I have been thinking through a dive-bombing character and this is what I have come up with so far. I am interested in other people's ideas, or just suggestions that might make this even more silly.
My basic idea is to combine the natural flying abilities of the Aarakocra, with the Fancy Footwork feature of a Swashbuckler rogue and take the Charger feat at level 4. I am trying to think out the action of a turn and wanted to write out to see if I can get community-confirmation that what I'm thinking can actually be achieved.
In my mind, at level 4, this could be your actions every turn >
1. Dash while flying as an Aarakocra, that gives you a 100 foot dash radius since their base flying speed is 50ft. (or 60ft dash with a speed of 30 depending on what variation of aarakocra you are using in your campaigns)
2. The Charger feat allows you to use your bonus action to attack
3. The Charger feat also allows you to add +5 damage to any attack as long as you moved 10 ft in a straight line first (should be pretty feasible at all times considering you can move 100ft every turn)
4. At level 4 you can do 2d6 sneak attack damage, with Rakish Audacity from being a Swashbuckler, you essentially have a sneak attack target on every single turn
5. If you hit your target that you're charging, you can fly by/through them with the rest of your remaining speed and because of Fancy Footwork, as long as you hit them, they can't take an opportunity attack.
to sumarize - Dash (100ft flying speed) > Charger to attack with Rapier (1d8+DEX + 5 w/ the Charger feat + 2d6 sneak attack) > use the rest of your movement to fly away > avoid opportunity attack with Fancy Footwork.
At level 4 is all of my thinking here correct? you can do just continous dive bombs while staying out of the fray and avoiding hits starting at level 4? (as long as your DM allows Aarakocra and doesn't trap you in a dungeon)
I had no idea that the Charger feat was generally looked down upon, this was my first thought when I first read it haha, Aarakocra Swashbuckler has been one of my staple characters for a while now. Very fun when the DM allows you to fly, naturally!!
I can definitely see a DM getting frustrated with you and purposefully creating scenarios to avoid dive-bombing for sure, but I'm glad I wasn't overlooking anything. At level 4, with a Dex of 17, I am seeing an average of 19.5 damage per turn on the dive bomb attack, plus no opportunity attack, and you can be up to 90ft away from the fight after the attack if need be? Feels like someone overlooked flying Swashbucklers when they created the charger feat! haha
Might have to try to find some games to test out the build....
I think your analysis is mostly correct. Fancy Footwork doesn't say you need to hit the target to prevent them from making an opportunity attack. Aside from that, the Charger feat is definitely thematically appropriate for a dive bomber. For what it is worth though, a Rogue could use their Cunning Action ability to dash with their bonus action and then attack with their action. You don't need Charger to both attack and dash as a Rogue after level 2.
As for the damage increase, Charger nets you +5 damage or pushing the target up to 10' back if you shove. Not bad at all, but if you're mainly interested in damage then consider using your feat to pick up Booming Blade instead, e.g. with Magic Initiate. Pretend your Rogue's flyby is so fast that it causes a sonic boom. :)
When you cast Booming Blade the spell description says you have to make a melee attack, so the Swashbuckler's Fancy Footwork should still apply. You still get Sneak Attack and you can still Dash as a bonus action. At level 4 Booming Blade is worse than Charger, but starting at 5 you get almost the same average extra damage as Charger, plus more if the target moves. The extra damage will increase at higher levels, you don't have to move in a straight line if for the last 10', and you get another cantrip and a 1st level spell from the feat. If you're focused on damage that feels like a pretty good alternative.
Ooooooo I really like that as well. That's a fantastic idea with Booming Blade. Funny enough I'm playing a Swashbuckler/Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer multi-class that utilizes the Booming Blade cantrip........ maybe I just go to level 5 and I can have Booming Blade AND Charger bonus damage haha, am I correct in assuming that the +5 damage would stack with Booming Blade damage?
And as you said, you could just use the rogue's cunning action to cast a spell (booming blade) and Dash, and in theory still get the Charger bonus damage. That's a fantastic idea!!
am I correct in assuming that the +5 damage would stack with Booming Blade damage?
I don't think so, at least not exactly. Charger allows a bonus action attack when dashing, but Booming Blade is the spellcasting action (which includes an attack "brandish" as part of the spell). By RAW, those would be two different attacks. So they wouldn't stack, exactly. I think it would be two attacks, one with the Charger bonus and the other with Booming Blade. (Arguably it's better, DPS-wise.)
You quite literally can't do both in the same turn unless you have something like Action Surge that gives you a second Action.
Rogues can Bonus Action Dash (Cunning Action).
Though now that I think about it, you can only take one Bonus Action per turn, so the Charger attack can't be combined with Cunning Action, in general (I think).
I have been thinking through a dive-bombing character and this is what I have come up with so far. I am interested in other people's ideas, or just suggestions that might make this even more silly.
My basic idea is to combine the natural flying abilities of the Aarakocra, with the Fancy Footwork feature of a Swashbuckler rogue and take the Charger feat at level 4. I am trying to think out the action of a turn and wanted to write out to see if I can get community-confirmation that what I'm thinking can actually be achieved.
In my mind, at level 4, this could be your actions every turn >
1. Dash while flying as an Aarakocra, that gives you a 100 foot dash radius since their base flying speed is 50ft. (or 60ft dash with a speed of 30 depending on what variation of aarakocra you are using in your campaigns)
2. The Charger feat allows you to use your bonus action to attack
3. The Charger feat also allows you to add +5 damage to any attack as long as you moved 10 ft in a straight line first (should be pretty feasible at all times considering you can move 100ft every turn)
4. At level 4 you can do 2d6 sneak attack damage, with Rakish Audacity from being a Swashbuckler, you essentially have a sneak attack target on every single turn
5. If you hit your target that you're charging, you can fly by/through them with the rest of your remaining speed and because of Fancy Footwork, as long as you hit them, they can't take an opportunity attack.
to sumarize - Dash (100ft flying speed) > Charger to attack with Rapier (1d8+DEX + 5 w/ the Charger feat + 2d6 sneak attack) > use the rest of your movement to fly away > avoid opportunity attack with Fancy Footwork.
At level 4 is all of my thinking here correct? you can do just continous dive bombs while staying out of the fray and avoiding hits starting at level 4? (as long as your DM allows Aarakocra and doesn't trap you in a dungeon)
I had no idea that the Charger feat was generally looked down upon, this was my first thought when I first read it haha, Aarakocra Swashbuckler has been one of my staple characters for a while now. Very fun when the DM allows you to fly, naturally!!
I can definitely see a DM getting frustrated with you and purposefully creating scenarios to avoid dive-bombing for sure, but I'm glad I wasn't overlooking anything. At level 4, with a Dex of 17, I am seeing an average of 19.5 damage per turn on the dive bomb attack, plus no opportunity attack, and you can be up to 90ft away from the fight after the attack if need be? Feels like someone overlooked flying Swashbucklers when they created the charger feat! haha
Might have to try to find some games to test out the build....
I think your analysis is mostly correct. Fancy Footwork doesn't say you need to hit the target to prevent them from making an opportunity attack. Aside from that, the Charger feat is definitely thematically appropriate for a dive bomber. For what it is worth though, a Rogue could use their Cunning Action ability to dash with their bonus action and then attack with their action. You don't need Charger to both attack and dash as a Rogue after level 2.
As for the damage increase, Charger nets you +5 damage or pushing the target up to 10' back if you shove. Not bad at all, but if you're mainly interested in damage then consider using your feat to pick up Booming Blade instead, e.g. with Magic Initiate. Pretend your Rogue's flyby is so fast that it causes a sonic boom. :)
When you cast Booming Blade the spell description says you have to make a melee attack, so the Swashbuckler's Fancy Footwork should still apply. You still get Sneak Attack and you can still Dash as a bonus action. At level 4 Booming Blade is worse than Charger, but starting at 5 you get almost the same average extra damage as Charger, plus more if the target moves. The extra damage will increase at higher levels, you don't have to move in a straight line if for the last 10', and you get another cantrip and a 1st level spell from the feat. If you're focused on damage that feels like a pretty good alternative.
Ooooooo I really like that as well. That's a fantastic idea with Booming Blade. Funny enough I'm playing a Swashbuckler/Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer multi-class that utilizes the Booming Blade cantrip........ maybe I just go to level 5 and I can have Booming Blade AND Charger bonus damage haha, am I correct in assuming that the +5 damage would stack with Booming Blade damage?
And as you said, you could just use the rogue's cunning action to cast a spell (booming blade) and Dash, and in theory still get the Charger bonus damage. That's a fantastic idea!!
I don't think so, at least not exactly. Charger allows a bonus action attack when dashing, but Booming Blade is the spellcasting action (which includes an attack "brandish" as part of the spell). By RAW, those would be two different attacks. So they wouldn't stack, exactly. I think it would be two attacks, one with the Charger bonus and the other with Booming Blade. (Arguably it's better, DPS-wise.)
Rogues can Bonus Action Dash (Cunning Action).
Though now that I think about it, you can only take one Bonus Action per turn, so the Charger attack can't be combined with Cunning Action, in general (I think).