Jack Of All Trades can be viable!

I recently finished a Jack Of All Trades run on Tactician. Meet Quizzical, a front-line tank who successfully dueled Orin in buffed-Slayer form because I taunted her. It was a fun if sometimes wild ride, and I only mention Orin to indicate the build's functionality. That fight pushed this to its absolute limit, but it beat her in the end.

If you've done a JOAT run, I want to hear how you built it!

I also want to share what I did and why. JOAT runs are not new, but in preparing for this run I felt dissatisfied with online talk that certain levels/classes are dead weight. I wanted to build something that felt good for the entire run, from level 1 all the way through 12. And while it didn't go perfectly, it was very fun to play. My one major disappointment came because of a legit bug rather than a failure of the concept (though I also had one of those too, lol).

The thought process

I started with some basic principles about the challenge:

1. It's more fun to get the JOAT achievement with a full run instead of cheesing it via Minsc or a Hireling.
2. JOAT builds need to be Feat, ASI, and respec-independent, because they can't respec and will never get to level 4 in any class.
3. JOAT builds may not be optimized, but they should perform at least one role well, rather than being 100% carried by the party.
4. The earlier a build gets online, the better.
5. EDIT: Paladin probably needs to go last because of the Oath. I don't know if this is true, but I wasn't willing to risk it.

Then I went looking for what was available to me, given that a lot of things would not be:

1. Every turn, you get one action and one bonus action. That's it. There is no Extra Attack or Quickened Metamagic waiting for you later. You need to make the most of the action + bonus action every. single. turn.
2. Since you'll never get Alert, you either need to build towards going last, or you need to boost your DEX high enough to make up the difference.
3. Since you'll never get an ASI, you need to find other ways of boosting stats you care about. Strength Elixirs are always an option, though I don't like leaning on consumables. I also wanted to be online long before Act 3's Mirror of Loss. So instead, I focused on Hag Hair, Araj's potion, and equipment. There's a goodly amount of equipment that can boost various stats.
4. Certain classes give you AC bonuses if you're not wearing armor. Barbarians look at CON, Monks look at WIS, and Draconic Sorcerers just get a flat +3. Also, none of those stack. That doesn't mean you have to use one of them, but they're a resource at your disposal.
5. Fighter level 1 gives you a fighting style bonus. Choose well, and you could use that for the entire run.
6. Monk level 1 lets you scale any non-2H weapon off DEX instead of STR.

That last one pushed me over the edge toward a DEX build.

The plan

High DEX looked like it could solve problems with combat, AC, and initiative. I could start with DEX 17 and get to DEX 20 with Hag Hair and the Graceful Cloth, and I could do it in Act 1. The Graceful Cloth would make me a "real" Rogue if I played my skill allocations right. Being a Gnome would give me advantage on non-physical checks where I might otherwise struggle. While I couldn't use a 2H weapon, I could use anything else plus a shield. Or, I could do two-weapon fighting with light weapons, which would ensure I had something to do with my bonus action. Dual hand crossbows helped with that as well. Starting with Barbarian would max my HP, and taking CON 16 would get me the same AC boost as a Draconic Sorcerer, while letting me take Storm Sorcery to get a bonus-action disengage + flight on turns when I cast a spell.

Oh yeah, it was all coming together.

My early plan was to exploit the Adamantium Longsword's always-crit feature, pair it with the Adamantium Shield for crit-immunity, and slap on Great Old One Warlock to become an unstoppable fear machine. Of course, this doesn't work. The Adamantium Longsword always-crits objects, not creatures. From the moment I figured that out, I got stuck debating if I should turn towards a crit-fishing two-weapon Knife of the Undermountain King build instead of using the shield. I spent most of the game debating this, which pushed Fighter and Warlock toward the end. In the end, I wish I'd just committed to Dueling much earlier.

