Gaining Proficiency in Every Skill in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

[@hatihrodvitnisson]

I’d like to see you guys rank the different skills on usefulness. See how many of them are actually worth getting and which ones can be left behind. Maybe do the same thing with tools too, taking in the expanded options from Xanathar’s.

[@aidanchilton7899]

Fellas please upvote this I gotta know 😂

[@douglasjager3554]

Wanna see it.

[@Frankieboy1123]

It'd be pretty difficult to do, since skills relies very heavily on GM. Some gms dont make players roll persuasion at all, while others make you roll for everything.

[@DominoPivot]

Great for any character: Insight, Perception, Stealth Useful or useless depending on the character: Acrobatics, Athletics, Arcana, Sleight of Hand, Survival Rarely used: Animal Handling, Performance

[@hewhogoesbymanynames]

@@DominoPivot I find people occassionaly call for performance checks to sell a disguise or otherwise BS in a way that isn't just directly lying, but it's still on the low side. The biggest thing about Athletics is that lots of GMs let you roll acrobatics instead for stuff that RAW is pretty far from acro, in some cases almost everything except controlling a grapple. So if you're not playing a grappler that's just one more reason to take dex over strength.

[@storm38614]

Not only does the human race get an extra feat in One D&D, but the Skilled feat can now be taken more than once so you could be a human and take the Skilled feat twice right at level 1.

[@explodingdice85]

Combine that with a level 4 scout rogue and the skilled feat again for the ASI, that’s proficiency in all skills, and expertise in 4 of them, all at level 4!

[@FarothFuin]

Yeah, on onednd, where you can have a +20 skill and still fail the dc8 roll on a nat1

[@einkar4219]

@@explodingdice85 yup skill monkeys in 1dnd are broken

[@timbowden6289]

@@FarothFuin theres no such thing as a critical fail on an ability check, unless its a house rule, but that seems dumb

[@ACloud27]

@@timbowden6289 There is now.

[@robertbailey5239]

If you want to add languages to your skill monkey, a warlock of the Great Old One gives the Awakened Mind which allows you to speak telepathically regardless of knowing the language of the other, and at 2nd level the invocation of Eyes of the Rune Keeper allows you to read all writing. For your second invocation, choosing Beast Speech lets you cast Speak with Animals at will, or you can take Beguiling Influence for proficiency in Deception and Persuasion. Once you gain an ASI, you can take the feat Eldritch Adept to take the other. So, effectively for 2 levels of Warlock, you can communicate with any creature that has a language, read all languages and Speak with Animals. Definitely the face of the party!

[@nicholasplummer1523]

Instead of the cleric, I would go with ranger. You get 1 more skill just for multiclassing, plus 1 more proficiency. Also as a fighting style you can take druidic warrior and take guidance as one of the canaries, then if you go to level 3 and go with the fey wanderer and get your final skill (even adding your wisdom bonus to some of your checks)

[@joeandrade721]

I totally understand that cantrips was autocorrected to canaries here but also I am just going to start using "canaries" to mean nice little perks or upsides to something. Guidance is definitely one of the canaries you get from druidic warrior.

[@garlicg4532]

I mean cleric gives you two skills and two expertise, ranger gives you one skill and one expertise--both for one level. Ranger has some better benefits at level 3, but it's only one extra skill, albeit the wis added to charisma checks is really fucking good. The guidance from druidic warrior you also get at level 2, whereas guidance is available from a level 1 cleric.

[@matthewkastner8151]

I actually really like the knowledge cleric mixed with rogue and bard. It makes me feel like this roguish homeless kid got a scholarship, accidentally learned the dark secrets of the world, immediately dropped, and went back to living life to the fullest as they wanted.

[@LightsOnTrees]

Rogue goes off to uni, doesn't like the course BUT bought a guitar so is now a Bard.

[@jnewlin4575]

Exactly the background I had my character "live:" hid in a religious institution, spent most of the time in the library. Rogue Bard Cleric is fun to RP, sucks in combat

[@SilentSooYun]

I'm thinking about an Archeologist-type character, a little Indiana Jones, a little Bill Nye the Science Guy: someone who would brave exploring ancient ruins and tombs to obtain rare tomes of forgotten lore, as well as someone wonderfully engaging and entertaining as a teacher devoted to the pursuit of Knowledge

[@Nemo2342]

I was thinking something similar: thief as a young teen, shipped off to the church, stuck around long enough to pick up the basics, then fled with some kind of passing circus. Or if you want to be a little less selfish, go with a classic "old priest brought the PC in off the streets, but they left once the old man died since the new priest didn't get along with them" angle.

[@misticsword7561]

For the Knowledge Domain is good build for a sneaky Lord of the Secrets follower. He knows EVERYTHING. And if some way he lacks informations, he knows all the ways to get them.

[@MadnessOpus]

Rogue/Cleric multiclass is so underrated. Arcana gives you Booming Blade, Grave doubles your crits, Knowledge makes you an even better skill monkey, Peace goes on literally any character, Twilight has its OP darkvision range AND advantage on initiative rolls… what's not to like?

[@davea6314]

We have proficiency in watching Dungeon Dudes videos.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Deadly Vous!

[@Frownlandia]

Bard/Rogue is a great multiclass combo. I have a character concept for a long time that I haven't had a chance to play that'd be a Swashbuckler/Swords bard and it was kind of a surprise how many skills you just get from the combo.

[@Shichiaikan]

The version of this I really like, oddly, is actually going Scout Rogue, Gloomstalker Ranger (with tasha options), and lore bard, then focus on longbow in combat. It's actually pretty clean, but also crazy versatile.

[@Evesorator]

Can you break this down more?

[@Chetthew21]

You can save 1 level by taking a 4th level in bard, taking the Eldritch invocation feat and taking the invocation Beguiling Influence for Persuasion and Deception (if that lines up, of course). Done at level 6

[@victordevillers3899]

*warlock

[@techknight3753]

@@victordevillers3899 Eldritch Invocation *Feat* not class feature

[@fasterpet]

True. By my count, I think you can skip bard all together and just focus on Dex and wis. Background +2 skills Variant Human and skilled feat +4 skills Level 3 scout rogue +6 skills Level 1 knowledge cleric +2 skills Level 1 ranger +2 skills (one mc, one canny) Last level in rogue for ASI/ Eldritch adept for beguiling influence.

[@Chetthew21]

@@victordevillers3899 nope

[@Chetthew21]

@@fasterpet then start leveling monk because why not lol

[@themechnoob2584]

Start with level 1 (1/2) elf rogue, then level 1 knowledge cleric, level 2 hexblade warlock, and take lore bard to level 16. All skills by level 8, and Cha for attacks and spells.

[@green_frogball1015]

thats not less than 7.

[@DankBobRoss]

@@green_frogball1015 but Cha for attacks so you don’t have to go into dex and you have more spells to cast

[@commentary4298]

You mean hexblade not pact of the blade, those are different things.

[@themechnoob2584]

@@commentary4298 Yes, thank you. My mistake.

[@doodlecrazydc]

So you need 13 dex, 13 wis, 13 cha. Point buy that leaves you with 12 points left

[@fightingfalcon777]

I tried something similar once and I got all 18 skills one level higher than you guys. Like you, I went with the Variant Human for the extra skill and Skilled Feat. I went 15 Scout Rogue/4 College of Lore Bard/1 Ranger. Ranger gave me one of the extra skills I needed and then I also took Skill Expert at my first ASI/Feat choice for the other skill

[@DungeonDudes]

Good stuff

[@pfalcon7777]

No additional comment on the build, just wanted to say, nice screen name :D

[@aristotleshadow9296]

I have a pretty nice skill monkey build I’ve used before. Go Vhuman, take skilled feat (4/18) Any background (6/18) Level 1: rogue (10/18, 2/18 expertise) Level 2: knowledge cleric (12/18, 4/18 expertise, plus you get guidance) Levels 3-20: lore bard (13/18 at level 3, 16/18 at level 5, 8/18 expertise at level 12, plus can add bardic inspiration to skill check at level 16) Take the prodigy and skill expert feats as you level up. This means at level 10 you should have proficiency in all skills. At the end of this build, you have 18/18 prof, 10/18 expertise, skill empowerment, guidance, and can add a d12 to any skill check 5 times per short rest, all while having almost all the bard goodies as well as medium armor and shields and access to some great low level cleric spells like bless.

[@JacopoSkydweller]

That's wild.

[@mikececconi2677]

What's nice about this build is, up at the high levels, you're still almost a full caster overall and therefore can still be a really solid support/buffer/debuffer caster in combat, on top of your social and environmental skillfulness.

[@aristotleshadow9296]

@@mikececconi2677 Yeah thats what I love about it. A lot of skill monkey builds are great for skills but suck in combat, this guy can roll a 34 on a nature check and then drop a meteor swarm on his enemies, all the while enjoying better durability than most casters.

[@cooperton4949]

There's a universe where you squeeze in fey wanderer ranger to get wis *and* cha to your charisma skills and also 2 skill proficiencies and 1 expertise from 3 levels.

[@GrahamChapman]

A bit too MAD tho, innit? If you start with Rogue then your saving throws are Dex and Int, you need 13 in Cha and Wis respectively to multiclass into Bard and Ranger, and on a personal note I wouldn't ever recommend fully dumping Con... So how much mileage would you actually get out of adding your Wis bonus to your Cha checks?

[@colonelcabbage]

I’ve been looking at some sort of combination of Eloquence Bard, Fey Wanderer, Samurai, and/or Oath of Redemption Paladin for the most persuasive character. All 4 subclasses gets a bit crazy, but at level 14 you can do something like 3 of them for around +18/19 persuasion, with another +5 from the Channel Divinity and reliable rolls from Eloquence Bard to make your min roll 28/33. Take a look guys and see if you can improve it!

[@dreambrother16]

It's possible to make a character who gets a *minimum* roll of 37 on persuasion (max 47) with those first 3 subclasses. Wacky stuff.

[@hattsbygaming2861]

If I remember correctly, a friend of mine told me of a build he made. Lvl 20 Reborn (Prof. d6's to skill checks) Lvl 10 Battle Master Fighter (d10 added from Commanding Presence maneuver), Lvl 6 Fiend Warlock (Dark One's Luck for d10, Pact of Amulet for d4 on fail), Lvl 3 Redemption Paladin (as said above), and Peace Domain Cleric (Guidance + Emboldening Bond = 2d4 to roll) with Skill Expert feat and Max Cha. If you passed the check, the max is 66, but if you failed it'd be 70! Love DnD xD

[@not-a-theist8251]

That's an insane build lmao. Imagine getting reliable talent with this character.

[@logancuster8035]

Reliable talent would be largely redundant with this build since you only get to add half proficiency to ability checks you are not proficient in.

[@haydenrock8952]

@@logancuster8035 reliable talent is the feature that lets you treat a 9 or lower as a 10 on a d20 roll in an ability check that applies your proficiency bonus. I think you were thinking of Jack of All Trades

[@acehole131]

I made this build when our DM did a TPK with a trap and miss the 23 investigation check to find it. Made this character out of speight. with the lucky feat, I never failed again...!!!

[@duelist301]

You could actually. Either run scout rogue to 11 after bard or instead of going scout rogue you take lore bard to 4 taking eldritch adept for the feat then going whatever rogue to 11 or even 12 for the extra asi, and still leaving 3 levels left over that you could go fighter or ranger making this a passable sharpshooter build for combat.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

For OneDnD... I rather take the Human Stat Block. Pick the Dragonborne. Get Lv1 Magic Initiate for my Human Feat and then get "+1 to All Stats Background" or lv1 Tavern Brawler Feat.

[@geekula1981]

I would call this multi-class "the doomsday prep" cause the scout has that survivalist vibe and the lore bard just adds to it in that fun way.

[@VestigialLung]

Something similar to this is great for small parties. In a full normal group, you wind up with a lot of redundancy, and while having some duplication of roles can be solid, this character runs the risk of invalidating other party members in every non-combat scenario. With that said, I do really appreciate how 5e makes it easy to wind up with a versatile character carrying several skill proficiencies regardless of class. I’m eyeing a zealot barbarian whose zealotry ties to a goddess of knowledge (long story). The build is slightly atypical as compared to a “normal” barbarian, but not wildly so, and I wound up a reasonably versatile secondary skill monkey and was able to fit ritual caster (wizard) in there, virtually eliminating the “barbarians have nothing to contribute outside of combat trope/issue.

[@lancelobato]

back in 2020 I did this EXACT same build to prove to a friend of mine I could have proficiency in all skill before level 10. hahahaha so cool to send him this video now!

[@lancelobato]

I did an alternate version picking the half-elf. but going for some levels of Ranger and Wizard bladesinger (for the performance proficiency).

[@revenantpaladin1820]

The harengon has proficiency in initiative, which isn’t technically a skill, but is an ability check.

[@chrisvossler8795]

Colby from d4 did a character like this that also got there in 7 levels, but I'm pretty sure he went Ranger instead of Cleric. As far as languages go, my sister's level 2 Ranger has 7 languages currently and gets another one at next level for Drakewarden. But I think I gave her 1 more language than strict RAW for Favored Enemy, just because that feature doesn't come up all that much.

[@jbw065]

He took Fey Wanderer ranger from 6th - 8th in order to get those last two proficiencies and enable the character to add their WIS to their CHA skills. He also kept the Knowledge Domain Cleric (since he has to have the WIS for ranger anyway) and instead of going Scout rogue he took Soul Knife rogue instead so the psi dice can be added on top of any skill check. I’d sacrifice a few skills to later levels and take Harengon as my race so I could add those dice to my initiative but that’s just me.

