D&D 5E Know Your Enemy - As Cool as it sounds?

[WarpedAcorn]

Know Your Enemy is one of those unique abilities that no one else has (except the Mastermind I think), but I'm curious if people who have played Battlemasters have found it legitimately useful or just a nice fluff ability?

My question about the value of this ability is related to whether I will break off Fighter levels at 5, 6, or push through to 7. The current plan is Fighter 5 / Cleric 15 (assuming he gets that high), but if I a feat or ASI popped up I felt I really needed I would go to 6...which is just 1 away from 7 and the Know Your Enemy ability. But that would only be if Know Your Enemy was truly worth it.

 

[Jago]

If you get that 1 minute prep time it needs, learning a Creature's HP or AC is pretty damn handy. It helps with a lot of those "Should I use X Ability?" questions because then the Bard knows for sure "Yes, my Inspiration would help hit here" or the Warlock knows for sure "Yes, I want to focus every Eldritch Blast on this target because of their high HP".

If you're frequently interacting with enemies and the like before you fight them, the extra information is a pretty good leg up. The best things to ask for, I feel, are Dex, Con, AC, and HP, in no particular order. Dex and Con give you a reasonable idea of the enemy's physical saves (even with Proficiency, if they have a Dex of 8, you can be pretty sure their save is probably not Roguishly good), and the spellcasters (and you, with your Manuevers) will like that. AC and HP of course I already explained.

Essentially, if you get the 1 minute, and I cannot stress that enough, this ability is pretty good for helping the party gauge how many of their resources they may need to spend to overcome a particular enemy (or group of enemies, if they all look the same).

 

[iserith]

In my view, it's good if the DM doesn't always throw "level-appropriate" NPCs/monsters at the party and/or there is an expectation of 6 to 8 medium to hard challenges per day. In these conditions, the ability allows the players to avoid taking on something too difficult and to conserve resources for future encounters. If the DM is always presenting "level-appropriate" NPCs/monsters and there is no expectation of a "full" adventuring day, then the ability's appeal is greatly diminished in my eyes.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have yet to see a player use it.

 

[One_Shots]

It's really not as good as it seems at first. It doesn't actually tell you what a creature's statistics are, it only informs you of whether or not those statistics are higher or lower than your own. That's really not very useful unless you're very unfamiliar with the game.