Chris, you are the gentleman of RU-vid. You ALWAYS give a shoutout to other creators that inspire you or cover the same topic as you will address in your video. You are always veeery respectful and kind even though you might diverge in the opinion of other creators regarding the topic. It is a pleasure to see such sportsmanship here on RU-vid. Thank you!
Chris, one thing you didn’t mention was that Battle Smith Artificers can get Warding Bond Cast upon them by using their spell infused item at lvl 11. It takes a bit to get to, but it is a sufficient way to have it on you without needing an ally casting it.
Honestly, I like Heavy Armor Master with Armor of Agathys. Even at high levels, there is a surprisingly high number of enemies that deal non-magical damage. Dragons come to mind. But also many fiends, I in particular remember a glabrezu getting hurt more AoA than I did from his punch, precisely because of HAM. At low, or somewhat low levels, that -3 damage can easily be worth more than an increase in CON. At level 8, increasing con gives 8 HP. The tough feat gives 16 HP. If a frontliner gets hit 3 times / day, HAM is more useful than an increase in CON. If a frontliner gets hit 6 times / day, HAM is more useful than the toughness feat.
And if you're using Abjuration wizard, you can't reduce the damage done to your shield with resistance, but you can reduce it with HAM. Though the resistance still effects the damage that breaks through your shield and hits the AoAg temp hit points. I will keep in mind your HAM vs. Toughness argument in general. And HAM is nearly busted at low levels.
Also, moon druid elemental forms have lots of resistances, including nonmagical piercing, slashing, and blugeoning, plus other types depending on the form. A great option if you want to be a full caster tank.
I think earth genasi deserves a special mention for being able to cast blade ward as a bonus action. It can combine with uncanny dodge and abjurer ward nicely, without blocking you from recasting Armor of Agathys like barbarian rage does.
one issue that may come up is if you need to first cast AoA [or another leveled spell], you can't cast the bonus action blade ward on the same turn due to the bonus action casting rules.
@@bradley6471 since you're casting a spell [leveled or cantrip] as a bonus action, casting any other spell with your action is limited to another cantrip.
In terms of classes, I think that only the Hex Blade warlock is incentivized into optimizing this spell. The Warlocks have the added benefit of their spells always being cast at the highest level (max 5th) but only the Hex Blade is likely to be in melee combat consistently enough that building around this spell is a decent option.
You can make a very effective Hexblade / Paladin tank build in this way, it's my favorite way of playing a "martial" character. If you invest heavily into paladin (enough to get 4th level spell slots) you can use your armor of agathys on yourself and a mounted Greater Steed which is really nice to keep them alive in combat. It makes for a very strong mounted character, especially if you can choose which one of you takes the hit like with the Saddle of the Cavalier.
Oath of conquest paladin + sorcerer loves this spell - especially because you can get it on your steed as well. The upcast is available because of high level spell slots
I'll take it to let my warlocks tank in extremis, which can be really useful sometimes--back in 2020 when I was playing a lot of AL online it often ended up being necessary if the party tank was lower level than me. It's not a go-to thing you'd do all the time, of course, but it can really help and adds to the flexibility of the character. Low damage multiattackers really suffer, especially if you have something that gives you damage resistance so AoA lasts a long time.
I actually think that Warlocks are the worst caster for AoA, which is ironic considering it is supposed to be their unique spell. Not being able to upcast higher than a level 5 spell slot is a pretty big limitation if you are playing a game that will reach high levels. The Clockwork Sorc is the new king of AoA.
Fantastic video. I have played earth genasi warlock combo for that bonus action blade ward. I like abjurer / Mark of Warding Dwarf too. Never tried scribes /warding dwarf though
Im rocking a paldin with find steed. Conquest for armor of agathys. Level 5 goliath, free feat @ character creation. Armor of agathys when cast while mounted effects me and the mount, doubling it. Goliath can reduce damage by 1d12+con 3 times a long rest. Heavy armor master reduces physical by 3. Mounted combatant feat allows me to take hits for my mount. Ill have armor of agathys up twice every cast, witht he ability to reduce damage or swap targets. This makes it better dpr per spell slot than my smite (if it works ya know), and also adds 20 temp hp as a level 2 spell slot.
I'd love to see Bilbron in a high lvl oneshot the next time you all do it. I feel like his ultimate defense optimizing with a lot of the damage and control optimizing you all do would be great
I'll allow myself to mention "Ray of Enfeeblement" as damage reduction. - *Effect* : halves the damage of STR based attacks of the target. - *Requires* : 2nd level spell slot, a successful ranged spell attack, target failing CON saves at the end of it's turns to maintain the spell. Since it's a rare effect that reduce the damage of the attack itself (not the damage you receive, so before any resistance & dmg reduction), it stacks with everything mentionned in the video. Bonus point for being appropriate against those heavy hitting giants, minus point for being a CON save :x. If you can delete your ennemy with that 2nd level spell slot of course you should do so rather than cast Ray of Enfeeblement.
