Hiya I wanted to build a Polearm Fighter, I know the famous combo Polearm Master & Sentinel feat but not sure which class to pick, I know the obvious choice is the Battle Master Fighter but I wanted something different since Battle Master is so boring and bland. Which class best suited for this kind of build, I know that Barbarians and Paladins are great choice of this build just wanted some insight of what other class benefits this kind of build. any recommendations of class, subclass and giving me more details on how to build it? I wanted the build to come online as soon as possible and nothing late game, possible reached at level 10 maximum.
My character concept is a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies. Thanks for the help ^.^
A good Paladin Subclass for having some extra mobility is Ancients... it lets you learn Misty Step at 5th level and gives you some solid crowd control skills on top of eventually just straight up gives you resistance to all damage from magic spells.
If you're willing to downgrade to a weaker weapon, Monk is also a solid choice if you take a spear. All the monk subclasses have crazy mobility, but I'd probably recommend Sun Soul for a class that gets some good magic-like skills. That or Shadow, if you want to lean into the dark/goth thing of fighting with a scythe... 4 Elements is intended to be the "spellcasting" monk subclass, but it doesn't quite deliver.
Since you're already choosing two feats (none of which are great weapon master), consider a spear (or trident) and shield build. Benefit: +2 AC. The downside is you don't have reach, so can't do that Sentinel/PAM exploit where the enemy approaches you and 10 feet out, opportunity attack and their speed drops to zero. If you want to use that feature, you'll need a halbert or glaive.
If you go with a fighter and choose spear and shield, you can using the Dueling fighting style, +2 damage on your attacks. It is mathematically like rolling a d10 instead of a d6 for your attack damage, and rolling a d8 instead of a d4 for your bonus action attacks.
If you go barbarian, you get advantage at will, which is a very big damage boost, especially against high AC enemies.
I wouldn't necessarily say Battle Master is the obvious choice, but it's a good one. To me the maneuvers make it far less bland over other choices. You want something not bland? In my opinion the Rune Knight is a solid choice. Not at all bland (in my opinion), and also effective.
Cavalier fighters get some subclass abilities that work really nicely with the combo of PAM/sentinel. You just have to watch that you can’t use unwavering mark or warding maneuver at reach. But hold the line and vigilant defender with the combo means no one is getting past you.
Whilst this is a very late-game feature, Cavalier gets a feature at 18th level that grants them a special reaction they can use to make an opportunity attack on EVERY turn! Combined with a halberd, Polearm Master, and Sentinel, you create a 10 ft. radius region where you can make an opportunity attack when a creature enters it, moves within it, or leaves it, and you drop their speed to 0 on a hit.
A good Paladin Subclass for having some extra mobility is Ancients... it lets you learn Misty Step at 5th level and gives you some solid crowd control skills on top of eventually just straight up gives you resistance to all damage from magic spells.
If you're willing to downgrade to a weaker weapon, Monk is also a solid choice if you take a spear. All the monk subclasses have crazy mobility, but I'd probably recommend Sun Soul for a class that gets some good magic-like skills. That or Shadow, if you want to lean into the dark/goth thing of fighting with a scythe... 4 Elements is intended to be the "spellcasting" monk subclass, but it doesn't quite deliver.
I never thought of Ancient Paladins, since the class seems very defensive according to Mid-Max folks, do you think a Ancient Paladins works well with this kind of build? Also can you further elaborate how dose a Monk work with this kind of build? I'm using 2 feats which is Polearm Master and Sentinel, since Polearm Master requires me to use my Bonus Action which clashes with my unarmed strike.
Since you're already choosing two feats (none of which are great weapon master), consider a spear (or trident) and shield build. Benefit: +2 AC. The downside is you don't have reach, so can't do that Sentinel/PAM exploit where the enemy approaches you and 10 feet out, opportunity attack and their speed drops to zero. If you want to use that feature, you'll need a halbert or glaive.
If you go with a fighter and choose spear and shield, you can using the Dueling fighting style, +2 damage on your attacks. It is mathematically like rolling a d10 instead of a d6 for your attack damage, and rolling a d8 instead of a d4 for your bonus action attacks.
If you go barbarian, you get advantage at will, which is a very big damage boost, especially against high AC enemies.
I wouldn't necessarily say Battle Master is the obvious choice, but it's a good one. To me the maneuvers make it far less bland over other choices. You want something not bland? In my opinion the Rune Knight is a solid choice. Not at all bland (in my opinion), and also effective.
You know that Trident can't trigger [Feats]Polearm Master[/Feats] and I feel like this Spear/Shield combo won't work for the character concept I had, this feels like a Amazon Warrior feel and I don't want that, I could reflavour it but I do want to make uses of the 2 feats I had that matches my concept.
