Battle Master Advice

[SMac8988]

One of my friends is currently playing a Battle Master in CoS. And he is concerned that he is under powered and will fall off without lots of magic stuff.

I haven't played one before and don't have advice for him. He is considering multi classing and going from there.

We are all level 3 and are almost to level 4. What would be a good multi class for him if he decided to go that way.

Thank you all in advance giants!!!

[Joe the Rat]

What's his build? What fighting style? What maneuvers?

[SMac8988]

Two weapon style.
Stats:
str - 17
Dex - 13
Con - 16
INT - 9
WIS - 11
CHA - 11.

Manuvers:
Riposte
Disarm
Distracting strike.

And he is a Duergar

[Foxhound438]

Two weapon style.
Stats:
str - 17
Dex - 13
Con - 16
INT - 9
WIS - 11
CHA - 11.

Manuvers:
Riposte
Disarm
Distracting strike.

And he is a Duergar

the strongest battlemaster build is polearm fighter. If he can switch styles, he should, and pick up polearm master at level 4, and eventually get great weapon master and sentinel.

[SMac8988]

Idk if he would like that. But I'll suggest it.

[Corran]

It is not the battlemaster. It is TWF. Honestly, this style is so lackluster, that it is only worth considering when playing a rogue, and even then, there are equally good or even better in some cases alternatives.

But especially with a fighter, and even more so with a battlemaster, twf is a horrible choice. I bet it wont be completelly unplayable (certainly playable if you are ot playing in a group where everyone optimizes), but it is one of the first things I think about when someone asks for unplayable characters. Well, if I had to be more precise, again it is not that it is unplayable, rather that it is subpar, just like the beastmaster ranger, only in the case of the twf battlemaster there are no creative ways to pieace together a strong character.



the strongest battlemaster build is polearm fighter. If he can switch styles, he should, and pick up polearm master at level 4, and eventually get great weapon master and sentinel.
And he could refluff the polearm as twf. Meaning that he is using a polearm for mechanical purposes, but the character in game is wielding two seperate weapons.

[SMac8988]

That is a possibility. I think he is just concerned about falling off damage wise or not being effective against the hordes we are up against.

[Biggstick]

Underpowered compared to what? What is the make-up of the rest of your party? What role is s/he trying to fill?

Regardless of what the group looks like, s/he should definitely consider making it to Fighter 5 for the extra attack. As for TWF, it's not going to be as helpful as SnB or 2her's as CoS is going to almost require he obtain a magic or silvered weapon. Getting two magic or silvered weapons is difficult in some campaigns, or easier in others, so there is that to consider.

If s/he's allowed to retrain fighting styles, I'd suggest the Dueling fighting style and taking Polearm Mastery at level 4. Use a Quarterstaff and Shield, and at level 5 s/he'll be making 3 attacks per turn (including the bonus action attack from PAM) at an average of 24.5 damage a turn, if all attacks hit. This only goes up the higher is Strength gets, if he uses Maneuvers, or if he Action Surges.

If the player is dead set on multiclassing, they don't have any caster options available unless they spend their 4th level ASI on +2 Wisdom or Charisma, so you'll need to keep that in mind as well.

[BRC]

I played what was roughly a TWF Battlemaster (Crossbow Expert) in Tyranny of Dragons, and not dealing enough damage isn't really something you need to worry about. Of course, it depends on the player and the group, but you should be dealing plenty of damage.

The good news is that, since you're strength-based anyway, you could talk to your DM about retraining to Great Weapon.

[jas61292]

Really, it depends a lot on your parties optimization level. I myself am currently playing a TWF Battlemaster, and so far, I have clearly been our parties MVP.

To be completely honest, in 5e, there is really no such thing as being underpowered unless you do so intentionally. Beyond that, you are only as underpowered as you perceive yourself to be. A TWF Batlemaster can absolutely contribute well. There is no doubt about that. However, if you are in a party with, say, a GWF PAM using Barbarian, yeah, you are probably going to feel underpowered in comparison. That does not, however, mean you are actually weak.

Now, I don't know the makeup of your party, and that plays a huge role in things. But, I would absolutely recommend having him try to stick it out for a little while and see how it goes. If his worry is mostly due to the things he reads online, and not because he feels his role being infringed on by other party members, then those fears are most likely unfounded. However, even if he does, rather than try and respec and completely ruin the character concept he has (I know it is very player dependent, but I absolutely despise the concept of completely changing a character's style just for a bit of DPR), I would suggest multiclassing to something like Barbarian, to make the most out of the extra attacks from TWF, as Rage damage applies to every attack.

[SMac8988]

Our party is a

barb - frenzy who is multi classing into Paladin next level.
Druid (home brewed) beast master ish class.
And monk of the four elements.

I think his goal is to be front line and go plate mail if possibly. I'll bring up the Polearm Master and quarter staff. I think he is mainly concerned about not being perfect since we rolled stats and his weren't the best in the group. He is a min maxer and want to be optimized every step of the way.

