Tier 4 Battlemaster Advice

[wikkedj]

Hi all! Question for everyone. I'm playing my first tier 4 character in AL - a dwarf battlemaster, sword and board. My current AC is 23 with +1 plate and a +2 shield. Bolstered by a cloak of displacement. He is level 19 and in his last adventure picked up adamantine plate armor. The trade off seems worth it - sacrificing 1ac to negate crits seems like a no brainer with tier 4 damage numbers. My main question however, is regarding his AC. To me, 22 or even 23 seems low for tier 4 plate fighter...is it? I did pick dueling style over defense as it seemed like more value over all the pure fighter's attacks. His Str and Con are maxed, took sentinel the resilient wis and dex for feats. Really wanted to shore up weak saves that I found myself failing a lot in earlier tiers. Attunement slots are occupied with a belt of fire giant strength, cloak of displacement and ioun stone of greater absorption.

I guess I'm just looking for general input...should I not worry about it? Am I overlooking something i can work towards?

[CheddarChampion]

You technically can't take Resilient twice.
I allow it in games I run, but there ya go.

If you have to switch, maybe take shield master? You might get +4 to Dex saves, but it's not often that a fireball only targets you.

AC stops growing for most classes rather early on. 23 is pretty good for a class w/o any special bonuses. Adamantine is probably better than +1 AC as you say - under normal circumstances. With the cloak of displacement it should be super rare to crit you. +1 AC to keep the cloak going is probably better.

If you had 13 Dex you could take defensive duelist and use a rapier.
If you have a legendary weapon choice (IDK how it works in AL) maybe pick Defender?

[wikkedj]

Interesting, D&D Beyond let me take the feat so I didn't realize you could only take resilience once, will have to replace that!

[CTurbo]

With 5e's bounded accuracy, it's really hard to get a full time AC higher than around 23 or 24 without some serious minmaxing or lengendary items. I'd sacrifice the 1AC in order to negate the crits if I were you.

As mentioned above, Shield Master is a good replacement for Res(Dex). Defensive Duelist is a great feat late when your prof bonus is +6, but I think using a Rapier with Str is cheesy.

I would grab Lucky with the level 19 feat as it's the best option for late feat pick IMO.

[Willie the Duck]

By tier 4 each additional point of AC gets harder to come by. At some point you end up with diminishing returns chasing them, and when that is the case is going to depend on your DM (how hard it is to get magic items), the opponents you face (when is that last bit of AC worth sacrificing something else), and the rest of your party (do you have a cleric who might consider casting defensive magic upon you during a particularly tough fight?). What does the rest of your party look like and what do you normally go up against?

[wikkedj]

By tier 4 each additional point of AC gets harder to come by. At some point you end up with diminishing returns chasing them, and when that is the case is going to depend on your DM (how hard it is to get magic items), the opponents you face (when is that last bit of AC worth sacrificing something else), and the rest of your party (do you have a cleric who might consider casting defensive magic upon you during a particularly tough fight?). What does the rest of your party look like and what do you normally go up against?

It's Adventurer's League (organized play) so party will vary from event to event.

[Keravath]

I'm curious how you got to level 19 without playing in tier 4 already? Did you DM reward a couple of levels?

By the way, the cloak of invisibility is better than the cloak of displacement if you get a chance to find one (or have one from season 8).

P.S. The Ioun Stone of Greater Absorption sounds cool, where did that one come from?

[wikkedj]

I only just got to 19 this weekend through playing my first T4 games.

Spoilers ahead...











Stone is in DDAL00-10.

[MrStabby]

So generally 1 point of AC is better than ignoring critical hits.

Each has a 1 in 20 chance of happening. AC, if it is relevant, prevents damage equal to the damage the attack would do. Ignoring crits is going to save you the damage the die rolls from that attack would do (and not static bonuses).

Exceptions might be for avoiding instant death rules, but at high levels this is not an issue and worrying about concentration saves (you are not a spellcaster).

[ImproperJustice]

Honestly.
With a cloak of displacement and 20+ AC, nothing is gonna hit you outside of a crit. And even if it does, your a tier 4 Fighter and will likely shrug off the damage without much stress.

The armor giving you immunity from crits means you have little to fear from direct attacks.

You should be fine.

[Keravath]

Honestly.
With a cloak of displacement and 20+ AC, nothing is gonna hit you outside of a crit. And even if it does, your a tier 4 Fighter and will likely shrug off the damage without much stress.

The armor giving you immunity from crits means you have little to fear from direct attacks.

You should be fine.

Just a quick comment but he is playing tier 4. To hit modifiers on tier appropriate creatures probably run from +9 to +15 (or more). This hits AC20 on a 5-6+, even with disadvantage this hits more often than not. Even the AC of 23 the OP cited will still be hit 1/4 of the time at disadvantage by a creature with +12/+13 to hit. After the first hit on the turn the cloak stops working.

The bottom line is that they will be hit.

A +1 to AC decreases the hit chances by 5% (more in the case of disadvantage) while all adamantium does is prevent rolling double dice when an attack rolls a 20 to hit. If the creatures they are fighting only hit on a 20 anyway then adamantium would make sense. However, in this case, at tier 4 with the character's 23AC, the character will be hit far more often and the extra +1 AC is more useful.

[Yakk]

Without cloak:

Adamantium nullifies (5% times damage dice) damage per round.
+1 AC nullifies (5% times damage dice plus bonus) damage per round, unless they hit on a 2 even with +1 AC.

+1 AC reduces incoming damage on average more.

Adamantium reduces damage spikes a bit more.

Once you add the cloak, things change; crits are going to be far, far less likely than a "miss by 1" would be. So +1 AC beats adamantium here.

---

For tier 4 monsters to reliably miss, you need something like +3 plate +3 shield, a ring of protection and a cloak of displacement and defensive fighting style, for 28 AC. Then a +14 to hit needs a 14, with disadvantage that is a 9% chance to hit (and 0.25% chance to crit).

AC's returns (and displacement's returns) are super-linear with higher AC. If you are trying to stack AC, don't go half way.

[Delph]

What about get from somewhere ring of protection +1 AC, +1 saves...

And I'm voting for Lucky feat. With AC like this is really hard to hit you, and if they do, you can just say "try again" and it helps you with another d20 rolls if you need. And if they roll nat 20 (twice, because Cloac of Displacment), they still hit you (but no doubled dices).

And isn't possible get adamantium armor +1? I have adamatium sword and I'm saving money for +1 enchantment. And I'm on lvl 3 :D

[djreynolds]

At high levels the one thing that takes you out is a save with a ridiculously high DC.

Lucky is awesome. Coupled with resilient wisdom and indomitable... It helps.

But at higher levels you should have an idea of the enemy you're facing.

It sounds crazy. But magic initiate cleric for protection from evil... it's 10 minutes long... covers everything but dragons.

Bard MI and get heroism.

No one spamming bless anymore. You're on your own in tier 4 play.

Grab resistance cantrip and just keep recasting it. Decent wisdom and sacred flame is better than 3 hand axes.

Lucky or MI. Or even MI warlock for hex and beef up damage.

Good luck. Sounds like an awesome character

[stoutstien]

At high levels the one thing that takes you out is a save with a ridiculously high DC.

Lucky is awesome. Coupled with resilient wisdom and indomitable... It helps.

But at higher levels you should have an idea of the enemy you're facing.

It sounds crazy. But magic initiate cleric for protection from evil... it's 10 minutes long... covers everything but dragons.

Bard MI and get heroism.

No one spamming bless anymore. You're on your own in tier 4 play.

Grab resistance cantrip and just keep recasting it. Decent wisdom and sacred flame is better than 3 hand axes.

Lucky or MI. Or even MI warlock for hex and beef up damage.

Good luck. Sounds like an awesome character

Don't sell bless short in later gameplay. Great spell for those encounter with on determinable strength when you first start. For a single 1st lv slot it a good resource saver if anything it a good pick for the fighter to pick up with MI.