Making the Most of Shieldmaster

[guachi]

I can count on one hand the number of sessions of 5e I've played as a PC. Lots and lots of DMing and enough online discussion to have a good idea of the possibilities. However, I have come for advice as I finally get to play! Yay!

It's for Adventurers League so I will be using point buy (not my preference, but a friend is DMing for the first time). I will start at level 2 using a bit of my DM experience. I have Gauntlets of Ogre Power as a DM reward.

Assume I take one level of Rogue to get Expertise in Athletics and 1d6 sneak attack dice. I will be a Variant Human to get Shieldmaster feat at level one. My Strength will be 19 from the Gauntlets.

What class and stats would you choose? How would you level up? Basically I want to bash people and stab them to death, so many classes/archetypes will work.

[smcmike]

I can count on one hand the number of sessions of 5e I've played as a PC. Lots and lots of DMing and enough online discussion to have a good idea of the possibilities. However, I have come for advice as I finally get to play! Yay!

It's for Adventurers League so I will be using point buy (not my preference, but a friend is DMing for the first time). I will start at level 2 using a bit of my DM experience. I have Gauntlets of Ogre Power as a DM reward.

Assume I take one level of Rogue to get Expertise in Athletics and 1d6 sneak attack dice. I will be a Variant Human to get Shieldmaster feat at level one. My Strength will be 19 from the Gauntlets.

What class and stats would you choose? How would you level up? Basically I want to bash people and stab them to death, so many classes/archetypes will work.

You've got strength, you've got expertise, you're pretty set. The only other thing you need to maximize your shove checks is a source of advantage. The simplest way to get this is barbarian rage. Barbarian/rogue in just about any combination is great and fun, particularly if you can load up on DEX and CON (relying on the belt for STR).

Alternatively, you can use Enhance Ability or Enlarge. Enlarge gives you the option of shoving bigger creatures, so that's nice, but it's only on the Sorc/Wiz list. One option is to go EK, and grab Enlarge at 8th level. You can do something similar with a Valor Bard.

[RSP]

Rogue all the way isn't a bad move as you'll stack those SA dice and have a great shot at getting it each round with Shield Bash in play.

Maybe take Swashbuckler to fill in for when you don't get the shove off. A good way to get lots of damage dice rolling...

[guachi]

You've got strength, you've got expertise, you're pretty set. The only other thing you need to maximize your shove checks is a source of advantage. The simplest way to get this is barbarian rage. Barbarian/rogue in just about any combination is great and fun, particularly if you can load up on DEX and CON (relying on the belt for STR).

Alternatively, you can use Enhance Ability or Enlarge. Enlarge gives you the option of shoving bigger creatures, so that's nice, but it's only on the Sorc/Wiz list. One option is to go EK, and grab Enlarge at 8th level. You can do something similar with a Valor Bard.

A few issues I ponder regarding Barbarian/Rogue - entering rage means I can't Shield bash that turn, though it does help for the rest of the fight.

Reckless Attack has to be declared before my first attack. Shove is an attack. So I can't use Reckless Attack after a failed shove to guarantee advantage. However, it may not matter that much.

[guachi]

Rogue all the way isn't a bad move as you'll stack those SA dice and have a great shot at getting it each round with Shield Bash in play.

Maybe take Swashbuckler to fill in for when you don't get the shove off. A good way to get lots of damage dice rolling...

I have to take at least one level of a class that can use a shield. I just don't know which one.

[Easy_Lee]

Has to be a class that can use shields. War cleric is an interesting choice. You get martial weapons, shields, heavy armor, and can spend a bonus action to make one attack a number of times per rest equal to your wisdom mod. That's a little more useful than fighter for a one level dip on a rogue.

[Talionis]

Start Barbarian. Go 2 or 5 levels of Barbarian 2 for adding proficiency to Dex checks. 5 for more rage and extra attacks. You can use reckless attack to trigger sneak attack but generally triggering sneak attack isn't hard. Use a lot of thrown weapons that can target off strength.

Two attacks, to trigger sneak attack can be worth it, especially since you maybe using your bonus action to shove.

[bid]

It's for Adventurers League so I will be using point buy (not my preference, but a friend is DMing for the first time). I will start at level 2 using a bit of my DM experience. I have Gauntlets of Ogre Power as a DM reward.
Barbarogue means Str13 / Dex13 minimum. Still, 13 16 14 8 12 12 is easy to get and good enough with those gauntlets.

I'd start barbarian and aim for barbarian 5 / rogue 1 before pumping SA dice. You really want extra attack without TWF.


Fighter / ranger would need Con16 to have the same hp as barbarian Con14, but you could dump Str. Barbarian's advantage on shove is just icing on the cake when your proficiency is +6.

[imanidiot]

I'm currently playing a Fighter 8 with SM. Even without advantage (+11 from Str, proficiency, and Brawny) I have failed exactly 1 shove while clearing about 2/3rds of White Plume Mountain. Advantage is good but not necessary.

[RSP]

Has to be a class that can use shields. War cleric is an interesting choice. You get martial weapons, shields, heavy armor, and can spend a bonus action to make one attack a number of times per rest equal to your wisdom mod. That's a little more useful than fighter for a one level dip on a rogue.

Forgot about that. Barb's not a bad level 1 pick for Rage, Shield Prof and Unarmored. Then Rogue. Nice defensive build with plenty of damage output.