Booming Blade and Combat Manoeuvres Question

[StormbringerAUS]

I am relatively new here and this is the first thread I have created, so if it is something that has already been discussed my apologies.
I have recently started running a Hexblade Warlock who is a human variant and I took the feat Marshall Adept with the combat manoeuvres Trip and Riposte.
Since in the campaign we have only be running characters up to 5th level I was just looking for something that was helpful early and not if it would become underpowered later on.
My question for the rules expert out there is if I cast Booming Blade as my action can I use trip for the extra damage dice as well or does this only work with a weapon attack.
The wording in trip is “: When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.”
While Booming Blade the wording starts “As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails etc”

My question is does using booming blade allow me to allow use the manoeuvre. So does the melee attack needed to cast booming blade mean the weapon attack in trip can be used or not?

Thanks for any comments

 

[Volund]

You can use both. The key is whether the maneuver requires a "weapon attack" or the Attack Action. With Booming Blade the weapon attack is made as part of the Cast a Spell action, so you aren't taking the Attack Action. Therefore you can use Booming Blade with any weapon attack maneuver except for Commander's Strike.

 

[Volund]

Changing my answer with regard to Riploste:
This maneuver has to be used with your reaction, and reactions have specific triggers. The trigger for Riposte is "a creature misses you with a melee attack," so to even argue that you could combine Booming Blade with Riposte you would have to have some way of casting Booming Blade as a reaction to a missed melee attack. The only way I can think of to do that would be on your turn take the Ready action to cast Booming Blade and declare that the trigger for the spell going off is a missed melee attack. Even then you face the question of whether the trigger "misses you with a melee attack" could trigger two separate reactions - Riposte and a spell attack. I would probably let you do it since both reactions use the same weapon attack, but others might not, saying you were using two reactions when you only get one per round.

Riposte is a good maneuver on its own, but if you want to stack BB with it you should ask your DM to allow it or else select a different maneuver.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The general answer is "not usually". Most manoeuvres, such as Trip, require a weapon attack. Booming Blade is a spell attack so can't be combined. There are a smattering that don't require a weapon attack, you need to read the description closely. Feinting Attack is probably the only one you could generally combo with Booming Blade.

 

[jaelis]

The general answer is "not usually". Most manoeuvres, such as Trip, require a weapon attack. Booming Blade is a spell attack so can't be combined. There are a smattering that don't require a weapon attack, you need to read the description closely. Feinting Attack is probably the only one you could generally combo with Booming Blade.

As volund points out, you do specifically make a weapon attack when you cast BB, so there's no reason you can't apply a maneuver that works on a weapon attack.

(The spell wording could be more exact here, but JC has confirmed on twitter, for instance

The booming blade spell isn't intended to make the required weapon attack magical.

)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No. It was addressed in Sage advice. Booming Blade is a spell attack that involves making attack roll with a weapon. It is not a weapon attack.

 

[jaelis]

No. It was addressed in Sage advice. Booming Blade is a spell attack that involves making attack roll with a weapon. It is not a weapon attack.

Sorry, I'm not seeing that? Could you refer us to the statement you mean? I'm looking at:

Can you use green-flame blade and booming blade with Extra Attack, opportunity attacks, Sneak Attack, and other weapon attack options?

Introduced in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, the green-flame blade and booming blade spells pose a number of questions, because they each do something unusual: require you to make a melee attack with a weapon as part of the spell’s casting.

First, each of these spells involves a normal melee weapon attack, not a spell attack, so you use whatever ability modifier you normally use with the weapon. (A spell tells you if it includes a spell attack, and neither of these spells do.) For example, if you use a longsword with green-flame blade, you use your Strength modifier for the weapon’s attack and damage rolls.

Second, neither green-flame blade nor booming blade works with Extra Attack or any other feature that requires the Attack action. Like other spells, these cantrips require the Cast a Spell action, not the Attack action, and they can’t be used to make an opportunity attack, unless a special feature allows you to do so.

Third, these weapon attacks work with Sneak Attack if they fulfill the normal requirements for that feature. For example, if you have the Sneak Attack feature and cast greenflame blade with a finesse weapon, you can deal Sneak Attack damage to the target of the weapon attack if you have advantage on the attack roll and hit.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

No. It was addressed in Sage advice. Booming Blade is a spell attack that involves making attack roll with a weapon. It is not a weapon attack.

{{{Citation needed}}}

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

Sage Advice isn't official.

Also, you can Sneak Attack on Booming Blade and Greenflame Blade.

I'd say Trip works.

Riposte doesn't because it's a reaction and you can't cast on a reaction usually.

 

[jaelis]

Sage Advice isn't official.

You certainly don't have to follow it (or any other rules). But it is officially official.

Official Rulings

Official rulings on how to interpret unclear rules are made in Sage Advice. The public statements of the D&D team, or anyone else at Wizards of the Coast, are not official rulings; they are advice. One exception: the game’s rules manager, Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford), can make official rulings and usually does so in Sage Advice and on Twitter.