Hoping for some inspiration to which feat to pick first.
I currently have 17 strength, 13 Wisdom.
I know that I will be picking the following two feats at level 6 and 8, the question is which order it should be done in.
Feats:
Heavy Armor Master +1 strength (brings strength to 18)
Fey Touched +1 wisdom, choosing Hex.
So the reason I want Fey Touched is because it really melds well with the gish concept of an Eldritch Knight. It's a bonus action cast, so it doesn't eat your attack action, and it has no saving throw, so it's auto hit. I don't consider the EK fully realized until this feat is in place.
On the other hand, getting the damage reduction from Heavy Armor Master, and just getting to 18 strength is also great, and it's nice to have that out of the way.
Based on this, which of these feats would you get at level 6?
I might go HAM. The str bump will still be nice at 8, but the value of the DR starts to taper off as you hit higher levels (campaign dependent, etc, etc.) and have more and more creatures with magical attacks that bypass the damage, or are just doing so much that 3 hp isn't very noticeable. So, I'd take it now while its still got some mileage. I had a character who took it at 8, and after level 10ish, it almost never came up.
Fey touched, because an EK has so few slots to begin with that getting the feat makes a big difference. Plus, you are increasing damage with hex, and widening your spell selection by getting misty step out the way, ontop of widening your spell slot usage. Your EK could select a different spell instead, and that's a fairly important detail.
Hex is amazing for an EK, it is comparable to Shadow Blade, but it has lower spell slot cost and better duration. Shadow Blade has the benefit of being light and one-handed, plus giving advantage of your obscured and scales much better, but this is not really a thing for EK.
Go all-in with Hex and don’t look back. I would consider Skill Expert (Athletics) to increase your battlefield control repertoire with grappling and shoving, even adding Hex on this.
I considered Skill Expert for a while, but I find that I don't use Athletics that often, nor do I really grapple much. I get hit a bunch though, and 3 dmg reduction is the same as free healing potion per round where I'm hit twice.
Yeah, makes sense. I have used HAM in some characters and it was kind of useful, but I saw much more effectiveness in high AC, high saves and good THP.
Yeah, makes sense. I have used HAM in some characters and it was kind of useful, but I saw much more effectiveness in high AC, high saves and good THP.
What is THP?
I'm getting my AC as high as I can, but I don't use a shield. Saves are not really in my control either. I haven't found any worthwhile magic items either so far.
Yeah, makes sense. I have used HAM in some characters and it was kind of useful, but I saw much more effectiveness in high AC, high saves and good THP.
What is THP?
I'm getting my AC as high as I can, but I don't use a shield. Saves are not really in my control either. I haven't found any worthwhile magic items either so far.
Temporary Hit Points. Things like Inspiring Leader or some spells that could provide you that (Armor of Agathys, Heroism, False Life, etc). It’s a great way to boost your tankiness.
One feat that I consider almost mandatory for Fighters (who usually can afford that) is Resilient (Wisdom). The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the end of the day doesn’t matter much if you have the strongest defenses ever if a simple Charm or Frighten effect can take you completely out of combat. I have saw the most powerful Fighters being totally neutralized by Frightful Presence from Dragons because they had a merely +2 in WIS against a save DC of 21.
I'm also of the mindset that Heavy Armor Master will lose potency pretty significantly as you continue to play. If you do still want it, I'd say get it early when it can really have more impact.
That said, what I would recommend out of the feats that can increase STR, since you rely on Polearms I would recommend the Piercer feat. It gives you the ability to reroll damage with piercing weapons, and also boosts your Crit damage by an additional Die. Paired with your Half-Orc race, that means any Crit you land with your Polearm weapon deals 4 die worth of piercing damage... the equivalent of being a 13th level Barbarian. I'm assuming you have a Glaive, so a Critical attack paired with Hex deals 4d10 Piercing + 2d6 Necrotic (Hex damage gets increased by a crit, right?). If one of those rolls happens to be low, you also still have the option to reroll it.
Alternatively, the Crusher feat has decent synergy with Polearm Master, since you can use your Bonus Action Bludgeoning attack to push enemies around the board for some additional battlefield control. I believe you can also choose to take your bonus action attack before taking the attack action, and Crusher has a slight chance of giving you advantage for the rest of your turn if you land a crit with the bludgeoning attack before attacking with your polearm. This is more of a gimmick feat, though, if I'm being honest.
Also, I wanted to comment on Skill Expert... keep in mind that the Skill, Expertise, and Ability Score boost granted by the feat do not have to be related. You can use Skill Expert to boost your STR, learn a CHA-based skill, and gain expertise with an INT-based skill. So even if it's not particularly useful for combat, it can really boost your Exploration or Social interactions, depending on what you want to take. You can use it to round yourself out with a useful skill that your group is lacking... like you could lean into your knowledge as an Eldritch Knight and become an expert in Arcana, or you could boost your ability to prepare for danger by taking expertise in Perception. If you're constantly struggling just to survive social situations you could get proficiency with Persuasion just to keep from tripping over your tongue. It's a very versatile feat.
But glaives don’t do piercing damage. You can’t use it with piercer. Ditto bludgeoning and crusher. He’d have to go slasher with a glaive.
Oh, my bad... for some reason I thought all polearm weapons dealt Piercing damage. Anyway, the Polearm Master gives the player a unique Bonus Action attack that deals Bludgeoning damage, basically letting the player whack an enemy with the blunt end of their polearm.
Slasher is still a good feat choice... it doesn't have the big damage boost on crits, but it might be a bit more useful because it gives more Battlefield control every round, which pairs well with Misty Step... you can basically slash an opponent, reduce their speed, then Misty Step out of their range so they can't retaliate.
Yeah, makes sense. I have used HAM in some characters and it was kind of useful, but I saw much more effectiveness in high AC, high saves and good THP.
What is THP?
I'm getting my AC as high as I can, but I don't use a shield. Saves are not really in my control either. I haven't found any worthwhile magic items either so far.
Temporary Hit Points. Things like Inspiring Leader or some spells that could provide you that (Armor of Agathys, Heroism, False Life, etc). It’s a great way to boost your tankiness.
One feat that I consider almost mandatory for Fighters (who usually can afford that) is Resilient (Wisdom). The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the end of the day doesn’t matter much if you have the strongest defenses ever if a simple Charm or Frighten effect can take you completely out of combat. I have saw the most powerful Fighters being totally neutralized by Frightful Presence from Dragons because they had a merely +2 in WIS against a save DC of 21.
Fighters realistically only get 1 extra feat compared to other classes, which they get at level 6. The other bonus feat that are rolled into the fighter class come so late that the campaign are usually over by then (level 14).
I like the idea of Resilient Wisdom, I even built my stat array around the idea of getting it initially, but I don't think that I can afford it. I have realistically 2 feats left that I can take before the campaign probably shuts down around level 12ish, and my strength is currently 17, so I'm probably settling for 18 strength as my max and then getting the Fey Touched for those sweet gish enabling spells.
So while Resilient Wisdom is great, mechanically and when you actually have to do saves against wisdom, it still doesn't give the character more active options to choose from, it's a purely passive feat. Also, wisdom still isn't super high on the fighter, so on big effects where you need to save against wisdom you're still quite likely to fail the save anyway and spend a few rounds mindcontrolled. So I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile feat on the fun-meter.
I use a re-skinned homebrewed halberd that isn't a halberd, but a staff with a metal dome at the end, so it's a halberd with bludgeoning damage instead of slashing damage. Crusher is on my consideration list of course, because it gives me active options in combat, but at the same time I'm very mindful of avoiding any "cheese" interactions between feats - For instance I'm steering away from Sentinel in spite of having Polearm Master already.
I think people underestimate heavy armor master. Many enemies scale in damage via multi attack, so an enemy hitting you for 2-3 attacks would reduce the damage taken by 6-9 damage. Think of this damage as a form of regeneration to put it into perspective. I think this feat is quite powerful even into late game. But the big catch is that it's a purely passive feat, so no options or extra fun gets added to the character design.
Damage calculations takes hit chance into account vs AC 15 enemy. Assumes 2 attacks from attack action.
Not that great a damage difference from adding Hex when sacrificing 2 strength. Also, it takes concentration that can be used on something else, not to mention that you can lose concentration to begin with.
There are other beneficial effects from +2 strength, Athletics skill and strength saving throws etc. This analysis has helped me come closer to a decision. It might not be fun feeling like I have to use hex every fight to get the most out of my character - I can save my spell slots for other things.
Not to mention this bit: If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to curse a new creature.
So everytime I'd want to change target my damage would go down due to having to spend my Bonus Action re-applying Hex - Perhaps in such a scenario it isn't even a damage boost at all.
Anyway, food for thought - I probably won't have a decision made until I actually reach level 8 lol.
The theorycrafting is a little off. You need to account for the increased accuracy to hit with the higher STR build, where the result would be that the hex build isn't even all that much ahead of STR.
However,
the main benefit to fey touched is the increased mobility via access to misty step, AND allowing EK to take a different spell in its place. Normally, EK's limitation to only learn abjuration or evocation spells can really feel constrictive. When you can select a free choice at lvl 8, you got a good amount of options but more than likely you'll want misty step for it's powerful mobility. But, since fey touched hands it out for free, you could take spider climb instead, or blur, or invisibility. Those are all powerful options! Of course, however, this is viewing EK through the lens of something more than just a damage dealing martial, and more through a perspective that values the utility and flexibility spellcasting has to offer.
Going with fey touched, ultimately, is not about damage but more so utility and mobility. Hex is just there to mitigate some of the losses. If you want more damage, go with STR.
The theorycrafting is a little off. You need to account for the increased accuracy to hit with the higher STR build, where the result would be that the hex build isn't even all that much ahead of STR.
However,
the main benefit to fey touched is the increased mobility via access to misty step, AND allowing EK to take a different spell in its place. Normally, EK's limitation to only learn abjuration or evocation spells can really feel constrictive. When you can select a free choice at lvl 8, you got a good amount of options but more than likely you'll want misty step for it's powerful mobility. But, since fey touched hands it out for free, you could take spider climb instead, or blur, or invisibility. Those are all powerful options! Of course, however, this is viewing EK through the lens of something more than just a damage dealing martial, and more through a perspective that values the utility and flexibility spellcasting has to offer.
Going with fey touched, ultimately, is not about damage but more so utility and mobility. Hex is just there to mitigate some of the losses. If you want more damage, go with STR.
I did account for the difference in hit chance based on strength :) That was the point of the exercise to begin with to see how that balanced vs. the Hex damage component.
With only 2 more feats available for my character before the campaign probably closes - It is indeed a question of utility vs damage. Perhaps it would be wrong to even go for Hex, as even having it as an option would make me "want to use it as often as possible" and in the end, end up limiting my options. I agree that Misty Step is amazing, but at the same time, +2 strength represents mobility as well via Athletics, carry capacity, jump distance etc.
It might sound obvious; but if your DM is a stickler about rules as written; War caster is never a bad choice for the ability to have weapons in hand and still be able to cast.
It might sound obvious; but if your DM is a stickler about rules as written; War caster is never a bad choice for the ability to have weapons in hand and still be able to cast.
Yeh, I don't need warcaster though, I don't use a shield. I've gotten some nice magic items since I've made this post, so I'm going with a strength half feat, and skipping Fey Touched. Also quite rare for me to have a concentration spell going, and I don't use Booming Blade.
Hoping for some inspiration to which feat to pick first.
I currently have 17 strength, 13 Wisdom.
I know that I will be picking the following two feats at level 6 and 8, the question is which order it should be done in.
Feats:
Heavy Armor Master +1 strength (brings strength to 18)
Fey Touched +1 wisdom, choosing Hex.
So the reason I want Fey Touched is because it really melds well with the gish concept of an Eldritch Knight. It's a bonus action cast, so it doesn't eat your attack action, and it has no saving throw, so it's auto hit. I don't consider the EK fully realized until this feat is in place.
On the other hand, getting the damage reduction from Heavy Armor Master, and just getting to 18 strength is also great, and it's nice to have that out of the way.
Based on this, which of these feats would you get at level 6?
(Current feat is Polearm Master - Race Half-Orc)
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
I might go HAM. The str bump will still be nice at 8, but the value of the DR starts to taper off as you hit higher levels (campaign dependent, etc, etc.) and have more and more creatures with magical attacks that bypass the damage, or are just doing so much that 3 hp isn't very noticeable. So, I'd take it now while its still got some mileage. I had a character who took it at 8, and after level 10ish, it almost never came up.
Fey touched, because an EK has so few slots to begin with that getting the feat makes a big difference. Plus, you are increasing damage with hex, and widening your spell selection by getting misty step out the way, ontop of widening your spell slot usage. Your EK could select a different spell instead, and that's a fairly important detail.
Hex is amazing for an EK, it is comparable to Shadow Blade, but it has lower spell slot cost and better duration. Shadow Blade has the benefit of being light and one-handed, plus giving advantage of your obscured and scales much better, but this is not really a thing for EK.
Go all-in with Hex and don’t look back. I would consider Skill Expert (Athletics) to increase your battlefield control repertoire with grappling and shoving, even adding Hex on this.
I considered Skill Expert for a while, but I find that I don't use Athletics that often, nor do I really grapple much. I get hit a bunch though, and 3 dmg reduction is the same as free healing potion per round where I'm hit twice.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
Yeah, makes sense. I have used HAM in some characters and it was kind of useful, but I saw much more effectiveness in high AC, high saves and good THP.
What is THP?
I'm getting my AC as high as I can, but I don't use a shield. Saves are not really in my control either. I haven't found any worthwhile magic items either so far.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
Temporary Hit Points. Things like Inspiring Leader or some spells that could provide you that (Armor of Agathys, Heroism, False Life, etc). It’s a great way to boost your tankiness.
One feat that I consider almost mandatory for Fighters (who usually can afford that) is Resilient (Wisdom). The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the end of the day doesn’t matter much if you have the strongest defenses ever if a simple Charm or Frighten effect can take you completely out of combat. I have saw the most powerful Fighters being totally neutralized by Frightful Presence from Dragons because they had a merely +2 in WIS against a save DC of 21.
I'm also of the mindset that Heavy Armor Master will lose potency pretty significantly as you continue to play. If you do still want it, I'd say get it early when it can really have more impact.
That said, what I would recommend out of the feats that can increase STR, since you rely on Polearms I would recommend the Piercer feat. It gives you the ability to reroll damage with piercing weapons, and also boosts your Crit damage by an additional Die. Paired with your Half-Orc race, that means any Crit you land with your Polearm weapon deals 4 die worth of piercing damage... the equivalent of being a 13th level Barbarian. I'm assuming you have a Glaive, so a Critical attack paired with Hex deals 4d10 Piercing + 2d6 Necrotic (Hex damage gets increased by a crit, right?). If one of those rolls happens to be low, you also still have the option to reroll it.
Alternatively, the Crusher feat has decent synergy with Polearm Master, since you can use your Bonus Action Bludgeoning attack to push enemies around the board for some additional battlefield control. I believe you can also choose to take your bonus action attack before taking the attack action, and Crusher has a slight chance of giving you advantage for the rest of your turn if you land a crit with the bludgeoning attack before attacking with your polearm. This is more of a gimmick feat, though, if I'm being honest.
Also, I wanted to comment on Skill Expert... keep in mind that the Skill, Expertise, and Ability Score boost granted by the feat do not have to be related. You can use Skill Expert to boost your STR, learn a CHA-based skill, and gain expertise with an INT-based skill. So even if it's not particularly useful for combat, it can really boost your Exploration or Social interactions, depending on what you want to take. You can use it to round yourself out with a useful skill that your group is lacking... like you could lean into your knowledge as an Eldritch Knight and become an expert in Arcana, or you could boost your ability to prepare for danger by taking expertise in Perception. If you're constantly struggling just to survive social situations you could get proficiency with Persuasion just to keep from tripping over your tongue. It's a very versatile feat.
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But glaives don’t do piercing damage. You can’t use it with piercer. Ditto bludgeoning and crusher. He’d have to go slasher with a glaive.
Oh, my bad... for some reason I thought all polearm weapons dealt Piercing damage. Anyway, the Polearm Master gives the player a unique Bonus Action attack that deals Bludgeoning damage, basically letting the player whack an enemy with the blunt end of their polearm.
Slasher is still a good feat choice... it doesn't have the big damage boost on crits, but it might be a bit more useful because it gives more Battlefield control every round, which pairs well with Misty Step... you can basically slash an opponent, reduce their speed, then Misty Step out of their range so they can't retaliate.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Fighters realistically only get 1 extra feat compared to other classes, which they get at level 6. The other bonus feat that are rolled into the fighter class come so late that the campaign are usually over by then (level 14).
I like the idea of Resilient Wisdom, I even built my stat array around the idea of getting it initially, but I don't think that I can afford it. I have realistically 2 feats left that I can take before the campaign probably shuts down around level 12ish, and my strength is currently 17, so I'm probably settling for 18 strength as my max and then getting the Fey Touched for those sweet gish enabling spells.
So while Resilient Wisdom is great, mechanically and when you actually have to do saves against wisdom, it still doesn't give the character more active options to choose from, it's a purely passive feat. Also, wisdom still isn't super high on the fighter, so on big effects where you need to save against wisdom you're still quite likely to fail the save anyway and spend a few rounds mindcontrolled. So I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile feat on the fun-meter.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
People are commenting on weapons.
I use a re-skinned homebrewed halberd that isn't a halberd, but a staff with a metal dome at the end, so it's a halberd with bludgeoning damage instead of slashing damage. Crusher is on my consideration list of course, because it gives me active options in combat, but at the same time I'm very mindful of avoiding any "cheese" interactions between feats - For instance I'm steering away from Sentinel in spite of having Polearm Master already.
I think people underestimate heavy armor master. Many enemies scale in damage via multi attack, so an enemy hitting you for 2-3 attacks would reduce the damage taken by 6-9 damage. Think of this damage as a form of regeneration to put it into perspective. I think this feat is quite powerful even into late game. But the big catch is that it's a purely passive feat, so no options or extra fun gets added to the character design.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
A bit of theorycrafting:
Damage calculations takes hit chance into account vs AC 15 enemy. Assumes 2 attacks from attack action.
Not that great a damage difference from adding Hex when sacrificing 2 strength. Also, it takes concentration that can be used on something else, not to mention that you can lose concentration to begin with.
There are other beneficial effects from +2 strength, Athletics skill and strength saving throws etc. This analysis has helped me come closer to a decision. It might not be fun feeling like I have to use hex every fight to get the most out of my character - I can save my spell slots for other things.
Not to mention this bit:
If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to curse a new creature.
So everytime I'd want to change target my damage would go down due to having to spend my Bonus Action re-applying Hex - Perhaps in such a scenario it isn't even a damage boost at all.
Anyway, food for thought - I probably won't have a decision made until I actually reach level 8 lol.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
The theorycrafting is a little off. You need to account for the increased accuracy to hit with the higher STR build, where the result would be that the hex build isn't even all that much ahead of STR.
However,
the main benefit to fey touched is the increased mobility via access to misty step, AND allowing EK to take a different spell in its place. Normally, EK's limitation to only learn abjuration or evocation spells can really feel constrictive. When you can select a free choice at lvl 8, you got a good amount of options but more than likely you'll want misty step for it's powerful mobility. But, since fey touched hands it out for free, you could take spider climb instead, or blur, or invisibility. Those are all powerful options! Of course, however, this is viewing EK through the lens of something more than just a damage dealing martial, and more through a perspective that values the utility and flexibility spellcasting has to offer.
Going with fey touched, ultimately, is not about damage but more so utility and mobility. Hex is just there to mitigate some of the losses. If you want more damage, go with STR.
I did account for the difference in hit chance based on strength :) That was the point of the exercise to begin with to see how that balanced vs. the Hex damage component.
With only 2 more feats available for my character before the campaign probably closes - It is indeed a question of utility vs damage. Perhaps it would be wrong to even go for Hex, as even having it as an option would make me "want to use it as often as possible" and in the end, end up limiting my options. I agree that Misty Step is amazing, but at the same time, +2 strength represents mobility as well via Athletics, carry capacity, jump distance etc.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
It might sound obvious; but if your DM is a stickler about rules as written; War caster is never a bad choice for the ability to have weapons in hand and still be able to cast.
Yeh, I don't need warcaster though, I don't use a shield. I've gotten some nice magic items since I've made this post, so I'm going with a strength half feat, and skipping Fey Touched. Also quite rare for me to have a concentration spell going, and I don't use Booming Blade.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter