Conversion Kit - Tumblr Posts

The first Conversion Kit uses the first few levels of the Battle Master fighter archetype to turn any character into a grizzled veteran!

With a small set of maneuvers, give your character a unique martial style and a toolkit to get them out of tight situations!

Check it out here!

Conversion Kits

Today, I’m announcing a new series of short articles that aims to help players realize abnormal character concepts and add some mechanical depth to otherwise straight-forward builds.

The motto here is “Minimum investment, maximum impact”, so you may find something useful even for an existing character!

Check it out here!

Conversion Kit: The Assassin

Continuing my Conversion Kit series of articles, we discuss the Assassin subclass! Turn any character into a master of ambushes and terribly efficient killer with just three levels of Rogue.

Below the readmore, you can find Additional Support for this kit, as well as Pitfalls and Character Suggestions.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Rogue, selecting the Assassin archetype at level 3.

Overall Impact: Your character now has the mechanical backing to follow through on clever schemes with lethal force.

Investment

Much like our last conversion kit, once you select the Assassin subclass, you can immediately set off to do what assassins do best. Once again, you'll need to satisfy the multiclassing requirement- just a score of 13 in Dexterity, plus a score of 13 in whatever attribute your other class of choice requires.

You don't necessarily need a Dexterity higher than this, but remember that your bonus to Stealth rolls keys off of it. You can mitigate the problems of a low Dexterity score by taking proficiency in Stealth and using the Rogue's Expertise feature to double your proficiency bonus.

Truth be told, you can abandon Stealth entirely if it doesn't fit your concept. However,  you'll want to keep in mind that the assassin's primary feature requires Surprise. While by the Rules as Written, Stealth is the only way to gain surprise, many GMs will allow betrayals or sudden strikes to grant surprise.

Perhaps you can take advantage of Deception or Persuasion to lure your target into a false sense of security, or use a spell like Dimension Door or Invisibility to suddenly appear behind (or even before) a foe and strike them down.

All that said, regardless of the method you'd like to use, you're very likely to want stealth proficiency. It's the least reliant on GM interpretation and applies to the greatest variety of situations.

Narrative Impact

Though the most apparent Narrative for a character using this kit is that of a professional murderer, it is by no means the only route you can take.   Your character is now mechanically incredibly reliant on first strikes. Hunters-turned-warriors (such as most rangers) gravitate to this approach to combat by default, but characters lacking the stomach for battle might turn to this path to end fights quickly. Elite warriors might prefer ambush tactics, and even certain paladins may find a swift death to be all that their foes deserve. In truth, you could utterly ignore this kit's narrative impact and carry on as if you had never taken a single level in another class. However, I'm inclined to see that as something of a wasted opportunity to set your character apart- where did your character learn to fight dirty? Do they see it as a necessary evil and regret their actions, or do they believe they're justified as there's no justice on the battlefield?

Mechanical Impact

From a mechanical perspective, the Assassin offers lethal first-strikes. Whatever your method of attack- a greatsword, a spell, thrown dagger- your Assassinate feature guarantees you a Critical Hit, as long as the attack hits a surprised target.

I cannot emphasize enough how unbelievably good a Guaranteed Critical Hit is in Fifth Edition D&D, and believe me, if I had a way to highlight that bolded, italicized, underlined phrase I would use it. I thought about including a gif of someone slapping a desk. I need you to see those words and realize what they mean.

A critical hit multiplies all of your damage dice. If you can find bonus dice, you're going to hit incredibly hard. If you have multiple attacks, they will all be critical hits. A critical hit on a Paladin's Smite or Rogue's sneak attack is a lucky break. A full round's worth of critical hits on a Fighter's attack routine or a Wizard's Scorching Ray is a dream. Get the drop on an enemy, and that dream is your reality.

The simple truth is, the Assassinate feature alone is enough to enable ambushes as a tactic.

Kit Support

There are several feats you can take advantage of to make this kit more effective. However, even if feats aren't allowed in your game, or all of yours are already accounted for, you're not out of luck. If you keep some rules of thumb in mind, you'll find yourself faring better than someone who approached their build haphazardly.

This list is in no particular order. This is not an optimization guide, and I don't want to commit to the math necessary to rank these options, nor do I want to limit your creativity. That said, as an Assassin, you want to look for:

More attacks. These are easy enough to get: engage in two weapon fighting, pick a class that has the Extra Attack feature, or find a way to get Haste applied to you.

Extra dice for your attacks: Smite and Sneak Attack are good examples. If you have your eyes on a higher level Rogue feature, the extra sneak attack dice will help with this (if you're using an appropriate weapon).

Similarly, spells that grant multiple attack rolls such as Eldritch Blast or spells that have large dice counts like Chaos Bolt. Both of those can be picked up by classes that can't normally access them using the Magic Initiate feat.

You might also consider certain feats, depending on your build and game:

Alert gives you a large bonus to initiative. Depending on how your GM runs Surprise, you may need to win initiative to take advantage of Assassinate- Alert all but guarantees that you'll move first, especially if your Dexterity is already high.

Lucky adds some reliability to your assassination attempts by letting you try again when you roll poorly. Lucky is good to the point of being considered 'cheese' by the community, and many games ban it, but there is objectively no better way to ensure you don't ruin your big moment.

Skulker is somewhat similar to Lucky for ranged characters, though not as effective. If you're a ranged Assassin, this keeps your position from being revealed. You'd be hard pressed to convince your DM that the enemy is still surprised, but maybe you can retreat and try again. The other miscellaneous stealth bonuses are a nice plus.

Spell Sniper doubles your range for attack roll based spells- it'll be easier to surprise foes from a couple of hundred feat away. As a bonus, you ignore all but total cover and even get access to an attack roll based cantrip if you didn't have one already.

Actor might improve your odds of pulling off a social skill based assassin, just check with your GM to make sure they'll rule in your favor before you invest too heavily in the approach.

Pitfalls

There's not a whole lot you can do as a player to make this kit go wrong. Your biggest obstacles are overspecialization and, potentially, your DM.

In the first case, there will be times when Assassinate will fail you. Perhaps the situation isn't right, perhaps you missed your attack, maybe the enemy got the drop on you. None of that matters though- just keep in mind when making choices about your character that not everything needs to improve their critical damage. Dealing hundreds of points of damage with your first strike only matters if you pull it off.

In the second case, some DMs are combative. You might have a DM that feels as though you're somehow "cheating" by assassinating big threats and coaxing your party towards ambush tactics. Some DMs will simply grumble about it and you may need to back off somewhat.

Others will attempt to sabotage you, either by presenting scenarios that make assassinations difficult or impossible, overwhelmingly pitting you against foes that are impossible to surprise or are immune to critical hits, or, in the most egregious cases, abusing their power and arbitrarily depriving you of surprise when you should have it.

The best thing you can do here is keep a level head and talk to your DM. They likely don't actively want to ruin the game for you, and perhaps they have a reasonable motive- maybe you're taking the spotlight away from other players or even making the game less fun for the DM themselves (believe it or not, this is a reasonable concern for the DM- they should have simply been honest with you in the first place, but berating them now won't help either of you).

Whatever your DM's reasons, you can likely compromise if they're honest with you. If your DM gives you any variation of "this is your fault for picking a specialized feature" or "it's just the way it is", you may need to ask if you can rebuild, as they're unlikely to sympathize with your position. Ultimately, your playstyle may just not align with the DM's or group's. There are hundreds of articles about conflict resolution, some specifically tailored for D&D groups, so for the moment I'll table the specifics and perhaps update this article with a link to a quality one at a later date.

A Few Suggestions

I don't want to leave this article on a low note, so I'll close with some classes you can combine with the Assassin subclass for some exciting (if somewhat obvious) character concepts:

Way of Shadow Monk: This monk path offers several supernatural abilities relating to darkness, silence, and hiding- not the least of which is the ability to teleport between patches of shadow. If that doesn't scream "ninja" to you, I don't know what will. The monk also has access to Flurry of Blows, which can make your assassinations quite potent.

Oath of Vengeance Paladin: The Paladin's Smite might be the easiest on-demand way to take advantage of your Assassinate feature. Very few of this Archetype's features synergize with this kit, but access to Haste and Hunter's Mark doesn't hurt, and the narrative of an avenger fits well with the style of combat you'll be employing. If you liked Pathfinder's inquisitor class, this may be for you.

Fiend Patron Warlock: Eldritch Blast is always good, but you have an extra edge with it. Honestly, there's not much too this other than having an easy on-demand ranged damage option, but something about being a contract killer for your Patron seems like an exciting narrative. Works just as well for other patrons, but the fiend seems most likely to employ contract killers. You can take the Blade Pact Boon and Eldritch Smite invocations if you want to step on the Paladin's turf.

With some examples out of the way, I'll take my leave. There's near limitless potential for this kit, as there's some synergy to be had with nearly every class, so you can experiment with confidence.

New Conversion Kit: Battlemaster

Techinically, I posted this a little while ago, but it never got its own post, so here it is again! This Conversion Kit uses the first few levels of the Battle Master fighter archetype to turn any character into a grizzled veteran! 

With a small set of maneuvers, give your character a unique martial style and a toolkit to get them out of tight situations!

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Fighter, selecting the Battlemaster archetype at level 3.

Overall Impact: Your character now has a distinct martial style, perhaps breaking them away from the combat archetype of their class. The small but expandable set of maneuvers you gain lets you specialize while remaining tactically flexible.

Investment

There's not a lot to say here. Once you declare the Battlemaster as your subclass, you'll reap the benefits immediately. However, it's worth noting that there's a little more to it than that. Multiclassing does have a few restrictions. Whether you start as a Fighter or take it as your second class, you'll need at least a score of 13 in Strength or Dexterity. Depending on what you're multiclassing as, you may need a score of 13 in another attribute as well.

This isn't a tax though, far from it. These restrictions are more often than not there to save you from yourself- many of the Battlemaster's maneuvers rely on a Strength or Dexterity based DC, so you'll want these stats to be high. If you don't have at least a 14, you may wish to look elsewhere, but 13 is indeed the minimum.

You'll also want to keep in mind that the Battlemaster requires you to think on your feet. You'll get four uses of your maneuvers per short rest, which is plenty. You don't want to burn them for no benefit, but you should be more afraid of missing opportunities than running out of maneuvers. If you have a go-to attack cycle, you'll need to get used to looking for chances to break it.

Narrative Impact

From a narrative perspective, those three short levels of Battlemaster offer a unique martial style. Whatever subset of the Battlemaster's list of 16 maneuvers you choose, it's rather unlikely that anyone at the table will have precisely the same set.

According to my somewhat rusty statistics skills and an internet calculation tool, there are 560 possible combinations of three maneuvers from this short list alone. Of course that doesn't mean that every combination is viable or interesting, but what is absolutely unplayable for one character can easily become game-changing for another. Regardless, your martial style might not be as flashy as a Monk's, but you could easily play with ten or so other characters who dipped battlemaster and not see your precise set of abilities repeated.

This martial style makes your character appear and feel as though they have practiced extensively with their chosen weapons and role. Whether you proclaim your character to be a prodigy, a veteran, or a well-trained elite, three levels of Battlemaster can back up that claim with power.

(Remainder after the cut.)

Mechanical Impact

Mechanically, the Battlemaster offers tactical and strategic flexibility. Since 5e puts your character on a sort of "railroad" after you select your subclass after level 3, many martial builds in 5e rely on repeating the same cycle of attacks every round. Generally, there's little special about the individual attacks on a character's turn. Certain feats and class features offer characters special attacks, but they are likely to use them every chance they get.

The Battlemaster breaks this mold for characters by burning a limited resource to open up new possibilities. Rogues that normally attack only in combination with another character can use Tripping Attack to gain advantage on attacks and go solo, while Sorcerers might use Rally to leverage their high charisma and otherwise stagnant bonus action.

Even better, the Battlemaster maneuvers reduce the chances of a wasted action. Many of the attack maneuvers can't be wasted by a missed attack, since they don't have to be declared until the attack hits, and even if the foe successfully makes their save, you get bonus damage from your superiority die. Rather than burning an entire action to Shove your opponent, you can simply use Tripping or Pushing Attack, opening up the Battlefield Control role to Barbarians and of course, Fighters.

This flexibility does make it difficult to pin down what sort of precise mechanical impact the Battlemaster will have on your character. While this isn't meant to be a guide, I have taken the liberty of categorizing some maneuvers below by Action Type and Role after the body of the article.

Kit Support

The best way to enhance this kit's effects might at first seem to be taking more levels of Battlemaster. While this will work, you'll have to take several levels- one or two won't give you more maneuvers or even a larger superiority die.

Your best alternative is to take the Martial Adept feat. One more level of Battlemaster after the third will give you a feat, and if you take Martial Adept, you'll get two new maneuvers and an additional use of those maneuvers per rest. Quite the shot in the arm for any Battlemaster multiclass.

You could hypothetically mimic a few levels of Battlemaster by taking this feat once or twice, but the main draw is the two maneuvers- the single die makes the choice to use your maneuvers quite difficult if you don't have the Battlemaster's four base superiority die in the first place.

Pitfalls

The Battlemaster dip usually goes wrong in two circumstances:

You've chosen maneuvers that conflict with your character.

You’re frequently taking your turn without thinking to use your maneuvers.

Really, that's it.

In the first case, remember two simple rules. If you're relying on your Bonus Action to attack with an off-hand weapon or a Reaction to make an Opportunity Attack with Sentinel, then you aren't going use maneuvers like Rally or Parry. Similarly, if you aren't making weapon attacks, then the various attack enhancements aren't going to see use.

In the second case, perhaps you prefer a more stable playstyle or employ improvised tactics that don't use the game's existing mechanics at all.

