Steal! This Character #1: Alelite Alefist Levels 1 - 5
Alelite Alefist is an astonishingly short dwarf with a short fuse to match, from a family of ale makers, that brews his own ale.
Alelite Alefist
The Mountain Dwarf Barbarian
Levels 1 - 5
Welcome to the first Steal This Character build for Dungeons & Dragons 5e!
Every week or so, we'll be posting character builds, filled with characteristics, personalities, backstory, and the story so far to each level up, so you can steal this character at whatever level you need!
We're starting with levels 1-5, so you can get started anywhere on your adventure! We'll start with the backstory, go into level 1, and then add short snippets to continue the backstory for each level above 1.
Whether it's for inspiration for your own character, for a quick game, or for an NPC in your homebrewed world, these characters are just as much yours as they are ours.
I'm very excited to share our first character in this series, Alelite Alefist - a mountain dwarf barbarian that we're going to leveling up to 5. And, we're using everyone's absolute favorite barbarian subclass - the Path of the Berserker. Let's get straight into it!
1. The Concept
2. The Characteristics
3. The Backstory
4. Let's Build!
- Level 1
- Level 2
- Level 3
- Level 4
- Level 5
5. The Story Continues...
- Level 1-2
- Level 2-3
- Level 3-4
- Level 4-5
6. Final Thoughts
The Concept
So for the Steal This Character Series, we're going to have the tl;dr section show up first with the concept. Like I mentioned, this is just an idea of character that you can use as much or as little of as you'd like, if you want to, so if you just need some concepts and starting character sheets, this is hopefully the only section you'll need.
Alelite Alefist is an astonishingly short dwarf with a short fuse to match, from a family of ale makers, that brews his own ale.
The Characteristics
Dwarves are obviously well known to be stout and broad, but Alelite is even more so. Actually, he's A LOT more so. Standing at 2 foot 11 inches (~89 cm), it's easy to confuse Alelite for a swelled up halfling or gnome at a quick glance. The beard is what gives it away, though, which is gloriously puffed out and would drag a good foot on the ground had it not been tied into an impeccable knot just above his legs. Packed with muscles in places you wouldn't even know could have them, what Alelite lacks in height, he more than makes up for in width. Which is a stunning site to see, and something you wouldn't want to comment on when speaking with him - it's a bit of sore spot for him. And never, ever use the words "half-pint" around him.
But if that wasn't enough, adding to this peculiar visual, strapped to his back is a hollowed-out tree trunk, sealed on the top with cloth, with the words "Fist o' Ale" on it. It towers over Alelite, at almost 2x his height, but just barely peeks out the sides of his bulky, wide body. It contains his pride and joy, the beer that he makes, either fermenting in the wood, or ready to sell and drink. His dark brown hair and light brown skin can sometimes blend in with the wood, making it seem like the tree is walking itself if you don't pay attention.
I face problems head-on. A simple and straightforward solution is the best path to success.
If you enjoy the ale I brew, you're a friend for life.
Respect. Treat me with respect and loyalty, and I'll return it tenfold.
Fist o' Ale - the family business. I intend to make my own version a staple in taverns around the world.
I have a short temper. Calling me short, or worse, "half-pint", makes me go into an uncontrollable rage.
The Backstory
The 5th of 8 children, Alelite was born into a family of dwarven ale makers and sellers. What started as a hobby for Alelite's great-great-great-great-great grandmother turned into a thriving family business. Each generation of Alefist's must craft their own brew, and whichever one is able to gather the most following and popularity gets to inherit the family business. With so many siblings, growing up was rough for Alelite. Competition and rivalries begun almost right away, and it didn't help that he stayed the same height for almost his whole life while even his youngest sibling outgrew him. Because of this, his nickname became "half-pint", which caused a good amount of fists and words to be thrown around as Alelite would go into a fit of rage. Driven by a desire to make all of his siblings pay for their digressions, and show him the respect he deserves, he started to work on crafting the most perfect ale the Alefist's have ever seen.
All Alefist's start to experiment making their own brew as soon as their able to, and Alelite was raring to go. He would go into the forests, smash down trees (thinking of them as his siblings), hollow out the trunk, fill it with grains he would mash himself, hot water, a few spices, and seal it with some cloth. Doing this happened to get himself beefed up, with the strenuous activities involved in his craft. He soon realized that the brew tastes even better if it constantly moves around while it's in the fermentation process, so he strapped the giant tree trunk to his back while he gathered his next batch. This was how many summers were spent by Alelite, before, finally, at the young age of 40, he found the perfect combination, and what he was left with was a delicious tasting brew with hints of wood flavors. Once an Alefist feels confident of their brew, the parents allow them to leave on their own to try their hand at making a name for their brew, and for the Fist o' Ale brand, themselves. Alelite was the first of his siblings to get the okay from his parents, and off he went to take his rightful spot as heir to the business, and to get back at his siblings.
The Alefist Siblings (Oldest to Youngest)
- Dwendryale (76 yrs old, they/them)
- Alebrew (72 yrs old, he/him)
- Aleipa (65 yrs old, she/her)
- Aledark (53 yrs old, he/them)
- Alelite (40 yrs old, he/him)
- Aleamber (31 years old, she/them)
- Aldeth (31 years old, he/them)
- Cider (20 years old, he/him)
Let's Build! - Level 1
Race: Mountain Dwarf
Take Tool Proficiencies in Brewer's Supplies.
Tool Proficiencies: Brewer's Supplies
Features: Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Dwarven Combat Training, Dwarven Armor Training, Stonecunning, +2 to Strength and Constitution Ability Scores
Speed: 25 ft
Ability Scores
Point Buy
15 - Strength (+2 Racial Modifier)
13 - Dexterity
13 - Constitution (+2 Racial Modifier)
10 - Intelligence
12 - Wisdom
10 - Charisma
Background: Hermit or Soldier
The background we take will depend on what level we start off. If we're starting at level 1 or 2, we'll take Hermit. If we start at level 3, we'll take Soldier.
Hermit
Take Giant as a language. The Discovery background feature would be a unique recipe for craft ale that Alefist created.
Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Religion
Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism Kit
Languages: Giant
Soldier
Take Survival or Perception as a skill proficiency. Take the Dice Set as a tool proficiency. The Military Rank background feature would have Alelite a regular mercenary that is liked amongst his colleagues.
Skill Proficiencies: Intimidation & Survival
Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (Land) & Dice Set
Starting Equipment
Barbarian Equipment
Take a greataxe as the primary weapon and two handaxes, along with the 4 javelins and explorer's pack.
Hermit Background Equipment
Take your winter blanket, set of common clothes, herbalist kit, a scroll case filled with recipe notes and a pouch with 5 gp.
Solider Background Equipment
Take a piece of banner and a set of bone dice, along with a set of common clothes and a pouch with 10 gp.
Class: Barbarian 1
Take Skill Proficiencies in Athletics and Nature.
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics & Nature
Hit Die: 1d12 (avg. 7) + Constitution Modifier
Features: Rage, Unarmored Defense
Rages: 2 per Long Rest
Bonus Rage Damage: +2
Rage
2 Rages per Long Rest
+2 Bonus Rage Damage
The core ability of all barbarians, once per turn as a bonus action, you can rage for 1 minute for an amount of time based on your barbarian level, which refreshes on a long rest. It ends sooner if you are unconscious, if you don't attack a hostile creature or haven't taken any damage since your last turn, or if you choose to end it with a bonus action.
Raging only works without heavy armor, and gives you advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and, best of all, a bonus to damage roll of melee weapon attacks using Strength based on your Barbarian level.
You can't cast or concentrate on spells, however, making it a questionable multiclass for spell-based builds (although we have some fun ones in mind for the future).
Unarmored Defense
AC: 10 + 1 (Dex) + 2 (Con) = 13
Barbarians don't need armor - instead, your Armor Class equals 10 + Dexterity modifier + Constitution Modifier. You can use a shield, though, if you want to forgo that two-handed heavy weapon goodness.
Battle & Damage Overview
Let's take a look at how 2+ rounds of combat would look at Level 1.
Round 1
Bonus Action - Rage (+2 Bonus Rage Damage)
Action - Greataxe Attack (+5 to hit, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Round 2+
Action - Greataxe Attack (+5 to hit, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Average Damage Per Round
Enemy with AC 10: ~10 Damage
Enemy with AC 15: ~7 Damage
A barbarian can't get started in combat with Raging, of course, so we'll start by using a Bonus Action to Rage! After that, we're only Level 1, so we do what Barbarians do best only once a turn and smash as hard as we can. Luckily though, at this level, the average damage we deal may just be enough to one-shot enemies.
The Story Continues...
Alelite went off to the first village all Alefist's go to start their journey, Chuggtown. Along the way, he continued to improve his brewing method and taste - cutting down trees (still thinking of them as his siblings as he chopped them down), trying out different thickness of sealant, and adding in natural flavors he comes across into the brew. When he finally got to the village, they had already received word of his approach and prepared the local tavern, Chugale, for the initial tasting celebration. Feeling pumped because of the reaction of the village, and excited to prove himself, Alelite begins his sampling.
