Giving someone else a free attack...

[Nefariis]

Out of curiosity - is there a way to give someone else an attack on my turn without using their reaction?

So, are there any classes or features where I can give my action, bonus action, or reaction away to another character for their attack, without costing them their reaction?

Something along the lines of Order Cleric

Thanks as always

[chokfull]

I think you're looking for Battlemaster Fighter.


Commander’s Strike: When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your attacks and use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend one superiority die. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack, adding the superiority dieto the attack’s damage roll.

Edit: Whoops, didn't see the "without reaction" part. I don't think that exists, but I could be wrong. Commander's strike already takes a lot of resources (costing an attack, a bonus action, and a reaction). I don't think you'll find anything better, except maybe a niche spell.

Come to think of it, Haste might be closest to what you want. Without a reaction, you're talking about improving an ally's action economy on their turn, so it has to be some kind of buff. I don't know any other non-spell abilities that do something like that, so without homebrewing a lighter version, Haste will probably be your best bet.

[Nefariis]

ya I am doing a little theory crafting in maximizing action economies - and though I personally hate playing rogues, their sneak attack "per turn" specifier is an interesting optimization problem.

Some interesting combos for rogues -

Order Cleric to help a RogueX get two reliable sneak attacks per round.
(rogue attacks, cleric gives a reaction attack)

Order Cleric to help a Barbarian3/RogueX to get three reliable sneak attacks per round at the cost of exhaustion.
(rogue frenzy bonus attack on turn, declare action for someone else's turn, order cleric for reaction attack)

With haste, 3 sneak attacks without exhaustion.

Order Cleric to help a Fighter2/Barbarian3/RogueX to get four sneak attacks per round at the cost of exhaustion/action surge
(rogue frenzy bonus, two delayed actions, cleric reaction)

With haste, 4 sneak attacks without exhaustion.

Order Cleric to help TunnerFighter/RogueX to get potentially ??? sneak attacks.
(attack, action surge delay action, go into defensive stance surrounded by X people, someone casts a fear like spell forcing people to flee on their individual turns, rouge goes nuts without using a reaction, then cleric gives reaction attack)

So yah, truthfully I'm just wasting time at work and I thought this was an interesting thought experiment.

If you have any other ways to give/get attacks without using the person's reaction please post

Also I would love to find another way to make a bonus attack without causing exhaustion (frenzy) and without having to use the attack action first.

[FrancisBean]

If you have any other ways to give/get attacks without using the person's reaction please post.

Cavalier/18. Paired with Rogue it's mostly a trivial proof-of-existence for an arbitrary number of sneak attacks per round, since it's only a max of 1d6 Sneak Attack damage, but the only limitation on the number of attacks is the number of enemies who can physically trigger it.

[Callin]

You use your reaction to activate your readied action. So your idea wont work so far.

[Nhorianscum]

ya I am doing a little theory crafting in maximizing action economies - and though I personally hate playing rogues, their sneak attack "per turn" specifier is an interesting optimization problem.

Some interesting combos for rogues -

Order Cleric to help a RogueX get two reliable sneak attacks per round.
(rogue attacks, cleric gives a reaction attack)

Order Cleric to help a Barbarian3/RogueX to get three reliable sneak attacks per round at the cost of exhaustion.
(rogue frenzy bonus attack on turn, declare action for someone else's turn, order cleric for reaction attack)

With haste, 3 sneak attacks without exhaustion.

Order Cleric to help a Fighter2/Barbarian3/RogueX to get four sneak attacks per round at the cost of exhaustion/action surge
(rogue frenzy bonus, two delayed actions, cleric reaction)

With haste, 4 sneak attacks without exhaustion.

Order Cleric to help TunnerFighter/RogueX to get potentially ??? sneak attacks.
(attack, action surge delay action, go into defensive stance surrounded by X people, someone casts a fear like spell forcing people to flee on their individual turns, rouge goes nuts without using a reaction, then cleric gives reaction attack)

So yah, truthfully I'm just wasting time at work and I thought this was an interesting thought experiment.

If you have any other ways to give/get attacks without using the person's reaction please post

Also I would love to find another way to make a bonus attack without causing exhaustion (frenzy) and without having to use the attack action first.

1) There isn't one.

2) Quicken spell scagtrip.

[Nefariis]

Cavalier/18.

wow, that feels like a pretty lame 18th ability -

tunnel fighter gets something better at level 3 or there are the optional marking rules in the DMG that potentially does the same thing.

Also, it should be known that both the Thief and the Scout's 17th level ability would also potentially add more opportunities for action economy.

[Callin]

Look at the Fighter UA Knight. Its lvl 3 ability lets you take multiple reactions in a round.

[JackPhoenix]

No, there's no way to give someone reactionless off-turn attack.

[Nefariis]

You use your reaction to activate your readied action. So your idea wont work so far.


wow - after 5 years of dming 5th edition I never noticed that in the PHB.

[FrancisBean]

wow, that feels like a pretty lame 18th ability -

tunnel fighter gets something better at level 3 or there are the optional marking rules in the DMG that potentially does the same thing.

Tunnel Fighter is UA; Cav/18 is PHB+1 and AL legal. Not much of a recommendation, but for some theorycrafters it matters whether it's AL legal or not. If you're building for real and your DM allows it, take Tunnel Fighter every day and twice on Tuesdays.

[ThePolarBear]

Order Cleric to help a Fighter2/Barbarian3/RogueX to get four sneak attacks per round at the cost of exhaustion/action surge
(rogue frenzy bonus, two delayed actions, cleric reaction)

With haste, 4 sneak attacks without exhaustion.

Nope. You don't really "delay" your action, you Ready it. It requires your reaction to make the action once the trigger happens. Not going to attack twice with that since you are using your only reaction with one of the two.

Edit: Also: doesn't the Order Cleric feature ALSO requires the ally to spend their reaction?


Tunner Fighter

Tunnel Fighter is pretty much a "dead branch" of UA contenent (https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/1022949588674727937). What it was most likely became the 18th level feature of the Cavalier.