Regarding whether or not Booming Blade works with Spell Sniper post Tasha's: I appreciate that the synergy here, since Tasha's, is a little gray. There have been lots of attempts to clarify all over the internet, including by Jeremy Crawford and others, since the range of BB is now Self (5 ft). At our table, it has been deemed that the (5 ft) applies to the Spell Sniper feat, but I appreciate that that might not be the case at all tables! If your DM decides that they don't work together, you'll lose a little damage, and in that case I'd strongly consider pushing to Paladin 5 for extra attack and an Oath (maybe even 6 for Aura of Protection) before taking Bard or Sorc levels. Carry on!
On the subject of rulings. The spell description was changed to eliminate confusion about how the spell worked not to eliminate "problematic" play. Ironically it has had the opposite effect. The creators have pretty much said on every account they would allow combinations of the blade cantrips and any specific feats and spells at their tables. the dms I know who don't allow it at their tables do so because of the wording and disagreement on the meaning of the wording not because of balance or anything like that. If you wouldn't allow the combo at your table, I guess the build isn't for you. If you would but are convinced that the rules prohibit it. Consider that many don't read them that way and the writers don't use them that way.
@@kaemonbonet4931 Not going to lie, I had a rogue/warlock build that enjoyed a shadow blade/sneak attack/booming blade combo: so I don't understand why they changed range - 5ft to range self(5ft), instead of just Self {in the same vein as Absorb elements}. Since the original spell wording was clear that you needed to make a "melee weapon attack", and just change "within the spells range" to "within the weapons range". It also used to be V, M (a weapon), now its S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1sp), meaning you now need a free hand/Warcaster to cast it. And because it has an associated 'gold cost' its not even something you can replace with a spell focus. a 2gp whip, a 25gp rapier, a 50gp Greatsword I'd call that a significant material cost. Thankfully it isn't consumed by the spell.😅 {Similar 1st/2nd level spell material costs: 50gp Chromatic Orb, 100gp identify, 25gp augury, 50gp warding bond} Now sure, if you are taking this spell or GFB you most likely already have a suitable weapon. I'm just now returning to that character post-coof/post-Tashas. So yeah, a tad salty. 😉
@@AuthoritativeNewsNetwork a number of ways to avoid that pesky free hand thing. If you have a spellcasting focus or the ability to use your weapon or shield as one, c'est magnifique you've done it. So warcaster, warlock, bladesinger and ek are good. The ruling isn't a big problem for me. I mostly dm and even when I don't my friends are cool.
When you were kicking around justifying paladin/rogue multiclass, another option popped into my head: batman. The vigilante who works outside of the law but is - as you pointed out in describing the paladin - basically a cop.
I would absolutely watch an episode of this every week. Adding this amazing art and the fun back-and-forth between you two is great. 10/10. Would watch again.
When a problem comes along Roll to whip it. the combat goes too long, Unless you whip it. Pallyrouge mockingbird And you can whip it Now whip it. Into shape. You roll a d4. Its not d8. 50ft forward. Move ahead. Roll with advantage. Its not too late. Now whip it. Whip it good.
Battlemaster took all the fun combat actions away from other classes (trip, disarm, etc). We need special whip rules! As a long time Castlevania fan, and someone who has built plenty of failed whip builds over the past decade, I love this!
I think Battlemaster manoeuvres as optimized versions of actions you can do, but that don't normally ALSO inflict your normal damage. I don't remember if there is something like that in the rules (no books on me now), but I would definitely rule that you could trip, disarm atc as an attack that inflicts no damage.
If you take lightning lure instead of message, you can also knock enemies prone on rounds after you use up your smite. Lightning lure has a good chance to prone another flying enemy (and if they don’t have hover, they fall) or safely attack enemies with reach weapons. In addition, you can fly around knocking enemies your other party members are engaged with in melee prone to strategically give your fighters advantage on their full attack round. I love the idea of using lightning lure and vicious mockery in alternate rounds taunting and tripping foes around the battlefield.
@@driscollja lightning lure doesn't prone. it pulls. perhaps you're thinking of sapping sting? it's dunamancy though and may not be allowed at most tables not playing wildemount setting.
@@TheRobversion1 if you are flying and using lightning lure, the target would be pulled upwards towards you. The subsequent fall would end with them prone, according to the rules for falling.
@@TheRobversion1 Good point about sapping sting, though. That would be an alternative to the smite as the way to prone flying enemies, if you can get it. Forgot that they wouldn’t fall after lightning lure.
Rogue is not just thieve's. Maybe you are a Paladin specialist who takes levels of Rogue for the abilities it provides as a Dungeon explorer. Maybe you are a Paladin of the God of Knowledge, and you search out and recover secrets and lost knowledge from past ages. Archeologist as a background? I think I like the idea of Swords Bard more so I get Extra attack?
Yeah I think the common thief archetype is just a meme at this point. I haven’t even heard of many characters being a thief to be an actual burglar type.
My answer to Colby's question about if anyone at the table has issues. For me personally - not at all! My source of enjoyment is RP and high jinx with some more dramatic or somber interludes. Most of the time I'm indifferent if one character is more optimized than the other as long as we all get to tell a wicked cool story. Colby does a good job tempering optimization for times people need it, or ask for it and it's not a problem for me, since it isn't interrupting the game 😁 But as y'all know - I'm also pretty laid back and lackadaisical 🤜🤛
That is a great mindset! D&D Beyond has a lot of familiars listed in excess of those stated by the spell. Having a more open table opens more opportunities for fun.
@@rcschmidt668 I concur! Especially when it doesn't change the game in a meaningful way other than adding flavor and a little more versatility - I'm in!
Cool build! If enemies are moving, I'd suggest taking Sentinel pretty early on to be able to apply sneak attack twice in a round. It'll hurt, but I'd probably take it before taking Slasher. It'll be super effective though, especially with the reach you have. More reliable damage and you're also more effective at battlefield control. It could also be reasonable to take Warcaster to be able to apply Booming Blade to that Sentinel opportunity attack, but that would mean not pushing Dexterity to 20, which stings a lot.
Rogue+Paladin is basically the Inquisitor from Pathfinder: Someone who uses dirty tactics and infiltration to fight enemies of their faith. I see absolutely no issue with that combo.
