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Grailfinders #340: Daikokuten

meowdy, y’all! on today’s Grailfinders we’re building the god of fortune… ‘s pet mice, Daikokuten! they’re Circle of Dreams Druids to become the perfect subordinates, and Twilight Clerics, to become the perfect hosts. they’re a bit one-note, but if you want to support people (and maybe summon an army of giant rats to crush your enemies) you won’t go wrong here.

check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

next up: you can’t talk like that, white baby

Ancestry & Background

sadly there aren’t any mice in D&D, at least not as a playable race. …or is there? in the DMG, they suggest that you can use a Halfling stat block as the basis for a mousefolk character, and frankly that just works perfectly, since they can also get the Mark of Hospitality. with that, you get +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (if you’re okay with Tasha’s saving our butts again), and plenty of other goodies to boot! you’re Lucky, so you can re-roll any natural ones on attacks, checks, or saves; you’re Brave, giving you advantage on all rolls against fright; and you have Halfling Nimbleness, letting you walk straight through any creature larger than you are. those are pretty basic halfling features, but thanks to your mark you’re also Ever Hospitable for a d4 bonus to all cooking and persuasion checks, and you know extra magic too! Your Innkeeper’s Magic gives you the Prestidigitation cantrip for free to clean up whatever messes you come across, and once per day per spell you can cast Purify Food and Drink and Unseen Servant using your charisma. obviously you’re supposed to do the serving, but having extra hands never hurt. you also learn Spells of the Mark, adding plenty of cool spells to your spell lists, like Goodberry (rice balls that heal 1 HP), Leomund’s Tiny Hut (a small living space), and Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum (make any ship a well-protected Takarabune.

the Daikokuten are, of course, Acolytes of the daikokuten, so they get proficiency with Insight and Religion checks. they know who makes a good boss and who doesn’t. and one of your bosses is a god, so you’d betternot fail that religion check.

Ability Scores

Wisdom’s number one. you got them big ol’ ears for a reason, y’know? after that, Dexterity. if Tom and Jerry taught me anything, it’s that mice are really hardto hit. after that, Intelligence. you’re not omniscient, but you are practically omnipresent, which is almost the same thing after a while. we’re still making your Constitution positive though, don’t worry about that. that means your Charisma is pretty low, since you’re submissive and multiplicable. that means we’re dumping Strength. if there’s anything else Tom & Jerry taught me, it’s that mice can’t kill cats no matter what they’re wielding, and those things have like 2 HP.

Class Levels

1. Druid 1: At first level, druids gain proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as two skills from their skill list, like Animal Handling, and Nature. You are animals, so being able to handle yourselves simply makes sense. you can also write and read Druidic, a secret language that can be hidden in plain sight, and you can cast and prepare Spells using your Wisdom.

For your cantrips, grab Gust for slightly alter the Takarabune’s course, and Infestation for your first and smallest rat swarm. As for first level spells, druids have a wonderful spell list to pick from- but if you want to play the Daikokuten, I recommend Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Fog Cloud, and Speak with Animals. The first and last spells are simply side-effects of being animals, while Cure Wounds and other healing spells are simply being a good host and fixing your guests some snacks. Finally, Fog Cloud is a bit of an unorthodox choice, but it will allow you to hide your true numbers during your noble phantasm.

2. Druid 2: Second level druids enter a circle of their choosing, such as the Circle of Dreams! When you do so, you gain the Balm of the Summer Court, which gives you a pool of six-sided dice each day you can spend as a bonus action to heal a nearby creature. one of onigiri’s biggest strengths is how easy it is to make, after all.

You can also use either Wild Shape or Wild Companion to turn yourself into a giant rat or summon a regular-sized one, respectively. These two features share their uptime, but with two uses every short rest, you won’t be left wanting.

3. Druid 3: Third level druids gain second level spells, like Locate Animals or Plants to help feed Boss Anning’s plesiosaur, or Augury to confer with other “you”s about potential actions you can take to help your various bosses. The other yous can say your plan will bring “weal”, a good outcome; “woe”, a bad outcome; or “mixed”, which is, appropriately, a mixed bag.

4. Druid 4: At level four, you get your first Ability Score Improvement, increasing your Wisdom for stronger spells. You also gain a Wild Shape Improvement, letting you turn into CR ½ creatures that can swim now! Despite the fact that rats are rather good swimmers, you didn’t need this to transform into one. Still, it gives you more options. Options that you can’t take if you wish to stay in character, but options nonetheless.

You can also cast Mending now to do regular maid stuff like sewing holes in dresses.

5. Druid 5: At third level, you can now use your noble phantasm, Conjure Animals! Now you can summon eight giant rats, and that number will grow as you use higher level spell slots! They’re a bit more fragile than you, but we only need them to survive for one attack anyway.

You can also use Create Food & Water and Leomund’s Tiny Hut from your hospitality spell list to create rice balls in-game, as well as to keep your boss’ camp nice and safe while they rest.

6. Cleric 1: first level clerics can use another Wisdom-based spell list, but you’ll have to check your PHB to figure out how many spell slots you have at a given time. but before we go into magic, let’s talk domains. as a Twilight cleric you can use martial weapons and heavy armor if you want, but most of your features are about support. with your Eyes of Night you get super long-range darkvision, and you can even give it to nearby creatures once a day for an hour. you’re just helpful like that. speaking of sharing, you can give a Vigilant Blessing to yourself (or another party member) for advantage on their next initiative roll. you literally have multiple heads to watch for danger, it makes sense you’re good at it. (it doesn’t hurt that you’re working for the bad guy too)

for cantrips, Resistance gives an ally a bonus to their next save, while Light and Thaumaturgy let you get a little more godly with your presentation, making items glow or letting you act with some more of daikokuten’s authority. you also get Faerie Fire for free to give your allies some help hitting stuff, and Sleep to brew such a nice cup of tea people can’t help but doze off even on the battlefield. for more helpfulness, Bless can add a d4 to checks or saves made by multiple members of the party, and you also get even more healing spells as a cleric than you did as a druid!

7. Cleric 2: second level clerics can Channel Divinity in one of two ways once a short rest. Turn Undead is whatever, you make zombies scared, but we’re more focused on Twilight Sanctuary. now you can provide the darkness for your NP properly, and while that ball of darkness follows you around you get even more bonuses to anything that follows you into the night, either giving out temporary HP or ending an effect that’s charming or frightening it.

8. Cleric 3: third level clerics get second level spells, and while your freebies Moonbeam and See Invisibility aren’t really in our wheelhouse, you can still use Borrowed Knowledge to get some help from other yous for free proficiency in one skill, or they can help you Locate Objects. you can also support your bosses directly by using Enhance Ability to give them advantage on any one kind of skill check!

9. Druid 6: at sixth level, dream druids get a Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow, making every camp a bit homier without the need for a magic shield. during short or long rests, you can create a 30’ radius of magical darkness, in which you and your bosses have a big bonus to stealth and perception, and which also blocks any campfires or torches from being seen outside of it.

10. Druid 7: seventh level druids get fourth level spells. with Control Water, you can get a proper hold of the Takarabune no matter what the currents are like outside, redirecting the flow of water however you like, even in blatantly impossible ways. you can also use this spell to flood areas, part water, or create whirlpools. If it’s good enough for Heracles it’s good enough for your boss! you can also use Polymorph now for another way to transform into a giant rat. or maybe something better than a giant rat. if such a thing could exist.

11. Druid 8: eighth level druids get another Wild Shape Improvement, and while I know bats and seagulls are sometimes called “flying rats”, I don’t think you can change your species on a technicality. you get an Ability Score Improvement you can use though, so that’s +2 Dexterity for ya!

12. Druid 9: ninth level druids get fifth level spells. Mass Cure Wounds finally gives you a party-wide heal like your first skill, and you can send a you off to parts known to do some Scrying- that’s “spying” but when a crat does it. also there’s this one spell called Insect Plague, but I know it’s a mouse plague, it must just be a typo. a 20’ radius in a spot you specify becomes filled with yous for up to ten minutes. there’s so many of them the area is lightly obscured and difficult terrain, and when you cast the spell every creature inside needs to make a Constitution save or take piercing damage from all the buck teeth and scrabbly claws. they also need to make this save when they enter the area or end their turn inside it.

13. Druid 10: you’ve been all over the place enough that you know some Hidden Paths now. as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60’ away, or teleport a willing creature up to 30’ away, up to four times a day. if one you disappears and another you is standing somewhere else, does it really count as teleporting?

you can also give Guidance to your bosses now, giving them a bonus d4 when they make their next skill check.

14. Druid 11: with sixth level spells, you can finally hold a Boss’ Feast, giving everyone who eats it immunity to poison and fright, advantage on wisdom saves, and bonus HP for 24 hours. they’re also cured of any diseases like grail mud or being super bunyan. you can also Transport via Plants, letting you travel through any large plant you’ve seen on this plane of existence. Again, this is just to give the impression that you’re multiple places at once.

15. Druid 12: use this ASI to bestow your Bountiful Luck onto your bosses- whenever they roll a one on an attack, check, or save, you can react to give them a re-roll! aren’t you nice? turns out having a god as a subordinate comes with perks!

16. Druid 13: there’s not really anything I’d want from any seventh level spells you can get. maybe Plane Shift so you can report to your biggest boss whenever you want? really just use this for rat summoning, I guess.

17. Druid 14: fourteenth level dream druids are Walkers in Dreams. whenever you finish a short rest, you can cast Dream, Scrying, or Teleportation Circle for free, though the latter can only take you to where you woke up that morning as long as it’s on the same plane. you can cast a spell this way once a day.

18. Druid 15: controlling water is nice if you need to move the Takarabune in short bursts, but if you want to take control for longer periods of sailing, you need to Control Weather. this lets you take absolute control of the precipitation, temperature, and wind strength of the area up to five miles around you, albeit at a gradual pace.

19. Druid 16: our last ASI will make you Shadow Touched, rounding up your Intelligence and giving you one hell of a dodge thanks to the Invisibility spell. you can also Distort the Value of any object by virtue of it being in the Takarabune, doubling its apparent value for up to 8 hours, though an investigation check can see through the magic.

20. Druid 17: our last level of the build gives us ninth level spells, like Foresight. now you can give your boss immunity to being surprised, as well as advantage on all attacks, checks, and saves, and creatures attacking them get disadvantage, all for up to 8 hours! I assume this is how Giga Plesiosaurus Omega happened. I mean you are riding around in the grail, after all.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

being a rat is very useful for sneaking around- they’re damn near everywhere, and as long as you’re not in someone’s kitchen you’re usually beneath notice. whether you’ve turned into one, are using a rat familiar, or have commandeered a regular rat, you’re more than ready to gather information, or maybe pilfer a small magical trinket or two.

if you don’t want to be bothered, you cannot be bothered. leomund’s tiny hut puts a shield around you, mordenkainen’s private sanctum can make you unscryable, hearth of moonlight and shadow makes it so much harder for your camp to be spotted at a distance, and if you’re really sick of solicitors knocking on your door you can just use control weather to make everywhere within five miles of your camp fucking horrendous to walk through. when you set camp, it stays set.

you’re also great a making your party shine. unless you’re in a party with like 10 people you’ve basically removed nat ones from existence as long as you’re around. you’ve got tons of healing and debuff resisting spells, plus ways to literally see into the future to make sure everyone’s plans go the way they want.

Cons:

why are you turning into a giant rat. I know it’s in-character, but there’s so many better options available even from the start. also, summoning like 32 giant rats sounds fun, but it's hell on your DM and they'll probably last all of five seconds in a fight anyway. that wouldn’t be so big a deal, but…

outside of dexterity, your physical stats aren’t great. you get pushed around easily, and just like a real mouse a couple solid stomps are enough to flatten you. though really, this is just a symptom of the build’s biggest issue…

despite this being a combat-focused game, this build isn’t focused on combat, at least not directly. while druids do have access to a crazy powerful spell list, the strongest attack we use in-character is Insect Plague, and that spell’s more for area denial than an actual attack. this build really is all about helping other party members to shine, and that means you might not be able to do that too often yourself if you use it. that’s not necessarily a bad thing (I mean it’s why we built the damn build in the first place), but it means the build won’t be fun for everyone.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Daikokuten #Cleric #Druid

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