One level of fighter for heavy armor, martial weapons, archery fighting style, and heavy armor mastery (if you went human, as I did). Then switch to battle smith artificer for at least 5 levels (for extra attack). This gets you Int focus on attacks and damage, Repeating shot infusion, and Sharpshooter feat. Then take 1 more fighter level for action surge. Then back to artificer for 4 more levels to get more infusions, a stronger defender, and arcane jolt (add force damage to your arrow).

My Mandalorian build for Adventurer's League is an Armorer Artificer 4 / Eldritch Knight Fighter 6, with Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter feats, wielding a Repeating Shot Infused Hand Crossbow on right hand, and a Shield on the other. Feels very good to play, and deals very good damage.

Immediately seeing the Shrek Wazowski pillow from the fadeout was quite the jumpscare.

I enjoyed your build. If I were to choose an Elf race, I'd go Wood Elf & if possible, grab Wood Elf Magic. Given the levels in Cleric, you’ve got Spell Slots for Pass Without Trace. Now even in Heavy Armor, you’ve a +10. If possible, Aereni Wood Elf for Expertise in one skill or tool: Stealth. Dump STR, INT, & CHA in favor for 16 in DEX, CON, & WIS with three +1. The -10 speed is fine because you've Longstrider & range, plus you're speed is like a Dwarf or Halfling.

Love it, In Oblivion and Skyrim i used to play a "Narcher" heavy armored Nord archer quite a bit. It's great to not fear melee

I think I would go more the Apporch of Fighter Ranger for this build or Ranger Aftificer Armorer I think the Hunters options and hunters mark would help an Archery Master. Artificer Aromorer could ignore the str for heavy armor, Infultrator gives you Advantage on Stealth and lighting launcher can use Int in place of Dex and you can ritual cast

My other idea is a variation on the miracle archer. War Cleric + Hunter Ranger. Focus on multiattack options. Cleric 5 (for bless, then crusader's mantle) Hunter Ranger for horde breaker, volley, conjure barrage and conjure volley. Focus on Dex plus Wisdom.

I'll offer a different reason why MCing into a caster is a good idea, and why Cleric makes a lot of sense here, but I'm also going to suggest a different order of progression. First, the reasoning... concentration. Every member of a group that can be holding concentration is a potential boost. An archer is a great candidate for a weapon user to help with this, likely taking fewer hits. Now the progression- all 11 levels of fighter First. Hear me out... This build is First and foremost an archer, so prioritizing that aspect benefits the group massively. So Fighter to 5 is a no brainer. But then, feat at 6, wisdom saves at 7, feat at 8, indomitable at 9, advantage in every fight at 10, third attack at 11. Each of those adds SOO much to the group that nothing the cleric brings is worth delaying them. Now Samurai is one of the few Fighter subclasses that gives really good stuff all the way up. But being able to offload the responsibility of concentration to help your casters is becoming a bigger benefit to the group. Your casters have been ignoring basic utility spells for several levels now, to focus on their big spells. Now you pick up some of that slack and the whole group gets better.

I have another challenging build idea called the Raging Monk Wrestler. It is a wrestling barbarian with martial artist training; who fights with his fists instead of weapons, can throw several unarmed strikes in row, as well as grapple foes or even making them prone. (like grabbing a guy and pulling them down to the ground.) On top of being very MAD (multiple ability score dependent), one of the biggest challenges in this build is balancing Barbarian levels with Monk levels. It wants higher Barbarian levels for more Rages as well as some other key Barbarian features like Feral Rage (extra movement with rage) and Instinctive Pounce (improved initiative), but it also wants higher Monk levels for a large unarmed strike damage die as well as more KI points. How would you go around building this character while still trying to fulfill the fantasy of the concept?

i love heavy armor builds, ever since ff tactics with algus and his crossbow, in his boss fight he weields the knightkiller crossbow in the og game, so i dubbed the heavy armor bow build after his crossbow.

Funnily enough, I think you can get away with dumping strength. The only penalty for not meeting the strength requirement for heavy armor is a 10ft speed reduction, something I’d argue a ranged character with a longbow won’t be feeling in most combats. I’m not sure how I feel about dipping that many levels in cleric to specifically get holy weapon. 2d8 per attack feels pretty lackluster compared to what you could be doing with a 5th level slot. If I wasn’t locked to samurai, I would probably prefer a 3 level rogue dip. Steady aim is free advantage every turn to abuse elven accuracy with, we don’t usually care about the 0 speed since it’s reduced anyway and our range is high, and 2d6 once per turn is better than the d4 per attack until we get a third extra attack (not to mention sneak attack doesn’t cost spell slots). War cleric is still a good dip choice, +10 accuracy plus sharpshooter goes hard, but I wouldn’t take that many levels. I also completely agree with the thematic choice of taking heavy armor master even if it’s not really needed (or good). Kinda reminds me of defensive duelist or shield master where I want those feats if I’m making a duelist or sword and board build for the flavor, even if they’re not that great. Really hoping the new phb buffs those feats

I have 3 concepts or builds I would love to see how you'd create them. 1. Tmnt the last ronin 2. Moses, yes the guy from the Bible, lol 3. I'm going to attach a picture, and I want you to make him into a character, whatever the picture inspires you to make. The only stipulations are no homebrew.