In either case, if you don't want to adapt, you can always talk to your DM about rethinking your choices. However, keep in mind that it will likely be easier to convince your DM to allow you to swap one maneuver for another than to allow you to switch out levels in the Fighter class for another.

Maneuvers Categorized:

Attack Enhancements

Disarming Attack [Debuff]

Distracting Strike [Support]

Goading Attack [Battlefield Control]

Lunging Attack [Self-Buff]

Maneuvering Attack [Support, Battlefield Control]

Menacing Attack [Debuff]

Precision Attack [Self-Buff]

Pushing Attack [Battlefield Control]

Sweeping Attack [Self-Buff]

Trip Attack [Debuff, Battlefield Control]

Bonus Actions

Commander's Strike [Support]

Feinting Attack [Self-Buff]

Rally [Support]

Movement Enhancements

Evasive Footwork [Self-Buff, Battlefield Control]

Reactions

Riposte

Parry

Since there are so many maneuvers to choose from, dipping Battlemaster could be overwhelming for players used to 5e's usual railroad after 3rd level. With that in mind, I'll take the slight risk of overstepping and provide some maneuver sets that support certain playstyles or archetypes:

The Archer: Evasive Footwork, Menacing Attack, and Precision Attack. (If feats are allowed in your game, take the Sharpshooter feat and combo the -5 attack/+10 damage benefit with Precision Attack for a low-cost damage boost.)

The Bully: Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, and Tripping Attack. (This setup focuses on disrupting your opponents rather than killing them outright. Great for Rogues to help set up Sneak Attack opportunities, or anyone else whose style relies on having foes right where you want them.)

The Defender: Goading Attack, Maneuvering Attack, and Menacing Attack. (You might also consider taking the Protection Fighting Style with your first Fighter level to add another tool to your kit.)

The Duelist/Two Weapon Fighter: Disarming Attack, Riposte, and Parry. (If you frequently find yourself facing unarmed foes, replace Disarming Attack with Menacing Attack for a similar effect. If you're using two weapons, remember that your Bonus Action is accounted for if you try to modify this set!)

Great Weapon Fighter: Riposte, Precision Attack, Tripping Attack (If feats are allowed in your game, take the Great Weapon Master feat and combo the -5 attack/+10 damage benefit with Precision Attack orTripping Attack for a low-cost damage boost.) 

The Leader: Commander's Strike, Maneuvering Attack, and Rally. (Make sure you don't dump your charisma if you use this kit- or any other kit with Rally for that matter. This is a great kit for those of you who aren't using your bonus action, or those of you who don't always need it! Your allies will love you!)

Polearm Fighter:  Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, and Tripping Attack. (This kit takes advantage of reach- so the classic Polearm Master/Sentinel feat combo works especially well.)

October Brew Fest: Week 0

We’re still in the blog warmup phase for now, so I’m bringing back Conversion Kits.

This is an article series I’ll be bringing back (and continuing) this month, where the goal is to transform your character with just a few choices. The motto is Minimum Investment, Maximum Impact.

Now that I have more eyes on them, if these articles do well, I may post more in the future. 

Conversion Kit: The Assassin

Continuing my Conversion Kit series of articles, we discuss the Assassin subclass! Turn any character into a master of ambushes and terribly efficient killer with just three levels of Rogue.

Below the readmore, you can find Additional Support for this kit, as well as Pitfalls and Character Suggestions.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Rogue, selecting the Assassin archetype at level 3.

Overall Impact: Your character now has the mechanical backing to follow through on clever schemes with lethal force.

Investment

Much like our last conversion kit, once you select the Assassin subclass, you can immediately set off to do what assassins do best. Once again, you’ll need to satisfy the multiclassing requirement- just a score of 13 in Dexterity, plus a score of 13 in whatever attribute your other class of choice requires.

You don’t necessarily need a Dexterity higher than this, but remember that your bonus to Stealth rolls keys off of it. You can mitigate the problems of a low Dexterity score by taking proficiency in Stealth and using the Rogue’s Expertise feature to double your proficiency bonus.

Truth be told, you can abandon Stealth entirely if it doesn’t fit your concept. However,  you’ll want to keep in mind that the assassin’s primary feature requires Surprise. While by the Rules as Written, Stealth is the only way to gain surprise, many GMs will allow betrayals or sudden strikes to grant surprise.

Perhaps you can take advantage of Deception or Persuasion to lure your target into a false sense of security, or use a spell like Dimension Door or Invisibility to suddenly appear behind (or even before) a foe and strike them down.

All that said, regardless of the method you’d like to use, you’re very likely to want stealth proficiency. It’s the least reliant on GM interpretation and applies to the greatest variety of situations.

Narrative Impact

Though the most apparent Narrative for a character using this kit is that of a professional murderer, it is by no means the only route you can take.   Your character is now mechanically incredibly reliant on first strikes. Hunters-turned-warriors (such as most rangers) gravitate to this approach to combat by default, but characters lacking the stomach for battle might turn to this path to end fights quickly. Elite warriors might prefer ambush tactics, and even certain paladins may find a swift death to be all that their foes deserve. In truth, you could utterly ignore this kit’s narrative impact and carry on as if you had never taken a single level in another class. However, I’m inclined to see that as something of a wasted opportunity to set your character apart- where did your character learn to fight dirty? Do they see it as a necessary evil and regret their actions, or do they believe they’re justified as there’s no justice on the battlefield?

Mechanical Impact

From a mechanical perspective, the Assassin offers lethal first-strikes. Whatever your method of attack- a greatsword, a spell, thrown dagger- your Assassinate feature guarantees you a Critical Hit, as long as the attack hits a surprised target.

I cannot emphasize enough how unbelievably good a Guaranteed Critical Hit is in Fifth Edition D&D, and believe me, if I had a way to highlight that bolded, italicized, underlined phrase I would use it. I thought about including a gif of someone slapping a desk. I need you to see those words and realize what they mean.

A critical hit multiplies all of your damage dice. If you can find bonus dice, you’re going to hit incredibly hard. If you have multiple attacks, they will all be critical hits. A critical hit on a Paladin’s Smite or Rogue’s sneak attack is a lucky break. A full round’s worth of critical hits on a Fighter’s attack routine or a Wizard’s Scorching Ray is a dream. Get the drop on an enemy, and that dream is your reality.

The simple truth is, the Assassinate feature alone is enough to enable ambushes as a tactic.

Keep reading

Brewfest Week 2: Warriors Dirty Fighter Conversion Kit

Our first post for week 2 is advice for staying alive- no matter what it takes. Using the Tavern brawler feat and improvised weapons, a variety of unconventional tactics become available.

This one actually went up early on the foundry a little early, and you can read this article with the original formatting there.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: 'Half' Feat (In place of an Ability Score Increase [ASI])

Minimum Investment: One of your precious ASI slots- this stings less if you're a Fighter or Rogue.

Overall Impact: You are able to utilize unconventional forms of attack without penalty, making combat more expressive, and opening up new strategies.

Investment

This is one of the easiest conversion kits to access, in theory. By simply taking the Tavern Brawler feat, you have access not to a single new fighting style, but to a variety of new techniques ranging from unconventional weapons and unarmed strikes to truly off-the-cuff improvisation that may fit with any number of fighting styles.

Evaluating the investment here is a little bit odd though, because while any conversion kit does you no good unless you use it, you're likely to think you'll use this more than you actually will. You'll imagine yourself throwing stones, plucking a lit torch from a sconce and swinging it like a flaming club, or any manner of truly off the cuff attacks- but realistically, you need a plan.

And I hear you- "how can I plan to use an improvised weapon"?

But here's the thing, improvised does not strictly mean you've made the decision to use an object as a weapon in the moment. The weapon can be improvised in the sense that it is not meant to be used as a weapon- or, if you ask certain designers, a weapon being used in a way it is not meant to be used is considered improvised.

And there's the rub: the real investment is yours, not your character's. To get a plan in place, you need to understand what an 'Improvised Weapon' is in terms of DnD5e. If you're the type to use this feat, your wheels might already be turning.

So what is an improvised weapon?

It is a distinct type of weapon- it is not a simple or martial weapon.

It deals 1d4 damage, and it is a thrown weapon with a 20/60 range.

It does not have any other properties- it is not a finesse weapon, a heavy weapon, a light weapon, or two-handed weapon (By default).

It is still a weapon, for any feature which may require one.

So simply put, you can't (effectively) two weapon fight, sneak attack, great weapon fight, or similar with an improvised weapon. We'll discuss what you can do in the mechanical impact section, but I wanted to set aside any misconceptions out of the gate.

Before we move on to the narrative impact, I'm going to lay out the feat's benefits, because they're rather broad:

You add your proficiency bonus to attacks with improvised weapons.

You roll a damage die with your unarmed attacks, rather than dealing a single point of damage.

When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple the target.

(Remainder below the cut)

Narrative Impact

The narrative suggested here is obvious- you're a brawler. You fight with your bare hands, grab the nearest combatant by their shirt collar, and maybe smash an empty ale bottle over their head. But your narrative options? Those are near limitless.

Are you a fighter that catches foes off guard with shield bashes, pommel strikes, and kicks?  A paladin or cleric so committed to hunting undead and fiends that they utilize holy water and wooden stakes as a matter of course? An alchemist or wizard that deploys alchemical concoctions by splashing or tossing them at nearby foes? A monk whose flowing movements and measured blows are supplemented by a pragmatic willingness to apply brute force where necessary? An assassin who deploys inhaled poisons by simply lobbing their containers?

If you have an unconventional combat tactic in mind, this feat will make it possible. The trouble is going to be getting something out of it mechanically. If you don't mind losing a little mechanical edge for a little bit of expression, there are some very cool things you can do. However, let's look at ways you can get a mechanical boost out of it.

Mechanical Impact

Okay so we've talked about how there's some interesting imagery we can get out of this feat, and maybe some mechancial benefit, but how do we get there? I think there are three broad categories of mechanical impact you can get out of this feat. In no particular order Brawling, Unconventional Weapons, and Payload Delivery.

That's a whole bunch of seemingly meaningless jargon: let me explain.

Brawling

This is the impact the feat was named for. This is best used by strength-based frontliners: the usual suspects are Barbarians, Fighters, Monks, and Paladins.

However, we're aiming for unconventional here aren't we? Blade Pact Warlocks, Rangers, Clerics, and Wild-Shaped Druids can certainly get in on the action if they have the strength to back it up- or a Rogue with expertise in Athletics.

The trick to brawling is simple: You want to leverage the feat's 3rd benefit and grapple as a bonus action. You probably want to dole out some damage on that grappled target or take advantage of the grapple to keep them disabled.

So you need two things here: a trigger for the grapple and a follow-through. Fighting unarmed or with a one-handed weapon is ideal here. Good thing this feat sets you up for that in several ways.

To trigger your bonus action grapple, you need to make a successful unarmed strike or with an improvised weapon. Depending on how many free hands you normally have, that might be quite easy, or it might be a little complicated.

Monks have it easy here, every attack they're likely to make opens up this bonus action. Afterwards you can follow through with Flurry of Blows, perhaps even knock them prone if you're following the Way of the Open Hand. You could even use both hands to grapple and do this to two separate targets while continuing to fight with your feet- though your DM might start to balk at this point. Wild-Shaped Druids have it just as easy- even if your DM doesn't consider natural attacks unarmed strikes (a fair interpretation, to my mind), nothing's stopping you from making an unarmed attack anyway- just don't use the teeth and claws until you have your target grappled.

Now if you're a Fighter wielding a one handed weapon and nothing else, well, problem solved. If you're a Fighter or maybe Barbarian wielding a two handed weapon, you can simply take one hand off of the weapon to strike and grab. You might be able to follow through by using your weapon to make improvised attacks against the target. If your DM rules that the two-handed property can't be overridden by making improvised attacks, you might be able to use knees, feet, or elbows to strike the grappled target.

If you're a sword-and-board Paladin or Fighter, well, now things are more complicated. You can drop your weapon to make an unarmed strike followed by a grapple, but your DM is unlikely to let you pick that weapon back up immediately if it doesn't work. But you can make an improvised attack with the shield, and drop the sword to execute the grapple if it works. If you're a two-weapon Ranger or similar you can execute a similar maneuver by striking with the pommel or handle of your weapon and dropping one of them to execute the grapple. The follow-through here consists of further improvised attacks with the shield, or attacks with the remaining one handed waeapon.

Unconventional Weapons 

Many pieces of 'adventuring equipment' in the PHB are treated as improvised weapons when you attack with them. This feat, oddly, is the only way to gain proficiency in the use of these weapons.

Alchemist's Fires, Acid Vials, Holy Water, and Oil Flasks are the only 'official' options I'm aware of, but even these are useful as sources of on-demand elemental damage for characters that don't normally have access to it.

I struggle to think that a DM who wasn't utterly adversarial refusing to allow you to make other simple weapons- a molotov cocktail, for example. I also think it would be perfectly reasonable to deliver inhaled or contact poisons by lobbing a vial. That's pretty much the definition of an improvised weapon attack- plus there's precedent in in most of the 'official' improvised weapons for lobbing vials.

This makes for an extremely unpredictable character if you're a non-caster. Battle Master Fighters, Rogues (especially Thieves), and certain Monks can deploy a simply staggering number of tactical options- from the right damage for the situation, to devastating conditions, to denying an area to their foes.

If you are a caster, there are some neat tricks you can do with spells. Fire spells can be enhanced by oil, and using a catapult spell to launch an improvised item doesn't require you to be proficient, but at low levels it's nice to be able to use the item if you're out of spells. The primary draw of using this method with spellcasters, in my mind, is that casters tend to be proficient in the sorts of tools that create unconventional weapons, so you can keep yourself supplied.

This fits quite well with Artificers and Wizards for most tools. Clerics, Paladins, and perhaps Celestial patron Warlocks could create Holy Water. It seems less likely that Sorcerers or other types of Warlocks would use this method, but nothing is stopping them.

Frankly, if you're the type to use spells that don't deal direct damage, you're more likely to find use for unconventional weapons. If not, your damage spells will always far outstrip the usefulness of these items. If you're playing a Thief or Battle Master, you 're already looking for opportunities to apply a unique skill set- this just expands your toolbox.

Payload Delivery

There's little tactical benefit to this technique, in most scenarios. This method disregards the damage and other properties of improvised weapons, and simply uses the fact that improvised weapons are weapons to deliver the damage of another feature in a flavorful or unexpected manner.

This primarily serves the purpose of expression without sacrificing effectiveness, but you might also gurantee that you can use your class features even if your weapons are not accessible- this may or may not be important to you depending on your campaign and character.

Paladins and Warlocks can deliver their (Eldritch) Smites through improvised weapons so long as the attack is a melee attack, and Battle Masters can deliver their maneuvers at range or in melee through improvised weapons. Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade, favored by Bladesingers and Eldritch Knights, don't discriminate against improvised weapons. In certain circumstances, this might let you continue to fight effectively even if you're doing another important job with your hands, such as bearing the party's light source.

Delivering conditional damage, such as sneak attack or great weapon fighting, can be more challenging since improvised weapons don't have properties, but you might convince a DM that a rail spike should be a finesse weapon or that a table should be heavy. Talk to your DM about these sorts of strategies before you take this feat.

Kit Support

Talk to your DM. Improvised Weapons fall almost entirely under the purview of the collaboration between players and DM. Odds are good that if you aren't trying to break the game (and none of these strategies should), your DM will look for ways to reward you for adopting an unconventional strategy. Especially if they know where you're going with it ahead of time.

That said, most of the ways to enhance the use of this feat that are actually found within the system are the few items on the adventuring gear table that are called out as improvised weapons- which we have discussed at length.

Perhaps there are others floating around in various published adventures or setting books- if you have access to those books, perhaps give them a once over.

Pitfalls

I don't need to tell you that your DM can handily ruin this one for you.

What I do need to tell you is that if your plan isn't thought through, if you haven't explained your plan to your DM beforehand and they balk, or if you're expecting this feat to form your entire battle strategy rather than being a single tool for your kit, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Otherwise, making sure your character can use at least two of the feat's three applications reduces the odds your strategy will simply never be relevant in actual play.

October Brew Festival Week 2: Warriors

As promised, here’s the Conversion Kit for the Battle Master, updated for viewing on Tumblr.

Below I’ve included an update for the article that acknowledges the maneuvers recently released through Unearthed Arcana, some information I previously neglected, and a taste of Robilar’s Treatise on Combat, a larger preview of which is coming friday.

10/13/2020 Update: UA Maneuvers

I'm normally disinclined to include UA content in conversion kits since it's not official, and these kits rely on optional rules like Multiclassing and Feats in the first place. That said, I'm opting for a speculative piece here: I'm betting these maneuvers, in some form or other, wind up in the upcoming Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If I'm wrong, well- no harm done. Check them out here.

Categorizations

Bonus Actions

Restraining Strike [Battlefield Control, Debuff]

Snipe

Movement Enhancers

Bait and Switch [Battlefield Control, Support]

Reactions

Brace

Skill Enhancers

Ambush

Silver Tongue

Studious Eye

Analysis

I'm not going to go too deep on this- that's not really the point of a conversion kit, although, maybe I should consider expanding the scope of these. But it's very interesting to me that the most common Maneuver category- the attack enhancer- is completely gone, to be replaced by several skill enhancers.

This makes sense- there's only so many conditions you can attach as riders to attacks. But what this means for you is that this kit now has more to offer if you're less focused on combat.

Here are some new recommended maneuver sets, as well as updates to the previous suggestions, acknowledging the new maneuvers.

The Bully (UA Tweak): Knock off Menacing Attack, toss in Restraining Strike to better control your opponents.

The Defender (UA Tweak): Consider finding a place for Bait and Switch to keep friends out of harms way.

The Diplomat: Silver Tongue, Studious Eye, and Rally. (If your primary contribution to the team is to be a 'face', this lets you use your superiority dice in that context. Rally gives you something to do on the battlefield.)

The Scout: Ambush, Commander's Strike, and Evasive Footwork. (You're relying on your allies to do the heavy lifting, so stay hidden, maintain your distance, and give them some free shots).

The Symbol: Menacing Attack, Silver Tongue, and Rally. (This kit differentiates itself from the leader by being less of a shot-caller and more of a inspiring or intimidating presence on the battlefield.)

Something I Neglected: Poor Maneuvers

In the original article, I didn't pass value judgements on the various maneuvers. I was caught up in the excitement of the versatility this conversion kit offered, and wanted to believe that they all had the ability to be used well, but truthfully, this isn't so, and we see some of the old problems repeated with new maneuvers.

Sweeping Attack deals only token damage to a secondary target- there's a reason I couldn't bring myself to recommend it in any kits. Snipe seems to serve a similar purpose for picking off ranged targets, however, both suffer from an assumption that very likely isn't true: that a single target can be felled by a single blow.

Of course, the designers likely thought this might be useful against hordes of low level foes, but even then, a single enhanced attack likely can't even fell a town guard. Unless you plan to burn through superiority dice to keep dealing out damage, this doesn't serve the purpose of projecting your damage in any meaningful way.

Brace seems to suffer from a similar assumption. It's no help discouraging targets from passing you- that's what opportunity attacks are for- and in a drawn out fight Riposte gives you more attacks and any attack enhancer gives you better odds of dealing damage. If Brace is meant to kill an incoming target, well, you likely weren’t afraid of their attack to begin with.

Additionally, Lunging Attack's benefit is too short lived to be of use even in the rare edge scenarios where your reach matters.

Rally still has a use, but numerically is unlikely to equate to even one enemy attack beyond 5th level.

Some Good News

This is a problem I'm going to address in Robilar's Treatise on Combat, the preview of which will drop Friday of this week. But on that note, here's a taste- alternatives to Lunging Attack, Sweeping Attack, and Rally. This is not necessarily the final wording, but I feel these are steps in the right direction.

Lunging Stance: When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can expend one superiority die to increase your reach for this attack and all other attacks made until the beginning of your next turn by 5 feet. You add your superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Rally (Alternate Rule): On your turn, you can use a bonus action and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of one of your companions. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier + your character level.

Sweeping Attack (Alternate Rule): When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die and your bonus action to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. You may add your superiority die to the damage of the first attack attack.

Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. You may roll an attack against the second creature, with the same weapon, using the same attack bonus, damage, and the same additional effects as the first attack.

You may not use any additional maneuvers to enhance the second attack.

New Conversion Kit: Battlemaster

Techinically, I posted this a little while ago, but it never got its own post, so here it is again! This Conversion Kit uses the first few levels of the Battle Master fighter archetype to turn any character into a grizzled veteran! 

With a small set of maneuvers, give your character a unique martial style and a toolkit to get them out of tight situations!

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Fighter, selecting the Battlemaster archetype at level 3.

Overall Impact: Your character now has a distinct martial style, perhaps breaking them away from the combat archetype of their class. The small but expandable set of maneuvers you gain lets you specialize while remaining tactically flexible.

Investment

There’s not a lot to say here. Once you declare the Battlemaster as your subclass, you’ll reap the benefits immediately. However, it’s worth noting that there’s a little more to it than that. Multiclassing does have a few restrictions. Whether you start as a Fighter or take it as your second class, you’ll need at least a score of 13 in Strength or Dexterity. Depending on what you’re multiclassing as, you may need a score of 13 in another attribute as well.

This isn’t a tax though, far from it. These restrictions are more often than not there to save you from yourself- many of the Battlemaster’s maneuvers rely on a Strength or Dexterity based DC, so you’ll want these stats to be high. If you don’t have at least a 14, you may wish to look elsewhere, but 13 is indeed the minimum.

You’ll also want to keep in mind that the Battlemaster requires you to think on your feet. You’ll get four uses of your maneuvers per short rest, which is plenty. You don’t want to burn them for no benefit, but you should be more afraid of missing opportunities than running out of maneuvers. If you have a go-to attack cycle, you’ll need to get used to looking for chances to break it.

Narrative Impact

From a narrative perspective, those three short levels of Battlemaster offer a unique martial style. Whatever subset of the Battlemaster’s list of 16 maneuvers you choose, it’s rather unlikely that anyone at the table will have precisely the same set.

According to my somewhat rusty statistics skills and an internet calculation tool, there are 560 possible combinations of three maneuvers from this short list alone. Of course that doesn’t mean that every combination is viable or interesting, but what is absolutely unplayable for one character can easily become game-changing for another. Regardless, your martial style might not be as flashy as a Monk’s, but you could easily play with ten or so other characters who dipped battlemaster and not see your precise set of abilities repeated.

This martial style makes your character appear and feel as though they have practiced extensively with their chosen weapons and role. Whether you proclaim your character to be a prodigy, a veteran, or a well-trained elite, three levels of Battlemaster can back up that claim with power.

(Remainder after the cut.)

Keep reading

New Conversion Kit: Spellsword

October Brewfest: Week 3

Tomorrow we finally transition into full caster subclasses (with a few coming next week as well), but for today, we’ll split the difference and take a look at some advice for blending magic and warfare.

This conversion kit is mostly a matter of spell choice. There’s a number of ways to get spells on a martial character, but getting the desired effect takes some precision. Let’s get into it.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Spell Selection and/or Feat.

Minimum Investment: As above. If you aren’t a spellcaster with access to the spells, multiclass into one, or take the Magic Initiate feat.

Overall Impact: You use spells, not to supplant martial skill, but to enhance it.

Investment

Your investment here is heavily determined by your existing class.

Artificers, Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks have the most variety- but Clerics, Druids, and Bards have access to a few choice spells too. Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters share the wizard’s spell list. For any of these classes, Feats or multiclassing might be attractive to get at additional spells, but you have access to enough spells to develop a combat style out of the gate.

If you’re a non-caster, a Paladin, or a Ranger, you’re going to have to work for it a bit more. Multiclassing is an option, as is the Magic Initiate feat. We’ll discuss methods below.

Multiclassing, as always, requires a 13 in a specific Ability Score. (Intelligence for Artificers and Wizards; Charisma for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Bards; or Wisdom for Druids and Clerics)

I advocate for minimum investment, so I would advise using the following rules to decide how you’ll get at your spells:

If you’re a full caster, one level of multiclassing is easy. Unless you’re lacking in the appropriate ability score. In that case, select the magic initiate feat.

If you’re a Ranger or Paladin, then multiclassing into Druid or Cleric is painless, since they all key off of Wisdom.

If you’re a non-caster, I have to advocate for Magic Initiate. You don’t have nearly as much to gain from multi-classing as a character who can already cast spells.

Now’s a good time to discuss scope. This article aims to blend magic and martial combat. If you’re a full caster, you won’t want to do this all the time. If you’re looking to bolt a toolbox of spells onto the side of your fighter chassis, this isn’t the article for you. We want your spells and attacks to be (roughly) equal parts of a cohesive combat style. For this reason, we will be focusing on Cantrips.

Narrative Impact

The narrative impact here can be fairly varied, based on what you want to do with the kit, your class, and whether you multiclassed to get to the spells you’re using.

For full casters, consider how you wound up on the front lines. Elves are known for mixing their traditions (Bladesingers, anyone?) and Dwarves are quite hardy. Abjurers and War Mages have good reason to stick close to their comrades, while many Clerics stay close to provide healing. 

This is a conversion kit where the narrative impact can sometimes be minimal, but considering it can certainly help you define your character. Certain Artificer and Bard archetypes lean into frontline battle, and Druids might simply stick close for their wildshape. If your archetype assumes you’ll be getting up close and personal, then by all means skip to the mechanical impact section for advice on getting the most out of your cantrip choices.

For everyone else, this can be much more exciting.

Whether you multiclassed or utilized magic initiate, you can latch onto the class you chose to inform your narrative. 

Do you have latent magical power as a sorcerer? If so, what’s stopping you from becoming a full sorcerer? Is the bloodline weak, recently manifested, or is your innate magic perhaps the result of recent events instead? Perhaps you even detest or mistrust your bloodline.

Have you studied magic as a Wizard? Who taught you the few tricks you know? Were there others? Were you satisfied with what you learned, or do you thirst for further knowledge? If you’re a High Elf, the study of magic may be culturally important. If, like an Artificer or Bard, your magic stems from study of a craft, you might wish to answer similar questions about your narrative.

Did you recieve your magic from a patron, similar to a Warlock? Perhaps your magic was a gift meant to tempt you, and you have refused it. Did you serve willingly? Or disappoint your patron in some way? Perhaps there is a broken pact in your history, or you simply did not prove yourself to the being who gave you your power and took a new path.

If your magic is Divine, like a cleric, when and how did you find your faith? Do you serve or venerate any particular god? What separates you from clerics and paladins? Do you lack devotion, or do you simply believe that your path will serve your god just as well as any other?

Power that stems from nature like that of the druids is much more difficult to pin down. Have you always had a kinship with nature? How did this kinship develop, and what do you make of it? Do you have other skills or knowledge as a result?Were you taught secrets by a member of a drudic order? Have you formally joined them? Do you serve any particular role, if so? Do they resent you for having those secrets?

Mechanical Impact

Because we have a very specific goal with this kit, we will focus on a specific selection of cantrips. I have deliberately left out most ranged attack cantrips- you don’t need me to tell you that ranged, magical damage is a good thing to have. You’ve either already chosen a few or have a different means of dealing damage lined up. If you’re here, you want something interesting.

I’ll divide the cantrips by category, listing the relevant cantrips and the class lists these spells are available to after each header. 

Area of Effect

Available to: Everyone

Spell Options: Green-Flame Blade, Sword Burst, Thunderclap, and Word of Radiance.

