been thinking of making this char? should it take 1 lvl in hunter for the hunter's mark? playing a little bit of a campaign with 4 attacks doesnt seem worth it when you can add 1d6 to all attacks throughout the campaign? is there something else i should consider? a better archer?
Battle masters make fantastic archers. Arguably the best in the game. Gives you some really fun options, especially if you combine them with weapon masteries. I would not dip Ranger. The loss in fighter levels isn’t worth it. And hunters mark does not scale well, though a bit of force damage is nice. But without it, you also keep your bonus action free. Some maneuvers, like elusive footwork, can be really useful for an archer type who wants a quick escape.
Battle masters make fantastic archers. Arguably the best in the game. Gives you some really fun options, especially if you combine them with weapon masteries. I would not dip Ranger. The loss in fighter levels isn’t worth it. And hunters mark does not scale well, though a bit of force damage is nice. But without it, you also keep your bonus action free. Some maneuvers, like elusive footwork, can be really useful for an archer type who wants a quick escape.
For us that want to make character that is an archer, but don't fully understand the battle master choices, what is a good archer build?
As always, a lot would depend on party composition and what you are trying to accomplish. The big thing is to pay attention to the wording and make sure it says weapon attack, not melee attack. At that point pretty much all of them are useful. And think in terms of battlefield control, not just pure damage.
But to me the possibly most useful is goading shot on an enemy in melee with one of your allies, giving them disadvantage. (And with a longbow, you slow them down, so if you position yourself correctly, they likely can’t get to you even if they tried.) Or distracting strike to give that ally advantage
Disarming attack is kind of a cool, flavorful cinematic option, but it’s going to be situational — disarm an enemy so an ally can just walk away without drawing an OA, maybe picking up the enemy’s weapon before they go, though if they can is unclear.
Evasive footwork can be useful to get away if you need, but you’ll likely have a good AC and high hp, so maybe you don’t really need to get away.
Trip attack if you coordinate with allies. Use it on your last attack, so your melee friends get advantage. But you wouldn’t want to use it earlier, of course, because then you give yourself disadvantage. (Another one where the slow effect is nice, as the enemy spends half their move to stand, then loses another 10’ of move.
Then there’s the ones that are just generally useful: pushing attack (now they are further away and slowed), maneuvering attack, precision attack.
And even without all that, the base fighter is giving you lots of tools, and the feats to get that dex to 20 quickly.
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been thinking of making this char? should it take 1 lvl in hunter for the hunter's mark? playing a little bit of a campaign with 4 attacks doesnt seem worth it when you can add 1d6 to all attacks throughout the campaign? is there something else i should consider? a better archer?
Battle masters make fantastic archers. Arguably the best in the game. Gives you some really fun options, especially if you combine them with weapon masteries.
I would not dip Ranger. The loss in fighter levels isn’t worth it. And hunters mark does not scale well, though a bit of force damage is nice. But without it, you also keep your bonus action free. Some maneuvers, like elusive footwork, can be really useful for an archer type who wants a quick escape.
For us that want to make character that is an archer, but don't fully understand the battle master choices, what is a good archer build?
As always, a lot would depend on party composition and what you are trying to accomplish. The big thing is to pay attention to the wording and make sure it says weapon attack, not melee attack. At that point pretty much all of them are useful. And think in terms of battlefield control, not just pure damage.
But to me the possibly most useful is goading shot on an enemy in melee with one of your allies, giving them disadvantage. (And with a longbow, you slow them down, so if you position yourself correctly, they likely can’t get to you even if they tried.) Or distracting strike to give that ally advantage
Disarming attack is kind of a cool, flavorful cinematic option, but it’s going to be situational — disarm an enemy so an ally can just walk away without drawing an OA, maybe picking up the enemy’s weapon before they go, though if they can is unclear.
Evasive footwork can be useful to get away if you need, but you’ll likely have a good AC and high hp, so maybe you don’t really need to get away.
Trip attack if you coordinate with allies. Use it on your last attack, so your melee friends get advantage. But you wouldn’t want to use it earlier, of course, because then you give yourself disadvantage. (Another one where the slow effect is nice, as the enemy spends half their move to stand, then loses another 10’ of move.
Then there’s the ones that are just generally useful: pushing attack (now they are further away and slowed), maneuvering attack, precision attack.
And even without all that, the base fighter is giving you lots of tools, and the feats to get that dex to 20 quickly.