So, I last played D&D about 40 years ago, and I have really enjoyed getting back into it by Zoom with a bunch of friends.
Character creation was always my favorite part, so I quickly pulled together a noble fighter 1, haunted by a dragon attack that only I survived, wandering along with Mac the Pack (Mule) to carry my stuff. Armed with a longsword and dagger, I'm also carrying a quarterstaff. I intend to aim for Battle Master when I hit Level 3, which won't be long now.
In a party full of monks and rogues, a ranger and a sorcerer, plus a barbarian, I'm the only straight fighter. That said, I feel like I could use some reminders of good D&D battlefield discipline. Don't want to be a "Master" in name only.
What *one* piece of advice would you give to an aspiring Battle Master so he doesn't make a fool of himself?
Focus on control instead of out damaging other characters. A Battlemaster should look over the combat and assess the best use of abilities, not only for themselves, but also for the team they are fighting with. There are neat maneuvers like Maneuvering Strike which allows you to reposition another player for a better position on the battlefield, Menacing Attack applies the frightened mechanic, etc. It is really easy to get bound up in maximizing your characters damage output but conceptually for that I suggest people just go Champion or some other fighter type built around pounding an opponent. To me the Battlemaster is all about minimizing damage to their team and maximizing the team's overall effectiveness. Seems like your group has enough damage on hand, so focus on making them better.
Maneuvers such as: disarming attack, distracting strike, goading attack, maneuvering attack, menacing attack, pushing attack, precision attack and trip attack all say 'weapon attack' rather than 'melee weapon attack' which means you can use them with ranged weapons including throwing that dagger you have there. This is a compiled list of every released maneuver to help you figure out what kind of Battlemaster you think would be fun.
Put yourself between the enemies and your allies. Like Chris said, let the rest of the party do the damage, your job will be to soak up attacks from enemies.
Always be next to an enemy so the rogue can get their sneak attack.
Take position behind the enemy lines on the opposite side of your group. This allows you to take an attack of pportunity if the enemy moves even one step way towards your back line. Sentinel works great with this.
Don’t forget the Dodge action if you get too many people around you. You’ll be unhittable and still get your opportunity attack.
If a rogue or barbarian takes their turn right right after you don’t be afraid to shove your opponent and give them advantage for the whole attack round.
If someone is beating up on your wizard try grappling them and then dragging them away from your wizard. This will allow your wizard to disengage and help you with spells immediately.
Another player here that started with AD&D in the late 70s.
D&D has changed a lot. You already know they turned AC upside down from the way we played it, but that isn't anything but just a new skin. The old system had negative armor classes and that used to bug me, but the system of counting down made sense on the surface. I can see that it is easier for folks to understand an AC system that counts up. Higher AC is better so I get that. BUT ...
There are some tweaks to the AC system such as leather armor used to boost you two or three points, but now it only boosts you one point. Other armors have been adjusted and Hide is a medium armor and not just a variation of leather armor. The important thing is though that everyone gets huge "To Hit" bonuses now compared to the 'gool ol' days'. So it is not unusual for a level 1 player to get a +5 to hit bonus with a non-magical weapon. So what we used to think of as a decent AC is not really very durable as it was 'back in the day.' On the other hand, they give more weight to dexterity bonuses and things so a lightly armored player has something.
In higher levels your players will often gain multiple attacks. This changes things a bit from the old days too.
But the one difficult concept to get your head around is the fact that you are allowed, on your turn in combat, to move - take an action - take a bonus action - make a reaction - and interact with an object. You are always allowed to take an action - move and interact with an object, but the other two options are only allowed if the right conditions are met. If you have a second weapon in your off-hand, you are allowed under the rules of Two Weapon Fighting to make an attack with your off-hand weapon. Some spells are allowed to be cast as a bonus action. And under some conditions you are allowed to take one reaction per turn. An example of a reaction is anyone near a monster that 'runs away' from a fight provokes an opportunity attack before the monster escapes. If any of the players immediately around that monster (or player, because it works both ways) hasn't taken their reaction, they are allowed to make one free attack against the monster.
There are many discussions in D&D, many of them in these fora, that focus on that part of the rules. For example, "I like this spell ..." and someone replies, "Yes, but then you can't use your bonus action to do this."
The final thing I wish to mention to an experienced player like yourself is they have introduced cantrips to the spell casting classes. Cantrips can be used in battle but many of them add flair to the role playing in the game. My magic using characters will select Prestidigitation as a cantrip with very little opportunity to use in battle, but for RP it is great. My clothes are always freshly laundered and I get to drink and eat food at the best temperature even when I'm out camping on the trail.
I wish you many happy days of fun with the new D&D but it will take a little getting used to for someone that jumped from AD&D to 5e like us.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I will say get a halberd or some weapon with reach it allows you a better range to use your maneuvers and still let’s you get close to the enemy with out disadvantage. Getting the feat polearm master and Sentinel to be able to better dictate the flow of combat as well as getting you a possible four hits with out class features (one for when they enter your range one for normal hit one for polearm masters second hit and one for if they try to leave) this will work great in hallways and other narrow places
So, I last played D&D about 40 years ago, and I have really enjoyed getting back into it by Zoom with a bunch of friends.