I've played and DM for battlemasters for years and I got bored very easily, it's a good subclass for sure with it's maneuvers and care to explain a rune knight polearm fighter, I would love to hear your ideas.
Cavalier fighters get some subclass abilities that work really nicely with the combo of PAM/sentinel. You just have to watch that you can’t use unwavering mark or warding maneuver at reach. But hold the line and vigilant defender with the combo means no one is getting past you.
I always thought that Cavalier is not a good subclass for this kind of build due to the complications of Polearm Master/Sentinel, maybe i rarely see people play this subclass. Should I go full on fighter or multiclass until I get important subclass features you mention.
You know that Trident can't trigger [Feats]Polearm Master[/Feats] and I feel like this Spear/Shield combo won't work for the character concept I had, this feels like a Amazon Warrior feel and I don't want that, I could reflavour it but I do want to make uses of the 2 feats I had that matches my concept.
I've played and DM for battlemasters for years and I got bored very easily, it's a good subclass for sure with it's maneuvers and care to explain a rune knight polearm fighter, I would love to hear your ideas.
Fair point on the trident. Almost all DM's will let you just use PAM with a trident if you prefer the flavor, since the game stats are literally exactly the same. It's just a preference of mine, although I think the trident should be a D8. It's a martial weapon verses the spear being a simple weapon. The PAM issue, now that you brought that up, actually makes the simple spear better. But this is all another subject.
I like the idea of a glaive on a Rune Knight, because when you grow to large size with Giant's Might, your reach doesn't extend with your longer arms, torso and legs getting longer (at least not until much higher levels). I think it should. With a glaive, when you grow you're now occupying four squares and your reach is now 10 feet (15 if you're a Bugbear).
Just on principle, I think it's ludicrous that you grow to large size and a halfling has the same reach you do in combat. A glaive or halbert fixes that.
A glaive looks like a giant sword. So when you're regular sized, you skillfully twirl it like normal. But when you grow through Giant's Might, you fight with it like a greatsword and your bonus action attack is hitting people with the butt of your "sword."
Of course, the weapon is supposed to grow with you but you can flavor it however you like. I'm just spitballing one idea. You may have grown up in the mountains with Stone Giants, and gained skills with a glaive during that time. Maybe you even used to use it to chop your way through the wilderness when you traveled.
One thing about the monk bonus action and PAM bonus action, yes it is redundancy in your action economy. However, they can be for very different reasons for you. Anything that you get from a weapon attack that you wouldn't get from your marital arts attacks gives you reasons to use one over the other even when your marital arts die becomes larger than the d4. This will usually be an issue if you have a magical spear (or quarterstaff per RAW or Trident per the discussion above).
Outside of that, you aren't taking PAM for the bonus action but for the other aspects with a monk. I was going to suggest it as an option myself, but that puts you two ASIs (or human variant/ custom lineage and 1 ASI) down before you can get any stats increases and the monk relies on stats a bit more than any other class (since they must use unarmored defense whereas barbarian can use it). Still you can use your +1s from human variant (or custom lineage's plus 2) to get at least 16 and 14 dex and wisdom respectively, giving you a 15 AC. Other races can give you a 16 in both for a 16 AC. However, if you are only going to level 10, that's what you'll be stuck with outside of magical items. Definitely have to consider the trade off there.
You know that Trident can't trigger [Feats]Polearm Master[/Feats] and I feel like this Spear/Shield combo won't work for the character concept I had, this feels like a Amazon Warrior feel and I don't want that, I could reflavour it but I do want to make uses of the 2 feats I had that matches my concept.
I've played and DM for battlemasters for years and I got bored very easily, it's a good subclass for sure with it's maneuvers and care to explain a rune knight polearm fighter, I would love to hear your ideas.
Fair point on the trident. Almost all DM's will let you just use PAM with a trident if you prefer the flavor, since the game stats are literally exactly the same. It's just a preference of mine, although I think the trident should be a D8. It's a martial weapon verses the spear being a simple weapon. The PAM issue, now that you brought that up, actually makes the simple spear better. But this is all another subject.
I like the idea of a glaive on a Rune Knight, because when you grow to large size with Giant's Might, your reach doesn't extend with your longer arms, torso and legs getting longer (at least not until much higher levels). I think it should. With a glaive, when you grow you're now occupying four squares and your reach is now 10 feet (15 if you're a Bugbear).
Just on principle, I think it's ludicrous that you grow to large size and a halfling has the same reach you do in combat. A glaive or halbert fixes that.
A glaive looks like a giant sword. So when you're regular sized, you skillfully twirl it like normal. But when you grow through Giant's Might, you fight with it like a greatsword and your bonus action attack is hitting people with the butt of your "sword."
