I had Shadowheart kill the nightsong, and then used her as shadow monk/rogue/war cleric. Her gear from killing nightsong complements this build so well.
This would leave Astarion open for something like gloomstalker assasin.
If you're doing 10/2 bardadin and 6/4/2 monk you might as well go all the way and build "Lights Out" with 11/1 BM ranger/ war cleric and 10/2 sorlock.
Drop darkness and fog clouds, command approach, kill kill kill
Minthara gets shars spear, hunter gets ring, monk and sorc gets 2 levels in warlock for devil sight (and better EB for sorc)
OP’s post was giving me those vibes as well! It reminded me of the Lights Out party from [this shared doc](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1HhiUZcQ1gXjvsaJSpvccG_0Jm0fn7lgYaOYdQxuWSQs/htmlview)
Also considering maybe just running a 3 person party for extra challenge unless you guys see some glaring issue like a certain utility that I’m missing.
Just going to throw the lockadin oathbreaker out there as an enormously broken badass build for an evil run. Shars spear, smites, darkness, Slayer form for funsies, eldritch blast for ranged… I love her so much
Storm Sorc 1 / Tempest Cleric 11 Shadowheart would be great here.
This is what I used on my honor run. Tempest 11 means this character can use hero’s feast for the final gauntlet. Use a free cast (from staff or illithid power) or the spellcrux amulet to get the slot back.
Also a great marko user if someone else doesn’t use it (a CD chain lightning can one shot a lot of things when wet, like viconia and the red dragon).
Plus, clerics are amazing in act 2.
Note that you’ll probably be using lae’zel for a while until you get minthara, unless the plan is hireling.
In the run I’m about to complete I’m playing as temp cleric 2/storm sorc 10 so just for variety’s sake I’ll probably switch it up from the whole lightening thing.
But yeah the plan was hireling until minthara so I don’t have to fret about pissing lazel off with utilizing ilithid stuff.
I do like the idea of having a character that can heal in the group.
Spirit guardians is great, but not required.
If you didn’t mind running another bard, you could do a lore bard “knockoff cleric”. Running one in my current game; I’m doing storm Sorc 1 / knowledge cleric 1 (armor, more skills) / lore bard 10. Starts cleric, respeccing to the sorc start at level 8.
Finally, a Druid could be really fun. Druids are extremely flexible and not necessarily gear reliant. I’d recommend moon (pretty unique experience) or spores if you don’t mind more summons.
Why not double down on the necromancy thing since you’ve got an oath breaker and a durge necromancer, add a spore Druid more zombies for the oathbreaker to buff and can be built as a ranged striker with a war cleric dip.
I’m using jaheria in my current run as a spore Druid blade dancer with her scimitars and it’s a load of fun. How would you recommend reworking that to be a ranged striker? Like what class split because this sounds like the perfect fit
If you wanted mostly a caster that could flex into a range striker I’d go
Spore 11/war cleric 1 focusing on dex and wiz concentrating on stuff like sleet storm or moonbeam dependent on the fight and occasionally double attacking with the war cleric bonus attack feature
Or spore 7/fighter 5 or ranger 5
If you wanted more of a martial range melee character with casting and summons as a side benefit
I didn't even think of just reworking my 7/5 spore ranger build into being ranged and doing that. I could maybe even run hand crossbows with the extra spore druid damage to proc that d6 a bunch of times.
I think this is what I’m going to go with, at least at first. I’ll experiment. 7 spore is a lock but 3 theif rogue and 2 fighter might be even better for crossbows. Extra bonus action and action surge.
Thank you for your help!!
A ranged Eldritch Knight could also work. Go for 11 EK/1 War Cleric and have them be a worshipper of something like Tiamat. TB EK also naturally works but honestly I’m sick of TB builds so just standard archer like Titanstring bow (or you could be even cooler and go for like a Giantbreaker/Bow of Banshee debuff build).
You’re a tankier fighter with more mobility and reliable finisher with the ‘Big 3’ in Shield, Misty Step and Magic Missile. You also have some utility out of combat with cantrips like Minor Illusion. While BM is arguably a better archer, for an ‘evil party’ I personally jam with ELDRITCH KNIGHT a lot more as well lol
Oh my b I completely forgot about the shield stuff. I just got done running an abjuration wiz EK multi-class for the ridiculous tank capabilities so maybe I’ll go a different direction.
I’m doing a durge run as a tiger heart barbarian and reverberation utilizing bleed, Boaals benediction, and the wolverine wild heart ability which I think works pretty well for a champion of Bhaal
Could do a war cleric, blade warlock that plays as a gish. Dip 1 fighter for defense or two for action surge anytime after Warlock 5.
Also agree that an EK 11/1 thrower would be good
Just make someone a cleric in service of an evil god like Tiamat. Or even one a bit more chaotic like Talos. That way you still have the emergency healer if you absolutely need it to stay alive. Tempest Cleric is a blast for this and why I went with Talos as a suggestion.
