D&D 5E Battle master combat maneuvers

[brehobit]

Kind of a tangent, but are you starting at 1st? Battlemaster kicks in at 3rd. And, how long do you foresee the campaign going? It might be worthwhile to get your three top maneuver picks at 3rd level. It may or may not be worth worrying about the next three (or even taking the fighter levels to get your 4th-6th best maneuvers).

Started at 1st. Now second and I suspect 3rd soon. And yeah, I'm thinking in terms of the top 3. Heck, at level 8 I may grab the feat that gives me two more choices (eh) and an extra die (big deal I'd say). Not sure it's worth a feat of course...

 

[Sacrosanct]

my halfling BM fighter used goading attack against a white dragon on the initial round to great effect. Action surge to use as many superiority dice, forcing the dragon to use up its legendary resistances*

as a paladin in another campaign, commander's strike was just awesome when paired with divine smite

*yes, I know dragons can choose when to use it, but the caster hadn't gone yet so it wasn't sure there was a caster there, and the dragon wasn't going to let itself be forced to attack a puny halfling when the rest of the formidable party was over there. So it used its legendary resistance against my maneuvers

 

[ExploderWizard]

No love here for Evasive Footwork? For a light highly mobile swashbuckling fighter it is awesome!

 

[Warmaster Horus]

No love here for Evasive Footwork? For a light highly mobile swashbuckling fighter it is awesome!

Seems like a waste. You only get the AC boost while you're moving and it's variable based on your superiority die - could be a 1, could be an 8. I'd rather use Menacing attack for superiority die damage and a chance of frightening my opponent (disadvantage when I disengage). It could be helpful for when you're surrounded by enemies and need to get out of dodge with a double move, but that's it's best case.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I wish there was more verity to them...

(3.5 Bo9s)Bone crusher (deal extra damage and weaken foe)
(3.5 Bo9s)Mountain Hammer (ignore resistance)
(4e warlord) Sunder Armor (lower AC of target)
(4e warlord) Leading the attack (grant allies bonus to hit target)

are ones I wish they had updated...

and maybe some magical ones too like dessert wind Bo9S and Swordmage ones from 4e...

Holocaust cloak, Fire snake charge, green flame blade, and booming blade could all work

you might even get into some of the warden and avenger powers

Magical BMs would be interesting, though I figure the Eldritch Knight more fills that role - burning hands, thunderwave, etc.

It'd be cool to have a maneuver that ignored s/p/b resistance, or one that gave a foe an ongoing condition like weakened, but I feel like giving allies a bonus and lowering the AC is pretty well covered by Distracting, Feinting, and Trip. What would you want a maneuver to do that those don't do already?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Seems like a waste. You only get the AC boost while you're moving and it's variable based on your superiority die - could be a 1, could be an 8. I'd rather use Menacing attack for superiority die damage and a chance of frightening my opponent (disadvantage when I disengage). It could be helpful for when you're surrounded by enemies and need to get out of dodge with a double move, but that's it's best case.

That's why I mentioned for the ever moving swashbuckling fighter, IMHO as long as the character moves his/her max move rate every round then he/she is considered to be constantly moving. Movement doesn't stop because a characters turn ends. So if you are running for 3 rounds straight it is a continuous movement, you do not need to stop to make attacks.

Of course this can expose you to numerous opportunity attacks but that is part of the fun!

 

[Warmaster Horus]

That's why I mentioned for the ever moving swashbuckling fighter, IMHO as long as the character moves his/her max move rate every round then he/she is considered to be constantly moving. Movement doesn't stop because a characters turn ends. So if you are running for 3 rounds straight it is a continuous movement, you do not need to stop to make attacks.

Of course this can expose you to numerous opportunity attacks but that is part of the fun!

I've never heard of that before. Can you cite? Thanks!

 

[ExploderWizard]

I've never heard of that before. Can you cite? Thanks!

The ability gives the AC bonus "until the battle master stops moving". If you move your full movement rate every turn then you are still moving. If one were to run for 3 combat rounds in a row chasing someone, would you say that they came to a stop every 30 feet then started again? The turn structure makes it seem like everyone is moving in stop motion.

If they take a couple steps, stop, and attack then yes they have stopped moving. One can attack without stopping though.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

The ability gives the AC bonus "until the battle master stops moving". If you move your full movement rate every turn then you are still moving. If one were to run for 3 combat rounds in a row chasing someone, would you say that they came to a stop every 30 feet then started again? The turn structure makes it seem like everyone is moving in stop motion.

If they take a couple steps, stop, and attack then yes they have stopped moving. One can attack without stopping though.

Evasive Footwork says "when you move" you get the boost to your AC "until you stop moving". Typically a creature only moves in two points of the game - using their standard move and using a Dash. If you only move your movement rate in a turn, you are definitely not moving the whole turn and your move, along with the Evasive Footwork bonus, comes to an end once your move is over for the turn. If you Dash then I would think the Evasive Footwork bonus would qualify for that movement as well.

As a DM I would not give you the AC bonus provided by Evasive Footwork past your turn when using a standard move. RAW you would not get the Evasive Footwork AC bonus outside your turn, because in game engine mechanics, you're no longer moving. However as a DM I would probably award it if you used your maximum rate of movement for both your normal move and a Dash action until the beginning of your next turn.

 

[Chocolategravy]

The ability gives the AC bonus "until the battle master stops moving". If you move your full movement rate every turn then you are still moving. If one were to run for 3 combat rounds in a row chasing someone, would you say that they came to a stop every 30 feet then started again? The turn structure makes it seem like everyone is moving in stop motion.

If they take a couple steps, stop, and attack then yes they have stopped moving. One can attack without stopping though.

You would never not have this ability on then. It's pretty obvious it's meant to increase your AC during a move action or similar action and ends at the end of the action. "Stopping" to open a door wouldn't end it, but ending the move action would.