Character creation was always my favorite part, so I quickly pulled together a noble fighter 1, haunted by a dragon attack that only I survived, wandering along with Mac the Pack (Mule) to carry my stuff. Armed with a longsword and dagger, I'm also carrying a quarterstaff. I intend to aim for Battle Master when I hit Level 3, which won't be long now.
In a party full of monks and rogues, a ranger and a sorcerer, plus a barbarian, I'm the only straight fighter. That said, I feel like I could use some reminders of good D&D battlefield discipline. Don't want to be a "Master" in name only.
What *one* piece of advice would you give to an aspiring Battle Master so he doesn't make a fool of himself?
Focus on control instead of out damaging other characters. A Battlemaster should look over the combat and assess the best use of abilities, not only for themselves, but also for the team they are fighting with. There are neat maneuvers like Maneuvering Strike which allows you to reposition another player for a better position on the battlefield, Menacing Attack applies the frightened mechanic, etc. It is really easy to get bound up in maximizing your characters damage output but conceptually for that I suggest people just go Champion or some other fighter type built around pounding an opponent. To me the Battlemaster is all about minimizing damage to their team and maximizing the team's overall effectiveness. Seems like your group has enough damage on hand, so focus on making them better.
Maneuvers such as: disarming attack, distracting strike, goading attack, maneuvering attack, menacing attack, pushing attack, precision attack and trip attack all say 'weapon attack' rather than 'melee weapon attack' which means you can use them with ranged weapons including throwing that dagger you have there. This is a compiled list of every released maneuver to help you figure out what kind of Battlemaster you think would be fun.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
Put yourself between the enemies and your allies. Like Chris said, let the rest of the party do the damage, your job will be to soak up attacks from enemies.
Always be next to an enemy so the rogue can get their sneak attack.
I know that was two, but I couldn't resist.
My tips, from an older school to an old school;
Positioning:
Take position behind the enemy lines on the opposite side of your group. This allows you to take an attack of pportunity if the enemy moves even one step way towards your back line. Sentinel works great with this.
Don’t forget the Dodge action if you get too many people around you. You’ll be unhittable and still get your opportunity attack.
If a rogue or barbarian takes their turn right right after you don’t be afraid to shove your opponent and give them advantage for the whole attack round.
If someone is beating up on your wizard try grappling them and then dragging them away from your wizard. This will allow your wizard to disengage and help you with spells immediately.
Another player here that started with AD&D in the late 70s.
D&D has changed a lot. You already know they turned AC upside down from the way we played it, but that isn't anything but just a new skin. The old system had negative armor classes and that used to bug me, but the system of counting down made sense on the surface. I can see that it is easier for folks to understand an AC system that counts up. Higher AC is better so I get that. BUT ...
There are some tweaks to the AC system such as leather armor used to boost you two or three points, but now it only boosts you one point. Other armors have been adjusted and Hide is a medium armor and not just a variation of leather armor. The important thing is though that everyone gets huge "To Hit" bonuses now compared to the 'gool ol' days'. So it is not unusual for a level 1 player to get a +5 to hit bonus with a non-magical weapon. So what we used to think of as a decent AC is not really very durable as it was 'back in the day.' On the other hand, they give more weight to dexterity bonuses and things so a lightly armored player has something.
In higher levels your players will often gain multiple attacks. This changes things a bit from the old days too.
But the one difficult concept to get your head around is the fact that you are allowed, on your turn in combat, to move - take an action - take a bonus action - make a reaction - and interact with an object. You are always allowed to take an action - move and interact with an object, but the other two options are only allowed if the right conditions are met. If you have a second weapon in your off-hand, you are allowed under the rules of Two Weapon Fighting to make an attack with your off-hand weapon. Some spells are allowed to be cast as a bonus action. And under some conditions you are allowed to take one reaction per turn. An example of a reaction is anyone near a monster that 'runs away' from a fight provokes an opportunity attack before the monster escapes. If any of the players immediately around that monster (or player, because it works both ways) hasn't taken their reaction, they are allowed to make one free attack against the monster.
There are many discussions in D&D, many of them in these fora, that focus on that part of the rules. For example, "I like this spell ..." and someone replies, "Yes, but then you can't use your bonus action to do this."
The final thing I wish to mention to an experienced player like yourself is they have introduced cantrips to the spell casting classes. Cantrips can be used in battle but many of them add flair to the role playing in the game. My magic using characters will select Prestidigitation as a cantrip with very little opportunity to use in battle, but for RP it is great. My clothes are always freshly laundered and I get to drink and eat food at the best temperature even when I'm out camping on the trail.
I wish you many happy days of fun with the new D&D but it will take a little getting used to for someone that jumped from AD&D to 5e like us.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I will say get a halberd or some weapon with reach it allows you a better range to use your maneuvers and still let’s you get close to the enemy with out disadvantage. Getting the feat polearm master and Sentinel to be able to better dictate the flow of combat as well as getting you a possible four hits with out class features (one for when they enter your range one for normal hit one for polearm masters second hit and one for if they try to leave) this will work great in hallways and other narrow places
Mostly nocturnal
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