Hello folks hoping for some advice. I’m playing a battlemaster tank hoplite type build and at the moment he’s a 2nd level variant human with the Spear Mastery feat. I’m looking to add Shield Master and Polearm Master at 4th and 6th level respectively. I have no idea what feats to pick after that. What maneuvers would you suggest? I’m looking at Menacing Strike, Precision Attack, and Tripping Attack as my first 3. My goal is to be hard to hit, high survivability, has a lot of battlefield control options, and is able to deal decent damage. On that last point I’m aware he’s a one handed weapon fighter and won’t be dishing out damage like a heavy weapon fighter. Thank you all in advance.
If you choose the dueling fighting style then the +2 damage would apply to each hit, to include the bonus action attack from polearm master.
defense fighting style would make you more tanky in the long run and the AC bonus stays effective vs many creatures. Dueling scales with your number of attacks which is hard capped in many ways.
I’d look into some of the Tasha’s maneuvers like bait and switch if you’re looking to tank and swap around with Allie’s. Bait and switch lets you swap places with a creature and add AC to them or you with the die roll being the AC bonus for that limited time effect. The movement also bypasses opportunity attacks.
menace is great. Tripping is great.
precision might not be as good on a character not utilizing heavy weapons and power feats, but missing an attack you’re throwing with your spear against a distant fleeing enemy might be worth it occasionally.
Dueling fighting style. You need that. If that isn't your fighting style, make sure to fix that in your next ASI. Remember, dueling's +2 damage bonus also applies to the bonus action attack for PAM. in tier 1, compared to a greatsword user who takes GWM at 4th level, you'd be doing [(1d8+5)*.65]+[(1d4+5)*.65] vs (2d6+13)*.35 in situations where no advantage occurs, or 11DPR for the spear vs 7 DPR for the GWM greatsword. Note, my calculations are assuming a somewhat arbitrary rate of hitting for baseline of 60%, so GWM's -5 translates to a 35% hit of rate while spear masterys' added +1 roll translates to a 65% rate.
Also, I would recommend against taking the shield master feat. Why? Because you're most certainly going to use your reaction for PAM or Spear Master's effect, and you're certainly going to have PAM's bonus action to compete with shield master's bonus action. In the long run, you may end up with a feat that rarely gets used in practice.
I would recommend getting PAM at 4th level, then at 6th and 8th level you increase your STR to 20 assuming you started with 16 STR. Damage will start to pale in comparison as the game progresses, so taking your STR ASIs and capping it out will be crucial for keeping from falling behind.
Compared to a heavy weapon build, the dueling PAM style is very good and arguably OP early game. You essentially get more damage AND more defense with pretty much no drawbacks. Of course, as the game progresses heavy weapon builds do catch up and surpass, but even then your build can never be said to do poor damage.
Here are a few. to check out .Charger, Alert, Mobile (Really only good for one thing.) Tried to make it mostly historically accurate but i missed alot.
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Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me
Hello folks hoping for some advice. I’m playing a battlemaster tank hoplite type build and at the moment he’s a 2nd level variant human with the Spear Mastery feat. I’m looking to add Shield Master and Polearm Master at 4th and 6th level respectively. I have no idea what feats to pick after that. What maneuvers would you suggest? I’m looking at Menacing Strike, Precision Attack, and Tripping Attack as my first 3. My goal is to be hard to hit, high survivability, has a lot of battlefield control options, and is able to deal decent damage. On that last point I’m aware he’s a one handed weapon fighter and won’t be dishing out damage like a heavy weapon fighter. Thank you all in advance.
If you choose the dueling fighting style then the +2 damage would apply to each hit, to include the bonus action attack from polearm master.
defense fighting style would make you more tanky in the long run and the AC bonus stays effective vs many creatures. Dueling scales with your number of attacks which is hard capped in many ways.
I’d look into some of the Tasha’s maneuvers like bait and switch if you’re looking to tank and swap around with Allie’s. Bait and switch lets you swap places with a creature and add AC to them or you with the die roll being the AC bonus for that limited time effect. The movement also bypasses opportunity attacks.
menace is great. Tripping is great.
precision might not be as good on a character not utilizing heavy weapons and power feats, but missing an attack you’re throwing with your spear against a distant fleeing enemy might be worth it occasionally.
Dueling fighting style. You need that. If that isn't your fighting style, make sure to fix that in your next ASI. Remember, dueling's +2 damage bonus also applies to the bonus action attack for PAM. in tier 1, compared to a greatsword user who takes GWM at 4th level, you'd be doing [(1d8+5)*.65]+[(1d4+5)*.65] vs (2d6+13)*.35 in situations where no advantage occurs, or 11DPR for the spear vs 7 DPR for the GWM greatsword. Note, my calculations are assuming a somewhat arbitrary rate of hitting for baseline of 60%, so GWM's -5 translates to a 35% hit of rate while spear masterys' added +1 roll translates to a 65% rate.
Also, I would recommend against taking the shield master feat. Why? Because you're most certainly going to use your reaction for PAM or Spear Master's effect, and you're certainly going to have PAM's bonus action to compete with shield master's bonus action. In the long run, you may end up with a feat that rarely gets used in practice.
I would recommend getting PAM at 4th level, then at 6th and 8th level you increase your STR to 20 assuming you started with 16 STR. Damage will start to pale in comparison as the game progresses, so taking your STR ASIs and capping it out will be crucial for keeping from falling behind.
Compared to a heavy weapon build, the dueling PAM style is very good and arguably OP early game. You essentially get more damage AND more defense with pretty much no drawbacks. Of course, as the game progresses heavy weapon builds do catch up and surpass, but even then your build can never be said to do poor damage.
Here are a few. to check out .Charger, Alert, Mobile (Really only good for one thing.) Tried to make it mostly historically accurate but i missed alot.
Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me
It's hard to make a historically accurate hoptlite if they're going to be in an adventuring party instead of an infantry phalanx.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.