Seems like a really fun character to play... thoughts?

[PitaChip]

So. Imagine a large, hulking variant human with high stats in Strength and either Dex/Con.

Battlemaster fighter multiclassed with Swashbuckler Rogue.

Variant human feat: Charger
Level 4 feat: Grappler
Expertise: Athletics

This man wields nothing but a large machete/dagger and a whole lot of chest hair. Like. Imagine Saxton Hale.

Cunning action would only be used for dash since swashbuckler kinda eliminates the need for disengage/hide in most scenarios.

Guy literally runs up and stabs you with sneak attack, and second attack barrels you over, knocking you prone. (stab has +5 to hit because charger, I assume the DM would be cool and let me bonus action dash> action attack with +5 so long as it's only one attack that gets it. Technically not RAW, but come on)

Alternatively, he grapples you instead of knocking you prone. Next turn he pins you to the ground, you now have disadvantage hitting him and he's sitting on top of you taking no disadvantage. Try to hit him and miss? Wrong. Riposte battle master maneuver and you get stabbed for an out-of-turn sneak attack. Action surge while he hasn't pinned you and he has 4 stabs to the chest ready for you with advantage, one with sneak attack. :)

Once Mister Hale feels like he's through with you, he can literally just end the grapple and walk away since the stabee can't make opportunity attacks against him.

I'm sorry I just had to share this character concept, been working on him for a while. Thoughts?

[Hellpyre]

Interesting, but how do you deal with things out of your reach consistently (flyers, Tabaxi monk, ect.)?

[SpawnOfMorbo]

Why would you take Charger?

+5 Damage is pretty meh for the fighter or rogue. The rogue can already dash as a bonus action. Grab 5 levels of Fighter and you get extra attack so you can do more damage or shove/grapple if you want to.

If you want to shove 10'... Move attack action shove + move + shove again + move. Bonus action disengage or dash away.


Honestly, the only class that really gets anything useful out of Charger is the Cleric.

Also, Strength based armored Rogue build might be up your alley. Don't multiclass, fighter really only holds you back... Unless you want extra attack? But even then, straight rogue is really, really, good. Expertise Athletics means a 14 in strength equals you win at Athletics contests.

Grappler is good on the rogue, due to sneak attack, so when not using a shield (and the creature isn't too big) you could def grab n stab. Grab + Move + Dash and then stabbity stab.

Side note, I prefer Inquisitive to Swashbuckler for this

[micahaphone]

I love the idea of Saxton Hale as a grappling str rogue! Instead of a fighter dip, what about one level of barb for rage (damage mitigation) and unarmored defense? Gotta be able to fight shirtless, show off that Australia shaped chest hair!

[PitaChip]

Why would you take Charger?

+5 Damage is pretty meh for the fighter or rogue.

Oh, reading this again I thought it was +5 to hit, not damage. My bad

If it was +5 to hit it would be interesting to just run in and clothesline people, but yeah, doesn't help too much here

[PitaChip]

I'm kinda basing this character heavily in crowd control. for flyers, I would imagine that my party would help support me by grounding something so I could tackle them and make sure that they don't get back up in the air.

I don't see why a Tabaxi monk would be a problem, if the implication is that it's very fast, Saxton would also be fairly fast with bonus action dashes.


I definitely thought about dipping into barbarian instead of fighter, but I decided against it for a few reasons, such as the general backstory type I'm looking for this guy would support him being a fighter instead of a barbarian, and while him being a barbarian would very much improve his ability to pounce on people like this, I think Fighter would have a little more general versatility outside of this very niche thing he does

[PitaChip]

boob window for the chest hair.

btw.

[Crucius]

I agree with the barb/rogue mc instead.

Advantage on grapple checks + expertise

Always advantage with reckless attack so sneak attack is guaranteed

Crazy survivability with uncanny dodge and rage damage resistance

Crazy good movement with increased movement speed and dash bonus action

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I agree with the barb/rogue mc instead.

Advantage on grapple checks + expertise

Always advantage with reckless attack so sneak attack is guaranteed

Crazy survivability with uncanny dodge and rage damage resistance

Crazy good movement with increased movement speed and dash bonus action

There's no need for Barbarian.

Rogues are tanky, very tanky, with their ability to move and with uncanny Dodge. Rage isn't really needed and you just lose out on feats.

Rogues get expertise. Advantage is worth about +3, so is nice, but not worth the loss of levels.

Grappler + Tavern Brawler... Sneak Attack someone with a fork and then grapple them. Then have advantage on attacks next round. With this you could keep your Str at 12 and still be very effective with grappling/shoving while being primarily dex based.