I forgot to credit our requestor of the previous build, but luck would have it they also requested this one, so many thanks to our lovely family member, @nerdybear91 for both Harry Dresden and Anna DeWitt aka Elizabeth from BioShock: Infinite. Now, let's see what true Multiverse of Madness looks like!
Next Time: Let me solo her!
What do we need to survive navigating a giant floating city filled with brainwashed cultists, until we can finally reach Paris?
Everything & Everywhen (All At Once): Elizabeth's ability to manipulate Tears allow her to perform a multitude of multiversal effects. We will have to flavour a lot to make it look like we have control over all realities.
It's Big Brain Time: Having nothing to do but read, Elizabeth became familiary with a variety of subjects including medicine, music, arts, literature, etc.
Sneaky Supplier: Another interesting skill of Elizabeth's is that she can pick almost any lock we ask her to, and decipher any message. She's observant and can support Booker with resources and money during combat. Also get out of harm ways pretty well despite sometimes standing in the middle of thew fight.
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Elizabeth is a Human. Although her innate powers to manipulate the Tears would qualify her as a Variant Human, we're gonna take it a step further and give her the Mark of Passage from Eberron: Rising from the Last War. We get a +2 Dexterity and a +1 to one ability of our choice (Intelligence), ability to speak Common and one language of our choice, thanks to Courier's Speed our standard speed is 35 feet, with Intuitive Motion we can add 1d4 to any Acrobatics check used to operate and maintain a land vehicle, and if ever we gain the ability to cast spells we get some additional Spells of the Mark. Finally, with Misty Passage we can cast the Misty Step spell once per long rest (with Dexterity as our ability modifier).
Being left alone for so long and having nothing to do but reading made Elizabeth quite a Sage. We gain proficiency in Arcana and History, two languages of our choice, and the Researcher feature; we can now lead Booker around to the right place when trying to find a piece of information (such as code for a lock).
ABILITY SCORES
We're starting with Intelligence; we've spent so long in seclusion with nothing but books. Follow that up with Dexterity, to help us with lockpicking, stealth, and platforming across Columbia. Constitution will be next, we can survive a lot of running and experiments in alternate timeline.
Wisdom will be next, what good is book knowledge if you do not apply it in real life. Charisma is on the lower end; Elizabeth had so little human interaction, she didn't have time to perfect her persuasion or intimidation skills. Finally, we're dumping Strength.
CLASS
Level 1 - Rogue: Running away from your adopted-but-not-really father who was using your powers to control the entire brainwashed city sounds like a good definition of going rogue. We start with a d8 as our Hit Dice, we get [8 + our Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies with light armour, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords, and thieves' tools. Elizabeth doesn't have any armour or weapons in the game, but consider giving her at least a dagger. We'll cover the armour later. Our saving throws are Dexterity and Intelligence, and we get to pick four class skills from the list (Investigation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth).
Rogues start by honing their skills even further with Expertise. We select two skills we're proficient in (or one skill + thieves' tools) and we double our proficiency bonus (not our ability modifier) when using those skills. We're gonna get better in Stealth, to make sure we are unseen in dangerous situations, as well as thieves' tools, to make sure no lock poses a challenge.
Rogues also get the abilit to Sneak Attack. Once per turn, if you have an advantage on your attack (and use a ranged weapon or one with the finesse property) or your target is within 5 feet of another creature hostile to it, you can add 1d6 extra damage to your damage roll.
We also learn Thieves' Cant, a system of words and phrases that can be used to convey a hidden message to others who also speak it (for me, it's always Cockney Rhyming Slang).
Level 2 - Rogue: We learn Cunning Action. From now on, we can transform the following Actions into Bonus Actions:
Dash - We gain extra movement for the duration of the turn, equal to our ground speed;
Disengage - Moving away from the target's melee range does not provoke an attack of opportunity;
Hide - We make a Stealth check to hide.
Level 3 - Rogue: Here, we pick our subclass - our Rogue Archetype - and for the smart and observant Elizabeth, I can think of nothing better but the Inquisitive archetype. With our Ear for Deceit, we can treat any Insight check roll that's lower than 7 as 8. With Eye for Detail, we can use a Bonus Action instead of an Action to make a Perception or an Investigation check. Always useful to find extra ammo, salts, or money. We also master Insightful Fighting, which lets us make a contested Insight check against the target's Deception; if we're successful, we come up with a good positioning and strategy, and we can apply Sneak Attack damage even if we don't have an advantage.
Speaking of Sneak Attack, our bonus damage now becomes 2d6.
Level 4 - Rogue: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. We're gonna put one point into Constitution for better Hit Points and one into Wisdom, as we slowly come to the realisation something's not right in Columbia...
Level 5 - Wizard: Now it's time to play with port.. err Tears. Multiclassing into Wizard gives us... nothing, unfortunately. We do, however, learn Arcane Recovery: once per day (during a short rest), we can recover some spell slots we've expended. The spell slots can have a combined level equal to (or less than) half of our Wizard level rounded up.
Related to that, we now learn Spellcasting. Intelligence is our casting ability, and we know cantrips, regular spells, and rituals. Wizards can write new spells into their spellbook (or perhaps pulling those spells from other timelines) and they start with a few spells of their choice: three cantrips (for us it's Create Bonfire, Mending, and Sword Burst) and six 1st-level spells (we'll get Alarm, Detect Magic, Distort Value, Mage Armour, Tenser's Floating Disk, and Unseen Servant). From our Mark of Passage we also learn Expeditious Retreat and Jump.
Level 6 - Wizard: We pick our second subclass here, our Arcane Tradition. To make our Tears and multiverse manipulations more stable, we're going to pick the School of Conjuration. Since we are now a Conjuration Savant, the time and money we spend when copying Conjuration spells to our spellbook is halved. With Minor Conjuration, we can conjure an inanimate object in our hand or on the ground within 10 feet radius. The object must be no bigger than 3 feet on a side and weigh up to 10 pounds, be non-magical, and when conjured it sheds dim light for 5 feet. It lasts for 1 hour or until taken or dealt damage, and we can only create one object at the time.
We also get to pick two more 1st-level spells: Silent Image and Snare.
Level 7 - Wizard: At this level we unlock 2nd-level spells. From our level-up we can get two new spells (Arcane Lock and Borrowed Knowledge) and from our Mark of Passage we get Misty Step and Pass Without Trace.
Level 8 - Wizard: Time for another ASI. This time, we're putting two points in Constitution, to get some better survivability. We also get a choice of a new cantrip (Message) and two more spells (Locate Object and Mirror Image).
Level 9 - Wizard: We unlock 3rd-level spells. Let's get Galder's Tower and Melf's Minute Meteors from our level-up, and we will get Blink and Phantom Steed from our Mark of Passage.
Level 10 - Wizard: Halfway through the build and we get Benign Transportation. We can use our action to teleport into an unocupied space within 30 feet of us. Alternatively, we can pick a space occupied by a Small or Medium creature and (if they're willing) swap places with them. We can do that once per long rest or until we cast a Conjuration spell of at least 1st-level. And speaking of Conjuration magic, let's grab two summoning spells here: Summon Fey and Summon Shadowspawn.
Level 11 - Wizard: We unlock 4th-level spells. From our level-up, let's grab Banishment and Fabricate. From our Mark of Passage we also get Dimension Door and Freedom of Movement.
Level 12 - Wizard: Time for more ASI. For now, let's improve our Dexterity by two point for some better Initiative, AC, and hiding skills. For our spells, let's gram Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum and Summon Construct to call some more support
Level 13 - Wizard: We unlock 5th-level spells. From our level-up, let's grab Legend Lore and Wall of Force. We also gain our last spell from the Mark of Passage: Teleportation Circle.
Level 14 - Wizard: We get to pick our final cantrip (Mage Hand) and unlock next subclass feature. With Focused Conjuration, when we're concentrating on a Conjuration spell, our concentration cannot be broken. For this level's spells, let's pick Mislead and Rary's Telepathic Bond.
Level 15 - Wizard: We unlock 6th-level spells. Let's grab Arcane Gate and True Seeing to detect the smallest of Tears.
Level 16 - Wizard: With another ASI, we can bump up our Constitution by two more points here. For this level's spells, we can actually get back a bit and grab Far Step and Scrying.
Level 17 - Wizard: Unlocking 7th-level spells here. Time to finally start exploring other worlds and timelines with Dream of the Blue Veil and Plane Shift.
Level 18 - Wizard: We get access to our final subclass feature. Durable Summons give all creatures we summon or create additional 30 Temporary Hit Points upon summoning. Let's bring the image of another world to us with Mirage Arcane and summon another Elizabeth with Project Image.
Level 19 - Wizard: We unlock 8th-level spells. We can now create our own little worlds with Demiplane, and it's finally time to call an old friend with Illusory Dragon.
Level 20 - Wizard: Our capstone is Wizard 16, where we end with an ASI. So let's get some more Dexterity for that nice-looking 20. For our final spells, let's take Maze and Mighty Fortress.
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And that's our Multidimensional Marvel, Elizabeth. Let's see what we came out with:
First of all, this is clearly a support character. Their purpose is to hide, sneak, move around the battlefield, and provide assistance to the party by conjuring additional reinforcements. With enhanced ground speed, several teleporting spells, and proficiency in stealth, we should be able to provide long-range support without risking detection or damage.
Our AC is 15 (18 with Mage Armour), +5 to Initiative, and average of 142 Hit Points.
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot in terms of direct offense, both magical and physical. While our Dexterity managed to reach 20, we still have a negative Strength modifier and our Wisdom and Charisma are on the lower end; this could be problematic, since those are two of the more used saving throws.
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Oh, wow. That took way too long than I wanted. I actually scrapped the entire build (originally it was Echo Knight Fighter with Illusion Wizard) and watched several playthroughs to get a feel for Elizabeth, but I hope in the end I've created something playable.
Unfortunately, a lot has happened during the time I was away, my loves. As of today, I've lost my job for which I've moved cities to live on my own. Silverlining, I will have time for you, so I guess we're back in action. I'll see you in the next one, my friends.
[One of my favorite spells from Divinity 2, and it's got some stiff competition there. I have an angelic version of this spell too, probably share that later.]
Summon Inner Demon
5th-level Conjuration
Casting Time: Action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of brimstone)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Description: You call a shadowy demon from the Abyss to inhabit your body for a brief time, granting you a portion of its terrible power. While the demon is inhabiting you, you gain the following abilities:
Magic Resistance: The chaotic influence of the Abyss shields you from magic. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Demonic Tutelage: Whenever a hostile creature approaches within 10 feet of you, you can use your reaction to have your demon lash out at them. Make a melee weapon attack, with a bonus to hit equal to your spell attack bonus, dealing bludgeoning damage equal to 3d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. On a hit, the target must also make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Terrify: You can use your bonus action to have your inner demon briefly show its face, terrifying your foes. Choose one creature within 60 feet who you can see and who can see you. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw or take 3d8 psychic damage and be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on its turn, unless there is nowhere to move. You cannot target the same creature more than once with a single casting of this spell.
While the demon is inhabiting you, you are treated as a Fiend and a Demon for the purposes of abilities that have different effects against such creatures, such as a paladin's Divine Smite.
At Higher Levels: For each slot level above 5th, increase the damage of Demonic Tutelage and Terrify by 1d8 each.