Build suggestion: optimize for killing specifically dragons. I mean, it's in the name of the game, seems like a good anniversary video idea if you haven't planned that far ahead yet. You'd want good DEX and CON saves for the breath weapons, probably, as well as frighten immunity/removal once you start facing adult-tier dragons because of Frightful Presence. You'd definitely need some sort of way to counter flight, and dragons are good at Perception and have blindsight so I wouldn't rely on stealth. Burning through Legendary Resistances might be a viable tactic (Eloquence Bard + Sorcerer with Mind Sliver to nuke their saving throws?). Battlemaster with Trip Attack and a longbow can try to knock it out of the sky, though that won't work well on the tougher ones because it's a Strength save. A grappler build can keep a dragon from just flying off, but unless you can pair that with a very high AC you're looking at eating a ton of damage. Just spitballin'. By the way, loved this build, makes me wanna toy around with something similar :)
This was a fantastic collaboration and I would love to see more of these! The character art brings the build to life and Randall is an amazing artist! Well done!
As a DM a love to see my players bringing new ideas for challenging and OP characthers to heat up my stories. Is very rewarding see that they are searching and trying to learn new always to explore and play D&D. We often discuss about rules and ways to optimize our chars and everyone can learn with each other's discovery.
I had the same experience for getting into D&D! Heard about some software engineer coworkers that had been playing D&D and asked if I could hop in to try it out. 4 years later and we still play weekly :)
Love that you are trying builds with off-meta items. So much fun to bring odd choices to the table and prove they can work. I've looked at the whip a few times, but was always annoyed that it doesn't have some sort of grapple or trip feature. You managed to make it cool.
I just rolled a version of this, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Variant Tiefling let’s you use medium armor while retaining the ability to fly, and taking levels in divine soul sorcerer gives you an amazing choice of spells, allowing you to draw from the cleric, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists. Taking a third level in paladin is also worth it for another strong ability once per short rest. Spell sniper + spiritual weapon is also *chef’s kiss* Thanks so much for theorycrafting such a fun concept! I could never figure out how to make the whip work this well
It was incredibly satisfying to watch Randall bring this character to life while you went through the build. Your first new hire when the channel gets big enough should be an artist. Much love
lol - to be fair, a lot of it is fluff/get to know you/talk about optimization stuff. I think the build itself is about an hour and 15, which is fairly par for the course these days D:
These help so much because even if you use a third of this you can optimize a whip which is generally too weak and make it strong enough to play something you really want.
This is the absolutely 100% my next PC. It's come together in that character all I want to bring in game long ago: - anti-hero - nova build - versatality - party face great options I think that bird person will be a medieval policeman, that forgo his job to be detective and maybe lynching bad guys. And he (or maybe "she") don't like brutality and murders just like Batman, but rather than Batman, when he have to strike he strakes once. It will be very challenging to me, to play anti hero, but that's my goal to grow up as a player. Thank you very much for the good build and perfect idea inspiration!
This most def needs to happen again. Would be cool to see a build follow a character design now. Probably couldn't be live for the minutiae of mechanic hunting but still. Even in post it might be cool
I'm not sure if this matters because I know you said we'd be wearing light armor soon/most of our career anyways but aarakockra can't fly while wearing medium or heavy armor. And that got me thinking why not start with lvl1 rogue for one more skill proficiency. Then quickly grab paladin at 2nd lvl for the martial weapons. You end up with +1 skill, Dex and Int saves instead of Wis and Cha, no heavy armor prof, and slightly less staring hp. You could even use the whip at 1st lvl without your prof to hit.
I started writing 5e articles for reasons like Colby's. Seems like most folks don't spend as much time on the actual numbers of builds, so I wanted to offer that type of perspective. Glad to see more of this on youtube.
Something fun for you to explore for a future whip build. I made a conquest paladin that used a whip as his main weapon (I know dex paladin is weird but it works). The idea being that once you get the level 7 aura ability you can lock down the battlefield and subjugate your enemies from 10ft away. (The polearm master with strength would probably be better but the whip is very thematic to the punishment inflicted on your enemies) The smiting and later improved divine smite makes the whip's d4 damage less of a problem. I found it to be a great controller of the combat and frequently I was able to save my allies by holding down several enemies while chipping away at their HP. Maxing out charisma and dex is definitely what I focused on.
I love optimizing builds like this because the build itself tells the story of this character. Choosing the feats and spells tells the story of how he has grown and developed, it is the results of the role-playing
A class is a representation of a set of abilities, it's not a box limiting roleplaying. We live in a world full of people with rich and varied lives and have many interesting talents and abilities, but we imagine a fantasy world where people learn only a very narrow selection of abilities? Prohibiting multiclassing is metagaming, pure and simple.
I get a real Huginn and Munin vibe from this build. Being the watcher for Odin sent on quests, to return with information. Also the Mayans believed crows were messengers of the god of thunder and lightning. Way to hit this one on the head.
This is a fun build, and it helped me with a problem I was having by making me think. I have a small Changeling Trickery Cleric that I want to use a whip and be able to disarm people with it. I was looking for homebrew feats to try and convince the DM to let me use. This made me think more, and I found the Disarming and Trip Attacks in Battle Master, which led me to the Martial Adept feat, and the Superior Technique fighting style. I'm going to multiclass him 4 levels in Bard because, well, what class is the best for creating, um, disruption let's say (trying to keep your channel clean), than the Bard. Thank you for the inspiration! Keep on keepin' on!
I built a fighter/sorcerer for twinned Booming Blade before Tashas and in order to make it AL legal I rolled my eyes as I chose Wild Magic Sorcerer. I have not had more fun with a character. I hate RNG but I grew to love the wild magic table
Absolutely LOVE this build! Never wanted to build an aracockra as much as I do now. Paladin and Rogue multiclassing is my favorite kind of character concept! I don’t know if I’d go as deep as Colby with 3 multiclasses, though, I might just stick with rogue all the way.
I really like this build. Normally, the best use of healing is as a last-ditch option, and in my experience the parties that survive are the ones with multiple light healers or no healing beyond potions, but this build makes healing an actual playstyle. Well done.
Here we go! whapack! i love the reasoning for making a whip build. and excited that this is a burst build! imo it's not too hard to generate surprise if you have surprise generators: umbral sight, misty visions, or casting extended invisibility multiple times. liked the Leliana reference from my fave dragon age game! plus it fits the build as Leliana was a divine warrior, the left hand of the chantry! yeah i'd definitely go for the version that has fighter 2. i'd also consider grave cleric 2 with that.
Well the whole point of a build is you're finding synergy between features, not much use in a mono class build as it wouldn't be any new ideas or really a build most people would just already know the abilities. It would really just him saying all the abilities of a single class
I think people overlook the whip because of its small die, but it's a good option for any dex build, honestly. If you're playing a rogue, ranger, or dex fighter with +2 dex and -1 str at level 1 (or a monk who uses a class feature to make it a monk weapon at a higher level), a whip gives you you 3 fewer points of damage max as opposed to a pike, glaive, or halberd, sure (roll a 4+2dex+2prof=8 vs roll a 10-1str+2prof=11), but it gives you an equal 3 point higher minimum (roll a 1+2dex+2prof=5 vs roll a 1-1str+2prof=2) and the same average damage (2.5avg+2dex+2prof=6.5 vs 5.5avg-1str+2prof=6.5) As you level from there, your dex is way more likely to get ASIs on those builds than your str, and proficiency bonus grows equally for both, so the real difference comes down to hitting more often with the whip, and having it one handed in case you're going to cast or take Dual Wielder or something. (Lance is different. The tradeoff there is 3 point higher minimum on whip, 5 point higher max on lance, 1 point higher average on lance, but in addition to the 3 point difference to hit in the whip's favor, lance has disadvantage on attacks within 5'.) It's not as good as the rapier for close melee, but you're going to want reach sometimes, so there's no reason you can't carry both on your belt and draw whichever makes more sense for the situation. It's a useful tool even without a build centered entirely on it.
I love this build! So flavorful and functional. I’m normally the only optimizer at the table, and that comes with the “power gamer” label. And yet my current build is a touch attach Fallen Aasimar Evil Divine Soul Sorcerer I’m playing like a Street Fighter style martial artist with power-ups and combos, while my previous character was a Cleric/Warlock Tortle.
Fighter: “How do you avoid getting your whip caught in your wings?” Whip-poorwill: “Very carefully.” Oh, also, at Bard Level 3, you can learn the spell Warding Wind, which imposes disadvantage on ranged weapon attacks that pass through your wind bubble thing. This pairs well with a flying character that would like to end their turn out of melee range, since like 90% of the attacks coming at you are ranged.
Love this build! I have a hexblade/arcane trickster with a lot of shared dna, and this gave me some amusing ideas. The Collab was a very fun time, and congrats on coming up on a year!
Cool build! I have been working on a build using Armorer(artificer) with a flying speed, punshing(reflavored as roaring, since it is thunder dammage), and soon owlins(owlfolk in ua) is releaced, and then there will be more options for gimicy flying builds. Love to see something thematicly out of the ordinary, like in this video😄
LOVE this concept/video! I've said it before and I'll say it again; these types of challenge builds like the Magic Touch, are so much more interesting to me. We all know Colby can min/max a Hexblade or a Bladesinger. What about a character who makes the most out of garbage weapons like daggers or whips? Great collab sir and I cant wait for more content in this vein like with Chris and Randal!
Thanks Colby. I loved this build so much that I have had to make one of my own which I may even kill off my current character in a campaign, just to role in my new Raven based Aaraockra Paladin, Rogue, Bard with a whip named....Indygo (in honour of good old Indiana and Inigo Montoya from the princess bride, given he has a similar backstory to what I´ve come up with). Really love these Optimized videos and Randals art? A-MA-ZING. Thanks for presenting him.
I'm not sure that Spell Sniper actually works with Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade anymore, since the range of those spells has been changed to Self.
Enjoying the video (Half way through)- my first thought, flight with sharpshooter/ CBE type builds (or any ranged builds) can be great (just kill your ranged enemies first). My second thought: i know Fairy is UA, but it can hover, squeeze into small spaces etc and sounds so fun- using a whip, or darts, or handcrossbow. Reflavor darts as looking like fairy wing feathers. And your tiny- you could ride your familiar.
As far as getting fun roleplay vs combat prowes. I cannot express how much fun i have had using prestidigitation to make warm apple cider with the warm and flavor options.
i have been making a character kind of similar to this. i chose Eladrin, took 3 lvls of rogue to become an assassin, then took 2 levels of Monk so far. the character fights with a short sword and a whip. next levels in Monk will likely be the way of the kensei.
Indiana Jones aracochra archaeologist. He is a professor paladin to a god of knowledge, secrets, and buried treasure. Que title music. Also, you do not have to weave your character class into your character story. Classes are technical stuff, and you can dress them any way you want. You can have a noble with a barbarian rage style of fighting, without being an actual barbarian. In a monk with barb dip you can redress the barbarian rage as a monk focused fighting style. Or you can ignore the class completely, say with a pure barbarian class, but played as a city rouge. Do not limit yourself or your players by the technical stuff of character creation, if it encroaches on the fun. Always choose fun. :)
31:55 Reason #3 for thunderous smite You’re a flying creature who now has the chance to “prone” other flying creatures out of the sky. 1d6-20d6 falling damage is pretty sweet.
There's some disagreement on weather the new wording of booming blade works with spell sniper. Crawford's clarification say it works but it's worth noting.
Jeremy Crawford did say that Spell Sniper does work with green-flame blade (which is essentially the same) and as far as I know has not issued any post-Tasha's retraction
@@nwavette I mean, spell description was changed significantly in Tasha's. Online discussions seem to suggest that spell sniper doesn't work with booming blade anymore. Crawford's statement was for old version of the rules, I don't think it should apply to new one.
that's right, in tasha BB and GFB have a range of self, which cannot be doubled. The 5 foot radius in the description is not the range of the spell that is normally doubled. Tbh, crawford is very inconsistent in his logic about this, when he says that doubling the range of the spell would double the reach of your melee attack, but omits to talk about reach weapons.
