Multiclass - Tumblr Posts

Alright bud, welcome to the collection! In the character pile you go. Ha ha.. I spent way too much time making this character... ( '> , >)

Just realized I haven't posted it this entire time, but here's an icon drawing from a few months ago of Cathre, my Gnoll Rogue-Barbarian (a multiclass which I like to refer to as the Rhubarb). He's been a difficult but fun challenge to roleplay as, but maaan a rogue with two barb levels is BROKEN 😂

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

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

Looking for something, Traveler?

If you’re looking for any of my old brews, here are links to the Homebrewery pages (or a Wix page that hosts the PDF!)

I’ve tried to catch everything, but if I missed something you like, by all means let me know!

There are links below, but you can always check out my wixsite to my full range of content! It’s much better organized than this tumblr.

Subclasses

Barbarian Path

Path of the Rageborn [Commission]- high risk, high reward. Rage early, rage often, and slay them before they can slay you.

Druid Circles

Chimera and Titan- shape into strange and titanic beasts!

Emissary- bring a helpful and intelligent animal companion along for your adventures!

Martial Archetypes

Combat Superiority Archetypes (and more)- if you like the Battle Master’s combat superiority, look no further: the Captain, Expunger, and Vanguard  archetypes, as well as several new feats, open the mechanic up to characters than ever.

Classic Martial Archetypes- the Bastion, Skirmisher, and Shock Trooper open up well-loved but difficult to execute combat styles!

Monastic Tradition

Way of the Long Stride [Commission]-  leverage your exceptional speed to fell your foes.

Ranger Conclave

Trapper- utilize several unique trap designs to keep foes on their heels, then capitalize on the openings.

Roguish Archetypes

Sapper- deliver your sneak attacks through cunning improvised traps, and sabotage your foes’ every step.

Unseen Seer- Add a splash of divination magic to your toolkit, and pry secretys from even your most well protected foes.

Sorcerous Origin

Chronomancer- having been wrenched from your place in time, time now bends to your will.

Warlock Patron

Leviathan- a denizen of the deep isolates your foes and and lends its crushing power.

Wizard Traditions

Hedge Wizardry- practice strange, archaic forms of magic- and lean into some pop-culture witch aesthetics.

School of the Arc- combine the precision of the bow with the raw power of magic.

Races

Humans, Expanded- give humans an identity with five subraces to choose from!

Merfolk- slip below the waves with three subraces of merfolk, from the familiar coastal merfolk to the otherworldly deep merfolk.

Player Advice Articles are Below the Cut

Conversion Kits

The Arcane Sapper- utilize your Familiar and Glyph of Warding to tip encounters before initiative is rolled.

The Assassin- master the art of the ambush for any class or fighting style.

The Battlemaster- develop a unique martial style and enhance your attack routines.

The Dirty Fighter- utilize improvised weapons and unarmed strikes to become truly unpredictable.

The Spellsword- blend cantrips and weapons into a cohesive and threatening style.

Workin on my sick ass devil woman