Okay, seriously. It's time for me to get my butt back in gear. I've left everyone hanging down in the mines of Valentine and it's kind of ridiculous how long I've waited to write anything again for the blog. No more of that. It's time to kick it into gear.
And who with? Well, you can read the title of the post.
Zephram Cochrane time!
Yeah, no, that would have required actual planning. Happy Day before First Contact Day, everybody!
No, it's time to build Leliana from the Dragon Age, my first waifu from that particular franchise. A bard turned Laysister of the Chantry turned bard again and eventually a Hand of the Divine before becoming a Spymaster of the Inquisition (and potentially a Divine herself), Leliana has led a very interesting life and has picked up a ridiculous set of skills in her time adventuring across the length and breadth of Thedas. I'm going to do my best to translate her as best I can into Dungeons & Dragons using Fifth Edition mechanics.
So what will we need for this build?
The Nightingale Sings - Leliana is a bard, after all, so we'll need some bard skills to reflect that to help beef up the party and keep them on track.
Left Hand of the Divine - Leliana was the spymaster and an agent of the Divine Justinia as well as a sneaky stabby type during her time as a bard in Orlais. We'll have a reflection of some of that, too.
Fighting in the Maker's Name - If Origins is any indication, Leliana is an accomplished fighter out of the shadows as well. Best we try and reflect that as best we can.
For stats, we'll be using the standard point array out of the Player's Handbook. Roll for stats if you wish and use this as a guide for what is to come.
Charisma: 15
Leliana is a bard, after all. Other than just going "lol she's hawt" (I mean, she is, but c'mon), this is clearly a trait of hers that has served her well over the years.
Dexterity: 14
Leliana is proficient in stealth and with ranged weaponry. Seriously, with the right items you can absolutely make her broken in Origins. It's just great.
Intelligence: 13
Leliana is very smart, having a variety of knowledge about the Maker and his works as well as many stories and songs from across multiple cultures in Thedas.
Constitution is a little lower than I'd like, we just need other things more.
Wisdom: 10
Leliana is rather wise, but she also believes she hears the voice of the Maker. More to the point, she is willing to communicate this to others, which isn't necessarily the best of ideas.
Strength: 8
We'll be dumping Strength. Don't worry, we won't really need it for this build, although there will be melee options.
Leliana is going to start off life as a Variant Human as she is quite a Human herself. Variant Humans get a boost to two Ability Scores of your choice. In the case of Leliana, we'll be boosting her Charisma and her Dexterity for better Bard skills and for Ranged attacks later on.
You also receive one free skill, we'll be going with Religion to reflect her background as a believer in the Maker and we also get a free Feat. Actor will increase our Charisma by 1 to a total of 20. Leliana will gain advantage on Deception or Performance checks when trying to pass herself off as a different person, can mimic the sound of another person or sounds made by creatures that she's heard the sound of for at least 1 minute and this is contested by a successful Insight against your Deception.
For background, we'll be doing the Spy variant of the Criminal background. Tapping that will give us proficiency in Deception and Stealth along with Thieves' Tools and one type of gaming set. Leliana also gains the feature of Criminal Contact, which gives her a reliable and trustworthy contact among the seedy underbelly of society. She knows how to get messages to her contact and from her contact even over great distances through various means.
We'll start this show with the first level going to Bard (1). A first level Bard gets Proficiency in light armor, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords. They also gain proficiency in three instruments of your choice. Pick any three you want, so long as the lute is one since that's a gift Leliana can receive canonically.
Leliana receives Saving Throw proficiency in Dexterity and Charisma. She also receives any three skills. In our case, we'll take History, Performance, and Persuasion. Leliana knows her lore, knows more than a few good songs (and has a wonderful singing voice), and is known for using her silver tongue on more than a few occasions. Six skills to start off, not too shabby, but don't worry we will get more!
At first level, Bards get access to Spellcasting and use Charisma as their Spellcasting modifier. Starting out, Leliana knows two cantrips from the Bard list. Go with Prestidigitation and Vicious Mockery (rather like Warlocks without Eldritch Blast, I see no reason to not have a Bard with Vicious Mockery).
