Best use of Polearm Master + Sentinel, Best Control/Skill Bard, Level 6

[Kithas]

-snip-

Im not going to reply to you because you are off-topic and my question wasn't to you. I wanted to clarify some questions I had before giving advice.

@op
Either mountain dwarf, half orc or Goliath are all great not human race options that give you better stats and other nice features. Waiting til level 4 for paw isn't that bad and you will have plenty of asi's from fighter.
I would also suggest old lunch Knight for your class, sword burst and fire bolt are invaluable for this build as aoe and range are your big weaknesses. Low level spells like shield and false life will share up some of your such inability issues. Alternatively 1-2 levels in warlock would give similar benefits.

For the bard are they doing valor or lore? The big thing with bard is your magical secrets. some of my favorites; guidance, entangle, crusader's mantle, hex, enhance ability, aura of vitality/life and swift quiver. basically look for the spells that make each class shine and steal em! Other than that try not to have overlapping skill proficiencies ie usually insight and investigation, athletics and acrobatics are interchangeable so you don't need both.

 

[RulesJD]

Im not going to reply to you because you are off-topic and my question wasn't to you. I wanted to clarify some questions I had before giving advice.

@op
Either mountain dwarf, half orc or Goliath are all great not human race options that give you better stats and other nice features. Waiting til level 4 for paw isn't that bad and you will have plenty of asi's from fighter.
I would also suggest old lunch Knight for your class, sword burst and fire bolt are invaluable for this build as aoe and range are your big weaknesses. Low level spells like shield and false life will share up some of your such inability issues. Alternatively 1-2 levels in warlock would give similar benefits.

For the bard are they doing valor or lore? The big thing with bard is your magical secrets. some of my favorites; guidance, entangle, crusader's mantle, hex, enhance ability, aura of vitality/life and swift quiver. basically look for the spells that make each class shine and steal em! Other than that try not to have overlapping skill proficiencies ie usually insight and investigation, athletics and acrobatics are interchangeable so you don't need both.

1. It's easier just to admit that you're wrong.

2. You made a statement that the general build I posted was suboptimal but neglected to clarify why it was. As the OP was asking for the optimal build, clarification should have been provided to have any substance.

3. MD and HO are solid choices for Fighters as you mentioned, Goliath is pretty sub-par as their niche mechanic loses luster at higher levels rapidly and is far better utilized on a Barbarian.

EK is one of the worst setups for PAM. The reliance on Long Rest resources seriously limits the Fighters ability to have sustained fighting. Additionally, while Shield is a fantastic spell to have, it will be competing with PAM/Sent attacks for Reactions and so is suboptimal in most combat situations. Firebolt will almost always be worse than just using a Longbow because you get to add your Dex mod to the damage with a Longbow, not with Firebolt. Sword Burst is sacrificing 2 main attacks which with GWM + Precision are highly likely to hit most enemies. I'll take 2 enemies taking 2d10+26 damage over more enemies taking 2d6 damage.

Levels in Warlock are usually great, but yet again with your build, suboptimal. You will have to sacrifice Wisdom for Cha to get to at least 13 Cha, which means your Perception and Wisdom saves will take a big hit. Additionally, Warlock benefits are nice (presuming Fiend for self heal because PSG combos wreck combat) but Hex is worse on this build do to its competition with the bonus action attack that you can use GWM with.

Furthermore, Warlocks don't get Shield. AoA is pointless due to the lack of higher level spell slots. Devil's Sight + Darkness is great, but as a melee character you're screwing the party.

OP, please don't listen to his advice if you are looking for the optimal build. If you are looking for a fun and flavorful build, absolutely go that route as Variant Humans can be fairly boring and Battlemasters are fantastic but get repetitive compared to EKs

 

[Kithas]

I honestly havent found a good way to have a discussion with you jd. That is why I am doing my best to avoid your overly aggressive comments and largely not engage with you.

Im really not sure how a damage reduction reaction is a 'niche' ability, taking damage is very common. As far as racials go, no it doesnt scale that impressively but it is always useful and relevant.

Ek is largely useful for the cantrips and the utility having leveled spells gives. Using a longbow requires switching weapons, depending on your dm thats at least one full round before you can fire, also wasting a round of damage. Your cited 'better' damage is also negligable as 2d10s(11avg) and 2d8+4(13avg) really isnt worth the time/vulnerability to switch. On top of that you get access to magic damage which is very valuable as the game progresses, even some low cr creatures are outright immune to non-magical damage.
On sword burst, I would be very interested to know why you are counting on adding 26 to the damage of 2 attacks(+13 to str!?). If youre actually interested in the numbers it breaks down as follows; your three attacks will do 23.5 average damage, sword burst will do 7 per enemy, basic division shows you that they break even at 3 enemies and sword burst pulls way ahead after that. After level 7 you get to sword burst and make one attack with your bonus action, this means you break even on 2 enemies and easily surpasses it from there. If your +26 was because of great weapon master then I apologize that I dont optimize for magical christmas land where you can -5 and still expect to hit even with your precision strike, not to mention youre eating all of your resources just for that.

Warlock was more for the cantrips spell features and short rest spell slots. They do not have shield but that wasnt the point and I was offering it as an alternative.
I also fail to understandhow hex is a poor choice on this build, Ive personally been using it for some time and with the sheer number of attacks you have it is well worth the occasional missed butt strike(7.5 avg with max str=2d6)

As for your comments about following my advice. How about we both offer our advice and let the op judge for himself like rational adults. This is not the place for playground yelling matches and Im done trying to reason with you.