The Ashardalon's Strider - D&D: Optimized #76

[@DnDDeepDive]

Two comments I'm anticipating seeing a lot of so I'll address here: 1: You can't change Ashardalon's damage to Lightning if you upcast it above 3rd level: Correct! Should have mentioned that the fun Lightning tricks work great for enemy movement if/when you need it, but for damage purposes, we'd be staying Fire. We could, of course, have gone Sorc as I did in the "Alternate build" at the end for Transmute Spell Meta Magic, but I really wanted to get a familiar without taking a feat or another dip for it, and Scribes Wizards are just cool. 2: Find Steed! Yeah, I actually recorded a long discussion about Find Steed but the vid was already over an hour so I cut it :). In a nutshell, the argument is: "Go Lore Bard or Pally, take Find Steed, cast Ashardalon's on yourself and now it's on your Mount too! Double Movement shenanigans!" I didn't go this route for a number of reasons, but the main one is this: if you stay on your mount, then great, you get extra movespeed from them so can potentially cover more ground. Arguably not really *necessary* as I discussed, but cool. Have to sacrifice other things to get there. If you dismount, and then you *both* move for extra Ashardalon's damage... that's potentially problematic. I'm guessing that most tables would say since it's the same spell you've cast on two creatures, that an enemy still wouldn't take damage from both you and your mount in the same turn. Would it likely let you cover more ground between the two of you? Sure. Double damage though? Maybe. Maybe not. And that's to say nothing of the tables that might interpret how your Steed actually works in game that might not allow for this (is it a controlled or independent mount? Will it just do what you want, especially if you're not riding it? Probably? But maybe not... etc. etc.)

[@Tanthalasa83]

Well guess that just mean your scribe wizard must research Skie's Stride, so it deals lightning damage rather than fire. Using the name from the famous blue dragon of dragonlance... Lol

[@bobon123]

Am I missing something? Why wouldn't it work? Of course not at every level, but for example at 6th level you could use it with Chain Lightning, couldn't you?

[@riccardoromani9916]

I think you're wrong about point 1. Maybe it's a matter of wrong translation or what but, if you know a spell of the same level of the spell slot spent, you can change the damage to the type used in the known spell. Still, how many enemies resistant or immune to fire are you fighting? In any case, this sounds so cool! Great idea!

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@riccardoromani9916 Thanks! I think the challenge is that we're told it has to be a Wizard spell, and we stopped learning Wizard spells when we stopped taking Wizard levels... but yes, I don't actually anticipate this being a big deal for most fights. If you want to move enemies around with lightning *or* you run into Fire resistant/immune enemies, no problem, Ashardalon's at the third level. Otherwise, stick with Fire and save your higher level slots for other shenanigans.

[@ryanscanlon2151]

Finally found the pinned comment it wasn't at the top like it should have been for me lol. Points taken on find steed, I forget it can be very confusing for a lot of people. I wish Wizards would put a mounted combat section in one of the new books and iron out all these problems with mounts in general, and by extension find steed/greater steed. the best we have is treantmonk's video and even that has to make some big assumptions about the rules for mounts.

[@slimee8841]

Things that always happen to Colby's characters: > They find a cursed weapon > They find dnd Jesus > They seek martial training > They seek magical guidance

[@HSuper_Lee]

It's all about the journey of personal growth.

[@carsonlake3842]

I'm pretty anti-religion, so every time his characters find religion I groan just a tiny bit and have to remind myself that this is a fantasy world where gods can be demonstrated to actually exist. Then my mind starts thinking about how to replicate the build without cleric or paladin levels.

[@grendl74]

DnJesus

[@MaMastoast]

@@carsonlake3842 I'm also anti-religion but I don't really mind playing religious characters in fantasy :)

[@carsonlake3842]

@@MaMastoast you're a better role player than me haha I've been wanting to play an "atheist" cleric for a while. One who believes that gods exist, but aren't worthy of worship. They are just powerful beings one can follow to gain power. He would need to be a cleric for a god that didn't mind this outlook obviously haha

[@pink_parade2900]

“Your speed has caught the attention of a magic practitioner” he says, moving 5 feet faster than a normal human. Love you Colby.

[@the_ceeman]

The Trailblazer would be a great name for this build/character, and your scribe book could be a magical scroll filled with all the messages you deliver

[@DnDDeepDive]

ooo... good one.

[@harjutapa]

I am very proud to be the 69th like on this comment so that I can say: Nice.

[@studynot757]

I wish I could like this more

[@NapoleonSoares]

How about the Taleblazer ;)

[@ThreeOttersInATrenchcoat]

When you brought up the Order of Scribes wizard for a speedy character, I immediately thought of that gimmick all speedsters have, where they thumb through their books reading at impossible speeds. It made me smile.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Ha ha! Perfect.

[@Guyoverthere07]

I imagine this character frequently flying through a second or third time before feeling satisfied in their retention. Humbling little variation on the timeless trope.

[@bleysingram7789]

Transcribing spells into your Awakened spellbook in 1/60th the normal time!

[@remyb6854]

The character ran so fast he breached reality itself and saw the true nature of the speedforce. Now is cleric.

[@Mike_Hogsheart]

Some RP ideas: Order of Scribes/Scout sounds like a courier hired to exchange scrolls and books between wizards and academies. For the Cleric Multiclass, I'm thinking Hermes to fit the theme.

[@spend03]

I’ve wanted for a while to play an arcane trickster/ order of the scribes. A rogue who’s thievery isn’t for material greed, but for endless arcane knowledge, tracking an stealing powerful spells to add to his mystical spellbook

[@DrAndrewJBlack]

The joy that Colby has as he reveals each of his characters’s new abilities always brings a smile to my face.

[@DrAndrewJBlack]

Question: Once you have “rounded them up” using Thunderbolt Strike if you then drop a Destructive Wrath Lightning Ball on them won’t that scatter them again? I envision running right into them and sliding down and casting the Lightning Ball ala Treantmonk’s Fireball in your One-Shot

[@loganomer7444]

I love that you've moved from "optimized fighter/barbarian" to "hey heres a cool concept lets make them very good at what they do". It makes it a lot easier as a dm to help my players build characters, and steal your ideas. Usually with newer players (almost everyone I've dm'd for), I have them indicate an idea as "pick a character you like from media and vibe you want to go for", not "okay sorcerer or bard or druid or cleric or warlock or blah blah". This kind of format means if they say "I want to be like a cage fighter", I can make sure that they can be really good in the situations that they want to be good at. Aka, I can get them addicted to the hype and the spotlight, and maybe, just MAYBE, create a consistent schedule. Long story long, keep it up, your channel has really grown fast, I remember watching your videos at like 2k subs, and your evolution of content is great. I'm happy for you man!

[@oathboundhero1782]

I want to eventually start a channel based on building characters from movies, shows, and shows, like the Avengers.

[@markschrokosch9913]

The tortle race would be hilarious for this build.

[@oathboundhero1782]

I love this concept. A tortle who wins the tortoise vs hare match because he's a speed god.

[@KissMyConverseFool]

@@oathboundhero1782 imagine the flavor if his poor tortle reflexes cant handle it so he's basically literally bouncing off the people when he makes his booming blade attacks

[@fledgling9097]

I actually have a recommendation for the race, Aasimar scourged. Since Ashardalon's stride is a bonus action it plays really well into this race. One creature will take extra damage from Ashardalon's stride equal to your level on each of your turns and creatures within 10ft of you will also take radiant damage equal to half your level, again no saving throws. As a scribe wizard you can also make all of the spell damage radiant for flavor. A messenger of the gods would be an excellent title for this character.

[@JSephH76]

So many great accidental puns this episode. "Get a lot of milage out of" "We have a new front runner" Etc.

[@DnDDeepDive]

I am the king of punning and not knowing I'm punning :P

[@JSephH76]

@@DnDDeepDive I laughed every time 11/10

[@gdoggy121]

When you’re constantly refreshing your KZbin feed whilst waiting for a video, you know that you’ve found a great channel. This is the first and only channel that I have done this for.

[@beastslayer8729]

Lol I was doing the same thing XD

[@DnDDeepDive]

Ha ha - sorry to keep you waiting! :P

[@rockwallguy]

Haha. Since I saw the teaser yesterday, I've been doing the same thing. Love this channel.

[@aidanmundell4501]

Glad im not the only one!

[@Negeta]

Among the races, I was expecting to hear about the Dhampir lineage. They also get a 35 ft. move speed, but also an equal climb speed that let’s them climb hands-free at 3rd level. Run across those walls and ceilings like a true Flash or Quicksilver. If you’re feeling squirrelly, be an aarakocra dhampir to also maintain a fly speed. Also thematically, don’t forget to learn Thunder Step as a 3rd level spell so you can deal Thunder damage, too. Sonic boom your enemies as you dash by them at blinding speeds.

[@benry007]

Dhampir is a really cool idea. Plus they can still be size small if you still want squat nimbleness. Id be tempted to reflavour it and ignore the fact you are a half vampire and never use the bite.

[@KoiosDusklight]

I mentioned it in the other video too, but since you didn't bring it up here, Dhampir is a really nice option for a flame stride build too, combining 35ft speed with free spiderclimb. Not as good as a flying race, but less likely to be banned on some tables and very flavorful for a runner if you can run on walls and ceiling without being a monk, and even end your turn there without falling down.

[@Acatia2]

Loving it. As a Zephyr Strike fan, I didn't quite feel as jazzed for Ashardalon's Stride, but thanks for pointing out the obvious, you fine gentleman. Yay for Scribbin Scout Speedster!

