First time 5e-er. Playing totems barbarian.

[Desiani]

I went eagle totem based on the 'bonus move' dash. I don't really know what I am doing within 5e. I picked Barbie just to have a simple game with a lot of SMASHY! I was wondering about this bonus move and feat synergies.

First, eagle totem renders me immune to 'attacks of oppurtunity' does this include the AoO made from moving out of threatened zones? For my level 4 feat I took great weapon mastery. I was wondering would I have been better in picking the Charger feat? I might change my feat to charger, if i am immune to AoO's moving from threatened squares. Also... am I still limited to doing nothing after using my 'bonus dash'? Because from what I read dashing is essentially a full round action x.x

[zinycor]

charger is one of the worst feats on the game, don't take it

[Desiani]

What do you mean? If I remember right, I don't have a book on me atm, charger allows you to do +attqck and +damage if you charge or move more that 10 feet. Plus it allows you to make a full dash then let you attack at the end of it.

:/ How is that bad? Mind you my group is ONLY using the PHB for 5e.

[SharkForce]

the attack provoked by leaving a threatened area is indeed an attack of opportunity, and an ability which prevents you from provoking attacks of opportunity will protect you from those. the eagle ability does not prevent you from provoking those attacks, it only gives enemies disadvantage on those attacks.

charger is not compatible with your bonus action dash (you only get one bonus action, and if you use it to dash, you can't use it to make the charger bonus action attack). however, since you are dashing as a bonus action, you can make your regular attacks, which is better than the single attack you'd have gotten from charger.

great weapon mastery is a pretty good choice. polearm master would be the other typical option (for the bonus action attack whenever you take the attack action).

[Desiani]

the attack provoked by leaving a threatened area is indeed an attack of opportunity, and an ability which prevents you from provoking attacks of opportunity will protect you from those. the eagle ability does not prevent you from provoking those attacks, it only gives enemies disadvantage on those attacks.

charger is not compatible with your bonus action dash (you only get one bonus action, and if you use it to dash, you can't use it to make the charger bonus action attack). however, since you are dashing as a bonus action, you can make your regular attacks, which is better than the single attack you'd have gotten from charger.

great weapon mastery is a pretty good choice. polearm master would be the other typical option (for the bonus action attack whenever you take the attack action).

Sadly I am a dwarf with the hermit background. I am using a Maul and will probably just use what ever Maulish weapons we find so the pole arm one isn't for me. :(

The only issue with GWM is the -5 to attack for the +10 damage. I am only level 4 with 19 strength. I mainly took it for the cleave-y effect of critting or killing a mob. Is using the -5 attack advised for someone of level 4 and 19 strength?

[Stan]

What do you mean? If I remember right, I don't have a book on me atm, charger allows you to do +attqck and +damage if you charge or move more that 10 feet. Plus it allows you to make a full dash then let you attack at the end of it.



There's no full round action any more. And no 5' step. You can always do a normal move and use all of your attacks. Moving out of someone's reach is now the only opportunity attack there is (aside form extras from feats). Basically, you always get a move and an action, then possibly a bonus action. Dash is normally an action so it replaces your attack - it's basically the double move. Dash as a bonus action replaces other possible bonus actions but not your action, so you can attack using your action.

Charger is weak, especially as eagle already grants you a bonus action move and you get only one bonus action per turn. Charger allows only one attack and, in 5e, you can move and attack anyway.

With eagle's dash, you can move 25' (full for a dwarf), make all your attacks (1 now, 2 soon), then move another 25'. Polearm master would allow you to move up, smack someone, then back up. If they come up to you the next round, you get an extra smack.

The -5 to hit with gwm isn't that bad if you pair it with reckless attack. +10 damage is a big bump, especially as it is per attack.

[MeeposFire]

Very few classes get any real benefit for the cost from the charger feat.

One example would be a weapon cleric. You only get divine strike on one attack and you normally only have one attack per round with no use for your bonus action outside of spells.

Charger thus is a straight buff in damage for a cleric which has some synergy with a guardian spell which deals damage when they enter the spells range and with you moving around that happens more often...

Still charger is very niche.

[Desiani]

I see. I've barely used reckless attack. I'm the only front line fighters... and the DM dislikes my Dwarf's ignorantness of what other races are called. I regularly call elves Knife ears, tieflings Horners if they have horns etc.

I have the I am ignorant of social ettiquette bit under hermit. I think I am RPing fairly well for a hermit who only knows what a dwarf is called. He's lived on his own for most of his life in a ruin.

X.x

[PoeticDwarf]

What do you mean? If I remember right, I don't have a book on me atm, charger allows you to do +attqck and +damage if you charge or move more that 10 feet. Plus it allows you to make a full dash then let you attack at the end of it.

:/ How is that bad? Mind you my group is ONLY using the PHB for 5e.

1. Because that's once in combat (unless you can disengage as bonus action)
2. Because you don't get opportunity attacks that many (at lower levels), even with a bard with dissonant whispers.

[PoeticDwarf]

I see. I've barely used reckless attack. I'm the only front line fighters... and the DM dislikes my Dwarf's ignorantness of what other races are called. I regularly call elves Knife ears, tieflings Horners if they have horns etc.

I have the I am ignorant of social ettiquette bit under hermit. I think I am RPing fairly well for a hermit who only knows what a dwarf is called. He's lived on his own for most of his life in a ruin.

X.x

Dwarfs may do that, because they are dwarfs, because elfs are noob and they have knife ears and because nobody cares about tieflings.

[Slipperychicken]

Is using the -5 attack advised for someone of level 4 and 19 strength?

Yes, just apply some decision rules first. I did all the math for my own character, and I'm just posting the resulting rules. (Note: There are some edge cases where a different decision would give like +0.5 expected damage, but I ignore those because the variance [i.e. miss chance] increases too much to be worth it in a real game. I only set the decision boundaries where the tradeoff is acceptable). Also, I'm going to call it a "power attack".

Assuming you took the great weapon fighting style (reroll 1s and 2s on damage dice), have a +6 to hit, and your damage is 2d6+6:

If you think a normal hit (14.33 damage on average, range 8-18) is enough, then don't power attack at all.
Power attack when your target's AC is 13 or lower. If you have disadvantage, you should use it when the target's AC is 7 or lower. If you have advantage, you should do it when the target's AC is 16 or lower.
If your target is vulnerable to your damage type (i.e. you're fighting a skeleton and using a maul), then power attacking is almost strictly worse.
If your target is resistant to your damage type, then power attack at (AC 11 or less for disadvantage, AC 17 or less for normal, AC 18 or less for advantage).


These numbers will change if your tohit or damage numbers (especially your damage dice) change. Like when you hit level 5 or get a +1 magic weapon. When that occurs, I think someone made a chart which you can reference about this.

[Demonic Spoon]

I don't actually agree that Charger is bad - it lets you attack in rounds you wouldn't otherwise attack, which depending on situation, can be often.

That said, if you went eagle totem for the bonus action dash, Charger doesn't really do anything for you. For Charger to work you need to spend your action to dash to get one bonus action attack - with eagle totem, you can bonus action attack and do your normal attack, which is usually going to be better than one attack at +5 damage.