3 Best Spear Fighter Character Builds for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Nerdarchy the News Letter- nerdarchynewsle...
3 Best Spear Fighter Character Builds for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
This video is all about the different kind of warrior character builds we can make using a spear as the main weapon. We look at feats, fighting styles, and classes mainly for these character builds. We draw both from the Unearthed Arcana articles on the wizards of he coast site, the Sword Coast Adventures Guide, and the Players Handbook. All 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons resources.The classes we looked at were mainly fighter, ranger, and paladin for fighting styles. The barbarian lacks these so we skipped him. Though in hindsight I feel we could of played with some monk levels.
Please Like, Comment, Share and Subscribe!
Find Us-
Patreon: / nerdarchy
Website: www.Nerdarchy.com
Store: www.Nerdarchy.s...
Facebook: / nerdarchy
Instagram: / nerdarchy
Twitter: / nerdarchy
SnapChat: / nerdarchy
Pinterest: / nerdarchy
Tumblr: / www
Music By- www.soundcloud.com/zerofluxboundary
spears are completely wrong in most RP games. Spears are much more devastating and fast than they are depicted in most games
Right. Spears and other polearms were the main weapon in combat. Swords were sidearms. It's the equivalent or everyone fighting in a war with pistols and revolvers instead of rifles and nerfing rifles to be worse than a revolver.
As someone who brought a poleaxe to the greatsword moshpit that is Mordhau, I have to agree.
@@VndNvwYvvSvv So just like most western movies...
keep in mind if you were fighting someone in plate armor you would want something like a poleaxe since it could tear through the armor more effectively
@@VndNvwYvvSvv It's called "Fantasy" for a reason.
Kensei Monk with UA Spear Mastery feat. Max your Dexterity. Maybe grab Alert or Mobile feat eventually. Prince Oberyn was called the Red Viper, because he was quick as a snake.
You mentioned the net and trident and I wanted to mention this for the uncanny timing.
So I had to pick my stats, class and race out of a hat in a Pathfinder game I played to level 6. I got elven cleric with the best(most specialized) stat array.
I decided to make the elf a cleric of the Goddess of Dreams, Travel, all that and he used a long spear. I had him traveling around in a canoe and he used the spear to great effect.
Last night I checked on my Obsidian Portal page for that campaign and I found him again after over a year and a half away. I went Cleric 1/Monk 6 and focused on combat maneuvers and such. Pretty great build and now I want to make a spear user again but as a paladin instead of a cleric/monk but with the same theme background wise. Sailor/traveler probably Oath of Ancients or Vengence. Just can't decide to go with Volo's Aasimar(that flight speed tho) or a half-elf.
It'll be a while but my wife will run Storm King's and agreed with my argument that spears at LEAST should have finesse property. So now I'm even thinking about dual-wielding/harpoon throwing privateer who travels the rivers and coast off the Sword Coast.
Polearm Master + Sentinel w/ Battle Master. use the bonus push/lunge. this was one of my player's first characters. hit from 15' away, push, hit again when they re-enter threatened area. it's pretty effective
I was hoping you would talk about spell spear.
Spear master / eldritch knight / spell sniper
Booming blade at 10ft makes them move over to you and triggers booming blade a second time.
I also took one level in forge cleric at level 2 giving me that sweet searing smite and a plus 1 magic spear
I think you go Battle Master of any race with a Strength bonus (variant Human, Half-Orc, Goliath, or Earth Genasi work okay). Collect Spear Master and Mobility so that you can poke enemies with Goading Attack and then freely back away from your victim.
Another option - probably a better one - that's especially fun if you play with minis/grid is a Favored Soul with Spear Master taken at level 8 after you've learned Greater Invisibility. You get a fun guessing game of positioning yourself to intercept the enemy you've set your spear against.
Overall, I feel that Spear Master is not a very good feat, though; you don't get enough bonus actions to make good shenanigans. You're better off just being a swell Cleric who happens to use a spear.
@nerdarchy Ted with his awesome hats, man they're cool.
TL;DR: Spear-wielding characters can be made with essentially any fighter (specifically listed Eldritch Knight), Monk, Ranger, and Paladin. The latter of the 2 using spear-like weapons (Glaive, Halberd, and Pike but Spear is also viable.)
So no Eldritch Knight recommendation? You can call back your spear when thrown and the Dueling fighting style works on a weapon when Thrown (as confirmed here: www.sageadvice.eu/2015/11/03/does-the-dueling-style-apply-to-a-thrown-melee-weapon/). Also, Eldritch Knight is still a fighter, so without multiclassing gains 4 attacks per turn, all of the feat opportunities, can wear heavy armor etc, with the added benefit of focusing on spells that enhance your ability, haste and all that jazz (so you can essentially ignore the INT 'requirement' of it if you don't care about spells that have saves or attack rolls and focus on buffing). Battlemaster spear wielders to me seem to make the most sense (and also Samurai from UE works too) because using a spear effectively makes you a master of the fight, i.e allows you to use the range a (normal spears give you quite a range boost IRL) spear gives you effectively.
