Optimise a no feat Battle master Fighter

[Sigmar1]

Hello folks

Well i have a lvl 5 Battlemaster dual wield Fighter STR 16 DEX 20 CON 16 INT 11 WIS 14 CHA 11 with no feats (DM doesnt allow them but let me take Dual Wielder for free)

I want to ask if i should keep on increasing BM to lvl 6 etc or multiclass him to anything?

One option is to take 2 lvls as a barbarian for rage and the reflexes but dont know if a pure BM is better.

Any suggestions?

P.S. no feats allowed and i dont want to change my play style with dual weapons

[CantigThimble]

How long do you expect the campaign to last? Most end before 10th level but some people play further than that.

I would probably multiclass. Levels 6 and 8 in fighter are basically dead for you and rogue, cleric and barbarian all offer some nice bonuses.

What books are you allows to use? Just the core, or is Xanthar's allowed?

Are you concerned at all about out-of-combat abilities or do you just want to be better at fighting?

[Blood of Gaea]

Barbarian could be interesting, with 20 Dex and 18 Con (get to level 6 fighter before MC), you'll have 20 AC on top of resistance during rage. You can't use the bonus damage from rage though, as you have to be using strength to attack.

Other decent multiclass options would be Ranger and Rogue. Staying in Fighter would also be good.

But without knowing what you're looking for in particular I can't really give advice beyond that.

[Sigmar1]

How long do you expect the campaign to last? Most end before 10th level but some people play further than that.

I would probably multiclass. Levels 6 and 8 in fighter are basically dead for you and rogue, cleric and barbarian all offer some nice bonuses.

What books are you allows to use? Just the core, or is Xanthar's allowed?

Are you concerned at all about out-of-combat abilities or do you just want to be better at fighting?

Dont have any restriction about the books, as far as i know

Yes we use a lot of out of combat abilities. We run the fixed campain "Hoard of the dragon queen" and will proceed to "Tiamat something" later on

[CantigThimble]

Dont have any restriction about the books, as far as i know

Yes we use a lot of out of combat abilities. We run the fixed campain "Hoard of the dragon queen" and will proceed to "Tiamat something" later on

I was asking more if there are any out of combat abilities you are particularly interested in, things you like doing or things your party seems to be lacking etc.

Does your party have a cleric? A level or two of forge cleric could be really nice, but bless and healing word become a bit less useful when you have multiple people who know them. If your party needs some particular skills then rogue expertise could be useful.

[Sigmar1]

I was asking more if there are any out of combat abilities you are particularly interested in, things you like doing or things your party seems to be lacking etc.

Does your party have a cleric? A level or two of forge cleric could be really nice, but bless and healing word become a bit less useful when you have multiple people who know them. If your party needs some particular skills then rogue expertise could be useful.

we have a tempest cleric ad a wizard, i am more like the front line so i need to have high AC and HP. As you can understand we lack CHA checks

Think about getting Fighter 6 then 2 lvls barb and then full fighter for more attacks and max out STR

[CantigThimble]

we have a tempest cleric ad a wizard, i am more like the front line so i need to have high AC and HP. As you can understand we lack CHA checks

Think about getting Fighter 6 then 2 lvls barb and then full fighter for more attacks and max out STR

I'd consider rogue instead. Sneak attack synergizes with your high dex rather than clashing with it as barbarian does (I assume you're dual weilding short swords or rapiers) and you can grab expertise in some social skills. Even with +0 charisma, expertise gives you a +6. Swashbuckler would probably be the best archetype so you wouldn't be dependent on the cleric to get sneak attack at if you make it to level 10 then Uncanny Dodge is VERY good.

[Foxydono]

If you are going hoard of the dragon queen and the rise of Tiamat I'd probably go rogue. As said before it has a lot of synergy, but you also get evasion. This will help you a lot with those nasty breath weapon attacks. You will also do decent damage due to sneak attack and cunning action/expertise will come in handy.

[Callin]

Well all you can MC into is Barb, Rogue, and Ranger. Out of those the Rogue is the better of them for a High Dex character. However the Rogue Cunning Action is going to compete for your Offhand attack. Out of Combat either the Ranger or Rogue. Both get great skills. The Ranger nets you some spells if needed and I would suggest looking into the Revised Ranger. If you want more Maneuver Dice (if allowed) you can nab Spell Less Ranger instead. Both are UA so its not usually allowed in most games.

Say Battle Master Fighter 6/ Revised Spell Less Hunter Ranger 4/ Swashbuckler Rogue 6 (I put even numbers for Fighter and Ranger so you get ASIs. Put them in Con and/or Cha for Rogue)

OR knock Rogue to 4 and Revised Ranger to 6 for Greater Favored Enemy Dragons. The only downside to that is that at lvl 5 you dont get the second attack feature. Its almost a wasted level that you gotta suffer though to get to that sweet sweet advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by a greater favored enemy.

Course if you did Fighter 4, Ranger 6, Rogue 6 you lose out on an ASI but dont double up on Extra Attack. HOWEVER you push it WAY the heck back and I dont think thats worth it.

[stoutstien]

I vote Rogue after you get your 2nd attack but mostly for evasion and Wis save proof.

[Potato_Priest]

If you’ve got the dual wield fighting style, 3-4 levels of barbarian could prove quite effective. You’d get to use your high stat modifiers (since you get plentiful ASIs) and the +2 to damage from rage on a bunch of attacks, as well as all the resistances and other great features associated with the barbarian class.

Edit: Your high Con and dex would give you great defensive stats when combined with the barbarian’s danger sense and unarmored defense (you’d have 18 AC naked!), and that’s before you even take into account resistances from rage, which could well be the bear totem feature granting you resistance to all dragon breath attacks. It also is a much lower investment dip than going into rogue far enough to get evasion. (3 levels vs 7)

[CTurbo]

I say go Barb, max Str, use a couple of Battleaxes, and have a silly high unarmored AC. I've done the TWF Fighter/Barb build and it was a lot of fun and was great at damage with the rage bonus going to the off hand attacks.

A few levels of Ranger get you a second fighting style(Defense or Archery), and Hunter would get you Horde Breaker(free additional attack) or Giant Killer(if you think you'll be fighting large or larger creatures). Natural Explorer gets you advantage on Initiative, advantage on your first attack, and +2 to damage to 1 type of enemy. Gloom stalker would get you better darkvision and a way better first turn of every combat. Extra movement and extra attack.

As mentioned above, Rogue is great. Swashbuckler would be perfect for a dual wielder. Arcane Trickster would be fun with your decent Int if you want to get into some magic. I'd probably want to tak a lot of Rogue levels if I chose this.

I'd still choose Barb though.

[Foxydono]

With those stats you can do some crazy multiclassing too. For example you could make a build like:
Fighter 5
Rogue 7 (evasion, expertise, cunning action)
Ranger 3 (giant slayer, cause Dragons!)
Barbarian 3 (unarmored defense, Bear, zealot or ancestral guardian)

You are short on ASI, but who cares with those stats if you can't take feats. Just make sure you get 20 Con. Evasion with danser sense, high con, resistance to most damage, I would wear a shield in this scenario and go unarmored. You get between 22 and 25 AC. The main damage will come from sneak attack anyway, not the bonus off hand attack and this way you can use your bonus action for raging and cunning action.

Its a very versitile build and it will work good I think due to your stats. Good damage, good defense and plenty of combat tricks. This will get you up to 18th level. The last two levels you can do whatever floats your boat. Two extra ASI, rogue feature or maybe get 13 cha and dip two lock levels for devils sight. Two levels paladin or perhaps a cleric archtype, it doesn’t matter much.

Food for thought :)