Level 3 Fighter (BM) for LMoP/HotDQ

[Lord Kristivas]

Just looking for some advice on my Fighter. Here's his stats so far. We're doing Lost Mines up to level 3, then stopping exp gain until we begin Hoard of the Dragon Queen and resume.

Human CG (real freedom-loving type)
Fighter 3 (Battle Master)
Soldier
S - 18
D - 12
C - 18
I - 12
W - 14
C - 16

Seriously, those scores were so good, I almost felt shameful using them. Almost. Used the Variant Human Traits and added +1 to Con and +1 to Cha. I felt like I needed to buff up a mental stat rather than Dex, not only because of how good my rolls were, but also because I see my guy as the leader/face of the group.

Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
Feat: Dual Wielder (dual wield fighting style, obviously)

For level 4, I'm considering Heavy Armor Master for that sweet DR/3 to nonmagical physical damage, as swarms are just as likely to kill ya as a single big guy.

My question is, should I stick with Fighter after 4? I'm not even locked into Battle Master yet, as we'd just gained level 3 at the end of the last game. Would there be a better feat choice?

My chosen maneuvers are: Goading Attack, Trip Attack, Menacing Attack. I'm kinda the tank of the group, with an arcane trickster rogue, bear druid, eldritch blast spammer, and a healbot life cleric.

Additionally, the theme for this character is a guy with a severe mistrust of law, government, and so on (due to the events occurring during his Soldier background). He abides them with a smile, but is really into personal liberty to the point of just doing what he wants anyway. As he advances in level/story, he's going to head more toward being an Outlaw, and starting a like-minded organization devoted to hurting the corrupt wealthy, aiding the townspeople (to have the public on their side if/when the law comes down on them), and to making that sweet money to secure their futures and expand their influence. A good example of what I'm going for is like the club in the show Sons of Anarchy. Zhentarim faction, naturally.

[Vowtz]

Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion
Feat: Dual Wielder (dual wield fighting style, obviously)

For level 4, I'm considering Heavy Armor Master for that sweet DR/3 to nonmagical physical damage, as swarms are just as likely to kill ya as a single big guy.
I would get heavy armor master now and dual wield... Well, never, but it will still be there for you at level 4.

You are more likely to survive with dr/3 early on.

[Lord Kristivas]

I would get heavy armor master now and dual wield... Well, never, but it will still be there for you at level 4.

You are more likely to survive with dr/3 early on.

We can still change things for the next 2 levels, like feats, skills subclass, class, etc. until we're locked in for good. Two longswords with the two-weapon fighting style (add str dmg to offhand attack) and the dual wielder feat (+1 ac, let's your weapons both be d8s) has pretty much given me 1d8+4 x2 per round.

Without the penalties of 3.5 (I'm a lot more familiar with it than 4e), dual wielding seems to serve rather well, at least for Part 1 and 2 of Lost Mines, and at least with my high str. Does it get worse at higher levels compared to something else, like polearm master?

[Yagyujubei]

well unless you really want it for the flavor, two weapon fighting is slightly underwhelming currently in 5e and like always, great weapon fighting steals the spotlight for outright dps. The difference isn't huge but you can get the bonus action attack elsewhere that you can use even with a larger weapon.

if you are gonna end up being the tank, you may consider a reach weapon with sentinel and polearm mastery. that will allow you to OA much more often and stop enemies in their tracks allowing you to control the battlefield a bit and be much sticker.

as for MC dips. barb is worth a look for rage(so you can get advantage on rolls), danger sense, and frenzy (for a bonus action attack) if you go berserker, or bear totem for some tankiness if you go totem.

[Lord Kristivas]

as for MC dips. barb is worth a look for rage(so you can get advantage on rolls), danger sense, and frenzy (for a bonus action attack) if you go berserker, or bear totem for some tankiness if you go totem.

That's an AC of 15 without the DR/3 to physical damage from heavy armor master, over the AC19 I can get while still holding two weapons. Otherwise, no rage/frenzy.

For PM/Sentinel, is there a way to get more than one opportunity attack per round?

[Vowtz]

That's an AC of 15 without the DR/3 to physical damage from heavy armor master, over the AC19 I can get while still holding two weapons. Otherwise, no rage/frenzy.

For PM/Sentinel, is there a way to get more than one opportunity attack per round?
Not yet.

.

[Beige]

can't comment to much on sticking with the class - most classes are competant, so overall it depends on what you think you'd have the most fun playing. I'd reccomend at least hitting level 4 to get the stat buff/feat before switching out if you do decide to persue a different class

as to what you said about the barbarian having worse ac and thus a worse tank, the barbarian has one major advantage; the bear halves all damage except for psychic, the rarest type. it's hard to understand just how potent that is until you see it in action

as for the fighter, battlemaster can make a good tank/damage dealer, especially with abilities such as riptoise and the oh-so-awesome menacing attack (give enemies disadvantage on attacks? yes please!) you just have to be a bit careful as resource are annoyingly sparse*. Battlemaster is probably the best of the fighter archetypes, unless you have a gap that needs plugging with the eldritch knight's few extras to casting/buffs

I'd recomend being careful before committing to TwF -its good at low levels, but since it only ever contributes a single attack and eats your bonus action, it has bad syenergy with most things, and less of an advantage at high levels

* though with the fighters number of skill-ups, picking up the feat for more manouvers/bonus dice is pretty good.

[TheOOB]

If you're planning on playing this character for a long time, two-weapon fighting may not be your best option, as all the TWF are not multiplied by extra attacks, which are kind of a fighters thing. With the feat and the fighting style, you are gaining a 9.5/round average damage bonus(assuming a hit), over vanilla longsword in one hand, which means your expected damage is something like this(assuming 20 str)

One Attack: 19
Two Attacks: 28.5
Three Attacks: 38
Four Attacks: 47.5

With longsword+duelist you deal the following

One Attack: 11.5
Two Attacks: 23
Three Attacks: 34
Four Attacks: 46

But you gain +1 AC and an extra feat

and with a greatsword and GWF your looking at

One Attack: 13.33
Two Attacks: 26.66
Three Attacks: 39.99
Four Attacks: 53.32

And once again you gain the extra feat.

And of course Polearm master is amazing.

[Lord Kristivas]

can't comment to much on sticking with the class - most classes are competant, so overall it depends on what you think you'd have the most fun playing. I'd reccomend at least hitting level 4 to get the stat buff/feat before switching out if you do decide to persue a different class

as to what you said about the barbarian having worse ac and thus a worse tank, the barbarian has one major advantage; the bear halves all damage except for psychic, the rarest type. it's hard to understand just how potent that is until you see it in action

That looks great, but it's only while raging. I can see myself running out of rages and then being kinda screwed. If we had another heavy front-line guy, I probably would have went the barbarian route.


as for the fighter, battlemaster can make a good tank/damage dealer, especially with abilities such as riptoise and the oh-so-awesome menacing attack (give enemies disadvantage on attacks? yes please!) you just have to be a bit careful as resource are annoyingly sparse*. Battlemaster is probably the best of the fighter archetypes, unless you have a gap that needs plugging with the eldritch knight's few extras to casting/buffs

I'd recomend being careful before committing to TwF -its good at low levels, but since it only ever contributes a single attack and eats your bonus action, it has bad syenergy with most things, and less of an advantage at high levels

* though with the fighters number of skill-ups, picking up the feat for more manouvers/bonus dice is pretty good.

Good call on Martial Adept. I think I'll grab Heavy Armor Master at 4th, and that at 6th unless I decide to switch for PM/Sentinel.

I'd kinda hoped to avoid polearms this edition, as they and spiked chains were all the optimal rage in 3.5, but alas. :(

[Lord Kristivas]

With longsword+duelist you deal the following

One Attack: 11.5
Two Attacks: 23
Three Attacks: 34
Four Attacks: 46

But you gain +1 AC and an extra feat

Would Shield Master be a good fit, or should I head toward Sentinel or Martial Adept if I go with duelist?