Dungeons & Dragons can be an intimidating game to get into. With six core attributes to manage, a wide range of skills, weapons, armor, and even classes, there is a lot of ways to personalize your character. While many players or Game Masters, sometimes referred to as Dungeon Masters or DMs depending on what tabletop game you're playing, would recommend you stick with a single class, there are plenty of opportunities to make unique, complex characters.
If you have a good understanding of D&D 5e's basic mechanics, you can make some truly amazing builds. Here are great characters you can create as an intermediate player in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Updated February 10th, 2021 by Kristy Ambrose: The term "intermediate" in D&D refers to a wide range of unspecified levels, ranging from about 6 to 14. Players at this point start to get more creative and daring when it comes to rolling characters. These builds start with a fairly simple concept and get more complex as they progress. More possibilities are always appearing thanks to homebrews and third-party resource materials, and don't be afraid to ask your DM or your favorite search engine for further guidance.
13 Barbarian Monk
As the name implies, this multiclass character with all the strength of a Barbarian and the physical prowess of a Monk. Start as a human for the variety of abilities, or use a more exotic class like the Tortle to give yourself some extra AC, but a Goliath or a Bigbear might also be interesting depending on your choices for backstory.
Start at level one as a Barbarian and multiclass at level two or three as a Monk. As a Monk, you have a variety of unarmed abilities to use, and your Barbarian skills still allow you to use a two-handed longsword thanks to the Dedicated Weapon skill.
12 Sorcerer Warlock
One of the best multiclass options in the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons is a Sorcerer and a Warlock. While both classes are somewhat underwhelming on their own, they make for a formidable character when multi-classed together. This is mainly thanks to the insane synergy between Sorcerer Metamagic options and the Warlock's Eldritch Blast Cantrip.
In essence, a Warlock can cast Eldritch blast and deal 1d10 force damage per beam attacking a target, capable of firing four beams at once at 17th level. You can combine this with a quickening spell and cast two of these a turn, and there are various Warlock Invocations that increase the damage Eldritch Blast deals.
11 Sharpshooter Fighter
If you want to fire off a barrage of arrows every turn, you would be forgiven to think Ranger would be the best pick. Experienced Dungeons & Dragons players likely know that Fighter is better for this playstyle, however.
This is thanks to the Sharpshooter Martial Archetype. You can fire an extra time with Rapid Strike and Snap Shot. If you aren't high enough level for those perks, you can always take the Crossbow Expert feat for a similar effect. When you combine these elements with Action Surge and Fighter's extra attacks, you practically have a one-handed machine gun that can fire 10 shots in a single turn with Action Surge.
10 Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Monks are some of the most fun characters you can make in D&D. Being able to dodge attacks with little armor and punch enemies to death never gets old.
You can take this to the next level with Shadow Monks. This subclass allows you to cast Pass Without Trace as an action without materials, walk from one shadow to another, and even turn invisible. This is awesome when combined with a Tabaxi, which have better unarmed strikes than most classes and can choose to move twice as fast for a turn.
9 Iron Man Artificer
Have you ever wanted to roleplay Iron Man in D&D? The recently added Armorer subclass for Artificers allows you to do just that. Armorers are unique in that they can craft unique power armor. This armor can grant you a defensive shield, shoot lighting, or be modified to even let you fly.
Additional spells such as Mirror Image and Shield make you a great tank and deal reasonable damage as well. That's the closest thing to Iron Man you will ever find in Dungeons & Dragons.
8 Shadow Assassin
This build can take on a variety of classes and races as long as they optimize stealth and damage. A Rogue is an obvious choice but other possibilities include Bards or Warlocks. Choose the Criminal background before you get started for a boost on your Deception and Stealth.
The most important stat is Dexterity, so ideal choices for races could be Elves or Halflings, who also have dex bonuses. Tabaxi and Goblins are also great choices if you have access to Volo's Guide to Monsters.
7 Eldritch Knight Fighter
This build doesn't require any multiclassing, although for all intents and purposes that's how it's played. Eldritch Knights are tied to the Fighter class, allowing Fighters to cast spells based on the Wizard spell list. They can bond with their sword to make it inseparable from themselves, attack after casting cantrips, and do the typical lower-level wizardry you'd come to expect. It's a very solid build that allows for Jedi-esque roleplaying if you want to take your character in that direction. There are other builds that come even closer, however.
6 Clockard
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition has done a good job overall balancing every class and preventing insanely overpowered interactions or combos. One of the most powerful healing combinations in the game can be done at level 2.
Start as a Cleric and grab Life as your domain. Then, grab a level in Bard and choose the College of Lore as your subclass. This allows you to grab other spells from other classes. Learn Goodberry and prepare to have the best healing ability in the game. The Life domain will make every berry heal for 3 health plus the spell's level instead of 1 a berry. This means Goodberry heals for an insane 40 health at first level, going up by 10 every subsequent level.
5 Sorcadin
If you are an avid fan of Star Wars, this build is for you. This is one of the closest builds that replicates Jedi or Sith from that iconic franchise. You take either 3 or 6 levels in Paladin and put the rest into Sorcerer. This will grant you and your party an Aura of Protection and allow you to use powerful spells like Charm or Dominate Person to control the battlefield.
Better yet, your main stat is Charisma, allowing you to intimidate or persuade almost anyone in most conversations. The most powerful thing about this build is combining Paladin's Smite ability with Quickened Dominate Person from Sorcerer, making your already powerful Smite automatically crit for absurd damage.
4 Divination Wizard
Divination Wizards are incredibly powerful because they can influence dice rolls. Anyone who's experienced with D&D can tell you how powerful that can be. This works for attacks, saving throws, and even ability checks.
You can amplify this dice control further by playing a Halfing and using their Lucky trait, letting them reroll any critical failures they receive. To make this even crazier, grab the Lucky feat to reroll any three dice rolls per long rest. Bad dice rolls simply do not exist with this character in your party.
3 Shadow Sorcerer
Start with any class that has an elven ancestor to build this powerful mono-class that stars with a Sorcerer and progresses to the Shadow Sorcerer subclass. Start at early levels with damaging spells that have an attack roll, then get Elven accuracy at level 4 to start optimizing your spellcasting abilities. The Shadow Sorcerer eventually reaches an impressive critical hit rating of 15% and the Shadow Step ability makes this build just as fast as a Monk.
2 Barbarian Moon Druid
Out of everything that D&D 5e allows you to do, this is by far the most overpowered build in the entire game. Some Game Masters restrict Wild Shape or flat out ban this multiclass because it is so powerful.
It's a simple concept. You put most of your levels in Druid in the Circle of the Moon subclass and you need to spend at least 3 levels in Barbarian as a Totem Warrior. Select Bear, and now you have resistance to all damage while Raging, can Rage while in Wild Shape, and can morph into a fire elemental. If you die while shapeshifted, you don't lose any health on your main form.
1 Coffelock
You need to talk with your Game Master before you decide to play this build. This character utilized two unique mechanics from Warlock and Sorcerer that allow for infinite spell slots. Start at level 4, having 2 levels split evenly between Warlock and Sorcerer.
You use Flexible Casting to turn your Warlock spells into sorcery points, then you use it to turn the points into spell slots. Take a short rest to get your Warlock spell slots and repeat the process. This allows you to have infinite spell slots, letting you cast any spell you know with little regard for resources.