Building a ranged fighter - Arcane Archer vs. Battlemaster

[ad_hoc]

1) The arrows are more powerful than the maneuvers.
2) Magic weapon attacks are important. Battlemaster looks good until you're fighting monsters with resistance against non-magical attacks.
3) Curving Shot is really good

One that I can't quite decide whether or not it's almost completely irrelevant is Magic Arrow. At first glance I felt that it was unlikely to matter - what are the chances of a specialised archer not acquiring at least a +1 bow by 7th level or thereabouts? - but I'm now wondering whether my 3.5e and 4e preconceptions are getting the better of me.

Default 5e? Pretty unlikely. Finding a magic weapon by 10th level is likely (though not guaranteed) but a magic bow is less likely. There are magic arrows on the treasure tables too but those are limited.

I think it is better to be sure about having a magic bow than to leave it up to chance.

 

[Yunru]

Samurai can be the single most devastating subclass in a single round, with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter.

 

[Blue]

Samurai can be the single most devastating subclass in a single round, with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter.

Samurai can do the most damage in that particular round, but can't replicate any of the abilities or conditions that might end up being more "devastating". Halving a unharmed giant's damage for a round with Enfeebling Arrow, disarming a magic staff with Disarming Attack, getting rid of a blocker so you can get to a caster with Banishing Arrow, scaring a foe with Menacing Attack, stopping enemy artillery from attacking with Shadow Arrow, knocking a foe prone with Trip Attack so everyone else has advantage, or pushing them into a hazard with Pushing Attack.

 

[Yunru]

Samurai can do the most damage in that particular round, but can't replicate any of the abilities or conditions that might end up being more "devastating". Halving a unharmed giant's damage for a round with Enfeebling Arrow, disarming a magic staff with Disarming Attack, getting rid of a blocker so you can get to a caster with Banishing Arrow, scaring a foe with Menacing Attack, stopping enemy artillery from attacking with Shadow Arrow, knocking a foe prone with Trip Attack so everyone else has advantage, or pushing them into a hazard with Pushing Attack.

Eh, I would counter that by saying they can, when needed, beat all of those by applying the Dead condition
(Four attacks in one round at level 6 with 3d20k1+3 to attack, and 1d8+13 damage )

 

[FrogReaver]

Samurai can be the single most devastating subclass in a single round, with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter.

I’m not positive about that. Battlemaster with +2 dex and sharpshooter with precision attack on the misses and any of the damage maneuvers on the hits has a good chance of doing as much or more damage at many levels.

 

[Yunru]

I’m not positive about that. Battlemaster with +2 dex and sharpshooter with precision attack on the misses and any of the damage maneuvers on the hits has a good chance of doing as much or more damage at many levels.

Not at all. Mostly because they don't get to trigger Eleven Accuracy.

 

[FrogReaver]

Not at all. Mostly because they don't get to trigger Eleven Accuracy.

Im going to run through a simple example at level 5 with a longbow. Sound fair?

 

[Damon_Tor]

Grasping Arrow is quite strong, especially if you consider the fact that its bonus damage doesn't rely on the target moving willingly. I advocate mixing a Blades bard into your Arcane Archer so you can follow your Grasping Arrow with a Mobile Flourish to force them to take an extra 2d6 when they get knocked back.

Further, the target of Grasping Arrow doesn't get a save (freeing itself costs an action, an athletics check, which is often garbage even against your trashy DC) which makes it miles better than almost every other option.

 

[Yunru]

Im going to run through a simple example at level 5 with a longbow. Sound fair?

Considering I listed it started at level 6?

Here's the DPR of the nova versus every AC that matters (miss on a 1 to hit on a 20).

EDIT: Updated for all the important levels (6 is when it comes online, 8 is our first ASI, 11 is when it gets 3 attacks, 12 is when Dex hits 20, and 20 is when we get our 4th attack for some stupid reason :/ ).

 

[FrogReaver]

Considering I listed it started at level 6?

I know you know about variant humans

Anyways, my calculations lead me to believe that the battle master is slightly better at level 5/6. Though likely not at high levels.