D&D 5E Fighter multi class question, should I or not?

[Grimace59]

Please let me know if this is the right place to post this question, new to forum. Hell pretty new to D&D in general. So about me, I've just started playing D&D for the first time, even though I wanted to play for the past 20 years, the opportunities never came up for me.

So my questions is ready to hit level 4 with my fighter and i want to start going Barbarian. Should I, or are the extra attacks to good to miss? Variant Human Fighter 17/14/15/9/13/11 Battlemaster w/ Defense Style, carrying a glaive. Were doing HotDQ campaign, half way thru the Dragon Egg caves. Started Sword and board, then grabbed a pole arm and grab pole arm master feat at lvl4, now want to go back to the sword and board tank. (Watching too much viking lately, Shield WALL!) Current group is me Human Fighter, Half Orc Fighter (Two handed sword/Champion) Elf Ranger, Elf Sorcerer, and Dwarf Cleric.

Do I stay fighter, or multi class to a barbarian? Or even a Rogue or war cleric.

Plan to grab Breast Plate and sword and board if I multi class.

Thanks for the help and glad to part of this community

 

[pdegan2814]

There are two big questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to taking levels in an additional class:

1) What am I looking to gain by multiclassing?
2) Will it be worth what I'm giving up from the higher levels of my main class that I'll no longer be reaching?

So, what is it specifically that you're looking to get from taking levels in Barbarian? And will it be worth what you're giving up? Specifically, it's going to take longer before you get your 2nd attack, and you might never get to your 3rd depending on what level you're at when the campaign ends. As a Battlemaster, you'll be slower to pick up those additional maneuvers, slower to get the Superiority Dice increased in size, and slower to get the ability that lets you scope out an enemy's capabilities by observing them for a minute. Also keep in mind that the Fighter gets Ability Score Improvement/Feat slots more frequently than any other class, so dipping away from them negates some of that benefit as well.

I'm not saying don't do it, I happen to be playing a multiclassed fighter myself right now(an archer who's going to be pretty evenly split between Fighter and Rogue). But don't do it just for the sake of doing it. Do it for something specific, or don't do it at all. A straight-up Fighter is no slouch, and being a high-level Battlemaster will definitely give you plenty of options during combat.

 

[Grimace59]

Thanks for replying so quickly, and thanks for your information. It does make sense to stick with my full fighter build because I am so close to those cool abilities coming up. I think I was only really looking to multi class because we already have a second fighter in the group, and this campaign make take us a long time to finish. Being so new to playing D&D, I guess I just wanted to try out the other classes all to quickly.

This helped me organize my thoughts, thank you.

 

[pdegan2814]

Thanks for replying so quickly, and thanks for your information. It does make sense to stick with my full fighter build because I am so close to those cool abilities coming up. I think I was only really looking to multi class because we already have a second fighter in the group, and this campaign make take us a long time to finish. Being so new to playing D&D, I guess I just wanted to try out the other classes all to quickly.

This helped me organize my thoughts, thank you.

If the other Fighter is a Champion & you're a Battlemaster, you'll already have some different things happening on the battlefield. I'd consider sticking with the glaive actually. Your AC won't be as high since you won't be carrying a shield, but if you've already got the Polearm Master feat you might as well make use of it. All those extra chances to attack will mean extra chances to use your Battlemaster maneuver dice. If you focus on the maneuvers that give advantage to your allies' attacks you could set up some big-time combos with the Champion who's just begging for extra rolls to try and hit his expanded critical range.

 

[Grimace59]

I'd consider sticking with the glaive actually. Your AC won't be as high since you won't be carrying a shield, but if you've already got the Polearm Master feat you might as well make use of it.

I don't have the Polearm master feat as of yet, would have taken it if I stayed with the Polearm, took the tough feat to start. I'll keep looking at what feat I would want next and go from there. So much time to decide since we don't play again for a couple weeks.

 

[pdegan2814]

I don't have the Polearm master feat as of yet, would have taken it if I stayed with the Polearm, took the tough feat to start. I'll keep looking at what feat I would want next and go from there. So much time to decide since we don't play again for a couple weeks.

Ah, your initial post said you took Polearm Master at lvl4, the mix of tenses was confusing Going S&S will likely be a better defensive choice if you're looking to be more of a pure damage sponge. But if you want to lean into the battlefield control aspects of the Battlemaster archetype, going with the glaive could be fun. I might wait until 6th level to take Polearm Master though. At Level 4, it might be good to even out that 17 & 15 in your stats. Since you didn't label them, I'm assuming the 17 is Strength. I'm guessing the 14 is Dexterity and the 15 is Constitution? If so then yeah, I'd use Level 4 to make it Str18/Con16. Then take Polearm Master at Level 6, and use Level 8 to boost your Strength to 20.

 

[Grimace59]

Sorry for the confusion with my typing. Tried to give as much info as a could, next time I'll make sure to list the areas next to the rolls. Thank you so much for your information, and has really helped me open understand more about this game.

 

[pdegan2814]

You've got a LOT of odd-numbered stats, keep in mind that the bonuses your ability scores provide only increment at even-numbered values. You're going to want to even out the stats that matter to you pretty quickly. Strength & Constitution, for sure. Between Intelligence, Charisma & Wisdom, it'll be a question of the skills you've chosen and the saving throws you're making. Con, Wis and Dex saving throws are the common ones. You're already proficient in Constitution(poison, petrification, etc) saves as a Fighter. Dexterity saves are mostly just avoiding damage(dodging AoE blasts, etc). You've got plenty of HP, you can probably withstand these as-is, depending on your campaign. Wisdom saves, like Constitution saves, can be NASTY. Lots of control-type effects require a Wisdom save. At the very least, you'll want to even out your Wisdom score & possibly boost it a little. Or you may want to consider taking the Resilient feat in Wisdom, to add your proficiency bonus to your Wisdom saves. I'm going to end up going Resilient in Dexterity instead, but that's only because I'm an Elf with a Wisdom of 14, so I'm getting a +2 on my saves and advantage on most of them. You weak-willed Humans need a little more help with yours.

 

[Grimace59]

This is great info, thanks

 

[Quartz]

Definitely stay Fighter until level 6 so you get the second attack and the second feat.