tl;dr: the build

Level	Class	Notes
Stats	Deep Gnome with STR 8, DEX 17, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 14	This worked fine, though I ended up not using Sneak much, and I kept wishing I had WIS 12 so the Cleric & Druid spellbooks weren't so hobbled.
1	Barbarian (skills: Medicine, Perception, Survival, Intimidation)	As soon as I found a Scimitar, Shield, and Crossbow on the Nautiloid, I was all set. Finding a Rapier was even better! I didn't need much else to be a capable warrior.
2	Monk	Every weapon became a DEX weapon, and I always had a second attack, unimpressive as it might be. I settled into a War Pick +1 that felt great.
3	War Cleric (Guidance, Thaumaturgy; prepare Sanctuary	War Priest gave me a better second attack. The spells got used through the whole run. I wished I had room for Create Water, but I figured that Druid would get it later…
4	Storm Sorcerer (Booming Blade, Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Fire Bolt, Magic Missile, Shield)	The build was mostly online. I didn't use the Flight bonus action often, but it came in clutch a few times. Shield kept me from taking most physical damage. I boosted Magic Missile with the amulet that gives you an extra bolt. The Shattered Flail emerged as my weapon of choice, and perhaps due to Gnome Cunning, I never had it backfire.
5	Bard (Proficiency in Sleight of Hand; Blade Ward, Minor Illusion, Speak With Animals, Longstrider, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Thunderwave)	I loved the utility spells, and the Sleight of Hand proficiency was a big step towards passing for a Rogue.
6	Rogue (Proficiency in Persuasion, Expertise in Persuasion, Expertise in Sleight of Hand)	Huge spike in power and utility. Picked up Ethel's Hair and the Graceful Cloth to reach DEX 20.
7	Druid (Shillelagh, Thorn Whip; prepare Create or Destroy Water (but there was a bug that kept saying it was unprepared when I tried to use it))	This was my most disappointing level. The Create or Destroy Water bug comes from having both a Cleric and a Druid spellbook. It kept me from messing around with some Ice and Lightning stuff that I wanted to try. I just didn't get the value out of this level that I expected.
8	Wizard (Acid Splash, Bone Chill, Poison Spray, Chromatic Orb, Burning Hands, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Witch Bolt)	Sanity returned, and third level Wizard spells came with it! I settled on the Flawed Helldusk Gloves + Blood of Lathander to cement myself as a front-line butt kicker.
9	Ranger (Favored Enemy: Keeper of the Veil, Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer - Fire, Proficiency in Insight)	I wish I'd done this sooner. This gave me some nice extra skills heading into the Gauntlet of Shar.
10	Great Old One Warlock (Eldritch Bast, Toll the Dead, Hellish Rebuke, Hex)	I got this immediately before Myrkul. Sadly, I wasn't optimized for exploiting GOO crit fear. Hellish Rebuke ended up seeing more use than I expected, particularly against Orin. Right after hitting Act 3, I picked up Nyrulna, which felt outstanding.
11	Fighter (Fighting Style: Dueling)	I'd been using this all game and I wish I'd committed sooner.
12	Paladin (first Oath of Vengeance, then Oathbreaker)	I made it! The House of Hope let me upgrade to the non-Flawed Helldusk Gloves as well as the CON amulet, boosting both my HP and AC!

EDIT: The Gear

A chunk of my gear was consistent from Act 1 until the end:

• Headgear: Warped Headband of Intellect
• Clothing: The Graceful Cloth
• Off-Hand - Melee: Adamantine Shield
• Main Hand - Ranged: Hand Crossbow +1
• Useful thing in inventory: Pearl of Power Amulet

A few bits were mostly consistent:

• Amulet: Psychic Spark until I got the Amulet of Greater Health
• Ring 1: Caustic Band until I got the Callous Glow Ring
• Ring 2: Mage's Friend until I got the Coruscation Ring
• Off-Hand - Ranged: Hand Crossbow +1 until I got the Ne'er Misser (I got Yurgir to side with me, so I missed out on his loot)
• Cloak: The Deathstalker Mantle until I got the Vivacious Cloak (the former was just because I was Durge; the latter proc'd all the time thanks to Booming Blade, keeping my health topped-up and tanky)
• Gloves: I played around with the Gloves of Belligerent Skies for a while before settling into the Flawed Helldusk Gloves, and eventually the Helldusk Gloves.

The boots and main hand weapon changed a lot before settling into something that actually felt like it fit the build. At one point I tried playing with Reverberation before settling into your classic glowing weapon + Callous Glow Ring + Coruscation Ring combo.

• Boots: Boots of Stormy Clamour -> Disintegrating Night Walkers -> Bonespike Boots
• Main Hand - Melee: Scimitar -> Rapier -> War Pick +1 -> Shattered Flail -> Cacophony -> Blood of Lathander -> Nyrulna

That's enough from me; let's hear yours!

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EDIT: Thanks folks! I'll admit my ignorance about M2s prior to a few minutes ago. It's, uh, been a few years since my heyday of building & tinkering.