Combat Tactician Style character ?

[Nosta]

Sorry for another post but I want to ask this before my brain loses it.


I am looking for a character who is a melee specialist and is about being a tactical master of war

Any class
Ant race
So long as it end up being close as possible to a tactical Melee fighter ...though I guess range could work To.

Feats I am allowed one free one .

This is a sixth level character to start

[Unoriginal]

Sorry for another post but I want to ask this before my brain loses it.


I am looking for a character who is a melee specialist and is about being a tactical master of war

Any class
Ant race
So long as it end up being close as possible to a tactical Melee fighter ...though I guess range could work To.

Feats I am allowed one free one .

This is a sixth level character to start

Battle Master Fighter with the Tactical Assessment manoeuvre?

[Kane0]

Battlemaster has some good maneuvers for this, allowing allies to do things plus getting a few tactical styled features as well. You can also take a fighting style that protects teammates.
Mastermind Rogue can help at range with a Bonus Action and gets Expertise, Sneak Attack and Cunning Action.
Beast Barbarian gains your choice of three natural weapons each time you rage, though sadly none of them provide you with reach.

On the topic of Reach, Bugbear is good for that.
Hobgoblin has a built-in co-operation feature.
Halfling is a surprisingly good option too with luck, bravery, nimbleness and your choice of stealth, poison resistance, telepathy, ignoring some difficult terrain or a bit of spellcasting (including heals).

Inspiring Leader is a good feat even with average Charisma, and there is the UA Tandem Tactician feat too.
Crusher/Piercer/Slasher give some minor control options, but you also have Sentinel and the like.

[MaxWilson]

Sorry for another post but I want to ask this before my brain loses it.

I am looking for a character who is a melee specialist and is about being a tactical master of war

Any class
Ant race
So long as it end up being close as possible to a tactical Melee fighter ...though I guess range could work To.

Feats I am allowed one free one .

This is a sixth level character to start

Assuming you want to actually use tactics instead of just having "master of tactics" in your fluff.

Take lots of features that synergize well worth the rest of your party. E.g. if there's a Moon Druid and a Goblin Shadow Monk, consider playing a Eldritch Knight so you can cooperate on tactical combinations like laying down heavy obscurement via Darkness (concentration, evocation) Pyrotechnics (no concentration, but transmutation and immobile) for the Druid's wildshape form and conjured snakes and the Alert monk to benefit from. Depending on who's in your party already you might add more tactical options to the party if you play a bard, druid or wizard than a fighter.

Also Kensei Monks and Elemonks are surprisingly versatile if you want to focus on personal tactics (positioning, choice of weapons, etc.) instead of party tactics / teamwork. Instead of doing one thing the same way almost every fight, you have four or five options that you choose between as appropriate (e.g. ranged kiting, melee Stun nova, DMG disarming +weapon stealing, Sharpshooter overwatch from an unusual angle/location to bypass total cover, tanking with Patient Defense to buy time and attract attention, grappling). You might have fun with that.

[LudicSavant]

The White Raven General

Hexblade 1 / Glamour Bard X with Warcaster/Booming Blade. Then just max Charisma. With Custom Lineage and your free feat houserule you can have Fey-Touched, Warcaster, and 20 Cha by level 6.

You are tanky as heck because of a huge pool of temp hp spam and armor+shield+Shield (and that’s before we even talk about your big spells). And those who try to attack anyone else have to eat heavy damage from Booming Blade OAs. And even after they pay that cost? You can give your allies a disengage and move and temp hp with a bonus action! It’s like several Battle Master maneuvers combined. And so the squishies all disengage for free, and they’re stuck right back at square one under Booming Blade pressure.

Mantle of Inspiration gives you almost complete control over tactical positioning on the battlefield. Combine with the fact that you’re a full spellcaster and, well.

[Cass]

If your DM is fine with homebrew, KibblesTasty just updated his Warlord last week and "Combat Tactician Style character" is the theme of the class.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Man, Ludic is really crazy... Glamour Bard tank. I mean, crazy = genious.

I was about to recommend the regular Order Cleric 1 / Evoker X using the new Feywild Hobgoblin UA for the “Devastator Commander” feeling, but the White Raven General is much more stylish.

[LudicSavant]

Man, Ludic is really crazy... Glamour Bard tank. I mean, crazy = genious.

I was about to recommend the regular Order Cleric 1 / Evoker X using the new Feywild Hobgoblin UA for the “Devastator Commander” feeling, but the White Raven General is much more stylish.

I really like Order Cleric / Evoker too! I haven't been following the new UA stuff, though.

[stoutstien]

I really like Order Cleric / Evoker too! I haven't been following the new UA stuff, though.
Order cleric 1/ glamour bard X/hex 1 is also a fun one. Very strong warlord vibe.

[Dalinar]

The White Raven General

What spell level is Conjure Cool Character Build? How do I get it?

---

I was going to suggest looking into Peace Cleric 6 as well, although I wouldn't describe that subclass as a "melee specialist"--it does help your allies port around the battlefield and choose who gets to take what damage to some degree, as well as give them d4s to their attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Maybe tack on a couple Fighter levels?

If you have buddies with hazard spells like Spike Growth, you can also try Swarmkeeper Ranger to force movement on your enemies. (You'll also have Web as a spell known from the subclass, which works well with that ability.) If you go this route, make sure to get high Wis so that your save DC against the "shove" is high. That also lends itself to Cleric, Druid, or perhaps Monk multiclassing if you're into that. Perhaps Order 1/Swarmkeeper X? Maybe sneak in two levels of Hexblade for Repelling Blast?

On the subject of clerics, it's less "order my buddies around" or "shove my opponents around" and more "control the battlefield and you control the battle", but Tempest Domain gets stuff like Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm to screw with obscurement, a bunch of AOE damage spells, 10 feet of knockback when you deal lightning damage to a Large or smaller creature, as well as regular cleric goodies like Guidance.

[ImproperJustice]

I still think a Battlemaster with all the new fluff is still a good way to go.

Their abilities work up close and at range, and you have maneuvers for yourself, status effects for enemies, etc.
Lots of versatile bits to play with.

A couple Feats to balance you out;

Inspiring Leader if your willing to drop a point or two in Cha is always a useful feat and flavorful.

Magic Initiate: Choose cleric and take Guidance, Bless, and another cantrip of choice to add to your “tactical options”.

Or Wizard and grab find familiar, mold earth, and shape water, for recon, building quick trenches and walls / ramps, or crossing the Delaware.

Or Telepathic to relay silent orders.

The nice thing about 5e is you can usually be more than successful building a fun and thematic build
without having to build a double action surge fireball / smite engine OMG one shot the Ancient Dragon toon to still have a good time.

Although make sure your bless spell lands on that guy. You want him on your side.

[Crucius]

I really like Order Cleric / Evoker too! I haven't been following the new UA stuff, though.

Is this one of your builds? Got a link perhaps? :puppyeyes:

[LudicSavant]

Is this one of your builds? Got a link perhaps? :puppyeyes:

I haven't posted a full writeup of one on the Eclectic thread, but the basic gist of it is that you can sculpt AoEs around your allies and then have that trigger Order Cleric reaction attack (which you would typically use with support spells instead). Alongside all the usual reasons that Cleric 1 / Evoker X is good.

[Crucius]

I haven't posted a full writeup of one on the Eclectic thread, but the basic gist of it is that you can sculpt AoEs around your allies and then have that trigger Order Cleric reaction attack (which you would typically use with support spells instead). Alongside all the usual reasons that Cleric 1 / Evoker X is good.

Besides the obvious resource issues, would you say a careful metamagic sorcerer focused on save-or-suck crowd control spells could work here as well? (fear for example)