[@BLynn]

Level 1:(see above) [rogue 1 & race] Level 2:(see above) [wizard 1] Level 3:(@20:05) [wizard 2 & sub-class] Level 4:(@24:59) [wizard 3] Level 5:(@26:20) [wizard 4 & ASI] Level 6:(@26:54) [wizard 5] Level 7:(see above) [rogue 2] Level 8:(@33:35) [rogue 3 & sub-class] Level 9:(@37:21) [cleric 1 & sub-class] Level 10:(see above) [cleric 2] Level 11:(@45:51) [cleric 3] Level 12:(@46:32) [cleric 4 & ASI] Level 13:(@49:00) [cleric 5] Level 14:(see above) [cleric 6] Level 15:(@54:50) [cleric 7] Level 16:(@55:50) [cleric 8 & ASI] Level 17:(@56:55) [cleric 9] Full-caster build thoughts (@1:01:22)

[@0_Body]

Party: Clear a path Ashardalon's Strider: I am on it

[@oathboundhero1782]

I read this as Party: We must clear a path for Him. *moves aside* Enemies: *see the goblinoid* Ashardalon's Strider: I am Him. *blazes through them*

[@Trial88]

I love that the build is very similar to one I mentioned in comments recently. And the herding technique! Yes! Absolutely love the idea of pairing this build with the evocation nova build. Also I like the dragon theme for cleric. Making Bahamut your diety. With the mobility and scout ability you’re now a missionary “have you heard the good word of our dragon lord and savior Bahamut? His words are ELECTRIFYING”

[@jasco666]

What an absolute unique character build a perfect 5/7 from me.

[@danlehman4646]

I could see a world where your scribe book is essentially a magical atlas that guides the character through the world as effectively as possible. Always shifting the illustrations to match the desired outcome. In a Faerun setting I could see a potential storyline where Selune was intrigued by the character as she oversees "navigation, navigators, wanderers, questers, seekers". Alternatively, as some kind of career courier, the character was always a follower of Selune and slowly became more attuned to her powers over time.

[@Synetik]

I expected Tabaxi for Feline Agility tbh

[@DnDDeepDive]

Worth considering. The big downside of course being that, once you use it, you can't again until you spend a turn not moving, which would really suck for us. Of course, maybe you'd only need it once per combat.

[@lincalmighty]

@@DnDDeepDive Take a turn to bad mouth the enemies, really make em feel bad for letting you do this to them.

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@lincalmighty ha ha!

[@RalphusAdolphus2]

I'm so happy you did this build. I wrote up a build for this not too long ago that is quite similar. I went with the Wildhunt Shifter race and got my reaction movement that way. It's not much but it saves 3 levels in Rogue. I went with Clockwork Soul Sorcerer for the CON save and Transmute Spell and took a level in Hexblade Warlock for the armor, shield, and weapon proficiency. After getting Ashardalon's Stride from Sorcerer, I also went Tempest Cleric. The Ashardalon cyclone followed by a lightning Fireball with max damage is so delicious! The ready action to move is a really nice touch that I had not considered. I love that!

[@christophervanhindenburg4220]

Love the concept! On the topic of stacking movement speed: I made a horizonwalker , who can travel several hundred feet on a turn through the ethereal plane, allowing him to effectively go through walls and skip huge sections of dungeons or scout ahead. I was going to use it as a backup for Tomb of Horrors but my 1st character just didn't die so I had to shelf it.

[@AgentForest]

I love Order of Scribes SO MUCH, but this was a really fun take on the idea. The suggestions that they are essentially a courier for an organization of wizards is neat, just running around delivering components, scrolls, spell books, and information that needs to be sent physically. I was going to make a scribe wizard who is an old librarian Tortle who is notably NOT adventurer material and terrified of confrontation. She relies on sending her awakened spell book to fight on her behalf until she can't anymore, hiding around corners at every opportunity. When shit hits the fan, she drops a wall of fire around herself and dives into her shell, because she's terrified and nopes out of a bad situation. I practiced my Molly Weasley voice for this character.

[@chopcooey]

I predicted the scribes, rogue 2 and tempest, but the scout subclass is really what wraps this up so well. Nice job! The orc version is also a pretty cool way to weaponize the ready action and comes fully online faster. I love it

[@bouboulroz]

By the way, if we are to believe the leaks, the Aarakocra's fly speed is about to get reduced to "equal to your walking speed", meaning that the Owlin might become a straight up better choice for this build when it comes to flying races (Stealth proficiency + ability to be small sized)

[@heathbecker420]

I went owlin as I built along with the video.

[@jamesbolt1003]

The time of the big bird is no more, the time of the owl has come!

[@bradbradfordson9158]

I always feel like if you know you're going to take dip into cleric then it's good to establish it early on. Make your dude just a little superstitious, maybe they have a charm that's related to a deity for good luck or something and they hold onto it and say a nervous prayer before battle.

[@giovannimariapedani4484]

Did not come here thinking to be this amazed at the results. This is awesome

[@lukemiller4723]

For the inspiration for cleric level, I'd say Hermes is pretty good, being a messenger god and all.

[@skydragon6874]

Love this build, I also appreciate the bloopers at the ends of these videos, they're quite funny.

[@Briandnlo4]

This build makes me giggle like an idiot, too. I'm about to introduce "Skat the Gnat" tomorrow night, a Scout/Battle Master. The concept is The World's Smallest, Fastest, & Most Annoying Tank. Rather than base his game on being able to deal out more damage faster than the opponent can take it, and absorb more damage than the opponent can dish out, his style of tanking is to get enemies chasing him all over the place, wasting actions by swinging at him and missing. I built him around the Skirmisher class feature. It's all about driving your DM insane, after all.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Ha ha!

