Feat for Level 6 Half-Orc Echo Knight Fighter

[Frogulous]

Hi folks,

I thought it would be easy to select a fun feat for this subclass given how versatile it is, but I ended up getting stuck pretty quickly. Stats: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 12. I already have the Sentinel feat, which is extraordinarily helpful. My first thought was to get Crusher, but I'm not exactly sure how helpful it would be in practice (I wield a maul and selected great weapon fighting style)

Magic Initiate sounded like a good plan but I was unable to find spells or cantrips that would truly provide compelling advantages and it might also be a bad idea given my stats.

For Grappler, I can't figure out how the rules would work with the Echo and there is contradictory info online

Alert and Mage slayer can be astoundingly powerful in the right circumstances, but don't fit with the party or campaign and would be too situational compared to just getting a STR boost.

Heavy armor master would work very well but it's also incredibly boring :smallbiggrin:

There are also flavorful (no pun intended) options such as Chef, but I'd rather get something that really complements the Echo Knight's capabilities in a noticeable way. If I were a regular Fighter, I'd probably just get the stat boost to be honest.

If you have any suggestions I am all ears! :smallsmile:

Thanks for reading

[RogueJK]

Nothing wrong with just raising your STR to 18. +1 to attack and damage as well as STR saving throws and skill checks, is probably the best way to spend this ASI. 18 STR now and then 18 CON at Level 8 gets you better attack, damage, HP, and an additional use of Unleash Incarnation.

But if you're wanting a feat, then Great Weapon Master is the obvious option for a Maul user. When fighting low AC enemies, or when you have an attack bonus from Advantage or a buff like Bless, you can really crank up your damage. Plus it sometimes gives you another option for your Bonus Action, allowing you an additional attack on turns when you crit or kill and don't need to spend your BA to either resummon your Echo or swap places with it.

Crusher is a handy feat, but it does lock you into just using Bludgeoning weapons, whereas GWM applies to all Heavy weapons. Crusher is a half-feat, but neither your STR nor CON is odd so there's no immediate advantage. However, it could potentially set up a combo with another half-feat at 8. Something like Crusher+Skill Expert or Crusher+Heavy Armor Master would get you to 18 STR by Level 8, plus the benefits of those two feats.

I concur that Magic Initiate wouldn't be of as much use for you here. If you want to add some magic casting capability, Fey Touched could be a better option, getting you a 1x/day casting of Misty Step for emergency escape (when you cannot swap places with your Echo) plus something like Bless to leverage your otherwise unused Concentration or Gift of Alacrity to have a near-permanent Initiative boost. And you could potentially use Fey Touched to boost your CHA to 13, thus making you eligible for the incredibly powerful Inspiring Leader feat at 8, granting both yourself as well as your party copious amounts of Temp HP each and every rest.

Otherwise, if you're wanting to boost your out of combat utility specifically via magic, and your DM will make ritual scrolls relatively available, then Ritual Caster Wizard could be worth considering.

[Mastikator]

I agree with RogueJK, I would probably just raise my STR to 18 in your position.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I'm thirding just raising your Str, unless there are two Str half-feats that you really want and would be OK taking back-to-back. It doesn't sound like that's the case, so I think you're better off with +Str now and a full feat (or just going +Str again!) with your next ASI.

[Unoriginal]

If you don't want to raise a stat now, Telepathic and Telekinetic are great feats that could work for your PC very well.

[CTurbo]

1. Bumping +2 Str is never a bad choice, but is the "boring" option. It is probably what I would do though.

2. Take Polearm Master is trade your maul in for a glaive/halberd. PAM is a better feat than GWM IMO for any non Barbarian. Also combos well with Sentinel.

3. GWM as mentioned above would be a good choice if you're sold on using a maul.

4. I'm going to come to the defense of Magic Initiate for a minute. I think it's nearly always a GREAT feat for any Fighter who wants more to do than just hit things with weapons. Fighters lack utility and Magic Initiate provides that. Find Familiar alone is worth the feat, but you get 2 cantrips too. Minor Illusion and Mage Hand are two safe always useful choices.

5. Crusher + Heavy Armor Master = +2 Str but I'm not sure I'd take HAM at such high levels. I love it as a starting feat though.

[strangebloke]

Pam and gwm are great. Extra attacks are good. Damage is good.

Beyond that non damage utility feats are under appreciated. Huge value.

[da newt]

PAM is very nice and if you want to go more reliable / less swingy - spear and shield w/ dueling can be very consistent. I do need to go back and re-read the echo knight stuff, but the extra op-attack when they step into range is very handy especially when you can also SENT and BA butt stroke.

GWM is also a good option, and +2 ST is basic but solid too.

[Hairfish]

Are you planning on sticking with maul or open to other weapons? If you're using maul for crit-fishing w/ half-orc's die increase, using a pike and Piercer gives you a 3d10 crit and additional rerolling capacity at the cost of 1 average damage, plus opens up PAM.

[RogueJK]

If you're using maul for crit-fishing w/ half-orc's die increase

Hopefully not. Mauls/Greatswords are poorer options for abilities like Savage Attacks or Brutal Critical, because adding an additional damage die to a 2d6 weapon is only +1d6, as opposed to a 1d12 weapon like a Greataxe adding +1d12.

[strangebloke]

Hopefully not. Mauls/Greatswords are poorer options for abilities like Savage Attacks or Brutal Critical, because adding an additional damage die to a 2d6 weapon is only +1d6, as opposed to a 1d12 weapon like a Greataxe adding +1d12.

well, sorta.

with GWF it's basically a wash with brutal critical*1