Shadowheart glomstalker/assassin until level 11, then switch to 11 ranger hunter for volley and start critfishing with sarevok's, knife of the undermountain king, ideally bloodthirst at some point with [the blightbringer](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Blightbringer) to apply slow, braindrain gloves and strange conduit ring to hurt mental saves, and a 1-warlock dip at level 12 to get GOO's mortal reminder and apply fear as well.
I considered this but I can’t find a consensus online about whether or not shadowheart is evil run friendly? Does she not care if I’m a murder hobo doing anything to obtain more power?
Shadowheart has her own whole evil version of her questline. In act 2, killing aylin results in you getting probably the best single weapon in the game (shar's spear), which also sets shadowheart on the path of remaining a sharran and getting abused to all shit by shar.
No, she doesn't object to most evil choices and even approves of many of the crueler options, but does have a problem specifically with hurting children.
there are two resolutions to her Act 2 quest that push her in very different directions. She won't ever leave the party over an evil choice but she will leave if you don't take her to the Gauntlet.
If you're gonna go thief, I probably wouldn't go gloomstalker. One extra attack at combat start when you are already getting so many isn't nearly as valuable as that when you're using a higher per-short, fewer shots option like titanstring.
You'd be better going thief 4/sharpshooter, respec to BM 5 and still use sharpshooter, but have extra attack instead of an extra bonus action, keep levelling as a fighter to 7 and pick up either ASI dex or crossbow expert if using the gloves of dex, then at level 8 respec to fighter 5/thief 3.
Of course.
Crossbow expert is a very interesting feat on the dual crossbows build, as it basically eliminates the one weakness of ranged builds. The fighter is gonna pick up an extra feat, and this is a strong usage of it.
Beast master ranger, like a goth kid wet dream you can have raven named quote who can blind your opponents and deal heavy damage and is hard to hit
While that’s happening you can hit them with the meanest arrows
I had Shadowheart kill the nightsong, and then used her as shadow monk/rogue/war cleric. Her gear from killing nightsong complements this build so well. This would leave Astarion open for something like gloomstalker assasin.
This. I am playing her as a full OH monk but even with the spear alone it’s awesome
What’s the split on that? 8/3/1 for three flurry of blows? Can you monk in heavy armor?
I mean you can monk action economy in heavy armor. You just can’t have the same movement and can’t have in armored defense
6 swords bard / 3 their or assassin / 3 gloomstalker, dual wielding hand crossbows
If you're doing 10/2 bardadin and 6/4/2 monk you might as well go all the way and build "Lights Out" with 11/1 BM ranger/ war cleric and 10/2 sorlock. Drop darkness and fog clouds, command approach, kill kill kill Minthara gets shars spear, hunter gets ring, monk and sorc gets 2 levels in warlock for devil sight (and better EB for sorc)
OP’s post was giving me those vibes as well! It reminded me of the Lights Out party from [this shared doc](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1HhiUZcQ1gXjvsaJSpvccG_0Jm0fn7lgYaOYdQxuWSQs/htmlview)
I kinda rock with this idea ngl
Also considering maybe just running a 3 person party for extra challenge unless you guys see some glaring issue like a certain utility that I’m missing.
Pretty sure people can solo the game on honor mode so you'll be fine
I definitely know you can but I think we as a community need to stop to ask if you should
Just going to throw the lockadin oathbreaker out there as an enormously broken badass build for an evil run. Shars spear, smites, darkness, Slayer form for funsies, eldritch blast for ranged… I love her so much
Storm Sorc 1 / Tempest Cleric 11 Shadowheart would be great here. This is what I used on my honor run. Tempest 11 means this character can use hero’s feast for the final gauntlet. Use a free cast (from staff or illithid power) or the spellcrux amulet to get the slot back. Also a great marko user if someone else doesn’t use it (a CD chain lightning can one shot a lot of things when wet, like viconia and the red dragon). Plus, clerics are amazing in act 2. Note that you’ll probably be using lae’zel for a while until you get minthara, unless the plan is hireling.
In the run I’m about to complete I’m playing as temp cleric 2/storm sorc 10 so just for variety’s sake I’ll probably switch it up from the whole lightening thing. But yeah the plan was hireling until minthara so I don’t have to fret about pissing lazel off with utilizing ilithid stuff.
I do like the idea of having a character that can heal in the group. Spirit guardians is great, but not required. If you didn’t mind running another bard, you could do a lore bard “knockoff cleric”. Running one in my current game; I’m doing storm Sorc 1 / knowledge cleric 1 (armor, more skills) / lore bard 10. Starts cleric, respeccing to the sorc start at level 8. Finally, a Druid could be really fun. Druids are extremely flexible and not necessarily gear reliant. I’d recommend moon (pretty unique experience) or spores if you don’t mind more summons.
Why not double down on the necromancy thing since you’ve got an oath breaker and a durge necromancer, add a spore Druid more zombies for the oathbreaker to buff and can be built as a ranged striker with a war cleric dip.
