Duel blade wielding Battle master

[Nosta]

OK so I have an image of a fighter who us a kingdoms Spec op leader level 7 who would swords refluffed as hook swords and uses his maneuvers to preform trips and other tricks


1 I's battle master the only one that gets maneuvers

2 what weapons should I use

[chainer1216]

I've played a BM fighter5/rogue Swashbuckler X which was a whole lot of fun.

I went with trip attack, goading attack and Riposte as my maneuvers because none of them used my bonus action.

[Nosta]

I've played a BM fighter5/rogue Swashbuckler X which was a whole lot of fun.

I went with trip attack, goading attack and Riposte as my maneuvers because none of them used my bonus action.

What race
What should my stats look like and should I take any feats?

[Dork_Forge]

RAW Battle Master maneuvers are only available outside of subclass by taking the Martial Adept feat, giving you two maneuvers of your choice and one Superiority Die (a d6). In the Class Variants UA there was also a Fighting Style that allowed you one die and a maneuver that you could swap out (I don't remember the specifics). If your build concept really relies on this and your table allows UA then in theory you could stack all three of these sources for performing 6 maneuvers per short rest in tier1/2.

Rogue Swashbuckler pairs well with Battle Master for this: bonus damage is always welcome, better initiative and you can swipe at up to 3 enemies and dance away with no consequences. The Rogue chassis will also give you a lot of nice tools (Expertise and Cunning Action) to pull off the spec-ops feel you're after.

Race wise if you go for the multiclass then you can't go wrong with Half Elf, push Battle Master to 5, switch to Rogue for 3 then advance as you see fit from there (personally wouldn't take Rogue past 4).

Weapons: short swords or scimitars (same thing different damage type and imagery).

Feats: Depending on your stats, any free feats given out and how your leveling goes you might want to consider Dual Wielder, you could shift up to dual rapiers for slightly higher damage, +1AC and mechanical support for drawing both your weapons.

Stats: Dump Str and pick up Athletics proficiency to compensate, prioritise Dex then Con and Cha in equal measure, Wisdom is a nice to have and Int to taste.

[Nosta]

RAW Battle Master maneuvers are only available outside of subclass by taking the Martial Adept feat, giving you two maneuvers of your choice and one Superiority Die (a d6). In the Class Variants UA there was also a Fighting Style that allowed you one die and a maneuver that you could swap out (I don't remember the specifics). If your build concept really relies on this and your table allows UA then in theory you could stack all three of these sources for performing 6 maneuvers per short rest in tier1/2.

Rogue Swashbuckler pairs well with Battle Master for this: bonus damage is always welcome, better initiative and you can swipe at up to 3 enemies and dance away with no consequences. The Rogue chassis will also give you a lot of nice tools (Expertise and Cunning Action) to pull off the spec-ops feel you're after.

Race wise if you go for the multiclass then you can't go wrong with Half Elf, push Battle Master to 5, switch to Rogue for 3 then advance as you see fit from there (personally wouldn't take Rogue past 4).

Weapons: short swords or scimitars (same thing different damage type and imagery).

Feats: Depending on your stats, any free feats given out and how your leveling goes you might want to consider Dual Wielder, you could shift up to dual rapiers for slightly higher damage, +1AC and mechanical support for drawing both your weapons.

Stats: Dump Str and pick up Athletics proficiency to compensate, prioritise Dex then Con and Cha in equal measure, Wisdom is a nice to have and Int to taste.

That looks good.

Got another question
I recall a ranger subclass that got supiorty dice but was able to bother things besides maneuvers with them? Am I crazy or dose it exist¿

[Dork_Forge]

That looks good.

Got another question
I recall a ranger subclass that got supiorty dice but was able to bother things besides maneuvers with them? Am I crazy or dose it exist¿

You're referring to the Ranger With No Spells (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/modifying-classes) from this UA article.

[CTurbo]

Ok lets keep this simple but effective.

Let's be Variant Human which means we get to start with a free feat.

16 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha

Take the TFW fighting style, take Dual Wielder as your starting feat, and use 2 Longswords refluffed as Hook swords. Wear heavy armor eventually getting Plate armor. Your AC will be 19 once you get Plate.

level 4 take +2 Str
level 6 take Resilient: Wisdon

With the next 2 ASI/feat options, I would take +2 Str and Ritual Caster and/or Magic Initiate in any order. I would't bother planning any further than that.

Battle Master maneuvers? Just choose whichever ones you want.


This would be a good solid well rounded character.

You could make him Dex based and dump Str. Your stats could be a little more well rounded and Dex is general better to prioritize. You'll just end up with d6 swords instead of d8 swords. This also frees up other race options like Elves or Tabaxi to name a few that give a good Dex boost.

Wood Elf could have 11 Str, 16 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha

You still want TFW style, but you could max Dex out easily and take any other feats you might like. Sentinel, Mobile, Alert, Lucky are a few other feats that are good on anybody. I personally think all Fighters should take Resilient(Wis) because it shores up a weakness and also either Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate because Fighters are notoriously bad for having a lack of out of combat options so those feats add a lot of utility.

[Dork_Forge]

Ok lets keep this simple but effective.

Let's be Variant Human which means we get to start with a free feat.

16 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha

Take the TFW fighting style, take Dual Wielder as your starting feat, and use 2 Longswords refluffed as Hook swords. Wear heavy armor eventually getting Plate armor. Your AC will be 19 once you get Plate.

level 4 take +2 Str
level 6 take Resilient: Wisdon

With the next 2 ASI/feat options, I would take +2 Str and Ritual Caster and/or Magic Initiate in any order. I would't bother planning any further than that.

Battle Master maneuvers? Just choose whichever ones you want.


This would be a good solid well rounded character.

You could make him Dex based and dump Str. Your stats could be a little more well rounded and Dex is general better to prioritize. You'll just end up with d6 swords instead of d8 swords. This also frees up other race options like Elves or Tabaxi to name a few that give a good Dex boost.

Wood Elf could have 11 Str, 16 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha

You still want TFW style, but you could max Dex out easily and take any other feats you might like. Sentinel, Mobile, Alert, Lucky are a few other feats that are good on anybody. I personally think all Fighters should take Resilient(Wis) because it shores up a weakness and also either Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate because Fighters are notoriously bad for having a lack of out of combat options so those feats add a lot of utility.

You can still have d8 swords with Dex, you just need to use Rapiers, which can be refluffed as whatever if OP doesn't like the idea of using two Rapiers.

[CTurbo]

You can still have d8 swords with Dex, you just need to use Rapiers, which can be refluffed as whatever if OP doesn't like the idea of using two Rapiers.

This is true. I just don't think Rapiers would be a good choice of weapon to refluff. It's not going to break anything, but as a DM, I would allow either Scimitar or Longsword to be the 2 options to choose from. That's just me though.

[Arkhios]

You can still have d8 swords with Dex, you just need to use Rapiers, which can be refluffed as whatever if OP doesn't like the idea of using two Rapiers.

Sure, you could. But ultimately, using heavy armor grants the better AC, even if it's only by 1 point. The arguable downside of it is that you'll want strength to be at least 15 so your mobility won't suffer from doing so, and if you invest in that, why not just go with it all the way. Sure there are benefits in having higher dexterity, but it's not like this is literally a matter of life and death. It's a just a game. Don't make it harder than it is and just have fun with whatever you choose to do. Having downsides is just as valuable as the benefits. It's not about winning something.

[Dork_Forge]

Sure, you could. But ultimately, using heavy armor grants the better AC, even if it's only by 1 point. The arguable downside of it is that you'll want strength to be at least 15 so your mobility won't suffer from doing so, and if you invest in that, why not just go with it all the way. Sure there are benefits in having higher dexterity, but it's not like this is literally a matter of life and death. It's a just a game. Don't make it harder than it is and just have fun with whatever you choose to do. Having downsides is just as valuable as the benefits. It's not about winning something.

Erm... okay? I know that it's just a game, I was clarifying for the OP (who doesn't seem to have a high level of system knowledge) that you can use d8 weapons with Dex, since the post I was replying to seemed to imply (probably accidentally) that you couldn't.

I'm not sure why you made the winning comment whilst talking about optimising AC? CTurbo's build is certainly not how I'd do things but all I offered was clarification on the weapons available.

As for your reply as a whole, you seem to be heavily advocating the use of heavy armor (which whilst it grants higher AC, doesn't exactly scream spec ops stealth) whilst talking down using Dex as if I had looked down on or criticised someone for a Str build?