Of course, the weapon is supposed to grow with you but you can flavor it however you like. I'm just spitballing one idea. You may have grown up in the mountains with Stone Giants, and gained skills with a glaive during that time. Maybe you even used to use it to chop your way through the wilderness when you traveled.
Well usually the DMs i encounter are "BY THE BOOK KIND OF PEOPLE AND GOING RAW" lowkey wish WOTC would do a revamp of their weapon system in 5.5e, some of the weapons are terrible and not enough magic bows, spears, whips or whatever niche weapons.
I see your ideas, never really consider Rune Knight before since the subclass feels like a grappler or a 2 handed user. Never seen anyone played a Rune Knight before and also which runes would you suggest that I pick? Isn't some of their feature require you a lot of it's Bonus Actions?
One thing about the monk bonus action and PAM bonus action, yes it is redundancy in your action economy. However, they can be for very different reasons for you. Anything that you get from a weapon attack that you wouldn't get from your marital arts attacks gives you reasons to use one over the other even when your marital arts die becomes larger than the d4. This will usually be an issue if you have a magical spear (or quarterstaff per RAW or Trident per the discussion above).
Outside of that, you aren't taking PAM for the bonus action but for the other aspects with a monk. I was going to suggest it as an option myself, but that puts you two ASIs (or human variant/ custom lineage and 1 ASI) down before you can get any stats increases and the monk relies on stats a bit more than any other class (since they must use unarmored defense whereas barbarian can use it). Still you can use your +1s from human variant (or custom lineage's plus 2) to get at least 16 and 14 dex and wisdom respectively, giving you a 15 AC. Other races can give you a 16 in both for a 16 AC. However, if you are only going to level 10, that's what you'll be stuck with outside of magical items. Definitely have to consider the trade off there.
Yes I'm going for Human.V, i always thought that PAM is useless on a monk until you pointed out about the second column of the feature.
"while you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach.
Yes, most campaigns ended around that level of play and not into late game which I specify that I don't want to enter that territory. I don't mind the minor trade off and pretty resourceful with what i've got and not to sure which monk subclass to pick.
To start, I would recommend either the Fire Rune (which uses no action at all). Use it on low strength creatures like spell casters, or whenever you score a crit to double the initial dice damage.
Fire Rune. This rune’s magic channels the masterful craftsmanship of great smiths. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses your proficiency with a tool.
In addition, when you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can invoke the rune to summon fiery shackles: the target takes an extra 2d6 fire damage, and it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained for 1 minute. While restrained by the shackles, the target takes 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, banishing the shackles on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
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If you don’t have dark vision, then I would choose the stone rune instead of the fire rune, but even then they are close. It uses your reaction.
Stone Rune. This rune’s magic channels the judiciousness associated with stone giants. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, you have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks, and you have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.
In addition, when a creature you can see ends its turn within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to invoke the rune and force the creature to make a Wisdom saving throw. Unless the save succeeds, the creature is charmed by you for 1 minute. While charmed in this way, the creature has a speed of 0 and is incapacitated, descending into a dreamy stupor. The creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. ____
ALWAYS choose the cloud rune. If someone hits you or one of your allies with a nasty attack, like a crit or something else that did a lot of damage, use your reaction to just gift that damage and effects to one of the bad guys. There is no saving throw.
Cloud Rune. This rune emulates the deceptive magic used by some cloud giants. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, you have advantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks and Charisma (Deception) checks.
In addition, when you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to invoke the rune and choose a different creature within 30 feet of you, other than the attacker. The chosen creature becomes the target of the attack, using the same roll. This magic can transfer the attack’s effects regardless of the attack’s range. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
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Growing with Giant’s Might does cost a bonus action, but lasts an entire combat encounter. This is definitely a downside, but IMO not so much so that it makes it not worth it. A lot of barbarians use PAM, and entering a rage also costs a bonus action.
Giant’s Might
3rd-level Rune Knight feature
You have learned how to imbue yourself with the might of giants. As a bonus action, you magically gain the following benefits, which last for 1 minute:
If you are smaller than Large, you become Large, along with anything you are wearing. If you lack the room to become Large, your size doesn’t change.
You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
Once on each of your turns, one of your attacks with a weapon or an unarmed strike can deal an extra 1d6 damage to a target on a hit.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
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The early Runes are really good, and at level 7 you get your first jump in number of runes you can prepare, and the level 7 runes are spectacular.
Grappling isn’t really my cup of tea, but there are plenty of other ways to use your advantage on strength checks. That said, there may be some reason I might want to grapple a huge creature, but that is situational. When you do grow, you can use your advantage on strength checks to do all kinds of creative things on the battlefield, like throwing a bad guy off of a bridge, or out of a guard tower, etc.