[@oathboundhero1782]

The World's Smallest, Fastest, & Most Annoying Tank ... LITTLE MAC

[@rolancritz1853]

Perfect timing for this one! We just started a Strixhaven game yesterday and I'm Rogue lvl 1 with the expressed goal of a speedster build. I was going to go Arcane Trickster and use some of the Prismari spells to boost speed... But now I have another option!

[@elizabethviolet8448]

honestly i've seen a lot of builds that try to JUST use ashardalon's stride and use the ready action to move as a reaction or beg their allies to use limited use spells/resources so they can do more ashardalon's damage, and they really just ignore absolutely everything else to do as much ashardalon's damage as possible and i've seen other builds that use blatantly illegal find steed jank nonsense (ashardalons affects other creatures with the fire trail so unfortunately it cant be used with find steed) im just glad this build isnt illegal and also holy crap you're a gish build that actually has a reason to throw out fireballs instead of just doing something else like attacking thanks to your channel divinity, and it can do SO MANY OTHER THINGS and the damage is so good finally, the first good and legal ashardalon's build i've ever seen and its also SO GOOD that its genuinely impressive

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :).

[@peterusmc20]

I really think you should consider find steed for this character. Find steed states that any spell which affects only you affects the steed as well and that you have a telepathic connection with the steed. Hence I assume you cast ash's stride on yourself and it also affects your steed doubling the damage as well as you will likely have more movespeed this way with far less investment. Also every DM I've ever had lets you control a mount on your turn and do stuff they can do but even otherwise due to how this mount is telepathically bonded and more intelligent you shouldn't have to train it and you could tell it before a fight that you want it to each turn hold its action to dash each turn giving you your action each turn and your bonus action as you won't be bonus action dashing and the spell is just your first turn. Plus this way you get to build a paladin multiclassed with a straight Spellcaster which I would say to go sorcerer and now yeah you have this combo but you also have the very powerful paladin sorcerer, probably 6paladin 14 sorc with no feat or class use. Tiefling flames of phelagos would increase the DPS by an extra 0.583 damage per d6 on average which is pretty big when you could be doing 12d6 to each target twice per turn so if three targets you are dealing 24*4.083*3 293 damage per round without use of action and without bonus action except first turn. Also you still have the ability to transmute spell if you wish to do lightning and you are a paladin sorcerer who can provide your pally aura and max charisma so be actually good at casting spells etc. Could also do this with some janky bard stuff, could get the numbers even bigger, quicker and use a greater mount, something like a griffon which 80 base fly speed. I could really imagine this as a hell paladin with a flaming steed kinda vibe. So yeah takes a bit longer to come on line but I think it might blow this out of the water.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Yeah, pinned a comment on this yesterday. If your DM allows it, it could be great, I'm just not sure they will. Also, I'd probably go Lore Bard if I went this route and avoid Pally :).

[@jaypickett829]

Alternatively. You could go Draconic Sorcerer to get AS, then go Vengance Paladin 7 to get the opportunity attack reaction feature which lets you move up to half your speed when an enemy provokes an OA. This would require a STR based build, possibly with PAM or sentinel in order to proc your reaction movement more often. It would let you keep slot progression during the paladin levels, grant extra attack, and let you smite with all the spell slots you’d have. After that you could go bard or something.

[@markzohn5986]

I always like the idea of a Fae-derived Custom Lineage- I think part-Quickling would be interesting for this character's concept!

[@AC8GE]

One interesting option I thought of, especially playing up to level 20. Instead of going Scout Rogue, going with 3 to 5 levels of Artificer Armorer Infiltrator. Between extra attack, ranged lightning damage, +5 movement, infusions, and being a heavy half caster (round up), you get more skill slots and CON Save proficiency. You could keep your hand available for semantic spell components as well. You would have to take into consideration how to incorporate booming blade use efficiently if going 5 levels artificer due to action economy. You could potentially look at dropping Wizard completely as well since Ashardalons Stride is on the Artificer spell list.

[@jimmyreinstein9993]

You would have to go artificer 9 for 3rd level spells though. They are half caster. Not full casters.

[@boscobubbles8839]

One of my favorite parts of your videos is that it's not just number crunching, you paint a vivid and compelling backstory for these builds, giving a much needed RP/Flavor boost for optimization builds. I absolutely love it keep up the amazing work!

[@dhavaram8064]

I really think, with this cool art Randall keeps doing, you could compile these character builds with step-by-step notes, an example npc with backstory, and possibly a retainer for each episode into a compendium and sell it as a pdf and possibly even a printed book. Maybe do a Kickstarter to fund it and gauge interest in something like that

[@jeremynowak2800]

This had me thinking of Quicksilver breaking Magneto out of prison the whole time. Such a cool scene and what a rad character. Good job as usual and thank you.

[@DnDDeepDive]

100%! I spent some time trying to find a Gif that fit to throw in there but couldn't find anything that quite satisfied :).