In a game I played in, we got our hands on a ring of spell storing. I was a conquest paladin/sorcerer, and started casting armor of agatys into the ring for the (bear totem) barbarian to wear. Ressitance to basically everything made it brutal.
Peace cleric. Protective bond. All the allies bonded can use their reaction to take the damage.. all the damage… from another bonded target that is hit with a melee attack. So AofA still deals damage and it is untouched. And Agathys user loves a Peace cleric ally.
IIRC, and I better because I am playing one now, the clockwork soul has access to this spell. It’s a huge part of the play style. There’s a video by another friend of the channel whose name I can’t remember right now! The dude with the smooth voice! Lol. (If he weren’t a friend of this channel I wouldn’t mention it).
So, one way to reliably trigger AoA on...less than genius enemies (at least once, doubt they fall for it twice): Race: Mark of warding dwarf. Class: Levels 1 - 3 are in Fighter, go Battlemaster. After that, put every level into Wizard, School of Abjuration. At level 4 wizard, pick up the feat Heavy Armor Master for the -3 dmg to non-magical physical attacks. All other ASI's place as you see fit. Strength should be focused on first, though. One of you spells you choose is the Alarm spell, allowing you to ritually cast it, and fill your Abjuration Ward with minimal effort. If a fight is known to be approaching, cast AoA on yourself at the highest level possible. In the fight, while wearing your heavy armor, and wielding your shield and weapon, with your defense fighting style (so around, 21 ac in full plate with no magic items), you are going to get into melee range of an enemy and make your attacks (booming blade, since you do not have extra attack, try to save your higher level spell slots thought). You must make a melee weapon attack though! because you are going to be using the maneuver: "Disarming Attack". If successful, the target is now disarmed of their weapon. Now is the fun part. If your table allows some "free talking", as most do, make sure you shit talk your opponent "OH LOOK HOW WEAK, CANT EVEN HOLD A SWORD" as you turn your back and intentionally walk away...drawing an attack of opportunity...Now, unless they are a dual-wielder, they will likely not have another weapon in their hand, and they cannot recover or draw another weapon until their turn, so...the Attack of opportunity is an unarmed strike or improvised weapon in the cast of a shield strike, this does VERY LITTLE damage compared to weapon strikes, most of the time. ITS DM FIAT TIME!!! With an ac of 21, you are unlikely to be struck with an improvised weapon. However, if you convince your dm to "allow yourself to be hit", as in, you are not actively trying to dodge it, or bracing for impact, or even trying to allow yoru armor to absorb the damage...then your golden, the enemy will strike you and take upwards of 40 cold damage, followed by a hellish rebuke. The best part is, with your Abjuration Ward, your temp hp is untouched, but due to the WORDING of AoA , they will still take the cold damage. So your ward absorbs the reduced damage and the enemy takes cold and fire damage from aoa and hellish rebuke. They will likely not make that mistake again though. IF YOUR DM DOESNT ALLOW YOU TO "let yourself be hit" then you got to play the odds, go prone before you leave the enemys range, crawl out. This will give them advantage to hit you. Hell, you could even flavor it to be that your hands are full so you go prone to grab the ENEMIES dropped weapon with your mouth. (which would force the enemy to remain unarmed or find a new weapon)
The best use of AA I have ever seen was a Sorlock casting a 5th level AA, quicken spell blade ward, then move through a camp of goblins and hobgoblins. One turn and 7 goblins where dead.
AGAIN I AM PUTTING IN A CORRECTION ON THE " ORDER OF SCRIBES WIZARD". THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FOR THE FEATURE. "• When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell's formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend." Notice what it says in the last line of the quote. The latter spell must be of the same LEVEL as the SPELL SLOT YOU EXPEND. This says if it's a first level spell and you cast it at 5th level, THEN THE DAMAGE TYPE MUST BE FROM ONE OF YOUR 5th LEVEL SPELLS, BECAUSE YOU USED A 5th LEVEL SPELL SLOT. THIS IS THE RULE OF THE FEATURE. It's not a first level spell so I change it to another type of damage of first level. THIS IS WRONG. I apologize for being so rude, but anyone corrupting the rules this way ticks me off. Especially when they put it off as Rules as Written. Treantmonk is wrong in this. PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING VIDEOS.
My armor of agathys user is the Mark Dwarf full Abjuration Wizard with Lorehold Background for Spirit Guardians, fire shield and mobile plus booming blade for laughs. Free mage armor is nice with Dwarf.
It's hard to use in a build since it comes online quite late but a Stars druid gets resistance to BPS damage at 14th level, even if it's magical. This also increases the appeal of Blade Ward over the Dodge action and the earth genasi's ability to cast it as a bonus action creates some opportunities.
Lore bardbarian comes online later than some options but is a blast to play. That being said, if you can’t use the Warding Dwarf, a one level Warlock dip is worth considering for an Abjurer or Bladesinger.