The Paladin levels in this build, as well as the whip, actually helps with the Phoenix build I’ve been tinkering with a bit (lots of fire, lots of healing), but now I’m in a toss up of which classes would work better. Redemption Paladin/Fiend Warlock/Divine Soul Sorcerer? Wildfire Druid/Arcana Domain Cleric? Or my original idea of Fiend Warlock/Wildfire Druid? 🤔
"If any class in DND is a cop, it's the paladin" Meanwhile the only paladin I've played: an ex-cop and an anarchist whose paladin oath was fueled by the beliefs which led her to anarchism and to quitting the city guard job
The drawing is pretty awesome! Without a doubt. Building something on heroforge may be a low rent way to do that solo. I’ve only seen a handful of your videos at this point. But, I’ve heard you mention more than once that there isn’t much to look at while you talk. Watching you, or someone else go through the visual aspect of building the character would be fun! Personally, I’d like to see more details of your math … but I freely recognize than that would have little broad market appeal. 🤣 I’ve made a couple dozen hero forge figures. When you get into fully custom poses and fully custom colors it can start to take some time. 40 minutes or so. That roughly lines up with your video lengths. Just a thought. Keep up the awesome work, man!
Thought about this more. You could potentially record the audio. Then do a live stream airing that where people can come and watch you build the character on hero forge and be able to have input into the character’s look while listening to the build outline. That gives something to look at and also makes it a social event.
Thanks! As for the math, I really just plug the numbers into the calculator by LudicSavant. Check it out here: forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?582779-Comprehensive-DPR-Calculator-(v2-0))
Please explain, how spell sniper makes your Booming Blade hit up to 10' away as it's range is: self (5' radius). Radius is not the same as range, as in that case distant spell metamagic would increase fireball radius? Secondly, Help Action: Alternatively, in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage. If this was worded "If one of your allies" instead of "If your ally", it would apply to the first hit of any of your allies, but as it is worded, you do need to specify who your are helping. Please correct me with your reasoning, when you disagree with this reasoning.
actually spell sniper used to increase the old version of booming blade before tasha's. now it doesn't and you are correct here. as for help it can be read either way. both are valid interpretations. "your ally" can be both general or specific as it's vague.
Another great video and build and with amazing art now! Only reason I'm not adding this to the "characters I'm going to steal soon" is because I hate flying in this game. Obviously different people have different experiences but for me it has never been good for the rest of the players, including the DM.
Thanks! Right... the truth is, the build doesn't really *depend* on flying. I guess it's just enhanced by it. No reason you couldn't take a different race - I've seen a few Bugbear suggestions, which would augment your reach. :)
I decided my next build required a signature weapon, something unusual. And after rewatching "Ninja Assassin," I was intrigued by the modified kusarigama -- a chain whip weighted with a steel fob at one end, but instead of a sickle, a dagger on the other end. But how to optimize the d4? Colby would know! Another great video.
I'm playing this build right now in a pirate campaign and we got attacked by a kraken, at level 3 btw. Due to some planar shenanigans, our ship and the kraken were sent to the feywild and were fighting it in a mushroom forest. I went in for my nova round and the kraken rolled nat 1 on its strength save so got knocked back 10 ft and prone by my lil level 3 bird man. It was epic.
![Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - Jack Grapes [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ba9jAVzADY0/mqdefault.jpg)
Regarding whether or not Booming Blade works with Spell Sniper post Tasha's: I appreciate that the synergy here, since Tasha's, is a little gray. There have been lots of attempts to clarify all over the internet, including by Jeremy Crawford and others, since the range of BB is now Self (5 ft). At our table, it has been deemed that the (5 ft) applies to the Spell Sniper feat, but I appreciate that that might not be the case at all tables! If your DM decides that they don't work together, you'll lose a little damage, and in that case I'd strongly consider pushing to Paladin 5 for extra attack and an Oath (maybe even 6 for Aura of Protection) before taking Bard or Sorc levels. Carry on!
On the subject of rulings. The spell description was changed to eliminate confusion about how the spell worked not to eliminate "problematic" play. Ironically it has had the opposite effect. The creators have pretty much said on every account they would allow combinations of the blade cantrips and any specific feats and spells at their tables.
the dms I know who don't allow it at their tables do so because of the wording and disagreement on the meaning of the wording not because of balance or anything like that. If you wouldn't allow the combo at your table, I guess the build isn't for you. If you would but are convinced that the rules prohibit it. Consider that many don't read them that way and the writers don't use them that way.
@@kaemonbonet4931 I never understood the need to change Booming Blade or Green flame blade.
they said they didn't want people to be able to cast the spell with just a component pouch. Its obviously a problem no one else had.
@@kaemonbonet4931 Not going to lie, I had a rogue/warlock build that enjoyed a shadow blade/sneak attack/booming blade combo: so I don't understand why they changed range - 5ft to range self(5ft), instead of just Self {in the same vein as Absorb elements}. Since the original spell wording was clear that you needed to make a "melee weapon attack", and just change "within the spells range" to "within the weapons range".
It also used to be V, M (a weapon), now its S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1sp), meaning you now need a free hand/Warcaster to cast it. And because it has an associated 'gold cost' its not even something you can replace with a spell focus. a 2gp whip, a 25gp rapier, a 50gp Greatsword I'd call that a significant material cost. Thankfully it isn't consumed by the spell.😅 {Similar 1st/2nd level spell material costs: 50gp Chromatic Orb, 100gp identify, 25gp augury, 50gp warding bond}
Now sure, if you are taking this spell or GFB you most likely already have a suitable weapon.
I'm just now returning to that character post-coof/post-Tashas. So yeah, a tad salty. 😉
@@AuthoritativeNewsNetwork a number of ways to avoid that pesky free hand thing. If you have a spellcasting focus or the ability to use your weapon or shield as one, c'est magnifique you've done it. So warcaster, warlock, bladesinger and ek are good.
The ruling isn't a big problem for me. I mostly dm and even when I don't my friends are cool.
When you were kicking around justifying paladin/rogue multiclass, another option popped into my head: batman. The vigilante who works outside of the law but is - as you pointed out in describing the paladin - basically a cop.
@Remy B so Michael Keaton
I would absolutely watch an episode of this every week. Adding this amazing art and the fun back-and-forth between you two is great. 10/10. Would watch again.
When a problem comes along
Roll to whip it.
the combat goes too long,
Unless you whip it.
Pallyrouge mockingbird
And you can whip it
Now whip it.
Into shape.
You roll a d4.
Its not d8.
50ft forward.
Move ahead.
Roll with advantage.
Its not too late.
Now whip it.
Whip it good.
Haha i could hear this comment
This is the best comment I've ever read.
I wish I had a prize to give for “best comment” 😂
@@DnDDeepDive if i had a prize for best d&d channel... i dont even play the game but i still love watching an hour of you making something broken 😂
@@michaelseparovich 😂
Battlemaster took all the fun combat actions away from other classes (trip, disarm, etc). We need special whip rules! As a long time Castlevania fan, and someone who has built plenty of failed whip builds over the past decade, I love this!
Midgard heroes has great weapong mechanics with the whip being able to disarm and restrain enemies
I think Battlemaster manoeuvres as optimized versions of actions you can do, but that don't normally ALSO inflict your normal damage. I don't remember if there is something like that in the rules (no books on me now), but I would definitely rule that you could trip, disarm atc as an attack that inflicts no damage.
another reason to take thunderous smite: knock flying enemies prone and remain the only king of the sky
ooo... love it.
If you take lightning lure instead of message, you can also knock enemies prone on rounds after you use up your smite. Lightning lure has a good chance to prone another flying enemy (and if they don’t have hover, they fall) or safely attack enemies with reach weapons. In addition, you can fly around knocking enemies your other party members are engaged with in melee prone to strategically give your fighters advantage on their full attack round. I love the idea of using lightning lure and vicious mockery in alternate rounds taunting and tripping foes around the battlefield.
@@driscollja lightning lure doesn't prone. it pulls. perhaps you're thinking of sapping sting? it's dunamancy though and may not be allowed at most tables not playing wildemount setting.
@@TheRobversion1 if you are flying and using lightning lure, the target would be pulled upwards towards you. The subsequent fall would end with them prone, according to the rules for falling.
@@TheRobversion1 Good point about sapping sting, though. That would be an alternative to the smite as the way to prone flying enemies, if you can get it. Forgot that they wouldn’t fall after lightning lure.
Level 1:(see above) [paladin 1 & race]
Level 2:(see above) [paladin 2 & fighting-style]
Level 3:(@33:38) [rogue 1]
Level 4:(@39:11) [rogue 2]
Level 5:(@39:41) [rogue 3 & sub-class]
Level 6:(@46:31) [rogue 4 & ASI]
Level 7:(see above) [bard 1]
Level 6:(@1:00:48) [bard 2]
Level 9:(@1:01:55) [bard 3 & sub-class]
Level 10:(see above) [bard 4 & ASI]
Level 11:(@1:10:07) [bard 5]
Level 12:(@1:11:50) [rogue 5]
Level 13:(@1:12:36) [rogue 6]
Level 14:(see above) [rogue 7]
Level 15:(@1:16:01) [rogue 8 & ASI]
Level 16:(@1:16:24) [rogue 9]
Level 17:(@1:18:05) [rogue 10 & ASI]
I wish this was listed on all Colby's videos!
@@gabereitemeier4309 many but not all.
Rogue is not just thieve's. Maybe you are a Paladin specialist who takes levels of Rogue for the abilities it provides as a Dungeon explorer. Maybe you are a Paladin of the God of Knowledge, and you search out and recover secrets and lost knowledge from past ages. Archeologist as a background? I think I like the idea of Swords Bard more so I get Extra attack?
Maybe you're just speedy and good at finding gaps in an enemies defenses
Yeah I think the common thief archetype is just a meme at this point. I haven’t even heard of many characters being a thief to be an actual burglar type.
Rogue can also be detective like Sherlock Holmes
Inquisitor comes to mind, investigation and theives tools, perception..
My answer to Colby's question about if anyone at the table has issues. For me personally - not at all! My source of enjoyment is RP and high jinx with some more dramatic or somber interludes. Most of the time I'm indifferent if one character is more optimized than the other as long as we all get to tell a wicked cool story. Colby does a good job tempering optimization for times people need it, or ask for it and it's not a problem for me, since it isn't interrupting the game 😁 But as y'all know - I'm also pretty laid back and lackadaisical 🤜🤛
good attitude preston! missed you in this week's sliding into my dms. no one was playing good cop! lol.
Thanks Rob! I missed it as well. I gotta bring balance to make the conversation more interesting! 😜
That is a great mindset! D&D Beyond has a lot of familiars listed in excess of those stated by the spell. Having a more open table opens more opportunities for fun.
@@rcschmidt668 I concur! Especially when it doesn't change the game in a meaningful way other than adding flavor and a little more versatility - I'm in!
Cool build! If enemies are moving, I'd suggest taking Sentinel pretty early on to be able to apply sneak attack twice in a round. It'll hurt, but I'd probably take it before taking Slasher. It'll be super effective though, especially with the reach you have. More reliable damage and you're also more effective at battlefield control. It could also be reasonable to take Warcaster to be able to apply Booming Blade to that Sentinel opportunity attack, but that would mean not pushing Dexterity to 20, which stings a lot.
i-it would sting... like a whip...
Rogue+Paladin is basically the Inquisitor from Pathfinder: Someone who uses dirty tactics and infiltration to fight enemies of their faith. I see absolutely no issue with that combo.
Build suggestion: optimize for killing specifically dragons. I mean, it's in the name of the game, seems like a good anniversary video idea if you haven't planned that far ahead yet.
You'd want good DEX and CON saves for the breath weapons, probably, as well as frighten immunity/removal once you start facing adult-tier dragons because of Frightful Presence. You'd definitely need some sort of way to counter flight, and dragons are good at Perception and have blindsight so I wouldn't rely on stealth.
Burning through Legendary Resistances might be a viable tactic (Eloquence Bard + Sorcerer with Mind Sliver to nuke their saving throws?). Battlemaster with Trip Attack and a longbow can try to knock it out of the sky, though that won't work well on the tougher ones because it's a Strength save. A grappler build can keep a dragon from just flying off, but unless you can pair that with a very high AC you're looking at eating a ton of damage.
Just spitballin'.
By the way, loved this build, makes me wanna toy around with something similar :)
Thanks! Will put this on the list :)
YEEEESSSS! This has been a brain teaser I’ve been mulling over for a while. 🐉
A cool team up option
This was a fantastic collaboration and I would love to see more of these! The character art brings the build to life and Randall is an amazing artist! Well done!
As a DM a love to see my players bringing new ideas for challenging and OP characthers to heat up my stories. Is very rewarding see that they are searching and trying to learn new always to explore and play D&D.
We often discuss about rules and ways to optimize our chars and everyone can learn with each other's discovery.