Hiya I wanted to build a Polearm Fighter, I know the famous combo Polearm Master & Sentinel feat but not sure which class to pick, I know the obvious choice is the Battle Master Fighter but I wanted something different since Battle Master is so boring and bland. Which class best suited for this kind of build, I know that Barbarians and Paladins are great choice of this build just wanted some insight of what other class benefits this kind of build. any recommendations of class, subclass and giving me more details on how to build it? I wanted the build to come online as soon as possible and nothing late game, possible reached at level 10 maximum.
My character concept is a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies. Thanks for the help ^.^
If you want to be able to summon and dismiss your glaive, the low-hanging fruit is Hexblade Warlock. This is easily mixable with Paladin (Hexadins are very popular), Fighter (you're bound to either have enough STR for Fighter/Paladin or enough DEX for Fighter/Rogue), and Rogue (if you stay in long enough for a subclass, Swashbuckler mixes in well, but you can also mix in Arcane Trickster reasonably well).
An Eldritch Knight Fighter can also summon and dismiss their blade, but I'm sure you already looked at that since you already looked at Battle Master.
I mentioned Monk partly because it very easily fulfills the description of "a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies", on the condition that you're swapping your 1d10/Reach Glaive for a 1d8 Spear.
The Monk Class allows you a ton of mobility and has the potential to do a lot of damage, and there are a few subclasses that have good magical flavor, plus the Stunning Strike alone is one of the best status effects you can take advantage of to weaken enemies while still dishing out traditional damage. However, it's not fully compatible with the concept of a Polearm Fighter... the class doesn't get access to polearms that have reach to really take advantage of the extra opportunity attacks, and the class already, by default, has a bonus action attack it can do round after round. So that's mostly why I brought it up as a secondary recommendation... a Monk could easily accomplish the flavor you're looking for, but I'm not 100% confident it has the exact mechanics you're wanting to use.
One option that does come to mind, however, is the Astral Self monk. The class is very open to customizing the flavor of its abilities in a way that's compatible with a Magical Girl concept. When summoning the Astral Arms you can determine their appearance, so why not say they take the form of a giant scythe? It gives you the range for it. And the additional features it grants... an astral mask and astral body, can be reflavored as magical clothing that appears on your body. The arms also attack using your WIS stat, which frees you up a bit to focus more on WIS. I'm not 100% confident that this would actually accomplish what you really want out of this character, but it's one way to easily accomplish the flavor you mentioned.
Yes I'm going for Human.V, i always thought that PAM is useless on a monk until you pointed out about the second column of the feature.
"while you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach.
Yes, most campaigns ended around that level of play and not into late game which I specify that I don't want to enter that territory. I don't mind the minor trade off and pretty resourceful with what i've got and not to sure which monk subclass to pick.
My opinion (and everyone has one), the monk's bonus action unarmed strike is too redundant. The bonus action attack from PAM is the premier ability that makes PAM a great feat. If you like the idea for theme or flavor, and that's your reason for building it, that's cool. Go for it. But for me, it makes the optimizer side of me cringe. I would choose a different feat at that point.
Echo Knight combined with the two feats you're interested in is an amazing combo... and if you want to really get nuts, add 3 levels of Ancestral Barbarian... I went with Bugbear for added reach, but Var Human is always solid, and will start you off ahead of the game feat-wise.
There's are already solid threads on the Echo Knight in the fighter forum... you should check those out.
Echo Knight combined with the two feats you're interested in is an amazing combo... and if you want to really get nuts, add 3 levels of Ancestral Barbarian... I went with Bugbear for added reach, but Var Human is always solid, and will start you off ahead of the game feat-wise.
There's are already solid threads on the Echo Knight in the fighter forum... you should check those out.
That's a really interesting idea. The way I read it, you can give them disadvantage on attacks against your echo while you lock them down with Sentinel.
Manifest Echo
At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.
Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.
As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
Ancestral Protectors
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, spectral warriors appear when you enter your rage. While you’re raging, the first creature you hit with an attack on your turn becomes the target of the warriors, which hinder its attacks. Until the start of your next turn, that target has disadvantage on any attack roll that isn’t against you, and when the target hits a creature other than you with an attack, that creature has resistance to the damage dealt by the attack. The effect on the target ends early if your rage ends.
Hiya I wanted to build a Polearm Fighter, I know the famous combo Polearm Master & Sentinel feat but not sure which class to pick, I know the obvious choice is the Battle Master Fighter but I wanted something different since Battle Master is so boring and bland. Which class best suited for this kind of build, I know that Barbarians and Paladins are great choice of this build just wanted some insight of what other class benefits this kind of build. any recommendations of class, subclass and giving me more details on how to build it? I wanted the build to come online as soon as possible and nothing late game, possible reached at level 10 maximum.
My character concept is a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies. Thanks for the help ^.^
If you want to be able to summon and dismiss your glaive, the low-hanging fruit is Hexblade Warlock. This is easily mixable with Paladin (Hexadins are very popular), Fighter (you're bound to either have enough STR for Fighter/Paladin or enough DEX for Fighter/Rogue), and Rogue (if you stay in long enough for a subclass, Swashbuckler mixes in well, but you can also mix in Arcane Trickster reasonably well).
An Eldritch Knight Fighter can also summon and dismiss their blade, but I'm sure you already looked at that since you already looked at Battle Master.
Never thought of Hexblade before I do have a lovehate relationship with that subclass, it ruins a lot of friendship. The Hexblade do give off the fantasy of a small girl using a oversized weapons to attack the enemies, Huh I though Rouges would be a useless subclass since you need a weapon that makes you deal sneak attack, I would like to see a bit of a breakdown on building a Fighter/Rouge, like do use it for sneak attack benefits or i mostly use it for their features?
I could go Eldritch Knight, it just that Eldritch Knight might have a few problems regarding to the subclass.
I mentioned Monk partly because it very easily fulfills the description of "a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies", on the condition that you're swapping your 1d10/Reach Glaive for a 1d8 Spear.
The Monk Class allows you a ton of mobility and has the potential to do a lot of damage, and there are a few subclasses that have good magical flavor, plus the Stunning Strike alone is one of the best status effects you can take advantage of to weaken enemies while still dishing out traditional damage. However, it's not fully compatible with the concept of a Polearm Fighter... the class doesn't get access to polearms that have reach to really take advantage of the extra opportunity attacks, and the class already, by default, has a bonus action attack it can do round after round. So that's mostly why I brought it up as a secondary recommendation... a Monk could easily accomplish the flavor you're looking for, but I'm not 100% confident it has the exact mechanics you're wanting to use.
One option that does come to mind, however, is the Astral Self monk. The class is very open to customizing the flavor of its abilities in a way that's compatible with a Magical Girl concept. When summoning the Astral Arms you can determine their appearance, so why not say they take the form of a giant scythe? It gives you the range for it. And the additional features it grants... an astral mask and astral body, can be reflavored as magical clothing that appears on your body. The arms also attack using your WIS stat, which frees you up a bit to focus more on WIS. I'm not 100% confident that this would actually accomplish what you really want out of this character, but it's one way to easily accomplish the flavor you mentioned.
Ah I see, never really consider the Astral Monk stuff until now, i will keep that in mind with your idea and thanks for the idea though.
Echo Knight combined with the two feats you're interested in is an amazing combo... and if you want to really get nuts, add 3 levels of Ancestral Barbarian... I went with Bugbear for added reach, but Var Human is always solid, and will start you off ahead of the game feat-wise.
There's are already solid threads on the Echo Knight in the fighter forum... you should check those out.
That's a really interesting idea. The way I read it, you can give them disadvantage on attacks against your echo while you lock them down with Sentinel.
Manifest Echo
At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.
Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.
As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
Ancestral Protectors
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, spectral warriors appear when you enter your rage. While you’re raging, the first creature you hit with an attack on your turn becomes the target of the warriors, which hinder its attacks. Until the start of your next turn, that target has disadvantage on any attack roll that isn’t against you, and when the target hits a creature other than you with an attack, that creature has resistance to the damage dealt by the attack. The effect on the target ends early if your rage ends.
Ooo Echo Knight & Ancestral seems to be what I'm looking for and you did point out some of the fun features you highlighted, this gives me the vibe i want for this character. So how should i split it? Obviously I'm getting my extra attack from either of these 2 classes just want to know what to invest. If my DM don't allow me to pick a Echo Knight is there a alternative for the subclass? Eldritch Knight, Rune Knight, Psi Knight, Samurai? (What's up with WOTC fetish with Knights LMAO)
Rune Knight has magic-like effects, but doesn't on the surface give off the cute girl with oversized weapon vibe... BUT... I can see you make your character tiny in her normal form... enemies laugh because the weapon looks too big for you to handle, then you're like "RAAAAAAAHHHHH" and suddenly you're towering over them.
Hexblade will be a true Gish type option. Actual bonafide spells, plus a glaive but you cannot use a glaive until you pick pact of the blade at level 3.
Echo Knight would be very effective in combat (if you're an experienced, tactical player). No spells to speak of, but your echo can be your "magical" self.