Let's Build! - Level 2
Class: Barbarian 2
Reckless Attack
Another core barbarian feature, you can now choose to get advantage on all your Strength-based melee weapon attacks starting from your first melee weapon attack on your turn.
This also gives advantage to all attack rolls against you until your next turn.
Danger Sense
A potential life-saver when the BBEG (big bad evil guy/gal) tries to disintegrate you, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against traps and spells you can see, as long as you aren't blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
Battle & Damage Overview
Let's take a look at how 2+ rounds of combat would look at Level 2.
Round 1
Bonus Action - Rage (+2 Bonus Rage Damage)
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+5 to hit with advantage, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Round 2+
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+5 to hit with advantage, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Average Damage Per Round
Enemy with AC 10: ~12 Damage
Enemy with AC 15: ~10 Damage
We start the same way we will almost ALL of our combats by starting with a Rage, and this time, when we attack - we do as barbarians should do and attack recklessly! That advantage from using Reckless Attack gives us a pretty great boost in average damage, but keep in mind that enemies get advantage on us too. But we're level 2, and honestly, we should be absolutely destroying enemies in one or two hits anyways, so let them try!
The Story Continues...
Alelite's brew was a hit with the locals. The natural wood-flavor that mixes in during the fermentation process gives it a whiskey-type feel, but with ale. Alelite felt on top of the world. Until a visiting band of mercenaries - who were in town to take care of a bandit problem - that were in the bar, had asked, whether by intention or not, for "half a pint" of ale. And with that, something snapped in Alelite, his eyes saw red, his muscles strained, and he went into an uncontrollable rage, attacking the band of mercenaries, and in the process, destroying the entire tavern, his equipment and ale included. After cooling down, Alelite profusely apologizes to the people of the village, promising to make up for his transgressions in any way he can. Seeing how he put the band of mercenaries were supposed to take care of some bandits out of commission, the village told him to take care of it. With a strong sense of responsibility, Alelite knew he had to take care of this issue.
Let's Build! - Level 3
Class: Barbarian 3
Rages: 3 per Long Rest
Take the Path of the Berserker Primal Path.
Rage
We get an extra use of our Rage per long rest, letting us use it 3 times per long rest now.
Primal Path: Path of the Berserker
Time for the subclass! We're going Path of the Berserker - one of the classes that doesn't get enough love, especially when we're talking flavor! It's a classic troupe, but a fun one for sure.
Frenzy
The first subclass ability of Path of the Berserker, and the one that gets the most hate. You can now make an extra single melee weapon attack as a bonus action each of your turns while you rage. However, when your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion. That means it is important to be careful if you have multiple combats before taking a long rest! Using frenzy multiple times in one day means you need that many rests to remove the exhaustion, since every long rest only removes 1 point of exhaustion!
Battle & Damage Overview
Let's take a look at how 2+ rounds of combat would look at Level 3.
Round 1
Bonus Action - Rage (+2 Bonus Rage Damage)
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+5 to hit with advantage, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Round 2+
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+5 to hit with advantage, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Bonus Action - Frenzy Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+5 to hit with advantage, +3 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Average Damage Per Round (After Round 1)
Enemy with AC 10: ~23 Damage
Enemy with AC 15: ~20 Damage
Starting from Level 3, we're going to look at average damage per round once we're able to utilize all our features! As you can see, we need to use our first bonus action to start raging, but after we do, every attack after Round 1 allows us to use our Frenzy subclass feature to really boost our damage! Frenzy has a pretty bad rep, but doing more than 20 damage on average per round at level 3 is pretty great!
The Story Continues...
Alelite took off to take care of the bandits. Reaching the camp, Alelite started off by asking the bandits to leave the village alone. He never actually had a fight while he was in his right mind, so he didn't think to start off swinging. The bandits just laughed, and noticing the giant tree trunk of ale on his back, told him to give them his ale. Forgetting for a moment his task, Alelite happily obliged, happy to share his brew to the world. The bandits loved the brew, and were impressed at how such "a short fat gnome was able to make such delicious ale".
The next thing Alelite knew, the bandit camp was completely cleared out, feeling pain and soreness through his entire body. Figuring the mission was successful, he went back to the village, where the leader of the mercenary band he had attacked before was waiting. Her name was Za, and she was looking to get even on behalf of her band. Alelite profusely apologized to her as well, feeling bad about doing so to her companions. The payment the mercenaries, named the LaZira, were supposed to get to take care of the bandits instead went to rebuild the tavern, and Za told Alelite to pay off his debt to them by joining the LaZira and working it off. Alelite, worried about the competition with his siblings, hesitates, but what kind of business owner doesn't take responsibility. He agrees, and joins her band of mercenaries.
