Making a character for a campaign I'm going to be playing shortly. The setting is going to be the Camelot from the merlin tv series, so magic is completely outlawed and almost non-existent. We start at level 3 with a feat and while all races will function RAW they will be roleplayed as humans. DM has stated we are allowed to have magic characters, but typically magic is very low level and obviously anyone who is found using it is executed. I was wanting to play a magic free character for this. I was thinking of playing a battle master as a wandering knight coming to Camelot to seek glory, kinda basic, but looking to add some fun stuff in the backstory for roleplaying purposes. I've decided I want to run it as a knight skilled in all the antiques and intrigue of being at court, which would require decent wisdom/charisma on top of basic stats required to be an effective fighter. Obviously as a battle master I can take commanding presence and tactical assessment manoeuvres to get bonuses for those skills. However it eats up 2 of my 3 starting manoeuvres. I'm wondering what people thought would be good options in terms of race/feat/fighting style combos, to make this work in some way shape or form. The 2 options I'm currently looking at are running as a triton (good stats) with the observant feat for the bonuses to passive perception and insight as i think it would make sense from a roleplaying/backstory standpoint. But this limits my manoeuvres severely. This can be somewhat countered by taking the superior technique fighting style, but i lose the damage bonus from duelling. The other option I'm looking at is going all in on manoeuvres and being a variant human with the martial adept and observant feats as well as the superior technique fighting style to lack up for my lower damage with heaps of options when I find myself in combat. Looking for options
I just built a super battle master with Martial Adept and Superior Technique. Start at level 2 and haven't made it to 3 yet (one session). While reading through my DM's homebrew, they made 4 Warforged subraces, one of which gives a maneuver and a superiority die. I saw this after we had played first, so it's too late to switch to just max out all those juicy maneuvers and SD.
Will have 6 maneuvers and 6 superiority dice. I look forward to the freedom of not having the resource hog at early levels. Those non combat maneuvers you mentioned look that much more attractive for your 5th or 6th choice at 3.
A better alternative might be to take proficiencies in INT/CHA-based skills and choose a background (like Courtier, Knight or Noble) that gives some benefits in RP. Maneuvers are limited resources; proficiencies aren't. You're more likely to get better mileage out of skills than Battle Master techniques. And if you want to broaden your skills, take a feat like Skilled or Skill Expert to get more of them and improve your rolls.
Or you could just...roleplay your character that way and not worry about the numbers.
My fighter was the party face with a Charisma of 12 and no RP-boosting feats or proficiencies. The warlock, the bard, and the paladin all let her lead in social situations because of the sheer force of her personality and intellect. Ultimately, if you don't want to sacrifice combat maneuvers for RP, you don't have to. You can instead rely on roleplay to establish your character as being charming, commanding, or savvy
When I think of fighter as a face, I think samurai or rune knight, since they’ll give you the skill proficiencies. But if you’re going battle master, I’d agree with theory of bagels, choose an appropriate background, or just rp it and don’t worry about the bonuses.
I would also suggest focus on skills save your maneuvers. VHuman and take persuasion as race skill. Take skill expert feat to gain another face skill, and expertise persuasion so even if you don’t have a high CHA you get your PB added twice to persuasion (or another skill if you don’t want persuasion). Pick background that gives you skills you want, like others mentioned Knight background. Or you can do your own custom background to get the skills you want.
Edit: You should be able to do fairly well as a face character with the right choice of skill proficiencies and expertise in one you think you will use the most. If you can I would say try to get at least a 12 in CHA, or higher if you can afford. Do you want to be the smooth talker or the intimidator or deceiver, that’s up to you and you can RP that and back it up with the rolls. Save the maneuvers for when you want to do kightly poke enemies with sharp objects thing.
If you use the Urban Bounty Hunter background (Swordcoast Adventurer's Guide) you can choose proficiency in persuasion and deception.
UBH is my basic goto as a background since it allows you to choose from four pretty useful proficiencies, and a couple of instruments/tools including thieves' tools.
You could play as an Eldritch Knight and take disguise self as your first "any school" spell. While you don't want to be caught using magic, disguise self is a quick way to hide yourself in plain sight.
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Making a character for a campaign I'm going to be playing shortly. The setting is going to be the Camelot from the merlin tv series, so magic is completely outlawed and almost non-existent. We start at level 3 with a feat and while all races will function RAW they will be roleplayed as humans. DM has stated we are allowed to have magic characters, but typically magic is very low level and obviously anyone who is found using it is executed. I was wanting to play a magic free character for this. I was thinking of playing a battle master as a wandering knight coming to Camelot to seek glory, kinda basic, but looking to add some fun stuff in the backstory for roleplaying purposes. I've decided I want to run it as a knight skilled in all the antiques and intrigue of being at court, which would require decent wisdom/charisma on top of basic stats required to be an effective fighter. Obviously as a battle master I can take commanding presence and tactical assessment manoeuvres to get bonuses for those skills. However it eats up 2 of my 3 starting manoeuvres. I'm wondering what people thought would be good options in terms of race/feat/fighting style combos, to make this work in some way shape or form. The 2 options I'm currently looking at are running as a triton (good stats) with the observant feat for the bonuses to passive perception and insight as i think it would make sense from a roleplaying/backstory standpoint. But this limits my manoeuvres severely. This can be somewhat countered by taking the superior technique fighting style, but i lose the damage bonus from duelling. The other option I'm looking at is going all in on manoeuvres and being a variant human with the martial adept and observant feats as well as the superior technique fighting style to lack up for my lower damage with heaps of options when I find myself in combat. Looking for options
I just built a super battle master with Martial Adept and Superior Technique. Start at level 2 and haven't made it to 3 yet (one session). While reading through my DM's homebrew, they made 4 Warforged subraces, one of which gives a maneuver and a superiority die. I saw this after we had played first, so it's too late to switch to just max out all those juicy maneuvers and SD.
Will have 6 maneuvers and 6 superiority dice. I look forward to the freedom of not having the resource hog at early levels. Those non combat maneuvers you mentioned look that much more attractive for your 5th or 6th choice at 3.
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A better alternative might be to take proficiencies in INT/CHA-based skills and choose a background (like Courtier, Knight or Noble) that gives some benefits in RP. Maneuvers are limited resources; proficiencies aren't. You're more likely to get better mileage out of skills than Battle Master techniques. And if you want to broaden your skills, take a feat like Skilled or Skill Expert to get more of them and improve your rolls.
Or you could just...roleplay your character that way and not worry about the numbers.
My fighter was the party face with a Charisma of 12 and no RP-boosting feats or proficiencies. The warlock, the bard, and the paladin all let her lead in social situations because of the sheer force of her personality and intellect. Ultimately, if you don't want to sacrifice combat maneuvers for RP, you don't have to. You can instead rely on roleplay to establish your character as being charming, commanding, or savvy
When I think of fighter as a face, I think samurai or rune knight, since they’ll give you the skill proficiencies. But if you’re going battle master, I’d agree with theory of bagels, choose an appropriate background, or just rp it and don’t worry about the bonuses.
I would also suggest focus on skills save your maneuvers. VHuman and take persuasion as race skill. Take skill expert feat to gain another face skill, and expertise persuasion so even if you don’t have a high CHA you get your PB added twice to persuasion (or another skill if you don’t want persuasion). Pick background that gives you skills you want, like others mentioned Knight background. Or you can do your own custom background to get the skills you want.
Edit: You should be able to do fairly well as a face character with the right choice of skill proficiencies and expertise in one you think you will use the most. If you can I would say try to get at least a 12 in CHA, or higher if you can afford. Do you want to be the smooth talker or the intimidator or deceiver, that’s up to you and you can RP that and back it up with the rolls. Save the maneuvers for when you want to do kightly poke enemies with sharp objects thing.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Thanks Guys,
I've decided to run with the skill expert feat, specialising in persuasion as suggested.
If you use the Urban Bounty Hunter background (Swordcoast Adventurer's Guide) you can choose proficiency in persuasion and deception.
UBH is my basic goto as a background since it allows you to choose from four pretty useful proficiencies, and a couple of instruments/tools including thieves' tools.
You could play as an Eldritch Knight and take disguise self as your first "any school" spell. While you don't want to be caught using magic, disguise self is a quick way to hide yourself in plain sight.