D&D 5e Eldritch Knight Witcher flavoring?

[DarklordKyo]

I was thinking of creating a Fighter, an Eldritch Knight specifically, stylized like a Witcher.

Outside of Firebolt being Igni, and Shield being Quen (assuming Eldritch Knights can get it, haven't checked yet), anyone have any ideas on what spells can be what signs?

Edit: I found out that, in order to get every sign, I may need to take a level in Fighter, then take the rest in Wizard. Crap, any advice on making a character that's not a crappy master of none if that's the case? (that, or reprimand me for being an idiot if there are enough for a full Signs list).

Edit 2- Electric Boogaloo: I see that Bladesinger is also a good alternative, but I hear it's only allowed with elves. Would I have to make my theoretical Witcher an elf?

 

[Saelune]

Ok so...you keep trying to make these weird characters, usually based on something. Thats fine...except apparently you play in games with weirdly strict rules that limit your ability to make these characters.

Just something to think about.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Ok, the closest approximations to Witcher signs I can think of off the top of my head.

Igni - Burning Hands (Evoc 1)
Axii - the Charm/Hold line of spells (starting at Ench 1)
Quen - Shield (Abj 1)
Aard - Gust of Wind (Evoc 2)

Yrden is the hard one. It would need to slow/immobilize and damage in an area. Earthen Grasp (Trans 1) has the damage and slow, but no AoE. Slow (Trans 3) has the AoE and slow, but no damage. Black Tentacles (Conj 4) has all three, but is Wizard exclusive and probably too much of a level investment.

Going Eldritch Knight apparently limits you to Evocation and Abjuration, so you could get 3 out of 5 signs, but require some multiclassing for everything (a 1-3lv dip into Wiz/Sor, depending if you're happy with just Charm Person, or want Hold Person too).

I'm not familiar with the Bladesinger archetype, so I won't comment.

To get that real Witcher flavor, you'd also need to invest in brewing potions and in oils to apply to your weapon. I'd advise against this though, since crafting/buying single-use items for frequent use in combat is generally a huge waste of time and resources in most campaigns (unless you're playing some kind of Tippyverse where you could magically automate it).

And, I'm kind of with Saelune in that I think you should probably step away from trying to mechanically replicate [Insert Fictional Character] in the D&D system. It more often than not doesn't really work out. Take inspiration from their flavour to do your own thing? Sure, knock yourself out. Also, many DMs tend to frown to some degree on players who go "I want to play Batman/Naruto/whatever" and that includes some characters that actually are from D&D (looking at you, Drizz't and Elminster).

 

[TheFinish]

Edlritch Knight is pretty weird, it doesn't actually lock you into Abjuration/Evocation,except it does, but you can still get all signs without multiclassing:

3 Spells at First level, 2 of which have to be Abj/Evo. Ok. Take Burning Hands, Shield, Charm Person (Axii really can't go beyond Charm Person, fluffwise, so this is ok.) At 7th level, take Gust of Wind. At 8th level, the Archetype says you can take a spell of any school, and voila, you have all your six signs, although you'll have to settle for Earthen Grasp, which is meh.

However, no one spell is good enough to really represent Yrden, so you'll have to make do.

Bladesinger would work, but it's an Arcane Tradition, so you'd end up with way more spells and much more powerful ones than a Witcher. But it is, of course, restricted to Elves, RAW. Going Eldritch Knight is better fitting, I think.

And there's really nothing wrong with wanting to transplant X character concept into Y game system, you just have to accept you won't be able to do it completely most of the time.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Charm Person

The Charm/Hold line of spells is in the Enchantment school, so that doesn't work out. Unless he takes it as his 8th level spell and holds off on Yrden till 14th, at which point he might as well take the much better Slow instead of Earthen Graps.

 

[TheFinish]

Charm Person

The Charm/Hold line of spells is in the Enchantment school, so that doesn't work out. Unless he takes it as his 8th level spell and holds off on Yrden till 14th, at which point he might as well take the much better Slow instead of Earthen Graps.

From the Eldritch Knight Archetype, and I quote:

"Spells Known of 1st-LeveI and Higher: You know three 1st level wizard spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the abjuration and evocation spells on the wizard spell list." - 5th Edition Player's Guide, page 75, emphasis mine.

Picking Burning Hands, Shield, and Charm Person is perfectly kosher. Three spells, all in the Wizard spell list, all 1st level, two of them are Abjuration or Evocation.

EDIT: a slew of horrible typos. Don't copy paste directly from a PDF folks!

 

[DarklordKyo]

Ok so...you keep trying to make these weird characters, usually based on something. Thats fine...except apparently you play in games with weirdly strict rules that limit your ability to make these characters.

Just something to think about.

It's mostly flavor to be honest. Besides, some class and spec combos seem to somewhat fit in some cases (like creating a Jojo's character out of a Light Cleric, except one that uses Hamon, then upgrades to a Stand later).

 

[DarklordKyo]

Edlritch Knight is pretty weird, it doesn't actually lock you into Abjuration/Evocation,except it does, but you can still get all signs without multiclassing:

3 Spells at First level, 2 of which have to be Abj/Evo. Ok. Take Burning Hands, Shield, Charm Person (Axii really can't go beyond Charm Person, fluffwise, so this is ok.) At 7th level, take Gust of Wind. At 8th level, the Archetype says you can take a spell of any school, and voila, you have all your six signs, although you'll have to settle for Earthen Grasp, which is meh.

However, no one spell is good enough to really represent Yrden, so you'll have to make do.

Bladesinger would work, but it's an Arcane Tradition, so you'd end up with way more spells and much more powerful ones than a Witcher. But it is, of course, restricted to Elves, RAW. Going Eldritch Knight is better fitting, I think.

And there's really nothing wrong with wanting to transplant X character concept into Y game system, you just have to accept you won't be able to do it completely most of the time.

Fair enough, it's mostly for flavoring anyways (hell, I made a Half Elf Rogue based on Sonic the Hedgehog, I'd have made him a Tabaxi Monk if I wanted to be as close as possible).

 

[DarklordKyo]

Okay, so now that Sign analogue ideas have been established, any tips on optimizing two handing a Longsword? (since I'd probably have to do a Strength & Int build, since Shortswords, somehow, aren't two handable).

 

[DarklordKyo]

From the Eldritch Knight Archetype, and I quote:

"Spells Known of 1st-LeveI and Higher: You know three 1st level wizard spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the abjuration and evocation spells on the wizard spell list." - 5th Edition Player's Guide, page 75, emphasis mine.

Picking Burning Hands, Shield, and Charm Person is perfectly kosher. Three spells, all in the Wizard spell list, all 1st level, two of them are Abjuration or Evocation.

EDIT: a slew of horrible typos. Don't copy paste directly from a PDF folks!

I'll pick Burning Hands, but I'd probably get more mileage out of Firebolt. There is that facet that allows the EK to combo a slash from a Cantrip.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Charm Person

The Charm/Hold line of spells is in the Enchantment school, so that doesn't work out. Unless he takes it as his 8th level spell and holds off on Yrden till 14th, at which point he might as well take the much better Slow instead of Earthen Graps.

From the Eldritch Knight Archetype, and I quote:

"Spells Known of 1st-LeveI and Higher: You know three 1st level wizard spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the abjuration and evocation spells on the wizard spell list." - 5th Edition Player's Guide, page 75, emphasis mine.

Picking Burning Hands, Shield, and Charm Person is perfectly kosher. Three spells, all in the Wizard spell list, all 1st level, two of them are Abjuration or Evocation.

EDIT: a slew of horrible typos. Don't copy paste directly from a PDF folks!

Whoops, right you are. Somehow I completely missed that. Don't judge, reading is hard! Get off of my back, dammit!

Guess the Eldritch Knight gets the job done after all. Shame most of the Sign spells have Saves. He'll probably have to spread out his resources among his melee and spellcasting, which may become disadvantageous in the long run. I'd personally pump martial and complement with no-save utility spells, so I can keep INT at the bare minimal requirements, freeing up resources for other stuff. But that's just the minmaxer in me talking.

 

[EscapistAccount]

I was thinking of creating a Fighter, an Eldritch Knight specifically, stylized like a Witcher.

The best class for building something like that is Ranger, it is basically built for exactly what you want and you can add a level of Wizard to get anything outstanding around level 5. Just go Elf Ranger, specialise in monster slaying and buy two swords, silvering one. Elf gets you dark vision, poison resistance, a little innate magic if you want it and trancing, Ranger gets you monster slaying, preferred enemies, investigation, martial proficiency a little magic for fulfilling Quen, tracking and various fighting bonuses. One level of Wizard gets you 3 cantrips and 6 first level spells for building out your signs if needed.

EDIT: This comes up on /tg/ periodically, people always want to build a witcher but try to not use Ranger because it's acknowledged as a weak class, but it really is exactly the class for what you want to be doing here.

 

[DarklordKyo]

EDIT: This comes up on /tg/ periodically, people always want to build a witcher but try to not use Ranger because it's acknowledged as a weak class, but it really is exactly the class for what you want to be doing here.

Ehh, the reason why I didn't want to is because Rangers are meant to be...well...Rangers. Aren't most Witchers more melee-centric?, defeats the purpose of carrying two different types of swords if you're not going to use them.

 

[EscapistAccount]

Ehh, the reason why I didn't want to is because Rangers are meant to be...well...Rangers. Aren't most Witchers more melee-centric?, defeats the purpose of carrying two different types of swords if you're not going to use them.

Rangers are essentially fighters with more tracking stuff, they drop some of the additional attacks and such for being what I like to call 'the rogue of the countryside'. The best bit is the tracking, it allows you the kind of insights that witchers enjoy because rangers get additional info on tracking, remember Geralt spends as much time figuring out what a monster is as killing it.

You can build a bowranger or a wolfranger but melee rangers are doable and even have a favoured enemy slot plus an archetype that allows you to gear yourself towards killing big, colossal or horde enemies.

 

[TheFinish]

Charm Person

The Charm/Hold line of spells is in the Enchantment school, so that doesn't work out. Unless he takes it as his 8th level spell and holds off on Yrden till 14th, at which point he might as well take the much better Slow instead of Earthen Graps.

From the Eldritch Knight Archetype, and I quote:

"Spells Known of 1st-LeveI and Higher: You know three 1st level wizard spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the abjuration and evocation spells on the wizard spell list." - 5th Edition Player's Guide, page 75, emphasis mine.

Picking Burning Hands, Shield, and Charm Person is perfectly kosher. Three spells, all in the Wizard spell list, all 1st level, two of them are Abjuration or Evocation.

EDIT: a slew of horrible typos. Don't copy paste directly from a PDF folks!

Whoops, right you are. Somehow I completely missed that. Don't judge, reading is hard! Get off of my back, dammit!

Guess the Eldritch Knight gets the job done after all. Shame most of the Sign spells have Saves. He'll probably have to spread out his resources among his melee and spellcasting, which may become disadvantageous in the long run. I'd personally pump martial and complement with no-save utility spells, so I can keep INT at the bare minimal requirements, freeing up resources for other stuff. But that's just the minmaxer in me talking.

Yeah, it's usually the case with these sort of hybrid characters: you get to diversify, but you're not gonna be very good at everything. I agree that ideally as an Eldritch Knight you'd load up on self buffs whenever possible so you can dump Int more, but c'est la vie. The Bloodrager from Pathfinder has the same "problem".

EDIT: This comes up on /tg/ periodically, people always want to build a witcher but try to not use Ranger because it's acknowledged as a weak class, but it really is exactly the class for what you want to be doing here.

Ehh, the reason why I didn't want to is because Rangers are meant to be...well...Rangers. Aren't most Witchers more melee-centric?, defeats the purpose of carrying two different types of swords if you're not going to use them.

As EscapistAccount has pointed out, making a melee ranger is pretty easy, and they're good at it. Now, the only combat style that'd do anything for you is Defense, but defense ain't bad. Only problem with Ranger is the spells because you need to multiclass if you want the spells. But a Fighter/Ranger would be fine, as long as you don't mind just not using ranger spells all that much.