Before watching: my swords bard at level 11 has blade ward, armor of agathys, healing ward and find greater steed. It allowed me to defend the party air ship until the rest could arrive. Precast the spell at max level and waded through minions while blade warding and deliberately provoking AoOs. It was great
Love your videos ent! Though I can't help thinking that this is all going to be fixed once you can just take magic initiate for free at lvl 1 and cast it free 1/day and have it on your spell list. Technically even that might be unnecessary as 5.5 will probably just put Armor of Agythus on the Arcane list instead of making a list like Occult. The build there is obvious. Take Agythus at level 1, level 2 take abjuration wizard, and level 4 take eldritch adept (armor of shadows). Your arcane ward hits and guarantees more triggers for the damage and you basically get that ward back for free if you spend a few minutes spaming mage armor. Porcupine wizard is best wizard
I was thinking Earth Genasi for race, but then I remembered the MotM Shadar-Kai gets resistance to ALL after teleporting in. Perfect for positioning yourself in tight, and then potentially triggering some AoOs for free damage.
Not sure why you didn't mention bard for magical secrets. It certainly isn't the best use of magical secrets but it is an option. Paladin can't go as high on spells but bard can get into higher level spells. Couple that with also taking paladin's find greater steed and you can AoA yourself and your steed at the same time while riding. So AoA applying to your mount for free is a great way to keep your mount healthy. Using the damage resistance options with either paladin or bard and there's a fair bit you can do too. Warding bond is one of my favorites. The abjurer's arcane ward can also be used on you by a high level ally abjurer so party optimization is a thing there too.
Armor of Agathys combined with a Ring of Spell Storing on a Barbarian sounds like a great combination where two PC’s working together are more effective than the two of them not working together!
I still remember a time when the thinking among some of the community was that temporary hit points kicked in before resistances. That opinion always baffled me. Consider the red-scaled draconic sorcerer who is hit by the flame blade spell, and assume this character has temporary hit points. Red scales provide both AC and resistance to fire. Are those temporary hit points below the scales for the sake of AC but above the scales for the sake of resistance? But I do remember those kinds of arguments at the time of 5e's release. Some of the community seemed to be wholly against synergy. If two effects combined to create a stronger effect, then those two effects must be ruled so that either the stronger one cancels out the weaker one or the effects are read separately in the least beneficial order. Combined with a general poor understanding and wide number of rulings, it was not a good time to attempt to be an optimizer online.
All nice and good, and I gues you might want to multiclass your warlock with the sorcerer but I'm really not sure why you were bringing up barbarian, fighter and heavily armored feat (even wizards) because I don't see a reasonable way to have those multiclass scenarios (emphasis on "reasonable")... like what, 3 levels of barbarian/fighter/wizard and the rest of the way warlock? Sounds very spread... (the atributes, that is) What is you realistic scenario for these?
I would play a Hadozee Storm Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass to be able to cast AoA (which can be upcast past Pact Magic limits with later Sorcerer levels), triggering Tempestuous Magic to get me 10 feet of flying, fall 10 feet to trigger the new Hadozee Glide to get me closer to a melee foe, and use the Hadozee Resilience to reduce oncoming damage.
In Baldurs Gate 3, for abjuration wizards, this is utterly and absurdly broken! I am curious to see if in the final game wizards will still learn it (from spell scrolls)
@@TreantmonksTemple I'm in fact starting a new campaign where I play that build, except I'm playing as a MotM earth genasi not a hobgoblin - figured the bonus action blade ward would be useful
Tactics for when you can't cast it before combat would also be nice. My DM almost always "springs" combat on us. Like quickening spell. Or is the advise is to then just not cast it?
Arcane Ward actually doesn't work with Armor of Agathys since the ward takes the damage instead of you (as a side note this means Arcane Ward has weird interactions with things like resistance and concentration checks)
The requirements for the damage to be inflicted is "a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these hit points." so it absolutely still works if your arcane ward takes the damage.
Oh man, great to see Bilbron’s stuff even just briefly mentioned here. Of all the optimization channels I watch I feel like you two specifically would come up with cool stuff together. Just feels like you both have comparable optimization styles and values but retain different enough viewpoints to not be redundant.
I think the best option is clockwork soul. As a CHA caster it meshes well with warlock and you can still get 9th lvl spells. And sorcery points make up for the fact that you're burning high level slots on Agathys.
Agree. This is a very powerful option, and it addresses our deepest insecurity--the fear of DM retaliation. You are still a powerful caster with many options.
Order of Scribes: One with the Word feature lets you use a reaction if you take damage while your spellbook's mind is manifested, you can prevent all of that damage to you to dismiss the spectral mind, using its magic to save yourself. Then roll 3d6. The spellbook temporarily loses spells of your choice that have a combined spell level equal to that roll or higher. Until you finish 1d6 long rests, you are incapable of casting the lost spells, even if you find them on a scroll or in another spellbook. After you finish the required number of rests, the spells reappear in the spell book. Once you use this reaction, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
10:27 For the Order of Scribes solution, you actually need a damaging spell with a good type *on the level of the slot you expend,* not the base level of the cast spell.
