Long story shortish, I was in a Pathfinder campaign as a level 9 barbarian with a bear animal companion. The DM flaked and the campaign went kablooey. One of the players stepped up to DM and we switched to 5e, so now I'm a barbarian without a bear and without my adamantine warhammer. Since I can't have my bear in 5e, I chose Totem Warrior so at least I could have him in spirit. RIP Kang.
I can live without the bear and even the warhammer, but I really miss cleave. In Pathfinder, if there are two adjacent bad guys, you can hit both if you make your first attack. I was thinking of multi-classing with fighter so I could get something akin to Pathfinder's cleave. If I took fighter for 3 levels, and chose Battle Master, I could take Sweeping Attack as a maneuver, which I think is the closest thing 5e has to cleave.
My question is about multi-classing. I've never multi-classed before so I'm not sure if it's worth doing or not. I can see benefits and drawbacks to both. Is it worth doing? If so, when? I just leveled up to 6. I could take my barbarian back down to level 5 and start fighter level 1 right now. Or I could wait until level 8, get the ability score improvement as barbarian, take fighter for 4 levels and get ability score improvements as fighter. Or is there a better way? Opinions? Thanks.
Multiclassing can totally be worth it, but only if you're willing to put some extra thought and consideration into what you're doing. Single classing will pretty much always produce an effective character; multiclassing can produce something just as good, or something much worse, depending on how you go about it.
The key thing is that you're derailing the default progression of your character:
Many class features scale linearly with your level in that class. For example, the Rogue's Sneak Attack dice, the Monk's ki points and any spellcaster's access to higher level spells all scale smoothly with your levels in that class. Every class gets an Ability Score Increase at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level as well.
Most classes get large power increases when they enter a new gameplay tier (5th, 11th, and 17th level). For example, at 5th level martial classes get access to Extra Attack and spellcasters get access to 3rd level spells, which introduces some real gamechangers (e.g. Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fireball, Revivify.) Likewise, at 11th level Fighters get another attack and spellcasters get access to 6th level spells.
Any time you take levels in another class you're reducing the effectiveness of your scaling features and delaying access to your next major power bump, so whatever you get out of your new class needs to make up for that. Usually the best way to multiclass is to take 1, 2, maybe even 3 levels in another class right after you reach a major milestone in your main class, to get access to powerful early game features in another class.
So, on to your situation. If your goal is to simulate the 3.5e cleave from time to time, you might want to look at the Great Weapon Master feat. It gives you a bonus action attack if you either reduce an enemy to 0 HP, or score a critical hit. This isn't too hard to achieve for a Barbarian since you hit like a truck and Reckless Attack lets you give yourself advantage at will, which raises the odds of rolling a 20 to 9.75%. With Extra Attack letting you swing twice, you have an 18.55% chance of scoring at least 1 critical. There's also the Martial Adept feat that'll let you learn 2 Battle Master maneuvers and give you one d6 to spend per short rest, which'll give you access to Sweeping Attack without going 3 levels into Fighter.
There's also an optional rule in the DMG for cleaving through weak creatures you might want to ask your DM about. Basically, if you take a creature from full HP to 0 in one hit, and your attack roll is high enough to hit another creature within your reach, you can apply the leftover damage to that other creature.
That said, if you're fine with losing 3 whole Barbarian levels, the Fighter multiclass is still a fine choice. Fighting Style, Action Surge, and the Battle Master's Combat Superiority are all very useful for you. You're already past the Extra Attack milestone, which is the biggest concern when multiclassing any martial character. It's really up to you when you want to dip into Fighter though, depending on how much you value the upcoming Barbarian class features. Don't forget that you not only get another Totem feature at 6th level, you also get a 4th rage. Having advantage on Initiative rolls is pretty nice too, though some players care about that far more than others.
