Most Impactful Battlemaster Maneuvers

[Rashagar]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering spending a feat and fighting style to become a discount Battle Master. I'm fairly sure it's not an optimal choice, but I like maneuvers and it sounds like a fun choice.

With this combo you'd get 3 maneuvers known, with 2 d6s to use per short rest.

With that in mind, what, in your opinion, would be the most impactful maneuvers that could give this decision some teeth, and/or what would your 3 choices be?

(My build, in case it's requested, is a Soulknife Rogue 3 Psi Warrior X, but build-agnostic replies are just as welcome.)

(I know that for the same opportunity cost I could get eg. dueling + thrown style combo for a beefy +4 damage, but it's... not as interesting or fun sounding)

[LudicSavant]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering spending a feat and fighting style to become a discount Battle Master. I'm fairly sure it's not an optimal choice, but I like maneuvers and it sounds like a fun choice.

With this combo you'd get 3 maneuvers known, with 2 d6s to use per short rest.

With that in mind, what, in your opinion, would be the most impactful maneuvers that could give this decision some teeth, and/or what would your 3 choices be?

(My build, in case it's requested, is a Soulknife Rogue 3 Psi Warrior X, but build-agnostic replies are just as welcome.)

(I know that for the same opportunity cost I could get eg. dueling + thrown style combo for a beefy +4 damage, but it's... not as interesting or fun sounding)

What's most impactful will always depend on your build, party, and table. The more information you can give on any of those fronts, the better feedback you will be able to get.

Rogues really enjoy ways to get off-turn Reaction attacks (because Sneak Attack is once per turn not once per round), and maneuvers can do that for you. Two of them, in fact. One is Brace, the other is Riposte.

As for that "beefy +4 damage," it's gonna take quite a few throws to be worth as much as one extra off-turn Sneak Attack. At least, if you're more Soulknife than Psi Warrior.

Pure Rogues are perhaps one of the best candidates for the Martial Adept feat for this reason.

[SociopathFriend]

Well for you, specifically, anything that gives you Advantages is probably really nice.

So Feinting Attack and Trip Attack both offer a good bit of synergy for you. I believe Riposte is supposed to interact in a nice way with Sneak Attack but do not recall the exact reasoning it does so.



Personally I am extremely fond of Lunging Attack. When you're melee and need to get in range of the enemy to lay the hurt down- every 5 foot square counts. I've never had a chance to use it but I've often thought Commander's Strike would be extremely good if you've another heavy-hitter in your party.

[Rashagar]

What's most impactful will always depend on your build, party, and table. The more information you can give on any of those fronts, the better feedback you will be able to get.

That's a fair point. The party can be a bit up in the air because there's a lot of players, but it's expected that not everyone can always show up. If everyone is present the party consists of a cleric, a wizard, a bard, an artificer, 2 barbarians and me.

As for my build, I went dex-based but with a 12 strength and expertise in athletics, so it's a combat option if I want it, with the thinking that that + psi-bolstered knack should enable plenty of fun if the situation arises. We started at level 2 and I multiclassed immediately, with the thinking that I'm not going to be hurting too much if dex-based anyway by a lack of extra attack if I've got some sneak attack and the psychic blades instead. I currently have dueling style but just about to hit fighter 4 and going to switch it out with the Tasha's rule, to have the battlemaster maneuvers all come online at the same time, because I feel like I would never convince myself to spend the die if I only had 1 per short rest haha! So far he's been a very fun character! (I hadn't originally intended to go this far into rogue but kept getting tempted deeper)



Rogues really enjoy ways to get off-turn Reaction attacks (because Sneak Attack is once per turn not once per round), and maneuvers can do that for you. Two of them, in fact. One is Brace, the other is Riposte.

As for that "beefy +4 damage," it's gonna take quite a few throws to be worth as much as one extra off-turn Sneak Attack. At least, if you're more Soulknife than Psi Warrior.

Pure Rogues are perhaps one of the best candidates for the Martial Adept feat for this reason.

I hadn't actually thought of it that way, cool!

[da newt]

Brace and Riposte are likely the two most impactful options. I also like Menacing for the fear rider effect and Precision for those times when you really need to make sure you hit, and Feinting is handy too (but only works in melee).

[JLandan]

My archer Battlemaster mostly uses Pushing, Precision, and Disarming.

[Khrysaes]

Well for you, specifically, anything that gives you Advantages is probably really nice.

So Feinting Attack and Trip Attack both offer a good bit of synergy for you. I believe Riposte is supposed to interact in a nice way with Sneak Attack but do not recall the exact reasoning it does so.



Personally I am extremely fond of Lunging Attack. When you're melee and need to get in range of the enemy to lay the hurt down- every 5 foot square counts. I've never had a chance to use it but I've often thought Commander's Strike would be extremely good if you've another heavy-hitter in your party.

I think shield master may be better than trip in this case since it can cause prone conditions with no resource other than the bonus action.

Additionally, while polearm master can grant more availability for opportunity attacks, the attacks don't have to be with a polearm, just while wielding one(so staff + finesse weapon could work).

but unless you have three arms you can't use a shield master + polearm + finesse weapon.

[Pex]

Precision is good even if only to alleviate the sense of injustice where you 'just miss'.

[LudicSavant]

A practical, comparative way to think of Precision Attack is that it basically grants you an extra attack when you miss, and that new attack has a new accuracy (based on how high you'd have to roll to turn your miss into a hit).

[Kane0]

Youre a rogue, so i would say one for ability checks, and two that give you more chances to land a sneak attack (one on your turn, one using a reaction).

[RogueJK]

Based on the details of your character, I'd recommend the following:

Riposte (to use for off-turn Sneak Attacks)
Feinting Attack (to use when you have no other means to generate Advantage for Sneak Attacks)
Trip Attack (to help out your two Barbarian party members)


Yeah, Trip Attack is similar to Telekinetic Thrust that you'll get at Fighter 7. But it comes online now, not in 3 more levels. And it gives you additional Trip attempts per day. Plus your Maneuver Dice come back on a short rest, while your Psionic Dice only recharge on a long rest.

[sambojin]

Trip attack is also very handy because proning something can also take it out if the air (ready for you to stab it).

With high Dex a ranged option is always there, so why not air-prone flyers for your Barbs every once in a while (on top of the advantage it gives on the ground)?

[Rashagar]

Some really good points here, thanks all!

I don't mind admitting that my shortlist now looks completely different than previously haha!

The points about Tripping are really good, especially the reminder that this is 3 levels earlier than I'd otherwise get it via Telekinetic Thrust, so it's back on the list for taking at this level up, possibly replacing it once I've got Telekinetic Thrust though (maybe replacing it with Pushing once I get a chance since combined they could potentially give a 25ft push? But I don't have to worry about that yet, and there are a lot of other tempting options, as this thread demonstrates).

I had previously completely discounted Precision, Feinting, and Riposte/Brace, but they're now in serious contention with Menacing/Disarming, one of which was the only one before this that I'd been fairly sure I'd be taking!