Due to visual design formatting similar to a monster statblock, these “bespoke character builds” may of course optionally be conveniently used as élite “Fourth-Tier” NPCs or adversaries by any Dungeon Masters who are so inclined－with as much simplification (or further customization) as desired compared to rigorously following a fully detailed “by the book” player-character progression of advancement (which these builds do scrupulously conform to, but which traditionally isn’t deemed necessary for most monsters or NPCs). 🤷🏻

Their primary purpose, however, is to compactly share the essence of various tightly thematic (but hopefully interestingly enough “optimized” to be worth sharing) “character-builds” in a familiar and easily readable 5ₑ D＆D “Monster-Manual statblock” style layout and typesetting. Beyond that, however, these intentionally thorough “opinionated build guides” are meant to function like “grab and go” holistic character concepts: enjoyable and ready to play starting at any level－but with a cohesive plan in place for potential progression through each level of play, and even carefully selected thematically appropriate mundane kit gear as well as suggested magic items to add to a “wishlist” or deliberately quest for if your DM is amenable (or wants to equip an NPC version of the character with some or all of them). Most “mundane” (non-magical) equipment suggested in each character build guide template should be easily affordable through the gold-buy options presented on page 143 of the Player’s Handbook as a starting character, or through treasure gained shortly thereafter during very few levels of play (depending on the character’s starting class and how well the d4 rolls for starting wealth go, of course...); for convenience, thematically appropriate mundane items for these character builds include handy checkboxes in case they cannot all be acquired immediately at the start of play, or in case some are temporarily lost or destroyed during play and you want to track that pending reaquisition or replacement (during which time they can remain unchecked whenever not currently possessed or worn/carried). 🎯

These character summaries can essentially function as “pregenerated-characters” especially suitable for experienced players looking for more variety and complexity through multiclassing to achieve more atypical or cleverly “blended” character concepts－in addition to some hopefully quite thrilling as well as powerful synergies combined with the greater versatility that multiclassing usually brings. Some of these builds may even additionally include a full-sized character sheet with ample explanatory notes optimized to only need small pencil-edits or highlighting of class abilities acquired as character levels increase (to the point where tools like D&D Beyond would not be necessary); regardless, the primary goal of the Monster statblock style format is to provide an easy “roadmap” without any need to buy lots of digital content or click around a lot in complex character-building tools. 💵

That said, while these builds are shared in the hopes that others might find them mechanically interesting (as well as easy to customize and tweak to taste even without any digital character-builder), they’re also intended to be thoughtfully conceived and cohesive “ready to play in almost any setting” clever concepts in terms of suggested names’ etymologies, suggested backstories, and lots of fun roleplaying potential. Some of the builds published on these pages in this format will be for much-loved characters that B.F. Griffith has personally playtested in various 5ₑ D＆D campaigns, while others are merely theorycrafted in the hope that he may one day have the opportunity to experience them in action－whether roleplayed by himself or someone else. Most include at least one multiclass dip, as there is obviously less to bother documenting for sharing with an audience as well as less extensive creative complexity involved in even a well optimized single-class build with strong spell selections. Anyway, B.F. Griffith hopes you enjoy some of these builds as much as he has in creating and/or playing them－and he wishes you all great joy in your gaming no matter what sorts of characters you personally prefer to play! 😁🎲

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