One last thing: there's no rule that says you can't have a pet bear, and some DMs might be OK with that if you don't plan on using it for combat. Also, Xanathar's Guide to Everything has an optional rule for applying adamantine to weapons, similar to the rules for silvered weapons in the Player's Handbook. There's very few creatures that are specifically vulnerable to adamantine so it wouldn't be a big deal to allow it.
The 6th level Totem Warrior abilities are all somewhat ribbon abilities, so I would say take that level as a Fighter instead. Battle Master is an excellent choice and the maneuvers can be very very good, though I do find Sweeping Attack a little lackluster. As an alternative, what would you think about being a Cavalier? It has excellent tanking abilities that complement the Totem Warrior and will let you defend your party mates very well.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Multiclassing can totally be worth it, but only if you're willing to put some extra thought and consideration into what you're doing. Single classing will pretty much always produce an effective character; multiclassing can produce something just as good, or something much worse, depending on how you go about it.
The key thing is that you're derailing the default progression of your character:
Many class features scale linearly with your level in that class. For example, the Rogue's Sneak Attack dice, the Monk's ki points and any spellcaster's access to higher level spells all scale smoothly with your levels in that class. Every class gets an Ability Score Increase at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level as well.
Most classes get large power increases when they enter a new gameplay tier (5th, 11th, and 17th level). For example, at 5th level martial classes get access to Extra Attack and spellcasters get access to 3rd level spells, which introduces some real gamechangers (e.g. Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fireball, Revivify.) Likewise, at 11th level Fighters get another attack and spellcasters get access to 6th level spells.
Any time you take levels in another class you're reducing the effectiveness of your scaling features and delaying access to your next major power bump, so whatever you get out of your new class needs to make up for that. Usually the best way to multiclass is to take 1, 2, maybe even 3 levels in another class right after you reach a major milestone in your main class, to get access to powerful early game features in another class.
So, on to your situation. If your goal is to simulate the 3.5e cleave from time to time, you might want to look at the Great Weapon Master feat. It gives you a bonus action attack if you either reduce an enemy to 0 HP, or score a critical hit. This isn't too hard to achieve for a Barbarian since you hit like a truck and Reckless Attack lets you give yourself advantage at will, which raises the odds of rolling a 20 to 9.75%. With Extra Attack letting you swing twice, you have an 18.55% chance of scoring at least 1 critical. There's also the Martial Adept feat that'll let you learn 2 Battle Master maneuvers and give you one d6 to spend per short rest, which'll give you access to Sweeping Attack without going 3 levels into Fighter.
There's also an optional rule in the DMG for cleaving through weak creatures you might want to ask your DM about. Basically, if you take a creature from full HP to 0 in one hit, and your attack roll is high enough to hit another creature within your reach, you can apply the leftover damage to that other creature.
That said, if you're fine with losing 3 whole Barbarian levels, the Fighter multiclass is still a fine choice. Fighting Style, Action Surge, and the Battle Master's Combat Superiority are all very useful for you. You're already past the Extra Attack milestone, which is the biggest concern when multiclassing any martial character. It's really up to you when you want to dip into Fighter though, depending on how much you value the upcoming Barbarian class features. Don't forget that you not only get another Totem feature at 6th level, you also get a 4th rage. Having advantage on Initiative rolls is pretty nice too, though some players care about that far more than others.
One last thing: there's no rule that says you can't have a pet bear, and some DMs might be OK with that if you don't plan on using it for combat. Also, Xanathar's Guide to Everything has an optional rule for applying adamantine to weapons, similar to the rules for silvered weapons in the Player's Handbook. There's very few creatures that are specifically vulnerable to adamantine so it wouldn't be a big deal to allow it.
Thanks for the thorough answer!
I've already run Cleaving through Creatures by my DM and he approved the use of it, but that only allows you to do it on creatures who are undamaged.
I've also looked into Martial Adept, but you can only sweep once between rests, and I'd have to give up ability score improvements to get it. I'll have to look into Great Weapons Master.
I'll check into the adamantine. That's a nice trick, though I'm sure it's expensive and I'm rather cash poor at the moment. Once we kill off the current level boss, maybe I can ask for that as a reward.
Having a pet bear would be nice, but we're in a desert campaign right now so maybe not so much.
I typically have one of the highest initiatives in my crew, so I'm not too worried about that, but since I'm waffling so much on it, I think I'll wait to 8 at least before I do anything.
The 6th level Totem Warrior abilities are all somewhat ribbon abilities, so I would say take that level as a Fighter instead. Battle Master is an excellent choice and the maneuvers can be very very good, though I do find Sweeping Attack a little lackluster. As an alternative, what would you think about being a Cavalier? It has excellent tanking abilities that complement the Totem Warrior and will let you defend your party mates very well.
Thanks. I'll check it out. I've also heard that Champion can be good.
Thanks. I'll check it out. I've also heard that Champion can be good.
They're honestly almost better as a multiclass complement to a barbarian than they are on their own as Fighters. Their expanded crit range on weapon attacks can lead to some nasty crit fishing builds using Brutal Critical and Reckless Attack. If you happen to be an elf or half elf you can take Elven Accuracy to fully maximize your crit chance to almost 30%.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Thanks. I'll check it out. I've also heard that Champion can be good.
They're honestly almost better as a multiclass complement to a barbarian than they are on their own as Fighters. Their expanded crit range on weapon attacks can lead to some nasty crit fishing builds using Brutal Critical and Reckless Attack. If you happen to be an elf or half elf you can take Elven Accuracy to fully maximize your crit chance to almost 30%.
Oh, so you already have the equivalent of the barbarian's 9th level ability, Brutal Critical. If you like scoring really damaging hits, it might serve you well to become a Champion to expand your crit range. Your normal chance of getting a crit on any weapon hit is 5%, with Advantage (like from your Reckless Attack) that goes up to 9.75%. If you become a Champion your regular hits will have a 10% chance to crit, going up to a 19% chance with Advantage. You'll also have the benefit of a Fighting Style. Your half-orc benefit already makes your crits better than anyone else's, but they will get better and better as you level up in barbarian.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Oh, so you already have the equivalent of the barbarian's 9th level ability, Brutal Critical. If you like scoring really damaging hits, it might serve you well to become a Champion to expand your crit range. Your normal chance of getting a crit on any weapon hit is 5%, with Advantage (like from your Reckless Attack) that goes up to 9.75%. If you become a Champion your regular hits will have a 10% chance to crit, going up to a 19% chance with Advantage. You'll also have the benefit of a Fighting Style. Your half-orc benefit already makes your crits better than anyone else's, but they will get better and better as you level up in barbarian.
Yup. Extra brutality is exactly why I chose half-orc. I do like the idea of an expanded crit range.
They're honestly almost better as a multiclass complement to a barbarian than they are on their own as Fighters. Their expanded crit range on weapon attacks can lead to some nasty crit fishing builds using Brutal Critical and Reckless Attack. If you happen to be an elf or half elf you can take Elven Accuracy to fully maximize your crit chance to almost 30%.
Elven Accuracy doesn't work with Strength-based attacks though, which would rule out both the Rage damage bonus and Reckless Attack.
Champion only makes sense if you can stack a lot of extra damage on critical hits. Improved Critical only pays out if you roll a 19, which happens only 9.25% of the time with advantage. You'll probably only see one 19 per fight. Meanwhile Battle Master offers 4d8 to spend as you please per short rests, so it's got a head start. The Battle Master is guaranteed to do an extra 4d8; the Champion has to accumulate enough attacks to roll enough 19s that the extra crit dice outweigh the 4d8. Also, for every 19 the Champion gets, the Battle Master is also going to get a 20 which they could spend one of their four dice on to double it (remember, crits double all dice.)
Let's put this in concrete terms:
You've got a half-orc 8 Barbarian/3 Fighter with 1 ASI in Strength (they spent one on Great Weapon Master) for a Strength modifier of +4 and an attack bonus of +8.