Bards also have four spells starting out at the 1st level. Dissonant Whispers forces a Wisdom save on a creature within 60 feet of you. If it fails, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must immediately use its action to move as far away from you as possible, though it won't move toward anything that will immediately cause it harm. A deafened creature will automatically succeed on the roll and using a spell slot higher than 1st level will bump up the damage by 1d6 per level.
Identify allows Leliana to learn the magical properties of any item she touches, including how to use them, how many charges they have, and whether or not it requires an attunement.
Comprehend Languages allows Leliana to discern the literal meaning of any spoken language and to be able to do the same to any written language so long as she's touching the surface or object the language is written on. This last for up to a minute with no concentration required, but does not work on any sort of glyph or cipher such as a coded language.
Heroism imbues a creature Leliana touches with bravery, making them immune to being frightened and granting them temporary hit points equal to Leliana's Spellcasting modifier for up to 1 minute depending on her concentration. Putting this in a spell slot of 2nd or higher allows her to target one additional creature per level.
And finally, first level Bards receive the power of Bardic Inspiration, allowing her to give a creature a bonus of a d6 on an attack, ability check, or a saving throw. She can give her love the Hero of Ferelden an inspiring wink before he charges in to fight the Darkspawn. Leliana can do this a number of times equal to her Charisma modifier before getting all uses back during a long rest.
Second level Bard (2) gives us Jack of All Trades. Leliana can now add half her proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check she makes that doesn't already include her proficiency bonus.
Leliana also learns the Song of Rest, allowing all allies that hear her performance at the end of a long rest to regain 1d6 hit points.
Leliana also picks up a new spell at 2nd level. Longstrider allows you to touch a creature and increase their movement speed by 10 feet for up to an hour, no concentration needed. Using a spell slot of 2nd or higher will allow Leliana to target one additional creature per level of slot used.
Hopping up to third level, we'll key into Bard (3). Third level Bards must pick a Bard College and I debated over this for quite some time before I finally came to the conclusion of there being only one appropriate college: the College of Whispers. This reflects her more seedy days in Orlais pretty well in my opinion, though she could just as easily be from the College of Lore or the College of Glamour if you wanted to use those. For the purposes of this build, however, College of Whispers it is.
Getting into the College gets Leliana the power of Psychic Blades, allowing her to expend a use of Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage after hitting a target with a weapon attack. As she increases the Bard level, Leliana will be able to do 3d6 damage at 5th level all the way to 8d6 at 15th.
She also gets Words of Terror. If Leliana is alone with a humanoid creature and speaks to it for at least 1 minute, she had use Words of Terror to force a Wisdom saving throw against her Spellcasting DC. If they fall, the target is frightened of Leliana or by another creature of her choice for one hour until it is attacked, damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged.
If the target succeeds on the roll, then they have no idea that Leliana tried to frighten them.
This feature can be used once per long or short rest.
Leliana also gains Expertise, allowing her to double her proficiency bonus on two chosen skill proficiencies. We'll go with Persuasion and Performance to boost her Bard-y-ness.
Third level Bards also receive 2nd level spells. Hold Person allows Leliana to choose one humanoid within sixty feet and force a Wisdom saving throw on them. If it fails, then it's paralyzed for up to a minute depending on your Concentration. Using it in a spell slot of 3rd or higher allows Leliana to target an additional humanoid, so long as each target is within 30 feet of each other.
At fourth level, we'll once more go into Bard (4) and get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. Go for Skilled, which nets you any three skills off of the list that you don't already have. We're going to take Acrobatics, Animal Handling, and Athletics. So, for those of you keeping score, that means we're up to nine skills now.
Leliana picks up a new cantrip (Message) as well as a new spell. Pop back to the 1st level of Bard and pick up Animal Friendship. Animal Friendship allows Leliana to convince a beast of at least Intelligence 4 or higher that she means them no harm, forcing a Wisdom save from it to avoid being charmed. If Leliana or a companion harms the creature, the spell immediately ends. Using a spell slot of 2nd or higher increases the number of beasts affected for each spell slot level used.
Fifth level Bards (5) see their Bardic Inspiration bumped up from a d6 to a d8 and receive a Font of Inspiration. Font of Inspiration allows Leliana to regain all expended uses of her Bardic Inspiration when she completes a long or short rest.
