#Paladin/Bard multiclass for me

[theology101]

I had two pretty distinct friend groups in High School and like… the concept of me going to aguefort and having to CHOOSE which one i want to be in an Adventuring party with?

It gave me a stress ulcer and it will literally never happen lmao. I just gotta wonder how isolating it is for “this is your party and by consequence the people you will constantly be hanging out with”

give me your high school party comp in the tags

[sunflowerdales]

Ezra Stormcrow

Also their new token for in-game:

[forcedhesitation]

I'm actually rather surprised that not a single one of the boys made top three. but then again, I suppose the large number of straight men that play this game are not as visible in fan spaces as us lgbt. That is...a fortunate thing, though, I'd argue.

[b1gwings]

swashbuckler rogue my beloved

[scribblingface]

the thing about multiclassing is that every single level you have to ask yourself if what you'd get from level 1 in a different class is worth more to you than what you get next on your own level progression and this is why I'm five levels into paladin still saying 'maybe I'll multiclass as a sorcerer'

[plinchy]

My Tav (Ellie) and I are down bad for Shadowheart.

She saw Legalt (other player) kiss Wyll after dancing once

Ellie had the same exact date with Shadowheart twice but nothing's official

[jopzer]

being crazy about ted lasso and bg3 at the same time is making me kinda crazy i think. doing dnd shit to those soccer guys in my brain

[villadiodatis]

Welcome to level 13, Bad Kids!

The stress of escaping Baron and the nightmare briefcase Mordred Manor has boosted the Bad Kids up to level 13! Let's take a look at what's new. (And if you're curious about what they did for levels 11 and 12, I've got you covered!)

Adaine: Wizard 13. She learns two new spells, which can now be 1st-7th level, and gets a 7th-level spell slot (in addition to the new spells she got in her downtime). We know one of these spells is Plane Shift! She has a bunch of options, and some of them are nasty, so I'm very excited to see what's in store. She can also now prepare 18 spells a day (previously 17).

Fabian: Fighter 6/Bard 7 (was Fighter 6/Bard 6). He learns a new spell, which can now be 1st-4th level, and gets a 4th-level spell slot. Options for him include Freedom of Movement, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, and Polymorph, among others.

Fig: Bard 10/Paladin 2/Warlock 1 (was Bard 9/Paladin 2/Warlock 1). She learns a new bard cantrip, gets a 6th-level spell slot, gains expertise (double proficiency bonus) in two skills, her Bardic Inspiration goes from a d8 to a d10, and she gains Magical Secrets--she can learn two spells (1st-6th level) from any class list!

Gorgug: Barbarian 6/Artificer 7 (was Barbarian 6/Artificer 6). He gets a third 2nd-level spell slot, as well as Flash of Genius, which lets him use a reaction to add his intelligence modifier (+3) to any ability check or saving throw made by him or by a creature within 30 feet of him. He can do this 3 times a day (equal to his intelligence modifier). We already saw him offer to use it this episode!

Kristen: Cleric 13. She gets a 7th-level spell slot and access to 7th level spells! These include Plane Shift (which we've already seen both her and Adaine use), Fire Storm, Resurrection, and Conjure Celestial, plus a few more. She can also now prepare 18 spells a day (previously 17).

Riz: Rogue 13. His sneak attack damage increases from 6d6 to 7d6, he gets two 3rd-level spell slots, and he can learn a new 1st-3rd level Enchantment or Illusion wizard spell. He also gains Versatile Trickster, which allows him to use a bonus action to distract a creature with his Mage Hand cantrip and gain advantage on attacks against them until the end of his turn.

Everyone's HP goes up and they get another hit die, but biggest at level 13 (total class level, not individual, so our multiclass kids aren't left out) is an increase to their proficiency bonus! Everyone's proficient skills, attack rolls, saving throws, and save DCs go up by one. For those of you enjoying Reliable Talent, this means Riz's minimum stealth roll is now a 25. My god.

Hope you enjoyed, see you next time, and as always please let me know if I’ve missed anything!

