Level Up (A5E) Banking maneuvers

[Nephilim00]

When a martial character goes up a level and receives an additional martial maneuver, are they allowed to “bank” that maneuver and use it later when they have access to higher level slots?

 

[xiphumor]

When a martial character goes up a level and receives an additional martial maneuver, are they allowed to “bank” that maneuver and use it later when they have access to higher level slots?

Can you rephrase your question? I'm really not clear on what you're asking.

 

[Distracted DM]

Can you rephrase your question? I'm really not clear on what you're asking.

Actually one of my players had this same question- I didn't understand either, and then when I did understand I thought it was a silly question because I have a decades of TTRPG assumptions behind me. But to some players these really are genuine questions

The book uses the words "can" and "may" when you pick up new maneuvers, and my player thought "oh so I can bank the choice until a later level, so instead of picking a 1st degree maneuver now I can pick it later when I know 2nd degree maneuvers."
Same with Maneuver Specialization. "At 3rd level, and again at 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th level you may choose to master a combat maneuver you know." "Oh ok so I MAY choose it- so I can save it until 4th level when I learn 2nd degree maneuvers and specialize in that."

 

[xiphumor]

Actually one of my players had this same question- I didn't understand either, and then when I did understand I thought it was a silly question because I have a decades of TTRPG assumptions behind me. But to some players these really are genuine questions

The book uses the words "can" and "may" when you pick up new maneuvers, and my player thought "oh so I can bank the choice until a later level, so instead of picking a 1st degree maneuver now I can pick it later when I know 2nd degree maneuvers."
Same with Maneuver Specialization. "At 3rd level, and again at 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th level you may choose to master a combat maneuver you know." "Oh ok so I MAY choose it- so I can save it until 4th level when I learn 2nd degree maneuvers and specialize in that."

Ah. That explains it! The answer is no, you cannot do so.

 

[Nephilim00]

Ah. That explains it! The answer is no, you cannot do so.

Can you site a reason why per the rules?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Can you site a reason why per the rules?

because you do it at that level. i suppose you could choose not to take it, but that'd just mean if you do it later you'd take the maneuver as if you were that level (or, if your DM is mean, you just can't do it since you're not that level anymore).

also, there's no rule that says you can bank a choice, so you can't.

 

[xiphumor]

Can you site a reason why per the rules?

I can’t cite a specific passage, but I can give you the philosophy: It throws off the balance of the game both at the level where you skip the maneuver and at the level where you pick up the new one.

Imagine an extreme case of waiting until you get 5th degree maneuvers and then suddenly grabbing all four available to you (assuming you have two combat traditions). You’ve been underpowered for the levels leading up to it, and you suddenly become overpowered.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Imagine an extreme case of waiting until you get 5th degree maneuvers and then suddenly grabbing all four available to you (assuming you have two combat traditions). You’ve been underpowered for the levels leading up to it, and you suddenly become overpowered.

heart of the sword + perfect assault + death blow + mastery on all 3.

(edit: to be fair, a level 18 fighter can do that but only with mastery on 1, and a level 20 fighter can do it straight up, but if you could bank maneuver/mastery choices you could do this as early as level 16)

 

[Nephilim00]

I can’t cite a specific passage, but I can give you the philosophy: It throws off the balance of the game both at the level where you skip the maneuver and at the level where you pick up the new one.

Imagine an extreme case of waiting until you get 5th degree maneuvers and then suddenly grabbing all four available to you (assuming you have two combat traditions). You’ve been underpowered for the levels leading up to it, and you suddenly become overpowered.

Sounds like many martial arts movies.

 

[Selganor]

You’ve been underpowered for the levels leading up to it, and you suddenly become overpowered.

Strange... I am getting Deja Vu regarding old school wizards

If the player is "allergic" to having to get a maneuver just a level before they would get a better one... there's always multiclassing into fighter for a level or two (which might grant you higher maneuver grades even faster)

Some other cases that point to not waiting to "upgrade" things are:

• even if you retrain a maneuver in downtime, the things you can change it to are dependent on the level where you got the feature (in this case: additional maneuver)
• if you change an old maneuver when you get a new maneuver the maneuver you change it to has to be the old grade or lower (not higher)

Some time ago I compiled a list of how many maneuvers of which grade a martial can have if they always choose the highest maneuver they could get... When i find it again I'll post it here