D&D 5E Skill Monkey Builds

[Mandragola]

Agreed. I think it's really good that skills are now spread around the party. The background packages mean that classes pop up where you might not expect, so a warlock might disarm traps or a cleric be a good tracker - or they might do something completely different. Everyone gets to do skills.

At the same time of course, everyone also gets to fight. So instead of making a guy who does skills and then hides in a box during combat, everyone is doing something all of the time, so everyone is playing.

 

[Kobold Stew]

A few things:

1. If you start with Cleric, then you can multi class to Bard and get one more skill. That also gives you proficiency on the Wisdom save (rather than Dex).

2. Stats with standard array:
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 13 --> 14
Cha 15 --> 17

3. m/c into rogue for another skill, and more expertise.

4. or start with variant human, take "skilled feat"; for 4 total skills from race. (16 cha, not 17)

5. Suggested skills:
Insight, Perception, Survival, Acrobatics, Athletics (which also offsets low strength)
one of Deception or Persuasion (depending on alignment)
Performance if your music is more than just magic
Cleric knowledge skills: I'd pick history and arcana
Animal Handling if you want to ride

(I like skill monkeys too!)

 

[Mistwell]

A few things:

1. If you start with Cleric, then you can multi class to Bard and get one more skill. That also gives you proficiency on the Wisdom save (rather than Dex).

Ooh nice catch I had not considered that!

 

[Mistwell]

It was pointed out to me that two levels of Warlock gives you (via Beguiling Influence invocation) Deception and Persuasion.

Also, I wonder how many expertise you could grab?

1st Lev Rogue: any two skills

3rd level Bard: any two skills

1st level Cleric (Knowledge): two skills chosen from Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion

6th level rogue: any two skills

10th level bard: any two skills

1st level ranger: When making an Intelligence and Wisdom check in a proficient skill, expertise if it relates to your favored terrain

1st level Sorcerer (Draconic Bloodline): expertise on Charisma checks when interacting with dragons

 

[Mistwell]

Just to see what one can do with skills, I built an expert mountain climber with this concept as the skeleton I built off from:

Sir George Mallory, with assistance from his trusty climbing partner Sir Andrew Irvine, and their awakened shirpa gorrilla, Coco (who has a climb speed).



Sir Mallory is the last of the Renaissance Men! He is proficient in all 18 skills (and many tools), has expertise in 10 of those 18 skills, and has further expertise in Intelligence or Wisdom checks relating to Mountains. He's also a Jack of All Trades, adding half his proficiency bonus (+3) to any ability checks he's not already proficient in, including tools, initiative, and general checks not associated with a skill. He also is a fine spellcaster (13th level spell slots, 4 spells from any list through Magical Secrets). He's strong as an ox, but not too wise (because mountain climber ).



Sir George Mallory (Bard 10, Rogue 8, Ranger 1, Cleric 1, 20th level total)

Str 20, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Chr 12

Half-Elf (2 Skills: Medicine, Acrobatics)

Background: Mountaineer; Skills: Athletics, Survival; Tools: Climber's Kit, Herbalis Kit

Rogue 8 (4 skills: Perception, Insight, Stealth, Investigation)(Expertise 4 skills: Perception, Insight, Stealth, Investigation)(2 Ability Boosts, both to Str, to bring it to 20)

Ranger 1 (1 skills: Animal Handling)(Natural Explorer: Mountains; Expertise when making an Intelligence and Wisdom check in a proficient skill, expertise if it relates to your favored terrain)

Cleric 1 (2 Skills: History, Nature)(Expertise: History, Nature)(Guidance Cantrip)

Bard 10 (1 Skill:Arcana) (Lore: 3 skills: Slieght of Hand, Intimidation, Performance)(Expertise 4 skills: Athletics, Survival, Acrobatics, Animal Handling)(Magical Secrets 4 spells from any other list) (1 Ability Boost, 2 Feats)

Feat 1 = Skilled (3 skills or tools: Religion, Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit)

Feat 2 = Athelete (Dex/Str +1, Climbing doesn't halve your speed, better at jumping and standing from prone)

Expertise: Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, History, Investigation, Nature, Animal Handling, Insight, Perception, Survival (he could actually switch this to just Str, Dex, and Charisma skills, so that when he is on the mountain he uses his Ranger natural explorer ability to apply expertise on all those Intelligence and Wisdom checks which relate to the Mountain and therefore have expertise on all skills, but that seems excessive).



Now Sir George could of course cast Spider Climb, and just climb up the mountain wih a climb speed. But that would not be sporting! He's going to do it the old fashioned way.



He's not, perhaps, above some minor spellcasting to help him out, however. So he is willing to have Guidance cast on him sometimes by his partner (+1d4 to skill check), and he will cast Enhance Ability on himself (Bull's Strength = Advantage on Strength Checks, doubles carrying capacity).



He climbs mount Neverest at full speed (thanks to the Athelete feat), easily jumping over obsticles, climbing over them, swimming them, squeezing through them, hanging from them, etc..

He makes his Climb Check at advantage (Bull's Strength) with a bonus of +17 (5 Strength, 6 proficiency, 6 expertise (Athletics)) +1D4 (guidance) for an average climb check of 29.5 (plus advantage, so really more like 34.5). Any time he makes an intelligence or wisdom check relating to the mountain, he does it with expertise as well, even if it's a skill he didn't previously have expertise in.



There are of course a number of magic items he could use to aid in this quest. Gloves of Swimming and Climbing would add an additional +5 to the climb checks, for instance. And if anyone would have such an item, uncommon though it may be, you'd think it would be our Sir Mallory. So his climb checks are more likely to be 34.5 (or with advantage an average of 39.5).



A Nearly Impossible skill check is a 30. He should be fine.

 

[AmpsterMan]

This guy sounds like Spider Man! I wonder how the guy fares in any other area that isn't climbing things.

 

[Minsc]

A few things:

1. If you start with Cleric, then you can multi class to Bard and get one more skill. That also gives you proficiency on the Wisdom save (rather than Dex).

2. Stats with standard array:
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 13 --> 14
Cha 15 --> 17

3. m/c into rogue for another skill, and more expertise.

4. or start with variant human, take "skilled feat"; for 4 total skills from race. (16 cha, not 17)

5. Suggested skills:
Insight, Perception, Survival, Acrobatics, Athletics (which also offsets low strength)
one of Deception or Persuasion (depending on alignment)
Performance if your music is more than just magic
Cleric knowledge skills: I'd pick history and arcana
Animal Handling if you want to ride

(I like skill monkeys too!)

Wow, very nice!

Personally, I'd prefer a higher STR, just so I could wear heavy armor. I'd also suggest a Life Cleric, because the bonus applies to Bard cure spells too.

If you don't want to boost STR too much, being a Dwarf is a great option so you can just stick with medium armor and the higher DEX. They don't slow down in armor.

 

[Minsc]

I know this is an old bump, but the skill monkey is pretty darn cool. Plus, my I didn't know as much about the game was the last time I posted in this thread. Since some of the skills must be chosen from certain lists, it's important to plan out your skills. The Warlock bonus skills are chosen for you, and the skills from the Knowledge Cleric levels are limited. With just a little bit of planning, you shouldn't have an issue, because all 4 bonus Bard skills can be of your choosing.

I'd make the character a Variant Human. They have a feat (take Skilled), plus a bonus skill.

I'd start with one level of Rogue. This gives you the most skills to start with. That's a total of 10 skills to start (4 Rogue, 1 race, 2 background, 3 feat).

Level 2 and 3 are in Warlock. When you take the Beguiling Influence Eldritch Invocation, you get two more skills (12 skills). You can also take Agonizing Blast so you'll be pretty good in combat. (Deception, Persuasion)

Level 4 goes to Cleric of Knowledge, which gets you two languages and two more skills (14 total). (Arcana, History, Nature, Religion are your only choices)

Level 5 goes to Bard (15 total).

Level 6 and 7 go to Bard. When you choose the College of Lore (character level 7), you become proficient in three more skills. That's all of them (18 total).

You're also an 7th level character who hasn't chosen a feat yet (other than Skilled), and can't do much in combat other than fire off Eldritch Blasts. At least it's based on CHA and you can do a lot of damage with Hex and Agonizing Blast!

You have total freedom on character direction after this. Your stats are good enough to multiclass into many different combos. I'd probably just recommend continuing on as a Bard for the best utility spell casting you can do, since you have 3 levels invested already.

Here's the stat array I'd use in point buy (keep in mind a minimum of 13's in DEX, WIS, and CHA):

12/14/12/12/13/14

There are no dump stats with a skill monkey. The only stat that has no skills is CON, and good luck dropping that one.

 

[Zardnaar]

I have a skill monkey build in my Bard guide and you are most of the way there.

The Skill Monkey
The idea of this build is to be proficient in every single skill in the game and to have expertise in 6 of them. Echoes of 3E here but.
Half Elf Rogue1/Warlock 2/Cleric (knowledge)1, Lore Bard 3+, skilled feat, Requires Dex, Cha, Wis scores 13+


I think you end up proficient in everything, expertise in 6 skills and you won't suck at ranged combat.

 

[Minsc]

I think that's 18 skills as well, but the variant human gets it a lot quicker.