[@sonicbelt]

This is an AMAZING build but I think you can make it even better! If you go Infiltrator Armorer instead of Cleric, you can take Sharpshooter, gain 5ft of extra movement and allows us to attack with INT, which will really help our spellcasting. Plus you can still use sneak attack, infusions, artificer spells, and flavor wise I think it fits ALOT better. Like using Magic armor and weapons to augment your speed powers 🏃‍♂️💨

[@sonicbelt]

Not sure exactly the level progression here, but starting Artificer gets you CON saving throws so you don't need the Resilient feat. You could take Skill expert instead to +1 to INT and make up for the starting proficiencies from Rogue.

[@sonicbelt]

Or if you take the Guardian armor, you still deal the same damage as a rapier, BUT you make enemies have disadvantage on enemies that aren't you, making it a lot more likely to activate your skirmisher ability. You'd lose your sneak attack with this tho. But you'd probably still be doing damage more often since enemies would be much more likely to attack you. Not to mention with extra attack you could potentially impose this on multiple targets at the cost of using Booming blade. Or maybe if you have a REALLY nice DM, they'll still let you sneak attack.

[@Trial88]

I do love the idea of an armorer using ashardalons stride. It’s one of my favorite spells and one of my favorite sub classes. However it doesn’t fit the theme of this specific character as well. That and the fact that artificer is a half caster so it limits your spell slot progression. If I were to do an armorer build with ashardalons stride I’d probably stick to 3 artificer levels and get a spell storing ring and give it to my flying homunculus servant to use as well. Then I’d probably go evocation wizard for overchannel to get an 8th level casting for 36 flat no save damage from stride for its duration. It’s not very good, but it’s fun. So the 3d6 from homunculus (assuming 3rd level casting into the ring and hitting three targets)+108+1d8+5 from your thunder gauntlet. Honestly not terrible. The only downside is that this isn’t sustainable and you can’t change damage tho to avoid resistance or immunity from strides base fire damage. The other argument would be that you use your action to hold for off turn movement because the flat damage from stride is better than the damage you’re getting on your action. Which in that case really means any class would be fine for those three levels other than evocation wizard. As such I’d still go rogue for free dash and miss out on infusions.

[@OfficialMudandRubber]

I’ll be making this character soon as I love the idea of a speedy rabbit folk character, I love the idea that his Scribe traits come from him being a roguish delivery character who runs books and research around the city for clients passing information, his roguish nature has given him a talent for opening these papers and revealing them without detection and is building his own book, becoming more and more wizardish the more he runs around the city each day

[@Blindshot951]

All of our massager speedups has caught the eye of Hermie's. Per the forgotten realms wiki he's also a god of master thief's so goes well with the rouge part. Great build!

[@vinspad3]

Just played this for a one shot at 13th level. The build is mostly finished by then, and it was a BLAST to play.

[@lukadjordjevic3716]

I mean, the scribe wizard description can fit really well. I mainly imagine a messanger who, after being surrounded by letters all the time, got a love for peeking into them before delivery. And that's how they got a wish to stard reading tomes and scrolls.

[@storyspren]

Thunderbolt Strike gives such a fun image that even if this wasn't top tier damage, hell even if the damage was bottom tier, it would still be the best build :D

[@ryanaiden]

I’m playing in Theros so a religious class shift is a breeze 🙌 epic video!

[@seanpalmer5885]

I was expecting a Scout Rogue and Bladesinging wizard mix but I love the image of the lightning speeder book nerd sooo much more.

[@SamFinklestein]

"This was already on the top of my list of characters I want to play before I started crunching the numbers." I feel this *in my bones!* It seems insanely fun, and I'm considering adjusting my storm/tempest split from 3/17 to 6/14 to be able to make transmuted Ashardalon's shenanigans. It feels like a less risky version of Haste. Losing 9th level cleric spells would hurt, but she is built primarily for blasting anyway, so it might be alright in the end.

[@danielknight2872]

There are some issues with the build... First of all, love the build and its amazing. Great work with it! I love watching your channel. To the issues. 1) Awakened Spell Book: When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spell book, which magically alters the spell’s formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend. Going with 9 Cleric, 3 Rogue, and 5 Wizard means you will have 3rd level spells for wizard, 5th Level spells for Cleric, and 7th level spell slots. If you cast Ashardalon's Stride as a 7th level spell, you can only use fire for its damage as you won't have a 7th level spell of lightning available to use. Still not an issue if you want to roast the targets but because you are pushing the cleric features for increasing lightning damage, this is important. The dagger in the heart issue. In order to use AS with lightning or any other damage than fire; you can only cast it as a level 3 spell. Awakened spell book specifically states that you must have another spell of the same level you cast AS as in your spell book. Cleric's don't have spell books. They know all their spells and just have to prepare them. Now.... if you can get your DM to look past this... you can cast AS as a 5th level spell and use lightning damage, because you have the domain spell call lightning. If you were to go bladesinger and take the metamagic feat, you can take transmutate and that would resolve the issue and give you access to using 7th level spell slots with it with 1 point to transmutate it. Also, bladesinger would provide some better offensive attacks, higher ac, 10+ ft speed, bonus to Con Saves, and advantage on acrobatics checks. If you want to stay with the Scribes wizard, I would change the build to 8 Wizard, 3 Rogue, and 6 Cleric and then at least you can get a 4th level spell off and still get Destructive Wrath & Thunderbolt. Or forgo the rogue levels and just take 9 Wizard, 8 cleric. I would go the route of Fighter 3 (Battlemaster/Rune Knight) 11 Bladesinger, 3 Scout, or Fighter 1, 13 Bladesinger, 3 Scout (Take Metamagic Feat as well)

[@brynwtsn]

Another advantage to Bladesinger, if you went to 6th level, is on the one creature you attack you could use booming blade and still get another weapon attack.

[@jeremyparker8098]

Love this build, great vid as always.

[@KnicKnac]

I'm imagining the Blaze spell from Diablo 2. Running around leaving a trail of fire behind you. It was a fun spell in that game. Running around really fast? Barry Allen would like to have a conversation with this person lol

[@andrewpatterson9949]

This turned out way better and more fun than I thought it would!! I like the idea of combining rouge and spellcaster as arcane trickster seems weak. I have gone down a rabbit how often a sneaky caster that uses pass wall spell to get into places. You should consider a sneaky spellcaster build with the goal of getting to pass wall spell. Using rouge and/or bard give you expertise in all the good rouge skills. Using eloquence bard is also nice if you get caught or need to do some convincing.

[@fleetfoxification]

Really love this spell and was thinking about it for a blade singer, but this is great food for thought!

[@whiskeySe7en]

Bloopers was a nice touch. Good work friend

[@nayber2352]

If your DM works with you on this, I think halfling would be the best race for this, because you could run around, (in their spaces) and push them 10 feet UP since you would be running under them. I imagine this as the flash running through and area and everyone getting thrown up into the air as lightning arcs between them. They would then take fall damage in addition to the regular damage for an extra 1d6 in damage. I think this would just make this character so incredibly fun as well

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

Or gnome

[@TheRobversion1]

any small race should work and i'd pick custom lineage. take note though the 10 ft push up only happens once you pass through the center square and knocking them up means they're knocked prone.

[@benjeffries2610]

@@RobKinneySouthpaw the Hafling is to get the racial feature Nimble. It allows you to move through the space of a creature that’s only one size larger (so medium)

[@danwebber9494]

I see this character as seeing him/herself as an avatar of a lightning god. Easy shift from worship to acolyte

[@Tuki_Bird]

7:38 Meep meep

[@delibirdite]

Colby, this build is phenomenal! I definitely plan on trying this. The image you painted of a small goblin-esque character with an enormous grin while enemies behind them are flying about in slow motion (a la sonic the hedgehog/quicksilver) is pure comedy. Your comment early in the video where you said stacking movespeed doesnt have much practical application got me thinking about a build which I believe would be right up your street: it's a half elf (wood elf) monk 14/ranger 6 that utilises a combination of the metamagic adept feat (specifically for quickened), the spike growth spell and as much movespeed as possible to grapple an enemy (or 4) over the spikes. It synergises rather nicely because gloomstalker rangers gets an extra 10ft on their first round of combat as well as the longstrider spell, astral self monks let's you grapple more than 2 enemies as well a boatload of movespeed and step of the wind, mobile adds 10ft movement. You can technically do it as early as level 7 with ranger 5 and monk 2 (because that's when you get SG and ki points for monks double dash). Against just 1 enemy your first turn would be bonus action spike growth -> attack -> grapple -> movement Then for every turn after, as long as you have ki points, your action and bonus action become the dash and double dash actions. If you ONLY count the spike damage then my calculations tell me that at level 7 on turn 1 the spikes alone do 30 damage, then turn 2 onwards they do 80 damage. At 17, the spikes alone on turn 1 do 45 damage and 120 damage per turn thereafter! I realise I've written a lot here so I can send you it by dm if you want (yeah there's more to it), or, if this is enough to get your brain juices flowing then that's cool too!

[@DnDDeepDive]

yeah, I've done the "grapple and drag through spike growth" via the Moon Druid build awhile back. Might be fun to try and optimized around it with move speed :).

[@drewlanz6287]

I've been working on a similar build lately. I think I've settled on Armorer Artificer 11/Tempest Cleric 9 for mine. Take the Metamagic Adept feat to turn Ashardalon's into lightning damage twice a day. For those two encounters, I'd go Infiltrator Armor and I think just ready a dash action each turn. You'll also have lightning damage on demand to push people at range if you don't want to trigger Ashardalon's twice. Then when you're out of metamagic you swap to the other armor set on a short rest. If you blow the Channel Divinity on a crit with Booming Blade on the thunder gauntlets with Divine Strike you're doing some shockingly good burst damage. Currently the plan is Armorer to 5, 9 levels of Tempest Cleric, then up to 11 in Armorer.

[@NachoAlegreArnau]

Muy character is the horrible fruit of a relationship beetwen a goliath and a little goblin. It is the most traumatized character I've ever played

[@JohnvanCapel]

Things that make this spell really good: - The damage just happens. No save, no attack, nothing. Even if you're casting the spell for the movement speed and lack of opportunity attacks, freebie damage is another neat incentive for things to stay away from you. - Upcasting increases both the move speed and the damage (which, again, enemies just take with no save). It scales *really* well too. - You can stack it with other, non-concentration movement buffs to reach more enemies with it. Even at base level, stacking it with a Longstrider spell means you've doubled your movement - and with no opportunity attacks, that drive-by burning is tempting. - Doesn't prevent you from doing something *while* drive-by burning enemies. Sure, you can't cast another concentration spell, but that's still plenty of blasting and no-concentration buff/debuff options you can use while dealing free damage.

