D&D 5E Sword and Board?

[CTurbo]

Yeah I misread and thought you had just taken the Polearm feat. My bad.

Longsword is a very strong weapon with or without a shield. I'm a huge fan of the Dueling Fighting style, but like I said, it's still a 1d10 weapon in 2 hands even if you forget the shield. I would hold onto it. You'll eventually find a +1 polearm

 

[Greg Benage]

With your high AC, consider Sentinel instead of Shield Master. It's harder to precisely quantify since it's somewhat situational, but obviously extra attacks have a significant impact on your offensive capability. Riposte when they attack you and miss, Sentinel when they attack your buddy.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

Boss move is to lash the sword onto the end of a pole and convince your DM to let you treat it as a +1 glaive.

^ This.

You can ask your DM out of character if this is a go.

... Or stay in character, and just tie the sword to the pole, and do a few practice rounds on a tree or the ol' bag filled with straw. A good DM that doesn't want you to have this "glaive" will make it break apart when you attack the tree. But if it does not break... evaluate the contraption in game. Get more info on its practicality, the strength of the attachment. See what feedback the DM gives you. You should know soon enough if this is allowed by the DM. Later, you can roleplay that some smith or other craftsman attaches the sword a bit more permanently to the pole.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

You haven't said much about what your character is like: are they the type who plans their life in advance, or do they react and take advantages of new circumstances?

An option would be to put the problem off for later: take a feat, or ASI that you can use with both styles. Check with your DM: they might allow you to get the GWM damage bonus when using the longsword two-handed. Even if not, you still get the extra attack on kills and criticals with any weapon.

Or find out if they allow feat retraining or similar.

 

[jasper]

Contents of MR Mistwell estate. Mr Mistwell was Dwarven Battle Master pole arm master of the 20th degree. Died Aug 31 1495 FR. At 444 years of age. Shot 44 times with a 45 by 42 jealous spouses.
+1 Broad
+1 Long Sharpness
+1 Long
+1 Long Flame Tongue
+1 Short
+2 Rapier
+2 Short Red Dragon Slayer +1
+2 Two handed Life stealing
+3 Long Vorpal
+5 Long Holy Avenger ( ancient relic from before the fifth age)
+1 Dagger
+1 Dagger
+1 Dagger OrangeStar
+1 Dagger Growf
+1 Dagger
+1 Hand Axe Black Star
+1 Long Bow
+1 Mace
+1 Morning Star
+1 Scimitar
+1 Spear (10)
+1 Trident
+2 Dagger Silver
+2 Dagger Silver Growf
+2 Dagger Silver
+2 Flail
+2 Flail
+2 Hammer
+2 Hammer
+2 Hammer
+2 Mace
+2 Mace
+2 Numb chucks
+2 Scimitar
+2 Scimitar
+2 Scimitar
+3 Battle Axe Vorpal
+3 Dagger
+3 Hammer
+3 Mace
+3 Ninja Claws
+3 Spear
+3 Trident
+4 Dagger
Crossbow of Speed
Crossbow of Speed
Crossbow of Accuracy and Speed
Crossbow of Speed
Crossbow of Accuracy and Speed
Dagger of Sharpness
Dagger of Venom
Death Lance spear damage + 3d4 negative energy. Save vs. poison or lose 1d4 levels.
Dwarven Thrower
Hammer of Thunderbolts
Javelin Lightning
Javelin Lightning
Sling of Seeking

As none of these were pole arms and according to deceased wishes, these were crushed by a stone juggernaut.
I have to agree with some others here. Don't let your build rule what magic you take. One of the joys is finding stuff and changing your mind on how your pc is going to be built.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I say keep you Glaive and the Magic Longsword and instead of taking PM, take Sentinel. This will give you good battlefield control with either weapon letting you try each out. If it turns out you like the glaive more, go PM with your next ASI. If it turns out you like the Longsword+Shield better go Shield Master.

You'll have a couple of levels to try each out.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I am concerned about battlefield control without the polearm. Foes can more easily run by me to get at the caster PCs without it. But if I can get them to engage me (and I do have the Goad maneuver, which will help a bit with that.

It's not like there's a tremendous amount of battlefield control to be had with the pole-arm (with or without Sentinel, which'd work fine with the longsword, too, for that matter), anyway. You only ever get one Reaction, and while it might intimidate lesser foes (as might, well Intimidate), that one Reaction's single attack will mean less and less as hps scale with level, and your damage scales with extra attack.

Your best bet is to find the actions that the DM tends to react to by having enemies engage you. (It'll vary with the opponent if the DM stops to think about it - but we're only human, and there'll be things that push buttons, too, in ways we may not even realize.)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Heh. But you could ask your DM if questing for an epic weaponsmith that is capable of reshaping the magic sword into the blade of a polearm is a possibility.


Aside from that, I think I’d go for the magic longsword over the polearm feat. Polearm Mastery can indeed do wonders, but as others have mentioned, the ability to not have to worry about damage reduction against non-magical weapons with certain monsters is no small consideration. And that +2 to AC from a shield is pretty good, too, for that matter.

Boss move is to lash the sword onto the end of a pole and convince your DM to let you treat it as a +1 glaive.

 

[Mistwell]

It's not like there's a tremendous amount of battlefield control to be had with the pole-arm (with or without Sentinel, which'd work fine with the longsword, too, for that matter), anyway. You only ever get one Reaction, and while it might intimidate lesser foes (as might, well Intimidate), that one Reaction's single attack will mean less and less as hps scale with level, and your damage scales with extra attack.

I can use Goad with the reaction (which reduces the foes attacks against those spellcasters to disadvantage). Also, once I have both Sentinel and Polearm Master, I stop movement within 10 feat of me with my polearm for that reaction as well. Both are pretty darn good battlefield control.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I say keep you Glaive and the Magic Longsword and instead of taking PM, take Sentinel. This will give you good battlefield control with either weapon letting you try each out. If it turns out you like the glaive more, go PM with your next ASI. If it turns out you like the Longsword+Shield better go Shield Master.

You'll have a couple of levels to try each out.

Solid advice. If I were the OP, this is probably what I would do.