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| #1miniitxSep 06, 2015 7:53:54 | Not sure why, but I just love the feat. Great mix of offense and defense. Here's my attempt at the most optimized build for the Shield Master feat. Sort of a one-trick pony, but he's been very effective from 1-13.
Run up to someone, knock em down, beat em up. He's fast, he'll always have advantage and he'll crit a lot. High AC since he rarely needs Reckless Attack, and if you do hit him, you'll do 1/2 damage raging halved again by Uncanny Dodge. Relentless Rage and the half-orc racial gives this cat nine lives on top of that. Very potent physical attribute saves, but he's a pushover to psychic/Will saves. Get a buddy with Mind Blank and you're golden.
At 20: Half-Orc 20 Strength Saving Throw Proficiency: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity Feats: Shield Master, Resilient (Dex)
Use your bonus action to either Dash to an enemy or to knock prone (+17 Athletics and advantage = anything Large or smaller is going down). Use your reaction to halve one attack's damage every turn. A raging sneak attack crit is about 10d6+10 with a scimitar, +3 if magic. You'll see a lot of crits A) with Assassination and B) with constant advantage and expanded crit range. If things go south, you're sneaky and fast enough to use hit-and-run tactics.
Love the flavor of this guy. You get the classic unarmored half-orc barbarian look and feel with lots of flavor, plus some really fun mechanical combos from the three classes. I feel like he hits all the sweet spots for break points - getting out of Rogue just before redundancy in Evasion, nova + crit levels from Fighter, and enough Barb to nab the fun traits and still feel like you're getting enough from multiclassing to not miss the capstone. Presto! Stealthy skirmisher barb.
Anyone else love the feat and have a character for it? I've seen some nice combos with Hex + Shield Master. |
| #2melloredSep 06, 2015 18:23:03 | The enlarge spell is rather useful for a build like this. Kinda tricky to get though. |
| #3LeugrenSep 06, 2015 19:07:19 | Interesting build. Can you post the full progression from 1 to 20? It will make it easier to evaluate. |
| #4miniitxSep 07, 2015 6:26:58 |
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| #5Granville7482Sep 07, 2015 6:40:11 | I had a similiar character in the AL and I loved it! At one point I picked up an Enlarge potion because nobody wanted it, including me. I used it to smash a hydra, who still killed me because the GM ruled 5 heads = 5 reactions, all triggering off the same action. I can see that ruling going either way as it's not very clear in the rules. After the game I asked myself how many times did I skip out on an Enlarge potion?!?!?!
One thing that is brutal about your character, and brutal about tanks in general...that low Wisdom Save. I love me some Resilient (Dex) with the Shield Master Feat, but I still find Resilient (Wis) to be much better. If you get hit with the wrong spell or effect you are buttfood for whatever. You character has a +0, expect Graz'zt to use his 6th finger on you.
As for Goliath vs Half-Orc. Half-Orc wins, but by so little of a margin I find it to come down to playstyle. I've played both with the feat and very similiar builds. The Goliath's Powerful Build SHOULD allow you to knock around larger opponents, but instead it's basicaaly encrumbrance-free and Schwartzeneggar-Conan type stuff like pushing things over. The help with acclimation and cold tempatures does not help much, because when it comes up, the rest of your party will collectivly be looking for a solution anyways. The extra 1D12 + Con Per short rest damage reduction on a reaction is very nice at lower levels. It's better than the Half-Orc's Death Ward ability. But as you get higher in level it sees less usefullness as you start having more uses for your reaction. (Parry while not as good, still serves the same role at low levels though it costs a precious battle die. Stuff from the Shield Master feat uses a reaction, etc.) Meanwhile your Orc gets better crits, and the death ward I feel, although debateable, ends up net about, or a little less useful as Stone's Endurance at mid-game around ehhhh level 7-8ish. Late game neither will save you, but the death ward of the orc can pull off a surprise once in a while- or get you killed. If it gets you killed though, you were going to die anyways. |
| #6LeugrenSep 07, 2015 10:09:46 | Can you explain why you state that the "The advantage on Strength checks doesn't help a lot while raging with this guy"? Is it because your Athletics check is so high that you don't really need advantage to succeed on the Shove check? It seems to me that, at low levels, the advantage on Strength checks would have helped a lot, though admittedly, you're not picking up the Shield Master feat until level 6. |
| #7BestNorthernDopeSep 07, 2015 10:38:25 |
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| #8LeugrenSep 07, 2015 11:55:16 |
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| #9Danny_MontannySep 08, 2015 5:27:39 | I played this as a variant Human at Barbarian 2/Rogue 1. If I missed with the shove, highly unlikely with the Warlock Hexing my target's Str most turns, I'd just Reckless Attack for the advantage to get SA. I remember once getting a d6 inspiration from our Valor Bard an critting for like 30+ damage. I flavored him as a gladiator that had a fighting style similar to Brad Pitt's Achilles from Troy. He was agile and strong. A little hot headed, so the Wis saves were a concern (but there's nothing wrong with a weakness). His Rage was more of a battle focus than a foaming at the mouth rage. I really liked him and planned on going Barbarian 3/Rogue 5, then see what happened from there. Was thinking about Medium Armor Master at Rogue 4 to shore up the AC (16 Dex and 14 Con), so he could focus on Str from then on, but wasn't 100% committed. Unfortunately I got roped into DMing and haven't gotten a chance to play him again. |
| (Reply to #5)miniitx |
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| #11Danny_MontannySep 08, 2015 18:51:28 | Powerful Bulid doesn't have any interaction with the shove mechanic. The only limitation on a shove is size of the creatures involved. You can shove a creature up to one size category larger than yourself. As a Medium creature you wouldn't be able to shove a Huge creature, but a Large creature would (which is where Enlarge comes in handy).
What Powerful Build does is interact with the Lifting and Carrying rules on page 176 of the PHB. A normal Medium sizerd creature has a carrying capacity of their Strength score multiplied by 15. For the Goliath, it'll be doubled because they're treated as Large creatures. So their carrying capacity is Strength x 30 and their push, drag, lift is Strength x 60. |
| #12LeugrenSep 08, 2015 18:57:46 |
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| (Reply to #12)Danny_Montanny |
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| #14LeugrenSep 09, 2015 16:35:43 |
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| (Reply to #14)Danny_Montanny |
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| #16miniitxSep 13, 2015 12:58:45 | Yea, 5 Rogue is the sweet spot for getting out of Rogue before the redundant Evasion feature. Uncanny Dodge and rage resistances just makes you feel invincible. 11 Fighter / 4 Barb is interesting for the 3rd attack. The September UA Ranger, however, totally makes sense for the build and I'd probably revise to 5 Rogue / 4 Fighter / 9 Barb / 2 Ranger. Lots of multiclassing starts to seem munchkin-y, but I feel like it all plays into the skirmisher theme/flavor. Ambuscade and Skirmisher's Stealth are amazing additions for a small dip. Anything beyond the 2 Ranger levels feels MAD with the Wisdom dependency of the Spirit Path features. I think the optimal level for the character would be around 14 (5 Rogue / 5 Barb / 3 Fighter / 2 Ranger), and maybe first starts to shine around 6 (2 Rogue, 3 Barb, 1 Ranger).
Sure, the Ranger is unrefined and in playtest, but sheeeeeit it adds a lot to any preexisting "skirmisher" build. Gimme that surprise round nova! |
| #17Danny_MontannySep 13, 2015 13:42:38 | I wouldn't say Evasion is that redundant to the Shield Master feature. It doesn't cost a reaction like SM does. I you fail your save you take half damage (then your resistance on top of that), unlike SM where you take full damage if you fail. Sure SM covers some of its ground, but Evasion by far superior. It's still a good get and will just make you even more resiliant while saving your reaction for what you really want it for, Uncanny Dodge.
Compare failing a 100 Damage dragon's breath. You'll take 50 with Shield Master because you can't use your reaction for Uncanny Dodge. With Evasion you take 12...
Do NOT like Ambuscade. That's all I'll say about the new UA Ranger. |
| #18rgoodbbSep 14, 2015 2:38:57 | Dex save Dragon Breath I thought 100 damage would be reduced to 25
Evasion: half damage on fail Bear Resistance: half after all other factors
Does Uncanny Dodge work against dragon breath as well? I thought it was only against attacks (attack roll attacks) not saving throws. |
| (Reply to #18)Danny_Montanny |
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| #20rgoodbbSep 14, 2015 8:52:57 | No doubt. It's all an excellent combo with Danger Sense added into the mix as well.
Shrug off anything with a ring of (psychic) resistance to top it all off.
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| (Reply to #19)miniitx |
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| (Reply to #21)Danny_Montanny |
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