These are good for damaging or clearing out multiple nearby enemies. I want to stick to interesting cantrips that do something besides damage, however AoE damage is one of the hardest things for martial characters to get.

Sword Burst, Thunderclap, and Word of Radiance are functionally just different aesthetics for the same effect: xd6 damage to all adjacent characters (if they fail a save. The save and damage types vary slightly, but you really only need one of these.

Green-Flame Blade is unique in that it has two effects: First, it magically enhances your melee damage, making it useful for even single targets. Second, it only damages one other target, but the damage is guaranteed if you hit the first target with a melee attack. You might be able to justify taking two AoE spells in this case.

Debuff

Available to: Artificer, Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard.

Spell Options: Frostbite and Vicious Mockery.

Much like the area of effect spells, these are different spells that achieve the same end. Stick to one or the other. 

(There is a slight difference; Vicious Mockery affects all attacks while Frostbite calls out weapon attacks specifically. This makes Mockery slightly better, but it’s only available to Bards.)

These spells impose disadvantage on a single attack roll. It’s not a huge edge, and not something you want to use for yourself. This spell is for casting on an enemy that you just can’t peel off of an ally to grant them some breathing room. Truthfully, I have to recommend that you choose a spell from the following category instead, if you can.

Disable

Available to: Sorcerers, Wizard.

Spell Options: Sapping Sting and Shocking Grasp.

These are two wildly different spells, but they can still serve somewhat similar purposes. 

Shocking Grasp is a melee only spell that denies enemies their reaction. This can help allies get out of a threatened area, but it also denies other useful reactions such as shield spells and parries if it hits.

Sapping Sting might be hard to get depending on your DM, but is a ranged spell that forces foes prone. This can be useful for keeping foes at bay, helping allies flee dangerous melee opponents, or setting up your own melee attackers.

Sapping Sting is more versatile, but Shocking Grasp just works when the appropriate scenario comes up. This is one category where you can justify picking both.

Drag

Available to: Artificers, Druids, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Wizards.

Spell Options: Gust, Lightning Lure, and Thorn Whip.

Drags allow you to consistently manipulate enemy positions. Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip pull enemies toward you, placing them at risk of Opportunity Attacks from you, while Gust allows you to push enemies away from your allies (so it’s not quite a drag, sue me).

You really only need one of these. Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip are valuable if you’re ‘sticky’ and can keep enemies nearby, while Gust has a longer range and might be a better choice if the enemies will just move back into position anyway.

Keep in mind that Lightning Lure and Gust contest strength saves, while Thorn Whip relies on an attack roll. 

Lockdown

Available to: Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.

Spell Options: Booming Blade.

There’s only one Cantrip that fills this role, and it’s the king of it. Booming Blade. You’re losing out on very little damage thanks to its initial damage, and it deals heavy damage to anyone who tries to move after being struck. This alone can make you quite sticky and makes drags more attractive.

This one benefits more heavily than others from the right support, so be sure to check out that section if this spell interests you.

‘Traps’

Available to: 7th Level Eldritch Knights

Spell Options: Blade Ward and True Strike

The ‘available to’ section above surely looks a little odd if you’ve been playing 5e for a while. But seriously, these spells eat your entire turn for minimal benefit. However, Eldritch Knights can sometimes sneak some use out of them thanks to their 7th level war magic feature.

True Strike can be used to set up in advance for a big hit on your next turn, and Blade Ward lets you heavily tank up against humanoid foes where necessary- but they only somewhat work for Eldritch Knights because they can still attack while using them. This is a little too niche for me to go into detail, but it didn’t seem right not to mention it at all.

Choosing your Cantrips

Whether you’re a full caster setting aside one or two cantrips for mixing it up in melee, or a magic initiate with only two slots to fill, you’ll want to make your choices count.

By pairing your cantrips into a cohesive strategy, you can maximize their impact.

Pairing Area of Effect spells with Drags will let you ensure you have at least two targets to work, while pairing a Drag with a Lockdown allows you to force foes to duel you. Taking a Disable and a Drag allows your allies to move freely while foes are driven out of position.

If you aren’t sure what else to do, grab one AoE spell for groups and either Booming Blade or Green-flame Blade. (The latter spells are useful for single target damage even if you don’t use their secondary effect).

Kit Support

War Caster is an old standby for melee spellcasters. All of its benefits are useful, but we’re interested in the ability to cast a single target spell in place of an opportunity attack. This really opens up your ability to combo your cantrips together. You might consider using Booming Blade as a reaction to prevent foes from fleeing, or a disable or debuff to take the pressure off of the enemy’s next target. Any damaging cantrip is more punishing than a single attack, and using drags can force enemies to into position for this strategy. Keep in mind that this doesn’t work with AoE spells.

In all honesty, I think letting your reaction be the bulk of your spellcasting while you otherwise strike with weapon attacks is the best way to use this kit- it allows both aspects of your character to shine without competing with one another.

If you want to push this further, Polearm Master allows you to severely punish foes who attempt to close with you when combined with the previous feat, since it allows you to make opportunity attacks against foes who enter your reach. Keep in mind you’re casting a spell, in place of an opportunity attack, not as an opportunity attack, so we can’t further combo with Sentinel to stop them in their tracks.

While slightly more niche, Mobile plays well with Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade- if you hit, your enemies don’t get to attack you when you move away. This is nice for Green-flame Blade, but devastating when used with Booming Blade since enemies who pursue you will suffer extra damage. This feat also allows squishier characters to skirmish without taking extra damage from opportunity attacks.

Pitfalls

If you are a full spellcaster, you might struggle to survive in melee. The feats that grant armor proficiency can grant some reprieve, or utilizing mage armor. Consider adopting hit and run tactics using the mobile feat if those don’t appeal to you.

The ‘canned’ spellswords don’t suffer from being out of place nearly as much- Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Moon Druids, Valor or Sword College Bards, and most Clerics have the armor or skills to fight on the front lines- as do Mountain Dwarves.

There is, of course, the usual risk of investing in this strategy and proceeding not to use it at all. The best way to mitigate this risk is to make sure that your spell choices aren’t both shut down by the same things. Pick spells that target different saves and serve different purposes, and you should use at least one in most fights.

New Conversion Kit: Arcane Sapper

October Brewfest: Week 3

Before I reveal the subclasses I’ve been hammering at this week, let’s see what we can do with the existing mechanics one last time. Today we’ll really dig into an underutilized feature: a familiar’s ability to deliver touch spells.

This kit utlizes a familiar and the Glyph of Warding spell to prepare low-risk magical traps at a distance.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Spell Choice

Minimum Investment: Two spells: Glyph of Warding and Find Familiar. (The Former requires at least 5 levels in a full caster class)

Overall Impact: You are able to prepare devastating magical glyphs behind enemy lines via your familiar, winning battles before they are fought, and all without ever putting yourself in harm’s way.

Investment

The two cores to this kit are available to a rather limited number of classes.

By default, only Wizards can learn the Find Familiar spell, and a familiar is a strictly necessary part of this kit. Since Wizards can also learn Glyph of Warding by default, Wizards have the easiest time achieving the use of this kit.

Three other classes have access to Glyph of Warding by default: Artificers, Bards, and Clerics. Of these, not one counts Find Familiar among their class spells.

Bards can hypothetically get this kit online at 10th level using their Magical Secrets feature to access Find Familiar, but realistically, this is 5 levels after you’d otherwise get to it and there are likely better spells to snag.

I’d recommend instead that Bards, Clerics, and Artificers utilize the Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate feats to gain a companion. Ritual Caster has certain advantages since you’re already opting for a methodical playstyle, but you can feel free to use Magic Initiate if you want a little more immediate punch in the form of cantrips. You know what’s best for your character.

The only other class that has access to Find Familiar is the Warlock, and even then only if they select the Pact of the Chain. However, there are two problems for Warlocks trying to access this kit: They have no way to access Glyph of Warding shy of 5 levels of multiclassing- that’s far too deep an investment to get this trick online, and Warlocks don’t have the spell slots to back it up. (Warlocks do have a place in this kit, so if you like their flavor, stay tuned for the kit support section).

Narrative Impact

So you’re sending your familiar out to prepare magical traps ahead of you. What does this method say about your personality and history?

Perhaps you were formally trained in this technique, and used powerful glyphs to defend locations of great significance? Were they holy sites, military encampments, or something else? Perhaps you slowly but surely rooted out enemy presence, or performed unpleasant and untraceable deeds from a distance. Who did you work for? What were they trying to accomplish?

You might have developed this technique to defend yourself from overwhelming odds. A Wizard whose research attracted the wrong attention, a Cleric whose faith led to persecution, a Bard who knows too much.

Perhaps you are a meticulous planner, and you approach battle as a puzzle to be solved, and Glyphs are your hidden piece on the board. A capricious trickster who toys with foes and delights in outmaneuvering them at every step. A sadist who inflicts terrible fates with a precise network of glyphs.

Your choice of familiar can lean into this narrative, if you do not choose based on mechanical advantage. Hawks befit military sappers, while owls and cats match stealthy agents. A spider might suggest a clever cruelty, while a weasel or rat might suggest cowardice.

Mechanical Impact

Okay so we know that we’re using our familiar and Glyph of Warding to set up traps for foes. But what does that look like?

Your familiar has a feature that you may be aware of, but likely rarely use: when you cast a touch spell, your familiar can deliver the spell as a reaction as long as it is within 100ft of you. This usually puts your familiar in the thick of combat, and so you’ve likely written it off.

What you likely didn’t realize is that Glyph of Warding is a touch spell. And why would you? It takes an hour to cast, and you’re unlikely to get away with standing around for an hour while you cast it. But your familiar may not have much better to do.

Note that your familiar always obeys you, can communicated telepathically with you while you are within 100 feet of it, and you can use its senses while within 100 feet of it. What does all of this mean? You basically have a living drone that can place Glyphs of Warding on command.

If you do this right, you can use a familiar to scout the encounter, and set up your victory before the battle has even begun.

There’s more to it than that of course- a lot can change in the hour it takes to cast the glyph. Using this ki5 most effectively might involve luring or forcing enemies into the area of effect of your glyph in some cases.

This is worth the effort- when a glyph goes off it changes the entire dynamic of an encounter. You can heavily damage or disable entire groups before initiative has even been rolled.

Before we close out this section, it bears mentioning that certain familiars make for better sapper’s aides than others. Spiders are excellent for indoor sapping, they’re tiny, and even if noticed not particularly suspicious, though they are somewhat slow. Outdoors, a flying familiar such as an Owl, Hawk, or Raven is better for reaching the target location quickly, and rarely looks out of place outdoors.

Kit Support

Earlier I mentioned that the Warlock had a place in this kit. The Pact of the Chain grants access to powerful familiars. Imps, Quasits, and Sprites have on-demand invisibility that can help them place your Glyphs without risk. The Pseudodragon has magic resistance, which may allow them to take a hit from a misfired glyph more easily. However, keep in mind that you can simply summon a fallen familiar once more. These special familiars do require a three level investment in the warlock class, but getting to choose a patron can add some unique flavor to your sapper. Going this route can save a feat if you are a Bard, Cleric, or Artificer in need of a familiar.

There are also a few additional spells your familiar can deliver out in the field. Snare is a simple disabling trap that your famililar can deliver from level one. At higher levels, Symbol offers a much more efficient variant on Glyph of Warding with a variety of devastating effects. Rope Trick is an odd duck spell that could give your familiar a panic room if you need to stage a rescue or if you need a hideout that your familiar can prepare for you ahead of time.

Plugging my own work, Spymaster’s Coin from the Unseen Seer document is a fairly unobtrusive touch spell that your DM might just allow. If they do, your familiar can help you spy on a creature or area long after they are gone.

Keep in mind that your familiar can also self-deliver touch spells such as Invisibility and Gaseous Form- this can be vital in keeping them safe and unnoticed.

Pitfalls

There’s actually quite a few potential pitfalls with this one. Some of them in the realm of DM adjudication, others in the cooperation and acceptance of your fellow players.

On the DM side of things, certain aspects of Glyph of Warding are unclear. While it says that the spell delivered by the Glyph must be harmful, what constitutes ‘harmful’ is somewhat up in the air. Healing is obviously out, but certain indirect forms of harm seem acceptable. The spell explicitly calls out summoning ceatures and objects to attack a target, but what about a wall? Does impeding the enemy count as harm? What about Divination magic that reveals their position? Clear this definition up with your DM before committing to this kit.

I would suggest a rather broad interpretation- anything that does not directly affect allied characters can be cast via the glyph.

Your DM also has to make a ruling about when your familiar must spend their reaction to deliver a Glyph of Warding. If the familiar does so at the beginning or end of the process, they can rather quickly plant a glyph before running away. If they must be there throughout, it complicates things slightly. The rules as written or unclear, but the familiar staying put throughout doesn’t seem unreasonable.

The GM might also rule that the process of casting the spell is obvious, but I would remind them that you are casting the spell, the familiar is just the conduit. If they insist, consider ways to mitigate the issue, but also consider that your DM may not be comfortable with this playstyle and be prepared to adjust.

On the player side, you are asking your allies to essentially stand aside while you prepare the battlefield. An hour spent waiting passes by in the blink of an eye in DnD, but the hour you spent going back and forth with the DM performing reconnaissance certainly won’t. Be efficient about the moments you’re a solo act while invoking them sparingly, and your party should appreciate the asset more than they resent the delay.

On a mechanical level, you run two risks that feed into one another. First, the best Glyphs are spell Glyphs (as opposed to standard explosive runes), and these cost two spell slots, effectively doubling your resource consumption. And frontloading all that power can lead to One Big Miss: if the glyph doesn’t go off, or isn’t effective as you’d hoped, you’ve blown a lot of resources on a failed effort.

You can only avoid this through careful planning, so scribe those glyphs judiciously.