Team-Up: Sentinel & Protection

[Grog Logs]

Listening to a podcast (Episode 2 of "Finding the Narrative"), I was inspired to create a future Team-Up. A dynamic melee duo where one PC takes the Sentinel feat and another takes the Protection fighting style. Then, they battle side by side - forcing their enemies into lose-lose situations. Take a hit or waste your Attack. Storywise they would need to be long time allies to perfect such a combo...maybe siblings.

Bonus points if the Sentinel PC is a Rogue for extra Sneak Attack and the Protection PC is a Paladin for Lay on Hands healing (and flavor wise).

Player Q: Has anyone ever tried this? How did it go? Did it get boring over time or was it exciting & fun throughout the campaign?

DM Q: Have any of your Players tried this? Did it ever feel too OP? Or, did you just learn to send hoards of enemies at them since each PC only gets one Reaction per round?

[Blood of Gaea]

I've played a combination of Arcane Trickster with Sentinal (and later Warcaster) and Cavalier Fighter. It's a very potent up front combo. The Cavalier took duelist though, not protection.

[Crgaston]

I've seen it used. It has the potential to be quite fun and produce good descriptive fights so long as everyone plays their parts appropriately.

[BarneyBent]

I’ve always liked the idea of doing something similar with a Centaur Cavalier with Sentinel and another character with the Mounted Combatant feat. Rider uses the feat to direct attacks to himself (at disadvantage cos Centaur is a Cavalier), while Centaur gets additional attacks with reaction due to Sentinel. Multiclass Centaur into Rogue for those tasty extra sneak attacks . Rider can be anything tanky - a Wolf Totem Barbarian would be fun for that advantage, as would a Paladin for those saving throw boosts.

A similar, slightly less gamey option that works with any race is to use a Moon Druid as the mount. DM may require you to find custom-made saddles for each creature type though.

[Merudo]

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian can work well too.

[MeimuHakurei]

A defensive strategy that requires the two characters to be within 5 feet of each other at all times, is limited by reactions, only ever imposes disadvantage at most and is completely ineffective against most spell damage? Can't really say it's OP.

[CorporateSlave]

A defensive strategy that requires the two characters to be within 5 feet of each other at all times, is limited by reactions, only ever imposes disadvantage at most and is completely ineffective against most spell damage? Can't really say it's OP.

On the other hand, if the Sentinel is a Rogue (Evasion) and the Protection is a Paladin with Shield Master, it becomes highly effective against most magic damage, between the bonus to saves and the total negation of DEX save related damage effects on both characters once they're past level 7.

Still probably not really OP, but a pretty nifty combo against big single target bad guys. The main problem is of course multiple attacks and multiple enemies (and that's just assuming melee).

[Zanthy1]

I’ve always liked the idea of doing something similar with a Centaur Cavalier with Sentinel and another character with the Mounted Combatant feat. Rider uses the feat to direct attacks to himself (at disadvantage cos Centaur is a Cavalier), while Centaur gets additional attacks with reaction due to Sentinel. Multiclass Centaur into Rogue for those tasty extra sneak attacks . Rider can be anything tanky - a Wolf Totem Barbarian would be fun for that advantage, as would a Paladin for those saving throw boosts.

A similar, slightly less gamey option that works with any race is to use a Moon Druid as the mount. DM may require you to find custom-made saddles for each creature type though.

Love the idea of a Centaur with a partner who rides it into battle

[OverLordOcelot]

Then, they battle side by side - forcing their enemies into lose-lose situations. Take a hit or waste your Attack.

I don't get why so many people on the forum talk about this kind of thing as a lose-lose situation - the enemy either takes one attack at disadvantage and then attacks normally, or soaks one opportunity attack and then attacks normally. It's a penalty to them, sure, but 'absorb one hit or a penalty on one attack' is pretty far from a 'lose'.

This isn't a bad thing to do, but it's not going to dominate fights unless the DM keeps handing you single opponents without multiattack. And it won't even work on the first round if the enemy only moves adjacent to one of you.


DM Q: Have any of your Players tried this? Did it ever feel too OP? Or, did you just learn to send hoards of enemies at them since each PC only gets one Reaction per round?

You don't need hordes of enemies, you just need 1-2 enemies per PC, which is what the encounter building guidelines encourage anyway.

[stoutstien]

It works "ok" but in the long run it still a weaker option.
I've just combined the defense/ protection fighting styles into one just to give players more freedom.