CapnZapp
Legend
But if you do it over and over it becomes clear you do it despite the rules, not because the story needs it.
That's why I don't buy all the breezy "just have 6-8 encounters and everything's dandy" advice.
Dwarvin Polearm build--HELP PLEASE
That's why I don't buy all the breezy "just have 6-8 encounters and everything's dandy" advice.
asjwolverine
First Post
How do you play a mountain dwarf fighter in the wild? I ask because they are reclusive and from the mountains
asjwolverine
First Post
Right now I have +2 chainmail. Is it advisable to work up to plate for the AC?
zaratan
First Post
I agree you don't need to have 6-8 encounters every day, but you can't let some buindings walk in a rainbow road most of the time with "unlimited" resources. You can use hazards, puzzles, avoidable challanges, monsters in waves or even decrease the number of encounters and raise the difficult, all to keep things balanced.
I'm DMing OotA, and you really can't do 6-8 encounters/day every time, but is a hard environment, so up to half the party can get full recover for long rest most of the days too. This is working great with the players, increase the tension of the history, fit in 5e rules and don't have that sensation of "why I have so many challange in one day and do nothing other 4?"
You have many ways to keep the story and give PCs the taste to run out of spells or features.
Jeebus.....+2 chainmail at level 3? You should be very happy with that. Chain mail is AC 16, with the bonus it gives AC 18. It weighs 55 lbs. Plate is AC 18, weighs 65 lbs and costs 1,500 gold. Doesn't seem like you'd be gaining anything.
Kithas
First Post
agreed, unless you find some +1 plate or higher your chain=plate
asjwolverine
First Post
Ya. Not sure why the DM is already having us find that stuff but I'm going to argue!!
smbakeresq
Explorer
They are called wandering monster checks. Just check every 10 minutes if the PC try a short rest. Be sure to let them actually get in a short rest every now and then. But no short rests after every encounter to recharge.
Long rests are not much of a problem, the party takes those when drained. Be sure to enforce the rule about getting hit dice back at end of long rest, this will make them take less short rests next day.
Back to the build. Trip attack is great since if it works you get advantage as long as creature prone and you are next to them. That's the time to use great weapon master, -5 to hit isn't bad if you get advantage on the rolls for +10 to damage. Your cleric should have BLESS running on you (if he doenst he is crazy) making the penalty even less. It also works with the Polearm Master attack. The reroll 1 and 2's also applies to the Polearm Master attack.
Trip is also great since your rogue can get sneak attack damage in. With 2 of them a trip attack could finish some creature off.
For defense, Heavy Armor Master works INCREDIBLY well. Shaving off 3 points from every B,S, P attack at low levels add up really fast. As a great weapon user your defense options are basically limited to that.
If you rolled these:
str=18
dex=14
con=15
int=14
wis=14
cha=12
And did not include your racial bonus then if you are allowed to rearrange them the consider 18 in con (racial to 20) 15 in strength (racial to 17, the heavy armor master at 4 to 18.)
If that's what you have after racial then 18 str 15 con is fine for awhile. You can then use Durable and Heavy Armor Master to get those up later, and spend feats on Polearm Master, Sentinel, Resilient (WIS) and have fun with those.
Remember for your rogues, the sneak attack is once per turn. So they can get on their turn, then on yours if you use Commanders strike. This burns your bonus action. That's better than you using your bonus to strike with your polearm.
The Sentinel feat has been changed in the errata: Sentinel (p. 169). Ignore “within 5 feet of you” in the second benefit. To me that means when enemies leave the 10' area around you they provoke attacks.
I prefer the Sentinel feat to the polearm master feat since you want to keep them near you and under control, that's your job. If they are within 5' and attack anyone else you get an attack. It also doesn't eat up your bonus actions. In play, that means your rogue can stay near you after his sneak attack since if he gets attacked you get an attack. With the polearm master feat your DM might start just avoiding you.
Disregard the prior builds, if you want to go full powergaming goodness with Polearm, here's how you do it.
For your ASIs, in order, you take Polearm Mastery, GWM, then Sentinel. Only after that do you boost STR.
For class, go BM Fighter. Get Trip, Menacing, and Precision strike as your first 3. Add Pushing and Disarming after that.
Use the Opp Attack from Polearm to lock enemies 10ft away from you with Sentinel. That's one enemy turn removed. Use a Trip attack on that Opp Attack to knock the target prone. Sentinel prevents them from standing back up, so you just granted everyone advantage for an entire turn.
Use GWM on almost all your strikes, and use Precision attacks to make up for the lack of boosting STR. Combined with advantage from Trip attacks you'll hit reliably.
Take 1 level of War Cleric to pick up Bless + Divine Favor, if your party doesn't have a Bless bot yet. You aren't concentrating on anything anyways, so might as well use Bless to make those GWM strikes hit even more reliably. Use Divine Favor when you don't need Bless to really boost your damage, because you'll be getting 4 attacks per round almost all the time (2 from Extra Attack, 1 Bonus, 1 Reaction (Sentinel or PAM triggering) and don't want to be using your Bonus action to shift Hex around or whatever.
If/after you get to level 11 Fighter, there isn't much else there for you. Maybe another level for an ASI, but meh. For true power gaming goodness, dip 3 levels into Barbarian and take the Bear Totem. Congrats, you can now generate advantage at will (GWM for daaaaays), are basically an uber tank, and get to add even more Rage damage to each of those now 5 attacks per round. Switch between Cleric buffs and Raging depending on the need.
For your ASIs, in order, you take Polearm Mastery, GWM, then Sentinel. Only after that do you boost STR.
For class, go BM Fighter. Get Trip, Menacing, and Precision strike as your first 3. Add Pushing and Disarming after that.
Use the Opp Attack from Polearm to lock enemies 10ft away from you with Sentinel. That's one enemy turn removed. Use a Trip attack on that Opp Attack to knock the target prone. Sentinel prevents them from standing back up, so you just granted everyone advantage for an entire turn.
Use GWM on almost all your strikes, and use Precision attacks to make up for the lack of boosting STR. Combined with advantage from Trip attacks you'll hit reliably.
Take 1 level of War Cleric to pick up Bless + Divine Favor, if your party doesn't have a Bless bot yet. You aren't concentrating on anything anyways, so might as well use Bless to make those GWM strikes hit even more reliably. Use Divine Favor when you don't need Bless to really boost your damage, because you'll be getting 4 attacks per round almost all the time (2 from Extra Attack, 1 Bonus, 1 Reaction (Sentinel or PAM triggering) and don't want to be using your Bonus action to shift Hex around or whatever.
If/after you get to level 11 Fighter, there isn't much else there for you. Maybe another level for an ASI, but meh. For true power gaming goodness, dip 3 levels into Barbarian and take the Bear Totem. Congrats, you can now generate advantage at will (GWM for daaaaays), are basically an uber tank, and get to add even more Rage damage to each of those now 5 attacks per round. Switch between Cleric buffs and Raging depending on the need.
asjwolverine
First Post
Damn. Cool
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