[@angelagranger760]

You get 2 levels of Knowledge Cleric for the Channel Divinity which lets you pick one skill or tool of choice and gives you proficiency in it for 10 min. Now though, Astral Elves and Githyanki can get one proficiency and one weapon or tool of choice to use/swap out every rest. And if you are using Tasha's, elves and dwarves could potentially swap out their multiple weapons, armor or tool proficiencies for a skill proficiency instead. If that rule is allowed, races with automatic weapon, tool, or armor proficiencies as a racial feature beat out variant human.

[@aparke22]

Thanks for the great review and adding the link to the dry-erase tokens. I've been looking for a product like this but didn't know it existed.

[@thant0s]

I dunno, thematically that one level of Cleric works really well for theme, as it makes sense this crazy-learned mortal managed to draw the attention of the "rarer" deities of knowledge often overlooked in favor of more battle-oriented ones, and got just a little divine encouragement to keep going. Mechanically, that's also getting you Guidance, Bless, Healing Word, Identify (Knowledge Domain), Shield of Faith and Protection from Evil and Good, which are going to be useful at all levels of play. Further, an aspect often overlooked is the Help action; depending on your table, you may be fortunate and be allowed to apply Help to another person *so long as you are Proficient in that skill yourself,* which is this character's gimmick. Hit them with Guidance *and your rarely used Bardic Inspiration* first and even if your friend isn't particularly the greatest at a thing, you two stand a much higher chance of success than if you just tried doing it yourself.

[@thancrow]

I made a college of lore barrd with the skilled feat for 3 skills, with the a varient human, you get 1 skill for race, 3 skills for bard, 3 skills for the college of lore, and 2 skills for your background, for a total of 12 skills at 1st level. A bard also get Jack of all trades, which gives you half profiency bonus for the skills you are not proficient in. This gives you a solid skill monkey build fairly early, plus another feat in which .you could take one of the other feats you mentioned.

[@PiroMunkie]

I did this same thought experiment a while back and ended up basically in the same place. Starting Rogue gets you there maybe 1 level faster, but I think I prefer starting Bard because you don't need all four skills from Rogue. I also did Custom Lineage for the +2 to a stat which will get main stat to 18 from Skill Expert and free up the next ASI to get it to 20, and took a level in Ranger with Deft Explorer from Tasha's which gives you +1 Skill from multiclass, +1 Expertise from Deft Explorer, and +3-4 Languages from Deft Explorer and Favored Foe (replacing the need for the Prodigy feat). I don't think I'd be willing to drop Cleric for two reasons: 1. My goal was also to get Expertise wherever I could, and 2. Cleric gives you access to Guidance. Proficiency in every skill, expertise in most, plus Bardic Inspiration (for others), plus Guidance (for you and others) is basically the best skill junkie package. As for viability, while it would be tempting to keep going into Rogue for Reliable Talent, you'd probably be better served in practice going further into Bard and playing support. You can make up for the multiclass deficit with just well-placed inspiration, cutting words, and other spells; especially as a Lore Bard who gets the early Magical Secrets.

[@mikececconi2677]

I like the idea of starting with Knowledge Cleric as the first level, if you're playing the character from level one and not just building it to start at a higher level, just because of how much survivability and combat versatility it starts you off with. This character is never going to be the group's heavy hitter but having medium armor, shields, a decent ranged cantrip in Toll The Dead and access to Healing Word for in-a-pinch pop-ups and Guiding Bolt for an emergency higher-powered ranged options, that's just gonna help you stay alive to keep progressing early game.

[@wonderingmind28]

Love you guys and all you do for the community of D&D. Love the strechicles you have added!

[@DoctorDucky250]

This character sounds super fun and interesting to play. Definitely tempted to try it somewhere.

[@ZypherWildfire]

Jack of All Trades would still be useful in this build because it counts towards Initiative, Tools you'd not be proficient in, Ability Checks that use base Ability Score Modifiers, and Magic Ability Checks (such as Counterspell).

[@yoelbendavid1711]

I think that the Cleric actually really adds to the story of this character. You can play the nerd who worships his own ability to know everything and he could even start his own religion based on his own knowledge and reconnects with a divinity long forgotten to his world. He adds to his knowledge by sneaking into private libraries and exchanges knowledge by becoming the greatest storyteller ever known…

[@mikemartin3671]

Great video guys! As a new player I appreciate all your knowledgeable content, in an accessible and fun format. Great work and thank you!

[@MrBenwaan]

Just take Slight of Hand at level one and then use it to tick all the other skills on your sheet.

[@bukharagunboat8466]

Under Backgrounds in PHB "If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he can choose another one instead". If that is a general rule (and I think it should be), then the character does not have to worry about the order skills are gained in.

[@JeremyCulbreath]

Rolled up something similar for a game once: Fey Wanderer Ranger, Inquisitive Rogue, College of Lore Bard. He didn't have quite every skill. But social checks were trivialized. And a few select feats broke exploration, as well.

[@draconicexodus9910]

Level 3 Variant Human Phantom Rogue with the Keen Mind Feat. The Phantom Rogue has a feature that lets you gain a skill or tool proficiency of your choice every short or long rest. Normally, you would lose that the next time you use the feature, but Keen Mind lets you remember everything you've seen or heard for a month. Just gotta keep up with the days so you can re up on your skills

[@d.k.t.3380]

One note that doesn't reduce the number of levels needed, but adds to the viability considerably: 2 levels of Hexblade Warlock gives you invocations, including Beguiling Influence (proficiency in Persuasion and Deception skills) and even add an invocation that lets you cast a spell like Detect Magic or Disguise Self at will, and lets you focus solely on CHA as your primary stat if you go melee Rogue and crits on a 19 or 20 with Hexblade's Curse for more sneak attack crits. Drop Cleric 1 for Warlock 2 and you're maxing out CHA, putting 13 in DEX (take Piercer feat later for the +1 to DEX for even numbers), and your multiclassing requirements are DONE!

[@briandixon9140]

Variant Human Rogue for Skilled (10 proficiencies) Multi into Bard at level 2 (+1 skill) College of Lore (+3) Bard[4] for Eldritch Adept: Beguiling Influence (+2) Rogue[3] for Scout (+2) Ties the 7 levels but easy to get to 10 for each Bard and Rogue. It's a tad slower not picking up Cleric, but it's more flexible on when you can pick up skills to fit the campaign. And if you opt for Rogue[11] Reliable Talent is a great way to master skills by level 15, when most campaigns end

[@darenvalnys7718]

I think 3 levels of ranger san be quite strong in this build: - Same as the bard, ranger give you one skill of the ranger's list when you multiclass in it, plus the deft explorer feature level one gives you a skill and you have expertise on it, two languages (nice for the face skills). - Level 2, you gain a fighting style so druidic warrior can give you guidance and a nice one like mending - Level 3 fey wanderer give you another skill, a social one, and you can give your wisdom to every charisma test (so it largely compensate the potentially spread thiner characteristics). Charm person isn't something to scoff at too. - Then you just have another level to take in it to get a feat (skilled), and another level, extra attack and you can get decent damage on top of being a nice skill monkey. Oh and last but not the least, when you pair charima + wisdom on a skill, then expertise then reliable talent, it's really hard to fail your social skill checks (you can get between 30 to 40 with 18 in charisma and wisdom) at level 17

[@elcuban27]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you may have overlooked artificer yet again… (though more excusable in this case, bc of partially relying on a specific item). If you can get your hands on an All-Purpose Tool, it says it can be transformed into any tool and you are proficient in that tool. If using XGtE rules for tools, you would be able to add proficiency bonus to any skill check using a tool, or advantage if you already had proficiency in the skill. Add to that Tool Expertise at lv6, and an artificer can add double proficiency to any skill check in the game, so long as there is some way to use a tool. Then add your d4 bonus from guidance, and, if needed, your INT mod as a reaction from flash of genius (lv7). If you can also add 11 levels of rogue for Reliable Talent (since it only says you have to be able to add your PB to the check, not that you are proficient), along with Psi-Bolstered Knack adding a d10 with soul-knife subclass, your possible rolls range from a minimum of 22 to a maximum of 56!!!

[@hatihrodvitnisson]

That is insane and I love it.

[@DigitalPapyrus88]

this is literally the character I play in a game on Fridays. He's a warforged reskinned to be a half-dragon with ancient knowledge ^__^ love that you guys went the exact same route as me!!!

[@DigitalPapyrus88]

Also, can confirm, it's a blast to play and RP the character as wanting to see what younger characters can do and helping out when they struggle.

[@ropedgoat3938]

just be a phantom rogue with keen mind. ghost teaches you skills (normally you would forget this) but with keen mind you remember everything, therefore you can learn a new skill every day, and not forget them. rotate each month. (ill show myself out now)

[@WBElvis32]

Had the same thought

[@ropedgoat3938]

@@WBElvis32 great minds think alike! personally, i cant claim credit, tho. dndshorts turned me onn to this particular combo.

[@SveinJohnnyFedje]

My backup character is a lot like this. I went with Half-Elf, but I added Soulknife for Psi-Bolstered Knack. Soulknife 11/Cleric(Knowledge) 1/ Bard(Lore)8. Expertise in "Rogue Skills" Investigation, Perception, Slight of Hand, Stealth and Thives Tools. and all 4 Int Skills, Arcana, History, Nature and Religion. Knowledge must be shared, no matter what :P I picked the feats Skilled, skill Focus(to get all the skills), Telekinetic, Telepathic and Elven Accuracy to round out for abilitiy Scores and more Psychic abilities. For skills we'll get Enhance Ability from bard, 1d4 Guidance from Cleric, 1d10 Psi-Bolstered Knack and Reliable Talent from Rogue. Even if you dump Int, you' get -1 int, 12 from Proficiency Bonus, 2 to 14 from guidance and Psi-Bolstered Knack. With Reliable Talent that's still a minimum of 23 at later levels to a max of 45. I didn't dump Int of course, but that's still very impressive! :P I think it's a very thematic character and can't wait to play him :)

[@adviel]

A Half-Elf Multiclass Rogue 14 Bard 5 and Cleric 1. The Half-Elf race gives you proficiency in 2 skills, the Background gives you proficiency in 2 skills, the rogue class gives you proficiency in 4 skills, the bard multiclass gives you proficiency in 1 skills, the Bard Collage Lore gives you proficiency in 3 skills and the Cleric Blessings of Knowledge gives you proficiency in 2 skills. That is 14 out of 18 possible skills learned. *With the point buy you can max your DEX and CHA with only 4 Ability Score Improvement out of the 5 with this build so you could take the Skilled feat to get proficiency in 3 extra skills to a total of 17 out of 18, but you might want to use that for something else. With 6 levels in Rogue you get the Expertise feature twice, with 3 levels in Bard you get another Expertise feature and the Cleric Blessings of Knowledge gives you double proficiency in the chosen skills. So you have double proficiency in 8 out of the 13 skills learned. *The level 11 Rogue feature Reliable Talent gives you a minimum of roll of 10 on all skill you have proficiency with. * I considered doing a Rogue 9 Bard 10 Cleric 1 build to get the second Bard Expertise for a total of 4 Expertise, but I considered the Reliable Talent feature better for those nasty 1 that come from time to time. To sum up you get proficiency with 14 out of the 18 skills 8 of which are double proficiency and a minimum dice roll of 10. Combat wise with a Rogue 14 you have 7d6 Sneak Attack. The Bard 5 gives you Bardic Inspiration d8 and the Font of Inspiration feature and Bard spells will be mainly for non combat. The Cleric 1 gives you medium armor and shields proficiency for extra AC and The Cleric spells will also be mainly for non combat.

[@JWaltz91]

One thing to note near the end is you can't get the 12 expertise choices AND have Reliable Talent. You have to sacrifice 2 expertise choices because Reliable Talent is the 11th level feature for Rogue. The absolute only way to get both would be doing a Gestalt campaign, choosing two classes and taking equal levels for each character level up to 20th. For example, in the Bard-Rogue option, you would have 2d8 hit dice per level, a proficiency bonus of +2, and all the starting traits and features (choose the equipment of one only) of both. You count as 1st level but have the versatility of two classes. It's a complex system because it sounds overpowered but you never gain more actions per round (outside of class abilities that grant them) so you have a huge amount of options but it can take a long time to set up really powerful stuff.

[@shimasclan]

In van richtens guide to ravenloft, there are dark gifts. One if these is 'Echoing Souls' which gives you 2 skills of choice. At DM's discretion, a dark gift can be selected at character creation, so this is another 2 at lv 1.

[@Fernando_Cabanillas]

Conditional counterargument: If the DM allows it, take a single level in expert sidekick and forget about bard, meaning that you would be a variant human (1 skill) with the feat skilled (3 skills), any background (2 skills), scout rogue level 3 (6 skills and 4 expertises), knowledge cleric level 1 (2 skills and 2 expertises), expert level 1 (5 skills), so were the DM to allow it, you get all skills (and have 1 extra one to allocate) by level 5. That being said, that is a conditional possibility Btw, I found how to get up to 15 expertises, idk if I am missing any. Scout rogue gets 6, bard gets 4, there are 2 feats that give expertise (skill expert and prodigy), knowledge cleric gets 2, ranger gets 1 at level 1 with the alternative class feature... again, if expert is allowed, that is 2 more, but that is still conditional (only 2 because the next one is at level 15, meaning we would loose on the second one of the bard and rogue) Also to consider, if you dont want to start variant human, you could also take a level in ranger to spread this out a bit more, which in turn gives you 2 skill proficiencies and 1 expertise at level 1, letting you pick skilled later on or maybe replacing that with prodigy or skill expert when you get to your ASIs

[@Multistrangedude1]

If your DM allows supernatural gift from theros and the background bonus feat from Dragonlance you can start with Skilled, Prodigy, and Skill Expert

[@hatihrodvitnisson]

Here’s an idea for a party: one character with every skill proficiency, one character with every language, one with every tool proficiency, and one with every Cantrip.