They're swinging a warhammer one-handed (otherwise you'd use a maul, right?) They picked up Dueling Fighting Style from their Fighter levels.
A CR 8 monster should have about 16 AC using the guidelines in the DMG; a quick look at the CR 8 monsters in the Monster Manual shows mostly a range of 14 to 18 so that lines up.
On a normal hit they're averaging 4.5 (the average of 1d8) + 4 (STR mod) + 2 (Dueling FS) = 10.5 damage.
On a crit they're getting an extra 2d8 (1d8 from the weapon dice, 1d8 from Savage Attacks), which averages to 9 damage.
Reckless Attack is always on for maximum critting.
With those numbers, you've got an 84% chance to score any kind of hit (normal or critical). The Champion build scores a crit 19% of the time; the Battle Master build scores a crit 9.75% of the time. The average damage for an attack is simply the chance of hitting times the average damage of a hit, plus the chance of critting times the average extra damage on a crit:
For the Champion: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.19 * 9 = 9.21 + 1.71 = 10.91
For the Battle Master: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.0975 * 9 = 9.21 + 0.88 = 10.09
So the Champion has an edge of 0.82 damage per attack thanks to the expanded crit range. However the Battle Master has 4d8 per short rest to spend on extra damage; if they just burn those dice immediately (not waiting for any crits) they're getting an extra 18 damage. The Champion needs to attack 22 times per short rest to break even. If the Battle Master is able to spend all four dice on nat 20s, the Champion has to do twice as much work.
If we assume a 9 Barbarian/3 Fighter with both Savage Attacks and Brutal Critical, the extra damage on a crit is now 3d8 (average of 13.5) and the numbers change to:
For the Champion: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.19 * 13.5 = 9.21 + 2.57 = 11.78
For the Battle Master: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.0975 * 13.5 = 9.21 + 1.32 = 10.53
Now the Champion has an edge of 1.25 per attack, so they need 14.4 attacks per short rest to break even, or up to 28.8 if the Battle Master is able to spend all of them on nat 20s. But also remember that the Battle Master gets to choose when they get their extra damage and gets useful side effects (like knocking enemies prone) on top of that.
If you're a half orc and you have two Brutal Critical upgrades and you're swinging a d12 weapon I'm sure the Champion build becomes a clear win for damage, but by then you're at least a 16th level character.
The other thing to consider is that if you don't care how you get that expanded crit range, taking 1 level in Warlock (Hexblade patron) can give you a 19-20 range on one enemy per short rest and save you 2 character levels compared to the Champion build, which lets you unlock Brutal Critical 2 levels sooner.
They're honestly almost better as a multiclass complement to a barbarian than they are on their own as Fighters. Their expanded crit range on weapon attacks can lead to some nasty crit fishing builds using Brutal Critical and Reckless Attack. If you happen to be an elf or half elf you can take Elven Accuracy to fully maximize your crit chance to almost 30%.
Elven Accuracy doesn't work with Strength-based attacks though, which would rule out both the Rage damage bonus and Reckless Attack.
Champion only makes sense if you can stack a lot of extra damage on critical hits. Improved Critical only pays out if you roll a 19, which happens only 9.25% of the time with advantage. You'll probably only see one 19 per fight. Meanwhile Battle Master offers 4d8 to spend as you please per short rests, so it's got a head start. The Battle Master is guaranteed to do an extra 4d8; the Champion has to accumulate enough attacks to roll enough 19s that the extra crit dice outweigh the 4d8. Also, for every 19 the Champion gets, the Battle Master is also going to get a 20 which they could spend one of their four dice on to double it (remember, crits double all dice.)
Let's put this in concrete terms:
You've got a half-orc 8 Barbarian/3 Fighter with 1 ASI in Strength (they spent one on Great Weapon Master) for a Strength modifier of +4 and an attack bonus of +8.
