Fighter Help

[Jaxxen]

So new to 5.0 and have done some reading here and just through the PHB. Created a fighter stats are below any help on when I should take things and in what order would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!

V. Human Fighter
16 str
14 dex
14 con
10 int
12 wis
10 cha

Feat taken: Shield Master
F.S. Duelist

My plan was to go Battle Master as the subclass as it fits the tank/leader style for the characters RPG story part. However looking into it I want to multiclass into a bit of rogue for the extra damage and skill bonuses to add onto the athletics role for shield master. Any suggestions on a fun play style with this and or when to take or what to take for extra feats and ASI would be awesome! We're currently just starting Curse of Strahd (sp?) tonight is our second gaming session and Id love to be more prepared on how to play this character!

[BigONotation]

That is a very well optimized character who will do great in CoS. If you are going to be using the Bonus Action Shove that Shield Master allows often, then you really don't need another feat and would benefit more from just pumping STR. I've seen a similar character in action and they were brutal if they got in close to an enemy:

Bonus Action - Shove prone.
Action - Two advantaged attacks with possible Superiority Die attached.
Maneuvers were: Riposte, Frightening, Goading at 3rd I think.

If you ignore him, he's going to hurt you badly, if you focus on him you better be able to get around his Shield Master and Expertise in Athletics and you better not miss because he will Riposte you. He tore through the last dungeon of Lost Mines of Phandelver with a 19 AC, high damage, and Shield Master avoidance of some spells. Really just a super tough overall character.

[Specter]

You're pretty good. A single rogue level is all you need, for that sweet expertise. After that, Fighter all the way. Battlemaster gives you Rally, and Purple Dragon Knight spreads your Second Wind if you want that leader feel.

[Phoenix042]

V. Human Fighter
16 str
14 dex
14 con
10 int
12 wis
10 cha

Feat taken: Shield Master
F.S. Duelist

So first of all, congrats on a FANTASTIC first build for a character. This is an absolutely sweet character that will be hard to ignore, especially if you go battlemaster and pick maneuvers that help you control enemy options.

So a few things. Please make sure you and your DM both understand that you CAN use the Shield Master feat's bonus action to shove someone BEFORE resolving your attack(s) from your attack action. Note that if you do, you still have to MAKE those attacks, you can't choose another action that turn instead (such as casting a spell or dashing, etc).

A great tactic is to start your turn by shoving someone prone, then attacking them with advantage (just making sure you're aware of this). While he's prone, ranged allies will have disadvantage on attacks against the prone enemy until he stands up, while melee allies (within 5ft) will have advantage, so this works especially well if you have other melee allies.

So for your ASI's, you should make sure to put the first ones into strength, 2 points each time. Get that up to 20 ASAP. After that, you could increase dex or con, grab medium armor master, sentinel, or really whatever you want. Your character is going to be really effective no matter what you do at that point.

Also, the 1 level rogue dip is a good idea (I wouldn't advise going much further than that, although you could if you want), but make sure you check out barbarian, too. Rogue can increase your athletics score and give you sneak attack damage once per turn, but barbarian gives you rage, which increases the damage of all melee attacks you make, gives you resistance to weapon and falling damage (and some spells too), and also gives you ADVANTAGE on strength checks (such as athletics checks, which you can use with shield master).

Either path is great, and you could even do one level of each if you wanted (which would make you pretty scary, actually). The rage is only 2/day, though, so it won't always be there.


Any suggestions on a fun play style with this and or when to take or what to take for extra feats and ASI would be awesome! We're currently just starting Curse of Strahd (sp?) tonight is our second gaming session and Id love to be more prepared on how to play this character!

I'd say recommend going for level 6 in fighter before you multiclass at all. You want that first ASI as quickly as you can get it, and extra attack is even more critical, plus then you can get your second ASI (and have a 20 strength) with just one more level.

As for maneuver selection, BigONotation's list is really solid. Goading Attack helps you make sure that enemies can't ignore you, Riposte punishes them for attacking you (and it can give you an extra chance to sneak attack, if you go rogue at some point), and frightening is pretty good, although I'd leave the third choice to whatever you like the sound of. Distracting strike is very leader-y, and could help you give allies advantage even against enemies that are hard or impossible to knock down.

Oh, if you DO go rogue, don't forget to use a rapier (since it's finesse) instead of a longsword or other weapon. You can still use strength with a sneak attack, it just has to be a finesse weapon (if it's melee). And carry around some handaxes (and/or daggers once you've got a level of rogue). And remember that you can still use most maneuvers with ranged attacks, so you could goad someone with a thrown axe, for example. Or grab pushing attack, and use a thrown axe to knock people off of cliffs from a distance / with your sword.

Honestly, this is a really solid build and you can't go wrong with it, assuming you grab extra attack and 20 strength asap.

[Corran]

V. Human Fighter
16 str
14 dex
14 con
10 int
12 wis
10 cha

Feat taken: Shield Master

Everything looks good, but your stats are using a 29 point buy, instead of 27. Houseruled or miscalculation?
If miscalculation, you can easily fix that by dropping one of cha/int at 8, or your dex at 13 (if you dont want any negative stats).

Resilient wisdom is a good feat for a fighter, so if you plan on taking it at some point, it might be worth putting an odd score at wisdom (so that it will get even when you take resilient wisdom, as it adds a +1 to wisdom too).

[R.Shackleford]

So new to 5.0 and have done some reading here and just through the PHB. Created a fighter stats are below any help on when I should take things and in what order would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!

V. Human Fighter
16 str
14 dex
14 con
10 int
12 wis
10 cha

Feat taken: Shield Master
F.S. Duelist

My plan was to go Battle Master as the subclass as it fits the tank/leader style for the characters RPG story part. However looking into it I want to multiclass into a bit of rogue for the extra damage and skill bonuses to add onto the athletics role for shield master. Any suggestions on a fun play style with this and or when to take or what to take for extra feats and ASI would be awesome! We're currently just starting Curse of Strahd (sp?) tonight is our second gaming session and Id love to be more prepared on how to play this character!

Dude... With those stats is there any reason you wouldn't want to go straight Rogue?

Sword and Board Strogue is an excellent build without multiclassing.

Moderately Armored at level 1 gives you 17 or 18 AC (buy your stuff).

You never need to raise your ability scores thanks to Expertise Athletics. Grab shield master at level 4.

Dagger + shield or Rapier + shield works great.


Edit

I'm currently playing this build again, being able to bonus action dash and disengage makes you one heck of a tank as creatures can't get away.

Mobile, sentinel, and shield master would be great level 4 feats.