However, I’ll surprise foes until then, transforming from a small, flightless crow-person into a hulking beast. Ultimately, I’ll gain my dream of flight through shapeshifting. Kenku druids would utilize their +1 Wisdom bonus for druid spells and shapeshift into fierce creatures. I have a flying speed of 10 feet and can use this ability an amount of times equal to my proficiency bonus. This list includes mage hand, web, gaseous form, arcane eye and insect plague-all of which use the swarm in interesting ways.Įventually, Writhing Tide (level 7) gives me the ability to hover in the air for 1 minute. The swarm moves me 5 feet horizontally.Īlso, I’ll gain a special list of Swarmkeeper Spells.A failed save moves them 15 feet horizontally. Then, my birds can take one of 3 actions: Therefore, I’ll choose the Archery Fighting Style to increase my accuracy with a bow. Using a Gathered Swarm of crows, I can add extra effects to creatures I hit with an attack. My +2 Dexterity/+1 Wisdom ability bonus fits this build, using Dexterity for ranged attacks, Stealth and AC with Wisdom for ranger spells. Ranger- SwarmkeeperĪ swarmkeeper kenku ranger could use a swarm of crows to attack, move enemies and even grant me the sweet gift of flight. Now, I can use any magic item, even those not intended for me. Upper levels grant me Supreme Sneak, along with Use Magic Device. Fast Hands gives me the ability to Use Item as a bonus action, which means I can activate a magic item before my foes move. However, my Thief abilities revolve around breaking-and-entering and a specialty with magic items. Uncanny Action, Evasion and Blindsense keep me safe from traps and spell effects. Plus, I’ll gain Expertise and the ability to use thieves’ tools to a high degree. This rogue would benefit from the classic Sneak Attack ability, granting me an additional 2d6 + damage on attacks with advantage. This kenku is obsessed with finding that one piece of treasure that lets him or her fly again-if they could only stop being distracted by every other shiny object along the way. I crave shiny things, and I’m clever enough to make off with a few magic items. The crow-like nature, bonus to Dexterity, Mimic and Expert Forgery all play into the thief archetype. Thematically, the rogue thief is the most spot-on class for the kenku. Guide to Building an Aarakocra Monk: DnD 5e Related Posts: Guide to Building a Ranger Swarmkeeper: DnD 5e My choices are Acrobatics, Deception, Stealth and Sleight of Hand. Kenku Training grants me extra skill proficiencies. Playing this character means a lot of making noises and pointing, but I can make it work to my advantage. Plus, I’ll need to mimic sounds to communicate-sense I can’t talk. This creates opportunities to confuse NPCs or foes. Mimicry is another roguish feature, giving my character the ability to mimic sounds and voices to near perfection. Now, I can pick up skills from towns my party visits. This is a fun way to bring more out of interactions with NPCs.
Kenku are unable to be original themselves yet gain advantage on rolls to create a forgery. Small and versatile, kenku learn abilities that seem to pit them in the rogue category by nature.Įxpert Forgery gives me the ability to copy someone’s craftwork or handwriting. Special abilities like Expert Forgery, Mimicry Options like Thief and Artificer especially stick out to me because of this background. Therefore, I’ll keep this background in mind when choosing the class. How is this flightless bird going to achieve a lifelong dream of flying? Fortunately, DnD 5e offers several ways to achieve this goal-whether through a high-level spell or magic treasure. This offers a fantastic quirk and story arch to start my kenku build. Often found in high places-towers, cliffs, even massive redwood trees-the kenku crave the flight their people once had. Now, they make their way through the world as vagabonds and wanderers. As the story goes, whatever master they served rid them of their wings, home and ability to speak. However, they were cursed and banished to the mortal world because of their lust for shiny treasure. Kenku come from a mysterious background-some outer realm of air where they were minions to a powerful entity. However, playing this tricky little crow-person gives me creative options-something slightly more unusual. Though often roguish in nature, the kenku often fit into classes like ranger, rogue and druid, leaning into trickery and staying clear of a one-on-one fight. The raven-like kenku in Dungeons and Dragons 5e are cunning, gaining a +2 Dexterity/+1 Wisdom ability score bonus. Special abilities like Expert Forgery, Mimicry.When playing a kenku character in DnD 5e, consider the following: