MadCap's D&D Builds - Miraak (Elder Scrolls) (5e)

Let's do another build! It's time to make the insidious sorcerer Miraak! Our first Elder Scrolls build! (Seriously, how is this only the first one?)

Miraak is the First Dragonborn (who the hell is St. Alessia anyway?), battled by the Last Dragonborn in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC Dragonborn to the death in the realm of Apocrypha. Originally a Dragon Priest, Miraak betrayed the dragons of Nirn and threw his lot in with the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, Hermaeus Mora. He's a powerful sorcerer, one who was able to last many thousands of years beyond what should have been his death and - were it not for the Last Dragonborn's emerging - would have likely conquered the island of Solstheim and all of Tamriel.

So what do we need for this build?

• Magical Abilities. Miraak is not only a powerful sorcerer in his own right, but he's also spent millennia in Apocrypha, learning the forbidden knowledge of his patron Hermaeus Mora. No doubt he's picked up a few goodies.
• Tentacles. Miraak has indeed seen enough hentai to know where this is going. Also, he served as the Champion for Hermaeus Mora for some time.
• Shouts. In particular Bend Will and Dragon Aspect as those are the big ticket items from Dragonborn.

We'll start off with the Standard Point Array for Ability Scores from the Player's Handbook. I recommend rolling for stats as always, but you do you, boo.

Charisma: 15

Miraak was the leader of a cult in ancient Skyrim and his followers remain even into the Fourth Era, several thousand years after he should have already been dead. That's some serious power.

Constitution: 14

Miraak has lived several thousand years beyond what a human of Nirn should have lived.

Intelligence: 13

He is the Champion of the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, after all. Despite his powers not necessarily coming from books and study, he has nonetheless been surrounded by books and no doubt studied.

Strength: 12

Miraak does have a sword that he puts to use.

Dexterity: 10

Miraak is quick, but clearly not quick enough to avoid the tentacles of Hermaeus Mora.

Wisdom: 8

Miraak threw in with a Daedric Prince... and then tried to double cross that Daedric Prince. Common sense might tell you why that's a bad idea.

For race, Miraak is actually a Nord in the game files of Dragonborn. By lore, he's a Proto-Nord or Atmoran. Either way, human is the way we're going. Specifically a Variant Human that lets us add +1 to two different ability scores. We'll take Charisma (16) and Intelligence (14). You also get a free Skill and a free Feat. For skills, take Intimidation and History to scare others and know your history, respectively. You are, after all, a well read and imposing cult leader.

For your Feat, we'll take Prodigy from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The details are on page 75 of that book.  With Prodigy, we gain a new skill, tool, or language of your choice. In our case, we'll pick up Deception for our free skill. We also gain Expertise in one skill of our choice, which we'll be using when we get to the first level.

For background, we'll go with Acolyte, and pick up Insight and Religion. Miraak did serve the dragons as a priest and later became a champion of Hermaeus Mora. The guy knows where his strengths are, definitely.

1st Level: Sorcerer (1)

Go for Arcana and Persuasion for your skills of choice from the Sorcerer list. Arcana, by the way, is the skill that Prodigy will be applied to, double the proficiency bonus for skill checks that use it.

New Sorcerers get Spellcasting and thus get to choose four cantrips and two 1st level spells from the Sorcerer list

Cantrips:

• fire bolt
• mage hand
• ray of frost
• shocking grasp

1st Level Spells:

• charm person
• mage armor

So with the cantrips, you cover fire, frost, and electric damage for a big of variety and mage hand is just a great utility spell. Legitimately, spells that have use outside of combat can be just as big a contributor as the damage dealing ones.

For the 1st level spells, charm person acts as the first word of the "Bend Will" shout and mage armor makes for an effective protection which sorcerers can't afford to not have.

At first level, Sorcerers pick a Sorcerous Origin. We'll be going with the Draconic Bloodline. At first level, it's time to choose a Dragon Ancestor. The dragons of Nirn can have multiple colors, but the one most associated with Miraak is Sahrotaar, a Dragon with a bluish gray skin. So, we'll go with Blue which is associated with Lightning.

You also gain the Draconic language, though I don't put as much emphasis on the language acquisitions in most of my builds. At the very least, you have knowledge of the Thu'um.

Oh, and your AC when you aren't wearing armor is 13 + your Dexterity... and your Dexterity is a +0. Oops...

2nd Level: Sorcerer (2)

At the second level, Sorcerers receive a Font of Magic. Miraak now has two sorcery points that can be used for various abilities, in particular at this point Creating Spell Slots. The relevant table is on page 101 of the Player's Handbook. You will gain more sorcery points as you level up.

Miraak also picks up a brand new shiny first level spell.

1st Level Spell:

• jump

Jump gives some mobility options as well as giving a sort of Whirlwind Sprint Shout. Sort of.

3rd Level: Sorcerer (3)

Sorcerers get Metamagic giving them two special abilities to twist spells.

Metamagic options:

• Distant spell
• Quickened spell

One of the fun things about Sorcerers is Metamagic, and here we have Distant Spell to double the range of any spell you can cast for just a sorcery point and turning any touch spell into a range of 30 feet. Quickened Spell likewise allows you to spend two sorcery points to turn the casting of a spell that takes 1 action into one bonus action.

By the way, this doesn't just apply to Sorcerer spells, but any spells that you can cast!

Second level spells get unlocked at 3rd level.

2nd level:

• hold person

Hold person serves as another facet of the Bend Will shout, targeting a humanoid and holding them in place if they fail a save.

4th Level: Sorcerer (4)

At fourth level, Sorcerers receive an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. War Caster is a fun one that provides the following perks:

• Advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain Concentration on a spell when taking damage.
• Ability to perform the somatic components of a spell even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.
• The ability to use spells as a reaction when a creature provokes an attack of Opportunity upon you, so long as the spell you choose has a casting time of one action and only targets that creature.

You also receive a new cantrip and a new spell.

Cantrip:

• thunderclap

2nd level:

• misty step

Consider this a low rent version of the Become Ethereal shout.

5th Level: Sorcerer (5)

Sorcerers at this level get only a new spell as well as access to 3rd level spells.

3rd level:

• tongues

Is this a silly choice? Sure. Am I doing it anyway? Yes.

6th Level: Sorcerer (6)

At the sixth level of Sorcerer, Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers get Elemental Affinity. When you cast a spell with a damage type associated with your Draconic Ancestor (in this case Lightning), you can add your Charisma modifier to one spell damage roll. By spending 1 sorcery point, you can also gain resistance to that damage type for 1 hour.

So, it won't surprise you what the spell we're choosing for this level is.

3rd level:

• lightning bolt

7th Level: Sorcerer (7)

Sorcerers at 7th Level get access to 4th level spells.

4th level:

• banishment

With banishment, you can cast the Dragonborn back to Nirn to await your arrival! Hahahahaha!

8th Level: Sorcerer (8)

At eighth level, Sorcerers get an Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Boost your Charisma (17) and Constitution (15). We have uneven numbers, but we'll fix that soon enough, don't worry!

You also get a new spell

4th level:

• dominate beast

Again, doing plenty of variations of Bend Will here. Varying degrees of the Words.

9th Level: Sorcerer (9)

Sorcerers at ninth level get access to 5th level spells. This gives us an ability I've been looking forward to getting...

5th level:

• summon draconic spirit

Here's your ability to summon the aforementioned Sahrotaar to aid you in battle. It's actually a first for these builds, coming from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons and can be found on pages 21 and 22 in that book.

10th Level: Warlock (1)

We're moving over to Warlock now, where you choose an Otherworldly Patron and receive Pact Magic from them.

Otherworldly Patron: Great Old One

Yes, Miraak did throw his lot in with Hermaeus Mora, after all. All tentacles and raspy voice. I did set his Wisdom at 8, didn't I?

As a brand new Warlock of the Great Old One, you receive the Awakened Mind, which gives you telepathy with any creature out to 30 feet from you so long as you both speak a language (not necessarily the same one).

Spellcasting gets a little funky with Warlock when it comes to multiclassing. You have your slots from your previous spellcasting class and slots from your Warlock class and can use slots from your other class to cast Warlock spells and Warlock slots to cast spells from your other class. Check out page 164 in the Player's Handbook if you need more details on it.

Starting out as a Warlock, you can choose two cantrips and two first level spells from the warlock list.

cantrips:

• eldritch blast
• toll the dead

1st level:

• cause fear
• hex

There are many reasons to do strange things in builds, having warlock levels and not taking eldritch blast is not one of them. Plus, you can reflavor it as tentacles you conjure from Hermaeus Mora and we can get some tricks to make that comparison even more apt shortly. Toll the dead is just a great spell for adding insult to injury.

For our spell choices, cause fear works well as an equivalent of the Dismay shout. Hex is pretty good as a flavored variety of the Marked for Death shout.

To note, also, we do get an expanded spell list from being a Great Old One Warlock (page 110 of the Player's Handbook), which will be referencing when it becomes appropriate to do so!

11th Level: Warlock (2)

At second level, Warlocks get their first two Eldritch Invocations.

Invocations:

• eldritch spear
• agonizing blast

Eldritch Spear increases the range of your eldritch blast to 300 feet. Couple that with Distant Spell from your Sorcerer levels and there are very few things in the world that can go further than you.

Agonizing Blast gives those tentacles straight out of Apocrypha a little more bit, adding your Charisma modifier to the damage. 

Warlocks also get a new spell.

1st level:

• expeditious retreat

A more souped up Whirlwind Sprint.

12th Level: Warlock (3)

At the third level, Warlocks receive a Pact Boon. Pact of the Blade allows you to summon a melee weapon that you have proficiency in. This counts as magical for overcoming resistance and immunity. If you come across a magical weapon that you like a lot - say, a sword that can turn into a tentacle and hit someone from a distance, you can do an hour-long ritual to make that weapon your new pact weapon. However, it can't do anything to an artifact or sentient weapon.

Also, you get access to 2nd level spells and get to pick up a brand spankin' new one!

2nd level:

• mirror image

...yeah, I guess you could call this another spin on Become Ethereal. Honestly, I just like mirror image as a defensive or stalling option in combat.

13th Level: Warlock (4)

At fourth level, Warlocks get their first Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Round off your Charisma (18) and bump up your Constitution (16) for better silver tongued skills and to boost up your Health and Concentration.

You can also pick another cantrip and a spell.

cantrip:

• poison spray

2nd level:

• enthrall

Again, more rifts on the Bend Will shout.

14th Level: Warlock (5)

At fifth level, Warlocks get a new Eldritch Invocation.

Invocation:

• thirsting blade

You can attack twice, instead of once, with your Pact Weapon. Essentially, this is an Extra Attack with... significantly more steps.

You also gain access to 3rd level Warlock spells.

3rd level:

• counterspell

...okay, look, this is just a good spell to have. Sue me.

15th Level: Warlock (6)

At sixth level, Warlocks pick up a new gift from their patron. Entropic Ward lets you use your reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack against you. If it misses, your next attack roll has advantage on that target so long as the attack is made before the end of your next turn. You gain this feature back after a short or long rest.

Warlocks also gain another spell

3rd level:

• Hunger of Hadar

A fun tentacle-based spell to toss in!

16th Level: Warlock (7)

At seventh level, Warlocks open up the 4th Level of Spells and receive their fourth Eldritch Invocation.

4th level:

• charm monster

There we go, the capstone for our Bend Will knock offs. Get out there and bend you a dragon to your will! Just make sure to keep an eye on the clock. When an hour is up, that dragon is gonna know what you did and it's gonna be pissed.

Eldritch Invocation:

• eldritch smite

Sure, it requires a successful attack and burning a warlock spell slot (of which, I might add, you have 2 of at seventh level) to do an extra 1d8 force damage and knock a target of Huge or smaller prone... but here's your Unrelenting Force. Boom.