Fifth level Bards also get access to third level spells. Dispel Magic allows Leliana to choose one creature, object, or magical effect within 120 feet. Making an ability check of DC 10 + the level of the spell and succeeding will break the effect. If used in a spell slot of 4th or higher, the spell will end the effect of any spell that is equal to or lower than that level automatically. No check required!
At sixth level, a Bard (6) gains the power of Countercharm. This allows Leliana to use musical notes or words of power to disrupt a mind-influence effect. She starts a performance as an action that gives her and any friendly creatures within 30 feet of her advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed. Of course, the creatures in question have to be able to hear her to gain the benefit.
Also, a new spell is learned. Knock from the 2nd level allows Leliana to force a door, box, chest, set of manacles, padlock, or another object with a mundane lock to become open, unbarred, or unstuck. If there are multiple locks, only one gets unlocked per use of the spell. If the target is sealed with an arcane lock, it will suppress it for ten minutes. The spell has an effect of making a large, audible knock that can be heard from up to 300 feet away.
At seventh level Bard (7), Leliana doesn't gain any cool abilities, but does gain access to fourth level spells! Freedom of Movement allows Leliana to touch a creature and see that their movement is unaffected by difficult terrain, spell effects, and their speed can't be slowed, nor can they be magically restrained or paralyzed for up to 1 hour.
The target can spend 5 feet of movement to escape non-magical restraints or disengage from a creature that they're grappling. Also, fun note, being underwater no longer imposes penalties on the target's movement or attacks, so go nuts!
At eighth level, Bards (8) get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat and it's time to start rounding off stats. Boost up your Charisma and either your Intelligence. Why Intelligence? Don't worry, you'll understand why very soon.
Also, Leliana can pick up a new spell here. Charm Monster works the same as Charm Person, but without being restricted to humanoids. When I make characters, I usually just wait to pick up Charm Monster instead of Charm Person, but you do you.
At ninth level, we'll actually be moving over to Fighter (1) with our lovely Dexterity for multiclassing minimum (which should be at least at 14 if you're following this build).
At first level, Fighters multiclassing in get proficiency in light and medium armor, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. They also choose a Fighting Style. In the case of Leliana, she'll be choosing Archery, which nets her a +2 bonus to attack rolls with Ranged Weapons.
Fighters also get a Second Wind, where they may use a bonus action to regard hit points equal to 1d10 + their fighter level. They regain the use of this ability after finishing a short or long rest.
At tenth level, a Fighter (2) receives the power of Action Surge. Action Surge allows Leliana to push herself beyond her normal limits and take an additional action on top of her regular action, reaction, and bonus action. She regains the ability to do so again after a short or long rest.
At eleventh level, Leliana continues into Fighter (3) and must choose a Martial Archetype. If you've been seeing the very subtle clues, we'll be going with Arcane Archer from Xanathar's Guide To Everything. Arcane Archers gain Arcane Lore where they can choose proficiency in either the Arcana or Nature skill, we'll be going with Arcana. You can also choose to pick up a cantrip of either prestidigitation or druidcraft. Go for druidcraft.
Druidcraft allows Leliana to produce one of the following effects:
- create a tiny, harmless sensory effect that predicts what the weather will be at your location for the next 24 hours. The effect might manifest as a golden orb for clear skies, a cloud for rain falling snowflakes for snow, and so on. This effect persists for 1 round.
- instantly make a flower blossom, a seed pod open, or a leaf bud bloom.
- create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as falling leaves, a puff of wind, the sound of a small animal, or the faint odor of skunk. The effect must fit in a 5-foot cube.
- instantly light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
Arcane Archers also gain two uses of Arcane Shot. Arcane Shot is detailed on page 28 and 29 of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. It's good stuff. For the purposes of our build, we'll be taking Bursting Arrow - which makes any target hit by the arrow take an extra 2d6 force damage. This also applies to any creatures within 10 feet of the target, no save - and Beguiling Arrow - a target being hit causes them 2d6 psychic damage as well as forcing a Wisdom saving throw on them. If they fail, they are either charmed by Leliana or by a creature of her choice until the start of her next turn. Like with most charming effects, this ends early if the object of their new affections attacks them, deals damage to them, or forces them to make a saving throw.
It's notable, Leliana can only do this twice before needing to take a short or long rest.
Twelfth level brings us up to Fighter (4) again and gives us our first Ability Score Improvement or Feat for that class. We'll be taking Sharpshooter. Sharpshooter gives Leliana a variety of benefits such as:
- attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on ranged attack rolls.
- ranged weapon attacks now ignore half and three-quarters cover.
- Before making an attack, Leliana can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll in order to add +10 to the attack's damage.
Thirteenth level into Fighter (5) once again, giving us Extra Attack. Extra Attack allows you to take the attack action twice instead of just once in a round. See why we went for the Sharpshooter feat? Oh, yeah.
At fourteenth level going into Fighter (6), we get another Ability Score Improvement or Feat. We'll be boosting Dexterity and Intelligence to increase ranged weapon hit and damage and boost the spell DC for Leliana's Arcane Shot, respectively.
At fifteenth level, Leliana goes into Fighter (7) again and as an Arcane Archer gets a few new tricks.
Magic Arrow makes any shot that Leliana shoots from a non-magical shortbow or longbow, and it is magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunity. This magic only lasts as long as the attack, dissipating after either a successful hit or a miss.
Curving Shot lets Leliana use her bonus action to change the target of a missed shot to another target within 60 feet of the original and reroll the attack.
She also gains another Arcane Shot Option. Grasping Arrow strikes a target and wraps it up in conjured brambles that do 2d6 poison damage to them, reduce its speed by 10 feet, and it takes 2d6 slashing damage the first time they move more than a foot on their turn without teleporting. The target can use an Athletics check against Leliana's spell save DC to escape it. If they don't, the brambles disappear after one minute or when Leliana takes another Arcane Shot.
At sixteenth level, Leliana again goes into Fighter (8) and receives another Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Again, boosting your Dexterity and Intelligence.
Seventeenth level takes Leliana up to Fighter (9) and she gains the ability Indomitable. Leliana can reroll a saving throw that she fails. If she does so, she has to use the new roll. This ability can't be used against until she finishes a long rest.
Eighteenth level takes us to the tenth level of Fighter (10) and Leliana picks up another feature from Arcane Archer, specifically a fourth option for Arcane Shot. Piercing Arrow works a little differently than the other options. Rather than an attack roll, Leliana will fire a shot that causes all creatures within a line 1 foot long and 30 feet wide to make a Dexterity save or they take not only the damage of the arrow but also 1d6 piercing damage, taking half damage on a successful save.
Nineteenth level brings us to the eleventh level of Fighter (11). Leliana receives a second use of Extra Attack. With Action Surge, that means you're able to pull four attacks in a round! And two of them can be special trick arrows! Neat!
Our capstone is the twelfth level of Fighter (12) and us getting one last Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Keep the Dexterity and Intelligence going on up.
Now that we've hit level 20, let's look at some pros and cons.
Pros:
- Skill monkeys are a favorite of mine, and you have ten of them to call upon and two of them with Expertise.
- You're a good party face as well as having abilities that can help buff your party in tight spots such as your Bardic Inspiration.
- You have some great utility spells. Identify in particular never goes out of style. You can also get some serious mileage with your cantrips.
- Between Psychic Blades from the College of Whispers and the Arcane Shots, Leliana has a variety of damage types to call upon. You don't cover everything, but you hit a few damage types (in particular Force and Psychic) that very few things in the game have any resistance to. Plus, with Arcane Shot abilities, all your shots from the bow are magical!
Cons:
- The problems with multiclassing become apparent pretty quickly in this build unfortunately. Your spells cap off at 4th level, and you only have a handful of slots altogether. You don't have the same abilities you'd have as a 20th level Bard nor a 20th level Fighter. Jack of All Trades, master of none indeed.
- Despite the dip into fighter, you are really not going to be a melee character. The Fighter hit points will help you be a little meatier, but you're still gonna have a bad time if a raging Barbarian gets within swinging distance. With a low Strength score, you're also going to be thrown around quite a bit. You can potentially circumvent this with Indomitable, but that's a gamble rather than a guarantee.
- Concentration is always something that comes up, and while you only have a few spells that use it, they will lock you down from using too much of anything else.
But hey, you're Leliana. Born of Orlais, companion and lover to the Hero of Ferelden. The Maker has sent you on a holy quest to save the world and you won't delay. Just be careful out there in the world of Thedas. Those Darkspawn have teeth...
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