D&D 5E [GUIDE] Battle On: The Fighter Guide

[Asgorath]

Sentinel is based on opportunity attacks and says nothing about "extra reaction attacks", and Riposte does not say the riposte attack is an opportunity attack.

Is an extra reaction attack the same thing as an opportunity attack?

An opportunity attack uses your reaction:

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.

Riposte is another way to get an attack with your reaction. There can be many situations where the mere threat of a Sentinel-based opportunity attack will cause the enemy to not move away, and so having other ways of getting those extra reaction attacks is good, which is why Riposte is so valuable.

 

[niklinna]

An opportunity attack uses your reaction:

....

Riposte is another way to get an attack with your reaction. There can be many situations where the mere threat of a Sentinel-based opportunity attack will cause the enemy to not move away, and so having other ways of getting those extra reaction attacks is good, which is why Riposte is so valuable.

Ah, so this isn't about using Riposte's extra reaction attack to gain the benefit of Sentinel (dropping enemy move to 0)? That's how I'd interpreted Gladius's review. It looks like the point is, instead, that whether the enemy tries to leave (Sentinel) or stays (Riposte), you will likely get a an extra attack against it on each of its turns.

 

[Blue]

I'm creating my first fighter, a mountain dwarf great weapon battle master, beginning at level 3. I chose menacing attack, precision attack, and riposte for maneuvers, and have rolled up this set of abilities (racial mods applied):

STR 18, DEX 13, CON 17
INT 11, WIS 12, CHA 10

Since I was lucky to get a starting STR of 18, I might go for feats early on. I'm currently debating between Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master, maybe will do both to level 6, but Sentinel is also attractive due to unstable party composition. I'm playing in a campaign where we have two separate parties that often swap characters in and out based on player availability, so there's no fixed party composition to base choices on. Casters and skirmishers are overrpresented; we have a regular cleric in one group, and a barbarian and a paladin who sometimes show up.

On the other hand, again with STR already 18, I might bump DEX and CON early to even scores for better initiative, hit points, and CON saves. So that might be worth doing at level 4-6 before taking a feat. What do you think? While I generally prefer having more active options over passive benefits, these are considerable passive benefits for one ASI!

I have also noticed that the sample builds go for DEX 12 and WIS 13, so there's that to consider now. Even so, the DM hasn't thrown much in the way of WIS saves at us, so I think I can safely delay taking the feat Resilient (WIS).

You've got good ability scores and going fighter which grants ASIs, so you really do have a choice without falling behind what the system expects to throw at you. That said, if everyone has good ability scores the DM may up their challenge.

Another option besides +1 CON / +1 DEX ASI is two "half feats" that raise each by 1 and give you something else. You didn't mention what sources you are using, XGtE gives racial feats. A dwarf could take Dwarven Fortitude for +1 CON and the ability to spend a HD whenever you take the Dodge action (doesn't scale well) and Squat Nimbleness for +1 STR or DEX, +5ft move (nice), proficiency in Acrobatics or Athletics as well as Advantage when using either to escape a grapple. In addition to all the others in the PHB. Though to be honest neither of this is critical, you might want to max STR or get defining feats first.

Great Weapon Master really shines when you have lots of other +X to hit. If you have a cleric who likes to use Bless you're golden. If you're in a magic weapon rich campaign you're also doing well. Basically, the +5/-10 has a mathematical balance point based on what you need to roll to hit and your base damage where it's worse or better, and the farther from that you are it gets a lot worse/better. So if you expect a lot of modifiers, it's great. You have precision shot already, which is a BEAUTIFUL lead in to GWM. Enough that even though in the generic I favor Polearm Mastery a bit more, I think GWM would be better for you.

Though if you go for GWM, I would raise STR to 20 at the next opportunity - the bonus to hit helps a lot.

Sentinel really varies a lot on DM for how often it comes into play. At my table, it never seems to live up to potential of GWM/PM but that's not a universal truth.

 

[niklinna]

Another option besides +1 CON / +1 DEX ASI is two "half feats" that raise each by 1 and give you something else. You didn't mention what sources you are using, XGtE gives racial feats. A dwarf could take Dwarven Fortitude for +1 CON and the ability to spend a HD whenever you take the Dodge action (doesn't scale well) and Squat Nimbleness for +1 STR or DEX, +5ft move (nice), proficiency in Acrobatics or Athletics as well as Advantage when using either to escape a grapple. In addition to all the others in the PHB. Though to be honest neither of this is critical, you might want to max STR or get defining feats first.

Ah, I'd written those off because this very guide rates them so low. I will keep them in mind, though.

Great Weapon Master really shines when you have lots of other +X to hit. If you have a cleric who likes to use Bless you're golden.

We do have a cleric and a paladin in our revolving roster of characters. And a bard who could take Bless via Magical Secrets, not that she doesn't have better options than boosting me.

Basically, the +5/-10 has a mathematical balance point based on what you need to roll to hit and your base damage where it's worse or better, and the farther from that you are it gets a lot worse/better. So if you expect a lot of modifiers, it's great. You have precision shot already, which is a BEAUTIFUL lead in to GWM. Enough that even though in the generic I favor Polearm Mastery a bit more, I think GWM would be better for you.

The point about Precision Attack is well noted. That plus Great Weapon Master is a fearsome double whammy. Thanks for highlghting that!

Though if you go for GWM, I would raise STR to 20 at the next opportunity - the bonus to hit helps a lot.

That seems like a better setup, to start with, than Great Weapon Master + Poleam Master. It'll really pile on the damage, and as they say, the best status effect is dead. I do think I'll go with GWM first and then the STR bump, as you recommend, since STR is already 18. That'll take some time too so I can worry about level 8+ later.

Sentinel really varies a lot on DM for how often it comes into play. At my table, it never seems to live up to potential of GWM/PM but that's not a universal truth.

Also noted. And to think I was considering going sword & board with duelist instead....

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[Phillip K Gaston]

Quick question- Are fighters proficient with improvised weapons?

 

[Gladius Legis]

Quick question- Are fighters proficient with improvised weapons?

No.

 

[Conandar]

In your guide you seem to be of the opinion that the feat Crossbow Expert is only for crossbow users. Errata has made it clear that, while it is true that the 1st and 3rd features of that feat require a crossbow, the second feature is applicable to any ranged attack, whether it is made with a crossbow, a short bow, a long bow, or even a ranged attack spell.

 

[Gladius Legis]

In your guide you seem to be of the opinion that the feat Crossbow Expert is only for crossbow users. Errata has made it clear that, while it is true that the 1st and 3rd features of that feat require a crossbow, the second feature is applicable to any ranged attack, whether it is made with a crossbow, a short bow, a long bow, or even a ranged attack spell.

While that is true, the feat still isn't worth taking on the whole if you're not a crossbow user.

 

[Oliver Xu]

"Hoo boy, how the mighty have fallen. Thanks, Jeremy Crawford."

No cursing, even if the profanity filter won’t touch it.

 

[lukedood22]

can you update this for the Unearthed Arcana books?