And regarding weapon choice, go with a greatsword, not a longsword, it's much better if you're going to use the Longsword two-handed anyway. But, either way, I'd recommend taking Great Weapon Mastery at 4th level; and Tough, Martial Adept (pick Parry and Riposte as your two maneuvers) and War Caster are good feat choices as well (the last one is particularly good since you can use your two hander and cast spells willy nilly, so I recommend taking it at 6th level if you plan to pew pew zzzzap a lot)

 

[DarklordKyo]

And regarding weapon choice, go with a greatsword, not a longsword, it's much better if you're going to use the Longsword two-handed anyway. But, either way, I'd recommend taking Great Weapon Mastery at 4th level; and Tough, Martial Adept (pick Parry and Riposte as your two maneuvers) and War Caster are good feat choices as well (the last one is particularly good since you can use your two hander and cast spells willy nilly, so I recommend taking it at 6th level if you plan to pew pew zzzzap a lot)

I know, I use a Greatsword with my Paladin. Thing is that I primarily wanted to two hand the sword because Witcher swordplay is best done so (if the third game's animations, apparently mo-capped by an actual swordsman, are any indication).

Plus, Rangers are built with dex builds in mind.

Seriously, still don't get why you, somehow, can't two hand a shortsword.

 

[DarklordKyo]

One level of Wizard gets you 3 cantrips and 6 first level spells for building out your signs if needed.

Multiclassing into Wizard is kinda MADy though. Two different spell stats means either specializing in one, master of none, or mage in armor.

 

[TheFinish]

And regarding weapon choice, go with a greatsword, not a longsword, it's much better if you're going to use the Longsword two-handed anyway. But, either way, I'd recommend taking Great Weapon Mastery at 4th level; and Tough, Martial Adept (pick Parry and Riposte as your two maneuvers) and War Caster are good feat choices as well (the last one is particularly good since you can use your two hander and cast spells willy nilly, so I recommend taking it at 6th level if you plan to pew pew zzzzap a lot)

I know, I use a Greatsword with my Paladin. Thing is that I primarily wanted to two hand the sword because Witcher swordplay is best done so (if the third game's animations, apparently mo-capped by an actual swordsman, are any indication).

Plus, Rangers are built with dex builds in mind.

Seriously, still don't get why you, somehow, can't two hand a shortsword.

Because it's a light weapon, and you've never been able to two hand light weapons, ever. Besides, imagine two-handing somethine like a gladius or a dagger. It wouldn't work. You can barely two hand an arming sword, anything smaller just looks silly.

Besides, why would you want a shortsword? Witchers use longswords/greatswords

 

[DarklordKyo]

Because it's a light weapon, and you've never been able to two hand light weapons, ever. Besides, imagine two-handing somethine like a gladius or a dagger. It wouldn't work. You can barely two hand an arming sword, anything smaller just looks silly.

Besides, why would you want a shortsword? Witchers use longswords/greatswords

Ranger was suggested as the best choice, and it's built around dex builds. That said, Longswords and Greatswords aren't finesse weapons. Point taken with my initial Eldritch Knight idea though.

 

[TheFinish]

Because it's a light weapon, and you've never been able to two hand light weapons, ever. Besides, imagine two-handing somethine like a gladius or a dagger. It wouldn't work. You can barely two hand an arming sword, anything smaller just looks silly.

Besides, why would you want a shortsword? Witchers use longswords/greatswords

Ranger was suggested as the best choice, and it's built around dex builds. That said, Longswords and Greatswords aren't finesse weapons. Point taken with my initial Eldritch Knight idea though.

Only a two-weapon fighter or an archer ranger needs Dex. Or rather, needs to be built with Dex as a primary attribute. Nothing in the package gives you benefits based on it, and proficiency with medium armor means going with Dex above 14 is a waste (unless, again, you wish to be two-weapon fighter or an archer).

Any other kind of ranger, be it sword and shield, two-hander, polearm, whatever, can really just not focus on Dex, pump Str and Wis, and be fine (well, probably also pump Con too, if you're a frontliner)