They're swinging a warhammer one-handed (otherwise you'd use a maul, right?) They picked up Dueling Fighting Style from their Fighter levels.
A CR 8 monster should have about 16 AC using the guidelines in the DMG; a quick look at the CR 8 monsters in the Monster Manual shows mostly a range of 14 to 18 so that lines up.
On a normal hit they're averaging 4.5 (the average of 1d8) + 4 (STR mod) + 2 (Dueling FS) = 10.5 damage.
On a crit they're getting an extra 2d8 (1d8 from the weapon dice, 1d8 from Savage Attacks), which averages to 9 damage.
Reckless Attack is always on for maximum critting.
With those numbers, you've got an 84% chance to score any kind of hit (normal or critical). The Champion build scores a crit 19% of the time; the Battle Master build scores a crit 9.75% of the time. The average damage for an attack is simply the chance of hitting times the average damage of a hit, plus the chance of critting times the average extra damage on a crit:
For the Champion: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.19 * 9 = 9.21 + 1.71 = 10.91
For the Battle Master: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.0975 * 9 = 9.21 + 0.88 = 10.09
So the Champion has an edge of 0.82 damage per attack thanks to the expanded crit range. However the Battle Master has 4d8 per short rest to spend on extra damage; if they just burn those dice immediately (not waiting for any crits) they're getting an extra 18 damage. The Champion needs to attack 22 times per short rest to break even. If the Battle Master is able to spend all four dice on nat 20s, the Champion has to do twice as much work.
If we assume a 9 Barbarian/3 Fighter with both Savage Attacks and Brutal Critical, the extra damage on a crit is now 3d8 (average of 13.5) and the numbers change to:
For the Champion: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.19 * 13.5 = 9.21 + 2.57 = 11.78
For the Battle Master: 0.8775 * 10.5 + 0.0975 * 13.5 = 9.21 + 1.32 = 10.53
Now the Champion has an edge of 1.25 per attack, so they need 14.4 attacks per short rest to break even, or up to 28.8 if the Battle Master is able to spend all of them on nat 20s. But also remember that the Battle Master gets to choose when they get their extra damage and gets useful side effects (like knocking enemies prone) on top of that.
If you're a half orc and you have two Brutal Critical upgrades and you're swinging a d12 weapon I'm sure the Champion build becomes a clear win for damage, but by then you're at least a 16th level character.
The other thing to consider is that if you don't care how you get that expanded crit range, taking 1 level in Warlock (Hexblade patron) can give you a 19-20 range on one enemy per short rest and save you 2 character levels compared to the Champion build, which lets you unlock Brutal Critical 2 levels sooner.
Well, when you put it that way... thanks for crunching those numbers.
It's a great breakdown! It's true, the Battle Master has the ability to put out better damage consistently and in a more considered way. The Champion just gives you a slightly higher chance to see those satisfying large hits. It's up to you.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I am a fan of satisfyingly large hits. But realistically, better consistent damage is probably more useful. Also, I rarely roll 19 or 20 on attack rolls. My natural 20s are usually saved for climbing a wall when I already have +6 athletics or something just as useful. ;)
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Long story shortish, I was in a Pathfinder campaign as a level 9 barbarian with a bear animal companion. The DM flaked and the campaign went kablooey. One of the players stepped up to DM and we switched to 5e, so now I'm a barbarian without a bear and without my adamantine warhammer. Since I can't have my bear in 5e, I chose Totem Warrior so at least I could have him in spirit. RIP Kang.
I can live without the bear and even the warhammer, but I really miss cleave. In Pathfinder, if there are two adjacent bad guys, you can hit both if you make your first attack. I was thinking of multi-classing with fighter so I could get something akin to Pathfinder's cleave. If I took fighter for 3 levels, and chose Battle Master, I could take Sweeping Attack as a maneuver, which I think is the closest thing 5e has to cleave.