[@gabrielfeldinger6533]

I know this was just doing 5e, but using the D&D One playtest it becomes really easy so I still wanted to share it D&DOne specifies the Skilled feat is repeatable, and D&DOne Human and D&DOne Noble background both give skilled, and an additional 1 and 2 proficiencies respectively (9 total), so if you pick Bard (3 more proficiencies), at level 3 you can choose college of lore for 3 more proficiencies (15 total), and at level 4 pick skilled one more time for 18 proficiencies exactly.

[@fopipilop]

I don't know how to factor into the maths, but you can get eldritch adept for the beguiling influence invocation for your feat, which is more efficient than prodigy or skill expert for raw skill gain.

[@fedehot88]

The College of Lore (at 14th level so at 18th level considering 4 levels for Rogue) permits you to use your own Barding Inspiration to add it to your own Ability Checks (Peerless Skill subclass feature).

[@starlyburd]

Dont know if this counts but if we understand a reference they are making they give us 1 feat (the entire group) so hypotheticly we can get proficiency in everything at level 1.

[@clintjohnson1045]

It’s kinda weird but a level 4 Kenku phantom rogue with the keen mind feat after 30days can be proficient in every skill depending on what feature your dm give authority over because the phantom recall ability will give you every proficiency, and if the dm will allow you to keep it with keen mind though. Also if he does theirs only 18 skills and you have 30 days to relearn them

[@sunador1987]

I've done Variant Human + skilled, 12lvl Scout Rogue, 4lvl Lore Bard, 3lvl Hexblade Warlock, 1lvl Ranger - I didn't go for speed in gaining all the skill proficiency but I've got there. I took early Warlock level for Hex Warrior so my attacks could scale with charisma and I maxed charisma to be a bit unusual face of the party. In combat the sneak attack applied to my charisma based attacks with a rapier as it was a finesse weapon and with Hexbalde's curse it allowed me to crit on 19s which usually kept me on par or above other damage dealers with "normal" builds. (On criticals my DM let me apply double damage for sneak attack) Also Devil's sight was quite useful solution to human's lack of dark vision. Beguiling influence was the second invocation. Ranger level came late, but provided knowledge of 3 languages that were relevant in the campaign.

[@PancorRath]

Variant Human, Keen Mind, Phantom Rogue. Whispers of the Dead is a literal ghost telling you how to be proficient in something at lv 3. it does take a lil in game time but after covering the missing skills, you technically know all that you heard for a month thus those proficiency tips stick around for a month thus just rotate the info from said ghosts

[@GeminiEarthSnake]

Level 3! Phantom Rogue Variant Human with the Keen mind feat. The subclass allows you to gain proficiency in a skill for that day, the feat allows you to remember anything you have learnt for 30 days. Rinse and repeat everyday for all of the proficiencies.

[@cyndanetierney6449]

I got there in six levels with a silly Rogue 1 / Knowledge Cleric 1 / Lore Bard 4 build... with a spell added in. Pick any race with +2 skills, like Half-Elf. Background gets you two skills (total 4). One level of rogue gets you 4 skills (total 8). Knowledge Cleric gets you two skills (total 10). Lore Bard 3 gets you four skills: one from bard multi class and three from Lore subjob (total 14). The fourth level of Bard gets you an ASI, which you can swap out for the Skilled feat for +3 skills (total 17). The Borrowed Knowledge spell, a second level spell for bard, gets you +1 skill proficiency for an hour (total 18), so put that in a skill that you know you're going to roll in advance with no sense of urgency, like Investigation. One might argue that that doesn't really count since you're using a spell for the last proficiency, but I feel like it counts. Also, I probably wouldn't bother casting a spell for that one proficiency since Bard still has Jack of All Trades. Let it be used for something, at least.

[@dicksonmattxenoblade6491]

Worth noting is that you can take Eldritch Adept to get Beguiling Influence to get 2 extra proficiencies (provided you didn’t already pick Persuasion and Deception) if you really can’t stand taking that cleric level for whatever reason.

[@Gromhyr]

I have played a variant human scout rogue, college of lore bard to 4/4 in each and it was amazingly fun to play! She could get in and out of almost any situation, i loved playing her! Shame the campaign ended 😭

[@CivilWarMan]

Regarding the mention of maximizing languages in a build, here's one way of going about it. For race, pick Half-Elf. Gives you Common, Elvish, and one other language. For background, pick Sage for 2 more languages. For class, pick Ranger. Take the Deft Explorer option for 2 more languages, then pick Favored Enemy over Favored Foe to gain one more language. Just be sure to pick a Favored Enemy that speaks a language. At level 1, you are fluent in 8 languages. You could go Variant Human and take the Linguist feat for more languages at level 1, but Half-Elf gives you more languages in the long run with this build. Keep leveling Ranger, picking up Drakewarden at level 3 for fluency in Draconic. Then take the 4th level in Ranger to pick up the Linguist Feat for 3 more languages. At level 4, you are fluent in 12 languages. Multiclass into Knowledge Domain Cleric for 2 additional languages, giving you the ability to speak and understand 14 languages at level 5. Dip into Rogue to grab Thieves' Cant, making you fluent in 15 languages at level 6. Level Rogue up to 3 and take the Mastermind Archetype for 2 more languages, bringing you up to 17 languages at level 8. Take a 4th level in Rogue and pick up the Prodigy Feat for an additional language. Dip into Druid to learn the secret Druidic language, and at level 10 you are fluent in 19 languages. From there, 2 more levels of Ranger will give you an additional Favored Enemy, netting you a 20th language at level 12, and 3 levels of Fighter for Cavalier, Samurai, or Rune Knight gives you the option of picking up an additional language for 21 languages at level 15. Amazingly, while obviously not optimized for combat, all you need to build this character is a good Dexterity and Wisdom, so you can pretty easily build it so it can at least pull its weight in a fight. And in terms of roleplay, a Half-Elf Sage who is a Drakewarden/Knowledge Cleric/Mastermind/Cavalier/Druid has enough pieces that fit together well enough thematically that someone could play it without it automatically being a joke character.

[@freman007]

Half-Elf, background, Rogue, Ranger, Knowledge Cleric, Bard-Lore Domain, taking the Skilled feat at level 4. Ranger and Bard both add +1 skill proficiency, Ranger also has expertise on one skill. Ranger also gives you all martial weapons and medium armour and shield.

[@MadTamB]

Saying this before I watch. I had had a go at this using the basic rules - i.e. none of the expansion books Level 8: Mine was Half-Elf, Rogue (starting with 8) Then take Bard to level 3 (Lore), one more at 1st level, and 3 at 3rd level. Total 12 Ranger 1 level (+1) Total 13 Warlock to 2nd level +2 (but these are Deception & Persuasion) Total 15. Then up your bard level to 4 and take the Skilled feat an additional 3 Total 18

[@flandarz1]

I built a Fathomless Warlock/Lore Bard/Aberrant Sorcerer with Skill Expert character that has a fair number of skills, are backed up on the others with JoaT, has Enhance Ability to strengthen those skills, and still has good Cha based casting. I call him my Lovecraft Protagonist.

[@spagettysylph2033]

With the new UA you can actually take skilled more than once! So if it doesn't get changed you can play a human scout rogue, take skilled for both your background and human feat and then again when you get your ASI and get all 18 skill proficiencies by level 4 as a single class rogue.

[@GeminiEarthSnake]

I'm playing a skill monkey in my dungeon crawler. I took the (now legacy) Hobgoblin race for the save face feature, started in rogue then added Bard. I'm currently level 4 (2 in both) and will be subclassing into soul knife and whispers at the next two level ups. With my luck stone I currently have a minimum of +3 in all skill checks.

[@erichansen7638]

I'm currently playing a skill monkey character in my group. I chose changeling for race while my classes are thief rogue, and knowledge cleric. I know that sounds like a weird combo, but it was inspired by the main character from my favorite book "The Lies of Locke Lamora".

[@jnewlin4575]

Managed to get expertise in all but 1 (athletics) at 6th level: start with half elf rogue, urchin background, Lore Bard for 4 levels, and Knowledge Cleric for 1. But honestly, when the bard/rogue is needing to make strength checks, something went sideways, and most situations can be "argued" to use acrobatics or other more nimbly bimbly tactics. At level 16 (8 rogue with Soul Knife subclass), it winds up being proficient in 7 languages, and 5 tools if you count the musical instrument, all skills, and expertise in 8. Even without Reliable Talent, this is fun AF to RP

[@B.J.Camire]

To do it in 6 levels: Level 1 - Human w/Skilled + Background + Rogue 1 = 10 skills, 2 expertise Level 2 - Cleric 1 Knowledge Domain = 12 skills, 4 expertise, Guidance Level 3 - Bard 1 = 13 skills, 4 expertise Level 4 - Bard 2 = same, but with +1 to Initiative checks (not technically a skill) from Jack of All Trades Level 5 - Bard 3 College of Lore = 16 skills, 6 expertise, Enhance Ability Level 6 - Bard 4 w/Eldritch Adept - Beguiling Influence = 18 skills, 6 expertise After this I'd probably go Soul Knife Rogue all the way up to get Expertise in 2 more skills (more if you spend your Rogue 4 and 8 feats on them), Reliable Talent, and a +d10 to probably all your skill checks for the day. Taking 1 level in Ranger to get Canny can get you Expertise in an 11th skill and an average skill check of 38 with Enhance Ability, 37 with Guidance, 34 if your DM springs it on you, and still a minimum of 16 in your worst skill rolling all 1's.

[@lepatriote5767]

I just wanted to point out that by allowing to go all to LvL 8, you could go Human, Skilled Feat, Rogue(Scout) 3/Warlock(Hexblade) 2(Invocation-Beguiling Influence)/Bard(Lore) 3. Then LvL 9(rogue or bard) you take the feat that grants you Heavy Armor Proficiency and now youre proficient with all skills, weapons, armors and shields, and you can fight with only Charisma

[@dicksonmattxenoblade6491]

Also worth noting that the language version of the build can be done fairly easily with Ranger who gets by far the most languages in the game. If memory serves it’s not even close.

[@seanmcgcostumes]

No views? Uploaded 25 seconds ago? Dang, I'll never be this early ever again! 😅 As someone whose first character was a half-elf College of Lore bard and who has been playing that character for over 3 years now, I'm glad to see that got some love here, because now that we're level 10 I've been realizing just how absolutely *insane* my skills are because of being a Lore bard, compared to the rest of the party. Multiple skills are over 10, and my lowest skill is a 2... and then *eight* skills are 5's. 😳🤯 It's crazy how good almost all of your skills can get with being a Lore bard!

[@Aligariusful]

This feels like some sort of archeologist, whose deity is about discovering the past.

[@chasebalcziunas4289]

For a level 20 one shot, I built a character that was proficient in all skills and then capitalized on getting abilities that manipulate dice rolls. Sage Background 4 levels Scout Rogue 4 levels Lore Bard 2 levels divination wizard Then took the rest in wild magic sorcerer to burn sorcery points for the roll manipulation and the randomness of the wild magic table. Took Skilled and Prodigy as my feats and then used one ASI for stats.. was heavily contemplating Elven Accuracy or Lucky though.

[@KinMusicUK]

You can do it 1 level lower using Wintry D&D's build. Similar beginning, but then lore bard level 4, take eldritch adept beguiling influence feat.

[@DefHalan]

So, I took the basic idea of this. Human Rogue with Skilled feat, to get proficiency in everything I could. But not going for every skill, just a lot. I built it at level 3 on D&D Beyond and selected SoulKnife subclass because that seemed fun for my Gambler Rogue... So I watched your video on SoulKnife and it is like those two videos are perfect together lol

[@HaloFTW2408]

There may be a more efficient way of getting all skills than this, but this is what I came up after a little bit of theory crafting: V.Human (or Custom Lineage) Rogue 1/Lore Bard 4/Knowledge Cleric 1 Feats: Skilled (Race), Eldritch Adept [Beguiling Influence] (4th Level Bard) Level 1 (Rogue 1): 10 Skills (4 from Rogue, 2 from Background, 1 from Race, 3 from the Skilled Feat) Level 2 (Rogue 1/Bard 1): 11 Skills (1 from MCing Bard) Level 4 (Rogue 1/Lore Bard 3): 14 Skills (3 from Lore Bard) Level 5 (Rogue 1/Lore Bard 4): 16 Skills (2 from the Eldritch Adept Feat) Level 6 (Rogue 1/Lore Bard 4/Knowledge Cleric 1): 18 Skills (2 from Knowledge Domain Cleric) Alternatively, a more synergetic build that takes 1 extra level for all 18 skills is: V.Human (or Custom Lineage) Scout Rogue 3/Lore Bard 4 OR Scout Rogue 4/Lore Bard 3 Feats: Skilled (Race), Eldritch Adept [Beguiling Influence] (4th Level Bard or Rogue)

[@Mr_Jaffa_Cakes_]

Managed to find a way you can get all proficiencies and 4 expertise in 6 Levels - Varaint Human (Take Skilled Feat) - Rogue 1/Knowledge Cleric 1/College of Lore Bard 4. Should have 16/18 profeciencies by Level 5 with Rogue 1/Cleric 1/Bard 3. Take Eldritch Adept feat at level 4 bard and take beguiling influence to get deception and persuassion for the final 2 proficiencies.

[@CrownlessStudios]

Very similar to a build I came up with last year when I built a character with the same concept. My build hits all 18 at the same level, but with more experises. I started with point buy, but wound up buying into standard array. 15 Dex, 14 Wis, 13 Cha, 12 Int, 10 Con, 8 Str Variant human: +1 Dex, +1 Cha 1 Skill (1) Skilled Feat: 3 Skills (4) Background: 2 Skills (6) 1. Rogue: 4 Skills, 2 Expertise (10, 2) 2. Cleric (Knowledge): 2 Skills, 2 Expertise (12, 4) 3. Bard: 1 Skill (13, 4) 4. Bard 5. Bard (Lore): 3 Skills, 2 Expertise (16, 6) 6. Bard, Skill Expert Feat: 1 Skill, 1 Expertise (17, 7) 7. Ranger (w/ Tasha's options): 1 Skill, 1 Expertise (18, 8). I'd then just take more Rogue levels for higher sneak attacks, 2 more Expertise at 6, and Reliable Talent at 11, taking Prodigy at Rogue 4 (my DM allowed me to take a tool proficiency, since I could've done that with Skilled) for another Expertise (11 total), and capping Dex at Rogue 8 and 10.

[@MagusAgrippa8]

Rogue/Bard is definitely my favorite skill monkey combo. Rogue 11 is just beautiful. And even before that, Bard gives us a great bonus to initiative as well thanks to Jack of All Trades. One of my current characters is a half elf Scout/Lore, and his skills are absolutely fantastic. Not half bad at combat either. His bow skills are great and his melee isn’t half bad either. He’s a pretty versatile character.

[@ironocy496]

Oh man that would be fun to play, a rogue bard with every skill proficiency. They've traveled the world and acquired random skills while abroad. Has a story for every scenario, learned something from someone somewhere that would fit perfectly for any occasion.

[@0StarGirl5000]

You would need to take two levels, but if you go warlock rather than cleric, you can take the beguiling influence invocation that gives deception and persuasion. It would delay you one extra level, but warlock would probably synergies better with the build than cleric. Alternatively out could take one level of ranger instead of cleric, which gets you a proficiency. Then take the feat that gives you a single invocation instead of protege, which I think would get you there at the same time.

[@Ecto_42]

I play a knowledge cleric in my running campaign and having guidance and enhance ability, and my DM let me swap out Augury as my always known spell with Borrowed Knowledge from Strixhaven, and it made for a remarkable improvement to Knowledge Cleric as a subclass, and adding Guidance on top of that means that any time we’re doing multiple skill checks in a day I can upcast Enhance Ability early on and cast Borrowed Knowledge for the proficiency bump where I need a bonus instead of wagering on Guidance.

[@ryanpeters3812]

I added 2 levels of Warlock for the two invocations giving Psuedo-Warcaster and Deception and Persuasion instead of knowledge domain cleric. Hexblade means the extra ASIs to take feats don't interfere too much with scores (max Cha). It's 2 levels, instead of 1, meaning level 8, but it makes you rely on Charisma almost exclusively. Rogue 3, Bard 3, Warlock 2 is what I did. Though Rogue 3, Bard 4 works if you pick up the eldritch adept feat and the skilled feat. It let's you be a full caster in Bard at level 20 (ie 9th level spells).

[@calliesummers1943]

Slower, but also playable and thematic: A Tabaxi Rogue starts with 8 skills at level one. Taking four levels (Scout + Skilled), gets you to 13 (and archery). Going into a Fey Wander Ranger (with deft explorer) takes you to 16. The Knowledge Cleric gets you to 18 by level 9. You can decide from there if you want more spells or combat. But steady aim and feline agility make you effective from level 1, and this build also only asks for 2 main skills (dex and wis).

[@HonduranHoneymoonhon]

if you pick up the quandrix student background that comes with Strixhaven Initiate you can get guidance without taking a level in Cleric and you could get find familiar too

[@mr.ethechromeleonpaladin8898]

Ok so the bardic mime character i had planned now has a blueprint for success thanks guys

[@bazziggy]

I think there is something to be said of taking at least a 1 level dip into Ranger (only if you use Tasha's variant) over a second feat and picking Prodigy in this build. Lets say you take the 4th level of Bard to pick up Prodigy from this you gain 1 Skill Proficiency, 1 Expertise, 1 Language, 1 Tool Proficiency, 1 Utility Cantrip, 1 2nd level spell slot, and 1 more spell known of 1st or 2nd level. Compared to just a one level dip of Ranger which will give you 1 Skill Proficiency, 1 Expertise, 2 Languages, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, Shield Proficiency, (still a benefit but not much of one) 1 higher hit point on an average taken, and 3 uses/long rest (That uses scale with character progression) additional 1d4 damage on attack rolls (with Sneak Attack 2d6 + 1d4 extra damage on hits). Then because of dipping into ranger you could take 2 more levels and go Gloomstalker for Darkvision (Removes human weakness), and Extra 1st Round Attack, and at least a +1 Initiative bonus. 2 more levels would net you extra attack making this build at least contribute to damage in combat and not to mention both of the gloom stalker spells at this point don't care about Wisdom and if your other ranger spells don't then the 13 won't bother you that much. The only issue with doing this is that Reliable Talent will be pushed back further (19th level if you want the extra attack feature 17th if gloom stalker is good enough) compared to 15th level otherwise. So I guess it depends on how important you believe reliable talent is going to be in the campaign.

[@hakkesho12]

For tool proficiencies, the dwarf race might a good place to look! With Tasha’s optional features, you can trade out the innate armor/weapon proficiencies for tools instead 👍🏾

[@MageLeaderInc]

I actually have a mountain dwarf Barbarian that is basically a craftsman. He has proficiency with Alchemist Supplies, Carpenter's Tools, Forgery Kit, Herbalism Kit, Leatherworker's Tools, Mason's Tools, Poisoner's Kit, and Smith's Tools

[@hakkesho12]

@@MageLeaderInc Oh man I love that, that’s the perfect combination of tool proficiencies for a craftsman! Besides herbalism/poisoner’s kits being applicable for potions/poisons, I bet there are fun ways to incorporate those other skills for fun roleplay 😍.

[@MageLeaderInc]

@@hakkesho12 the others can be used during down time to craft weapons and armor. Forgery Kit is awesome for infiltration. Alchemist Supplies is also for poison and potions

[@josephsalicram9356]

I'll drop the same comment from the d4 skill monkey build 'A variation of this build I did a while ago which gives you proficiency in all 18 skills and expertise in 13 of those skills. Variant Human, Prodigy feat, any background, level 6 Scout Rogue, pick up Skill Expert at level 4, level 3 Lore Bard, level 1 Ranger for Canny, level 1 Knowledge Cleric. You can also add 3 levels of Rune Knight Fighter for the fire rune and a single level dip into Artificer so that you have access to the 'All Purpose Tool' which gives you expertise in all 23 tools. From there you can go 5 more rogue for reliable talent and never get below a 22 on a skill check or add 1 ranger, 1 artificer and 2 fighter for archery and thrown weapon fighting style, returning weapon infusion, sharpshooter feat and extra attack and use an infused returning dart to attack to tie in a throwing knife, 'Needler', type aspect or scrap the fighter levels altogether and go to level 9 Armorer Artificer to keep expertise in every tool, always have advantage on stealth, have extra attack, a magic lightning launcher (that you can still use sneak attack with) and have a ton of infusions in your armor

[@inkarozu2309]

By current rules I do believe 7 is the lowest level possible and this vid does outline it well. Variant Human taking skilled feat and a 2 skill background (Charlatan a favorite choice as it also gives you disguise kit and forgery kit proficiency on top) Starting 1 level of rogue is required, 3 levels of Bard to get college of lore and 1 level Cleric for knowledge domain as outlined gets you all but 2 skills at lv 5. For the last 2 is where your options spread out, I like taking 1 level of Ranger as your combat ability is really quite low wit this build so far and this will give you 1 skill proficiency, longbows for your primary weapon, a favored enemy and an "associated' language and a favored terrain. Ranger is also a good option to level up going forward as none of your 3 skill monkey classes ever gain extra attack. For the last skill the 4th level in bard to take the Prodigy feat is very nice since it also nets you another expertise, a language and a tool proficiency. Or the Skill Expert feat for an ASI point instead of the language and tool. EDIT: Apparently the first 5 level parts the same and then level 6 picking up Eldritch Adept choosing Beguiling Influence can finish you off at level 6 instead, but with missing out on a lot of extra bonuses in the lv 7 route.

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

Yeah, level 7 is the classic answer. More than one way to get there too (can also go Half-elf, and grab Skilled as a level 4 feat). Personally my preference is to go slightly less extreme and not get all 18 skills. Half-elf Scout Rogue that takes a 1-level dip in Knowledge Cleric. You end up with 12 skills with expertise in 8 of them, 15 skills if you grab the skilled feat at some point, but you're also pretty close to a mono Rogue so you're good in combat too.

[@michalvodicka8969]

I think I have heard of this guy you talking about... what was his name, MacGyver? :D :D

[@gabsinventions9135]

That build is excellent to steal other people spotlight 😂😂

[@daltigoth3970]

I threw together a similar concept after watching the "Absurd" character build video, but my goal was to get all the skill proficiencies and still have a character I would play in a normal campaign. At level 7 (scout rogue 4, knowledge cleric 1, bard 1, ranger 1), with the Skilled feat at level 1 from variant human and the Prodigy feat taken at level 4. It has: Proficiency in all but one skill A whopping 8 skills with expertise (2 cleric skills from knowledge domain, 2 nature and survival from scout subclass, 4 that can be chosen as desired) 8 language proficiencies (including common and thieves' cant, plus 6 that can be chosen as desired) 5 tool proficiencies (thieves tools from rogue, 1 instrument from bard, plus 3 others that can be chosen as desired) Proficiency with all weapons, shields, light armor and medium armor Ultimately, I decided to drop the bard level, losing the instrument proficiency and one skill proficiency (leaving 2 skills that are not proficient), but also removed the ability score requirement for charisma. That makes this a far more functional build with only DEX+WIS needed. Take ranger to level 4 with the Fey Wanderer Subclass and the Skill Expert feat and that gives the remaining 2 skill proficiencies. It also adds the WIS bonus to CHA checks, further negating the need for CHA. I put Strength as the dump stat, but added expertise to it to offset the penalty. So at level 9, the character is proficient with every skill and has *9* skills with expertise, plus 4 skills gaining bonuses from 2 attribute scores. From there, one more level of ranger picks up extra attack and the remaining levels can go to rogue. That gives a solid ranged rogue with the archery fighting style and extra attack from ranger, plus guidance and a fair offering of utility spells from ranger and cleric. And more expertise to be had at level 6 rogue plus 3 more ASI at levels 8, 10 and 12. And of course now reliable talent will apply to every skill once it gets to level 11 rogue (level 17 character)

[@justinduluc]

I played a character very similar to this except I took Skill expert instead of Skilled at lvl 1 for a total of 15 proficencies and 8 expertise. I was a rogue 1 Cleric 1 and Lore Bard 6 so I was a 7th lvl caster with proficency in medium armor it was a great time especially with guidance.

[@wwade7226]

Great video. As a suggestion, how about doing a video where you are building for a super-high bonus in one or two skills? For example, I have a Lvl 7 Half-Elf Druid currently with a 27 Passive Perception (Observant Feat, Sentinel Shield, Perception Skill). If I dip into Rogue and increase my Wisdom, or take another feat, I can get expertise to raise that to like to 31.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

in regards to D&D One: humans can pick up two *1st level* feats. we can see that a 1st level feat isn’t nearly as powerful as the ones we’re used to, Alert for example has been reduced to proficiency in Initiative and the ability to swap your roll with a willing ally’s. if prodigy is a 1st level feat i would imagine that at the very least, the +1 to an ability score gets knocked off.

[@Mitchlaut]

In my Friday campaign, I'm playing a changeling scout rogue named Liam Treeson. Right now, at level 4, i've got 12 proficiencies and 6 expertise. The campaign I'm playing is a viking campaign book my wife found and wanted to DM. I don't intend to get some of the intelligence based skills (other than investigation) as it isn't thematic to the campaign and the character i'm playing. Instead, my character's backstory is that he works for a merchant caravan who acts as a go between for trade between the different viking clans. Because of this, feats like linguist, observant, etc. are going to be thematically good for me. The rest of the party i'm playing with are all min-maxing their damage, so I stay relevant by doing consistent damage but excelling at covering skill weaknesses that they can't do.

[@TheScottishKayaker]

For a rogue bard build I suggest a single dip into hexblade warlock so you can attack with Charisma. It has a similar effect as hexblade and paladin where it simplifies asi needs to open up more feat opportunities. Personally I like Swashbuckler rogue 3-5 Hexblade 1 and the rest Whispers bard. Take booming blade and the Poisoner feat and you will just dump damage early game.

[@mcphadenmike]

You did a good job on this video.

[@since9069]

It's funny yall bring up a rouge and knowledge domain cleric odd, i just made one for a campaign. If you look at the knowledge domains abilities it actually works really well from a roleplay perspective. I recommend looking into it if yall get the chance.