I’m using jaheria in my current run as a spore Druid blade dancer with her scimitars and it’s a load of fun. How would you recommend reworking that to be a ranged striker? Like what class split because this sounds like the perfect fit
If you wanted mostly a caster that could flex into a range striker I’d go Spore 11/war cleric 1 focusing on dex and wiz concentrating on stuff like sleet storm or moonbeam dependent on the fight and occasionally double attacking with the war cleric bonus attack feature Or spore 7/fighter 5 or ranger 5 If you wanted more of a martial range melee character with casting and summons as a side benefit
I didn't even think of just reworking my 7/5 spore ranger build into being ranged and doing that. I could maybe even run hand crossbows with the extra spore druid damage to proc that d6 a bunch of times.
That would be fun 7/5 spore Druid/ranger with crossbows to proc loads of spore damage, got the zombies, sleet storm, ice storm, all sorts of stuff.
I think this is what I’m going to go with, at least at first. I’ll experiment. 7 spore is a lock but 3 theif rogue and 2 fighter might be even better for crossbows. Extra bonus action and action surge. Thank you for your help!!
You’re welcome I hope it works out great
Imo You need another ranged option, preferably a striker. Gloam stalker ranger/rogue or eldritch blast warlock both seem pretty evil to me.
A ranged Eldritch Knight could also work. Go for 11 EK/1 War Cleric and have them be a worshipper of something like Tiamat. TB EK also naturally works but honestly I’m sick of TB builds so just standard archer like Titanstring bow (or you could be even cooler and go for like a Giantbreaker/Bow of Banshee debuff build).
If I’m not doing thrower what’s the benefit of EK? Shouldn’t I just do an archery style battle master or something then?
You’re a tankier fighter with more mobility and reliable finisher with the ‘Big 3’ in Shield, Misty Step and Magic Missile. You also have some utility out of combat with cantrips like Minor Illusion. While BM is arguably a better archer, for an ‘evil party’ I personally jam with ELDRITCH KNIGHT a lot more as well lol
EK is still super good because of (A) how strong the base fighter class is and (B) how ridiculously strong the shield spell is.
Oh my b I completely forgot about the shield stuff. I just got done running an abjuration wiz EK multi-class for the ridiculous tank capabilities so maybe I’ll go a different direction.
I’m doing a durge run as a tiger heart barbarian and reverberation utilizing bleed, Boaals benediction, and the wolverine wild heart ability which I think works pretty well for a champion of Bhaal
I love this build in concept but for this party I’m mainly worried about lack of ranged dps
Could do a war cleric, blade warlock that plays as a gish. Dip 1 fighter for defense or two for action surge anytime after Warlock 5. Also agree that an EK 11/1 thrower would be good
Just make someone a cleric in service of an evil god like Tiamat. Or even one a bit more chaotic like Talos. That way you still have the emergency healer if you absolutely need it to stay alive. Tempest Cleric is a blast for this and why I went with Talos as a suggestion.
Shadowheart glomstalker/assassin until level 11, then switch to 11 ranger hunter for volley and start critfishing with sarevok's, knife of the undermountain king, ideally bloodthirst at some point with [the blightbringer](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Blightbringer) to apply slow, braindrain gloves and strange conduit ring to hurt mental saves, and a 1-warlock dip at level 12 to get GOO's mortal reminder and apply fear as well.
I considered this but I can’t find a consensus online about whether or not shadowheart is evil run friendly? Does she not care if I’m a murder hobo doing anything to obtain more power?
Shadowheart has her own whole evil version of her questline. In act 2, killing aylin results in you getting probably the best single weapon in the game (shar's spear), which also sets shadowheart on the path of remaining a sharran and getting abused to all shit by shar. No, she doesn't object to most evil choices and even approves of many of the crueler options, but does have a problem specifically with hurting children.
there are two resolutions to her Act 2 quest that push her in very different directions. She won't ever leave the party over an evil choice but she will leave if you don't take her to the Gauntlet.
I know what you’re talking about for at least one of those decisions but yeah I’ll be careful/supportive around shadowfell
Thoughts on a dual hand crossbow build? A fun but super strong build running thief/gloomstalker for hella attacks?
If you're gonna go thief, I probably wouldn't go gloomstalker. One extra attack at combat start when you are already getting so many isn't nearly as valuable as that when you're using a higher per-short, fewer shots option like titanstring. You'd be better going thief 4/sharpshooter, respec to BM 5 and still use sharpshooter, but have extra attack instead of an extra bonus action, keep levelling as a fighter to 7 and pick up either ASI dex or crossbow expert if using the gloves of dex, then at level 8 respec to fighter 5/thief 3.
love this build plan thank you!!
Of course. Crossbow expert is a very interesting feat on the dual crossbows build, as it basically eliminates the one weakness of ranged builds. The fighter is gonna pick up an extra feat, and this is a strong usage of it.
Loth sworn Drow 11 Beastmaster / 1 War cleric Use spider
Beast master ranger, like a goth kid wet dream you can have raven named quote who can blind your opponents and deal heavy damage and is hard to hit While that’s happening you can hit them with the meanest arrows
I love this build in concept but you have to give half your party 2 levels in warlock for no reason to make it viable and that sucks you know?