[sorbeau]

Alright fhjy predictions go

Just from seeing the trailer i have a lot of thoughts

Kristen paladin multiclass⁉️

Kristen butch handyman era, bought a single carabiner

Riz The Ball Gukgak letting go of his god awful hat?!?!?!

Sklonda law student

We get to meet the bard teacher mayhaps?

Aelwyn/Fabian immediate recton/breakup

Riz at some point dons hipster glasses

Porter redemption arc (he was literally never evil)

Fabian does at least one dance battle

Fig gets facial piercing(s)

Gorgug becomes famous again

Gorgug going into the thistlespring family tinkering business

Adaine punches more adults till they die

tell me your ideas so i can eat them pretty please

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Todd the most chillest of barbarians

I rolled really well for all of my stats except for one (I got a 5). So I decided it'd be fun to play a barbarian with a monk multiclass, and made the 5 the int. I also made him into a almost hippie/surfer dude stereotype. Since the monk thing hasn't come up yet everyone assumes he's got a low wis (just a poor roller) too...I have done nothing to stop this. In fact the joke has became that unless I ask for an insight check I'm just assuming the best thing is happening. 

Me (Todd): So can I roll an insight on this situation?

DM: Sure. 10 isn't going to cut it. So everything seems fine. 

Me (Todd): Gnarly dudes. I'm glad everyones doing well. 

Rogue: Everyone but the dead body Todd.

Paladin: What the fuck Todd. 

Me: Whoooooaaaaaa man I totally miissed that! Who is it?

Bard: *Cackling laughing*  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DM: Todd you do not see the giant stone ball with a 8 on perception, make a strength check. 

Me: Bummer dude. 

Rogue: OH MY GOSH JUST STOP THE STONE OR WE'RE GOING TO DIE!

Wizard: Fuck you I'll teleport away first!

DM: *Joking* Todd it seems like Rogue and wizard are flirting again. 

Me: Dudes, I'm all for your love and all but this isn't the best time for romance. 

Wizard: Oh my god I'm dimension dooring away. 

[cottoncandybitchfuck]

It's 4 am (11:40 PM) in a warehouse in Las Vegas (The woods, definitely not Las Vegas) and I am back with another little personal essay about fantasy high. I am back on my bullshit (I was never gone(I know people are winding down on FHJY posts but not me!))

Figueroth Faeth, a bard tiefling with a strained relationship with her mom, a step-dad who left and a dad who was never around. Fig who went to high school and got detention first day because she wanted to rebel. Fig, an artist who wore her heart on her sleeve guarded her emotions and took Doreens hairnet to remember her. The girl that gave her friend party member drumsticks because she thought he was brave. Fig who moved in with her Stepdad to get away from her mom and let her friend move in with her, and another come over constantly and eat dinner.

Figueroth Faeth who trapped her dad in a gem after saving him from one a year prior. Fig Faeth who believed her stepdad was the chosen one despite him definitely not being. Who learned to accept her mother and bring her on an adventure. Fig Faeth who finally got told why her mom was so flawed hurt. Who went to hell and became an arch devil of rebellion. Who trusted her friend to know what she was doing in the face of a Goddess Nightmare King

Figueroth Faeth, a Bard and a warlock who hid that she was the one who sealed the Night Yorb to help her best friend. Fig Faeth, who took on a family curse. Who took barbarian classes and helped her friend. Figueroth Faeth who multiclassed into paladin to help her sister best friend bring back her goddess. Who just misses her girlfriend and trusts her new goddess. Figueroth Faeth "I think I'm just a really good friend," who made a rock song so good it sealed a god's domain so it could not be stolen. Who follows the goddess of rage, conquest and war justice, summer and the sun. Who finally accepted her mother is a complicated woman, and gives her the space to be that.

[remidyal]

What is Fig Doing? - Mechanical Discussion edition

So! I know a lot of people who watch D20 are relatively new to DnD, or may not have much experience with the game itself at all, and as a lover of exploring weird and mechanically ineffective multiclasses I thought I might dive in in advance of whatever the hell Emily's about to do to Fig's character sheet following episode 7. Spoiler alert: Weird it may end up being, but this is absolutely NOT going to be anything like an ineffective multiclass.

First, here's Fig's character splash screen as of episode 7:

In addition to the information shown here, we know that she's currently subclassed into a Hexblade patron and into being a Lore bard. The Lore bard part is less important, but Hexblade is an incredibly common subclass for multiclassers into warlocks and might actually be the most common multiclass subclass in the entire game for reasons we'll get into.

There is a very small elephant in the room: Multiclassing into or out of Barbarian would, by the rules as written, require 13 strength; multiclassing into or out of Paladin requires 13 strength and 13 charisma. The charisma Fig has in spades, but she's short on strength, and in fact I would actually argue that Fig's overall stats are the worst of the entire party - she has a whole lot of 0s or +1s, where most everyone else either has multiple +3s or higher or has almost all +2s past their primary. However, the multiclass requirements have been consistently ignored in Dimension 20 as a whole and have been ignored in Fantasy High in particular in the case of Gorgug going into Artificer back when he was at 8 int; I think it's safe to say that if Fig/Emily wants to add Paladin and/or Barbarian that either they'll move around stats to allow for it or just ignore the requirement, because that strength stat is, in fact, completely irrelevent to this build.

So let's get to the meat of this: There is almost no combination of bard, paladin, and warlock that Fig could end up with that is not going to be an incredibly effective build, as long as she has pact of the Hexblade and is at at least two levels of Paladin for access to Smite (the first level of paladin gets her almost nothing). There are some that are going to be better than others, but mostly it's going to reflect different strengths and focuses, and the reason for this is this little section of the Hexblade level 1 abilities:

The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.

Fig is a one-trick pony, statwise. Being a hexblade allows everything she would want to do in combat across all of these classes to use that trick. She'll have dials she can tweak across the three classes, and they're going to impact just what she can do, but if she's really decided to leave being a Bard behind it wouldn't surprise me to see her ditch Bard levels for Paladin and Warlock ones over the course of the season.

For those dials, one key thing to consider is the spell slots she'll have, which are WEIRD to calculate for any warlock multiclass with another caster. For every other caster class in the game, there is a pool of spell slots that go up as you level any of them that refresh on long rests. Warlocks, however, have a seperate pool from any of those, so her warlock spell slots are seperate and refresh on short rests. If she stays at level 2 in warlock, this pool will be two slots of first level. If she levels in warlock, the level of these spell slots go up but the number of them doesn't (unless she somehow were to end up at level 11, when warlocks finally get a third slot.)

The paladin and bard combo is a little simpler to look at - she's going to have spell slots from the table that a primary caster would have at the level equal to her bard level plus half her paladin level. Just as an example, let's say she by the next combat were to drop two bard levels for two paladin ones and she were to end up 7 bard/2 paladin/2 warlock. She would end up with the two warlock first level spell slots that refresh on short rests, and 7 + .5*2 = level 8 from the primary caster spell slot table. (4 1sts, 3 2nds and 3rds, 2 4ths). A very deep pool for using Divine Smites - a full paladin wouldn't be able to match this until level 16, and that's not even counting the warlock first level spells!

Key level breakpoints that might be worth looking at: At level 5 of Paladin, she would have multiple attacks; at level 6 Paladin gets one of the best abilities in the entire game, an aura where she and allies within 10 feet get her charisma mod as a bonus to ALL saving throws. In Fig's case this is an absolutely incredible +5 - at their level, this is a bigger boost than being proficient is! If she really wants to guard her president, this would allow even Kristen to have a +2 on dex saves! I'm not certain I could overstate how good this ability is in general; with a +5 it's completely insane.

She can also get multiple attacks through either Bard or Warlock, but neither is automatic. For Warlock, she would have to choose to take Pact of the Blade at level 3 (warlocks have, somewhat confusingly, two more-or-less subclasses, and Hexblade and Pact of the Blade are in fact different things) and Brennan has been HEAVILY hinting at wanting her to take Pact of the Chain so that Baby can be a class feature instead. She'd then have to get to level 5 in warlock and take the Thirsting Blade eldritch invocation, which are sort of little bonus powers warlocks get. I think this is the least likely path to multiple attacks but it is there. (Mechanically, while it's all still fine, I also think leveling warlock would be the worst of the three in a three-class build.)

Bard CAN get multiple attacks at level 6 but Fig would need to change subclasses to either Swords (which is what Fabian is) or Valor (which is, frankly, a worse version of what Fabian is, though it's still fine.)

Getting multiple attacks is a really big deal - Paladins can smite multiple times per round, and given being able to lay on mid to low level spell slots for ages Fig would likely want to.

I have no idea what Oath Fig would pick for a paladin if she gets to level 3, but honestly the level 3 subclass features for Paladin are mostly not that big a deal; she'd need to get to level 7 for the subclass aura for it to really matter all that much.

You'll notice I haven't been talking much about Barbarian above. If Fig dips into Barbarian mechanically at all, it's almost certainly just for one level given how spread thin she might be. This is a level she won't get any spell slots for, but she will get two rages per day, which will add 2 to damage rolls if Brennan allows it (technically it wouldn't apply normally because it does specify only to rolls made for attacks using strength) but much more importantly will halve quite a lot of incoming damage - bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, more or less all of the physical attacks in the game.

Barbarian is a massively bad combination with caster classes in general because you can't concentrate on spells or cast them while raging; there's been a lot of in-character noise made about Gorgug's multiclass being unique and a bad fit together for exactly this reason. The exception to this, as Porter demonstrated to Fig in their last scene together, is that Smiting things is burning through spell slots but is NOT casting and you CAN do it while raging.

So, if by the end of the season, we see some wild 6 Paladin/5 Bard/2 Warlock/1 Barbarian build, know that it's going to be an absolute menace. And if Fig and Gorgug keep trending the directions they are, where she's adding heavy hitter abilities and he's shedding Barbarian levels for Artificer ones, don't be surprised if on the last boss she's the one up on their face and he's casting spells next to Adaine or casting the key Revivify.

[idonthaveanyurlideas]

How The Fuck Do Classes At Aguefort Work

AKA Brennan gave me a number of students for this school and I am going to use my expert knowledge of being a teacher in real life to extrapolate things

(disclaimer: i am australian and thus my knowledge is limited to the australian school system of how things are arranged, number of students in each class, etc. this is basically how I would organise aguefort if it were up to me)

SO

aguefort has approximately 500 students split across four year levels, making for about 125 per year level, which you could easily split into 5 'homeroom' classes of about 25 students each. Or 31-32 if you wanted to squish them into 4.

But the thing is, we have all the DND Classes to think about, with each class having its own dedicated teacher and specialist class. There are 12 standard dnd subclasses, plus we know that artificer is also an option, making 13.

It's unlikely that any particular year level has all of its students evenly split between those classes (it would be an average of 9-10 per class if they did, which is quite small for a single class, but not unheard of for (using a real life example) elective subjects like business or design tech)

ADDITIONALLY, we do know that 'regular' classes exist at aguefort, like history and home ec, so I'm assuming other typical subjects like maths, english, science (perhaps broken down into chem/bio/physics, maybe not), maybe PE as well for students that aren't part of one of the martial classes, among other things.

Most likely, the school day is arranged so that each student (assuming this student has a typical workload, AKA nothing absolutely bonkers like what the bad kids are doing in junior year) has at least one Class-Specific class per day, and then some general education ones as well, and then perhaps some more adventuring-focused classes like survival + archery or arcana.

That way each class-specific teacher should be able to fit one lesson with each year level a day, because those classes are probably considered far more important than like. Modern History.

DND-Class classes are likely much smaller and more individualised, and then general ed classes would be with a far bigger group.

I also think Aguefort has a lot of composite classes! Particularly for the less popular Dnd-Classes. Freshman+Sophomores together and then Juniors+Seniors together is probably the most common.

I think sorcery classes are often composites, partly because its one that students Literally have to be born to be able to do, so its not one that other students can multiclass Into, so its numbers probably fluctuate a bunch depending on the cohort.

More technical classes like artificer are probably also composites! Simply because I bet they're less popular than things like Fighters, Rogues, so on.

Bards are also absolutely composites, because they are already split within themselves with multiple teachers depending on the students particular focus (like we did with a separate Music class and Dance class with different bard teachers). So I wouldn't be surprised if some bard classes contain freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors all within the one class and still only have like, ten students total because they're that specialised.

I think combined classes also probably happen on a fairly regular basis. Esp if like, teachers call in sick. The fighters will go join the barbarians for a day, or the clerics will join the paladins.

And then of course they don't actually give a shit if you show up to your classes or not so theres probably some poor admin staff out there who painstakingly arranges every schedule at the start of each semester and then 80% of students ignore half of it anyway

[forcedhesitation]

playing normal difficulty is so much more fun. I am glad I did explorer my first time, because I needed to learn! but it's nice to be able to mess around with the classes now that I understand the game mechanics better.

[actualbabe]

From Emily's FHJY behind the scenes interview:

i had previously thought this could have been the Gilear yogurt bad luck curse, but after yesterday's episode i'm more convinced this is the Fig Paladin of Cassandra... Emily has previously said on NADDPOD sometimes she'll be tempted by an oddball idea but eventually decide not to pursue it, so i wouldn't be surprised if she refocuses on her original 'plan' for the character and she's referencing something else here. alternatively, this interview comment could be proof that Paladin of Cassandra is something Fig does persue.

i'm sure Emily and Brennan talked behind the scenes and we'll see more play out over the course of the season, but i'm impatient! is there a chance Fig fully reclasses? or will she just shuffle around her multiclass levels? is there any chance for retaining Bard levels or picking up at least one Barbarian level?

a Warlock/Paladin build could be interesting, but she's definitely explored those classes on NADDPOD with Onyx and Caliope, so i'd be curious if she wants to continue to dip into that well (altho Emily is the rules goddess so wouldn't surprise me if there's something new to be found or subclass to explore). also, now that Fabian is multiclassed into Bard her staying Bard-heavy could feel duplicative within the party and thus reason to explore a class not currently in the Bad Kids...

idk, what are people thinking? i can't wait to see how this plays out through the season!

[thisisnotthenerd]

i love where this season is taking us. finding out about the first stoats. that the stoats of last bast speak human. tula locking down bennett at the thought of walmer showing up again. lukas as either a 3rd level bard or 10th level expert sidekick. the entire concept of dr. tara steel.

in other news, we have the final class updates for burrow's end! i'm expecting level 10 to be their endpoint, as they've all landed there this episode. everybody multiclassed, with 3 cleric multiclasses this season.

tula: stoat mom as a feat is all i'm going to say. towards the end, she's really leaning into the healing aspect with the cleric levels.

initial level: redemption paladin 4

final level: redemption paladin 7 | life cleric 3

jaysohn: adhd karate boy, or all stoats in a nutshell. a true killer like his grandma.

initial level: astral self monk 4

final level: astral self monk 5 | swashbuckler rogue 5

viola: the embryonic diapause storyline is going to kill me, i can feel it. it is indeed. instead of going more magic like tula she went more martial.

initial level: devotion paladin 4

final level: devotion paladin 7 | champion fighter 3

thorn vale: anxious wife guy cult leader is something i didn't know i needed until now, but i'm so glad that that's where jasper went with him. and now he's really leaning into the cult and the power of the blue.

initial level: fey wanderer ranger 4

final level: fey wanderer ranger 5 | tempest cleric 5

ava: if generational trauma was a stoat. the commitment to the werther's? phenomenal. she died and came back with magic.

initial level: ancestral guardians barbarian 3 | fighter

final level: ancestral guardians barbarian 5 | battlemaster fighter 3 | grave cleric 2

lila: i'm living for izzy as a stoat that can sneak attack people and read??? and now lila has fireball. what could be better.

initial level: inquisitive rogue 4

final level: arcane trickster rogue 4 | bladesinger wizard 6

all of this info is available in the spreadsheet under level progressions, and also in the ao3 compilation in chapter 11.