17th Level: Warlock (8)

At 8th level, Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Spell Sniper gives you a bunch of fun abilities such as:

• Doubling the range of a spell that requires you to make an attack roll.
• Ranged spells from you ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
• Learn one cantrip from that requires an attack roll from the Bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list.

Sorcerer cantrip:

• chill touch

...yeah, not exactly the most thrilling of spell selections, but the rest of it is what we're big on for the build.

You also get a new spell.

4th level:

• Evard's black tentacles

One more tentacle spell? I think so!

18th Level: Sorcerer (10)

Popping back to Sorcerer again, the 10th level of that sees us get a new Metamagic option.

Metamagic Option:

• Transmuted Spell

Now, you can burn a sorcery point and convert the damage of a spell from acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder to acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder.

At tenth level, Sorcerers get a new spell and we're gonna keep playing around at the 5th level.

5th level:

• Hold Monster

...okay, sorry, one more Bend Will. Sue me. Or if you want to reflavor this with tentacles, that's an option, too.

19th Level: Sorcerer (11)

Sorcerers at 11th level get 6th level spells.

6th level:

• chain lightning

20th Level: Sorcerer (12)

Our capstone is gonna be the 12th level of Sorcerer, which nets us our final Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Eldritch Adept allows you to select an Eldritch Invocation from the Warlock list so long as you have either Spellcasting or the Pact Magic feat. Lucky for you, you have both! ...and you're a Warlock if there's any prerequisite of level for that invocation.

Eldritch Invocation:

• Grasp of Hadar

With Grasp of Hadar, you can draw your enemies in so that it's easier for you to hit them with melee attacks. The tendrils of Hermaeus Mora

Also, a twelfth level Sorcerer gets access to 6th level spells.

6th level:

• Investiture of flame

So this isn't exactly Dragon Aspect, but it's close enough. Check out page 159 of Xanathar's Guide to Everything for the deets.

Now that we've hit level twenty, let's look at our pros and cons.

Pros:

• You have a ridiculous amount of ways to do damage and a way to convert that damage into other types. Lightning not working on an enemy? Burn a Sorcery point and make it fire. With your Pact weapon, you always have a magic weapon on hand. And, if all that doesn't work, just drop a dragon on them!
• You have decent environmental control with spells like hold person and hold monster or Evard's Black Tentacles and the like. You can also get some temporary allies with your dominate and charm spells that can turn the tide of a battle.
• You have eldritch blast souped up quite a bit. With Eldritch Spear, you set your maximum distance at 300 feet. With Spell Sniper, you can double that range to 600, and then with Distant Spell you can double it again to 1200! Basically, there is no range where someone is completely safe from the four beams you can send after them. Plus, with War Caster, you can do that as a reaction... and pull them ten feet closer to you. And did I mention that the only thing that will save them is complete cover?

Cons:

• While you have sorcerer spell slots to do warlock spells and warlock spell slots to do sorcerer spells with, warlocks getting screwed over by lack of spell slots. Particularly when their replacement is Invocations... and not all of them are great. Also, you're not as good a warlock or a sorcerer as you'd be if you focused on one or the other.
• A higher Constitution score helps out, but your AC is pathetic and one of your combat styles with that is using spells and abilities to draw enemies in close and pummel the hell out of them. Some of your kit like investiture of flame can help, but only so much.
• While you have a lot of variety in spells and damage, some of your big ticket items are Concentration spells. They're very powerful and you have a good shot at maintaining them if you are attacked, but concentrating there means you'll likely not be focusing on too much of anything else.

In the end, Miraak's build is more than a little scattered above. A general theme is there, largely built around bending the battlefield to your will and burning, shocking, freezing, or poisoning the things that you can't. So rise in Solstheim once again, call your cult to you, and continue your plans to conquer Tamriel and the rest of Nirn. Just be sure you're looking over your shoulder. Your boss might not be the only one with his eyes on you...