The Lightning Rod

Character Concept

Planning

Since we are building around a spell, the first thing we need to look at is which classes have access to that spell. Ashardalon's Stride is available to Rangers, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Artificers. We want to be able to upcast it and have lots of spell slots for other things so that means the main considerations are Sorcerers and Wizards. Honestly, either one is viable here and I will go into further detail on this later. However, I think the better choice is Sorcerer for a few reasons. First, we will want to be able to succeed on our concentration checks so CON save proficiency is a huge bonus. Second, the versatility provided by Metamagic options is incredibly useful in a variety of ways. And third, there are some very nice Sorcerer subclass features that will be quite useful.

Level 1

We'll want to make sure we stay highly mobile and lean into the speed boost from Ashardalon's Stride since the farther we move, the more enemies we can reach and the greater damage we can do. With that in mind, I suggest choosing Orc as our race. They can Dash as a bonus action proficiency bonus times per long rest which is probably all we'll need. They also have the nice benefit of being able to avoid dropping to zero health once per long rest.

Our primary spellcasting class will be Sorcerer so we will want a very high CHA score. We'll also want decent CON and WIS scores for saves and other things. The starting ability scores that I suggest are:

STR: 8

DEX: 10

CON: 15 (+1)

INT: 10

WIS: 13

CHA: 15 (+2)

This starts us off with really good CHA and CON. Unfortunately, our AC will be pretty terrible to start with so play it safe.

We get to pick our Sorcerer subclass at level 1 and there are some good options, but I'd suggest Divine Soul. Divine Soul doesn't get as many spells as Clockwork Soul or Aberrant Mind, but we get Favored by the Gods which is an excellent defensive feature which we will almost certainly need. We also get a spell based on our affinity and I suggest Evil which gives us Inflict Wounds, a decent offensive spell. I prefer this option because the others are either competing for our concentration or giving us a mediocre-at-best healing spell.

For spells, definitely take Shield and Absorb Elements for level 1 spells and Fire Bolt or Mind Sliver for cantrips.

Levels 2-3

For our next couple of levels as Sorcerer we start getting Metamagic features. Level 2 is relatively unremarkable with access to Sorcery Points but no Metamagic. And then at level 3 we get some Metamagic options. We definitely want to pick up Transmuted Spell. It may not come in handy just yet but we don't get to pick another one until level 10 so better to grab it now. Also, Quickened Spell is always useful to squeeze in some more value during a turn.

At level 3, we get 2nd level spells. I'd pick up something offensive since we're very lacking there outside of cantrips. Rime's Binding Ice is fun and could be useful. Unfortunately, it's a CON save but the large area means that if we're up against a mob of enemies, some of them will likely fail. Other good choices would be Vortex Warp, Tasha's Mind Whip or, the classic, Web. Pick whatever feels the most useful for your party.

Levels 4-5

Continuing with levels in Sorcerer, we get an ASI/Feat at 4 and 3rd level spells at 5. Since we have an odd CHA value, it's best to bump this up with a half feat. Probably the best option is Fey Touched (Charisma) and picking up the always useful Misty Step and choosing the (arguably overpowered) Silvery Barbs.

Level 5 is a big deal for this build because we can finally pick up the Ashardalon's Stride spell. It's pretty good right now because it will help us stay out of danger and allow us to deal some decent damage that does not get a save. The damage and movement both scale very well. Other spells I would suggest are Counterspell and Thunder Step.

Ashardalon's Stride is excellent against large numbers of enemies since it can only hit each once per turn. It does spread out your damage but it is incredibly reliable. We can also use our movement to deal damage, use our action to react to an enemy moving near us (or just about anything) and then move again, dealing damage again since Ashardalon's Stride says enemies can take damage only "once during a turn" and this would be on a different turn.

Just be careful about hitting your allies or burning down structures since Ashardalon's Stride does not discriminate against targets.

Level 6-7

At this point we'll be taking a detour into Cleric. We get some very nice things for this but some are going to take a while. Thankfully, we do get some great stuff right away. We'll be taking the Tempest Domain and they get proficiency in heavy armor. We have too low STR to meet the requirements for any heavy armor. However, the penalty for not meeting those requirements is a reduction of speed by 10 feet. That's pretty insignificant when we have a spell that will more than offset that. It's an especially small price to pay when we can increase our AC from 10 to 20 if we are wearing plate armor and a shield.