Alternatively, you could also be a Monk with a spear, since it's considered a Monk weapon (simple weapon, and proficient) so over time the damage die will increase (although once your Martial Arts weapon die exceeds that of the Versatile die, it will be better to just use the MA die which caps out at d10 regardless if versatile or not). Monks have the added benefit of attacking up to 4 times a turn (using Ki points) although it wouldn't be with a spear for the extra 2 attacks. On the other side though the Monk has a lot of uses for Bonus actions and reactions so increasing your reach by 5ft and readying the charge (with spear master)would probably go unused, based on how MA works and Flurry of Blows, and you wont get a fighting style unless you multiclass (which monk by itself isn't THAT strong so a 2 level Fighter dip for fighting style and action surge isn't terrible) and that's a whole different idea. Kensei monks could also work although they use Martial Weapons so the Glaive, Halberd, and Pike would be used instead of the Spear (which i feel like Monks should be able to use at least the Glaive anyway looking at real life ideas like the Shaolin but that's just my opinion) but it's to the same effect as the vanilla monk.
Paladins also aren't exempt from being able to be a good spear wielder. Smite, self-buffing spells, and the Dueling Fighting Style (or protection/defense if that's your choice) also make the class viable. Much like the fighter, just less attacks and more potential burst damage and utility, the Paladin using a spear in the name of his convictions is almost as strong. The main downside to paladin is that they are limited on spells. So you are a 1/2 spell caster (Eldritch Knight is a worse spell-caster but has the added benefit of being a Fighter) and a lot of the time your spell slots get funneled into Smites, so they are really Smite Slots lol. Holy Avengers are swords only (but a narrative heavy DM can essentially say "fuck that" to any rule and i love the idea of a Holy Avenger spear or spear-like weapon.) but in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter.
If I were to devote making a melee spear (or spear-like) character I personally love the Ranger. Use a Glaive, get the Defense Fighting Style, and you can go Hunter for things like Colossus Slayer/Horde breaker/Giant Killer and later on Whirlwind Attack, or (my flavorful choice) go the Revised Beastmaster archetype. Despite not getting extra attack, you have your own companion and personally my favorite for storytelling. The Underdark Scout, and the 2 new archetypes in UE can all work with melee or ranged weapons, and this also doesn't mention things like Favored Enemy and Ranger specific spells (which the good damaging ranger spells all require ranged weapons which I think is lame.)
Spear user ideas:
Prince Oberyn
Undyne the Undying
Can't think of anyone else.
Odin.
Eldritch Knight so you can Bond to your spear and call it back to you after you throw it, also you can't be disarmed
I like this a lot. It was completely missed in the conversation. You can also bond a second weapon, as a side note. Keeping a shield on hand, you can use the spear to throw (especially +X or magic)...BOOM...right back in your hand (as a bonus action), ready for the next turn. Oh, you are getting bumrushed, brandish the shield and spear...they are closing in on you, call your secondary (sword, whatever...perhaps taking the dual-wielding feat). So, in effect, you are very effective at: long range, cavalry deterrent/distance fighter, and duel-wielding crazy-person at close range. I like the shit out of this.
I'm toying with this for my next character. Monk, but with 3 levels of Fighter for Eldritch Knight. Get yourself the action surge, second wind, dueling for +2 damage, a couple handy cantrips & spells, and you can retrieve your spear after throwing. Only thing I'm concerned about is bonus action economy... so many good things a Monk can do with them, having to pull your spear back to you will be expensive. Good thing they're fast... using a spell slot for Longstrider should mean you can cross just about any battlefield. Although with a 3 level dip into Fighter your monk damage increase won't happen until level 7. :/ Benefits of the Fighter levels are hard to argue against, though.
Also warlock, but it costs an action to call it back
It's exactly what I am doing right now. Throw it, bonus action call it back then wait for them to come to me for the PAM reaction attack
@@Lavafish2525 Now you can use Artificer to make a returning spear, so you can throw it while still making multiple attacks in a round and you don't need eldritch knight or warlock.
"Prince O'Brian" ...love it but no guys, it's Oberyn (Oh-bur-in)
Raven Zeal My brains knows, but I just couldn't get my tongue onboard :(
Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy it's all good. Just mentioned it in case you didn't know.
Raven Zeal that is the least of their pronunciation sins
For me it sounds more like Prince Orion aka Warhammer Wood Elve's ruler. BTW he also wields spear ;]
Thank you. That broke my heart
i have been watching your videos in extremely random order. it's hilarious the way your beards all change from vid to vid!
Prince Oberyn was a Monk. Unarmed Strikes being kicks and elbows and headbutts, etc. Spear is a Monk Weapon, so its damage die increases along with your level.
Oberyn wore armor.
Oberyn was definitely more like a fighter
He's right, because not all martial monks are ascetic (Taoist monks irl) and the spear choreography they used in the HBO series is distinctly Shaolin/Wushu influenced. It's not a Hopelite or Viking style where the emphasis is on poking while maintaining the protection of armor and shields, both of which he mostly refuses to use.
Sixgun Symphony my monk uses boots, coats, jades, and hats. Not all monks are ascetics.
Monk is the closest you can get to Oberyn because it's the only class that let's you use spears as a dex-based weapon which Oberyn clearly does. But he clearly doesn't have the wisdom for it. A Dex-based Battlemaster would fit his fighting-style better if you reflavour a rapier as a spear.
I've fiddled a little with a spear mastery + shield master barbarian so I can have that buff to unarmored AC and pseudo-Evasion while still having a respectable melee presence. It's a little MAD with needing STR for damage with DEX+CON for AC with the limited stat boost/feat options the barbarian has compared to a fighter as well as honestly being pretty sick of needing Variant Human for just about every non-CHA build to reach full potential.
Someone criminalize the "mee-lee" pronunciation please.
Apparently, prince O'Brian was a mee-lee zee-lot
There are accents, and then there are mispronunciations, the difference being when people fail to pronounce something which everyone else in their local area manages to pronounce correctly.
@@LockSteady There is no French accent in which the French word "mêlée" is pronounced "milii". The mispronounciation is universal in English.
I pronouce it "mell-lay."
Oh-berr-inn
May-lay
Zeh-lot
LORD O'BRIAN !!! O.M.G. I AM DYING LAUGHING
Are you talking about Game of Thrones or Liam O'Brien from Critical role ?
Conan O'brien ?
Imagine conan obrien in armor fighting a dragon with the same haircut...
Miles O'Brien.
there is evidence in the Nordic history the Viking skirmishes would use a spear and a sax knife at the same time. it's assumed the sax knife had a small groove so as to provide greater grip on the spear. the main benefit was if an enemy closed the distance you had a close quarter blade the deal with him
Sax 😂
@@johannesstephanusroos4969 Alternatively spelled seax, both are acceptable. It is a well known type of large utility knife used throughout western Europe. Moron.
oh of corse o'brian, oberon's irish cousin
Prince Oberon's weapon wasn't a spear. It was a Partisan. That's a heavier pole weapon that not only thrusts (Piercing damage), but can also cut (Slashing damage). It's an important distinction. I believe the Saxon's also had what was called a "leaf spear" which could do the same thing. The picture you have as the link for this video shows a combination of a Partisan (blade) with Winged Spear (the points below the blade), and an extremely short shaft. The diameter of the shaft is also important in determining the weapon, as a slashing pole weapon like a Partisan requires a thicker shaft - otherwise it will shatter upon impact.
Citing "Schologladitoria" for all of those distinctions, BTW, and he actually does a breakdown of the fight between The Viper and The Mountain. It's an interesting take.
As far as "Spear Fighter", I would go with a Human variant, take Ranger, and make it a Strength-based Hunter. Instead of a Spear, his melee weapon would be a Partisan (use Glaive, and change Piercing damage to Slashing). Carry Javelins for Ranged combat. (Strength can apply to that - page 13 PHB) Fighting Style would be Two-hander to re-roll ones (which is sub-optimal given the d10, I know that), and the opening Feat would be Great Weapon Master. Adding, by third level, Colossus Slayer and Hunter's Mark, you'd have 1d10+1d6+1d8+13, assuming a 16 Strength. That's brutal.
If you took Sentinel at 4th, then that damage might apply as a REACTION too.
That means at 5th, you'd have:
Attack #1 - 1d10+1d6+13
Attack #2 - (creature is wounded) 1d10+1d6+1d8+13
(if the creature dies)Bonus Action: 1d10+13 to secondary target
(if the creature does not die but tries to flee)REACTION: 1d10+1d6+1d8+13.
Crippling if you land all of them.
Or maybe a hewing spear?
Sentinel + Polearm master and RP your polearm as a "large spear". GGOP.
Don't forget the greatness of Tunnel Fighter and Great Weapon Master. Just hold the line on your own.
If you add vigilant defender to that (18th fighter level of cavlier) you can make 2 opportunity attacks (without using your reaction) to every creature that attempts to enter your space. And potentially more if those two hits miss.
ShadowCoH316, Spear have been FAQ’d to count as polearms for feats.
My thoughts exactly :)
sum body, and yet a Spear is a polearm, and has been so for the entirety of human history.
2 spears? all I can think of is Lancer Fate/zero :D
matt510 Diarmuid ua Duibhne was well known in the Irish legend for using two spears, although he unfortunately didn't use them simultaneously, awesome as it was in Fate/Zero. But that doesn't mean your character couldn't!!
Same here :D
Or spear and shield (think 300)
He Used a combination of a spear and a sword having two combinations.
What about using a spear two handed BUT also taking two weapon fighting so that your DM will allow you to throw javelins from a sheath on your back at any enemy beyond spear range, or who you've kept at bay using any of the other apear/polearm feats? That would be cool. I feel like only being able to do piercing damage may come back to haunt you at some point but that's just part of the fun.
This video instantly made me think of the Aiel from the "Wheel of Time" series. This sounds like a really fun idea for a character, but I'm pretty new to dnd and not super familiar with my options does anybody have any ideas on recreating an Aiel warrior into a dnd character?
You need to go for the high movement speed, so a monk is probably the go-to
I want Mat with his Ashanderei.
Back in 3.5 there was an actual Wheel of Time tabletop game made on the Open Gaming License. The Aiel Class was like a mix of Ranger and Barbarian in regular DnD, although it also had a special rule that it couldn't gain Experience for fights where you used a sword
My DM added a "Thrown" Fighting Style, double strength damage. I played an Eldritch Knight for the Bonded Weapon feature. Took Mobility for the speed boost and difficult terrain, and had boots of Striding and Springing. His primary skills were Athletics and Acrobatics. He essentially played as a 60' Range Skirmisher.
I personally would go for a fighter 12 (battle master) / monk 8 (way of the open hand) so you have 6 ASI's and 3 attacks which along with flurry of blows and action surge can give you 8 attacks, not to mention the added control you get from the open hand technique combined with maneuvers. Spear mastery, Sentinel and Mobile would be my go to feats for this guy.
And while it doesn't work with the spear, the tunnel fighter fighting style from UA Underdark works realy well with reach weapons because as a bonus action you can make opportunity attacks for free until the end of your next turn. Which then combo's with Sentinel and Polearm Master.
But duelling fighting style you can only use the spear one handed to attain that bonus.
pole arm master is uniformly superior to spearmastery
You keep going fighter/paladin....but forget fighter/monk....if anything that would be the Oberyn build
Top o' the mornin' to ye, O'Brien!
.... Every ancient war, was won by the Spear. it was one of the FIRST and most devastating weapons humans have ever created. The sword, is just a sidearm. No matter how glorified it has become.
Eldritch Knight can call the weapon back to his hand if he throws it as a bonus action so you can throw it every round
Fun with weapons reach buffs initiative.The trident sacrifices damage for hit chance.Axes do a lot of damage but do not help defence.Swords drain less movement speed and this is how they work in real life.
no monk love?
Yea I was sad about that when I was scheduling it. I realized we didn't mention it.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Yea, I'd say the Monk would be the best way to do this due to the fact the Monk increases the damage of a spear with his Monk damage as he levels, but not until after 10th level.
i watched this vid because im trying to build a dope monk
Especially with remaking the GoT character! I always think "What would a level 10 character be" when I make character concepts. I instantly thought Monk8/Fighter2 when I thought of this build.
The two levels of fighter would give you the fighting style, action surge, and second wind. The monk gives you the movement and extra unarmed attack...blah blah blah.
I'll probably make this as an NPC that saves the party when they are in trouble and least expect the help. Thanks for the brainstorming guys! Great talk.
cool build
Check out this homebrew and let's make it better
Way of the Spear
Nestled in a small valley between two large mountains live a group of monks called the Piercing Wind. Unlike most monk traditions these monks train in the art of armored defense. The armor is imbued with the knowledge of ancient pole arm masters. Anyone wearing it gains the feat Pole arm Master. They are taught the harmonious dance of the spear. Each monk demonstrates this art form on the battle field with beauty and deadly grace. “Be as the leaf and allow the wind to carry you home.” -Aldus Stormspear
Starting at 3rd level you gain proficiency in light armor and martial weapons. The light armor you choose is imbued with ancient pole masters of yore. You now gain the feat Pole arm Master.
Additionally at 3rd level you have three ki abilities.
Strike of the Wind: After you perform Step of the Wind instead of increasing your jump distance you may spend 2 ki and make a strike with your pole arm as a bonus action with your Dex modifier added to the damage roll.
Healing Wind: If an ally is poisoned or bleeding you may spend 3 ki to heal them. This counts as an action and also you gain the feat ability sentinel for one round on the target you healed.
Wind Aura: When you spend 3 ki and concentrate you surround yourself in a 10’ aura of wind. Anyone within the aura feels light as a feather and gains advantage on Dex saves. The effect ends if the monk stops concentrating or is knocked unconscious.
When you reach the 6th level you undergo the Trial of 10000 Steps. You are weighted down with heavy armor and two buckets full of heavy stones. With spear on back you must climb the tallest mountain and reach the top. Once you complete your trail you gain Steel Will: Overcoming mind and matter you now can add half your Wisdom modifier to your AC and you gain the ability to regain 2d4+Wisdom modifier ki points back. You may use the secondary ability once per short or long rest.
Upon reaching the 11th level you and your weapon become one. A ceremony is performed where you spill your own blood and ki into your weapon. The weapon is now a +1 magical weapon with the guardian aspect. The weapon whispers a warning to you giving you +2 to initiative. Your weapon can be summoned to you from anywhere on the same plane of existence.
By 17th level you are now the master of spear and wind. After using Step of the Wind you may spend 10 ki points to enable Dance of the Wind. You can choose one of three options.
· You thrust your spear with the awesome fury of wind. All enemies within a 10’ cone in front of you must make Dexterity save or take 10d8 piercing damage and be knocked back 10’. On a successful roll they only get knocked back 5’.
· You throw your pole arm into the air and make an unarmed strike. If the attack hits you must roll 2d8 and the pole arm explodes into that number of radiant spears raining down dealing 1d6 points of damage per spear. You must wait a long rest for your pole arm to return to normal.
· You strike the ground with your pole arm sending a 15’ radius of shaking earth for 3 rounds. Creatures within 15’ must make a Constitution save or be knocked down prone. Each round an enemy may make another save to no longer be prone.
Spear fighter or polearm master?
300 movie's Spartan depiction, phalanx spear+shield warriors.
Zhang Zilong from the Three Kingdoms (Red Cliff movie, Romance of Three Kingdoms) whose spear skills are legend
Be a master of polearms so any majority long staffed weapons is yours to use effectively.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei (Red Cliff movie) wielding glaives and halberds, legends in their own time,
14th lvl half orc battle master with a glaive. with the polearm mastery and great weapon fighting. I was able to control the battlefield and defend the more squishy party members'
Umh, I would say that Oberyn's spear was just a regular one. Maybe more of a glaive-ish kind, but definitely not longer than normal spears...
I'd call Oberyn's spear a partisan-like spear
It was most definitely longer range than a "regular" spear and it would definitely be a Partisan.
it was pretty much an average spear. The biggest discerning factor is that it's a cutting spear. but other than that. Pretty much just a spear.
oberyns spear could be classified as a pike.
No, it utterly lacked the barbed flares of a partisan, nor was it a pike. It's a plain spear with a relatively long blade. Maybe an ox tongue (langue de boeuf), but it lacks the distinctive spine ridge, so really just a spear stylized for TV.
I've been too long around for a while trying to come up with a good D&D build for a Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2. Any thoughts?
Buddy up with a Warlock so he can push and pull with eldritch blast for extra attack from them stepping in and out of reach.
Spears weren’t introduced they are simple weapons for a reason, they are a step above a stick, a sharper stick
I think I can guess the reasoning behind the extra reach from the maneuver. By lunging forward, lowering your body, and leaning into the strike, you can move very quickly forward and then retreat just as fast. However, I don't think you'll ever gain 5ft; that number is just a standard value for the size of a space on the grid (which is also simplification for "the area you can control" rather than "the space you occupy" as many people seem to think). Lunging like that while also thrusting with the spear held by the butt end ... yeah, that would give you a lot of reach, alright, though I wouldn't think it'd go a whole 15ft to an enemy. I'd probably have to say you can get either one or the other, but not both.
I would have immediately thought of Monk... being able to attack and then use Ki to Dodge and Disengage as a bonus is huge... plus doesn't need to wear heavy armour to slow his natural movement
I would go human 12 level fighter (champion), 8 level monk open hand, take defensive fighting style and protector, half plate and a sheild, sheild mastery, spear mastery, medium armor master, sentinel, alert, sharpshooter, mobile, high ac, high damage, and THIS IS SPARTA!!!!! Point buy 15, 14, 13, 10, 10, 10 with the plus two from human making it 16, 14, 14, 10, 10, 10. So 16 dex, 14 strength, 14 wisdom rest tens. Soldier back ground.
Can do lots with this build Mariner from unerath arcrna gives you climb and swimming speed equal to your movement plus 1 AC with out armor so sheild and spear would be really strong if nets were better I would have done galdatior with trident and net
Hey what is up with that hat? You can't spell TED without the "E"
I heard the Spear was added into Polearm Master through errata, is that true?
Yes. As the spear would just be a knife, without its pole.
Elephant seals make me nervous but as a martial artist I know I could take one toe to toe if I had a lance for first blood and dual wield a hand axe and shirt spear. Other than that, those things are scary.
I guess I have different pop culture interests, but when I think spear fighting, I think of Balsa from Moribito.
only thing I would do differently is drop paladin/fighter for barbarian/fighter with spear and shield, which is probably how I would build Oberon. that fury that leeches out as he fights? makes the most sense to me. and yea i know he doesn't use a shield that fight, but that fight he wanted reach and mobility. Nothing to say he can't pick one up and use it when he's not showing off or trying to go for the big hits
If you go 1 level of monk, then you can use Dex with your spear and we all know Dex is the 5e God stat. I'd probably go Fighter - Battle-master with the rest. Now if you took mobility, you might be able to back off and force your opponent to keep coming at you to take that additional charging damage from the Spear Mastery feat. Of course, you'd need enough room to maneuver.
it would decimate the enemies lines? it would reduce them by 1/10th? it would kill 1 in 10 enemies?
could you please do a vidoe on tri kreen soul blades
Say it with me: OH-bur-in
Barbarian with Polearm Master, a potential four attacks a round with that damage bonus for raging starting at 5th level.
I was thinking of a spear using Triton named Undyne the Undying ( your amazing if you get this reference ) but now I'm thinking an Undying Warlock to really play the undeath aspect well
How long do you think a spear is, I have a boar spear it's just short of 7ft.
I think with Fighter, there are a couple of cool options (though I'm not sure when this was released compared to *new* content) that might not have been explored. I think an Eldritch Knight would be a pretty cool build to go with this as well. At level 3, you get Weapon Bond and cannot be disarmed of your weapon, but you can also use your Bonus Action to summon your weapon to your hand. That means you could attack in melee with it, turn around and throw the spear and then summon it back to your hand with a bonus action (I am not sure of you can do the reverse order though; Throw, BA: Summon, Attack in melee). This gives you access to some defensive spells as well like Shield and Absorb Elements at 3rd level, as well as Booming/Green Flame Blade cantrips to up your damage output in melee. Even if you don't have high Int for your saves, it can be back breaking and make you harder to kill. War Magic allows you to cast a cantrip and also attack, giving you some more flexibility. If you invest more heavily into Int, you could go with spells with saves and make them have disadvantage on the save. I considered multiclassing 2 levels into War Mage from Wizard to add Int to your initiative, having access to ritual spell casting and not limiting yourself to offense and defense spells. So you pick up a couple of the rituals you need for adventuring, a few more cantrips for more utility and you are all set!
I don't think you guys explored Monk as an option. Sure, you don't get Fighting Style(s), I think the problem you run into is being Str or Dex based. As a Fighter, you can just wear heavy armor and go with that so you can use Str, but then you suffer from lower Initiative (which may or may not be good). As well, if you throw your spear and don't have another one (or a way to get another), then you are left unarmed. With a Monk build, you can use Dex in place of Str for melee and throwing. If you throw your spear and don't have another one, you at least have your Martial Arts. Unarmored Defense also gives you some defense without needing armor. Way of the Kensei lets you chose weapons that you want to get a bonus. So if your DM lets you, hypothetically you could choose spear for both. In melee, if you hit someone with your unarmed strike, you at +2 to your AC. Kensei shot allows you to add a D4 to your damage. At 6th level they become magical and you can give it more damage with your martial art die, and even more at 11th. Not ideal, but an alternative to what was mentioned :3
I want to see an Elven double bladed spear Revenant blade build
Spears are all good. However a glaive with polearm master and sentinel does a hell of a lot of work. Best part is if an enemy only has a 5ft melee range and no range options, you can keep them at bay using the attack of opportunity from polearm master, and make their movement speed become 0 for the rest of that turn. Essentially giving you a free, no risk attack on each of your enemies turns.
Combine this with hexblade warlock with the devils sight and darkness combo and any 1 on 1 duel becomes GG
I would try to make Aiel (WoT) kind of build .
3 levels of Paladin of vengeance.
17 levels of battle master.
Assiamar as race (fallen)
Protection and great weapon fighting.
Pole arm master
Magic initiate
Sentinel
Now you can switch between spear and shield or great spear and carry feats with each style.
You also get fear from battlemaster, your race, and your vengeance Paladin.
(When you get surrounded)
You will also get hex and hunters mark plus smites!!!
My favorite spear has always been the one from Dragonslayer.
I prefer the Red Viper Spear, but that maybe because I own one.
Pole-arm controller battlemaster.
Mmm delicious
Pushing strike, OA, Sweeping strike on hit, rinse, repeat
Can y’all make a video for a bastion class homebrew build? I’m thinking of running a human using a pike and tower shield...kind of like the tower guard in lord of the rings
Blade Singer Wizard + Spearmaster + green flame blade
A paladins divine smite with polearm mastery gets 3 smites at level 5.
Building an 3rd level Odin type character and settled on Fighter 1 Wizard2. Heavy armour, Polearm mastery with a halberd to imitate Gungnir. Picked Divination School to get Portent and a lot of defence/self-aoe spells. Using spells on my turn and thwacking anyone who comes in range off turn.
...i'm sorry what? I kept trying to pay attention but I was too distracted by that crazy hat of yours.
clericofchaos1 you love it.
Nerdarchist Dave
Holy crap. Wow. I didn't even notice it, I must need new glasses. That, and I lift weights while I listen to these intense levels of nerddom. ^_^ I shall not rest, until I'm the buffest dork at the table! :P On a more serious note though, I haven't really played DnD in about a decade, but I'm really interested in getting into some of this 5th edition nonsense. I started playing when I was about 10 with the tail end of 2nd edition, played a lot of 3rd(though not nearly as much as I had wanted to). 4th was really off-putting to me, but for some reason 5th has regained my interest. Anyway... I'm rambling again... I tend to do that... Which I took advantage of once playing an awakened Chaotic Neutral squirrel Bard who never shut up and said the most inappropriate things at the worst times.
With the Fighter's Unearthed Arcana today, the Spear+Shield fighter has a great new archetype to play with. Knight+Spear&Shield, its too bad my current fighter is already playing champion otherwise i would be playing this.
It's hard to beat Glaive+Polearm Master
I came across an interesting video that demonstrates that extended range of the spear you were talking about roughly at 13 minutes in your video Nerdarchy. ua-cam.com/video/kP-0wZsLYRI/v-deo.html The man is standing about 12 feet away and able to deliver a killing thrust to someone's head in a single smooth motion. The additional 3 feet to get to 15 doesn't seem like much of a leap in D&D's magical world. It is certainly possible for regular humans to hit from that far, the only trouble would be with control of your spear at that extended range, which is where the Mastery ability come into effect, and why most normal people would not be able to perform such feats so easily.
Now that spear has been retroactivelly added to PAM, all you need is that
Polearm Master doesn't affect spears right? My thought on making it apply if it doesn't is this.....what's a spear but a quarterstaff with a dagger attached to the end?
DrakeMarvell what's a halberd but a quarterstaff with a spiked axe taped to one end?
That’s a stretch. The quarter staffs haft tends to be larger than that of a spear.
They amended it to include spears.
@@TravisWilliams_ how long are quarter staff?
HOW CONVENIENT you guys made a fighter video, just when UA released fighter archetypes
Female characters are often depicted as using the spear and dagger combo.
Why doesn't throwing the spear get the extra 10 damage from the sharpshooter perk?
Veletis would attach a leather strap to tge end of their spears to gain extra reach.
For Oberyn I would use a cleric with the trickery domain (for the poison divine strike, and abilities that suit his character). I would use amulet as the holy symbol and use the spear with either one or two-hands depending on the circumstances. Mobile would be a good feat.
Charger might be interesting. Maybe magic initiate for the booming blade.
And the standard ones that are good for those on the front line: Sentinel and Tough.
Resilient (constitution) is never bad for a cleric on the frontline.
Hmmm multi-class assassin? Or Fighter.
Ms10000123 I'd have just gone Monk (Open Hand)/Fighter (Battle Master) and give him proficiency in Poisoner's Tools. -Nerdarchist Ryan
Nerdarchy
Ohh even better, although I've always liked 2 levels of Rogue for the cunning actions, something I think that should have been included with Monks (at least the Dash/Disengage).
Nerdarchy I like to reflavour things and use the PHB only mechanically as far as possible, which is why I chose cleric. I think the mechanical abilities of the trickery cleric suit him well, more than the poisoner's tools can.
You missed a critical part of shield master. You add your shield ac to dex saves that specifically target you. Not all dex saves. So sacred flame yes. Fireball no.
Spear dancer monk
Each monastic tradition will bring something new
Warlock pack of the blade Infant throwing weapons
Plus cantrips green flame blade and booming blade
Throwing small children would be an interesting tactic...
Can I get three attacks every two rounds 😀
Groan!
Nerdarchist Dave
...who is o'brian from GoT??? ...i know who oberyn is... 🤪
c'mon guys...i thought you were NERDS!😘
I do wish that feat had improved and became an actual feat.
but.. now in 2020? Alchemsit ARtificer. I really want to use Spell Slinger to get Green Flame Blade, and 10ft on it. Then add Alchemical Savant Damage.+ spear wielder's feat.
10ft Alchemically infused spear with green flame blade, and extra damage.
Though that does require the GM to read the spellfocuses the same way I do. That I could use alchemical tools as a focus for GFB because artificer lets me use tools as focuses in general. Some might not. Still doesnt' seem that unusual an ask
So then I get friebolt at 240ft. Spear at 10ft (via bonus action). Get a gbonus action use.. since alchemists don't really.
