Everything here should be true for Patch 6 on Honor mode (PC Version).

1. Steal your money back from Withers. He doesn’t react at all to failed steal attempts (but be careful not to steal where Scratch can see). Any character can respec to any class anytime for free.

2. Surprise enemies by having the team hide then start the fight with an invisible strike (e.g. from Shovel).

3. You can steal without save scumming by using the barter screen to split the merchant’s gold into easy-to-steal chunks. Brianna the hireling with Guidance and Gloves of Thievery (act 1 item) will succeed 99% with target 6 or lower.

4. Save food in act 1 and 2 by using your whole team before you long rest. You get three (free) hirelings too so use them at least for camp stuff (buffing, alchemy, healing between battles).

5. At level 11 you can make infinite food with Hero’s Feast. And there is a lot of food around in act 3 anyway which is good because you need to rest more in act 3 to trigger story events anyway.

6. Having an Aid-buffed small army of summons is a great way to not die (add Heroes’ Feast at level 11). Start your entourage in act 1 with Scratch and Shovel. Add Us in act 2. Hoard dead bodies in your Camp chest to make into skeletons. In act 2 you can use the Glutted Catacombs, but bodies are harder to find in act 3.

7. Don’t anger guards unnecessarily by plopping dead bodies on the ground or casting Friends. If you do make enemies temporarily hostile run away without fighting back to avoid making them permanently hostile

8. At level 10, each character can be a cleric once to use divine intervention

9. Throwing beneficial potions can hit multiple allies. Aim for the floor near them, not a direct hit. It isn’t a bonus action like drinking, but it can be used with Extra Attack.

10. Getting extra actions is super important. Even with honor mode limitations, you can still attack 5-6+ times in a good turn (see build details below). Always consider using Haste items, speed potions, and Mind Sanctuary.

11. Before casting a concentration spell, make sure you aren’t accidentally replacing a more important active concentration spell. Cancelling Haste will end your turn so it is rarely a good idea.

12. Mobility is also super important so prioritize items with Misty Step and similar abilities.

13. Jumping and flying can usually cover the same distance with less movement than walking (but cost a bonus action unless you are using the tadpole fly).

14. Make Brianna the halfling hireling a transmutation wizard with a max medicine skill to get the most speed potions out of your hyena ears (etc…)

15. Any wizard can cast Longstrider on the whole camp for free at any time and it lasts all day.

16. Use examine on enemies to check their resistances and abilities (including legendary abilities). In the hag fights, the real hag has the "Fey Life" trait.

17. For most of the game, you can avoid game over by keeping a character back at camp or at least in the back of the fight ready to run (invisible, misty step, etc…). Your one survivor can resurrect everyone and steal the money back from Withers. Don't wait too long to run though - having two runners gives you a back up in case one doesn't work out.

18. Three-character suicide missions can soften up tough fights without risking a game over wipe. Most enemies will kill downed characters which is what you want. Occasionally, a crowd of enemies will leave your downed character(s) alive and stable in which case you will have to snipe them and run or have invisible summons kill them.

19. Be prepared to go “all in” for the three times you are not allowed to return to camp: entering Illithid Colony in Moonrise towers (1-time restoration device available), blowing your cover or stealing the hammer in House of Hope (unlimited restoration device available), and entering the skiff in the Morphic Pool (NO restoration device in honor mode). Don’t leave important items on your non-active team members.

20. If you get in trouble in honor mode, it is fun to trying to recover without being able to re-load. But if you are truly about to game over (or if you get hit bad by a bug) I say don’t be too proud to control-alt-del and end task. The game will display a “saving” notification, but it doesn’t actually save. If you have timed autosaves turned off the only saves are manual (e.g. F5), long rests, or major transitions like end of acts. If you actually get game over it is possible to undo it but it requires converting and editing your profile file.

End Goal: Paladin 2 / Sword Bard 10

Go-to actions: Smites, Slashing Flourish, Cleave, Hold Person, Confusion, Pommel Strike, Banishing Smite

• Get two levels of Paladin and then the next 10 levels in College of Swords Bard. Bard levels are good for paladins because you get more spell slots to use for smites. And the Sword Bard gets Extra Attack plus the Slashing Flourish (hit 2 with one action) which is four smites per turn before starting with haste shenanigans.
  
  
• Oath doesn’t matter much but keep in mind oath breakers have to pay to restore oath before they can respec. The first offense costs 1,000, the second costs 2,000 and the third is 10,000. But if you don’t want to respec, oathbreaker is fine.
  
  
• Max out your strength (use feats to get more) and get 16 charisma too (for spell save DC).
  
  
• Smite everything with a big 2-handed weapon like Everburn Blade to start (use Command Drop on devil in Nautiloid) and Halberd of Vigilance or Balduran’s Giantslayer by the end.
  
  
• Keep healing word prepped to revive a downed character if you need it.
  
  
• Control the crowds with Command, Hold Person, Confusion, and Banishing Smite. Hold person lets you do automatic critical hits.
  
  
• In act 2 you can get the Helmet of Arcane Acuity. With this, your weapon attacks make your spells harder to resist.
  