@@EmanueleCappello Yep, me too. I've been casting Fireball (Thunderball) at 3rd level because I have no useful 4th level damage formulas. It's actually an interesting limitation. When I run out of 3rd level slots, my Fireballs will become _less effective_ cast at 4th level, for many enemies we've been running into.
@@mhelvens There's a spell for most levels that covers many of the damage types: 2nd level has Dragon's Breath 3rd level has Glyph of Warding 4th level has Elemental Bane 7th level has Prismatic Spray 8th level has Illusory Dragon 9th level has Prismatic Wall 1st, 5th, and 6th levels don't have a multi-type, but they (and many of the other levels also) have Force and Psychic, which are more than valid substitutes.
I do run a Goliath Barbarian/Celestial warlock (which I call Shaman) with that intent, although he is not at all optimized: also very fun. My very adversarial DM usually finds ways to eat up the tempHP whenever he can through ranged attacks, but it does work sometimes.
my backup idea for a high-danger campaign I'm playing in is a totem barbarian/celestial warlock who intimidates the gods into granting her greater power. my head cannon of these two meeting is sending me. 😂
I feel like I’m general it’s something of a trap to over optimize for Armor of Agathys. It depends on your DM but I think the real sweet spot for investment into this tactic is one where you’re okay with your DM deciding it’s not worth hitting you. If you invest your whole build into this tactic then it feels really bad to have your DM ignore you, and if you don’t invest much into this tactic then your DM can usually just cleave through your spell easily enough. So ideally you want this to be enough of a pain for your DM to deal with, but not so heavily invested that if your DM decided not to hit you, that it’d mess you up. I think spending a race option and a couple levels of multi class on your Abjuration Wizard isn’t a heavy investment to have a non-concentration pre combat spell that effectively reads “enemies won’t attack you with melee attacks.” It lets you somewhat ignore many defensive aspects of positioning since you’re fine taking opportunity attacks or having enemies rush you, letting you position to best be able to sling spells. I think the balance point for this is different based on your DM and if you’re melee or ranged. If your DM tends to target back line fighters a lot then this becomes inherently more advantageous to invest into as a ranged character like a Wizard. If your DM generally avoids ever provoking opportunity attacks or disengaging and just has enemies hit whoever’s closest, it becomes inherently more advantageous to invest into as a melee character like a hexblade.
You are acting like the DM is optimising their tactics. The Dm should be doing what makes sense for the monsters. If the monsters know how well protected you are (and they might after the first couple of attacks at you, then they might avoid you. If the DM is just avoiding you because of metagaming... well I feel sorry for you having a DM like that.
Just pick your target and get into melee. It's just that simple if they try to run you have options 1. Use Booming blade, they run they take damage. 2. You can make a grapple as a AoO.
@@insertphrasehere15 Super late reply to this lol, but I'm not really saying that the DM is going to metagame the situation, I'm saying different DMs have different playstyles just like players do, and some are more or less inclined to have monsters learn from player actions. Even if every DM played all monsters perfectly lore and stat-sheet accuratley, the DM's "playstyle" still emerges through the types of enemies they populate the world with.
If your dm allows it, this spell works well with blood hunter. Profane soul gets the spell, and the brand of castigation feature is another source of retaliation damage. Multiclassing into abjuration wizard after level 6 is a great way to make a tanky gish frontliner build imo
Mark of Warding Dwarf on a Tier 3 Artificer isn't necessarily optimized or that strong, but does have some interesting utility. Since it counts as an Artificer spell, you'd be able to put it in the Spell Storing Item. Spell Storing Item doesn't require attunement, so you can hand it around the party and let each person get the 5 HP boost and then go into combat. Pretty decent if you don't have someone else in your party who hands out temporary HP.
Might make for a fun group of goons to throw against the party. Not that it would do much, but describing a bunch of thugs as glowing and having them do damage when they inevitably get oneshotted has some entertainment potential.
Actually you could put it in as a second level spell for 10 temp hp for a little bit better damage. Still not amazing, but that’s actually a really fun idea.
I really like the idea of a Warding Dwarf Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger, though all of its key abilities aren’t available until higher level, and spell progression suffers pretty heavily. Uncanny dodge paired with the bladesinger extra attack to cast blade ward is a consistent and resource-free way to quarter damage from an attack.
I play a Mark of Warding Abjuration wizard. Somehow, this wizard became the party's tank and is crazy good at it. So far the only weakness I encountered was ranged attacks. Even at level 5, I'd have 37 HP, and per day can get 45 - 75 temp HP easily and a Ward of 13HP that I can keep refilling via Eldritch Adept > Armor of Shadows. I even have a low AC on purpose. 9 at the start of day, 12 after Mage Armor, 17 with Shield if need be. I found myself triggering attacks of opportunity when appropriate so even losing your action to casting AoA isn't a big deal. And, because dwarfs have proficiency with warhammers, I can still dish out damage via Booming Blade. Having enemies choose to either attack me and take damage, or walk away and take damage from Booming Blade and an attack of opportunity. And in a white room scenario. if you already have AoA up, walk to melee enemy > Booming Blade > step back to trigger AoA > enemy now has to step closer to hit you triggering BB > on hit that's another AoA trigger. Even if the DM gets savvy and has enemies stop attacking you, guess what? You're a wizard, that's totally fine. If I'm down on my last spell slots I try to mitigate the damage by recasting Mage Armor to fill the ward a bit, and Blade Ward when I expect to take damage. All in all, a very solid damage dealer and damage sponge.
I know you said you read your comments for a few hours after you post a video. I just wanted to let you know I don't actually play D&D, but I stumbled upon your channel and have watched probably every video you made. It's interesting content, your direct with a strong opinion. I'm more interested in game design and game mechanics, and that is what this channel talks about. I watched your start a youtube video and just wanted to express support and thank you for putting that much effort into your craft. Have a great day.
I've been looking into building a character around Armor of Agathys as well, and I think Barbarian 1/Fathomless warlock 6 to Ancestral Guardian 3(4?)/Fathomless warlock X with low DEX and high CHA is the way to go. AC will be low, but that's fine since you want to get hit. Race doesn't really matter, but Goliath will give a lot of damage reduction until level 7 when Guardian Coil activates. Barbarian rage effectively doubles the temp HP, and Ancestral Guardian nicely solves the problem of how to get enemies to target you. Tentacle of the Deep brings a ranged(!) weaponisable bonus action (which, going off a 16 CHA, should be effective enough) as well as reduction. So competitive damage all around, as well as a nice gimmick. Oh, and as soon as you get to Barb level 3 and have the tentacle, you can attack at range as a bonus action, and as long as it's the first attack you make on your turn, Ancestral Protectors activates to give that enemy disadvantage on anyone but you, which can be very handy if they can't reach you. And if you really want to go bonkers, you can multiclass to Clockwork Soul Sorcerer after level 10-ish for extra reduction, but I never build past level 14 since campaigns never go there anyway. Since I'm a sucker for story and I always want to have a concept/story to go along with mechanics, I also wrote a little story of who this character is. During a storm, a Goliath hailing from a viking-like culture got blown overboard and nearly drowned. Accepting his demise and praying for Walhalla, he found something else answering the call. The murmors of hundreds of men, whispering and whimpering as one, cursed drowned sailors stemming a nearby wreckage of a long lost vessel carrying a reality warping cargo. As punishment for their greed, they can't live, but can't die either, bound to the ship forever under the crushing weight of the ocean. 'Help us, free us!' they call out. With his last moments of conciousness, he accepts, and suddenly he's able to breathe underwater. He wakes up a certain amount of time later on a cold rocky beach, with a burning sense for the pact he just made in his mind: in exchange for the protective, spiritual powers their collective has bestowed upon him, he has to undo their curse and finish whatever business they had...
I’ve been trying to find a way to stack this spell with Find Steed for a long time. Maybe a small character who can take cover on the far side of the steed and keep it protected by Blade Ward, Armor of Agathys, and Interception fighting style. I know there is a build in there somewhere, but I still haven’t my gotten to the bottom of it. Probably a bard of some kind.
Any bard. If you're willing to burn magical secrets, you can get both AoA and find greater steed from the pally list far earlier than a pally can. It's really effective with lore bard for the damage reduction of cutting words or with swords bard for movement, damage, or avoiding attacks yourself
I think the key for AOA sustaining is to be able to stack alot of free action dmg reducers. this makes the clockwork soul particularly attractive as they can: 1. gain dmg resistance via blade ward in combat or stoneskin out of combat 2. gain a dmg reduction shield via bastion of law out of combat 3. easily pick a race or feat that gives me a dmg reduction reaction like goliath and martial adept/superior technique-parry after clock 7, we can stock up on more free action dmg reducers. next stop should be the abjurer. with the scaling of arcane ward, we can pretty much stick with abjurer for the rest of the levels. of course there are interesting triple class options
Kinda shits on HAM. But like Treantmonk says in almost every video. The game is mostly played from levels 1 to 11, so HAM is an amazing feat in 99% of games. Also if you reduce the damage below the threshold of your AoA it stays up, so 3 damage can be pretty important. Ex: your AoA is 5th level, so extra 25 hp. You get hit for 24 instead of 26. Your AoA stays up does 50 damage instead of 25. Thats awesome.
It's very nice of you mentioning another RU-vidrs channel. I just can't give my time to someone who is so full of themselves. Boasting about how other aren't as smart as him because of his college degrees and how he is the absolute number one optimizer ever. He has a pampas attitude and belittled, not just other content creators, but all other people that aren't him. I'll watch your video, because as always I'm going in knowing it will be great educational and entertaining content.
I wish more people recognized how powerful the Interception fighting style was, especially when someone in the party has the AoA spell. Totally worth the Fighting Initiate feat for everyone in the party, especially up to Level 5. I just wish it stacked better with Blade Ward. I was really sad when I learned damage resistance takes affect AFTER subtractions to damage.
I have a suggestion for this style of play and that is the spell Suggestion (or command or Compulsion or Dominate Person). This is only good against weapon wielders, but enchanting them so they will just punch you instead of using a weapon, will greatly reduce their damage out put.
One thing not mentioned is the new Grapple mechanic may synergize well. Its going to restrict movement but also provide an incentive to hit the grappler. I think this would synergize well with armor of agathys, especially if you want to force melee attacks.
I love this spell, I think that abjuration magic is undervalued in 5e... currently playing a clockwork soul who uses this regularly... it makes a great tank!
Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard. Upcast Agathys, stack with Fire Shield, run through a bunch of small enemies letting them hit you and then turn around and AOE nuke them with a fireball. Anyways I had fun with that combo. If your DM lets you build however take that Ravnica background that gives you Spirit Guardians as well 😂 This isn’t good vs a single enemy and is best against many small enemies. There is diminishing returns when enemies start hitting really hard. One thing to note is you don’t make concentration checks while your Arcane Ward is up.
Thanks Chris...I've tried this strategy with my Do It All Mage and agree that to make this work, you probably need to design your build around this tactic. However, I've had DMs who simply refuse to attack my character with a high-level armor of agathys which sucks if you've burned a high-level spell slot to get this set up.
As a DM, I try to run the bad guys in a convincing way. So anyone who has an intelligence over 6 can tell that it hurts to attack this target, and likely switch. But outright refusing to attack a character built to soak damage is un-fun.
Just build your character in a way where the enemies are screwed if they attack you or not. Your highest slot is for Spirit Guardians and your second highest is for AoA. That way, if they don't attack you they are getting nailed by Spirit Guardians without any potential for a failed Concentration Save. Whether they attack you or not, you are sitting happy.
I think the Earth Genasi is a great option for your Hexblade 1, Abjuration Wizard X because of the bonus action blade ward working with abjuration ward and armor of a
@@TreantmonksTemple Just being in melee range with high level spell slots is something I would have to build around. Maybe a straight warlock or some variant of your tear and scare build.
@@PiiskaJesusFreak I agree. There's a lot of ways to make it work but not that many that I would build that I would personally find enjoyable. Everything in this video presents a viable way to build around armor of agathys.
One thought I had was to play an Eldritch Knight with a couple levels of Abjurer wizard, as it goes well with the spell-slinging Fighter (who could easily justify staying in melee). The extra spell slots, ritual casting, gaining a 1st lvl spell slot back on a short rest (once/day), and added cantrips/spells known are definitely appreciated. Then, a single level dip into Dao Genie Warlock (to get AoA and Sanctuary) would allow you to cast Sanctuary to help avoid ranged attacks while running into melee (which also charges the Abjurer Wizard's arcane ward a little). Another thought I had was to use an Earth Genasi (for bonus action Blade Ward) with a Hexblade/Clockwork Soul multiclass. Hexblade, of course, pushes you into melee, while Blade Ward and Bastion of Law decrease your actual damage taken, helping you to get the most out of Armor of Agathys (which the Sorcerer multiclass can net you transmuted spell). This seems, to me, like a high-risk/high-reward play style, as you'd be in quite the pickle if your Armor of Agathys ran out while solidly in melee.
Im super late to this video, but forever keeping a Mark of Warding Dwarf Bladesinger in my back pocket for the next eligible 5e campaign. Is it particularly optimized, no. But does sound fun
Recently had a debate on this very topic. I was planning on trying to do a Fathomless Warlock/Path of Beast Barbarian going for more of a melee build. Path of Beast has the same d8 reaction(doesn't scale) the Fathomless has but it only requires being in Rage, so there is a little redundancy. Fathomless also gives you ignoring Cold Resistance so it does cover a lot of the issues brought up. I was going with a Fire Genasi but other races would be better Earth Genasi would be great before multiclassing or if you don't want to go Barbarian with the new changes in Multiverse, Goliath for the really high damage reduction, or if you want something really interesting a Gith and go Totem Barb for full damage resistance.