I normally DM for the group and he is big on mainly hunting for magic items to make himself stronger, rather than trying to buff the whole party

[Sir cryosin]

Ok here what he wants mc in to warlock pick up warcaster feat and go blade pact. Used his spell slots for hex, armor of agathys that will give him more damage and a little more Def. He gets everything back on short rest. The pact blade don't attune anything and the he's going to want one of the magic sword you get in the campaign. So now he has 2 magical weapons and hex is upping his damage take warlock or fightet to lv 5 for extra attack.

[Specter]

In general, BM's power will be defined by how often short rests can be taken. If there's no possibility of resting during the day, then they have to ration dice too much and suck.

[Laurefindel]

One of my friends is currently playing a Battle Master in CoS. And he is concerned that he is under powered and will fall off without lots of magic stuff.

I haven't played one before and don't have advice for him. He is considering multi classing and going from there.

We are all level 3 and are almost to level 4. What would be a good multi class for him if he decided to go that way.

Thank you all in advance giants!!!

He is about to have an ASI/feat and his 2nd attack at 5th level; IMHO he should stick with fighter a little longer before multiclassing. Fighter is not a bad class, and the battlemaster can be a lot of fun. Whether he is having fun with the battlemaster's manoeuvres is another question...

[Specter]

He is about to have an ASI/feat and his 2nd attack at 5th level; IMHO he should stick with fighter a little longer before multiclassing. Fighter is not a bad class, and the battlemaster can be a lot of fun. Whether he is having fun with the battlemaster's manoeuvres is another question...

And this. Levels 4, 5 and 6 are very good for fighters, especially if using feats (Dual Wielder comes to mind, or at least Resilient (WIS)).

[beargryllz]

I could multiclass my dorf battle master to ranger, but I think staying for fighter levels is better for most builds, especially mine. I have one magic sword item but battle masters win fights anyways and scale pretty awesomely, because they have a ton of options available. Instead of TWF, I have dueling, shield master, and heavy armor master. But you also ride, shoot, study treacherous NPCs, and can repair gear after an ooze swallows you. If I think I might miss, I just add precision D8s to my attack rolls or trip/frighten/disarm enemies before they know what hit them.

Because this person's BM is only 3-4, you could just switch to rogue and retain the good early fighter features. Instead of the common 2 level dip, you can get the ability score improvement and battle master maneuvers. Is it worth it? For character development, sure. It might not be super-optimized, but you'll have style points and the build is still very viable. Multiclassing just to use magic isn't a great idea but the character would still be playable.

I would keep getting fighter levels. Fighter is already so good it's sometimes hard to justify multiclassing away from it. Fighters are good at fighting. It's what they do. Battle masters are even cooler about it. Having said that, the build does have weaknesses. Most builds do

[Laserlight]

I'm playing a swashbuckler 3/battlemaster 3 right now and having fun--although partly that's because my secondary stat is CHA and I've been Persuading my way past strings of encounters without striking a blow.
Given that the PC in question didn't start with rogue, though....I'd stick with battlemaster, although instead of TWF I'd probably go sword-and-shield with shieldmaster, or polearm sentinel. Fluff the "sword and shield" as "sword and parrying dagger" or something more exotic, if you like.

[odigity]

I'm playing a swashbuckler 3/battlemaster 3 right now and having fun--although partly that's because my secondary stat is CHA and I've been Persuading my way past strings of encounters without striking a blow.
Given that the PC in question didn't start with rogue, though....I'd stick with battlemaster, although instead of TWF I'd probably go sword-and-shield with shieldmaster, or polearm sentinel. Fluff the "sword and shield" as "sword and parrying dagger" or something more exotic, if you like.

I just finished designing a Swashbuckler / Battle Master / Draconic Sorceror that I plan to start at lvl 1 soon, and I'm debating in what order to take the levels.

You're not frustrated being at level 6 and not hitting an ASI yet?

[Laserlight]

I just finished designing a Swashbuckler / Battle Master / Draconic Sorceror that I plan to start at lvl 1 soon, and I'm debating in what order to take the levels.

You're not frustrated being at level 6 and not hitting an ASI yet?

No, because
a) "Swashbuckler Battlemaster" is great.
b) my rolled stats were good enough that I haven't missed it.
c) our DM decided that we get feats every 4th character level, not class level, so I got my DEX20.

[odigity]

No, because
a) "Swashbuckler Battlemaster" is great.
b) my rolled stats were good enough that I haven't missed it.
c) our DM decided that we get feats every 4th character level, not class level, so I got my DEX20.

Ah. Well, that's very generous of them. Given that I used point buy and am playing AL, our situations are not comparable.

Right now I'm thinking start Fighter 1, then go Rogue 4 for ASI (which I'm actually blowing on Magic Initiate), then probably Fighter 3 and Sorcerer 3, which will give me all my core features. After that, it's just incremental improvement. I'll prioritize F4 over Sorc 3 if I start feeling too far behind on the stats.

Basically, I'm going to feel it out level by level after 5.