Hiya I wanted to build a Polearm Fighter, I know the famous combo Polearm Master & Sentinel feat but not sure which class to pick, I know the obvious choice is the Battle Master Fighter but I wanted something different since Battle Master is so boring and bland. Which class best suited for this kind of build, I know that Barbarians and Paladins are great choice of this build just wanted some insight of what other class benefits this kind of build. any recommendations of class, subclass and giving me more details on how to build it? I wanted the build to come online as soon as possible and nothing late game, possible reached at level 10 maximum.
My character concept is a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies. Thanks for the help ^.^
If you're not going for a Fighter or Barbarian, you can consider Paladin
A good Paladin Subclass for having some extra mobility is Ancients... it lets you learn Misty Step at 5th level and gives you some solid crowd control skills on top of eventually just straight up gives you resistance to all damage from magic spells.
If you're willing to downgrade to a weaker weapon, Monk is also a solid choice if you take a spear. All the monk subclasses have crazy mobility, but I'd probably recommend Sun Soul for a class that gets some good magic-like skills. That or Shadow, if you want to lean into the dark/goth thing of fighting with a scythe... 4 Elements is intended to be the "spellcasting" monk subclass, but it doesn't quite deliver.
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Since you're already choosing two feats (none of which are great weapon master), consider a spear (or trident) and shield build. Benefit: +2 AC. The downside is you don't have reach, so can't do that Sentinel/PAM exploit where the enemy approaches you and 10 feet out, opportunity attack and their speed drops to zero. If you want to use that feature, you'll need a halbert or glaive.
If you go with a fighter and choose spear and shield, you can using the Dueling fighting style, +2 damage on your attacks. It is mathematically like rolling a d10 instead of a d6 for your attack damage, and rolling a d8 instead of a d4 for your bonus action attacks.
If you go barbarian, you get advantage at will, which is a very big damage boost, especially against high AC enemies.
I wouldn't necessarily say Battle Master is the obvious choice, but it's a good one. To me the maneuvers make it far less bland over other choices. You want something not bland? In my opinion the Rune Knight is a solid choice. Not at all bland (in my opinion), and also effective.
Cavalier fighters get some subclass abilities that work really nicely with the combo of PAM/sentinel. You just have to watch that you can’t use unwavering mark or warding maneuver at reach.
But hold the line and vigilant defender with the combo means no one is getting past you.
Echo knight
Whilst this is a very late-game feature, Cavalier gets a feature at 18th level that grants them a special reaction they can use to make an opportunity attack on EVERY turn! Combined with a halberd, Polearm Master, and Sentinel, you create a 10 ft. radius region where you can make an opportunity attack when a creature enters it, moves within it, or leaves it, and you drop their speed to 0 on a hit.
Tabaxi Paladin or Monk.
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I never thought of Ancient Paladins, since the class seems very defensive according to Mid-Max folks, do you think a Ancient Paladins works well with this kind of build? Also can you further elaborate how dose a Monk work with this kind of build? I'm using 2 feats which is Polearm Master and Sentinel, since Polearm Master requires me to use my Bonus Action which clashes with my unarmed strike.
You know that Trident can't trigger [Feats]Polearm Master[/Feats] and I feel like this Spear/Shield combo won't work for the character concept I had, this feels like a Amazon Warrior feel and I don't want that, I could reflavour it but I do want to make uses of the 2 feats I had that matches my concept.
I've played and DM for battlemasters for years and I got bored very easily, it's a good subclass for sure with it's maneuvers and care to explain a rune knight polearm fighter, I would love to hear your ideas.
I always thought that Cavalier is not a good subclass for this kind of build due to the complications of Polearm Master/Sentinel, maybe i rarely see people play this subclass. Should I go full on fighter or multiclass until I get important subclass features you mention.
Fair point on the trident. Almost all DM's will let you just use PAM with a trident if you prefer the flavor, since the game stats are literally exactly the same. It's just a preference of mine, although I think the trident should be a D8. It's a martial weapon verses the spear being a simple weapon. The PAM issue, now that you brought that up, actually makes the simple spear better. But this is all another subject.
I like the idea of a glaive on a Rune Knight, because when you grow to large size with Giant's Might, your reach doesn't extend with your longer arms, torso and legs getting longer (at least not until much higher levels). I think it should. With a glaive, when you grow you're now occupying four squares and your reach is now 10 feet (15 if you're a Bugbear).
Just on principle, I think it's ludicrous that you grow to large size and a halfling has the same reach you do in combat. A glaive or halbert fixes that.
A glaive looks like a giant sword. So when you're regular sized, you skillfully twirl it like normal. But when you grow through Giant's Might, you fight with it like a greatsword and your bonus action attack is hitting people with the butt of your "sword."
