Didn't mention what class you are, the Battlemaster Fighter has maneuvers and one of them is Lunge for 5 feet more reach.
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"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
The Way of the Astral Self monk can also get an additional 5 feet on unarmed strikes, rather than using a reach weapon. But the potion of giant size doesn't double your reach:
In addition, the reach of your melee attacks increases by 5 feet.
Bugbear: +5 reach
Potion of giant size: +5 reach
Pike / Way of the Astral Self / any other reach weapon: +5
Battlemaster with Lunge: +5 reach
Gives a 25-foot reach. I feel like I'm missing some other reach enhancing features/items, but yeah, it's very fun. I'd been considering building an Astral Self bugbear for a while, now. :)
Way of the Four Elements monk can spend 1 ki point to increase unarmed strike reach by 10 feet (Fangs of the Fire Snake), and there's a small chance of an Ichor-Coated Weapon from Avernus to increase reach by 5 feet.
Bugbear: +5 reach
Potion of giant size: +5 reach
Way of the Four Elements' "Fangs of the Fire Snake": +10 reach
Battlemaster with Lunge: +5 reach
Ichor-Coated Weapon's "Flesh Warping": +5 reach
Grand total of 35 feet of reach for an unarmed strike. Pretty incredible.
There's nothing negative about playing hypothetical scenarios for the sake of amusement! Especially a scenario above, which requires mind-bendingly complex setup: a legendary (consumable) item, and a specific roll on a random table for a weapon sourced from a specific location.
And I'd even argue that it's not even power gaming, as there isn't much to exploit. With the exception of some decently-ranged opportunity attacks and grappling at range, having a build with a wild melee reach doesn't really offer much functionality that ranged attacks wouldn't. Nothing comes to mind that's broken or exploitable, only a fun visual for everyone at the table!
If a bugbear tried to grapple an enemy from 10 feet away or more and was successful the enemy cannot move, so cannot get within melee range.
You could attack an enemy round after round as they are within your reach but until they break the grapple they wouldn't be able to reciprocate.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
This is obviously up to DM ruling, but Jeremy Crawford has weighed in on this before, asserting that if you are grappling a creature, then part of you is within 5 feet of them and they are able to attack you.
This is obviously up to DM ruling, but Jeremy Crawford has weighed in on this before, asserting that if you are grappling a creature, then part of you is within 5 feet of them and they are able to attack you.
It has been said before, but whilst JC is one of the major leaguers he is not the be all and end all. Only officially published material and Sage advice constitute actual RAW. His tweets or other SM posts are just his opinion and are not considered RAW. That said, if you are literally holding someone in your arms then your arms and hands are in physical contact with the restrained target - It isn't rocket science then to understand that those parts of your body could be theoretically attacked - even if it is at disadvantage.
For bugbears PCs - keep in mind that they only have extended reach on their turn. You can't maintain a 10 foot grapple, as grappling ends if the target leaves the reach of the grappler, and your reach is only 5 feet on all turns but your own.
Or you could use a bow instead of dedicating your race, class, weapon type, difficult-to-find magic items, and limited-use resources to getting 1/6 the normal range of a bow.
This is far from being a “negative power-gamer“, it’s clearly just for fun theorycrafting.
Those that want an example of all the negative power-gamer stereotypes, I present to you the above.
This is like getting mad at a kid using his Star Wars LEGOs to build a castle. How dare they!
Honestly this is not a game-breaking build. A 4E Monk/Battlemaster is mediocre at best and it's expending limited resources for every single reach increase aside from bugbear, which only works on its turn, and the ichor which is a 100% DM-controlled substance. It's pouring everything it gets into a gimmick that amounts to a glorified Thorn Whip.
Bugbear + potion of giant size + pike= 25 ft reach
(10 ft base) + (double reach ) + 5 ft =
Would this work in game? Also, did I miss anything to extend my reach? I thought I potion of growth but I wasn’t sure
Didn't mention what class you are, the Battlemaster Fighter has maneuvers and one of them is Lunge for 5 feet more reach.
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AlumniThe Way of the Astral Self monk can also get an additional 5 feet on unarmed strikes, rather than using a reach weapon. But the potion of giant size doesn't double your reach:
Gives a 25-foot reach. I feel like I'm missing some other reach enhancing features/items, but yeah, it's very fun. I'd been considering building an Astral Self bugbear for a while, now. :)
Edit: Forgot Lunge.
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AlumniHere we are, a post with more goodies!: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/113595
Way of the Four Elements monk can spend 1 ki point to increase unarmed strike reach by 10 feet (Fangs of the Fire Snake), and there's a small chance of an Ichor-Coated Weapon from Avernus to increase reach by 5 feet.
Grand total of 35 feet of reach for an unarmed strike. Pretty incredible.
Oh thanks!
Those that want an example of all the negative power-gamer stereotypes, I present to you the above.
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AlumniThere's nothing negative about playing hypothetical scenarios for the sake of amusement! Especially a scenario above, which requires mind-bendingly complex setup: a legendary (consumable) item, and a specific roll on a random table for a weapon sourced from a specific location.
And I'd even argue that it's not even power gaming, as there isn't much to exploit. With the exception of some decently-ranged opportunity attacks and grappling at range, having a build with a wild melee reach doesn't really offer much functionality that ranged attacks wouldn't. Nothing comes to mind that's broken or exploitable, only a fun visual for everyone at the table!
If a bugbear tried to grapple an enemy from 10 feet away or more and was successful the enemy cannot move, so cannot get within melee range.
You could attack an enemy round after round as they are within your reach but until they break the grapple they wouldn't be able to reciprocate.
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AlumniThis is obviously up to DM ruling, but Jeremy Crawford has weighed in on this before, asserting that if you are grappling a creature, then part of you is within 5 feet of them and they are able to attack you.
It has been said before, but whilst JC is one of the major leaguers he is not the be all and end all. Only officially published material and Sage advice constitute actual RAW. His tweets or other SM posts are just his opinion and are not considered RAW. That said, if you are literally holding someone in your arms then your arms and hands are in physical contact with the restrained target - It isn't rocket science then to understand that those parts of your body could be theoretically attacked - even if it is at disadvantage.
For bugbears PCs - keep in mind that they only have extended reach on their turn. You can't maintain a 10 foot grapple, as grappling ends if the target leaves the reach of the grappler, and your reach is only 5 feet on all turns but your own.
Or you could use a bow instead of dedicating your race, class, weapon type, difficult-to-find magic items, and limited-use resources to getting 1/6 the normal range of a bow.
This is far from being a “negative power-gamer“, it’s clearly just for fun theorycrafting.
This is like getting mad at a kid using his Star Wars LEGOs to build a castle. How dare they!
Honestly this is not a game-breaking build. A 4E Monk/Battlemaster is mediocre at best and it's expending limited resources for every single reach increase aside from bugbear, which only works on its turn, and the ichor which is a 100% DM-controlled substance. It's pouring everything it gets into a gimmick that amounts to a glorified Thorn Whip.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm