My Wife took the Chef feat as I let everyone take a Feat at character creation (Humans would get 2 then) and she built it into her backstory for her Sorcerer. It has been the stand out feat as we play. Everyone jumps into the roleplay for breakfast as she cooks special treats that gives people temp hp. It also encourages short rests which means things keep moving. Less often is it "we might as well take a long rest" and instead pushes them forward. Such an awesome feat
Chef is an amazing feat and severely underrated. Besides the huge healing benefits, if you have a character in the party that doesn't have much use for their bonus action they can pop temp hp every turn to give themselves more survivability. It does get a little weak at very high levels, but if you just need one point of Con it's arguably as good as any other option.
Chef is good. I kinda think it's better than Inspiring leader. I had a druid who took it and I never regretted it. Plus you have a reputation as a world renoun chef after a while.
Play a halfing ranger in a campagne of ours, imagine aragorn, but dumb as a brick (and i mean that in the most endearing way) - his chef feat came up constantly, making hearty meals and comfy breakfasts, giving everyone a little pick me up and always looking out for treats to icorporate into the sandwiches he handed out really added to bringing everyone together, even becoming something of a common trope for our group - absolutely love it, highly underrated; food really does bring people together! (plus, a few bonus hp is always nice to have - saved our hides quite a few times^^)
@@arentol7 I am considering it for adventures league I am a part of since even if I don't venture with a party i can buff them before their mission. Assuming I won't have one myself.
This makes me want to do something similar, but with a restricted list of options. I'd want players to get their choice of those feats that never get taken, specifically because they've probably never used most of them, and because it can be fun to take feats that aren't optimized, but add interesting dimensions to your character! Thanks for the idea!
Crusher is also amazing as a Monk. Using this with unarmed strikes is great to beat on an enemy and slam them back do you can move away without having to Disengage.
Many of these are excellent monk feats. Crusher means a monk always has three opportunities on their turn to shove or crit. Mobile just enhances what a monk already does well. Spell sniper gives a monk a sweet ranged attack option (monk with Eldritch Blast? Yes please.)
@@ChrisHendricks I think the monk would have to use charisma for the spell attack if they picked eldritch blast right? So something using wisdom would be more likely.
@@Dezbood You can do that with the Fighter's Extra Attack too. Just diagonally Shove the creature upward by 5ft then do it 3 more times up to 20ft of air travel. Once the creature falls onto the floor. They will take 2d6 of fall damage. Note: The Shove Attack doesn't explicitly state a direction unlike the Telekinetic Feat's ranged Shove Bonus Action which is only forward or backward in relation to your position in 3d omnidirectional space.
Thing I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet about Actor is its usage with the Pact of the Chain Warlocks and the Voice of the Chain Master. Having an invisible Imp familiar that can sound like literally anyone can't be overstated in terms of its utility.
Jesus Christ what a nasty combo... perfect for a political intrigue campaign where the big bad makes their political opponent slowly lose their mind, thinking they're hearing voices that aren't there so they lose credibility. I might have to steal this
Something I'm not seeing mentioned about Crusher is that it makes a suboptimal, rarely-used weapon kind-of insane: the sling. Bonking enemies 5 feet in any direction at range is just soooo satisfying.
@@forestcaine I helped the fighter at my current table, who is building her Eldritch Knight around the Crusher/Booming Blade synergy, realize that Crusher also works with a thrown light hammer. Some would call me a masochist for giving my players all these combos and how to utilize them, but I just see it as setting them up for success against any kinds of horrifying stuff I might throw at them.
Now, picture a Kensi monk with crusher using a sling. Now pick up some levels in battle master fighter and take the pushing attack maneuver. Now so long as they fail the save, you're gonna be able to push an enemy 20 feet as a bonus action using the Kensi shot ability.
@@fugly_fetus Ah I see a man of culture. Literally took the words right out of my mouth (it’s basically a Fus Ro Dah 😂). I just started a campaign where I’m doing exactly this with my character. Already have crusher because I went with the custom lineage and will be picking sharpshooter as my next feat. And will be going into fighter and picking battlemaster and pick pushing attack and precision attack. And with precision attack and ki fueled strikes from Tasha’s I can give myself a huge bonus to hit to negate the -5 from sharpshooter. And we are also playing a sea/pirate campaign so hopefully I will be able to push some fools off a ship with this. We just got that campaign going so we’ll see if I can.
@davidstratton696 I wanted this build to be absolute chease, so I chose to be a bugbear as well. I've also made my other kensi weapon a whip so I can smack them around with the sling, and if their getting too close I can just keep them at bay or use the trip attack maneuver. Now they're on the ground after being sent flying by my rocks and if they get really persistent I can just use the brace manuver to make an opportunity attack. And don't even get me started on how absolutely insane it is to be capable of using stunning strike from 15ft away
Crusher is my favorite to pair with Booming Blade. While the move doesn't trigger the effect of Booming Blade (because it is a forced move), it does set it up so that an enemy is now 5 ft away with the booming effect on the them so now they either get locked down (and made ineffective for a turn if they don't have reach or ranged) or move and trigger the effect.
I love Swarmkeeper with Crusher and Booming Blade (from Elven race). You can Push enemy up to 20ft away when he looses that swarm save roll, or move yourself 5ft back and enemy 5ft away giving you enough space to disengage even against enemies with reach! It gives so much versatility: Normal enemy - push 5ft and deal bonus dmg Reach enemy - 10ft distance without save Hazard (spike growth) - push them up to 20ft Higher levels - up to 20ft push and knock them prone Another great combo is Swarmkeeper with Slasher and BB - Boom them, move yourself 5ft away (or them 15ft, but against the save), then run away. Their speed is -10ft so if they have no ranged attack, they are screwed.
Add Warcaster, Sentinel, and Polarm Master... The ultimate lockdown build for any Half and 2/3rd Casters. Like the Eldritch Knight who can then apply/reset Eldritch Strike.
@@JuckiCZ For my Warforged Eldritch Knight... I would prone and grapple the creature first before applying Booming Blade then burning them with Green Flame Blade. The creature now has 0ft Move and require 15ft to stand up while they are being grappled. If they escape my grapple, then Booming Blade will become the Thunder Cage. Oh... And I will cast Thunder Wave to negate their Reaction. (Is that the name of the spell???) All over a few turns, of course.
Huh. Finding someone who can combo with you when you have Booming Blade would actually be a pretty good idea. Having someone cast Infestation or Dissonant Whispers on someone who has been Booming Bladed is a great way to ensure that effect activates.
Shield master actually works really nicely on clerics since they never gain the extra attack. While it can compete with spiritual weapon for bonus actions, it's nice when you're low/out of spell slots to have additional control options.
It's even better if you start with one or two levels in Ranger, so you can: - Wield better weapons and/or armor, depending on what you would otherwise gain from the specific Cleric subclass you choose - Have a fighting style, which can also help to save spell slots - Get Canny for Expertise in one skill (Athletics would pair excellently with Shield Master) - Start with Proficiency in DEX saves, boosting the usefulness of Shield Master
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
Best of all works on a Paladin. Especially Vengeance Paladin. I would say better than any other subclass. Get high charisma and add that to your dexterity saves. With good enough rolls, your dex saves match that of a character with proficiency. Additionally, Vengeance gets Haste, which supercharges Shield Master. You can go Hasted action attack > BA shove > attack. And you get advantage to all your dex saves.
I actually built a character around the Actor feat. A Hexblade he worked as spy for his kingdom and infiltrated a criminal organization. After helping these criminals recover a cursed weapon called the Mourning Star he was found out. He managed to escape with the Mourning Star but the criminals ruined his reputation marking him as a traitor by his government. With the Actor feat and Mask of Many Faces he uses 3 alternate identities to hide from both his government and the criminals who still hunt him, unaware he’s hunting them as well.
@Ethertask Sebastian my bard was a changeling, I know bards get disguise self as a spell anyways but I didn't want to spend a spell slot on it, those first level slots are for charm person, command, dissonant whispers, and healing word. Spells which I cast even at high levels of play. dissonant whispers for when you want to do a truckload of damage with the rogues sneak attack and the paladins smite, command for when there's something scary you want to skip his turn, charm person and healing word for obvious reasons. And well I cast too many spells to be a warlock, by the time initiative is rolled I'm always out of spell slots. It meant delaying the actor feat for four levels but the payoff was worth it.
@Ethertask Sebastian exactly- i'm playing a changeling arcane trickster rogue, and having lots of fun with it. so many applications, and not having to spend spell slots to transform is great.
Crusher is also excellent for Genie Patron Warlocks who pick the Dao. With Genie's Wrath adding bludgeoning damage to an attack that requires an attack roll (read: Eldritch Blast) once on each of your turns, in addition to Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar, you can push and pull multiple enemies into and around within a Spike Growth, which is also conveniently provided by a Dao patron.
Always remember that up is usually an unoccupied space! You could, with Crossbow Expert, get right in someone's face and Crusher them five feet in the air. And hey, would you look at that. Perfectly within Repelling Blast range. If you hit them now, they'll be pushed ten feet into the air and away from you, fall, and take an extra 1d6 damage while falling prone. Add an additional 1d6 at level 11 because you get an extra EB
@@StarryxNight5 Hi there! Loved this idea and am trying to draft a build around it as we speak :D I am a little confused about the action economy though, so I think i might be missing something obvious. If I am using my action to follow up with EB in this scenario, then what bonus action move am I using to do the initial 5 foot vertical crusher push? Are we dealing with a fighter multiclass for action surge, or sorcerer multiclass for quickened spell EB? I thought perhaps the bonus action crossbow shot from Crossbow Expert might do it, but it looks like that can only be performed in tandem with a one handed melee attack as your action :P
The actor feat is one of the most powerful feats in the game combined with detect thoughts and a telepathy ability. You're able to read the thoughts of a person, then try to mimic their thinking voice in their own minds through telepathy to try and deceive them into doing shit.
Didn't monty say he thinks this is a weird one cos if you heard your own voice in your head saying 'unlock the gate' you wouldn't assume it was a thought, you would assume you've got split personalities
Haste works great with shield master to achieve the knockdown and attack with advantage effect since you can choose to attack with the haste action first, which only permits one attack, then shove them down, then use your regular action to hit several times depending on your level. If you're feeling particularly spicy, action surge and double up on your attacks with advantage for some major pain.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
As a monk the Crusher feat is bonkers, especially if you have Mobile feat as well. You’re able to move enemies around the battlefield at a whim, and create a ton of useful opportunities to group together enemies or to knock an enemy out of combat with an ally. Hella useful.
I'm playing a mobile + crusher monk right now and it's fun as hell. Especially with sling being my dedicated weapon, you can be across the battlefield and still protect your allies by moving enemies around.
Yep and now be a Kensei Monk and pick sling as their Monk weapon and the dmg not only scales with their martial arts dmg but u can also use crusher at range now (the sling is the only ranged weapon that does bludgeoning dmg).
Ever since i realized this combination I have always wanted to create a sniper character. The Athlete feat, ill paste the effects here: You have undergone extensive physical training to gain the following benefits: - Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20. - When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement. - Climbing doesn’t cost you extra movement. - You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet. What you can do with this is play the prone sniper. When standing up from prone costs you only 5ft of movement you can always drop prone on the end of your turn to grant disadvantage against enemy ranged attacks as long as there isnt anyone threatening you close by. At the start you can just stand up and attack normally and move if needed and then drop prone. You can also get much easier to rooftops and high places that give you cover, and move between those those places with the jump. All this while still getting the dex bonus. It really feels like a character that could work.
I play a monk and I took athlete and your right it does work. Athlete is very underrated. Not only do you get a powerful movement ability (5 feet Vs. 1/2 your movement) but paired with Mobile is just deadly for a monk (or a rogue or a barbarian)
I really wanna try this with a Gloomstalker now, because this strategy is a really great way to make the prone mechanics work *for* you instead of against you.
With the Crossbow Expert feat you also don't have to take the time to load your weapon either, allowing you to play a medieval version of a combat sniper. You could also say, if you're using hand crossbows, that the moments you are 'prone' your character is dodge rolling around the battlefield to avoid return fire.
Moon Druids benefit from Mobile as well because it will affect their Wild Shapes too! Take the Dire Wolf or the Giant Elk that have 50 & 60ft movement speed or flying as Giant Eagle/Owl. Run/fly in, bite, claw, or trample, then get the heck out w/out provoking opportunity attacks.
Combine that with charger and you can basically just run back and fourth, dashing every turn with your action and attacking with a +5 to damage using your bonus action and 120ish feet of movement. If you have a party, at that point your basically going to be a discount flash, so that's fun.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
This maybe dm dependent but with the Crusher feat doesn’t only go left, right, or foreword but up as well. It doesn’t state that the creature can’t go up in the air so there is a possibility of knocking the target prone which leaves them even more vulnerable.
this is not dm dependent imo. this is what the feat does. there has been tweets from JC i believe clarifying this, there's also a treantmonk build vid on this where he references JCs clarification on this. but yeah technically anything in the game is DM dependent but the rules are clear here and it's up to the DM if they don't want to follow the rules.
The only stipulations with the movement from Crusher are that it’s moved to “an unoccupied space” within 5 feet and that the creature is “no more than one size larger than you” - nothing about that outright prevents you from moving them upwards into the air (save for maybe some large, low-flying birds). This strategy gets particularly fun on an Open Hand Monk, where you can stack this with your ability push creatures 15 feet on a failed STR save when you hit them with one of your Flurry of Blows attacks - knock something 20 feet in the air, it takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage from falling back down *and* it lands prone [per PHB and XGtE], giving you advantage on all subsequent melee attacks, which helps your chances to get a crit, which triggers the other part of the feat… fun stuff! And if you’re feeling particularly persnickety, you can always attempt to Stunning Strike the target too, which on a success means they’d be guaranteed to fail their STR save, all attacks against them would have advantage anyway, and they wouldn’t be able to stand up from prone on their turn.
The only problem with that is falling 5 feet won't drop them prone in RAW. They have to drop at least 10' so they take the 1d6 falling damage. (Fall damage is what knocks them prone.)
The only problem with that is falling 5 feet won't drop them prone in RAW. They have to drop at least 10' so they take the 1d6 falling damage. (Fall damage is what knocks them prone.)
Speaking of often ignored mechanics... I've only ever had a single DM know and use the dim light mechanics for Perception and hiding. In the rare case where they ARE used, the Skulker feat goes way up in value. I'm thinking especially of Rogue or Ranger players who might be really counting on that Hidden condition... dim light is REALLY easy to come by.
I actually am considering the Shield Master feat for a future character. A reborn zealot barbarian with the sailor background. He is basically gonna be a draugr.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
The Crusher feat has a special place in my heart. My monk took it when we hit level 12, right before the final battle. When we finally faced down the demon prince Graz'zt, I crit in my very first round of combat, allowing the rogue & fighter to land EVERY hit and do absolutely insane damage with their special final battle weapons. When it got back to my turn I finished Graz'zt off. A much shorter final battle than the GM anticipated but I sure felt epic
I love the Drow High Magic feat. I know it's exclusive to drow but having infinite access to Detect Magic and a free casting of levitate and dispel magic is such a boost to utility.
The Alert feat is pretty good. It's sort of passive, but getting turns early in combat is going to have a cumulative impact on your party's success over the course of a campaign. The surprise and unseen enemy effects may depend more on what sort of scenarios your DM likes to throw at you, but could be life-saving.
I love the Actor feat. I have a character who has a lot to hide but is a Bard and likes to perform and, as such, is very visible when performing. In the current campaign she picked up the feat during a down time. Shortly before part of her secret was discovered by another player so her learning this over the break was extremely appropriate for the character. Now the Performer is an entirely different person and no one ever notices her as she goes about her normal daily business. This would have been possible but a lot harder without it and just makes the whole thing sell so much better
Shield Master rocks! last session at my table, which was a boss fight, a new player was at his 2nd or 3rd session with us playing Human Battlemaster with sword and shield. He was just standing there tanking all 4 minions on the chin and I was able to push/pull 2 of them into a line with Eldritch Blast and then the Wizard sent an upcasted Lightning bolt down a line with 3 minions and the fighter. Fighter just straight up evades the bolt with his shield and we had 3/4 of the minions down by the end of that round. Teamwork OP!
Shield Master is honestly a must-have for a "sword and shield" build. On a Paladin, it essentially nullifies they're greatest weakness: Dexterity saving throws. Dex-based sword and shield paladins are inhumanely strong with this feat.
@@CanisMythson bc if you go dex, youre essentially immune to dex saving throws that involve damage I never said it would help, just saying that either one works perfectly fine
Healer is a pretty underrated feat that I recently re-discovered. 1d6+4+your level healing is nothing to sneeze at. You're looking at 6-11HP at level 1, 10-15 HP at level 5, 20-25 HP at level 15, basically for free. Takes an action and just 1 out of 10 uses of your healer's kit, not even a spell slot. You can also bring back a downed ally at 1 HP instead of stabilizing him at 0. I'll give it to my Wizard for RP reasons, but mechanically it would fit a quick and slippery Rogue very nicely as well, darting in and out and raising people in between stabbing enemies to death.
One of the most underrated feats, especially at early levels is Heavy Armour Master. +1 to STR, and -3 to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage taken from any non magical attack is incredible. I once played a paladin surrounded by zombies who did 24 attacks on me overall in one round, and I took about 10 damage total.
@@johnnamorton6744 Not untrue, but for one, i prefer the feats that do better at low levels because they're more consistently useful, and secondly while it doesn't scale well, multiattack does somewhat account for an increased effectiveness at higher levels. Let's put it this way, if over a combat encounter it saves you about 20HP (reasonable even at higher levels) it's already better than Tough since it's also a half feat.
@@urvidhnarula6362 20 HP saved would mean a minimum of 7 attacks hit with non-magical weapons, in addition to all the magical damage being thrown about. Combined with the heavy armor AC, I think saving 20 HP per encounter is _highly_ optimistic. Personally, while I don't think _Heavy Armor Master_ is bad, I'd rather choose _Chef,_ even for a heavy armor character.
While spell sniper is okay it does compete with increasing spell casting ASI, Warcaster, Resilient Con, Half feats that pair with spellcasting skill such as Fey Touched. According to DnD beyond stats a lot of players actually pick up spell sniper more then how good it actually is. So it is maybe overrated. If enemies have cover just hit a saving throw spell. Also booming blade doesn't get range anymore as range is self. This was an errata.
What I really like about these "second row" feats is that they are strong but not OP, making them a great base for a somewhat unique magic item. I didnt want to give my Paladin player more AC (as this was already becoming a problem) so when he told me he'd hope for a magic shield I instead gave him one that, while attuned to, basically gave him the effects of shieldmaster. Turned out to be great, didnt add to the AC problem while helping him out with his lackluster DEX, leading to less frustrating missed dex saves for him. Also promoted a more offensive combat style which was super fun. I can think of the same for a "Wand of Spell Sniping" with the cantrip being pre-defined and only available while attuned. Or maybe a mace/hammer that grants the benefits of the Crusher feat. Magical boots that grant the effect of Mobile could be fun or even a Magical cookbook (or herbs) that lets you use the Chef feat as long as you are attuned. The list goes on... A healers kit with elven medicine and bandages made from the finest linen, that has 10 "improved charges" which might be used as if you had the Healer feat. Or maybe a set of twin blades that grant you the benefits of the Dual Wilder feat as long as you draw both at the same time...
I had a hexblade/samurai build idea that revolved around something similar using a pike with elven accuracy, piercer, and GWM feats. Give yourself 7 attacks, 5 with advantage, looking for crits.
@@Ptollemios Barbarian X / Chapion 3, Pike, GWM, Piercer. 2 Attacks with advantage, crit on 19-20, reroll every 1 or 2 (FS), reroll any number of your choice once per your turn. BA attack for every crit or kill (happens a lot). Action Surge once per short rest. Play Ancestral Guardian for hit-and-run tactics. Your speed is 40+ (depending on race), reach means no AoO. That enemy cannot reach you (you are too far away or behind friends) and if he attacks anyone else, he has disadvantage and deals 1/2 dmg. Want more? Play Half-Orc and deal 4d10 dmg on each crit, which increases up to 7d10 on higher levels! And you can still add +10 dmg from GWM feat.
It may feel nice when you roll a 1 then reroll it and end up with a 12, but I calculated the numbers and in my opinion it's pretty weak. Just by listing the possible rolls and rerolls I brute-force calculated the optimal use of the feat and average bonus damage when you reroll. My calculations were on a d8 weapon, but the same principles apply on a d12. On a d8 weapon, to use it optimally you'll reroll any time you roll 4 or less. Any variation from this and you'll get less out of it than you could otherwise, so even if you reroll a 4 and end up with a 1, this averages out over many attacks to still be in your favor. If you always reroll when you roll 1 - 4, your average benefit on a reroll will be 2 extra points of damage. And since you're only rerolling half the time, you average an extra +1 damage on all successful attacks by using this feat optimally. On a D12 weapon, the numbers are similar. Reroll 1-6, with an average benefit of +3 on each reroll, or +1.5 on each successful attack. Spending a feat to gain 1.5 average damage per attack with the highest base damage weapon in the game (less with any other weapon) seems like a waste of a feat to me. But that's just my opinion, and if it makes the game more fun for you, great!
@@toddhadley9002 You are evaluating only 1/3 of the feat! You not only get +(1-1.5) dmg per turn, but you also gain 1 ASI (it is half feat) and you gain 1 extra dice for your crits. And with something like Champion or Barbarian, when chance to crit is 19% per attack, so cca 35% per turn, it means another 1.5-2 dmg per turn. So in the end, this feat adds cca 3-4 dmg per turn and it is still a half feat! Not as bad as you think.
Crusher is super fun to pair with light hammers, a sling or the cantrip Magic stone. Potentially even useful on a moon druid, since most beasts with Fist, stomp, or tail attacks are going to be dealing, as well as 3/4 elemental forms deal blunt damage.
Shield Master is indeed a good feat, the real problem with it is the bonus to DEX saving throws. You only get to add that +2 (for standard shields, magic shields can give you a higher one), if, and only if, it's a DEX saving throw that targets only you. This means that AOE effects like most traps and breath attacks don't count, even if you are the only one within range of it. Funnily enough though, you can still use the reaction ability to try and mitigate the damage entirely, so what I like to do is use 'Shield Master' on my Barbarians since they get advantage on DEX saving throws by level 2 with 'Danger Sense', so you'll still have a pretty good chance of effectively taking zero damage from your fireballs and the like. You'll still have that typical STR build so you can still do some shoving, and help to make use of the rest.
And you have advantage on STR ability checks while raging (so also on Athletics shove contest!). Add there some levels of Ranger for Expertise, FS and some spellcasting (healing? utility? dmg? Ranged option?) and your shoves will be successful almost always!
The bigger issue with Shield Master is you use a shield and don't have access to Power Attacks. As a Martial without Heavy Weapon Master or Sharp Shooter you drop off to a point of being nothing more than a damage sponge.
@@trndrd True, if you want to do a lot of damage while being sword and board you have to take the Zealot subclass, otherwise double down on the defense and go for Ancestral Guardian or Totem Bear.
@@r.downgrade5836 I mean, you are not really going to do anything useful past a certain level. At 5 casters get Fireball, Spirit Guardians, Conjure Animals and you are a dude with a shield that can push people a bit. If Shield Master could be activated before you did your attacks, so that you could hit at advantage, then it might be something to build around. But as it stands, locking you into using a shield, kind of kills the feat.
@@trndrd There's no RAW way to wield a shield and a 2-hander (eg a 3rd fully functional hand), right? I'm pretty sure I'd have heard of it by now if there was, but still makes me sad. Should be the kinda goofy thing artificers can do (alchemists could in PF)
I'd ad Heavy Armor Master to the underrated list. Super strong at low levels and at higher levels it still holds up due to multi attack and many enemies still not doing magical attacks. It can easily save you more life then Tough for instance can give and gives +1 Strength. Metamagic adept also lets you do some fun things at least 1 battle per long rest. Ritual Caster is also strong especially if no Wizard or other ritual caster in the group. Telekinetic for any class that doesn't do much with bonus action to shove enemies or allies is also useful. Tend to pick it up on all my Wizards.
I've always considered homebrewing HAM to scale with your proficiency bonus, and to make it work against magical damage if the armor is magical. I would maybe make it so it can't reduce damage to zero, instead down to 1 damage, but I'm not sure yet. Put simply, martials are so weak compared to casters, that I don't care if they get some really strong feats and abilities that help them in combat.
Spell sniper on a flying warlock is amazing. Basically turns you into an attack chopper. It's particularly handy for orbiting your spelljammer to blast boarders!
One feat that's very circumstantial but works well on Conjurers or Illusionists is Keen Mind. The +1 Intelligence is nice if you're using point buy, and the ability to accurately recall anything you've seen or heard in the last month can be useful when creating items with Minor Conjuration and Minor Illusion: - Keys and books you've seen can be recreated flawlessly. The Minor Conjuration version can even be used. - You can recreate a tool like a signet ring to enhance a forgery, and forging documents is easier when you can create a perfect copy of the original to be used for reference. - Illusions of specific items, including distinguishing marks, can enhance a deception attempt. The hours until sunrise/sunset and the directional sense aren't as useful if someone in the party has Survival, but can be important when dealing with nocturnal creatures like vampires.
@@ElCedrico94 The cost of that ability is slightly higher than I'd like but it also have so much versatility that in later levels it's probably worth it. The size/weight/durability limitations on Minor Conjuration means that it loses a lot of utility at higher levels. Creative Crescendo is crazy on its own. :)
I once played a College of Whispers bard who had the Actor feat. Having that combo with the Mantle of Whispers class feature, I was able to infiltrate and enemy camp after killing a guard and impersonating him. This going with my expertise in Deception and Persuasion made it so I easily got into the camp. Where I then used Words of Terror to intimidate my way through social encounters inside the camp.
I played a shadows monk with the mobile feat,it was so much fun to just shadowstep towards the enemy,landing a blow and then just using monk speed to run away with mobile feat,it was absolutely hilarious and made my dm target me with so many cc spells,as even when there are no shadows i can just run up to the enemy and then back,combined with stunning strike
I did this as well, a level 13 air genasi shadow monk for a couple sessions in Shadowfell. There wasn't anywhere I couldn't go, 65ft. movement and a bonus action 60ft. teleport just got me anywhere.
I don't really see anyone talk about the leadership feat. But it's a nice way to provide A LOT of temporary hitpoints. I have a party of 6 and at 4th level I will be adding an additional 48 hp (which will only increase over time) to the parties total. Idk this feat deserves recognition
Love all the feats in the video! I also believe that in the right hands Tavern Brawler is super good. Anything you pick up is basically a simple weapon? Any small object is an improvised thrown weapon? that alone is amazing and not the only benefit in this half feat that still gives a stat boost.
5e's Tavern Brawler does many things... Bonus Action Grapple Add your Str or Dex Prof to Improvised Weapon Damage. The optional rule that "if an Improvised Weapon similar to your Proficient Weapons, then use those damage dice instead". And... EVERYTHING is an Improvised Weapon. You can literally grapple two creatures and Tavern Brawler will turn them into Improvised Weapons. (Unlike in OneDnD, unfortunately. What is "Furniture" to the Chaos Gods?")
Actor with telepathy such as aberrant mind sorcerer can also be very interesting. DM dependent you can pretend to be someone's inner voice, so sort of mind confusion.
They are and it does. We made a kusarigama for my monk, using a whip but bludgeoning damage with a sickle. Between that and my unarmed strikes... damn. I loved it.
I once paired crusher with swarm keeper ranger, and after taking Shilliagh, it allowed me to push with feat, and then on a strength save push 15 more. However, swarm can push in any direction, allowing you to move enemies around corners Which was super fun!
Crusher pairs perfectly with Polearm Master. Against melee enemies, the butt action deals bludgeoning damage which allows you to kick them backwards which in turn forces them, if they want to keep the fight going, to provoke an attack of opportunity by reentering your reach to get close enough to hit you again due to Polearm Master's attack of opportunity clause.
Slap on sentinel and anything that somehow still only has a 5ft reach melee attack is unable to touch you. Enters 10ft reach, gets stabbed setting movement to 0, on your turn stab the then crusher push it 5ft away. Admittedly by the time this combo is possible you should be fighting groups of enemies to overwhelm this strategy, and those groups should contain ranged opponents. Not to mention if you miss the invulnerability breaks because you either don't shove them or don't lock them down when they enter your range. (Not that the combo is without merits, just that by the time its possible it shouldn't be broken)
Good list. In response to your asking for others, I'd add Telekinetic to the list. The invisible mage hand with no verbal or somatic components is gold for roleplay shenanigans. The 5 foot bonus action shove (toward OR away from you) fits nicely in line with your comments about battlefield control in crusher or shield master.
I love that you mention the Shield Master feat! My paladin is a classic sword and board fighter and very much a tank, so that feat has become a favourite of mine! The ability to take no damage on effects that give half damage on successful DEX saves has literally been a life saver, and is especially neat when combined with using compelled duel on glass cannon spell casters, so that they'll have disadvantage when targeting other characters. 👌
It's strange that you guys missed how booming blade doesn't work with Spell Sniper, considering how much discussion it has gotten over since the errata 2 years ago, but yeah it is still a nice feat
Shadowtouched feat and feytouched are also underestimated. Imagine a Shadowtouched warlock with invisibility from this feat and another 1 or 2 1st level spells from enchantment or necro list 1/long rest. Or from. Fey touched from divination or illusion list 1/long rest (took 1 only the feats don't stuck) but invibility from Shadowtouched and from a slot of warlock makes the warlock an infiltration character and very useful at combat situations
I've been thinking about taking the crusher feat on my Witch knight in The Gilded Flask's Curse Of Strahd campaign. I don't have repelling blast anymore, but I miss the ability to force enemies off my allies, and this really fits the build and theme of a two handed protector. Can't wait to hear what you have to say on it.
I was sad when you lost that, it really felt cool when Jon blasted the mimic off of your bard. But I get that you needed eldritch mind. So Crusher could be like a consolation prize?
@@urdoomarf kind of, but the added effect of the advantage after a crit would be huge, especially with hexblades curse and smites... and not to mention the others focusing fire.
I played a human Paladin with Shield Master at level 1 for the Icewind module, got my character out of sticky situations time and time again, massively underrated feat.
TAVERN BRAWLER! Hitting the baddies with the Wizard's spellbook, or a dead goblin is just gravy. Carry a shield and use it as your main weapon. Get yourself the Dueling fighting style to hit for two dice larger on average. Ask your DM to let Two Weapon Fighting enable both goblin and shield to get the +2 damage from dueling, because the other weapon is a shield... and go sword and board... or goblin and board and hit hit hit.
I hate when Jeremy Crawford makes these rulings on twitter. At that point he's just a guy ranting on twitter. The book contains the rules, not twitter. Until they put out an updated core rulebook, what he says means nothing to me.
I have a sorcerer whose entire kit revolves around mind control, disguises, the friends Cantrip and subtle spell meta magic. Jail breaks are AMAZING with this guy
Playing a sword/board Paladin with Resilient DEX/Shield Master/+4 CHA mod. I’ve negated so much damage on successful DEX saves. Went up against a Death Knight and negated 80+ damage from its Hellfire Orb while my party was dropped to near-half or near-dead. One of the most fun feats to use and feels so good when it works.
I have a Bard with the Chef feat and I love it. People always say it's trash because of the snacks being so weak, but ignore the rest of it. Proficiency with cooking utensils, and essentially a d8 Song of Rest feature. On a Bard who currently has 1d8 for Song of Rest, the Chef feat, and cooking utensils, anyone who spends even one hit die on a short rest also gains 2d8, plus 1 HP for every hit die spent (read up on what cooking utensil proficiencies provide if you don't believe me). Add in the Healer feat and you can do SO much healing on a short rest, really dragging out people's hit dice much further than normal. You could even combine this with the Wither and Bloom spell as a magical secret, since your party won't be using nearly as many hit dice with you around. Any party with Warlocks, Fighters, or Monks will love you for really encouraging the DM to allow more short rests to get use out of your features, but honestly, even Sorcerers and Wizards will be happy, as you'll do so much more healing on short rests for them than for anyone else.
Last campaign we had a Genie Warlock with the Chef feat from lv1. Genie's "bottle" was a wooden salt cellar they found at the back of a pantry. DM leaned into it and made the character being a professional chef a recurring plot item, and at one point they got a magic cookbook.
Oh I use cover often. If I’m not using cover I’m using my umbral sight feature from gloomstalker. I actually helped turn around a combat encounter because I made several areas of cover for me and my party to use before combat began. Basically I turned a table on its side and knocked over some bookcases then angled them in such a way that it would give us good vantage but force our opponents to waste movement or try to hit us while we were behind cover. I also used the hunting trap I got from my outlander background and placed it in such a way that it stopped one of our more difficult enemies on the field just in the line of sight of the person hiding behind the table for cover (which our warlock was) so they could take full advantage of both. It also allowed our Paladin to get in close while our wizard, our warlock, and myself, the ranger, hit from out of range behind cover (or in my case, darkness and unable to be seen by this particular enemy). It was amazing. I was happy to take advantage of the cover because my god, I rolled sooooooo many low rolls during that session.
I like Crusher on Polearm Arm master since your bonus action attack can now knock them back 5 feet. Then Polearm reaction attack when they come back in range
The two do not stack but I like where you went with it. You only get one bonus action which can be used with the crusher attack or the polearm attack but not both.
@@johnnamorton6744 Why not? Crusher says nothing about it using a bonus action to move them only when they are hit with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage which the bonus action attack of pole arm master does.
Spell Sniper and Shield Master are my absolute top two favorites. 600 foot eldritch blasts is a great way to make your GM have an anxiety attack anything there's sightlines. Shield Master is amazing for having "Those" moments where you're the knight facing off against the dragon and completely negate the dragon's breath, peak heroic fantasy. Spell Sniper and Shield Master both work together, if you're casting magic you're probably in dire need for more AC, and being able to completely negate most return fire is just amazing. I've also had a pistol wielding shield master who made good use of cover, Nothing was getting to him. Then my favorite use of shield master was a paladin city guard trained in the art of "You're under arrest" who'd grapple, shield bash, and then slap some manacles on targets. could also shutdown anyone trying to get to her allies and absolutely bully enemies with all the different shoves and movement one can get via crusher and shield master.
I've had a wonderful time with Skulker when playing rogues. Being able to hide in foliage, certain lightly-obscuring spell effects, etc has been super helpful, and if I miss with an attack, I don't have to burn my bonus action to re-hide and can use it for something else.
One of my favourite characters was a Shield Master. High STR & INT War Wizard, dual wielding Shields, Shield of Missile Attraction and Shield of Arrow Catching.
I took Actor on my Swashbuckler Rogue with the Entertainer background and never looked back. There was a lot of shenanigans, the best being this : We defeated a Mummy Lord a while back, and looted his regalia and his crown ( which was a magic item that among other things allowed the wearer to speak Mummy). In another ruin of that region, we found a huge room FULL of mummy soldiers, and inscriptions that said that this was the same Mummy Lord's Terracotta Army. I observed them for a while, while covering my character in dust and mold and filth and bandage, then marched in there like a owned the place, wearing the crown and regalia, demanding their obedience as their Pharaoh of old. They bowed to me, delivered the ruin's relic to me and we were good on our way without anyone becoming a real mummy, all in a day's work.
RE: Shield Master shove & attacks. Even if it is ruled that you can't use the shield master shove untill you take the attack action, you can use a bonus action between attacks. Both the shove and a Paladin's smite are considerd bonus actions, and a Paladin's smite (from spell list) dosn't interupt it's attacks :D So just like a paladin can attack, smite, attack... you should be able to attack, push over, then get that nice advantage for any follow up :D
I played a woman Goliath Paladin with a warhammer and shield. Took Shield Master at level four. I didn’t always remember to use it but it really helped with the dex saves, the weakness of the Paladin, especially once I got a sentient Animated Shield of +3 for a total of 5 additional armor class. It was chaotic evil but that was why the Vengeance Paladin had it: to keep it on a very short leash once she established her dominance (aka attuning)
Great video. I'm pretty sure I heard Crawford rule the other way, that you can shove with bonus action before you attack. Maybe he ruled both ways at different times. People do change their minds after all...
Crusher can work with Genie Warlock to give any eldritch blast, or other spell attack, an automatic push to or through your other spells effects, adding even more to the spike growth cheese grater build
One of my favorites underrated feats is heavy armor master... Not an S tier feat by any means, but a solid B+, which is exactly what I'm looking for with half feats. -3 damage per hit is a lot throughout the adventuring day. It's not busted or anything, and it won't save you from a fireball, but it really shines when you are the primary tank and you have an odd strength score.
I was thinking about this one as well! If you have encounters with many minions, or monsters with several attacks then you really end up reducing the potential damage by a surprisingly large amount
Took it on a Samurai fighter who specialized in grappling, and even in Avernus you would be surprised how many creatures attacks are not considered magical. The damage reduction paired with timely use of Fighting Spirit for temporary hit points would really soak damage and skill expert with expertise in athletics made grappling ridiculous. I would usually try to occupy the biggest target and cc them with grapples to keep them in place while the party pinged them down or cleared up the goons so we could focus fire.
Monty you do remember the Sling/Sling Bullet does bludgeoning damage that means you can combine it with the Crusher feat and the Sharpshooter feat for ranged attacks! Boom! Oh and you know who is proficient in the Sling Everybody at 1 Silver for a Sling and 4 copper for 20 bullets every adventurer should keep one in there pouch!
I love crusher, one of my players is a Echo Knight with crusher, and it feels like playing chess, moving the enemies, placing the echo, swapping places...
My current toon, Murbo ChickenHawk, is a 3 foot tall Owlin Berzerker Barbarian. He uses Mobile to dive bomb enemies from 20feet up, Axe Axe Axe, then fly back up 20 feet. When he has the airspace of course.
The first time I had seen Shield Master at play was a couple years ago when I played in a group of new players. Me and the DM are introducing 4 new players to the game, we had a Goliath Rogue/ Battle Master Fighter that took Shield Master for his feat at lvl 4. His PC came to life at this point of the campaign, he took maneuvers like Bait and Switch, Maneuvering Attack, & Trip Attack and now his Shield Master feat. So I noticed that he would always stick close to me ( A paladin with Polearm Master and Halberd) and create opportunities for me to get advantage by moving me with Maneuvering attack to flank, switching with an enemy with Bait and Switch, making an enemy prone by Trip Attack or Shield Master, just so I can Smite and possibly get a crit. When me and the DM noticed his very tactical approach in combat and trying to have all his actions be useful and end fights quickly I talked to the DM if I can switch to a more aggressive Paladin since I was playing Devotion to help out the party and be like a crutch. So in a span of a 4 month or so and from lvl 4 - 7 my Paladin became an Oathbreaker to a Vengance (had to make a reason how I broke my oath then that anger fueled his Vengeance). So now my Paladin and his Fighter are literal monster front line combatants. If you guys haven't notice this player was a Min Maxer but he didn't know yet, I was an RPer but he got me excited when entering fights. So for the entirety of the campaign the DM mostly targeted the othrer newbies who are having a hard time remembering their class features like our Moon Druid who never really utilized her wild shape, she was more focused fighting in the front line and using Flame blade and healing. Our Kensei Monk keeps forgetting to Stunning Strike and her flurry of blows. The Swash Buckler Rogue / Hexblade Warlock was a heavy RPer who would fight anyone knock them out and steal their money, which includes pickpocketing party members, prioritizing looting even when in combat, and always argues with my Paladin. (Player is my best friend, he just born chaotic)
The Athlete feat was amazing for one fighter character I had. It just kept coming up. We fought wolves that knocked me prone, and I stood back up. We fought in the branches of a tree against gorillas, and I could keep up with them.
I had to take Athlete to fix my DEX on my bow ranger once, and it was surprisingly lots of fun! Being able to high jump and climb to sniping positions out of reach of slow, clumsy melee enemies was very useful at low levels. And paired with the Ranger Spell Zephyr Strike, it’s made me a very mobile, agile character, not necessarily better or worse than if I took the Mobile feat, just different.
One thing I think missing from Mobile is talking about Bladesinger. The ability to go custom lineage lets you take mobile and really push into the fantasy of sword and spell. With Mobile you have 50ft of movement. You can pair this with booming blade to lock someone up then move away and they cant chase you allowing you to do your wizard goodness
It is really strong. If you are going after things that must make melee attacks. I didn't use mobile but I was using the harragon race, which allows me to jump 15 feet away without provoking an attack of op, but didn't even need to use that often because we had an OH monk who would take away reactions and I abused that. Not only that but I would haste and oh boy there was something about zipping around the field that made it impossible for my DM to really do much to me. BUT I am playing a blood hunter with order of the pact, that uses booming blade and got mobile at level 4 (since you don't really need it until level 3)
Spell Sniper is one of my favorite feats because of Eldrich blast 1200 build. Its just dumb because is so much i never need to use,but i just love this.
I am a big fan of Skulker. Each part of it is good and together it is great for a particular playstyle especially. Everyone loves their darkvision but forgets they have disadvantage on perception in dim light(possible exaggeration, but in my experience) this gets rid of that disadvantage. It lets you hide when lightly obscured which dim light is(how often are sewers dungeons and even nighttime ambushes brightly lit?) you can use the lack of bright light to break line of sight and stealth on a rogue with bonus action hide this is huge. Disappear as you stalk around the battlefield and give yourself advantage on that next hit. Finally lining up that perfect ranged attack only to miss you are still hidden with ranged attacks you only break stealth if you hit. I feel like on a rogue especially it makes stealth work more like what players expect coming from something like Skyrim. Also you can feel like a badass dancing in and out of the darkness landing your blows. Mileage may vary on your table but if you are playing in a game where stealth and perception rules are followed pretty closely this feat can be a gamechanger.
I played a dwarf battlemaster fighter with shield master and that feat was an absolute MVP on my feat's list. Being able to take a bonus action to knock an enemy prone to provide advantage on future attacks is amazing. Even if you rule that the shove has to follow the attacks, you still have the option to action surge to capitalize on the advantage. Plus, as a battlemaster, with rolling advantage on multiple attacks it will significantly increase the rate of getting a critical hit so you can maximize the extra damage from spending a superiority die on a crit. Plus, knocking an enemy prone requires them to use half their movement just to stand up, so it can help prevent monsters from pursuing the squishier members of the party, or allow that party member a safer opportunity to run away from that monster without disengaging as they'll have disadvantage on their melee attacks while prone. Because the shove action is an athletics check, this often paired well with taking a growth potion or having a caster enlarge me so I could have advantage on my athletics checks. With my fighter, I also took the resilient feat for dexterity to maximize the defensive benefits of the 3rd part of the feat. There is nothing quit like taking zero damage from a fireball or another AOE that would have normally have done 40 damage or more. This also helps make it safer for the party wizard to throw a fireball while my character was in the AoE radius because resilient made my character very reliably succeed on dex saves (especially with indomitable as a backup).
I played a one shot, recently, where I was a level 9 arcane trickster rogue with the mobile feat, booming blade, and a spider familiar that stayed on me. It was so fun, making an attack with booming blade, getting sneak attack with it cause of the familiar, and then running away to possibly cause more damage if they chased, all while avoiding melee attacks from enemies.
I have personally had a lot of success with Mage Slayer in a couple of one-shots. They were at higher level, so being able to get up in a mage’s face and make them lose concentration on spells and then hitting one more time before they panic-ported out of my zone was hella fun
My Wife took the Chef feat as I let everyone take a Feat at character creation (Humans would get 2 then) and she built it into her backstory for her Sorcerer. It has been the stand out feat as we play. Everyone jumps into the roleplay for breakfast as she cooks special treats that gives people temp hp. It also encourages short rests which means things keep moving. Less often is it "we might as well take a long rest" and instead pushes them forward. Such an awesome feat
Chef is an amazing feat and severely underrated. Besides the huge healing benefits, if you have a character in the party that doesn't have much use for their bonus action they can pop temp hp every turn to give themselves more survivability.
It does get a little weak at very high levels, but if you just need one point of Con it's arguably as good as any other option.
Chef is good. I kinda think it's better than Inspiring leader. I had a druid who took it and I never regretted it. Plus you have a reputation as a world renoun chef after a while.
Play a halfing ranger in a campagne of ours, imagine aragorn, but dumb as a brick (and i mean that in the most endearing way) - his chef feat came up constantly, making hearty meals and comfy breakfasts, giving everyone a little pick me up and always looking out for treats to icorporate into the sandwiches he handed out really added to bringing everyone together, even becoming something of a common trope for our group - absolutely love it, highly underrated; food really does bring people together! (plus, a few bonus hp is always nice to have - saved our hides quite a few times^^)
@@arentol7 I am considering it for adventures league I am a part of since even if I don't venture with a party i can buff them before their mission. Assuming I won't have one myself.
This makes me want to do something similar, but with a restricted list of options.
I'd want players to get their choice of those feats that never get taken, specifically because they've probably never used most of them, and because it can be fun to take feats that aren't optimized, but add interesting dimensions to your character!
Thanks for the idea!
Crusher is also amazing as a Monk. Using this with unarmed strikes is great to beat on an enemy and slam them back do you can move away without having to Disengage.
Add mobile to that monk and it’s even better
Many of these are excellent monk feats.
Crusher means a monk always has three opportunities on their turn to shove or crit.
Mobile just enhances what a monk already does well.
Spell sniper gives a monk a sweet ranged attack option (monk with Eldritch Blast? Yes please.)
@@ChrisHendricks I think the monk would have to use charisma for the spell attack if they picked eldritch blast right? So something using wisdom would be more likely.
@@Dezbood oh that's a dirty combo
@@Dezbood
You can do that with the Fighter's Extra Attack too. Just diagonally Shove the creature upward by 5ft then do it 3 more times up to 20ft of air travel. Once the creature falls onto the floor. They will take 2d6 of fall damage.
Note: The Shove Attack doesn't explicitly state a direction unlike the Telekinetic Feat's ranged Shove Bonus Action which is only forward or backward in relation to your position in 3d omnidirectional space.
Thing I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet about Actor is its usage with the Pact of the Chain Warlocks and the Voice of the Chain Master. Having an invisible Imp familiar that can sound like literally anyone can't be overstated in terms of its utility.
My favorite unsung Warlock combo! It's just a matter of finding the right table to play it at
Jesus Christ what a nasty combo... perfect for a political intrigue campaign where the big bad makes their political opponent slowly lose their mind, thinking they're hearing voices that aren't there so they lose credibility. I might have to steal this
mask of many faces makes your Warlock broken
Was a key feature of my “master spy” Warlock.
Yes!! So useful!
Just a correction: booming blade doesn't work with spell sniper anymore after they switched booming blade's range to self: 5 ft radius.
No fun builds allowed: Wotc
Screw the rules, just a lil bit
Just don't buy the book that has that rule lol just keep the og booming blade from sword coast
@@hewhogoesbymanynames see: current 2-weapon fighting RAW lol
anyone want to start a game?
Something I'm not seeing mentioned about Crusher is that it makes a suboptimal, rarely-used weapon kind-of insane: the sling. Bonking enemies 5 feet in any direction at range is just soooo satisfying.
@@forestcaine I helped the fighter at my current table, who is building her Eldritch Knight around the Crusher/Booming Blade synergy, realize that Crusher also works with a thrown light hammer. Some would call me a masochist for giving my players all these combos and how to utilize them, but I just see it as setting them up for success against any kinds of horrifying stuff I might throw at them.
Hoopak
Now, picture a Kensi monk with crusher using a sling. Now pick up some levels in battle master fighter and take the pushing attack maneuver. Now so long as they fail the save, you're gonna be able to push an enemy 20 feet as a bonus action using the Kensi shot ability.
@@fugly_fetus Ah I see a man of culture. Literally took the words right out of my mouth (it’s basically a Fus Ro Dah 😂). I just started a campaign where I’m doing exactly this with my character. Already have crusher because I went with the custom lineage and will be picking sharpshooter as my next feat. And will be going into fighter and picking battlemaster and pick pushing attack and precision attack. And with precision attack and ki fueled strikes from Tasha’s I can give myself a huge bonus to hit to negate the -5 from sharpshooter. And we are also playing a sea/pirate campaign so hopefully I will be able to push some fools off a ship with this. We just got that campaign going so we’ll see if I can.
@davidstratton696 I wanted this build to be absolute chease, so I chose to be a bugbear as well. I've also made my other kensi weapon a whip so I can smack them around with the sling, and if their getting too close I can just keep them at bay or use the trip attack maneuver. Now they're on the ground after being sent flying by my rocks and if they get really persistent I can just use the brace manuver to make an opportunity attack. And don't even get me started on how absolutely insane it is to be capable of using stunning strike from 15ft away
Crusher is my favorite to pair with Booming Blade. While the move doesn't trigger the effect of Booming Blade (because it is a forced move), it does set it up so that an enemy is now 5 ft away with the booming effect on the them so now they either get locked down (and made ineffective for a turn if they don't have reach or ranged) or move and trigger the effect.
I love Swarmkeeper with Crusher and Booming Blade (from Elven race).
You can Push enemy up to 20ft away when he looses that swarm save roll, or move yourself 5ft back and enemy 5ft away giving you enough space to disengage even against enemies with reach!
It gives so much versatility:
Normal enemy - push 5ft and deal bonus dmg
Reach enemy - 10ft distance without save
Hazard (spike growth) - push them up to 20ft
Higher levels - up to 20ft push and knock them prone
Another great combo is Swarmkeeper with Slasher and BB - Boom them, move yourself 5ft away (or them 15ft, but against the save), then run away. Their speed is -10ft so if they have no ranged attack, they are screwed.
Add Warcaster, Sentinel, and Polarm Master... The ultimate lockdown build for any Half and 2/3rd Casters. Like the Eldritch Knight who can then apply/reset Eldritch Strike.
@@JuckiCZ
For my Warforged Eldritch Knight... I would prone and grapple the creature first before applying Booming Blade then burning them with Green Flame Blade.
The creature now has 0ft Move and require 15ft to stand up while they are being grappled. If they escape my grapple, then Booming Blade will become the Thunder Cage.
Oh... And I will cast Thunder Wave to negate their Reaction. (Is that the name of the spell???)
All over a few turns, of course.
Huh. Finding someone who can combo with you when you have Booming Blade would actually be a pretty good idea. Having someone cast Infestation or Dissonant Whispers on someone who has been Booming Bladed is a great way to ensure that effect activates.
Shield master actually works really nicely on clerics since they never gain the extra attack. While it can compete with spiritual weapon for bonus actions, it's nice when you're low/out of spell slots to have additional control options.
It's even better if you start with one or two levels in Ranger, so you can:
- Wield better weapons and/or armor, depending on what you would otherwise gain from the specific Cleric subclass you choose
- Have a fighting style, which can also help to save spell slots
- Get Canny for Expertise in one skill (Athletics would pair excellently with Shield Master)
- Start with Proficiency in DEX saves, boosting the usefulness of Shield Master
@@nucleargoofball8043 Totally agree. There are better options if you're optimizing. This feat is more for those who aren't for sure
Think Telekinetic is the best pick for Clerics
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
Best of all works on a Paladin. Especially Vengeance Paladin. I would say better than any other subclass. Get high charisma and add that to your dexterity saves. With good enough rolls, your dex saves match that of a character with proficiency. Additionally, Vengeance gets Haste, which supercharges Shield Master. You can go Hasted action attack > BA shove > attack. And you get advantage to all your dex saves.
I actually built a character around the Actor feat. A Hexblade he worked as spy for his kingdom and infiltrated a criminal organization. After helping these criminals recover a cursed weapon called the Mourning Star he was found out. He managed to escape with the Mourning Star but the criminals ruined his reputation marking him as a traitor by his government. With the Actor feat and Mask of Many Faces he uses 3 alternate identities to hide from both his government and the criminals who still hunt him, unaware he’s hunting them as well.
I have a character that is based around the actor feat as well, but I was a bard
@Ethertask Sebastian my bard was a changeling, I know bards get disguise self as a spell anyways but I didn't want to spend a spell slot on it, those first level slots are for charm person, command, dissonant whispers, and healing word. Spells which I cast even at high levels of play. dissonant whispers for when you want to do a truckload of damage with the rogues sneak attack and the paladins smite, command for when there's something scary you want to skip his turn, charm person and healing word for obvious reasons. And well I cast too many spells to be a warlock, by the time initiative is rolled I'm always out of spell slots. It meant delaying the actor feat for four levels but the payoff was worth it.
Feat centered backgrounds are sweeeet.
@Ethertask Sebastian exactly- i'm playing a changeling arcane trickster rogue, and having lots of fun with it. so many applications, and not having to spend spell slots to transform is great.
I made a storm sorcerer with the actor feat, to give himself a impressive booming convincing voice, instead of his usual weasily and whiny voice.
Crusher is also excellent for Genie Patron Warlocks who pick the Dao. With Genie's Wrath adding bludgeoning damage to an attack that requires an attack roll (read: Eldritch Blast) once on each of your turns, in addition to Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar, you can push and pull multiple enemies into and around within a Spike Growth, which is also conveniently provided by a Dao patron.
That’s the classic “cheese grater” build that Cody did
@@donalddouds6033 I believe his name is Coulby, if you're referring to the host of D4. And yes, he has, and so has Treantmonk.
@@FrankiePeanuts yeah realized that after I typed it LOL
Always remember that up is usually an unoccupied space! You could, with Crossbow Expert, get right in someone's face and Crusher them five feet in the air. And hey, would you look at that. Perfectly within Repelling Blast range. If you hit them now, they'll be pushed ten feet into the air and away from you, fall, and take an extra 1d6 damage while falling prone. Add an additional 1d6 at level 11 because you get an extra EB
@@StarryxNight5 Hi there! Loved this idea and am trying to draft a build around it as we speak :D I am a little confused about the action economy though, so I think i might be missing something obvious.
If I am using my action to follow up with EB in this scenario, then what bonus action move am I using to do the initial 5 foot vertical crusher push? Are we dealing with a fighter multiclass for action surge, or sorcerer multiclass for quickened spell EB? I thought perhaps the bonus action crossbow shot from Crossbow Expert might do it, but it looks like that can only be performed in tandem with a one handed melee attack as your action :P
The actor feat is one of the most powerful feats in the game combined with detect thoughts and a telepathy ability.
You're able to read the thoughts of a person, then try to mimic their thinking voice in their own minds through telepathy to try and deceive them into doing shit.
Wow, that's next level
Or you can just..... RP that without Actor
Consider: Actor Feat + Telepathy Feat on an Eloquence Bard with Deception Expertise XD
Didn't monty say he thinks this is a weird one cos if you heard your own voice in your head saying 'unlock the gate' you wouldn't assume it was a thought, you would assume you've got split personalities
@@Thetruepianoman you'd do it in a convincing way... like *i really need to take a piss but the toilet is on the other side of that gate.*
Haste works great with shield master to achieve the knockdown and attack with advantage effect since you can choose to attack with the haste action first, which only permits one attack, then shove them down, then use your regular action to hit several times depending on your level. If you're feeling particularly spicy, action surge and double up on your attacks with advantage for some major pain.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
@@bartvance8065 so basically nothing has changed at all then? Cool
As a monk the Crusher feat is bonkers, especially if you have Mobile feat as well. You’re able to move enemies around the battlefield at a whim, and create a ton of useful opportunities to group together enemies or to knock an enemy out of combat with an ally. Hella useful.
I'm playing a mobile + crusher monk right now and it's fun as hell.
Especially with sling being my dedicated weapon, you can be across the battlefield and still protect your allies by moving enemies around.
Yep and now be a Kensei Monk and pick sling as their Monk weapon and the dmg not only scales with their martial arts dmg but u can also use crusher at range now (the sling is the only ranged weapon that does bludgeoning dmg).
Ever since i realized this combination I have always wanted to create a sniper character. The Athlete feat, ill paste the effects here:
You have undergone extensive physical training to gain the following benefits:
- Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement.
- Climbing doesn’t cost you extra movement.
- You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet.
What you can do with this is play the prone sniper. When standing up from prone costs you only 5ft of movement you can always drop prone on the end of your turn to grant disadvantage against enemy ranged attacks as long as there isnt anyone threatening you close by. At the start you can just stand up and attack normally and move if needed and then drop prone.
You can also get much easier to rooftops and high places that give you cover, and move between those those places with the jump. All this while still getting the dex bonus.
It really feels like a character that could work.
I play a monk and I took athlete and your right it does work. Athlete is very underrated. Not only do you get a powerful movement ability (5 feet Vs. 1/2 your movement) but paired with Mobile is just deadly for a monk (or a rogue or a barbarian)
I really wanna try this with a Gloomstalker now, because this strategy is a really great way to make the prone mechanics work *for* you instead of against you.
With the Crossbow Expert feat you also don't have to take the time to load your weapon either, allowing you to play a medieval version of a combat sniper. You could also say, if you're using hand crossbows, that the moments you are 'prone' your character is dodge rolling around the battlefield to avoid return fire.
Moon Druids benefit from Mobile as well because it will affect their Wild Shapes too! Take the Dire Wolf or the Giant Elk that have 50 & 60ft movement speed or flying as Giant Eagle/Owl. Run/fly in, bite, claw, or trample, then get the heck out w/out provoking opportunity attacks.
Combine that with charger and you can basically just run back and fourth, dashing every turn with your action and attacking with a +5 to damage using your bonus action and 120ish feet of movement. If you have a party, at that point your basically going to be a discount flash, so that's fun.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
This maybe dm dependent but with the Crusher feat doesn’t only go left, right, or foreword but up as well. It doesn’t state that the creature can’t go up in the air so there is a possibility of knocking the target prone which leaves them even more vulnerable.
this is not dm dependent imo. this is what the feat does. there has been tweets from JC i believe clarifying this, there's also a treantmonk build vid on this where he references JCs clarification on this.
but yeah technically anything in the game is DM dependent but the rules are clear here and it's up to the DM if they don't want to follow the rules.
I really like that thought.
The only stipulations with the movement from Crusher are that it’s moved to “an unoccupied space” within 5 feet and that the creature is “no more than one size larger than you” - nothing about that outright prevents you from moving them upwards into the air (save for maybe some large, low-flying birds).
This strategy gets particularly fun on an Open Hand Monk, where you can stack this with your ability push creatures 15 feet on a failed STR save when you hit them with one of your Flurry of Blows attacks - knock something 20 feet in the air, it takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage from falling back down *and* it lands prone [per PHB and XGtE], giving you advantage on all subsequent melee attacks, which helps your chances to get a crit, which triggers the other part of the feat… fun stuff!
And if you’re feeling particularly persnickety, you can always attempt to Stunning Strike the target too, which on a success means they’d be guaranteed to fail their STR save, all attacks against them would have advantage anyway, and they wouldn’t be able to stand up from prone on their turn.
The only problem with that is falling 5 feet won't drop them prone in RAW. They have to drop at least 10' so they take the 1d6 falling damage. (Fall damage is what knocks them prone.)
The only problem with that is falling 5 feet won't drop them prone in RAW. They have to drop at least 10' so they take the 1d6 falling damage. (Fall damage is what knocks them prone.)
Speaking of often ignored mechanics...
I've only ever had a single DM know and use the dim light mechanics for Perception and hiding. In the rare case where they ARE used, the Skulker feat goes way up in value. I'm thinking especially of Rogue or Ranger players who might be really counting on that Hidden condition... dim light is REALLY easy to come by.
I actually am considering the Shield Master feat for a future character. A reborn zealot barbarian with the sailor background. He is basically gonna be a draugr.
The ruling was changed one final time. It was pointed out to Crawford that the feat is using a Bonus Action, which can be used at any time. Once you have attacked the first time, confirming the requirement on the feat, you can then use the bonus action, and attack the prone creature with your remaining attacks. This only works when you have multiple attacks, but is a superior when you do. Spells can give you extra attacks before classes do.
That sounds really cool
@@bartvance8065 Sweet.
@@bartvance8065 Wdym "changed one final time"? Is there somewhere this was listed that Crawford agreed?
The Crusher feat has a special place in my heart. My monk took it when we hit level 12, right before the final battle. When we finally faced down the demon prince Graz'zt, I crit in my very first round of combat, allowing the rogue & fighter to land EVERY hit and do absolutely insane damage with their special final battle weapons. When it got back to my turn I finished Graz'zt off. A much shorter final battle than the GM anticipated but I sure felt epic
I love the Drow High Magic feat. I know it's exclusive to drow but having infinite access to Detect Magic and a free casting of levitate and dispel magic is such a boost to utility.
Yeah.
We are a club with 2 members.
I also took Fey Touched on my Bard. I went to long rest with more spell ready to be cast than the wizard.
@@WexMajor82 Make that 3!
The Alert feat is pretty good. It's sort of passive, but getting turns early in combat is going to have a cumulative impact on your party's success over the course of a campaign. The surprise and unseen enemy effects may depend more on what sort of scenarios your DM likes to throw at you, but could be life-saving.
I love the Actor feat. I have a character who has a lot to hide but is a Bard and likes to perform and, as such, is very visible when performing. In the current campaign she picked up the feat during a down time. Shortly before part of her secret was discovered by another player so her learning this over the break was extremely appropriate for the character. Now the Performer is an entirely different person and no one ever notices her as she goes about her normal daily business. This would have been possible but a lot harder without it and just makes the whole thing sell so much better
Shield Master rocks! last session at my table, which was a boss fight, a new player was at his 2nd or 3rd session with us playing Human Battlemaster with sword and shield. He was just standing there tanking all 4 minions on the chin and I was able to push/pull 2 of them into a line with Eldritch Blast and then the Wizard sent an upcasted Lightning bolt down a line with 3 minions and the fighter. Fighter just straight up evades the bolt with his shield and we had 3/4 of the minions down by the end of that round.
Teamwork OP!
Shield Master is honestly a must-have for a "sword and shield" build. On a Paladin, it essentially nullifies they're greatest weakness: Dexterity saving throws. Dex-based sword and shield paladins are inhumanely strong with this feat.
How would not having good STR help you? Your bonus action shove becomes far less efficient
@@CanisMythson bc if you go dex, youre essentially immune to dex saving throws that involve damage
I never said it would help, just saying that either one works perfectly fine
Yes! My paladin is the tank, so I took the Shield Master feat, and I love combining it with using compelled duel on spell casters!
It would be awesome to see a video on your ideas for a revised monk base class.
Healer is a pretty underrated feat that I recently re-discovered. 1d6+4+your level healing is nothing to sneeze at. You're looking at 6-11HP at level 1, 10-15 HP at level 5, 20-25 HP at level 15, basically for free. Takes an action and just 1 out of 10 uses of your healer's kit, not even a spell slot. You can also bring back a downed ally at 1 HP instead of stabilizing him at 0.
I'll give it to my Wizard for RP reasons, but mechanically it would fit a quick and slippery Rogue very nicely as well, darting in and out and raising people in between stabbing enemies to death.
That’s dope
Changling Bard with Actor and the Entertainer BG is Overkill!
One of the most underrated feats, especially at early levels is Heavy Armour Master. +1 to STR, and -3 to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage taken from any non magical attack is incredible. I once played a paladin surrounded by zombies who did 24 attacks on me overall in one round, and I took about 10 damage total.
Really it's only good in low levels. At higher levels it becomes less and less effective.
@@johnnamorton6744 Not untrue, but for one, i prefer the feats that do better at low levels because they're more consistently useful, and secondly while it doesn't scale well, multiattack does somewhat account for an increased effectiveness at higher levels.
Let's put it this way, if over a combat encounter it saves you about 20HP (reasonable even at higher levels) it's already better than Tough since it's also a half feat.
@@urvidhnarula6362 20 HP saved would mean a minimum of 7 attacks hit with non-magical weapons, in addition to all the magical damage being thrown about.
Combined with the heavy armor AC, I think saving 20 HP per encounter is _highly_ optimistic.
Personally, while I don't think _Heavy Armor Master_ is bad, I'd rather choose _Chef,_ even for a heavy armor character.
While spell sniper is okay it does compete with increasing spell casting ASI, Warcaster, Resilient Con, Half feats that pair with spellcasting skill such as Fey Touched. According to DnD beyond stats a lot of players actually pick up spell sniper more then how good it actually is. So it is maybe overrated. If enemies have cover just hit a saving throw spell. Also booming blade doesn't get range anymore as range is self. This was an errata.
I have Actor on a warlock with mask of many faces, and it's absurd how often it's helped me infiltrate, persuade and otherwise get my character's way.
What I really like about these "second row" feats is that they are strong but not OP, making them a great base for a somewhat unique magic item. I didnt want to give my Paladin player more AC (as this was already becoming a problem) so when he told me he'd hope for a magic shield I instead gave him one that, while attuned to, basically gave him the effects of shieldmaster. Turned out to be great, didnt add to the AC problem while helping him out with his lackluster DEX, leading to less frustrating missed dex saves for him. Also promoted a more offensive combat style which was super fun.
I can think of the same for a "Wand of Spell Sniping" with the cantrip being pre-defined and only available while attuned. Or maybe a mace/hammer that grants the benefits of the Crusher feat. Magical boots that grant the effect of Mobile could be fun or even a Magical cookbook (or herbs) that lets you use the Chef feat as long as you are attuned.
The list goes on... A healers kit with elven medicine and bandages made from the finest linen, that has 10 "improved charges" which might be used as if you had the Healer feat. Or maybe a set of twin blades that grant you the benefits of the Dual Wilder feat as long as you draw both at the same time...
Piercer is also pretty damn good on a lance user. Getting to reroll a d12 is pretty nice
I had a hexblade/samurai build idea that revolved around something similar using a pike with elven accuracy, piercer, and GWM feats. Give yourself 7 attacks, 5 with advantage, looking for crits.
@@Ptollemios Barbarian X / Chapion 3, Pike, GWM, Piercer.
2 Attacks with advantage, crit on 19-20, reroll every 1 or 2 (FS), reroll any number of your choice once per your turn.
BA attack for every crit or kill (happens a lot). Action Surge once per short rest.
Play Ancestral Guardian for hit-and-run tactics. Your speed is 40+ (depending on race), reach means no AoO. That enemy cannot reach you (you are too far away or behind friends) and if he attacks anyone else, he has disadvantage and deals 1/2 dmg.
Want more? Play Half-Orc and deal 4d10 dmg on each crit, which increases up to 7d10 on higher levels! And you can still add +10 dmg from GWM feat.
I'm using piercer on my spear using ranger rn, pretty fun
It may feel nice when you roll a 1 then reroll it and end up with a 12, but I calculated the numbers and in my opinion it's pretty weak. Just by listing the possible rolls and rerolls I brute-force calculated the optimal use of the feat and average bonus damage when you reroll. My calculations were on a d8 weapon, but the same principles apply on a d12.
On a d8 weapon, to use it optimally you'll reroll any time you roll 4 or less. Any variation from this and you'll get less out of it than you could otherwise, so even if you reroll a 4 and end up with a 1, this averages out over many attacks to still be in your favor. If you always reroll when you roll 1 - 4, your average benefit on a reroll will be 2 extra points of damage. And since you're only rerolling half the time, you average an extra +1 damage on all successful attacks by using this feat optimally.
On a D12 weapon, the numbers are similar. Reroll 1-6, with an average benefit of +3 on each reroll, or +1.5 on each successful attack. Spending a feat to gain 1.5 average damage per attack with the highest base damage weapon in the game (less with any other weapon) seems like a waste of a feat to me. But that's just my opinion, and if it makes the game more fun for you, great!
@@toddhadley9002 You are evaluating only 1/3 of the feat!
You not only get +(1-1.5) dmg per turn, but you also gain 1 ASI (it is half feat) and you gain 1 extra dice for your crits. And with something like Champion or Barbarian, when chance to crit is 19% per attack, so cca 35% per turn, it means another 1.5-2 dmg per turn.
So in the end, this feat adds cca 3-4 dmg per turn and it is still a half feat! Not as bad as you think.
Crusher is super fun to pair with light hammers, a sling or the cantrip Magic stone.
Potentially even useful on a moon druid, since most beasts with Fist, stomp, or tail attacks are going to be dealing, as well as 3/4 elemental forms deal blunt damage.
Shield Master is indeed a good feat, the real problem with it is the bonus to DEX saving throws.
You only get to add that +2 (for standard shields, magic shields can give you a higher one), if, and only if, it's a DEX saving throw that targets only you. This means that AOE effects like most traps and breath attacks don't count, even if you are the only one within range of it.
Funnily enough though, you can still use the reaction ability to try and mitigate the damage entirely, so what I like to do is use 'Shield Master' on my Barbarians since they get advantage on DEX saving throws by level 2 with 'Danger Sense', so you'll still have a pretty good chance of effectively taking zero damage from your fireballs and the like. You'll still have that typical STR build so you can still do some shoving, and help to make use of the rest.
And you have advantage on STR ability checks while raging (so also on Athletics shove contest!).
Add there some levels of Ranger for Expertise, FS and some spellcasting (healing? utility? dmg? Ranged option?) and your shoves will be successful almost always!
The bigger issue with Shield Master is you use a shield and don't have access to Power Attacks. As a Martial without Heavy Weapon Master or Sharp Shooter you drop off to a point of being nothing more than a damage sponge.
@@trndrd True, if you want to do a lot of damage while being sword and board you have to take the Zealot subclass, otherwise double down on the defense and go for Ancestral Guardian or Totem Bear.
@@r.downgrade5836 I mean, you are not really going to do anything useful past a certain level. At 5 casters get Fireball, Spirit Guardians, Conjure Animals and you are a dude with a shield that can push people a bit.
If Shield Master could be activated before you did your attacks, so that you could hit at advantage, then it might be something to build around. But as it stands, locking you into using a shield, kind of kills the feat.
@@trndrd There's no RAW way to wield a shield and a 2-hander (eg a 3rd fully functional hand), right? I'm pretty sure I'd have heard of it by now if there was, but still makes me sad. Should be the kinda goofy thing artificers can do (alchemists could in PF)
I'd ad Heavy Armor Master to the underrated list. Super strong at low levels and at higher levels it still holds up due to multi attack and many enemies still not doing magical attacks. It can easily save you more life then Tough for instance can give and gives +1 Strength. Metamagic adept also lets you do some fun things at least 1 battle per long rest. Ritual Caster is also strong especially if no Wizard or other ritual caster in the group. Telekinetic for any class that doesn't do much with bonus action to shove enemies or allies is also useful. Tend to pick it up on all my Wizards.
I've always considered homebrewing HAM to scale with your proficiency bonus, and to make it work against magical damage if the armor is magical.
I would maybe make it so it can't reduce damage to zero, instead down to 1 damage, but I'm not sure yet.
Put simply, martials are so weak compared to casters, that I don't care if they get some really strong feats and abilities that help them in combat.
You don't even need to get up close in personal for crusher
Eldritch blast as a Dao genie pact and the sling use bludgeoning.
Spell sniper on a flying warlock is amazing. Basically turns you into an attack chopper. It's particularly handy for orbiting your spelljammer to blast boarders!
My genie warlock with free non concentration flight and greater invisibility
Mobile is possibly my favourite feat. It completely changes a characters style of play.
One feat that's very circumstantial but works well on Conjurers or Illusionists is Keen Mind. The +1 Intelligence is nice if you're using point buy, and the ability to accurately recall anything you've seen or heard in the last month can be useful when creating items with Minor Conjuration and Minor Illusion:
- Keys and books you've seen can be recreated flawlessly. The Minor Conjuration version can even be used.
- You can recreate a tool like a signet ring to enhance a forgery, and forging documents is easier when you can create a perfect copy of the original to be used for reference.
- Illusions of specific items, including distinguishing marks, can enhance a deception attempt.
The hours until sunrise/sunset and the directional sense aren't as useful if someone in the party has Survival, but can be important when dealing with nocturnal creatures like vampires.
College of Creation Bard with Keen Mind!
@@ElCedrico94 The cost of that ability is slightly higher than I'd like but it also have so much versatility that in later levels it's probably worth it. The size/weight/durability limitations on Minor Conjuration means that it loses a lot of utility at higher levels. Creative Crescendo is crazy on its own. :)
I once played a College of Whispers bard who had the Actor feat. Having that combo with the Mantle of Whispers class feature, I was able to infiltrate and enemy camp after killing a guard and impersonating him. This going with my expertise in Deception and Persuasion made it so I easily got into the camp. Where I then used Words of Terror to intimidate my way through social encounters inside the camp.
I played a shadows monk with the mobile feat,it was so much fun to just shadowstep towards the enemy,landing a blow and then just using monk speed to run away with mobile feat,it was absolutely hilarious and made my dm target me with so many cc spells,as even when there are no shadows i can just run up to the enemy and then back,combined with stunning strike
I did this as well, a level 13 air genasi shadow monk for a couple sessions in Shadowfell. There wasn't anywhere I couldn't go, 65ft. movement and a bonus action 60ft. teleport just got me anywhere.
What was the race?
I don't really see anyone talk about the leadership feat. But it's a nice way to provide A LOT of temporary hitpoints. I have a party of 6 and at 4th level I will be adding an additional 48 hp (which will only increase over time) to the parties total.
Idk this feat deserves recognition
I think it is too good to be underrated but not good enough to be overused
My 2nd monk was a drunken sub class. So I loved having disengagement after a fleury of blows ❤
on crusher: the bonus action attack with pole arm Master is bludgeoning, as is an unarmed strike.
Love all the feats in the video! I also believe that in the right hands Tavern Brawler is super good. Anything you pick up is basically a simple weapon? Any small object is an improvised thrown weapon? that alone is amazing and not the only benefit in this half feat that still gives a stat boost.
This feat with a battle Master let me throw a chair 20 feet through a tavern to trip attack an enemy trying to flee the scene and it felt incredible
5e's Tavern Brawler does many things...
Bonus Action Grapple
Add your Str or Dex Prof to Improvised Weapon Damage.
The optional rule that "if an Improvised Weapon similar to your Proficient Weapons, then use those damage dice instead".
And... EVERYTHING is an Improvised Weapon.
You can literally grapple two creatures and Tavern Brawler will turn them into Improvised Weapons.
(Unlike in OneDnD, unfortunately. What is "Furniture" to the Chaos Gods?")
Crusher is tied with Mobile as my favorite Monk feat.
Mobility pairs great with Ashardalon's Stride for a kiting strategy. Moreso if you can find an additional way to boost speed.
Play tabaxi
Actor with telepathy such as aberrant mind sorcerer can also be very interesting. DM dependent you can pretend to be someone's inner voice, so sort of mind confusion.
i wonder if Crusher would work well on some monks? unarmed strikes are bludgeoning damage right?
I've used it on an open hand monk and enjoyed it. Not the most powerful build, but a lot of fun pushing everyone around!
They are and it does. We made a kusarigama for my monk, using a whip but bludgeoning damage with a sickle. Between that and my unarmed strikes... damn. I loved it.
Yes!!! I love the Actor Feat, I take it any time I play a charisma based character
It's almost a must if you ever intend to play a Changling.
I once paired crusher with swarm keeper ranger, and after taking Shilliagh, it allowed me to push with feat, and then on a strength save push 15 more.
However, swarm can push in any direction, allowing you to move enemies around corners
Which was super fun!
also works with magic stone so you can baseball pitch them at people across a field.
I noticed Monty now has Dr. in front of his name. Not sure whether it’s an MD or PhD but either way Contrats!
PhD in some sort of acting/theater field I believe.
Booming blade and Green Flame Blade does not benefit for the increased range of Spell Sniper.
they have a range of self now.
Crusher pairs perfectly with Polearm Master. Against melee enemies, the butt action deals bludgeoning damage which allows you to kick them backwards which in turn forces them, if they want to keep the fight going, to provoke an attack of opportunity by reentering your reach to get close enough to hit you again due to Polearm Master's attack of opportunity clause.
Slap on sentinel and anything that somehow still only has a 5ft reach melee attack is unable to touch you. Enters 10ft reach, gets stabbed setting movement to 0, on your turn stab the then crusher push it 5ft away.
Admittedly by the time this combo is possible you should be fighting groups of enemies to overwhelm this strategy, and those groups should contain ranged opponents. Not to mention if you miss the invulnerability breaks because you either don't shove them or don't lock them down when they enter your range. (Not that the combo is without merits, just that by the time its possible it shouldn't be broken)
Good list. In response to your asking for others, I'd add Telekinetic to the list. The invisible mage hand with no verbal or somatic components is gold for roleplay shenanigans. The 5 foot bonus action shove (toward OR away from you) fits nicely in line with your comments about battlefield control in crusher or shield master.
I love that you mention the Shield Master feat! My paladin is a classic sword and board fighter and very much a tank, so that feat has become a favourite of mine! The ability to take no damage on effects that give half damage on successful DEX saves has literally been a life saver, and is especially neat when combined with using compelled duel on glass cannon spell casters, so that they'll have disadvantage when targeting other characters. 👌
I love shield master. I wish there was more ways to use it as a cleric.
were*
@@johannesstephanusroos4969 thank you :) Moving to fast
same, i wish it's bonus to dex saves applied even to aoe effects
@@aakash2868*its
It's strange that you guys missed how booming blade doesn't work with Spell Sniper, considering how much discussion it has gotten over since the errata 2 years ago, but yeah it is still a nice feat
Shadowtouched feat and feytouched are also underestimated. Imagine a Shadowtouched warlock with invisibility from this feat and another 1 or 2 1st level spells from enchantment or necro list 1/long rest. Or from. Fey touched from divination or illusion list 1/long rest (took 1 only the feats don't stuck) but invibility from Shadowtouched and from a slot of warlock makes the warlock an infiltration character and very useful at combat situations
A monk with crusher just absolutely walked through the big bad guy at the end of our 2 and 1/2 year campaign. Like a stroll through the park…
I've been thinking about taking the crusher feat on my Witch knight in The Gilded Flask's Curse Of Strahd campaign. I don't have repelling blast anymore, but I miss the ability to force enemies off my allies, and this really fits the build and theme of a two handed protector.
Can't wait to hear what you have to say on it.
I was sad when you lost that, it really felt cool when Jon blasted the mimic off of your bard. But I get that you needed eldritch mind.
So Crusher could be like a consolation prize?
@@urdoomarf kind of, but the added effect of the advantage after a crit would be huge, especially with hexblades curse and smites... and not to mention the others focusing fire.
@@DrunkRatt I like the analogy! Interesting build btw.
Medium Armor Master is rather dope for Barbarian/Rogue multiclass. Shame it doesn't add +1 to DEX, though.
I played a human Paladin with Shield Master at level 1 for the Icewind module, got my character out of sticky situations time and time again, massively underrated feat.
TAVERN BRAWLER! Hitting the baddies with the Wizard's spellbook, or a dead goblin is just gravy.
Carry a shield and use it as your main weapon.
Get yourself the Dueling fighting style to hit for two dice larger on average.
Ask your DM to let Two Weapon Fighting enable both goblin and shield to get the +2 damage from dueling, because the other weapon is a shield... and go sword and board... or goblin and board and hit hit hit.
I hate when Jeremy Crawford makes these rulings on twitter. At that point he's just a guy ranting on twitter. The book contains the rules, not twitter. Until they put out an updated core rulebook, what he says means nothing to me.
I have a sorcerer whose entire kit revolves around mind control, disguises, the friends Cantrip and subtle spell meta magic. Jail breaks are AMAZING with this guy
Tabaxi Rogue (Scout) with skulker. BEAUTIFUL mobile hit and run tactics. Loads of advantage attacks too
Playing a sword/board Paladin with Resilient DEX/Shield Master/+4 CHA mod. I’ve negated so much damage on successful DEX saves. Went up against a Death Knight and negated 80+ damage from its Hellfire Orb while my party was dropped to near-half or near-dead. One of the most fun feats to use and feels so good when it works.
I run the Crusher feat on my Dao Genie Warlock. Whenever you deal damage in any way you can add bludgeoning damage which procs the feat.
I have a Bard with the Chef feat and I love it.
People always say it's trash because of the snacks being so weak, but ignore the rest of it. Proficiency with cooking utensils, and essentially a d8 Song of Rest feature. On a Bard who currently has 1d8 for Song of Rest, the Chef feat, and cooking utensils, anyone who spends even one hit die on a short rest also gains 2d8, plus 1 HP for every hit die spent (read up on what cooking utensil proficiencies provide if you don't believe me). Add in the Healer feat and you can do SO much healing on a short rest, really dragging out people's hit dice much further than normal. You could even combine this with the Wither and Bloom spell as a magical secret, since your party won't be using nearly as many hit dice with you around. Any party with Warlocks, Fighters, or Monks will love you for really encouraging the DM to allow more short rests to get use out of your features, but honestly, even Sorcerers and Wizards will be happy, as you'll do so much more healing on short rests for them than for anyone else.
Last campaign we had a Genie Warlock with the Chef feat from lv1. Genie's "bottle" was a wooden salt cellar they found at the back of a pantry. DM leaned into it and made the character being a professional chef a recurring plot item, and at one point they got a magic cookbook.
Oh I use cover often. If I’m not using cover I’m using my umbral sight feature from gloomstalker. I actually helped turn around a combat encounter because I made several areas of cover for me and my party to use before combat began. Basically I turned a table on its side and knocked over some bookcases then angled them in such a way that it would give us good vantage but force our opponents to waste movement or try to hit us while we were behind cover. I also used the hunting trap I got from my outlander background and placed it in such a way that it stopped one of our more difficult enemies on the field just in the line of sight of the person hiding behind the table for cover (which our warlock was) so they could take full advantage of both. It also allowed our Paladin to get in close while our wizard, our warlock, and myself, the ranger, hit from out of range behind cover (or in my case, darkness and unable to be seen by this particular enemy). It was amazing. I was happy to take advantage of the cover because my god, I rolled sooooooo many low rolls during that session.
Crusher with booming blade is beautiful, hit them with booming blade and shove them away so they need to move and take that extra damage.
I like Crusher on Polearm Arm master since your bonus action attack can now knock them back 5 feet. Then Polearm reaction attack when they come back in range
The two do not stack but I like where you went with it. You only get one bonus action which can be used with the crusher attack or the polearm attack but not both.
@@johnnamorton6744 Why not? Crusher says nothing about it using a bonus action to move them only when they are hit with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage which the bonus action attack of pole arm master does.
Spell Sniper and Shield Master are my absolute top two favorites.
600 foot eldritch blasts is a great way to make your GM have an anxiety attack anything there's sightlines.
Shield Master is amazing for having "Those" moments where you're the knight facing off against the dragon and completely negate the dragon's breath, peak heroic fantasy.
Spell Sniper and Shield Master both work together, if you're casting magic you're probably in dire need for more AC, and being able to completely negate most return fire is just amazing.
I've also had a pistol wielding shield master who made good use of cover, Nothing was getting to him.
Then my favorite use of shield master was a paladin city guard trained in the art of "You're under arrest" who'd grapple, shield bash, and then slap some manacles on targets. could also shutdown anyone trying to get to her allies and absolutely bully enemies with all the different shoves and movement one can get via crusher and shield master.
I've had a wonderful time with Skulker when playing rogues. Being able to hide in foliage, certain lightly-obscuring spell effects, etc has been super helpful, and if I miss with an attack, I don't have to burn my bonus action to re-hide and can use it for something else.
One of my favourite characters was a Shield Master. High STR & INT War Wizard, dual wielding Shields, Shield of Missile Attraction and Shield of Arrow Catching.
I took Actor on my Swashbuckler Rogue with the Entertainer background and never looked back. There was a lot of shenanigans, the best being this : We defeated a Mummy Lord a while back, and looted his regalia and his crown ( which was a magic item that among other things allowed the wearer to speak Mummy). In another ruin of that region, we found a huge room FULL of mummy soldiers, and inscriptions that said that this was the same Mummy Lord's Terracotta Army. I observed them for a while, while covering my character in dust and mold and filth and bandage, then marched in there like a owned the place, wearing the crown and regalia, demanding their obedience as their Pharaoh of old. They bowed to me, delivered the ruin's relic to me and we were good on our way without anyone becoming a real mummy, all in a day's work.
RE: Shield Master shove & attacks.
Even if it is ruled that you can't use the shield master shove untill you take the attack action, you can use a bonus action between attacks.
Both the shove and a Paladin's smite are considerd bonus actions, and a Paladin's smite (from spell list) dosn't interupt it's attacks :D
So just like a paladin can attack, smite, attack... you should be able to attack, push over, then get that nice advantage for any follow up :D
I love seeing the different nicknames at the beginning of every video. Very cool :)
Mobile crusher monk with pushing enemies up is hilarious
I played a woman Goliath Paladin with a warhammer and shield. Took Shield Master at level four. I didn’t always remember to use it but it really helped with the dex saves, the weakness of the Paladin, especially once I got a sentient Animated Shield of +3 for a total of 5 additional armor class. It was chaotic evil but that was why the Vengeance Paladin had it: to keep it on a very short leash once she established her dominance (aka attuning)
Great video. I'm pretty sure I heard Crawford rule the other way, that you can shove with bonus action before you attack. Maybe he ruled both ways at different times. People do change their minds after all...
Crusher can work with Genie Warlock to give any eldritch blast, or other spell attack, an automatic push to or through your other spells effects, adding even more to the spike growth cheese grater build
Crusher on a returning thrown hammer goes so hard
One of my favorites underrated feats is heavy armor master... Not an S tier feat by any means, but a solid B+, which is exactly what I'm looking for with half feats. -3 damage per hit is a lot throughout the adventuring day. It's not busted or anything, and it won't save you from a fireball, but it really shines when you are the primary tank and you have an odd strength score.
I was thinking about this one as well! If you have encounters with many minions, or monsters with several attacks then you really end up reducing the potential damage by a surprisingly large amount
Took it on a Samurai fighter who specialized in grappling, and even in Avernus you would be surprised how many creatures attacks are not considered magical. The damage reduction paired with timely use of Fighting Spirit for temporary hit points would really soak damage and skill expert with expertise in athletics made grappling ridiculous. I would usually try to occupy the biggest target and cc them with grapples to keep them in place while the party pinged them down or cleared up the goons so we could focus fire.
Monty you do remember the Sling/Sling Bullet does bludgeoning damage that means you can combine it with the Crusher feat and the Sharpshooter feat for ranged attacks! Boom!
Oh and you know who is proficient in the Sling Everybody at 1 Silver for a Sling and 4 copper for 20 bullets every adventurer should keep one in there pouch!
I love crusher, one of my players is a Echo Knight with crusher, and it feels like playing chess, moving the enemies, placing the echo, swapping places...
My current toon, Murbo ChickenHawk, is a 3 foot tall Owlin Berzerker Barbarian. He uses Mobile to dive bomb enemies from 20feet up, Axe Axe Axe, then fly back up 20 feet. When he has the airspace of course.
I love Actor with a rogue and mask of many faces eldrich invocation. That plus reliable talent is one of my favorite build
The first time I had seen Shield Master at play was a couple years ago when I played in a group of new players. Me and the DM are introducing 4 new players to the game, we had a Goliath Rogue/ Battle Master Fighter that took Shield Master for his feat at lvl 4. His PC came to life at this point of the campaign, he took maneuvers like Bait and Switch, Maneuvering Attack, & Trip Attack and now his Shield Master feat. So I noticed that he would always stick close to me ( A paladin with Polearm Master and Halberd) and create opportunities for me to get advantage by moving me with Maneuvering attack to flank, switching with an enemy with Bait and Switch, making an enemy prone by Trip Attack or Shield Master, just so I can Smite and possibly get a crit.
When me and the DM noticed his very tactical approach in combat and trying to have all his actions be useful and end fights quickly I talked to the DM if I can switch to a more aggressive Paladin since I was playing Devotion to help out the party and be like a crutch. So in a span of a 4 month or so and from lvl 4 - 7 my Paladin became an Oathbreaker to a Vengance (had to make a reason how I broke my oath then that anger fueled his Vengeance). So now my Paladin and his Fighter are literal monster front line combatants.
If you guys haven't notice this player was a Min Maxer but he didn't know yet, I was an RPer but he got me excited when entering fights. So for the entirety of the campaign the DM mostly targeted the othrer newbies who are having a hard time remembering their class features like our Moon Druid who never really utilized her wild shape, she was more focused fighting in the front line and using Flame blade and healing. Our Kensei Monk keeps forgetting to Stunning Strike and her flurry of blows. The Swash Buckler Rogue / Hexblade Warlock was a heavy RPer who would fight anyone knock them out and steal their money, which includes pickpocketing party members, prioritizing looting even when in combat, and always argues with my Paladin. (Player is my best friend, he just born chaotic)
The Athlete feat was amazing for one fighter character I had. It just kept coming up. We fought wolves that knocked me prone, and I stood back up. We fought in the branches of a tree against gorillas, and I could keep up with them.
I had to take Athlete to fix my DEX on my bow ranger once, and it was surprisingly lots of fun! Being able to high jump and climb to sniping positions out of reach of slow, clumsy melee enemies was very useful at low levels. And paired with the Ranger Spell Zephyr Strike, it’s made me a very mobile, agile character, not necessarily better or worse than if I took the Mobile feat, just different.
One thing I think missing from Mobile is talking about Bladesinger. The ability to go custom lineage lets you take mobile and really push into the fantasy of sword and spell. With Mobile you have 50ft of movement. You can pair this with booming blade to lock someone up then move away and they cant chase you allowing you to do your wizard goodness
It is really strong. If you are going after things that must make melee attacks. I didn't use mobile but I was using the harragon race, which allows me to jump 15 feet away without provoking an attack of op, but didn't even need to use that often because we had an OH monk who would take away reactions and I abused that. Not only that but I would haste and oh boy there was something about zipping around the field that made it impossible for my DM to really do much to me. BUT I am playing a blood hunter with order of the pact, that uses booming blade and got mobile at level 4 (since you don't really need it until level 3)
Spell Sniper is one of my favorite feats because of Eldrich blast 1200 build. Its just dumb because is so much i never need to use,but i just love this.
Clerics with mobile is a great combo. They can rush to the front line, then hop back to a defensive position.
I am a big fan of Skulker. Each part of it is good and together it is great for a particular playstyle especially. Everyone loves their darkvision but forgets they have disadvantage on perception in dim light(possible exaggeration, but in my experience) this gets rid of that disadvantage. It lets you hide when lightly obscured which dim light is(how often are sewers dungeons and even nighttime ambushes brightly lit?) you can use the lack of bright light to break line of sight and stealth on a rogue with bonus action hide this is huge. Disappear as you stalk around the battlefield and give yourself advantage on that next hit. Finally lining up that perfect ranged attack only to miss you are still hidden with ranged attacks you only break stealth if you hit. I feel like on a rogue especially it makes stealth work more like what players expect coming from something like Skyrim. Also you can feel like a badass dancing in and out of the darkness landing your blows. Mileage may vary on your table but if you are playing in a game where stealth and perception rules are followed pretty closely this feat can be a gamechanger.
I played a dwarf battlemaster fighter with shield master and that feat was an absolute MVP on my feat's list. Being able to take a bonus action to knock an enemy prone to provide advantage on future attacks is amazing. Even if you rule that the shove has to follow the attacks, you still have the option to action surge to capitalize on the advantage. Plus, as a battlemaster, with rolling advantage on multiple attacks it will significantly increase the rate of getting a critical hit so you can maximize the extra damage from spending a superiority die on a crit. Plus, knocking an enemy prone requires them to use half their movement just to stand up, so it can help prevent monsters from pursuing the squishier members of the party, or allow that party member a safer opportunity to run away from that monster without disengaging as they'll have disadvantage on their melee attacks while prone. Because the shove action is an athletics check, this often paired well with taking a growth potion or having a caster enlarge me so I could have advantage on my athletics checks.
With my fighter, I also took the resilient feat for dexterity to maximize the defensive benefits of the 3rd part of the feat. There is nothing quit like taking zero damage from a fireball or another AOE that would have normally have done 40 damage or more. This also helps make it safer for the party wizard to throw a fireball while my character was in the AoE radius because resilient made my character very reliably succeed on dex saves (especially with indomitable as a backup).
I played a one shot, recently, where I was a level 9 arcane trickster rogue with the mobile feat, booming blade, and a spider familiar that stayed on me. It was so fun, making an attack with booming blade, getting sneak attack with it cause of the familiar, and then running away to possibly cause more damage if they chased, all while avoiding melee attacks from enemies.
I have personally had a lot of success with Mage Slayer in a couple of one-shots. They were at higher level, so being able to get up in a mage’s face and make them lose concentration on spells and then hitting one more time before they panic-ported out of my zone was hella fun
Whoa whoa whoa.. I have obviously missed something. Dr. Monty Martin?!?!
A monk with the crusher feat could be nasty