D&D 5E Obvious synergies you never realized

Sacrosanct · Jan 15, 2020

So it just hit me. I noticed that the polearm mastery feat in Beyond is different than my PHB. I guess it got errata'd that spears now apply with that feat. So immediately my mind went to the following synergy:

spear + shield
polearm mastery
dueling fighting style

So you get the AC bonus with the shield (and can get shield mastery down the line), and get 2 attacks per round. One at 1d6+2(dueling)+3(str), and one at 1d4+2+3. 6-11pts and 6-9 pts each round? That seems...a lot for a first level variant human fighter. Along with the high AC to boot. And the extra AoO due to the feat.

So what synergies were pretty obvious that you never really noticed before, or it took a while to notice them?

RogueJK · Jan 15, 2020

Yep, you sacrifice the Reach of a two-handed polearm for the extra AC bonus of the shield and a bit more damage on the bonus attack. Base damage of the primary attack is the same, with 1d10 averaging 5.5 and 1d6+2 averaging the same. Damage on the bonus attack is +2 higher. And in a pinch, you can throw the spear.

However, there are some downsides. The effective AC bonus is actually only +1, compared to a two-handed polearm user with Defensive fighting style. And if you're a spellcaster, this may force you into having to take Warcaster, since you won't have a free hand like a two-handed polearm user. Plus you can't use Great Weapon Master with the spear/shield combo, which limits a dedicated melee fighter's potential damage output.

One synergy that I rarely see discussed is a Dwarven Monk with the Dwarven Fortitude feat. This combo allows you to spend 1 Ki point to gain a Bonus Action Dodge plus 1 HD of healing. Combined with the Extra HP and higher CON of a Hill Dwarf, and the extra tankiness of the Long Death Monk, it could make for a quite tanky Monk.

NotAYakk · Jan 15, 2020

RogueJK said:
Yep, you sacrifice the Reach of a two-handed polearm for the extra AC of the shield. Base damage is the same, with 1d10 averaging 5.5 and 1d6+2 averaging the same.

I think you missed the +2 on the polearm master bonus action attack.

A Defensive Glaive grants 1d10+3 and 1d4+3 (total of 14) and +1 AC and reach. A dueling spear+shield grants 1d6+5 and 1d4+5 (total of 16) and +2 AC.

So, at level 1, you have to give up 2 damage and 1 AC in exchange for reach.

The (eventual) GWM or Sentinal leverage does show up with the two-handed polearm. And the Shield Master shove feat for the spear PAM extra attack runs into the problem that they both consume your bonus action.

RogueJK · Jan 15, 2020

Yep. I was editing my post when you posted.

I think the best way to leverage this would likely be to take advantage of the Variant Class Features UA that allows you to swap out Fighting Styles when you gain a new level. Start out with the Spear+Shield+Dueling combo at lower levels, when the extra +1 AC and +2 damage will be more noticeable. And then at something like level 8, once you have a higher attack bonus, Extra Attack, and access to other means to help mitigate the -5 to hit, swap the Dueling fighting style for Defensive, swap the spear for a glaive/halberd, and take the Great Weapon Master feat.

MonkeezOnFire · Jan 15, 2020

Druid wildshaping allows you to keep any class feature that the new form would be capable of. Animals can get mad [citation needed]. Therefore, a moon druid multiclassed with barbarian is capable of maintaining rage while in their beast form inflating their effective hp pool even further.

Sacrosanct · Jan 15, 2020

NotAYakk said:
I think you missed the +2 on the polearm master bonus action attack.

A Defensive Glaive grants 1d10+3 and 1d4+3 (total of 14) and +1 AC and reach. A dueling spear+shield grants 1d6+5 and 1d4+5 (total of 16) and +2 AC.

So, at level 1, you have to give up 2 damage and 1 AC in exchange for reach.

The (eventual) GWM or Sentinal leverage does show up with the two-handed polearm. And the Shield Master shove feat for the spear PAM extra attack runs into the problem that they both consume your bonus action.

Of note, while you're giving up 5ft of extra reach with every attack, you do have the option of even greater reach with a spear, because you can throw it. Carry a half dozen spears, and you can throw and use in melee back and forth as needed, all while keeping the same damage for the basic attack, rather than a dedicated polearm master who probably isn't getting nearly as many bonuses to hit and damage when they switch to a ranged weapon.

RogueJK · Jan 15, 2020

Sacrosanct said:
rather than a dedicated polearm master who probably isn't getting nearly as many bonuses to hit and damage when they switch to a ranged weapon.

A dedicated polearm user can still switch to a thrown weapon (even a spear) and get the same STR bonus to hit and damage as a dedicated spear user.

They'd only be missing out on the extra +2 damage from Dueling, which interestingly still applies to a thrown melee weapon, per Sage Advice:

Does the Dueling Style apply to a thrown melee weapon?

D&D Sage Advice ·

www.sageadvice.eu

Does the Dueling Style apply its bonus to a thrown melee weapon?

Yes.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) October 6, 2015

NotAYakk · Jan 15, 2020

MonkeezOnFire said:
Druid wildshaping allows you to keep any class feature that the new form would be capable of. Animals can get mad [citation needed]. Therefore, a moon druid multiclassed with barbarian is capable of maintaining rage while in their beast form inflating their effective hp pool even further.

Sure, but the best druid spells are concentration, and raging barbarians cannot concentrate.

A normal moon druid can drop a concentration spell, transform, fight, get hurt, lose concentration, transform back and drop a new concentration spell, and repeat.

A moonbarian cannot. Their druid spellcasting slots are inefficiently used, and they need to boost druid levels to make their animal form suck less.

Esker · Jan 15, 2020

Two things I don't see discussed, or hardly ever:

1. Fear spell with either Sentinel or War Caster+Booming Blade. They have to use their action to dash and move away from you "unless there is nowhere to move", provoking opportunity attacks. With Sentinel, if you hit, they can't actually move, but (I would argue) doesn't change whether there is anywhere to move. So you automatically get an AoO every round. Of course you can often accomplish this by chasing after them if you have good mobility.

With War Caster + Booming Blade, your opportunity attack does a boatload of damage if they move, which they have to do.

I suppose this is most effective on an Arcane Trickster, since rogues can get a lot out of AoOs, and the AT is the one that can pick up Fear (eventually). Plus with a familiar you can keep an ally next to them all the time so you always qualify for sneak attack.

2. Two casters, one with Wall of Force, and another with a spell (like Wall of Fire or similar) that does damage every round that you are standing in a certain place. Wall of Force is already great, but it's mostly a divide and conquer spell, since you can't cast through it. But if you have an ally first create a danger zone which you can then trap someone in, they just... take damage every round for ten rounds and can't do anything. And they didn't even get a save.