We also get Wrath of the Storm which is an OK way to punish enemies for hitting us but we likely won't get a ton of use out of it. Pick whatever Cleric spells fill gaps in your spell list. But remember that anything offensive is going to use your WIS modifier to cast so best to stick with defensive spells.

At level 7 we'll take our second level in Cleric and pick up a truly great ability in Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath. This pairs very well with our Transmuted Spell Metamagic. We can make any spell deal lightning or thunder damage and then just take the maximum damage on that roll. This works best for area of effect spells that only have one damage roll. Thunder Step is an excellent candidate for this because we won't need to use Metamagic and it deals area damage while teleporting us out of danger. It is fantastic to say the least.

Levels 8-11

We'll be sticking with Cleric up to level 11. There isn't a whole lot to get excited about on the way there other than higher level spell slots and some defensive or supportive Cleric spells. I don't think any Cleric spells are required but I'll suggest some to consider. Revivify, Motivational Speech, and Aid are all great spells to support your party and keep them alive.

We'll also get an ASI or Feat at Cleric 4. I suggest either Lucky or Resilient (Wisdom). Lucky is more versatile but is more limited use. I'd take Resilient (Wisdom) if you seem to be failing a lot of Wisdom saves.

Finally we reach Cleric 6 and we get the feature we came all this way for: Thunderbolt Strike. Use Transmuted Spell to turn Ashardalon's Stride into lightning damage and suddenly every enemy you run past gets pushed back 10 feet. They don't even get a save. The only limitation is it only works on enemies up to Large size. That will cover most enemies in the game. If you're fighting larger creatures, Ashardalon's Stride is probably not the way to go anyway. This creates some amazing synergy with the rest of your party and your area damage spells because you can force enemies into a tight group and then Thunder Step away, maximizing damage with Destructive Wrath. We also get a second use of Channel Divinity at this level so you can pull off this move twice per short rest.

Levels 12+

To finish off this build, just go back to Sorcerer to get higher level slots, more Sorcery Points, and eventually permanent flight if you happen to reach level 20.

You'll also pick up a couple ASIs or Feats. Use one to cap your Charisma and the other one to get Resilient (Wisdom) or Lucky (whichever one you didn't already get).

Some higher level spells to consider:

Chain Lightning

Heal

Heroes Feast

Mass Suggestion

Reverse Gravity

Analysis

This build can be very fun but, unfortunately, it takes a very long time to get to the best part. It could be done with just a couple levels in Cleric or even forego Cleric altogether, but I think the fun factor really hits the stratosphere once it gets the ability to push almost any enemy 10 feet every turn without a save.

I played this build in a level 20 one-shot and it blew away my expectations. I realize that is a very rare occurrence and a pretty small sample size, but in higher level play (probably level 11+), this character is going to be the MVP of every fight.

The only real weakness of this build is immunity or resistance to lightning and thunder damage. Surprisingly, resistance to both is actually not incredibly common. And the worst case scenario here is that you're just a full caster with plenty of other options available. Not too shabby.

I probably wouldn't try to build this character from level 1. But if a campaign started at level 7 or higher and I knew I would be able to hit at least level 11, I would definitely consider it. If you're doing a level 20 one-shot, look no farther.

An alternate approach to building this character would swap out Sorcerer for Wizard and go with the Order of Scribes Arcane Tradition. The Awakened Spellbook feature allows you to swap damage types of spells you cast without using a resource like Sorcery Points. However, if you read the feature closely, you will notice that it requires another spell of the same spell slot level that has the damage type you want to change to. This becomes tricky at higher levels because you'll need to be sure to have a spell the deals lightning damage at every spell level. You'll probably also want to cover thunder damage in case of immunities. I think the Sorcerer approach is more reasonable even though it uses a resource because it doesn't require you to fill up your spell list with spells you might never actually use and you can also use higher level Cleric spells using your Charisma for casting. But both builds are viable.