Of course, the weapon is supposed to grow with you but you can flavor it however you like. I'm just spitballing one idea. You may have grown up in the mountains with Stone Giants, and gained skills with a glaive during that time. Maybe you even used to use it to chop your way through the wilderness when you traveled.
One thing about the monk bonus action and PAM bonus action, yes it is redundancy in your action economy. However, they can be for very different reasons for you. Anything that you get from a weapon attack that you wouldn't get from your marital arts attacks gives you reasons to use one over the other even when your marital arts die becomes larger than the d4. This will usually be an issue if you have a magical spear (or quarterstaff per RAW or Trident per the discussion above).
Outside of that, you aren't taking PAM for the bonus action but for the other aspects with a monk. I was going to suggest it as an option myself, but that puts you two ASIs (or human variant/ custom lineage and 1 ASI) down before you can get any stats increases and the monk relies on stats a bit more than any other class (since they must use unarmored defense whereas barbarian can use it). Still you can use your +1s from human variant (or custom lineage's plus 2) to get at least 16 and 14 dex and wisdom respectively, giving you a 15 AC. Other races can give you a 16 in both for a 16 AC. However, if you are only going to level 10, that's what you'll be stuck with outside of magical items. Definitely have to consider the trade off there.
Well usually the DMs i encounter are "BY THE BOOK KIND OF PEOPLE AND GOING RAW"
lowkey wish WOTC would do a revamp of their weapon system in 5.5e, some of the weapons are terrible and not enough magic bows, spears, whips or whatever niche weapons.I see your ideas, never really consider Rune Knight before since the subclass feels like a grappler or a 2 handed user. Never seen anyone played a Rune Knight before and also which runes would you suggest that I pick? Isn't some of their feature require you a lot of it's Bonus Actions?
Yes I'm going for Human.V, i always thought that PAM is useless on a monk until you pointed out about the second column of the feature.
"while you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach.
Yes, most campaigns ended around that level of play and not into late game which I specify that I don't want to enter that territory. I don't mind the minor trade off and pretty resourceful with what i've got and not to sure which monk subclass to pick.
To start, I would recommend either the Fire Rune (which uses no action at all). Use it on low strength creatures like spell casters, or whenever you score a crit to double the initial dice damage.
Fire Rune. This rune’s magic channels the masterful craftsmanship of great smiths. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses your proficiency with a tool.
In addition, when you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can invoke the rune to summon fiery shackles: the target takes an extra 2d6 fire damage, and it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained for 1 minute. While restrained by the shackles, the target takes 2d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, banishing the shackles on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
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If you don’t have dark vision, then I would choose the stone rune instead of the fire rune, but even then they are close. It uses your reaction.
Stone Rune. This rune’s magic channels the judiciousness associated with stone giants. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, you have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks, and you have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.
In addition, when a creature you can see ends its turn within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to invoke the rune and force the creature to make a Wisdom saving throw. Unless the save succeeds, the creature is charmed by you for 1 minute. While charmed in this way, the creature has a speed of 0 and is incapacitated, descending into a dreamy stupor. The creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
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ALWAYS choose the cloud rune. If someone hits you or one of your allies with a nasty attack, like a crit or something else that did a lot of damage, use your reaction to just gift that damage and effects to one of the bad guys. There is no saving throw.
Cloud Rune. This rune emulates the deceptive magic used by some cloud giants. While wearing or carrying an object inscribed with this rune, you have advantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks and Charisma (Deception) checks.
In addition, when you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to invoke the rune and choose a different creature within 30 feet of you, other than the attacker. The chosen creature becomes the target of the attack, using the same roll. This magic can transfer the attack’s effects regardless of the attack’s range. Once you invoke this rune, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
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Growing with Giant’s Might does cost a bonus action, but lasts an entire combat encounter. This is definitely a downside, but IMO not so much so that it makes it not worth it. A lot of barbarians use PAM, and entering a rage also costs a bonus action.
Giant’s Might
3rd-level Rune Knight feature
You have learned how to imbue yourself with the might of giants. As a bonus action, you magically gain the following benefits, which last for 1 minute:
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
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The early Runes are really good, and at level 7 you get your first jump in number of runes you can prepare, and the level 7 runes are spectacular.
Grappling isn’t really my cup of tea, but there are plenty of other ways to use your advantage on strength checks. That said, there may be some reason I might want to grapple a huge creature, but that is situational. When you do grow, you can use your advantage on strength checks to do all kinds of creative things on the battlefield, like throwing a bad guy off of a bridge, or out of a guard tower, etc.
If you want to be able to summon and dismiss your glaive, the low-hanging fruit is Hexblade Warlock. This is easily mixable with Paladin (Hexadins are very popular), Fighter (you're bound to either have enough STR for Fighter/Paladin or enough DEX for Fighter/Rogue), and Rogue (if you stay in long enough for a subclass, Swashbuckler mixes in well, but you can also mix in Arcane Trickster reasonably well).