Let's Build! - Level 4
Class: Barbarian 4
Take the Slasher Feat and use +1 to increase the Strength Ability Score.
Feat: Slasher (Strength +1)
Our first Ability Score Increase is going to be used for the Slasher feat, which also gives us a +1 in Strength.
Whenever you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage (the Greataxe in this case), you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet once per turn, until the start of your next turn. This helps Dwarves like us who start with 25 feet of movement versus the regular 30 feet, from letting the enemies run away.
You also give a creature you get a critical hit with slashing damage on disadvantage on all of their attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
*Note: If you think you won't be using a weapon that deals in slashing damage for this build, you can take a look at Crusher or Piercer as well, otherwise increasing your Ability Score in Strength and Constitution by 1 will work great here as well to increase damage, HP, and AC!
Ability Scores
Battle & Damage Overview
Let's take a look at how 2+ rounds of combat would look at Level 4.
Round 1
Bonus Action - Rage (+2 Bonus Rage Damage)
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+6 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Round 2+
Action - Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+6 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Bonus Action - Frenzy Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+6 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Average Damage Per Round (After Round 1)
Enemy with AC 10: ~26 Damage
Enemy with AC 15: ~22 Damage
Having that extra +1 to hit and to damage makes sure we continuously increase our damage output once we have our rage and frenzy in play. Feels pretty good! Also, being able to make sure that you slow down enemies so they can't escape from you with the Slasher feat makes for great flavor, being so frenzied that you make sure your prey can't run far away! Seeing how Dwarves already get reduced speed (25 feet instead of 30), this actually can help quiet a bit! And, finally, having the ability to give disadvantage to an enemy on a critical hit makes sure they're even less likely to hit you since they don't get the advantage from Reckless Attack - although with a critical hit, we're hoping the dice gods let us wipe them out in one go.
The Story Continues...
Alelite got along great with his mercenary companions. His straightforward personality, and the endless supply of delicious ale he made, got him to become quick friends with the whole band. He learned the ways of mercenaries and they taught him team fighting tactics. They even came up with ways to utilize his anger and rage in situations where they needed to fight. That didn't always work, however, as in the first job Alelite took part in, he ended up causing more damage, vowing to pay it back as well. This ended up a bit of a pattern, where he would end up paying off a good chunk of his debt, but pile on some new debt because of his short temper. But that didn't slow Alelite down. Never forgetting about his original task, Alelite continued to provide samples and share his brew to any town or village the band visited, and lucky for him - they travelled quite a bit.
Let's Build! - Level 5
Class: Barbarian 5
Extra Attack
That all important extra attack! You can now attack twice per turn as an action instead of once. With the Frenzy subclass feature for us, that's potentially three attacks per round instead!
Fast Movement
Our speed increases by 10 feet, which as a dwarf, who start with a 25 feet speed, helps out a lot! Keep in mind, we can't wear heavy armor to get this bonus.
Battle & Damage Overview
Let's take a look at how 2+ rounds of combat would look at Level 4.
Round 1
Bonus Action - Rage (+2 Bonus Rage Damage)
Action - 2 Attacks
Attack 1: Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+7 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Attack 2: Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+7 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
*Note: Average Damage of Round 1 is now increased to 26 damage for 10 AC enemies and 22 damage to 15 AC enemies!
Round 2+
Action - 2 Attacks
Attack 1: Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+7 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Attack 2: Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+7 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Bonus Action - Frenzy Greataxe Attack w/ Reckless Attack (+7 to hit with advantage, +4 on dmg with +2 bonus rage dmg)
Average Damage Per Round (After Round 1)
Enemy with AC 10: ~39 Damage
Enemy with AC 15: ~35 Damage
That extra attack really made our damage output jump! Our proficiency bonus also went up by 1, increasing our to hit total. Just keep hitting harder!
*Note: By this time, we should also have got a magic weapon (like a +1 Greataxe or similar), but we're not going to be making these overviews with that in mind, neither are we going to account for resistance against non-magical attacks, which you might start coming across more often by now.
Final Thoughts
And that's our first build! So this is actually one of the first characters I've made in D&D, so it felt fitting to be the first one in our series. I had a blast coming up with the idea, even if it came simply because I thought it'd be funny to have a short character with a short temper going on rampages when being called short. But what is a D&D character than random silly thoughts or concepts turned into flavorful characters you can enjoy in a campaign with other!
Thank you for joining us, and we hope to see you for the next one!