#... and also cuz i don't think i need a zoom class for like. history or something. i'm good at history

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

on one hand i want it to be summer because i want school to be over and to just be able to play rhythm heaven n shit but also summer is the worst season because it is Extremely Hot. summer break should be in winter instead. i mean i think it's in summer break so you can theoretically go outside and play. but who goes outside anymore anyways-

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #216

Now that we're finally out of the cold, let's celebrate with some Summer! Like Summer 2, Summer 3 also comes with it's own theme, but thankfully making everyone good at drawing manga is way easier than making racecars.

Starting off the event is the saint of Orleans, Jeanne d'Arc (Archer). Jeanne is a Beast Master Ranger to summon up Reece and a Strength Cleric to cheer on the other servants as they turn your enemies into paste.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: One of these days... BANG! ZOOM! Straight to the moon!

Race and Background

Jeanne is a human to be sure, but we have to face facts. In a post-lostbelt world regular humans might not be enough to keep up with DW's power creep. That's why this Jeanne is a Mark of Handling Human, giving her a dragon mark that'll bestow wondrous powers. Those powers include +2 Wisdom and +1 Dexterity, Wild Intuition for an extra d4 on all your Animal Handling and Nature checks. a Primal Connection to animals for one free casting of Animal Friendship and Speak with Animals per long rest. You also get Spells of the Mark added to your spell lists, but we'll go over them when we talk about your regular spells.

She's Jeanne, she's still an Acolyte. That's Insight and Religion proficiency.

Ability Scores

You're still Jeanne, so crank that Wisdom up as high as it'll go. After that is Charisma. You're really convincing normally, and you can literally hypnotize people into being your little sibling now. Somehow. Your Dexterity is also pretty good, you fight in nothing but a swimsuit. Or that dress... thing, but it's still not armor. After that is Constitution, all-nighters can take a lot out of a person. Your Strength isn't great cuz we just don't need it, so we're dumping Intelligence. You don't know how to read, and it's summer. Nobody thinks in the summer.

Class Levels

Cleric 1: At first level, clerics get proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves as well as Persuasion and History skills. You also get Animal Handling from being a Strength Domain cleric. Worshipping a giant snake isn't really in character, but turn it into a big whale and... that's still not in character but at least it's closer to the theme. Anyway, starting off you're an Acolyte of Strength, giving you a free druid cantrip. Grab Druidcraft for the most powerful divination in the game, the ability to tell what the weather is. Unlike other divination spells, your DM can't weasel their way out of this prediction with "changing circumstances". If they say it's gonna be a nice day at the beach then by god it's gonna be a nice day at the beach. You also get proficiency with Heavy Armor, but you're not really strong enough to use that. First level clerics also get Spells, which they can cast and prepare using their Wisdom. You can swap them out on long rests so we won't go into too much detail, but basically: stuff that buffs the party? Good. Stuff that heals the party? Good. Giant laser beams like Sunburst? Good. For cantrips, pick up Guidance to cheer on your party members as they perform their next skill check, adding 1d4 to the roll. Also grab Mending to fix up your book if it gets wrecked in a freak space cop accident, and Thaumaturgy to project your voice. Sound doesn't travel far in the water, and if you want to talk to fish you'll have to get bassy. As a strength cleric you get Divine Favor and Shield of Faith on your Always Ready toolbox, giving your allies an extra bit of radiant damage when they attack with the former and +2 AC to one creature with the latter. I highly suggest using Shield of Faith on yourself, your AC is only 12 if you're playing to character. Last thing in level one, I swear. Your dragon mark gives you a couple extra spells for your list, Animal Friendship and Speak with Animals. You talk to Reece, it counts. These aren't always prepared and do count against your prepared #, but it's always good to have friends, even if they spend most of their time below the waves.

Cleric 2: Second level clerics can Channel Divinity once per short rest in one of two ways. Turn Undead forces a wisdom save (DC 8 + your proficiency + your wisdom modifier) on all undead near you as an action, and if they fail they have to run away for a minute or until they take damage. Alternatively, you can perform a Feat of Strength when you make an attack, check, or save using your strength. This adds 10 to the roll. We aren't investing in strength, but you can act like you are. Once per short rest, at least.

Cleric 3: Third level humans get a boost to their mark abilities, and for you The Bigger They Are the bigger they hug. When you use Animal Friendship or Speak with Animals you can target Monstrosities if they have an intelligence of 3 or lower. You also get second level spells. From your subclass, Enhance Ability and Protection from Poison. From your mark, Beast Sense and Calm Emotions.

Ranger 1: So we got ways to help our party, but our party isn't full yet. Not until we get Reece. Bouncing over to ranger will help, but first you start off at level 1. Multiclassing into Ranger gets you proficiency with Athletics so you can keep your balance on the whale when you ride it. You can also point out your Favored Foe to add 1d4 to your first attack on it each turn when you hit it. You can mark a creature this way Proficiency times per long rest, and it lasts up to a minute with concentration. You're also a Natural Explorer of the Coast, giving you doubled proficiency on intelligence or wisdom checks on the beach. You also get a bunch of traveling perks, but there's a lot of them so read up on them yourself. At least you'll never get lost on your way to the artist's alley.

Ranger 2: At second level you get a fighting style, and as a Druidic Warrior you learn more druid cantrips, specifically Shillelagh and Resistance. We're not investing in strength, but we're not investing in dexterity either, so if you want to hit anyone Shillelagh's the way to go. It'll make a stick magical, bump up the damage to a d8, and you can use your wisdom instead of any other ability to attack. On a related note, second level rangers can cast spells. Your ranger spell list is also grown by your mark, but you can prepare those spells? So why bother grabbing them here? Grab Absorb Elements to protect your allies and Beast Bond to share a special connection with Reece. He should be able to understand you anyway, but some times you need to make sure he knows he's a good boy. Since we're multiclassing spellcasters, check the PHB for the relevant table.