  
• At the start of act 3 get the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel which makes most Bard spells bonus actions. Also, add on Bhaalist Armor when you get there.
  
  
• At level 11, you will get a level six Bard spell slot which is good for the upcast Summon Elemental to get a Water Myrmidon with an awesome icicle ability.

End Goal: Open Hand Monk 9 / Thief Rogue 3

Go-to actions: Flurry of Blows Topple, Stunning Strike, Step of the Wind Dash, regular punching

• Take Open Hand Monk for the first seven levels. Get Tavern Brawler feat at level 4.
  
  
• Tavern Brawler doubles your strength bonus so max it out. After that, prioritize Wisdom and Dexterity.
  
  
• Then at level 8 respec to Monk 5 / Thief Rogue 3. Now you have extra attack and double flurries (which are bonus actions). That’s six hard-hitting blows per turn pre-haste.
  
  
• Take the rest of the levels in Monk to finish Monk 9 / Thief 3 since there are good monk passive abilities in Monk 6, 7 and 9. Take strength increase feat at Monk 8.
  
  
• Stunning strike is great, especially on bosses that don’t have Legendary Incapacitation. Resistance (looking at you, Raphael).
  
  
• Use the Sparkle Hand Gloves in act 1. By act 3 you can get Gloves of the Tyrant and Boots of the Uninhibited Kushigo which also buff the unarmed attacks.

End Goal: Eldrich Fighter 4 / Berserker Barbarian 5 / Thief Rogue 3
Go-to Actions: Enraged Throw, Throw

• This build really starts to shine at level 8. Before that you should probably just use another Monk (which is deadly starting at level 4) or Light Cleric or Storm Cleric (very good at levels 3-7).
  
  
• At level 8 you should respec to Fighter Eldrich Knight 3 / Berserker Barbarian 5 and take the Tavern Brawler feat. This gives you Bound Weapon, Extra Attack, and Enraged Throw. With action surge you can now knock down an opponent and hit them five times with the same weapon in one round.
  
  
• Tavern Brawler is doubling your strength bonus so max it out. The rest of your stat points can go to Con and Dex.
  
  
• Don’t forget to activate Bound Weapon right after each long rest.
  
  
• For levels 9-10 keep going up in Berserker. Then at 11 respec to Fighter 3 / Barbarian 5 / Thief Rogue 3 for Quick Hands which adds another Enraged Throw every turn.
  
  
• For the last level, take Fighter for the Ability Score Improvement Feat for Strength
  
  
• The Ring of Flinging and Gloves of the Uninhibited Kushigo are both available in act 1 for your throwing pleasure.
  
  
• You can also use your throws to toss healing potions as needed. If a teammate is down already, might as well use Enraged Throw.
  
  
• At the beginning of act 3 you can get Nyrulna which adds an AOE effect on throw. But sometimes there will be friendlies around your target so also have Bound Weapon on some regular spear like Lightning Jabber (Nyrulna automatically returns anyway).

End Goal: Tempest Cleric 11 / Great Old One Warlock 1
Go-to Actions: Create Water, Chain Lightning, Ice Storm, Spirit Guardians, Call Lightning, Spiritual Weapon

• Enemies with the wet status take double damage from cold and lightning. And Destructive Wrath maxes out the damage for lightning or thunder spells. So, Chain Lightning with Destructive Wrath on wet enemies does 160 each on up to four targets.
  
  
• For the first 11 levels, take Tempest Cleric. At levels 3-4 use shatter and Spiritual Weapon (no water needed).
  
  
• Your best stats should be wisdom, dexterity, and constitution and your feats should be War Caster (to keep concentration on Spirit Guardians despite attacks of opportunity) and Dual Wielding (to use Markoheshkir and Spellsparkler at the same time).
  
  
• At level 5 you will get Call Lightning which you can combo with Create Water (e.g. with Potion of Speed). By now (mid-act 1) you should be able to get Boots of Speed. Cast Spirit Guardians and use the Click Heels ability and run/fly around the battlefield causing damage before you drop your Call Lightning. Your Spiritual Weapon and summons can be active at the same time too.
  
  
• Summoning skeletons is a pain since you need dead bodies, but they are very good once they are buffed with Aid (and Hero’s Feast at level 11). Use hirelings for your buff spells. In mid-act 2, there are Glutted Catacombs you can use to use to make skeletons for free but in act 3 dead bodies can be hard to come by. Save your other dead bodies (e.g. all those Goblins from act 1) in the chest at camp. Don’t plop dead bodies on the ground in front of guards since it can make them angry.
  
  
• As soon as you get to act 3, steal Markoheshkir. Use the Doom Bolts ability to get one Chain Lightning per short rest. The rest of the time, use Ice Storm. Get the Winter’s Clutches Gloves and Coldbrim Hat to add more debuffs to your ice spells.
  
  
• Once you get to level 10 you get Divine Intervention once per character. So have your characters take turns being Cleric and you can get up to 11 Divine Interventions.
  
  
• Level 12 Cleric just gives a feat and nothing else. Instead get Great Old One Warlock Level 1 which gives Armor of Agathys, Eldrich Blast, and Mortal Reminder which all still work well at character level 12.