Hey brother, love the videos! One note, which could just be me, but I think decreasing the volume of your background music down would be a good idea. It's on the verge of being the same volume as your vocals, and it's a little distracting. Keep up the great work!

Personally, I think this build is better if you dump strength. As a ranged character with bonus action teleports, having a 20 ft speed is not that bad, especially if it means you can boost up your skills and mental saves

You don't need dex to wield a bow. The heavy longbow and composite longbow both use strength as the attack and damage modifiers.

Just discovered your channel and subbed. Agree with comment re intrusive music. Would appreciate some advice on salvaging a character build. Table rules are PHB only and no more than 3 levels in any one class for every 5 character levels (so no 7th, 8th or 9th level spells or OP high level class/subclass features). Lots of fun multi-classing combos and high level play that relies on planning, teamwork and creativity. Anywho, because of party balance and campaign reasons I’ve accidentally built a bit of an Abserd character and I’m not sure how best to proceed. Level 8, criminal background, half-elf, draconic sorcerer 1 (starting class), life cleric 1 (party needed a healer) grassland druid 2 (4pt goodberries, wild shape, recovery) bard 1 (proficiencies, inspiration), archfey (under-rated expanded spell list and fey presence) tome (cantrips and rituals) warlock 3. Str 10 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 13 Cha 14 (Point buy + half-elf bonuses) 17 cantrips, 15 first level spells prepared, 58 hp, AC 18 (no armour, draconic + dex + shield prof from cleric) Utility, support, surprising amounts of battlefield control and survivability, crazy fun role-play. Except now I’m stuck on what to do next. Good arguments can be made to increase any one of the five classes another level and anything beyond that makes my brain hurt. Also,, while the character is still holding its own for the time being the cracks in its comparative effectiveness at even the next level are beginning to show. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cyclops build when?

So... hear me out. Lose the magic capacity. Race, variant human. Yes, I know, this again. It's the gift that keeps on giving. If your DM is cool, he rules that every race functions Bamstacks style and gets a starter feat, but not all DM's are cool, and that's okay. We have variant human. We'll be cool no matter what. Feat, Medium Armor Master. I know, it's not heavy armor, but you gotta stay practical. Have an armorsmith graft some plates into it at some point if your DM is cool. Reasoning: You can do stealth without having to worry as much when the party needs that, and your points in Dex aren't getting burned should you want more in it. To make this work, use the wealth roll variant rule to get your equipment. It usually works out better in the end that way, anyway. Perhaps less equity sometimes, but for sure an adaptable start and you need medium armor anyway for this to be better. If a campaign is already running or again, if your DM is cool, you might even be allowed to liquidate the starter equipment at a 1:1 to rearrange what you walk in with. It's not that big a deal, it's starter gear. Level 1 Fighter, up to 4, Samurai at 3. Rogue up to 4, Swashbuckler at 3. Whatever order you want for those levels. By level 8, you're a terror. I recommend just running fighter for however many remaining levels your campaign runs. That length of time can be short, so be ready to not get all the way through with a sleeper build before things come to a close. That's just the nature of the business. All this combined? Between Fancy Footwork, Rakish Audacity, and Fighting Spirit, there will never be a turn you take where you aren't adding in Sneak Attack damage.... which you can increase however much you want, that's up to you. The teleport limits you, Fancy Footwork just requires that you attack the target. If you have multiple attacks, all the better. Alternatively, bonus action, cunning action disengage, shoot them with the bow more without a care in the world. The melee capacity is still there if you choose, just like a samurai would have. If another ally is also near the foe, it's worth it to back up a bit and get shots in while the baddy is in what is known as the "Money Zone" for more sneak attack damage. At the end of the day, you can still get an impressive number of ASI to boost like a rocket into space. Feats or points, it doesnt matter. An impressive number of proficiency skills come along with all of it, as well as expertise and Thieves' Cant. If you stick to finesse weaponry, you can focus on Dex, but you dont have to. Leave the whole dealing with magic thing to the spell flingers, what with their fireballs and counter spells. You're there to throw arrows down range, or give the enemy a proper thrashing via one thousand cuts, whichever need be done. Added bonus fun if you roll with TWF and aren't afraid to get stuck in, proper swordsman style, bringing righteous vengeance to the Emperor's enemies.