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View Full Version : Optimization Making a barbarian/rogue utilizing GWM in tandem with sneak attack



BurgerKingMan
2019-01-02, 12:35 PM
I noticed a cool rules interaction a little bit ago that uses two fairly innocuous sage advice postings:

What are the rules on dropping weapons?
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/29/what-are-the-rules-on-dropping-weapons/

Should a caster be able to prop a 2h weapon against his shoulder in order to cast?
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/02/2-weapon-casting/

Using these two pieces we could start to form our build. The basic build would be Bear Totem 5/ Swashbucler 8. You would bump Strength to 20 at 4th and 9th and you would take GWM at 13th

The combo operates as such:

-You start combat with your maul in one hand and your dagger in another.

-You use your bonus action to rage and use your dagger to make your first attack recklessly. If you hit you add your sneak attack dice (4d6) and proceed to the next part. If you miss you just attack again with your dagger.

-After you hit the first attack with your dagger you drop it without using an action. you then use your second attack wielding your maul using your now unoccupied hand. This second attack would use the -5 +10 ability of GWM for the extra damage.

-At the start of your turn you can use your object interaction to take out a new dagger or pick one up from the ground and start the whole combo again.

This combo allows you to have the always on advantage that barbarian rogues love while using its mostly wasted second attack to pump up the damage. If you crit/kill on the second strike you then get the additional GWM benefit. I also love the flavor of having your opponent think your going to attack with the big stick but while he is focused on that you shiv him with your dagger. While he is reeling in pain you wind up your maul and do him in Gallagher style.

Now that is a fun build I would play IRL but for the lulz lets crank it up to 11. With a V.uman you can take PAM at 1 and everything I just previously described works with this feat. You get the bonus action polearm butt attack that you can apply GWM to as well and since the combo ends with you holding the glaive in two hands at the end of your turn you can still get the reaction swing off as well. This is crazy and doing some of my limited dpr calculations this ranks up with the usual suspects in absurd OP'ness (https://imgur.com/a/3EVjrkD) Averaging out 51.34 damage per round against an AC 18 enemy. My limited google-fu has not seen this discussed before so I hope I give some people some neat ideas for some builds.

Trickery
2019-01-02, 12:54 PM
I remember seeing a theoretical half-orc (extra crit dice) assassin / barbarian / paladin that did something like this, hoping to open each fight with a big crit sneak attack smite etc. etc. As far as I know, it does work. But that build is a one trick pony.

Your version seems much more manageable since you can do it on a round to round basis, but do be careful not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Regardless of your potential damage output, your character needs to be functional within a party both in and out of combat. Rogue + Barbarian is a pretty good multiclass, so you should be fine. But I wonder if you would get more mileage out of rogue / battlemaster fighter using Trip Attack.