An Eldritch Knight Fighter can also summon and dismiss their blade, but I'm sure you already looked at that since you already looked at Battle Master.
I mentioned Monk partly because it very easily fulfills the description of "a cute magical girl wielding a oversized scythe(Glaive) that zooms in and out of the battlefield, dealing great damage and possibly dapple a bit of magic to weaken the enemies", on the condition that you're swapping your 1d10/Reach Glaive for a 1d8 Spear.
The Monk Class allows you a ton of mobility and has the potential to do a lot of damage, and there are a few subclasses that have good magical flavor, plus the Stunning Strike alone is one of the best status effects you can take advantage of to weaken enemies while still dishing out traditional damage. However, it's not fully compatible with the concept of a Polearm Fighter... the class doesn't get access to polearms that have reach to really take advantage of the extra opportunity attacks, and the class already, by default, has a bonus action attack it can do round after round. So that's mostly why I brought it up as a secondary recommendation... a Monk could easily accomplish the flavor you're looking for, but I'm not 100% confident it has the exact mechanics you're wanting to use.
One option that does come to mind, however, is the Astral Self monk. The class is very open to customizing the flavor of its abilities in a way that's compatible with a Magical Girl concept. When summoning the Astral Arms you can determine their appearance, so why not say they take the form of a giant scythe? It gives you the range for it. And the additional features it grants... an astral mask and astral body, can be reflavored as magical clothing that appears on your body. The arms also attack using your WIS stat, which frees you up a bit to focus more on WIS. I'm not 100% confident that this would actually accomplish what you really want out of this character, but it's one way to easily accomplish the flavor you mentioned.
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My opinion (and everyone has one), the monk's bonus action unarmed strike is too redundant. The bonus action attack from PAM is the premier ability that makes PAM a great feat. If you like the idea for theme or flavor, and that's your reason for building it, that's cool. Go for it. But for me, it makes the optimizer side of me cringe. I would choose a different feat at that point.
Echo Knight combined with the two feats you're interested in is an amazing combo... and if you want to really get nuts, add 3 levels of Ancestral Barbarian... I went with Bugbear for added reach, but Var Human is always solid, and will start you off ahead of the game feat-wise.
There's are already solid threads on the Echo Knight in the fighter forum... you should check those out.
That's a really interesting idea. The way I read it, you can give them disadvantage on attacks against your echo while you lock them down with Sentinel.
Manifest Echo
At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.
Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.
Ancestral Protectors
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, spectral warriors appear when you enter your rage. While you’re raging, the first creature you hit with an attack on your turn becomes the target of the warriors, which hinder its attacks. Until the start of your next turn, that target has disadvantage on any attack roll that isn’t against you, and when the target hits a creature other than you with an attack, that creature has resistance to the damage dealt by the attack. The effect on the target ends early if your rage ends.
Never thought of Hexblade before
I do have a lovehate relationship with that subclass, it ruins a lot of friendship.The Hexblade do give off the fantasy of a small girl using a oversized weapons to attack the enemies, Huh I though Rouges would be a useless subclass since you need a weapon that makes you deal sneak attack, I would like to see a bit of a breakdown on building a Fighter/Rouge, like do use it for sneak attack benefits or i mostly use it for their features?I could go Eldritch Knight, it just that Eldritch Knight might have a few problems regarding to the subclass.
Ah I see, never really consider the Astral Monk stuff until now, i will keep that in mind with your idea and thanks for the idea though.
Ooo Echo Knight & Ancestral seems to be what I'm looking for and you did point out some of the fun features you highlighted, this gives me the vibe i want for this character. So how should i split it? Obviously I'm getting my extra attack from either of these 2 classes just want to know what to invest. If my DM don't allow me to pick a Echo Knight is there a alternative for the subclass? Eldritch Knight, Rune Knight, Psi Knight, Samurai? (
What's up with WOTC fetish with Knights LMAO)I missed part of your OP.
"Cute magical girl" with a glaive:
Rune Knight has magic-like effects, but doesn't on the surface give off the cute girl with oversized weapon vibe... BUT... I can see you make your character tiny in her normal form... enemies laugh because the weapon looks too big for you to handle, then you're like "RAAAAAAAHHHHH" and suddenly you're towering over them.
Hexblade will be a true Gish type option. Actual bonafide spells, plus a glaive but you cannot use a glaive until you pick pact of the blade at level 3.
Echo Knight would be very effective in combat (if you're an experienced, tactical player). No spells to speak of, but your echo can be your "magical" self.
ALSO consider... Path of Wild Magic barbarian.