Thoughts on Eldritch Knight Polearm Build

Caliban · Apr 19, 2018

MonkeezOnFire said:
Now that's a lot of feats. But, the fighter does get a number of extra ASIs to use. And even without the interactions Polearm Master and War Caster are just good feats to have on an Eldritch Knight so the build performs pretty well before it goes online. I'm aware that it's probably not optimal dps, but if I cared for such things I could just go Dex with Sharpshooter. I find this build appealing because I've always liked gishes and halberds and mechanically I find this interaction pretty neat. I haven't seen discussion of this on these forums so what do you think about it?

I've done something similar (using Polearm Master, Warcaster, and Booming Blade) - but in my case it was a Paladin (Vengeance Oath)/Warlock (Tome) multiclass who used a Quarterstaff (no reach, so no need for Spell Sniper).

Tome Pact allowed me to get the Shillelagh cantrip as a Warlock spell and use Charisma for attack/damage bonuses with the Quarterstaff.

Oath of Vengeance - the level 7 ability allows you to move up to half your speed (without provoking an opportunity attack) when you hit a creature with an opportunity attack.

Polearm Master means they provoke when they come adjacent to you.

Warcaster means you can cast Booming Blade as an opportunity attack.

The idea is that they close with you, you hit them with Booming Blade as a reaction, and then immediately move away - forcing them to take the extra Thunder damage if they want to follow you.

It takes a long time to get all the pieces working together, but I found it fun.

neogod22 · Apr 19, 2018

Caliban said:
I've done something similar (using Polearm Master, Warcaster, and Booming Blade) - but in my case it was a Paladin (Vengeance Oath)/Warlock (Tome) multiclass who used a Quarterstaff (no reach, so no need for Spell Sniper).

Tome Pact allowed me to get the Shillelagh cantrip as a Warlock spell and use Charisma for attack/damage bonuses with the Quarterstaff.

Oath of Vengeance - the level 7 ability allows you to move up to half your speed (without provoking an opportunity attack) when you hit a creature with an opportunity attack.

Polearm Master means they provoke when they come adjacent to you.

Warcaster means you can cast Booming Blade as an opportunity attack.

The idea is that they close with you, you hit them with Booming Blade as a reaction, and then immediately move away - forcing them to take the extra Thunder damage if they want to follow you.

It takes a long time to get all the pieces working together, but I found it fun.

Or they can they can stop, pull out a ranged weapon, and shoot you. Lol.

Dausuul · Apr 19, 2018

Saelorn said:
Are you honestly arguing that they intended for this spell to work with polearms if you take the Spell Sniper feat?

No. I don't think they considered Spell Sniper at all. That's a loophole.

But the spell was not supposed to work with a reach weapon. That was a deliberate decision. There is no other conceivable reason for adding the clause "within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails" to the first sentence. If you strike out all of that text, and set the range to "self," nothing changes except that now you can use the spell with a reach weapon.

If the designers did not intend to prevent the use of reach weapons, why is that text there?

Caliban · Apr 19, 2018

neogod22 said:
Or they can they can stop, pull out a ranged weapon, and shoot you. Lol.

Why am I not surprised that you fail to understand why that is also a useful outcome?

(Besides, with the way I choose to interpret the spell, that would make their head explode. So win/win.)

The Crimson Binome · Apr 19, 2018

Dausuul said:
No. I don't think they considered Spell Sniper at all. That's a loophole.

Well, if you can admit that the designers are fallible and there may be unintended consequences, then that's a start toward evaluating every rule as you come across it and re-interpreting as necessary.

Beyond that, it's just a matter of individual rulings, which will vary from table to table.

neogod22 · Apr 19, 2018

I think we can agree, as much as I like GFB or BB as cantrips, they just don't work well with fighters. It's debatable with any class with multi-attack for that matter.

Mistwell · Apr 19, 2018

FrogReaver said:
So to the OPS question:

At level 7:
1d10+5 + 1d8 (and effect) + 1d10+5 = 25.5
VS
1d10+5 + 1d10+5 + 1d4+5 = 28.5

At level 11:
1d10+5 + 2d8 (and effect) + 1d10+5 = 30
VS
1d10+5 + 1d10+5 + 1d10+5 + 1d4+5 = 39

What you are wanting to do will work, but it is inferior to the normal option.

Is this comparing both times using the polearm?

neogod22 · Apr 19, 2018

Mistwell said:
Is this comparing both times using the polearm?

That's fair but, that requires 2 feats to set up, 3 if you're in the camp that you need spell sniper to use BB blade at 10ft. With the polearm. So that means minimum level 6 if you're a human, level 8 if not or level 14 of you want to max your STR first.

neogod22 · Apr 19, 2018

neogod22 said:
That's fair but, that requires 2 feats to set up, 3 if you're in the camp that you need spell sniper to use BB blade at 10ft. With the polearm. So that means minimum level 6 if you're a human, level 8 if not or level 14 of you want to max your STR first.

And truthfully after lvl 11, I would only use BB as a reaction. There would be no point in not taking 4 attacks.