I had the same experience for getting into D&D! Heard about some software engineer coworkers that had been playing D&D and asked if I could hop in to try it out. 4 years later and we still play weekly :)
Love it! Also, when Colby says “subterfuge” around 57:00 it sounds like “flutterfuge” and I think that’s perfect 👍🏼
Haha flutterfuge sounds like a great codename
Love that you are trying builds with off-meta items. So much fun to bring odd choices to the table and prove they can work. I've looked at the whip a few times, but was always annoyed that it doesn't have some sort of grapple or trip feature. You managed to make it cool.
Battlemaster does 🥺
I love the concept of a machine gun mini burst build. That is closer to how I actually play most of the time. We could see a couple more of these.
I just rolled a version of this, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Variant Tiefling let’s you use medium armor while retaining the ability to fly, and taking levels in divine soul sorcerer gives you an amazing choice of spells, allowing you to draw from the cleric, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists. Taking a third level in paladin is also worth it for another strong ability once per short rest. Spell sniper + spiritual weapon is also *chef’s kiss*
Thanks so much for theorycrafting such a fun concept! I could never figure out how to make the whip work this well
4:57 host decides he's on board with the channel concept
It was incredibly satisfying to watch Randall bring this character to life while you went through the build. Your first new hire when the channel gets big enough should be an artist. Much love
Thank you for giving me something to watch while I'm at home sick
"A two hour video? I thought they were trying to shorten these more" i say to myself as I immediately click on it
lol - to be fair, a lot of it is fluff/get to know you/talk about optimization stuff. I think the build itself is about an hour and 15, which is fairly par for the course these days D:
@@DnDDeepDive hey there's no complaint from me!
Colby is a tease, says he wants to make it shorter, next thing you know we're going to be hitting five or six hour long videos 😜
This was an AWESOME collaboration. I would love to see more please!
These help so much because even if you use a third of this you can optimize a whip which is generally too weak and make it strong enough to play something you really want.
I really liked the concept of this video. The build along with the art was a really cool combo. Keep up the great work.
Thanks!
This is the absolutely 100% my next PC. It's come together in that character all I want to bring in game long ago:
- anti-hero
- nova build
- versatality
- party face great options
I think that bird person will be a medieval policeman, that forgo his job to be detective and maybe lynching bad guys. And he (or maybe "she") don't like brutality and murders just like Batman, but rather than Batman, when he have to strike he strakes once.
It will be very challenging to me, to play anti hero, but that's my goal to grow up as a player.
Thank you very much for the good build and perfect idea inspiration!
Watched everything you’ve posted so far, great work man. Love from Portugal!
This most def needs to happen again.
Would be cool to see a build follow a character design now. Probably couldn't be live for the minutiae of mechanic hunting but still. Even in post it might be cool
I'm not sure if this matters because I know you said we'd be wearing light armor soon/most of our career anyways but aarakockra can't fly while wearing medium or heavy armor. And that got me thinking why not start with lvl1 rogue for one more skill proficiency. Then quickly grab paladin at 2nd lvl for the martial weapons. You end up with +1 skill, Dex and Int saves instead of Wis and Cha, no heavy armor prof, and slightly less staring hp. You could even use the whip at 1st lvl without your prof to hit.
This was a really fun character concept, and I really like the addition of the art for these builds. Watching the live drawing was neat.
I've seen a lot of these now, but that art it by far my favorite. So. Cool. Love the build, too! I'm a big rogue fan.
I started writing 5e articles for reasons like Colby's. Seems like most folks don't spend as much time on the actual numbers of builds, so I wanted to offer that type of perspective. Glad to see more of this on youtube.
You’d probably love Ars Magica. AKA Wizard: The Accounting. One of my all time favorites.
Something fun for you to explore for a future whip build. I made a conquest paladin that used a whip as his main weapon (I know dex paladin is weird but it works). The idea being that once you get the level 7 aura ability you can lock down the battlefield and subjugate your enemies from 10ft away. (The polearm master with strength would probably be better but the whip is very thematic to the punishment inflicted on your enemies)
The smiting and later improved divine smite makes the whip's d4 damage less of a problem. I found it to be a great controller of the combat and frequently I was able to save my allies by holding down several enemies while chipping away at their HP. Maxing out charisma and dex is definitely what I focused on.
I love optimizing builds like this because the build itself tells the story of this character. Choosing the feats and spells tells the story of how he has grown and developed, it is the results of the role-playing
A class is a representation of a set of abilities, it's not a box limiting roleplaying. We live in a world full of people with rich and varied lives and have many interesting talents and abilities, but we imagine a fantasy world where people learn only a very narrow selection of abilities? Prohibiting multiclassing is metagaming, pure and simple.
I get a real Huginn and Munin vibe from this build. Being the watcher for Odin sent on quests, to return with information.
Also the Mayans believed crows were messengers of the god of thunder and lightning.
Way to hit this one on the head.
Incredible art! Also, I was thinking OH NO before you mentioned Spell Sniper, very clever feat use!
This is a fun build, and it helped me with a problem I was having by making me think. I have a small Changeling Trickery Cleric that I want to use a whip and be able to disarm people with it. I was looking for homebrew feats to try and convince the DM to let me use. This made me think more, and I found the Disarming and Trip Attacks in Battle Master, which led me to the Martial Adept feat, and the Superior Technique fighting style. I'm going to multiclass him 4 levels in Bard because, well, what class is the best for creating, um, disruption let's say (trying to keep your channel clean), than the Bard. Thank you for the inspiration!
Keep on keepin' on!
Amazing! Can’t wait to see the character as well as learn the build
I built a fighter/sorcerer for twinned Booming Blade before Tashas and in order to make it AL legal I rolled my eyes as I chose Wild Magic Sorcerer. I have not had more fun with a character. I hate RNG but I grew to love the wild magic table
Absolutely LOVE this build! Never wanted to build an aracockra as much as I do now. Paladin and Rogue multiclassing is my favorite kind of character concept! I don’t know if I’d go as deep as Colby with 3 multiclasses, though, I might just stick with rogue all the way.
Very cool and awesome collab! I haven't played an aarakocra before, but damn this sky-diving whipper look and sound interesting.
The cartoon drawing at the start made me think of James Woods in family guy holding up that d4 like "Ooh, piece of candy!"
I really like this build. Normally, the best use of healing is as a last-ditch option, and in my experience the parties that survive are the ones with multiple light healers or no healing beyond potions, but this build makes healing an actual playstyle. Well done.
How did I leave this on straight up the wrong video?
Here we go! whapack!
i love the reasoning for making a whip build. and excited that this is a burst build!
imo it's not too hard to generate surprise if you have surprise generators: umbral sight, misty visions, or casting extended invisibility multiple times.
liked the Leliana reference from my fave dragon age game! plus it fits the build as Leliana was a divine warrior, the left hand of the chantry!
yeah i'd definitely go for the version that has fighter 2. i'd also consider grave cleric 2 with that.
I would like to see some builds that don't rely on multi class or optional origins. Not every DM allows that.
Well the whole point of a build is you're finding synergy between features, not much use in a mono class build as it wouldn't be any new ideas or really a build most people would just already know the abilities. It would really just him saying all the abilities of a single class
I have never seen a DM deny multiclassing.
My body is so ready for this! I've wanted this for so long!
Bladesong wizard with a whip is also an option. I still need to play my bladesong in a full campaign one of these days...
So glad I have the weekend off to enjoy this week’s awesome content 🤘
Great vid, love the build. Wonderful art. 👏
I was thinking about whip build this week and bam.
"Whip-poor-will" is outstanding!
Looks like these collaborations have super awesome synergies between viewer demographics.
I think people overlook the whip because of its small die, but it's a good option for any dex build, honestly.
If you're playing a rogue, ranger, or dex fighter with +2 dex and -1 str at level 1 (or a monk who uses a class feature to make it a monk weapon at a higher level), a whip gives you you 3 fewer points of damage max as opposed to a pike, glaive, or halberd, sure
(roll a 4+2dex+2prof=8 vs roll a 10-1str+2prof=11),
but it gives you an equal 3 point higher minimum
(roll a 1+2dex+2prof=5 vs roll a 1-1str+2prof=2)
and the same average damage
(2.5avg+2dex+2prof=6.5 vs 5.5avg-1str+2prof=6.5)
As you level from there, your dex is way more likely to get ASIs on those builds than your str, and proficiency bonus grows equally for both,
so the real difference comes down to hitting more often with the whip, and having it one handed in case you're going to cast or take Dual Wielder or something.
(Lance is different. The tradeoff there is 3 point higher minimum on whip, 5 point higher max on lance, 1 point higher average on lance, but in addition to the 3 point difference to hit in the whip's favor, lance has disadvantage on attacks within 5'.)
It's not as good as the rapier for close melee, but you're going to want reach sometimes, so there's no reason you can't carry both on your belt and draw whichever makes more sense for the situation. It's a useful tool even without a build centered entirely on it.
I just found this video. I had to play this character.
Orlando Plume was born.
Thank you.
Amazing name lol
I love this build! So flavorful and functional.
I’m normally the only optimizer at the table, and that comes with the “power gamer” label. And yet my current build is a touch attach Fallen Aasimar Evil Divine Soul Sorcerer I’m playing like a Street Fighter style martial artist with power-ups and combos, while my previous character was a Cleric/Warlock Tortle.
Fighter: “How do you avoid getting your whip caught in your wings?”
Whip-poorwill: “Very carefully.”
Oh, also, at Bard Level 3, you can learn the spell Warding Wind, which imposes disadvantage on ranged weapon attacks that pass through your wind bubble thing. This pairs well with a flying character that would like to end their turn out of melee range, since like 90% of the attacks coming at you are ranged.
Love this build! I have a hexblade/arcane trickster with a lot of shared dna, and this gave me some amusing ideas. The Collab was a very fun time, and congrats on coming up on a year!
Thanks!
Cool build! I have been working on a build using Armorer(artificer) with a flying speed, punshing(reflavored as roaring, since it is thunder dammage), and soon owlins(owlfolk in ua) is releaced, and then there will be more options for gimicy flying builds. Love to see something thematicly out of the ordinary, like in this video😄
Awesome, I love it. I might go with the winged tiefling instead of aarakocra though.
LOVE this concept/video!
I've said it before and I'll say it again; these types of challenge builds like the Magic Touch, are so much more interesting to me.
We all know Colby can min/max a Hexblade or a Bladesinger. What about a character who makes the most out of garbage weapons like daggers or whips?
Great collab sir and I cant wait for more content in this vein like with Chris and Randal!
Thanks Colby. I loved this build so much that I have had to make one of my own which I may even kill off my current character in a campaign, just to role in my new Raven based Aaraockra Paladin, Rogue, Bard with a whip named....Indygo (in honour of good old Indiana and Inigo Montoya from the princess bride, given he has a similar backstory to what I´ve come up with).
Really love these Optimized videos and Randals art? A-MA-ZING. Thanks for presenting him.
Thanks! Sounds fantastic :)
Alrdy got into the kickstarter as i think the 2nd person xD
really looking forward to the whip char... always wanted to make one
That is SUCH a good opening! Cool illustration!
As a bladesinger who uses a whip I find this incredibly helpful 😂
Now *that* is an intro!
OMG the intro is so COOL!!!!
I'm not sure that Spell Sniper actually works with Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade anymore, since the range of those spells has been changed to Self.
Aye, just pinned a comment on this :)
Neat concept with the combining of channels!
Enjoying the video (Half way through)- my first thought, flight with sharpshooter/ CBE type builds (or any ranged builds) can be great (just kill your ranged enemies first). My second thought: i know Fairy is UA, but it can hover, squeeze into small spaces etc and sounds so fun- using a whip, or darts, or handcrossbow. Reflavor darts as looking like fairy wing feathers. And your tiny- you could ride your familiar.
As far as getting fun roleplay vs combat prowes. I cannot express how much fun i have had using prestidigitation to make warm apple cider with the warm and flavor options.
Spell Sniper doesn't work with Booming Blade anymore since Tasha's changed the range of Booming Blade to "Self".
Just pinned a comment on this :)
i have been making a character kind of similar to this. i chose Eladrin, took 3 lvls of rogue to become an assassin, then took 2 levels of Monk so far. the character fights with a short sword and a whip. next levels in Monk will likely be the way of the kensei.
This could be an excellent "Herald of Morrigan" concept, using a crow.
This is an amazing colab.
Wish I took the time to learn how to draw properly :)
Indiana Jones aracochra archaeologist. He is a professor paladin to a god of knowledge, secrets, and buried treasure. Que title music.
