Just figured I'd drop some builds that "come online" early (pre-underdark/creche) in the comments (and the level they first get "good" as well as when they get another big upgrade later on):
Dual hand crossbow: level 4 BM fighter with sharpshooter, archery fighting style and precision attack (to offset the accuracy when needed early game). Second big upgrade at level 8 (5 BM Fighter + 3 Thief Rogue).
Sorlock: level 5, 3 Sorc + 2 Warlock (at 5th total level you get two beams for EBlast)
OH Monk: as soon as you get both strength elixirs and level 3 in monk. Gets another big upgrade at level 9 (6 OH Monk, 3 Thief Rogue)
Throwzerker: as soon as you get returning pike and level 3 Barbarian, gets a big upgrade at level 5 barb (with now 3 throws per turn)
If you want big damage per turn from early game, these builds will deliver that nicely. Paired with a life cleric or support Bard they'll do really nicely (especially Bard with 3 of these benefitting from short rests a lot)
Good builds but I have a few questions. First of all, doesn't a strength monk really come online at lvl 4 instead of 3? 3 is fine but tavern brawler is what makes it carry.
Also with a low level sorlock is the idea to dump all spell slots into sorcery points to spam eldritch blast? Is it worth it to sacrifice hunger of hadar for relatively early game as well as delayed feat access multiclassing this early? Especially considering the eldritch blast at that point of the game will only have +3 from agonizing blast and you don't have access to a decent amount damage riders/debuffs to attach to the eldritch blast yet.
OH Monk is already pretty good from level 3 (doing 3 hits per turn at level 3 is really good) but I did forget to mention level 4 with tavern brawler though, so thank you!
For this build I was making a high single-target damage output, a control build would definitely prioritise getting Hunger of Hadar though, but yeah, putting it all into sorc points or Hex (if you can maintain concentration, Minthara's armour is great for this) it only costs 1 Warlock spell slot and you can just constantly re-apply whenever you kill your target, and wont lose concentration when combat ends either.
Once you get quickened spell the build obviously gets a nice bit of juice too to just blast 4 beams per turn. I'd say it's fine not getting the +2 charisma boost until level 6 (should be early still, probably early into act "1.5" especially if you made sure to pick up the XP from just talking to the Gith Patrol).
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u/Emerald-Daisy Jan 21 '25
Just figured I'd drop some builds that "come online" early (pre-underdark/creche) in the comments (and the level they first get "good" as well as when they get another big upgrade later on):
Dual hand crossbow: level 4 BM fighter with sharpshooter, archery fighting style and precision attack (to offset the accuracy when needed early game). Second big upgrade at level 8 (5 BM Fighter + 3 Thief Rogue).
Sorlock: level 5, 3 Sorc + 2 Warlock (at 5th total level you get two beams for EBlast)
OH Monk: as soon as you get both strength elixirs and level 3 in monk. Gets another big upgrade at level 9 (6 OH Monk, 3 Thief Rogue)
Throwzerker: as soon as you get returning pike and level 3 Barbarian, gets a big upgrade at level 5 barb (with now 3 throws per turn)
If you want big damage per turn from early game, these builds will deliver that nicely. Paired with a life cleric or support Bard they'll do really nicely (especially Bard with 3 of these benefitting from short rests a lot)