Anime Big Weapon Guy

[Chalkarts]

I want to build a cliche anime giant fat guy with a huge weapon.

I’m thinking 1-3 barbarian levels then all fighter for Battle Master maneuvers.

Would it be better to go straight Barbarian with the martial adept feat?

[Unoriginal]

Depends, which kind of weapons do you want to use? And what else do you want to be able to do?

If you use a Large weapon (and your DM lets you), you'll have Disadvantage on each attack, but Reckless Attack can counter that.

Now, would you rather have a lot of health, better/more Rages, and the benefits of a Barbarian subclass, or have more varied combat techniques, parries, counter-attacks and the like?

[Maxilian]

The big weapon thing, is nothing more than flavor (as you can't actually use a weapon that's not appropriate for your size).

I guess, by RAW, the closer that you can get, is a small race using heavy weapons (doesn't work that well, but not impossible), option B is becoming a big guy with a big weapon (Use any heavy weapon with medium character and get the Enlarge spell)

[Unoriginal]

The big weapon thing, is nothing more than flavor (as you can't actually use a weapon that's not appropriate for your size).

Actually you can. It's up to the DM if they apply the rule to PCs, though, but it's RAW.

[Maxilian]

Actually you can. It's up to the DM if they apply the rule to PCs, though, but it's RAW.

Rules for monsters are not the same rules for PC, you should not interchange one with the other, even if one lack one of those.

Either way

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/22/emulate-monster-weapon/

[Unoriginal]

Rules for monsters are not the same rules for PC, you should not interchange one with the other, even if one lack one of those.

Either way

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/22/emulate-monster-weapon/

Fair. Though it should be noted none of those tweets say "this is the rules" but "this is how I rule it", which is different.

Still, it's pretty clear they don't intend for PCs to use Large weapons, and the logic is sound.

[Chalkarts]

I wasn’t going for oversized. I wanted a maul that was basically a single cast weapon a long metal shaft with a perfect sphere for the head.
I just really liked the flavor pushing attack and sweep attack for the character. He’d be max constitution, his body can take a lot of cuts.

I was going to dump Stat both intelligence and charisma.
Maybe give him the lucky feat, since he relies on one big hit rather than a flurry it’d be nice to have some do overs.

[Maxilian]

Fair. Though it should be noted none of those tweets say "this is the rules" but "this is how I rule it", which is different.

Still, it's pretty clear they don't intend for PCs to use Large weapons, and the logic is sound.

Always ignore Mike Mearls, even if he doesn't say "This is how i rule it", the link was more for Jeremy comment. (As the only comments that can be counted as RAW for the rules are Jeremy's) -Still you have a point. (just said that to evade confusion)

[Unoriginal]

Always ignore Mike Mearls, even if he doesn't say "This is how i rule it", the link was more for Jeremy comment. (As the only comments that can be counted as RAW for the rules are Jeremy's)

I know that, it's just that if Crawford says "this is how I rules it", it's not official either. He doesn't do it for any of the official rulings.

Still, thanks for the link to this, I didn't know they had addressed the subject at all. And it tells us what they intended.

[DragonBaneDM]

Barbarian seems to fit your theme real well, but take it from me, Barb/Fighter with GWM thrown in there is nice nice nice.

I think Barb 3 to pick up a Path and going from there to put all your extra attacks in Fighter/unlock Action Surge ASAP is a great plan.

[Willie the Duck]

I want to build a cliche anime giant fat guy with a huge weapon.

I’m thinking 1-3 barbarian levels then all fighter for Battle Master maneuvers.

Would it be better to go straight Barbarian with the martial adept feat?

If you are actually playing out the levels, delaying your second attack to 6th, 7th, or even 8th level is a huge space where you feel relatively ineffectual. I would stick with single class.

[Unoriginal]

If you are actually playing out the levels, delaying your second attack to 6th, 7th, or even 8th level is a huge space where you feel relatively ineffectual. I would stick with single class.

Good advice. Extra attacks are huge.

[Chalkarts]

With the extra attack being so important should I take Barb to 5 before switching to fighter/battle master?

What does MAD mean here? I keep seeing it.

[prototype00]

Multiple Attribute Dependency, ie you need more than two stats to kill things gud.

As a fellow anime big weapon wielder, I am playing straight Barb, because my specific subclass (Zealot) benefits the most from straight Barbarian (extra damage dependent on Barb level). Keep in mind your subclass when multiclasding.

[Willie the Duck]

With the extra attack being so important should I take Barb to 5 before switching to fighter/battle master?

Let's put it this way, all the advantages of mixing battle master fighter and barbarian in interesting ways will not change the fact that if you are sitting at 7th level with 3 levels of barbarian and 4 levels of fighter, that a one-or-the-other build with at least 5 levels in one or the other will be outperforming you. So make your decisions based on how important the time spent at those levels are to you, and whether or not you can get your character concept off the ground without early investment in both classes.



What does MAD mean here? I keep seeing it.

As mentioned, it means Multiple Attribute Dependen-ce/-cy. In plain terms, if a class or build needs multiple attributes (other than Con, which is a given) to excel.

[Cybren]

Actually you can. It's up to the DM if they apply the rule to PCs, though, but it's RAW.


Rules for monsters are not the same rules for PC, you should not interchange one with the other, even if one lack one of those.

Either way

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/22/emulate-monster-weapon/

You can do anything. There’s no established rules for how a pc would wield a weapon too large, but it’s obviosuly ridiculous to say you CAN’T, it’s just that we can’t predict how your dm would rule using a too-large weapon, so no one can give you advice on it

[ciarannihill]

Just a silly though: you could go the Dark Souls route, and create a weapon type "Ultra Greatswords" -- make a attribute requirement to wield them, say, 20 Strength and 16 Con or some such, and just make them a 2d8 weapon (or keep them at 1d12/2d6, but give them something for additional damage, maybe Prf bonus, or require a save by enemies hit by them to remain standing). Strength needed to swing them and Con needed to endure their weight in non-combat situations.

Alternatively, you could make proficiency with them a feat - Something like "Large Weapon Mastery - Requirement 18 Strength, Allows a character to wield weapons of one size larger than them" or some such. Would also enable characters like Halflings to wield Greatswords, for better or worse.