Adventurers League Legal Spear and Shield fighter help.

[sage20500]

Kind of wanted to do a thematic straight 20 battlemaster who uses a spear and shield.

Mainly wanted to find out between variant human, half orc, or mountain dwarf what the suggested race might be, as well as what feats are the suggested ones to grab since im pretty sure im locked out of gwf and pam.

[SharkForce]

well, shield expert is probably a good idea.

any of those races can work just fine.

you can pretty much grab whatever other feats pique your interest somewhere along the way.

[lunaticfringe]

Lucky, Mobile, Shield Master, Resilient, Martial Adept, Sentinel, Tough, Savage Attacker, Athlete, Ritual Caster (Wizard) because it's fun being a BDF who can Wizard.

I like Half Orcs or Variant Humans but that's me.

Edit: Oh and Mage Slayer.

[Citan]

Kind of wanted to do a thematic straight 20 battlemaster who uses a spear and shield.

Mainly wanted to find out between variant human, half orc, or mountain dwarf what the suggested race might be, as well as what feats are the suggested ones to grab since im pretty sure im locked out of gwf and pam.
Hi!

As a pure Battlemaster, you don't really care about starting variant human unless you want a specific feat early. So really pick the race that you like the most.

Now regarding spear... Since you want to go all Hoplite, I'd strongly advise you to use a javelin instead.

Because you will keep a shield, you can't use the "versatile" property of the spear. And with that out of the way, Javelin provides...
- the same "feeling" (albeit lighter);
- the same damage (1d6 piercing);
- but a much better range (30/120 instead of 20/60).

As a melee Fighter your main problem will be dealing with...
a) extremely powerful melee enemies (you can reach them, but you will suffer dangerous opportunity attacks if you move away, full brunt if you don't).
b) enemies getting some cover (cover DOES affect melee attack even if technically this is an uncommon problem: still, imagine soldiers holding a line behind a half-wall, then you don't have enough move to cross it).
c) enemies being plain out of reach (too far away for your move, too high) like archers, most casters and flyers.

Having a throwable weapon solves partially all these problems, but as a shield user comes with limitation: either only make 1 attack and draw a weapon for off-turn opportunity attacks. Or throw one, draw and throw another, but then you are weaponless until next turn. Anyway, once you reach 3rd attack you will waste some of your potential (unless you find someone to grab/shove ^^). Furthermore, 20 or even 30 feet "reach" is really not that good.

So you can mix any of those...

- Grab Sharpshooter: does not resolve the "1-2 max attacks" per turn but at least gives you a much more effective range (120 feet with Javelins means only flyers are still a big problem outdoors) to cover all cases.

- Get decent DEX to completely switch outfit for fights in which melee is not a good idea: still, it means you need to know what's coming though, so it's kinda the worst option (unless you dipped Monk, but you talked about pure Fighter so I won't detail).

- Grab Mobile: does not do much regarding "out of reach" problem, but resolves most of the a) case thanks to the free disengage on attack.

- Learn the "Evasive Footwork" manoeuver: very good defensive manoeuver overall when you have to cross a red area (especially once your Manoeuver die is bigger). Can also resolve the a) case if your DM agrees that you are still "moving" even while attacking as long as you still have movement (since by RAW you can move between attacks, and manoeuver says "until you stop moving", you should keep the benefit until you have 0 feet move left by RAW, at least that's how I understand it).

- Grab Magic Initiate and/or Spell Sniper (which requires you to be able to cast at least one spell, hence Magic Initiate): first is technically enough to learn a good range cantrip (Firebolt, Eldricht Blast) but Spell Sniper makes it a true great offense. Advantage compared to other solutions: when you need to keep ranged offense over turns, you just have to sheathe your weapon to get the required free hand. Drawback: it obviously depends on a mental stat (also gives you a "magical" feel, which may go against your initial idea).

Honestly, unless you are in a very small or very melee-focused party, I'd daresay you can live well with having a very limited ranged offense. I'd just pick Sharpshooter for those instances where melee is just not possible (simple case: you are still closing in) to still give some damage contribution.

Beyond that, obviously...
- Resilient: Wisdom is just mandatory.
- Shield Master would be a good pick since otherwise you pretty much have no bonus action anyways.
- Martial Adept is also a good pick for obvious reasons (especially at early levels).
- Mobile + Mage Slayer + extra damage manoeuvers would make you a pretty potent anti-caster.
- Ritual Caster is great if no Wizard in party or if you just want to shine also outside of combats.
- Magic Initiate is a great way to get great cantrips (Guidance, Booming Blade, Firebolt, Ray of Frost, Thorns Whip, Mold Earth, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand) or 1/day buffs (Hex, Bless, Shield of Faith, Sanctuary, Longstrider, Expeditious Retreat) or utility that are not rituals (Fog Cloud, Speak with Animals, Charm Person, Disguise Self etc).
- Healer grows with time so always a great pick.

Really any combination will be fine, so you can equally stack "martial-oriented" feats (ex: Sharpshooter + Mage Slayer + Mobile + Shield Master to cover all cases) or instead dig versatility (just one of the previous, then Healer, Ritual Caster, Magic Initiate). Pure Fighters are already strong as is so feel free. The only one you should take without question is Resilient: Wisdom, because otherwise your friends may end knowing the same fear of you as your enemies. ;)