Also, you do not have to weave your character class into your character story. Classes are technical stuff, and you can dress them any way you want.
You can have a noble with a barbarian rage style of fighting, without being an actual barbarian. In a monk with barb dip you can redress the barbarian rage as a monk focused fighting style. Or you can ignore the class completely, say with a pure barbarian class, but played as a city rouge.
Do not limit yourself or your players by the technical stuff of character creation, if it encroaches on the fun. Always choose fun. :)
31:55
Reason #3 for thunderous smite
You’re a flying creature who now has the chance to “prone” other flying creatures out of the sky. 1d6-20d6 falling damage is pretty sweet.
and they land prone too!
Not the most powerful but REALLY cool! Strong back story and look amazing ( Good job Randall !! ) 👍🏼
THAT ART IS SO GOOD
Love you're videos. Booming blade has a 5 reach the reach the weopon doesn't play a factor.
Fun build. I'm rather partial to the Shrike, specifically the Loggerhead Shrike. A rather cruel bird that impales its victims on thornbushes.
> mentions Leliana
Always been more of a Morrigan kinda guy, but I knew you were a man of excellent taste
The simplest solution is a magic whip that allows the wielder to cast spells through the whip.
That intro! A++
Right!? Randall's pretty amazing.
Cook background just in case 'that cream sets out to long, you must whip it!'
Why was the variant tiefling not considered, and then taking the Flight option ?
Fun story, spirit shroud is a wizard spell. Your arcane trickster can take that if you like.....
There's some disagreement on weather the new wording of booming blade works with spell sniper. Crawford's clarification say it works but it's worth noting.
Do you have a link to this ruling, please.
can you post the link to where he clarifies it does?
Just pinned a comment on this.
Spell sniper with booming blade is shady part of the rules though. I'm not sure it's supposed to work after Tasha's.
Jeremy Crawford did say that Spell Sniper does work with green-flame blade (which is essentially the same) and as far as I know has not issued any post-Tasha's retraction
@@nwavette I mean, spell description was changed significantly in Tasha's. Online discussions seem to suggest that spell sniper doesn't work with booming blade anymore.
Crawford's statement was for old version of the rules, I don't think it should apply to new one.
Right - just pinned a comment on this :)
that's right, in tasha BB and GFB have a range of self, which cannot be doubled. The 5 foot radius in the description is not the range of the spell that is normally doubled. Tbh, crawford is very inconsistent in his logic about this, when he says that doubling the range of the spell would double the reach of your melee attack, but omits to talk about reach weapons.
This was a really good idea. Loved the drawing
I use a whip as a Bladesinger. It works great if your GM will let you grapple with it too.
Talking about your degrees, it’s because numbers ARE the language for you in D&D!
😃😎
💯
The Paladin levels in this build, as well as the whip, actually helps with the Phoenix build I’ve been tinkering with a bit (lots of fire, lots of healing), but now I’m in a toss up of which classes would work better.
Redemption Paladin/Fiend Warlock/Divine Soul Sorcerer?
Wildfire Druid/Arcana Domain Cleric?
Or my original idea of Fiend Warlock/Wildfire Druid? 🤔
"If any class in DND is a cop, it's the paladin"
Meanwhile the only paladin I've played: an ex-cop and an anarchist whose paladin oath was fueled by the beliefs which led her to anarchism and to quitting the city guard job
The drawing is pretty awesome! Without a doubt. Building something on heroforge may be a low rent way to do that solo.
I’ve only seen a handful of your videos at this point. But, I’ve heard you mention more than once that there isn’t much to look at while you talk. Watching you, or someone else go through the visual aspect of building the character would be fun!
Personally, I’d like to see more details of your math … but I freely recognize than that would have little broad market appeal. 🤣
I’ve made a couple dozen hero forge figures. When you get into fully custom poses and fully custom colors it can start to take some time. 40 minutes or so. That roughly lines up with your video lengths.
Just a thought. Keep up the awesome work, man!
Thought about this more. You could potentially record the audio. Then do a live stream airing that where people can come and watch you build the character on hero forge and be able to have input into the character’s look while listening to the build outline.
That gives something to look at and also makes it a social event.
Thanks! As for the math, I really just plug the numbers into the calculator by LudicSavant. Check it out here: forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?582779-Comprehensive-DPR-Calculator-(v2-0))
@@DnDDeepDive awesome! I’ll dive into this when I get a chance this evening. I’m hoping it all checks out. I love your core channel concept, man!
@@zero11010 Thanks!
@@DnDDeepDive I made a hero forge mini for this. But, UA-cam seems to not be letting me post a comment with the link.
Please explain, how spell sniper makes your Booming Blade hit up to 10' away as it's range is: self (5' radius). Radius is not the same as range, as in that case distant spell metamagic would increase fireball radius?
Secondly, Help Action: Alternatively, in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.
If this was worded "If one of your allies" instead of "If your ally", it would apply to the first hit of any of your allies, but as it is worded, you do need to specify who your are helping.
Please correct me with your reasoning, when you disagree with this reasoning.
actually spell sniper used to increase the old version of booming blade before tasha's. now it doesn't and you are correct here.
as for help it can be read either way. both are valid interpretations. "your ally" can be both general or specific as it's vague.
Another great video and build and with amazing art now! Only reason I'm not adding this to the "characters I'm going to steal soon" is because I hate flying in this game. Obviously different people have different experiences but for me it has never been good for the rest of the players, including the DM.
Thanks! Right... the truth is, the build doesn't really *depend* on flying. I guess it's just enhanced by it. No reason you couldn't take a different race - I've seen a few Bugbear suggestions, which would augment your reach. :)
I decided my next build required a signature weapon, something unusual. And after rewatching "Ninja Assassin," I was intrigued by the modified kusarigama -- a chain whip weighted with a steel fob at one end, but instead of a sickle, a dagger on the other end. But how to optimize the d4? Colby would know! Another great video.
I'm playing this build right now in a pirate campaign and we got attacked by a kraken, at level 3 btw. Due to some planar shenanigans, our ship and the kraken were sent to the feywild and were fighting it in a mushroom forest. I went in for my nova round and the kraken rolled nat 1 on its strength save so got knocked back 10 ft and prone by my lil level 3 bird man. It was epic.
Nice!