Take a Monk dip so you can use dex for simple weapons.
Isn't reach the primary benefit of spears.
The feat should just increase reach without a bonus action.
I understand they had to remove reach from spear for mechanical reasons.
Versatility
Range
Polearm Mastery
Simple Weapon
Can you really add reach and not have it outshine martial weapons without a feat?
But if you take the feat, then give it the reach.
Sentinel won't really work the way you think because the reach is only during your turn. It really ought to just have reach without a bonus action.
So aside from the obvious spearmaster polar Master Battle Master combo. I've had a lot of success with my Eldritch knight, combining shieldmaster, sentinel, warcaster in polar master. I get that you don't get to make unlimited opportunity attacks but you can swap them for cantrips which make them way more powerful. You get the added benefit of eldrich strike which can set someone up if you're getting to go next after they trigger opportunity. It also sets them up to be knocked down and skip a turn because you can knock them down with the shieldmaster ability after sentinel reduces their speed to zero. You can do the same thing with the longsword too just instead of taking polarmaster you take slasher and then a combination of your slashing attack eldred strike on the first hit sets them up to get slowed down by frostbite and then if you knock them down there at minus 20 speed and like 90% of the monster manual can't stand up. Either way can be really really good and usually results in more damage output than cavalier, because usually monsters don't run in Mass up to them.
Question on exotic spears/polearms. Yari is basically a spear, but there are japanese, chinese, indian weapons that are equivalents to simple and martial weapons. If you day your background is from another land, one that uses simple and exotic instead of martial you'd have to adjust classes accordingly, and I can see other situations where this will effect gameplay.
I only saw a reference to this in a reply not a direct post so here is my suggestion. First glaive just rp it as a longspear unless you get that dm that allows the middle earth to work in its place. Battle master fighter with a two lvl dip into Ranger revised humanoid favored enemy tunnel master fighting style and polearm master + Sentinel. You only ever bonus action your defensive stance however you this will give you infinite AoO with a reach weapon evertime someine moves more than 5ft in your reach, moves into your reach, or tries to leave it even if they disengage. If you hit their speed is 0 for the rest of the round. If you say...... Trip them. Unless they are a monk then you get a free AoO with advantage when they try to stand up since its at least 10ft of movement for small and 15 for medium. There are no rules i have found for inturrupting a standing action but i assume if your speed is reduced to 0 you fall back down.
If you look at pics of Oberyn's spear its about standard spear length, not the size of a pike or great spear if you ask me. Picture: swelarpers.tumblr.com/post/89246770600/wicnet-oberyns-spear-the-tassel-is-the-skin
Ted traditionally Pikes don't have a weapon on the bottom of the haft.
Formation pikes occasionally had bracing spikes on the bottom, but those were meant for sticking in the ground not in people.
If you can stab the ground you can stab people, but I know what you mean, you wouldn't whip it all around when using it in the traditional fashion in formation
Video Game Play By Nerdarchy Technically speaking you can stab people to death with all manner of implements, doesn't make them purpose built stabbing weapons :P
True
the extra tip also doubles as a spare spearhead if the other end breaks off
Polearm master is a noob trap, 2h melee builds outperform spear builds in terms of damage and magic item finding and sword&board outperforms spear in resilience. I consider Polearms builds just a personal choice to stick with
Honestly what wizards should do is set up weapon outlines meaning if you had a medium sized slashing weapon that weapon could be a long sword, a katana, or a large cleaver and basically by combining these aspects you could create any weapon you can think up
PS pretty sure dipping into paladin to gain a fighting style is not worth it you could take the fighting style either way you're going to lose an ability score increase, but you wouldn't lose your fourth attack
Trying to make a Celtic warrior type with Firbolg as the race. His primary is a spear but he also wields a shield with that. I'm wondering which is better, the polearm master or spear master. The thing that's throwing me is that to use the first ability of polearm master you must 'attack with only' a spear or other polearm. Does this mean that to attack you must be using two hands without the ability to use a shield in the other?
Hey everyone, just a mechanic that I was debating with friends, wanted to see if you had any knowledge about it. This is a racial ability that the Tabaxi ( Volo's Guide to Monsters ) get.
Feline Agility. Your reflexes and agility allow you to move with a burst of speed. When you move on your tum in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the tum. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move O feet on one of your turns.
Does this mean that a level 2 tabaxi rogue could move 180 ft? ( ( 30ft move speed ) + ( 30ft dashing as an action ) + ( 30 ft dashing as a bonus action ) ) x2-Feline Agility = 180ft
It's RAW for our table. Get's even sillier once you add monk levels.
So yeah, a Tabaxi could do that every other turn. It really hasn't come up . