Multiclass Mashup
The hanging issue with D&D 5e is that it still is in the stage where we are looking at an uneven spread of available archetypes and they are still being developed and released. So as of right now, outside of homebrew, some character concepts are harder to realize. There is also an uneven formula to how the archetypes influence the classes. For instance, Bard has only three levels that the archetype contributes to, while other classes have four and in a couple cases (Revised Ranger) five levels. The only way to produce such a character concept within the provided materials among the Players Handbooks, DMG, and Unearthed Arcana is to multiclass. These multiclass builds must be built for the sake of the concept and not for optimization. Min-maxing is never what I recommend, especially in 5e as there is an emphasis on the story and fiction. A story with Pun Pun isn’t something I’d like to read. So if for the sake of the concept you need to take a “bad spell”, maybe your character will make it good. However, I will suggest things that synergize with the classes to eliminate design seams and makes the build fairly cohesive.
For the most part, I don’t suggest multiclassing three classes, unless your character is filling a very particular concept. The following classes will only be made of combinations of two base classes. In each entry I will list the features that really contribute to the concept of the class. The stuff in between will be fine, but the features I am highlighting show the concept of the character.
Hexblade
When I was first learning 3.5, I thought Hexblades seemed pretty cool in concept, the idea of debuffing and cursing your enemy as you hack them to little tiny pieces. The 3.5 class required a non-good alignment. To build the hexblade, we might need to take a look at more grim and “morally gray” options. The Hexblade is made up of two main components, the hexes which incur heavy impediments for your targets, and the martial capability. The part that is a definite must, is you will probably be choosing Warlock for the main breadth of your class and the Pact of the Blade at that. The Archfey Patron is thematically, and for the sake of the melee option not entirely well suited to the “Hexblade” build. You will want to choose probably choose the Archfiend Patron. From there you will need to choose your second class to combine with Warlock. I actually recommend Oath of Vengeance Paladin, We want spells that will hinder the enemy, and spells that will improve our ability to kill people right in the face.
Key Components of Hexblade
Warlock: Pact of the Blade, Lifedrinker, Mire the Mind, Sign of Ill Omen, Thief of Five Fates, Dark One’s Own Blessing, Dark One’s Own Luck, Fiendish Resilience, Hurl Though Hell|Spells: Hex, Ray of Enfeeblement, Hold Person, Hold Monster, Eyebite
Paladin: Fighting Style, Extra Attack, Aura of Protection, Oath of Enmity
Feats: Mage Slayer, War Caster
Aside from the features mentioned above, you can fill those remaining invocations, spells, and feats however you’d like. Flavor notes: There are a couple inherent problems that might me mentioned for the sake of flavor and small DM coordination will be necessary. The first problem is if you use Divine Smite, it may seem strange to use radiant damage for divine smite. Perhaps the DM will allow you to have it count as force, psychic, or necrotic damage instead. You should choose one and stick with it. Another instance is, although you are only using Charisma as a casting modifier, the PHB says that you will need different spellcasting foci for Paladin and Warlock. I personally for “Gish” characters allow a magic weapon to serve as a spellcasting focus, and would say that even the sword created from Pact of the Blade would serve as such. Finally, I would imagine some DMs would have some hang ups about a Paladin Warlock serving an Archfiend. This can be solved in a couple ways. First, the Archfiend doesn’t have to be an actual archfiend. As we see in the Undying Light Patron, the Undying Light is less of an entity and more an energy source. This could be tapping into any sort of entropic power that is tangentially related to the Nine Hells. Alternatively, if your DM is set on Paladins being GOOD, which alignment has always been an issue because people tend to play Chaotic Stupid, Lawful Stupid, or Stupid Evil, they could be a character liken unto Ghost Rider, Devil May Cry’s Dante and Nero, or similar characters who use their demonic power to do good.
Samurai
In 3.5 Samurai was very rarely played because it offered so little. The best feature of Samurai was that it offered free Two Weapon Fighting, and could sporadically add Charisma to damage. On top of that, it had improved initiative and focused on being a scary fast quick drawing samurai master. In order to create a samurai that gets the job done in a fashion in which we see the use of Iaido or Iaijutsu (the art or technique of drawing the sword), we need to focus on the idea that the samurai is proficient in two weapon fighting and quick draw techniques. This take on Samurai is comprised of Assassin Rogue and Champion Fighter. Assassin because the Assassinate ability will replicate Iaijutsu. Champion Fighter will give two fighting styles, and improve your critical hit range. For this build a 20 level Samurai is comprised of fifteen levels of Fighter, and five levels of rogue, starting in Fighter. Sadly there isn’t much we can do for the Kiai Smite feature short of taking levels in Paladin. This combination will focus on the mundane powers of the samurai. One of the key pieces of this Samurai is to focus on skill with a blade and the samurai’s mobility and ferocity in battle.
Key Components of Samurai
Rogue: Sneak Attack, Assassinate
Fighter: Two Weapon Fighting, Action Surge, Second Wind, Tunnel Fighter (Unearthed Arcana: Light, Dark, Underdark), Superior Critical
Feats: Alert, Blade Mastery (Unearthed Arcana: Feats), Defensive Duelist, Dual Wielder, Mobile, Savage Attacker, Sentinel (7 feats/ six from Fighter, 1 from Rogue)
Flavor notes: According to the class write up in 3.5 a lot of the power was put into the use of the daisho (katana and wakizashi). For this reason we utilize the two weapon fighting style and Dual Wielder. Game enthusiasts such as ourselves have a preexisting concept of how katana should work and what weapon they are most similar to. As someone who has actually studied fencing and has used a bokken for more than thirty seconds, the difference between wielding a katana in one hand versus two is not a matter of power but of control. Sure you can hit HARDER with a katana in big swings but most swings will not be these giant flashy attacks surrounded by kanji in which the earth splits in two. They are fast, and light. Many katana attacks that were used regularly were often times meant to strike the wrists or the arms. Of course the body was a viable target, but cuts to the hands and arms will end a fight faster. Without a doubt a katana could be a finesse weapon, because there are katana and daikatana (big katana) and odachi (greatsword katanas used as infantry weapons). We can equate katana, used in the case of the daisho, being lighter weight but still fairly lengthy to have the same stats as a scimitar. A wakizashi would be a second scimitar just for the sake of the story shorter, one might argue a dagger, but samurai did not throw wakizashi. Whenever anyone thinks dual wielding, we usually think of Drizzt Do’Urden from the Forgotten Realms, that style of fighting is essentially the same as the daisho.
Ninja
The ninja is another class where there are many possible implementations but it undeniably takes place in Monk and Rogue. Like Samurai, Assassin Rogue is undoubtedly the best bet for creating a ninja as they were in 3.5 combined with Way of Shadow Monk. If we were going to create a historically accurate ninja by stripping them of their supernatural abilities we would more than likely be using the way of the open hand, but because we are taking the supernatural route, we ought to use the Way of Shadow. Ninja will not focus purely on assassination but will provide a reliable amount of skill proficiency and a fair amount of sneak attack paired with a strong base of martial arts and supernatural stealth. A twenty level build of Ninja will consist of eight levels of rogue and twelve levels of monk. Sadly we can’t perfectly recreate sudden strike from 3.5 but a flexible 8d6 sneak attack with assassinate is pretty close.
Key Components of Ninja:
Rogue: Sneak Attack, Expertise, Uncanny Dodge, Assassinate, Bonus Proficiencies
Monk: Martial Arts, Unarmored Defense, Ki, Unarmored Movement, Slow Fall, Shadow Arts, Shadow Step, Cloak of Shadows
Feats: Alert, Athlete, Mobile, Skulker
Overlap: Evasion. Fortunately, both classes gain another benefit when they gain evasion, so it will not function as a dead level. I recommend taking the seventh level in monk after rogue’s.
Flavor notes: In 5e we do not have shuriken but we do have darts that are easily reskinned to be shuriken. Fortunately, ninja does not have many potential discrepancies between the mechanics and flavor of ninja.
Scout
Scout was another roguelike class that focused on mobility in tandem with extra damage. It combined the concepts of ranger with rogue and focused on Skirmish as its main ability eventually getting Hide in Plain Sight further on and Blindsight as a capstone. Like most of the builds we have seen here to replicate this old class, we need to use Rogue, and more specifically Thief, but rather than using Ranger, we will instead use the Scout Fighter archetype from the Unearthed Arcana titled “Kits of Old”. In this case, Fighter will get us more potential attacks, in combination with the Mobile feat, making the Scout attack three times or four, if you are using two weapon fighting.
Although Sneak Attack will not trigger every time we attack like with Swashbuckler, the level three and level nine abilities of Thief suit the agile scout far better than Swashbuckler would. Nine is precisely how many levels of Rogue we want. The max Skirmish damage in 3.5 only amounted to 5d6 and nine levels of rogue will net us that. Scout offers a couple handy abilities that are fueled by superiority dice that help defensively, offensively, and skill-wise.
Key Components of Scout Rogue: Sneak Attack, Cunning Action (Dash), Sneak Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Fast Hands, Second Story Work, Supreme Sneak
Fighter: Fighting Style (Two weapon fighting), Extra Attack, Bonus Proficiencies (Scout) Combat Superiority (Scout), Natural Explorer Feats: Charger, Mobile Rules note: The Revised Ranger from the 09/16 Unearthed Arcana of the same name offers a new version of natural explorer. I highly recommend using this Natural Explorer as opposed to the previous iteration. The new version offers a huge benefit to the otherwise seemingly empty Scout archetype. Overall, these builds take what seems like rigidity in the boundaries of classes and turns them into steps towards making the concept you’d like to have come to fruition. What classes do you want to see next? I am up for a challenge, so let me know in the comments down below!