[@seanholmes3658]

Ashardalon's Stride with a flying race would be like playing Rodan

[@cambrasher3875]

No one is going to read this because it’s 9 months late, but this is a weirdly perfect Bleach SoulReaper build. If you can convince your DM that you flavor your rapier as a katana, and then also make your sword your spell book, you have a talking sword, high mobility, and with our main spell, flavor it as the classic samurai “I take one step and instantly slash through 3 enemies”

[@DnDDeepDive]

I read it! 😉 Also: wasted on me because I haven’t seen Bleach. 😭

[@Thoumint]

I READ IT AS WELL! THOU HAST BEEN BESTED GOOD SIRR!

[@StudioJLT]

Ooh, very cool idea. I'll be playing your Wizard Tank build on Saturday, but this might be the next one I try. Thanks for sharing.

[@gurugru5958]

Beastmaster Companion can benefit too. Blaze it up!

[@RighteousBeardArts]

As of Monsters of the Multiverse, the updated Aire Genasi has a 35ft move speed. Even before coming across this video, I've thought of an Air Genasi Bladesinger using Ashardalon's Stride, reflavoring to Storm Stride (change to lightning damage) to dart around anime style. Along with booming blade, try for a lightning/thunder based theme

[@lucasramey6427]

Nvm lol you brought this up in video So interesting idea shifter (swiftstride) would allow you to use your reaction to move 10ft when an enemy ends their turn within 5ft of us so that could help prock the stride spell more often and now with the new versions of the race we can use our Shifting ability proficiency bonus times per long rest rather than once

[@flurry7439]

0:10 yes you said it right. Greetings from germany btw :)

[@DnDDeepDive]

woo hoo!

[@elliottrinke6346]

I love this so much. Here's my initial thoughts on character story: -Custom Lineage Kobold -Starts off as a thief/outcast -Finds steals an ancient tome/spellbook of some sort with imagery of dragons, but they can't read so they seek out a wizard to train them -Through study and practice, they gain an understanding of the tome as a religious artifact of a lost Sapphire dragon god, and devote their life to holy service

[@Quintal100kg]

Another thing to consider: Lore bard can take both Ashardalon's Stride and Find Steed at level 6. Cast Stride while on steed, then unmount. Now both you and your steed can damage enemies with Ashardalon's Stride as you have 2 different turns. Even better your steed could also ready the dash action and use AS again giving you 4 possible procs of this autodamage per round. Absolutely terrifying. Though it is dependant of your DM interpretation of who is targetted by this spell: you as a recepient of the buff, or enemies that take damage from it.

[@lankarddkl8722]

Great Build as always, but I have an alternative to propose: Bard Lore, lvl 6 Additional Magical Secrets: Ashardalon's Stride + Find Steed. Now when you cast Ashardalon's Stride you also target your Steed if Mounted, effectively doubling the damage done and using the extra speed of your mount. At higher level replace with Find Greater Steed to have more speed and flying movement and take the Feat (maybe even at lvl 1 with custom lineage or variant human) Metamagic Adept to change the damage type of the spell. I think the flavor is extra spicy. You could potentially take 3 lvl Rogue Scout and dismount to increase the damage to an absurd level (but I find this strategy cheesy and not as flavorful as the double blaze you leave with your steed).

[@DnDDeepDive]

Right! Just pinned a comment on the Find Steed thing :).

[@CampyVA]

This character is awesome! I am in love with the concept and execution. Well done. I am so happy I found your channel this past year, it has really been amazing going through all these builds and getting inspired. So thank you Colby! Without you my Gnoll (custom lineage), Death Cleric properly named Runt would not have seen the light of day.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@kennycolburn4109]

I'm not sure if this has been requested yet or not, but I would love to see your take on the "Absurd" character. It takes a single level in each class before its aloud to take a 2nd level in a class.

[@DnDDeepDive]

I actually have this on my to do list :). We'll see if I ever get to it... :P

[@Testeverything521]

Also, you need a teammate with the telepathic feat to push you with their bonus action. If you move into an enemy's range you get to burn them one more time.

[@mikecarson7769]

oooh nice use of the "Squat nimbleness" feat, given the current rules for a small-sized custom lineage character !!!

[@tysonkerr3082]

The weeb in me immediately imagined the stereotypical anime sword dash. This concept has so many wonderful and flavorful concepts!

[@robertohuerta5321]

Hi Colby! My Kensei monk just died in Avernus trying to rescue a friend who fell from Elturel. I was sad because of how it happened (he survived the +500 ft. fall but without spoilers something killed him cinematically down there) but now that I created a character based on this build I'm more than happy with the result. Made some changes as starting at lvl 7 (2 rogue/5 clockwork soul sorcerer) as a small Owin with an owl familiar (strixhaven initiate) would let me start with CON save proficiency and do the lightning tricks even when upcasting over 3rd lvl spells. Can't wait to take those cleric levels to be an Hermes' grease lightning champion. Thank you very much for your well put guides, is it always a delight to watch them.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Awesome! I mean... RIP Monk! :)

[@leohale6449]

In German a 'W' is pronounced more like a 'V'. Nice to see you again Colby!

[@painappledad1352]

Thanks for your hard work, love from South America to you too 🙇🏻‍♂️💛

[@guitarplayerJeiky]

We broke the “cien” barrier! Really love this build! The concept is so fun!

[@LordZeebee]

Ironically, the awakened book that the Scribes Wizard gets would be absolutely perfect for a dyslexic wizard lol. I mean you get a book that can talk to you, it's like an audio book but on steroids. I can imagine our young speedster being taken in by the school and getting frustrated with how long it took to read, their mind races to fast for the words on the page. So with their creative thinking they formulate a way for their book to speak to them instead. Turns out tho that they accidentally created an entire consciousness in the book, one that's prone to bickering and sassy retorts.

[@michaelgroce966]

Love seeing builds like this. "let's ocd focus on a spell no one ever uses!"

[@52Hades]

I would have called this build GodSpeed, its very reminiscent of Killua from the anime HunterxHunter. Very cool build can't wait to try it sometime!

[@Trial88]

I take tuesdays off so I can watch these as they come out now

[@pjenner79]

Ashardalon’s stride plus wild shape.. focus on the moon Druid shapes that make you need to love 20-3 feet for bonus effect and then for elemental..

[@jeramey7454]

Okay, I'm going to be playing this in my upcoming DotMM campaign. My backstory is going to be that I'm an awakened lizard, one of those that can run on water. The spell book from scribe will hold part of my dead master's soul still giving me wizardly advice. Kind of the familiar is now the wizard! Super fun build thanks for this.

[@Sunny_Punkin]

I like the idea of the cleric multi-class being something that the character did not necessarily want. I'd imagined some sort of God of Travelers or speed like Hermes or Nike might see this character and say hey, that's my champion.

[@mattsandvick3738]

My favorite KZbinr!

[@rodrigofernandezrivera1028]

Colby. You are truly a great one. Thank you for all the dnd content you bring us. Always puts on a smile on my geeky face

[@DnDDeepDive]

Gracias! Muy amable :P

[@1Ring42]

Also Booming blade as an opportunity attack is *chefs kiss*

[@jordanw2741]

I burst out laughing when you said thunderbolt strike. I didn't predict that was why you took this combination of casters. Really fun and I WILL need to play this.

[@Hubabuba258]

I love the idea of hypothetically stacking all the move speed bonuses possible, just to create a character who in times of need can abandon the combat, speed run back to the city, grab the allied archmage on their back and return all those kilometers within a few seconds. It's too ridiculous to not love.

[@stonehermo6531]

Doing this but on a divine soul scourge aasimar (vgm) to get spiritual weapon and the radiant aura. Once per day (assuming you end near two enemies) you get additional radiant damage equal to twice your level each turn for a minute. So beautiful mechanically and thematically. Sharing in case Anyone else loved the idea of a burning comet of holy fire😊

[@stonehermo6531]

Plus the cleric dip makes so much more sense

[@jamiedorsey4167]

I was hoping for a fun, gimmiky sort of build. But this turned out epic! The Quicksilver flavor sounds like so much fun. I was thinking of modifying it a bit and go Tabaxi and sorcerer for the feline agility and sorcerer synergizes with their ASI.

[@tylerframpton2113]

This might be my favorite build you have done!! As an idea would you consider doing a video on making a class that can just keep going on a longer dungeon crawl. A class that has some of the skills needed to getbtheoigh a dungeon but also is fairly self reliant for when things drag on. Keep doing what you all do, its 👌

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! Will put it on the to do list :).

[@sethtaylor2911]

This is pretty much what I've been thinking for my "Gish" Warforged Draconic Blood Sorcerer. Using Tasha's rules I was gonna swap tool proficiency for a short sword, focus on Dex and Con, and stay away from spells that require saves. Pop in and out of melee with a AStride/Kinetic Jaunt and strike 2x with quickened Booming Blade

[@theeldritchknight6498]

I know im late to the party here BUT one of the coolest things about ash's stride is that you can light things on fire without using an action or bonus action right. So I think this spell becomes really powerful when you combine it with oil flasks. oil flasks can be thrown as an attack action and shatter on impact drenching them in oil doing an extra flat 5 on to of your 1d6 fire damage AND whatever your improvised weapon damage is so maybe its a d4 but it could be even more than that if you take the right feats and traits. you could thrown oil flasks at peoples faces and then light them on fire as you move by thats pretty good at low levels and far far better than just throwing a dagger,javelin or spear.

[@gnawedwick]

our group talked about this, because your video made me wanna, and discuss it... at our table, the cleric dmg boon for channel divinity... we decided the max dmg boost would work on ashardalons, for each target hit, only during the round in which you activate the channel divinity, so one really good round when you hit a bunch of folks... but yeah, its still likely better on a fireball or cone of cold are more beneficial dmg wise