My question is about multi-classing. I've never multi-classed before so I'm not sure if it's worth doing or not. I can see benefits and drawbacks to both. Is it worth doing? If so, when? I just leveled up to 6. I could take my barbarian back down to level 5 and start fighter level 1 right now. Or I could wait until level 8, get the ability score improvement as barbarian, take fighter for 4 levels and get ability score improvements as fighter. Or is there a better way? Opinions? Thanks.
I think that four levels of fighter is fine. Go on eighth level.
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Multiclassing can totally be worth it, but only if you're willing to put some extra thought and consideration into what you're doing. Single classing will pretty much always produce an effective character; multiclassing can produce something just as good, or something much worse, depending on how you go about it.
The key thing is that you're derailing the default progression of your character:
Any time you take levels in another class you're reducing the effectiveness of your scaling features and delaying access to your next major power bump, so whatever you get out of your new class needs to make up for that. Usually the best way to multiclass is to take 1, 2, maybe even 3 levels in another class right after you reach a major milestone in your main class, to get access to powerful early game features in another class.
So, on to your situation. If your goal is to simulate the 3.5e cleave from time to time, you might want to look at the Great Weapon Master feat. It gives you a bonus action attack if you either reduce an enemy to 0 HP, or score a critical hit. This isn't too hard to achieve for a Barbarian since you hit like a truck and Reckless Attack lets you give yourself advantage at will, which raises the odds of rolling a 20 to 9.75%. With Extra Attack letting you swing twice, you have an 18.55% chance of scoring at least 1 critical. There's also the Martial Adept feat that'll let you learn 2 Battle Master maneuvers and give you one d6 to spend per short rest, which'll give you access to Sweeping Attack without going 3 levels into Fighter.
There's also an optional rule in the DMG for cleaving through weak creatures you might want to ask your DM about. Basically, if you take a creature from full HP to 0 in one hit, and your attack roll is high enough to hit another creature within your reach, you can apply the leftover damage to that other creature.
That said, if you're fine with losing 3 whole Barbarian levels, the Fighter multiclass is still a fine choice. Fighting Style, Action Surge, and the Battle Master's Combat Superiority are all very useful for you. You're already past the Extra Attack milestone, which is the biggest concern when multiclassing any martial character. It's really up to you when you want to dip into Fighter though, depending on how much you value the upcoming Barbarian class features. Don't forget that you not only get another Totem feature at 6th level, you also get a 4th rage. Having advantage on Initiative rolls is pretty nice too, though some players care about that far more than others.
One last thing: there's no rule that says you can't have a pet bear, and some DMs might be OK with that if you don't plan on using it for combat. Also, Xanathar's Guide to Everything has an optional rule for applying adamantine to weapons, similar to the rules for silvered weapons in the Player's Handbook. There's very few creatures that are specifically vulnerable to adamantine so it wouldn't be a big deal to allow it.
The 6th level Totem Warrior abilities are all somewhat ribbon abilities, so I would say take that level as a Fighter instead. Battle Master is an excellent choice and the maneuvers can be very very good, though I do find Sweeping Attack a little lackluster. As an alternative, what would you think about being a Cavalier? It has excellent tanking abilities that complement the Totem Warrior and will let you defend your party mates very well.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
That's what I was leaning towards, if I'm going to do it at all. Maybe by the time I reach 8, I'll make my mind up.
Thanks for the thorough answer!
I've already run Cleaving through Creatures by my DM and he approved the use of it, but that only allows you to do it on creatures who are undamaged.
I've also looked into Martial Adept, but you can only sweep once between rests, and I'd have to give up ability score improvements to get it. I'll have to look into Great Weapons Master.
I'll check into the adamantine. That's a nice trick, though I'm sure it's expensive and I'm rather cash poor at the moment. Once we kill off the current level boss, maybe I can ask for that as a reward.
Having a pet bear would be nice, but we're in a desert campaign right now so maybe not so much.
I typically have one of the highest initiatives in my crew, so I'm not too worried about that, but since I'm waffling so much on it, I think I'll wait to 8 at least before I do anything.
Thanks. I'll check it out. I've also heard that Champion can be good.
They're honestly almost better as a multiclass complement to a barbarian than they are on their own as Fighters. Their expanded crit range on weapon attacks can lead to some nasty crit fishing builds using Brutal Critical and Reckless Attack. If you happen to be an elf or half elf you can take Elven Accuracy to fully maximize your crit chance to almost 30%.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
30% is insane! Alas, I'm half-orc.
Oh, so you already have the equivalent of the barbarian's 9th level ability, Brutal Critical. If you like scoring really damaging hits, it might serve you well to become a Champion to expand your crit range. Your normal chance of getting a crit on any weapon hit is 5%, with Advantage (like from your Reckless Attack) that goes up to 9.75%. If you become a Champion your regular hits will have a 10% chance to crit, going up to a 19% chance with Advantage. You'll also have the benefit of a Fighting Style. Your half-orc benefit already makes your crits better than anyone else's, but they will get better and better as you level up in barbarian.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Yup. Extra brutality is exactly why I chose half-orc. I do like the idea of an expanded crit range.
Elven Accuracy doesn't work with Strength-based attacks though, which would rule out both the Rage damage bonus and Reckless Attack.
Champion only makes sense if you can stack a lot of extra damage on critical hits. Improved Critical only pays out if you roll a 19, which happens only 9.25% of the time with advantage. You'll probably only see one 19 per fight. Meanwhile Battle Master offers 4d8 to spend as you please per short rests, so it's got a head start. The Battle Master is guaranteed to do an extra 4d8; the Champion has to accumulate enough attacks to roll enough 19s that the extra crit dice outweigh the 4d8. Also, for every 19 the Champion gets, the Battle Master is also going to get a 20 which they could spend one of their four dice on to double it (remember, crits double all dice.)
Let's put this in concrete terms:
With those numbers, you've got an 84% chance to score any kind of hit (normal or critical). The Champion build scores a crit 19% of the time; the Battle Master build scores a crit 9.75% of the time. The average damage for an attack is simply the chance of hitting times the average damage of a hit, plus the chance of critting times the average extra damage on a crit:
So the Champion has an edge of 0.82 damage per attack thanks to the expanded crit range. However the Battle Master has 4d8 per short rest to spend on extra damage; if they just burn those dice immediately (not waiting for any crits) they're getting an extra 18 damage. The Champion needs to attack 22 times per short rest to break even. If the Battle Master is able to spend all four dice on nat 20s, the Champion has to do twice as much work.
If we assume a 9 Barbarian/3 Fighter with both Savage Attacks and Brutal Critical, the extra damage on a crit is now 3d8 (average of 13.5) and the numbers change to:
Now the Champion has an edge of 1.25 per attack, so they need 14.4 attacks per short rest to break even, or up to 28.8 if the Battle Master is able to spend all of them on nat 20s. But also remember that the Battle Master gets to choose when they get their extra damage and gets useful side effects (like knocking enemies prone) on top of that.
If you're a half orc and you have two Brutal Critical upgrades and you're swinging a d12 weapon I'm sure the Champion build becomes a clear win for damage, but by then you're at least a 16th level character.
The other thing to consider is that if you don't care how you get that expanded crit range, taking 1 level in Warlock (Hexblade patron) can give you a 19-20 range on one enemy per short rest and save you 2 character levels compared to the Champion build, which lets you unlock Brutal Critical 2 levels sooner.
Well, when you put it that way... thanks for crunching those numbers.
It's a great breakdown! It's true, the Battle Master has the ability to put out better damage consistently and in a more considered way. The Champion just gives you a slightly higher chance to see those satisfying large hits. It's up to you.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I am a fan of satisfyingly large hits. But realistically, better consistent damage is probably more useful. Also, I rarely roll 19 or 20 on attack rolls. My natural 20s are usually saved for climbing a wall when I already have +6 athletics or something just as useful. ;)