Martial Gestalt Character help

[Escribblings]

My GM is currently looking at setting up a Gestalt game.

If it goes ahead, I'm looking to create a martial frontline character, but I'm struggling with which classes to choose...

The classes that interest me are...

Fighter - Brute (*if* allowed), Champion, and possibly Battlemaster.

If Brute is allowed it will likely be a TWF build, Champion would likely be GWF, and Battlemaster Shield master.

Monk - Kensei

Rogue - Assassin, maybe Swashbuckler.

Barbarian - Battlerager (only really thematic, didn't give much else) or Beserker

Things that attract me to reach class...

Fighter - more attacks
Monk - martial arts die / monk/kensei weapons become magical at L6
Rogue - sneak attack
Barbarian - Frenzy



I will consider other classes and sub classes, but ideally I want to stay away from magic.

What are your thoughts?

[Angelalex242]

I always wanted to Gestalt Champion and Oath of the Ancients Paladin.

Or Bearbarian and Oath of the Ancients Paladin.

[Misterwhisper]

Battle Master/Swashbuckler is great.

Battle Master maneuver to knock them prone, sneak attack, walk away.

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian / Ancients Paladin, giant wall of defense and protection.

Battlerager barbarian / thief rogue The grapple beast.

Champion Fighter / Zealot Barbarian: more crits, for more multipliers, that self heals later, and almost can't be killed.

[Nidgit]

Scout should definitely be a subclass you consider. The higher level abilities give you an extremely reliable way to Sneak Attack when combined with Extra Attack(s) from other classes. In particular, Monk would give you some absurd movement speed and particularly devastating Stunning Strike combos. Samurai also catches my eye as a way to consistently attack 5-6 times per turn with multiple SAs at high level.

[Quietus]

My knee jerk reaction would be to make a fighter/monk. Extra Attack from fighter, plus additional ASI for the stat-hungry Monk. Monk gets you Martial Arts/Flurry of Blows, so each of those extra attacks does even more damage, and adds more defensive options. I'd probably go battlemaster to synergize with the short rest recovery of Ki, and provide even more on-hit options, not sure what monk subclass I'd use. Kensei for more options with ranged attacks/better weapons? Shadow monk for a little more mobility?

Actually - yes, battlemaster/kensei would be a fairly interesting character. Use Kensei to pick up polearm/longbow as monk weapons, battlemaster maneuvers and extra attacks plus additional ASI to really get your dex/wis up without being as tightly wound for feats.

[Spiritchaser]

Oath breaker or conquest paladin + hexblade with a big pole arm fuelled by hate, anger and the power of your will.

A dexterous sword and board Elven accuracy Caster/Champion. Lots and of attacks with a 4 + dice shadow blade, advantage more often than not. Sorcerer let’s you quicken GFB for lots more damage and Bladesinger works well too, though there’s nothing wrong with war mage or abjurer.

Ancients paladin / Barbarian. Smite in rage, while ignoring... well... nearly everything actually. Ancestral guardian would be great, but zealot would fit really well too. Edit: Yuan Ti doesn’t fit perfectly from a stats point of view (not aweful though) but you’d be practically nuke-proof if you could pull it off.

[Escribblings]

...

Actually - yes, battlemaster/kensei would be a fairly interesting character. Use Kensei to pick up polearm/longbow as monk weapons, battlemaster maneuvers and extra attacks plus additional ASI to really get your dex/wis up without being as tightly wound for feats.

Except that:


Choose two types of weapons to be your kensei weapons: one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Each of these weapons can be any simple or martial weapon that lacks the heavy and special properties. The longbow is also a valid choice.*

[Escribblings]

What are people's views on Battlemaster / Spell less ranger?

It adds more superiority dice

[Man_Over_Game]

What are people's views on Battlemaster / Spell less ranger?

It adds more superiority dice

Well, the spell-less Ranger only goes up to level 5, I thought.

------------

A few options that work rather well:


Samurai + Champion. You'll land a lot of criticals when you constantly have Advantage.
Samurai + Battlemaster. Be a master of both melee and ranged combat, abusing Sharpshooter or just knocking people prone at 400 feet away.
Drunken Master + Ancestral Guardian. Punch boss, run away.
Bear Totem + Cavalier. You fight ME Now!
Open Palm + Battlemaster. Ever wanted to push someone 30 feet, or taunt them as you knock them away?
Mastermind + Battlemaster. Manipulate the battlefield as needed.
Inquisitive Rogue + Champion. One shot, one kill.

[Quietus]

Except that:

Fair, you'd have to use a spear if you actually wanted to use PAM. In my defense, I was thinking more about the visuals of an unarmed monk fighting elegantly with a naginata, rather than a mechanical benefit.

[Snowbluff]

I always wanted to Gestalt Champion and Oath of the Ancients Paladin.

Or Bearbarian and Oath of the Ancients Paladin.

This is where my mind goes as well. I play an OoA paladin/Bearbearian and he's tough.

I will say rogue is just good. It's made to work without extra attack. Getting extra attack without losing SA is sweet. Furthermore they get a strong reaction in uncanny dodge. Ideally for me I'd go Barb3/RogueX//Paladin.

I will point out that you never need to cast a spell as a paladin, and you can spend all of the slot on SMITES for some burst damage.

Other than that, Barbarian/Rogue for toughness (use a finesse weapon but with Str for rage damage and SA on the same attack), or Fighter/Rogue for hurtiness.

[Escribblings]

Well, the spell-less Ranger only goes up to level 5, I though.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/modifying-classes

Here are the full descriptions of the new class features for our spell-less ranger:

COMBAT SUPERIORITY

At 2nd level, you learn maneuvers that are fueled by special dice called superiority dice.

Maneuvers.*You learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are chosen from the list of maneuvers available to fighters with the Battle Master archetype. Many maneuvers enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one maneuver per attack.

You learn one additional maneuver of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. Each time you learn a new maneuver, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one.

Superiority Dice.*You have four superiority dice, which are d8s. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest.

You gain another superiority die at 9th level and one more at 17th level.

Saving Throws. Some of your maneuvers require your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Maneuver save DC*= 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice)

POULTICES

At 3rd level, you can create special herbal poultices that have healing power comparable to some potions. You can spend 1 hour gathering herbs and preparing herbal poultices using treated bandages to create a number of such poultices equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). You can carry a number of poultices at one time equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). The poultices you create cannot be applied by anyone but you. After 24 hours, any poultices that you have not used lose their potency.

If you spend 1 minute applying one of your poultices to a wounded humanoid creature, thereby expending its use, that creature regains 1d6 hit points for every two ranger levels you have (rounded up).

NATURAL ANTIVENOM

Starting at 9th level, you have advantage on saving throws against poison and have resistance to poison damage. Additionally, you can use one of your poultices to cure one poison effect on the creature you are applying it to, in addition to restoring hit points.

CALL NATURAL ALLIES

Starting at 13th level, when you are in an area of your favored terrain, you can call natural creatures from that terrain to fight on your behalf, using your attunement to the natural world to convince them to aid you. The DM chooses beasts appropriate to the terrain to come to your aid from among those that could hear you and that are within 1 mile of you, in one of the following groups:

One beast of challenge rating 2 or lowerTwo beasts of challenge rating 1 or lowerFour beasts of challenge rating 1/2 or lowerEight beasts of challenge rating 1/4 or lower

These beasts approach you from their current location, and will fight alongside you, attacking any creatures that are hostile to you. They are friendly to you and your comrades, and you roll initiative for the called creatures as a group, which takes its own turns. The DM has the creatures’ statistics.

After 1 hour, these beasts return to their previous location. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again in the same general area for 24 hours, since the same animals will not repeatedly heed your call.

RELENTLESS

Starting at 17th level, when you roll initiative and have no superiority dice remaining, you regain 1 superiority die.

As a replacement for Share Spells, we could also consider the following feature:

BEASTLY COORDINATION

Beginning at 15th level, when an attacker that you can see hits your beast companion with an attack, you can call out a warning. If your beast companion can hear you, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.

[Escribblings]

I'm going to look through all the other suggestions.

Can you take 2 subclasses?

Both champion and samurai are fighter.

[TyGuy]

Personally I would love to play either a Brute Fighter + Totem Barbarian for unparalleled survival and crazy always-on damage.

Or for "things to do" I would gush over a Battle-master Fighter + Monk(any/most appropriate for theme). With maneuvers AND ki, wowza.

[CTurbo]

Half-Orc Greataxe Champion Fighter/Zealot Barbarian unkillable crit fisher

Totem Barbarian(Elk, Eagle, Eagle)/Monk(any) You'd be a flying rage Monk. These two classes synergize better than you think.

Brute Fighter/Monk(any) 5 or 6 attacks per round each doing 2d10+Str or Dex

Scout Rogue/Monk(any) Endless obvious synergies here.

Assassin Rogue/Shadow Monk. Obvious synergies are obvious.

Barbarian(any)/Rogue(any). This would be a ton of fun. I'd probably just use daggers and be really really stabby lol

[Misterwhisper]

Personally I would love to play either a Brute Fighter + Totem Barbarian for unparalleled survival and crazy always-on damage.

Or for "things to do" I would gush over a Battle-master Fighter + Monk(any/most appropriate for theme). With maneuvers AND ki, wowza.

I love the idea of the combo of battlemaster and any brand of monk.

There so needs to be a monk subclass with maneuvers.