Overview: The idea we're going for is making a Warrior King, a charismatic fighter who leads his allies and himself into battle. While not many warriors want to be the Face, a player who is good with social skills (persuasion, intimidation, deception, etc.), as it might take away from their fighting skills but since Arthur is a king we can make an exception.
Race: Human
Standard or Variant, but in this case, we'll go with Variant for the increase to two ability scores and a feat. So we'll put the two points into Strength and Constitutions for power and health. For the feat we're going to take Great Weapon Master as described in the Player Hand Book (PHB):
- On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.
- Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.
This will be very helpful for Arthur as his main weapon will be his Great Sword, you can name it Excalibur is you like, and a feat that allows him to capitalize on the weapon's damage.
Ability Scores: You can roll your own stats (by taking 5 d6 and subtracting the lowest number for every ability score), the buy-point system (splitting 26 points among your stats), or just the standard (15,14,13,10,8) but for simplicity, we're just going to stick with the standard. Our two highest stats will go towards Strength and Constitutions as stated in Race, then, in order, Charisma, Wisdom, Intelligence, then Dexterity. It should look something like this:
STR: 16 (+3)
DEX: 8 (-1)
CON: 15 (+2)
INT: 10 (0)
WIS: 12 (+1)
CHA: 13 (+1)
While Arthur is going to have good fighting stats, that 13 to his Charisma can help him either increasing the ability score to give Arthur a +2 when it turns into a 14 or go for the Inspiring Leader feat as a prerequisite is that you need to have a Charisma of 13 or higher.
Background: Noble
While Solider will give you some good proficiency for a fighter, Athletics and Intimidation, we're gonna take Noble given Arthur's background as the son of King Uther and later on becoming a King himself. The Noble background gives him proficiency in History and Persuasion which can help recall anything while the other skill will help influence an NPC or another player into doing something for you and your team. Combined with the feature of the Noble background, Position of Privilege, you are allowed access to higher society and perks common folks, or your teammates, aren't able to have. If your team tags along with you they could be allowed to come with you (you DM will decide that). You also get two languages to select, we'll pick Elvish and whatever you like for the second. The items you get from the Noble background are A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25 GP. The variant background for Noble, Knight, can be a good option as has its own feature, Retainer (gives you access to servants that do the mundane task but don't abuse them), instead of Position of Privilege.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality Trait:
The common folk loves me for my kindness and generosity.
Ideals:
Respect is due to me because of my position, but all people regardless of station deserve to be treated with dignity.
Bonds:
The common folk must see me as a hero of the people.
Flaws:
I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin my family forever.
This Alignment and these personality traits are optional unless you like to RP, you know the whole point of D&D.
Class: Fighter
Obvious reasons. At Level 1, we get to choose a Fighting Style, we'll get with Great Weapon Mastery (Arthur will be using a Great Sword). At Lvl. 3 we get to choose an Archetype, and the one we're going with will be Battle Master as Arthur is noted to be an excellent swordsman and the archetypes Maneuvers will give you some interesting interactions while in combat.
For skill proficiency we're going to take: Athletics, Intimidation, and Perception.
Equipment:
Chain Mail, Great Sword, Hand Crossbow, and Explorer's Pack
Now to Merlin
Race: Human (Variant)
Increase Intelligence and Wisdom and take the Elemental Adept feat:
Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell
- When you gain this feat, choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder.
- Spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type. Also, when you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of that type, you can treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2.
- You can select this feat multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different damage type.
Ability Scores:
STR: 8 (-1)
DEX: 13 (+1)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 16 (+3)
WIS: 13 (+1)
CHA: 10 (0)
Intelligence is a top priority for a Wizard as most of their magic will come from that stat, points in Constitution are good to keep you alive as the DM will have the enemy gun for you every time.
Background: Sage
Proficiency in Arcana and History is great for a Wizard as it will increase his knowledge of magic and everything magical and regular lore for flavor as Merlin is knowledgeable of many things. Plus the feature, Researcher, will give you access to many pieces of information from multiple sources like the library, other sages, laboratories, etc. When selecting languages we'll pick Draconic, Infernal, and Primordial as Merlin discovered the dragons and parts of his lore claiming that he's a part-demon or predates humans. For equipment, he'll have: A bottle of black ink, a quill, a small knife, a letter from a dead colleague posing a question you have not yet been able to answer, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 GP
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Personality Trait:
There’s nothing I like more than a good mystery.
Ideals:
The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.
Bonds:
I've been searching my whole life for the answer to a certain question.
Flaws:
I am easily distracted by the promise of information.
Class: Wizard
He's not called a Master Wizard for anything. In Smite, he uses Fire, Frost, Lightning, and additional spells. When we get to pick a School to practice, we're going for Evocation as it allows access to Elemental spells and other offensive spells.
Spells:
Cantrips: Shape Water, Prestidigitation, Frostbite
1st: Burning Hands, Expeditious Retreat, Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Thunder Wave, and Detect Magic.
For his proficiency, we'll pick: Investigation, Religion, and Perception
Smart characters need smart skills.
Equipment:
Wizards don't get weapons, so all you got is your magic to get you out of a fight but you do get a Scholar's Pack, Arcana Force, and a Wand for Arcana Force.
Thoughts and questions?
merlin is a lawful-good. he's a master illusionist so wouldn't school of illusion be better. he also said that he prefers to fight with a sword as he gets tongue-tied when chanting his spells. so then school of blade singing (ask for an exception to the DM). merlin is a crossbreed of an incubus and a human, so thiefling race would make more sense too.
what i'm seeing from the build you sent is that you want a wizard who's good at combat, while merlin is said to be a mage good at anything but combat.
hope you can do something with this
Before you ask which part, everything
Overall, both seem pretty interesting. I feel like they would perfectly fit into the world of DnD