Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Mind Breaker

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted break foes’ minds, bodies and spirits with a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character who dominates their enemies through fear, intimidation and psychic assaults. Nerdarchy received a request to create a multiclass College of Whispers bard/paladin build for 5E D&D. We discovered interesting synergies with the Oath of Conquest and came up with the Mind Breaker Paladin. Let’s get into it.

Behind the CBG — Mind Breaker Paladin

Every CBG we create considers the journey as much as the final outcome. We aim to present a guide suitable for any level of 5E D&D play whether you’re pursuing an epic campaign from start to finish, starting beyond 1st level or choosing a character for a one shot. Then we take those concepts and develop an NPC or creature version of the character build for DMs to incorporate into their games. All of this gets packaged up and laid out in a PDF you can find over at Dungeon Master’s Guild. We’ve got dozens of pay what you want products at DMG, many of them best sellers so if you want to check those out start with the Mind Breaker here.

All about the character story

Each CBG starts with a character concept sticking to a particular schtick, from the Mind Breaker’s psyche crushing smites to The Dark Knight’s exceptional prowess in a number of disciplines. Sometimes puns and pop culture references instigate the creation of a CBG too. At every step of the way we considered options for using fear and mental assault against their foes as they carve their own path to the top.

For us it’s important to consider who these characters are as individuals and why they follow these particular paths. One special thing to note with this CBG is while we always aim to make the journey to 20th level as practical as possible — none of these characters “come online” after an awkward slog through many levels — the Mind Breaker can crush their enemies’ wills quite handily by 8th level. From this point the rest of the way to 20th level they continue to claw their way up from the bottom of society, coming from nothing but aiming to be top dog.

In retrospect the Mind Breaker turned out to be rather auspicious for us. This is the very first CBG we put together over three years ago. We had such a great time with it and the response was so positive that we kept on with the series, which continues to this day. Currently there’s over five dozen of them and we’re proud to say many of them are best sellers — including the Mind Breaker. In those years we’ve refined our approach and in fact at the moment we’re turning the page to an even more expansive scope.

On a side note it’s been so long since this series began I completely forgot about a post here on the website with some ideas for how to incorporate the Mind Breaker into a campaign. Nerdarchist Dave explored some deeper ideas and shared some plot hooks in the post, which you can find here.

Starting with the Party Machine CBG coming very soon we’re taking things to another level. You’ll still see a video with a breakdown of the guide and ideas for Dungeon Masters on how to incorporate the concept in your games as an NPC. In addition we’re creating encounters to spotlight these NPCs and creatures along with customized maps and packaging these together with our usual collection of 5E content like new magic items, monsters, feats, subclasses and more through our monthly Patreon rewards. Supporters there at any level will receive these rewards and since we publish them directly on the Patreon page even new supporters can get instant access to dozens of modules. We’ll also be creating a VTT package of resources including the map and tokens for these new creatures. Learn more about all these benefits here.

“When first looking to purchase this guide, wasn’t sure exactly what I would be getting out of it and it definitely went beyond expectation. The guide is laid out very nicely, easy to following and well explained. The setup for character, class and background give a good explaination on their choices and provide a nice bit of RP background into the mindset of how the character could be played. The class/level progression section was 100% what I was really trying to get out of the guide, with a concise level by level of what class to increase and what you get from that increase. Attempting to understand/create a multi-class character for my local AL, this guide really helped me better understand how multi-classing works and how to take increases at each level.” — Mind Breaker CBG review from Dungeon Masters Guild

Mind Breaker NPC for 5E D&D

Full disclosure — the NPCs and creatures we make in CBGs are some of my favorite bits of 5E D&D content to create. We step back and look at the character build to find the standout features that feel like signature abilities. The juice! From there we consider what sort of person or people would possess or gain these abilities and build a stat block around them. More often than not the section of a CBG For Dungeon Masters presents a generic creature.

After all these years creating content through Nerdarchy I must admit creating creatures is my favorite thing to do the same way Nerdarchist Ted loves making magic items. Hopefully what I put together is fun and useful for DMs out there. The majority of the 60+ creatures in our CBG collection were created by me and it’s fun looking back to see the progression. Early on these NPCs were basically straight up ports of the PC versions but we’ve since gotten much broader with the interpretations.

Back when we first started this series the DM versions were very close to the player character ones. The trick was translating those character features into stat block traits more broadly useful for the DM. After all 5E D&D is a team-based game by default and these DM versions needed to stand on their own. Since then we’ve widened our perspective and now our CBG creatures and NPCs are inspired by the player versions but include brand new traits and abilities designed to make encounters with them dynamic and truly memorable.

The Vicious Underdog. We went with urchin to give a bit more dimension to our otherwise violent and straightforward build. It might be something they are proud of. They started as nothing and then clawed their way up from the bottom of society. It could be a secret, something they want to forget that constantly weighs on them and influences their current attitude and actions.

“Terrifying Aura. The mind breaker emanates a menacing aura extending 10 feet in every direction, but not through total cover. Frightened creatures in the aura have their speed reduced to 0, and take 5 psychic damage if they start their turn there.”

If your next 5E D&D game needs an entertainer who dominates their enemies through fear, intimidation and psychic assaults — whether you’re the DM or a player — check out the Mind Breaker Character Build Guide here.

*Featured image — The massive and dangerous greatsword, cold expression and focus on personal gain makes the Forsworn Paladin from Magic: The Gathering’s Adventures in the Forgotten Realms a terrific representation of a Mind Breaker paladin for 5E D&D. [Illustration by Lorenzo Mastroianni]

New videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel here