D&D 5E Unarmed strike finesse house rule

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'm drawing the line at Sneak Attacks with Glaive in my campaign, that's for sure Polearm Mastery is already back-breakingly good. +Sentinel? +Sneak Attack!

I've thought about this, but I'm still leery of allowing it with two-handed weapons. First because of flavor and second, the interaction with feats like GWM and Polearm Master.

Sneak Attack's 1/round limitation prevents most abuse, and GWM works better with multiple attacks: when you only have one big attack, GWM is generally worse than no GWM.

Good point about Polearm feat though: the extra attack isn't an issue, but the easy access to a reaction attack out of your turn is good. Getting advantage or ganging up on an opponent moving into your range however is harder than meeting the conditions for Sneak Attack against an opponent currently in melee with you. If a player tries that combination, I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Kalshane]

Sneak Attack's 1/round limitation prevents most abuse, and GWM works better with multiple attacks: when you only have one big attack, GWM is generally worse than no GWM.

Good point about Polearm feat though: the extra attack isn't an issue, but the easy access to a reaction attack out of your turn is good. Getting advantage or ganging up on an opponent moving into your range however is harder than meeting the conditions for Sneak Attack against an opponent currently in melee with you. If a player tries that combination, I'll keep an eye on it.

Well, it's 1/turn, not per round, so those sweet Opportunity Attacks provoked by Polearm Master would be eligible for Sneak Attack, provided the requirements are met (though being a Swashbuckler makes this easier.)

GWM combined with Sneak Attack probably isn't worth it, unless you have multiple attacks and save the -5/+10 for after you've landed a sneak attack.

I have a feat in my game that allows sneak attack with any weapon you're proficient with, but so far nobody has bothered to take it. Should someone hit upon combining it with Polearm Master (and I could easily see a Swashbuckler in the vein of Robin Hood or Little John with a quarterstaff going that route) and it becomes abusive, I'll address it then. Though you're spending two feats in order to use a sub-optimal weapon more effectively, so it might not even be that bad.