Ranger 3: Third level rangers get a Primal Awareness of the natural world around them. You already have Speak with Animals, but now you can cast it once per long rest for free. Well, twice, your mark also does this. Regardless. You're a Beast Master now, so you get a Primal Companion. A Beast of the Sea is the closest thing we have to a Reece, so grab that. (There are actual dolphins too if your DM doesn't like the Tasha's Ranger, but BotS has a walking speed.) Stat blocks are big and boring to write out, so check those out on your own time. You can also make the beast attack instead of you on your attack action, and you can use your bonus action to take its own turn. If your beast is dead and it's been less than an hour you can spend a spell slot to resurrect it a minute later, or just grab a new one for free at the end of a long rest. Also grab Goodberry. It's a great support spell and it singlehandedly destroys all survival games.

Cleric 4: Okay, we got Reece, we got the servant cheer, there's just one last thing we need to pick up and this build is 100% online. Use your first Ability Score Improvement to become a Prodigy, bumping your Wisdom up by one to round it out and giving you proficiency in both Performance and Calligraphy. You're now an official mangaka, congrats.

Cleric 5: Fifth level clerics can Destroy Undead when they turn them, instantly killing any zombie of CR 1/2 or lower when they fail the save. Also, you get third level spells. Haste and Protection from Energy from your subclass, Beacon of Hope and Conjure Animals from your mark. Sadly a whale is still a bit too tough for this spell, but you can get a Hunter Shark for a Reece 2.0.

Cleric 6: At sixth level you can Channel Divinity twice per short rest, and you get another CD option with Rhonas' Blessing. Use your reaction to give that +10 bonus from Feat of Strength to another creature, preferably one with a positive strength modifier.

Cleric 7: Fourth level spells! Dominate Beast and Stoneskin from your subclass, and Aura of Life and... Dominate Beast... from your mark. Woops.

Cleric 8: Use this ASI to max out your Wisdom. Also, your Destroy Undead hits creatures of CR 1, and you gain Blessed Strikes that add 1d8 radiant damage to the damage of one of your cantrips or weapon attacks each turn. I don't know if Shillelagh counts as a cantrip or weapon attack when you use it, but now it doesn't matter.

Cleric 9: Ninth level clerics get fifth level spells. Destructive Wave gives you the big wave without the whale (or with the whale if you wanna flavor it that way), Insect Plague isn't in character at all, but Awaken will let you raise Reece out of regular dolphinhood and make him smart enough to give people unwanted advice. When you awaken something it's charmed by you for 30 days, at which point it'll choose whether it wants to keep hanging out with you. But I mean Reece is a bro, I'm sure he'll be cool with it. (Actually as a beast of the sea Reece already has an intelligence of 8, but you can still awaken other fish if you want to. Even if you go with a regular dolphin they're still to smart to awaken.)

Cleric 10: Tenth level clerics get Divine Intervention... sometimes. When you try to use it, roll a percentile die. If you roll lower than your cleric level you're in luck. It's basically a hotline to your god, who'll help you out with your problem if you spend an action begging them. If you fail you can try again after a long rest. If you succeed, you have to wait a whole week. You can also Spare the Dying, I guess? You have tons of cantrips already.

Cleric 11: Destroy Undead hits CR 2, and you get sixth level spells. Sadly your freebies all ran out, but you still get some cool stuff! Sunbeam's great for turning yourself into a holy weapons platform!

Cleric 12: Use this ASI to bump up your Constitution. A lot of your spells rely on concentration, and also your AC is still 12. At level 12.

Cleric 13: Seventh level spell time! I know Conjure Celestial is supposed to be for celestials, but honestly? Your DM knows your theme by now, and a whale is a big downgrade from a celestial. If your DM is that dead set against you getting a whale I don't know what to tell you.

Cleric 14: Destroy Undead hits CR 3 creatures. Yep. That's a level.

Cleric 15: Eighth level spells, that's more like it. Sunburst time baby!

Cleric 16: Use your last ASI to get Tough for 38 extra HP now and 2 more when you hit level 20. Again, you have an AC of 12. If you survived this long, congrats. It's about to be all worth it.

Cleric 17: At seventeenth level Destroy Undead hits CR 4 creatures. Also, you're an Avatar of Battle now, giving you resistance to physical damage types from nonmagical attacks. Oh yeah, you also get ninth level spells. I don't think any of them are super in character except for the healing spells, but you can pick them out as you please.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

So the good news is you're a healer with a ton of HP, nearly 200 by the end of the build. Also, you have resistances to physical attacks and spells for resistances to other kinds of attacks, so that'll last you even longer than you'd think.

You also come packing tons of ways to support the party beyond healing, with spells like Enhance Ability and your channel divinity options to help out with skill checks and combat.

The action economy is key in D&D, and having an extra party member like Reece around is super helpful. Especially since most of his features grow with your proficiency bonus, so multiclassing isn't quite as painful as it used to be.

Cons:

The one thing Reece has that doesn't scale with your proficiency? His HP. He's only got 20 HP, that's a single turn for most fighters to cut through.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have a ton of HP, but almost no AC. It's still 12 if you're playing to character. You can just slap on medium armor, but nobody said being a saint was easy.

Missing out on the cleric capstone is so painful it's worth mentioning. Guaranteed Divine Intervention is just way better than a dolphin that dies in one hit, I'm sorry.

But Summer isn't about powergaming, it's about friendship. Make friends in the ocean, make friends at the con, make friends damn near everywhere you go because so little of what you picked up is ocean-dependent. Just try not to pick too many fights early on, I got a feeling this is going to be a long summer.