DnD 5E Quick Build Series: Introduction

Tabletop Builds is starting a new series of character builds. The Quick Build Series will present readily available character builds for each of the various subclasses within all character classes in D&D 5E. The builds will also serve as examples for our future Class Guides, at the end of which you’ll find links to the appropriate Quick Builds.

What is a Quick Build?

Each Quick Build is built under the following assumptions:

• Single-classed. Following up on our Basic Build series, we thought it would be useful to provide a more specific exploration of the features of each subclass by providing aspiring optimizers with a readily available build for each and every subclass. As a result, each Quick Build only takes levels in a single, official class, taken for all 20 levels to explore everything the subclass has to offer. Our personal experiences with 5E indicate that multiclassing is a popular but not universal variant rule, and we wanted to develop some content for people who visit our site and do not use the variant. Of course, you may wish to use the builds as a starting point for a more complicated and personalized multiclassed character build. Take a look at our multiclassing guide to learn more about making optimal choices when reaching out to other classes!
• Using Feats. Restating the obvious from the above point: we will be using the feat variant, as our own personal experiences with 5E indicate feats are nearly universal in their usage.
• Optimized. We explain assumptions made in our Core Tenets. We don’t imagine you will use most builds to the letter, but if you generally follow along with the key decisions, you should have a character prepared to face the challenges set before them with aplomb. These builds are also set up to be excellent pre-made options for a new player in an optimized game, who has no idea how to optimize a character and just wants to be simple but keep up with a group of optimized veterans.
• In the same format. To make things easier to read, our group of contributors have done their best to adhere to a common format for presentation. We may slightly improve it over time, but our goal is to use the same format for all of our build guides on Tabletop Builds.

Because of this, Quick Builds are built with certain characteristics in mind:

1. Accessibility. Not everyone has access to every book, so we will try to favor books that more players will have access to. For minor decisions, such as a few spell choices, if an option is unavailable to you, the impact to the build’s overall effectiveness should be relatively minor. Backgrounds from Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos are not being considered here as they are not widely available at most tables. Of course, some subclasses only appear in certain published content, so we have to assume you have access to that content when covering such a subclass. We used the following order for major decisions in the Quick Build Series.
   • Player’s Handbook.
   • Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
   • Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
   • Other Official Books (Setting books, etc).
2. Effectiveness. Where we do stray from our Accessibility goals, we do so because of what we consider significant power level differences. If the options in the Player’s Handbook are vastly inferior to options printed in later books, we will skip the Player’s Handbook option, because we want to provide builds we would be happy playing in a highly optimized group.

Other considerations made:

• These builds use all subclasses, and do not multiclass. Contrary to Basic Builds, they were not made with the intent of being easy to customize. They may therefore be very straightforward and specific, and a little harder to generalize or adapt. Some character options take builds in very specific optimization directions. When choosing a certain subclass, this can easily lead to a very narrow optimized path picking only the most fitting options to emphasize the strengths of the subclass. Consequently, Quick Builds can be picked up and copied easily, but may quickly lose effectiveness when adjustments are made.
• We evaluate options in terms of their expected value, which averages what they do when they work with what they do when they don’t, weighted by how likely each is. At Tabletop Builds our aim is not to fall into common stereotypes or beliefs, but to evaluate everything at face value and as rigorously and quantitatively as possible.
• We assume you are playing as part of a team, and therefore made these builds with cooperation between party members in mind. You do not need to play alongside other optimized builds to be effective, though of course any kind of force-multipliers will be best with more of a force to multiply.
• We will not provide commentary on every subclass feature. Typically this is because the feature in question is trivial, or the feature “just works,” and doesn’t require any elaboration (think of something like Samurai’s level 7 feature, Elegant Courtier, which provides a bonus to Persuasion checks and Wisdom save proficiency).

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