I am currently playing a goliath fighter/eldritch knight in a D&D 5E campaign and I am aiming towards a grappler build. I am currently lvl 4 and enroute to lvl 8 EK in order to acquire the Enlarge/Reduce spell. After that I've planned to pick at least 1 lvl of rogue for expertise in athletics, maybe 2 lvls to obtain cunning action as well. Since at this stage grappling is not that effective and I mostly wanted to create a single target grappler, I picked up Shield Master first to gain a bonus action shove/prone attempt in addition to my attack action, so at lvl 5 I got a shove/prone and 2 attacks. I've picked the Dueling fighting style as well.
I've planned to acquire War Caster at lvl 6, because I want to lose the somatic component, and to gain advantage on concentration spells (like Enlarge, or Protection from Evil and Good). I also want to use Booming Blade with any opportunity attack. So far I had quite some opportunities, but sadly could not use it yet.
At lvl 8 I wanted to get Tavern Brawler, increasing my strength to 18. This would make my shield becoming usable as a weapon. Enlarged and with Dueling it would deal 2d4+6. Since the spell states that WEAPONS are enlarged and deal an extra d4 I guess that fists and feet do not count as such and with tavern brawler it would still be 1d4+4. Dueling also requires the use of a weapon in one hand, so unarmed is excluded.
I wonder if it would be wise skipping Tavern Brawler in favor of Heavy Armor Master. The reason is that my dungeon master plays his monsters a little too wary. All are expert tacticians (even zombies) and further if the bear totem barbarian in our party uses Rage (resist all except psychic) all Monsters start attacking me (or the squishies), while if I use Protection from Evil and Good spell it's vice versa.
By picking Heavy Armor Master I lose the option of using my shield as a weapon and further my unarmed attacks are even less effective with only 5 damage per hit. Heavy Armor Master would provide some solid protection, especially while grappling 2 creatures while some more are still in vicinity and of course when going sword and board because grappling can't be done all the time.
The Grappler's Manual rated Heavy Armor Master rather bad, at least for grapplers. Yet, I think it could still be viable, especially when going knee-deep into brawls. What is your opinion concerning this matter. Or should I have skipped Shield Master in favour of taking both Heavy Armor Master and Tavern Brawler.
I've planned to acquire War Caster at lvl 6, because I want to lose the somatic component, and to gain advantage on concentration spells (like Enlarge, or Protection from Evil and Good). I also want to use Booming Blade with any opportunity attack. So far I had quite some opportunities, but sadly could not use it yet.
At lvl 8 I wanted to get Tavern Brawler, increasing my strength to 18. This would make my shield becoming usable as a weapon. Enlarged and with Dueling it would deal 2d4+6. Since the spell states that WEAPONS are enlarged and deal an extra d4 I guess that fists and feet do not count as such and with tavern brawler it would still be 1d4+4. Dueling also requires the use of a weapon in one hand, so unarmed is excluded.
I wonder if it would be wise skipping Tavern Brawler in favor of Heavy Armor Master. The reason is that my dungeon master plays his monsters a little too wary. All are expert tacticians (even zombies) and further if the bear totem barbarian in our party uses Rage (resist all except psychic) all Monsters start attacking me (or the squishies), while if I use Protection from Evil and Good spell it's vice versa.
By picking Heavy Armor Master I lose the option of using my shield as a weapon and further my unarmed attacks are even less effective with only 5 damage per hit. Heavy Armor Master would provide some solid protection, especially while grappling 2 creatures while some more are still in vicinity and of course when going sword and board because grappling can't be done all the time.
The Grappler's Manual rated Heavy Armor Master rather bad, at least for grapplers. Yet, I think it could still be viable, especially when going knee-deep into brawls. What is your opinion concerning this matter. Or should I have skipped Shield Master in favour of taking both Heavy Armor Master and Tavern Brawler.