Just be a 20th level conquest paladin and use invincible conquer... sure you're waiting 20 levels for a feature thats synergistic with a level 1 spell, but hey, who am I to judge
The answer is *Deep Gnome* Abjuration Wizard with the *Svirfneblin Magic* feat. *1)* Assuming you dip 1-3 levels into another class to pickup the Armor of Agathys, your wizard's Arcane Ward will offer a maximum of about 40 hit points. *2)* Svirfneblin feat lets you cast the "Nondetection" spell on yourself at will, with no material cost (normally 25gp worth of diamond dust, consumed on cast). This level 3 abjuration will restore 6 points to your ward per cast, so just spam it outside of combat to make sure your Arcane Ward is maxed out for every combat. It also offers once/day bonus spells like Blindess/Deafness and Blur for additional defense against melee attackers when your barriers run out. *3)* Gnome also has "Gnome Cunning" which grants advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saves against magic. Level 14 Abjuration grants "Spell Resistance" against all spell damage, and advantage against all spell saves (which covers spells that require a CON or DEX save, like Fireball, that are not covered by your racial trait). Deep gnome abjurer is very persistent against both melee and magic attacks: -- Melee attackers will need to cut through both your Arcane Ward and Armor of Agathys shield before they can hurt you, and they will be taking significant cold damage in the process. Since Armor of Agathys is an abjuration spell, if it runs out mid-combat, you can simply recast it again using a high level spell slot and refresh your Arcane Ward at the same time for another 14-16 hit points. -- Casters will find most their effects fail on you, or inflict half damage at best (or one-quarter damage in cases like Fireballs). Abjurers even make life difficult for casters by adding their proficiency bonus to ability checks for spells like "Counterspell" and "Dispel Magic". And if you use the new One D&D rules for Gnome racial, then "Gnome Cunning" could provide advantage on *all* Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma skill checks. This means Gnome Abjurers would also get advantage on countering and dispelling magic on top of the proficiency bonus. For the dip, I would probably take 2 levels in warlock to get: -- Eldritch Blast cantrip -- Invocation #1: Armor of Shadows -- cast "Mage Armor" at will (another abjuration spell) -- Invocation #2: Eldritch Mind -- advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration (especially for things like "Stoneskin", conveniently another abjuration spell) -- Otherworldly Patron: Celestial -- for access to Sacred Flame cantrip, Cure Wounds, revivify, restoration spells, and the "Healing Light" ability (3d6 hit dice pool) (Given the abjurer's high defenses, he may often be the last one standing. You can use a *bonus action* to restore 1d6+ health to a downed player up to 60 feet away, up to 3x per long rest.)
I've been playing a abjuration wizard with 1 level of warlock and eldritch adept (or you could go 2 levels of warlock) and that worked out really well. I was the tankiest in the party until we got a pally at level 6. Notably, armor of agathys works on HIT not on damage so it procs from arcane ward. That + armor of shadows for infinite ward makes me an amazing dungeon crawler (we are playing waterdeep -> dungeon of the mad mage)
First. If you go Rogue for uncanny dodge go Arcane Trickster 100%. You get two spellcasting levels and lose three. Evasion is two levels deeper, but loses you another spellcasting level. But the bigger point is that even if you're optimizing to deal damage with AoAg, I wouldn't discount AC at all. If an enemy misses, they don't take damage, but they do waste that attack. And a high AC means each hit point keeps you in the fight longer. The only difference is that if you're upcasting AoAg for damage I'd try to get resistance *before* worrying about imposing disadvantage. Bladesinger deserves a shout out here. They can boost their AC really high, and can fight effectively in combat. Plus Song of Defense to reduce damage. I'd say either Warding Dwarf to pick up AoAg and concentrate on Stoneskin for resistance, or Earth Genasi to use Blade Ward p.t.p.d. as a bonus action, allowing you to concentrate on Improved Invisibility (which works well with sneak attack) then pick up the spell as a Clockwork Sorc.
My first method of maximizing this spell was to make a Fighter/Barb/Warlock hybrid. Start fighter for the heavy armor proficiency and Action Surge, get Rage from Barbarian, then get the spell from Warlock. You could also go Sorcerer most of the way for the higher spell slot progression, and in that case, go Clockwork Soul to skip out on having to dip Warlock. This lets you upcast the spell massively, while having resistance and flat damage reduction, though I prefer Warlock since it lets you grab Shadow of Moil and Hellish Rebuke too. With this combo, if they can hit you at all, you'll be doing more damage in retaliation than you do on your own turns. The other build I had for Armor of Agathys was an Abjuration Wizard. You get the slots to upcast it beyond 5th level, as well as Arcane Ward, which lets you absorb damage without actually damaging the Armor of Agathys temp HP. This gives it a TON of longevity. The downside being that you're otherwise relatively frail, and lack good front-line potential. I would probably rely on strong control magic, and melee cantrips. Hold Person and Shocking Grasp, for example. Concentrating on spells will draw enemy attacks, especially from smarter foes.
I'm planning to play a campaign with a build around AoA and one tactic I find very funny is to sit on the ground at the enemy's feet, basically imposing the prone condition on yourself. This way this opponent's Melee attacks have advantage against you, while all ranged attacks of his potential allies will have disadvantage against you. I'm thinking of using Earth Genasi, for the Blade Ward bonus action, and going HexBlade 2 / Abjuration Wiazard X. This way I can get Armor of Shadows to infinitely recharge my Arcane Ward, and Elditch Mind for the constitution saves. Another advantage of this combination is the synergy of HexBlade Curse with Magic Missiles, for a more reliable damage source. I haven't decided what my feats will be yet, but I'm quite inclined to get Fey Touched with Compelled Duel.
