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Thoughts & Things

Collection of D&D 5e Player Build Guides

There are a lot of character building guides and handbooks out there. They are very detailed and have a lot of great information in them. There are a lot of them that can be found on the Wizards community boards, and there are also some that are on Giant in the Playground. Since the Wizards of the Coast’s community boards are all going away very soon, I have started creating my own optimization character builds. I started with the Barbarian, and using the standard color coding for choices that can be made.

Gold is mandatory. It’s a rare rating that denotes something that is so good that you must take it, or you can’t call yourself optimized.
Sky Blue is a fantastic choice. An option you should strongly consider above most others.
Blue is a good choice. It definitely helps your character in the majority of cases.
Black is average. You’re not hurting your character by taking this, and it might even help in some situations, but there are better choices.
Purple is a substandard choice. It might be useful in corner-case situations, but overall it’s not worth the investment.
Red is outclassed. Another option exists that is in all ways at least as good or better. Red choices aren’t necessarily valueless, however, and are fine to take if you really like them.

And then going through a standard format:

  • Introduction
  • Class Features
  • Ability Scores
  • Races
  • Forms
  • Spells
  • Feats
  • Multiclassing

Since I’ve started with the Barbarian, it has turned into a very large posting that should be useful for a very long time. Here is the list of guides that I found on another website (http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2014/08/5e-guide-to-guides.html), that I am reading through right now. It is a great listing of what is currently out there. I am sure there are more, and many of these have already moved to Google Docs or other forums.

Barbarian
I’ll Never Die! A Guide to the 5E Barbarian [Giantitp]
The Gentleman’s Guide to Proper Barbarism [Wizards]
Graceful Destruction: A Guide to the Dex Based Barbarian [Wizards]

Bard
Bardic Lore: A Basic College of Lore Bard Guide [Enworld]
A Party Without Music is Lame: A Bard [Wizards]

Cleric
The Devout and the Dead: A Guide to Clerics [Giantitp]
For God and Party: A Cleric’s Guide [Wizards]
Dictum Mortuum’s The Cleric Handbook [Wizards]
Celestial Link Evoking Radiance into Creation [Wizards]

Druid
5th Edition D&D Druid’s Handbook [Giantitp]
Thy Fear Symmetry: A Circle of the Moon Handbook [Wizards]
Lunar Wilds: A Moon Druid Animal Guide [Wizards]
By Your Powers Combined: A Land Guide Handbook [Wizards]

Fighter
Know Your Enemy: A Fighter’s Handbook [Giantitp]
Bow Bond: An Eldritch Knight’s Guide to Archery [Wizards]
The Art of War: A Fighter’s Guide [Wizards]
Eldritch Knight Tactical [Wizards]
Optimized Polearm Master Fighter Template [Wizards]

Monk
Meditation, Meditation, Devastation: A Monk’s Guide [Wizards]
Avatar: The 4-Element Monk Mini-Guide [Wizards]

Paladin
Good is Not Nice: A Paladin’s Guide [Giantitp]
Oathbound: The Paladin Guide [Wizards]

Ranger
Animal Buddy: A Guide to the Ranger’s Beast Companion [Wizards]
The Outdoorsman’s Guide to Natural Ranging [Wizards]
Into the Woods We Go: The Ranger Guide [Wizards]

Rogue
Person_Man’s 5E Rogue Guide [Giantitp]
A Knife in the Dark: The Rogue’s Handbook [Wizards]
Dealing Death: Handbook of the True Assassin [Wizards]

Sorcerer
Power Overwhelming: A Sorcerer Guide [Wizards]
Guide for the Optimized Sorcerer [Wizards]
Sorcery Guide Part II [Wizards]

Warlock
Pact-Making 101: A Guide to the 5th Edition Warlock [Giantitp]
If Only You Knew the Power: A Warlock Guide [GoogleDocs] [Discussion] [Wizards]
Blade, Book, and Chain: A Warlock Guide [Wizards]
Wizard
The Master of the Arcane: A Guide to the Wizard [Giantitp]
Arrive on Time: A General Guide to Wizardry [GoogleDocs]
Treantmonk’s Guide to the Wizard [Wizards]

If you know of some more optimization character builds for DnD 5th edition, please send a link by email, michael@tribality.com, or make a comment. I can’t believe all of this is going to be lost at the end of the month. So you might want to get a copy if you see one you like before it’s too late.

Thanks,

-Michael