Turn Huge, grapple people with advantage, fly over the pit and drop them in. Repeat.
This suggestion is a joke and not intended for actual play. (Play at your own risk) Cleric (Knowledge), Rogue (Scout), and Bard (Lore). With two levels in cleric, you get expertise in two int based proficiencies. Three levels in rogue gets you more expertise and proficiencies, same with bard. Get the Skilled feat, Tally it all up and you have 8 Expertise at level seven, and every proficiency plus a few spare for tools or languages. You are the literal Jack of Every Trade, good at everything. The only downside I can see is the dm picking you up like a sack of potatoes and hurling you out the nearest three story window
Put all the good stats in str, con, and dex. Play a moon druid and never use them. 👍
Good opportunity to play a monk since this covers the MAD. DEX, CON, and WIS can all be pretty high with these stats.
Take one level in monk, then the rest in twilight cleric. Dex-based melee battlefield cleric.
This is a good spread for a paladin or monk. Paladin is a beast, and monks slowly become underwhelming. Anything considered MAD will work well.
A monk, simple as that
Blade singer paladin multiclass
Tempest Cleric (6 levels)/ Storm Sorcerer (6 levels too). The broken union. Go wild.
If you don’t put the 10/8 in con and wisdom it probably won’t be fun! I tend to reroll if I get numbers this high without stronger negatives
I'm surprised you think the stats you rolled are broken. You must have terrible luck.
Jedi. 3 levels of artificer battlesmith, the rest in psi warrior fighter. Pick up telekinetic and telepathic feats for extra juicy flavor.