As others have pointed out, Barbarian for Rage and Reckless Attack is pretty nice, and you don't need to concentrate on AoA so it'll kinda synergize. If you go heavy, you could do a Earth Genasi Psi Warrior and Heavy Armor Master to go along with it. I think the Sorcerer option is the way to go here, though. There's lots of good stuff in there and you benefit from pretty much all of it.
Conquest Paladin/ Divine Soul (Evil) w/ Armor of Agathys, Aid, Mirror Image is a decent set of buffs before charging into melee. Throw in a Quicken Blade Ward with a BA, or be a Earth Genasi.
Fathomless Warlock tentacle also reduces damage on yourself, which is really good because it lasts a full combat, and is on the warlock, the class that actually has Armour of Agathys. I feel like a melee Goliath Fathomless Warlock is probably the best way to maximise the damage of Armour of Agathys. Stone's Endurance is better than Guardian Coil until Warlock level 10, where it becomes about even, assuming a 14-16 CON score. You could also dip 1 level of Sorcerer for Absorb Elements for a more potent damage reduction ability against high damage effects, like a dragon's breath weapon.
I played a Mark of Warding Dwarf, Armorer Artificer 3, Abjuration Wizard X. Took Heavy Armor Master. It was insane. Considering Counterspell is a Abjuration spell, my ward was full most of the time. There was one encounter where I killed two swarms because when they would finally drop my ward, I would cast Shield and refresh it. The whole time they were taking 25 cold damage from a level 5 AoA.
How are you figuring 70 & 105 that's a poor interpretation of what this spell states! So I gain 35 temporary hp. I get hit for half of that say...... 18. You would take 35 damage from your first hit and at the end of round one you've reduced my temporary hitpoint pool by 18 .....and you have taken 35 hp of damage. At the Start of round 2 if you successfully attack me again that pool has been reduced or consumed by 18 and you cannot heal temporary hitpoints. So the most damage I could do to you after you hit me on round 2 was 17 more damage not another 35! I will acquiesce it is plausible to do 35 hp of damage everytime your hit provided you mitigate all incoming damage to zero. If your not completely mitigating all damage from melee attacks to zero 35hp of damage is not possible. UNLESS you're arguing that any damage I take some how magically regenerates back to the original amount if the damaged does not consume the temporary hp pool. In which case that is a HUGELY OP interpretation for a 1st lvl spell. Consider a 1st lvl scenario. A wizard with 15hp casts this and gets 20. He faces a unarmed kobold with no str mod. Round 1 kobold hits for 4 he takes 5. Round 2 he hits for 4 and takes 5. Sense he can never exceed temporary hp pool and your insane interpretation has it regenerate he kills himself and I never take damage! I'm ok with taking additional damage if total temporary health pool was not consumed so in this case that's 17 meaning I've now done a total of 35 +17=53. With possibly a bit more dmg depending on how much more was done to me on the 3rd hit. Keep in mind I am finding even a 2nd hit let alone 3rd hit to be completely unrealistic for most 7th lvl melee characters. You'd need to do the math...... average the typical melee characters avg dmg which I'm confident would exceed 35 meaning in all likely hood doing more damage beyond the initial 35 would be highly unlikely, though a pleasant benefit for you all because your attacker happens to roll poorly. The spell states you gain temporary hitpoints for the duration of the spell but duration in context is only IF you don't get hit. Why are you assuming the temporary hit points are not consumed when you take damage?
I know collabs are hard to do sometimes but I was thinking... a video about an optimized party might actually be fun/interesting. Is 4 optimized 'solo' characters better than 4 characters optimized for party play? Equal? Maybe the party group is slightly weaker per character but the party itself can handle more threats/the other party more readily. IDK, just spit balling the idea.
Chris, what’s your ruling on generating higher than usual spell slots with Sorcery points? Assuming it’s allowed, seems to me a Clockwork Sorcerer with Metamagic Initiate is hands down the way to do this. From Lv 2 to Lv 5 you have spell slots of the same level as your character level.
Conquest Paladin is one of the best candidates for AoA. They get it for free, and have heavy armour, so HAM is an option, in addition to being natural melee characters. If you combine AoA with Find Steed, you can almost double it's effectiveness, as the spell will affect both you and a steed. You can also use the 7th lvl fear aura to lock down enemies near you, helping draw attacks (at disadvantage) towards you. In addition, higher level Conquest features also follow a thorns damage theme. The biggest hurdle is spell slots, because you are a half caster, but multiclassing with sorc/bard is a viable option.
Looking at MToF on DNDBeyond shows the 1/day use of AoA given to Levistus tieflings being cast at 2nd level instead of 1st level. Of course this doesn't fix any of the mentioned issues, but in a tier 1 campaign 10thp on command is fairly potent for a racial feature
I currently have a Mark of Warding Abjurer, who does almost no damage. The DM doesn't understand the build, and thinks he's doing me a favor by always attacking other things. I even described myself pretending to trip, so that I was prone next an enemy. Grrr... this is the downside to AoA.
