BarbiRogue: Sentinel vs Mage Slayer

[DragonBaneDM]

Hello!

My Warforged Barbarian 5/Rogue 3 is swiftly coming up on their 9th level, hurray! I plan to take a feat.

I've been planning to take Mage Slayer! I actually built researching stuff like the flow of magic and studying casting stances into my character's last long rest. Our BBEG is some sort of mage/magical creature with spellcasting, and we know he casts Disintegrate.

But then! Tragedy! Our Paladin left, along with his Protection Fighting Style and support through healing and spells. All have felt his absence from an RP standpoint, and a motivation of "Our protector has left!" is deffo a real thing in our party.

So I've been considering Sentinel to try and fill that void. It might be good on a Rogue! More opportunities to Sneak Attack. BUT is the roleplay of "Hey this mage attacked Sharn and I HATE them" enough reason to commit??

Also like, people have been playing this game for a while now. Folks who have played with both Mage Slayer and Sentinel on different characters: what did you prefer? Which one procced more often? Hell, bonus points if you've played on a Rogue!

[Rerem115]

Sentinel is so much better. It is the definitive "tank" feat; if they want to hit somebody else (With a ranged, melee, or spell attack, mind you!), you punish them. If they try to run away, you punish them and keep them close. If they try to get past you, you punish them and stop them in their tracks.

Mage Slayer is only good against spellcasters, and a lot of what it offers you is either unnecessary or covered by Sentinel:

OA on a spell is nice, but if it was an attack spell, Sentinel could have worked.
Disadvantage on Concentration is niche, and while it's helpful, not guaranteed to come up.
Advantage on saves within your reach sounds good, but you're a barbarian; you're probably going to pass physical saves and you've already got advantage on Dex saves, and you're probably going to fail mental saves even with advantage.

Also, this is only relevant against casters. Sentinel is a lot more reliable.

[Aprender]

Take sentinel and don't look back for all the reasons above.

Ask your friendly neighborhood mage to cast silence on your area once you grab a hold of the enemy caster, and then don't let go.

If Sun Blades exist in your campaign, try and get one. It's the only finesse, versatile weapon that I know of. It's great for barbarian rogues.

[Talionis]

If you want Mage Slayer take Mage Slayer, but it’s a much worse feat than Sentinel. Normally you interact with so few spell casters that the feat has less opportunity to shine.

[LudicSavant]

Mage Slayer isn't even that good for slaying mages.

[Aprender]

Paraphrasing:

Reporter: "John, is Mage slayer the best feat in the world?"

John Lennon: "Mage Slayer isn't even the best feat in the Beatles."


Thank you to all you old folks that recognize the original quotation.

[DragonBaneDM]

Alright! So after talking things through with my DM, I'm going Sentinel! Oh and thanks for the advice on the Sunblade, I'll look into that!

Heck, maybe in later tiers I'll pick up Dual Wielder and live out my dream of having my very own Castlevania character who can hold a sword in one hand and a whip in the other! I feel like that'll make Sentinel v good.


Thanks team!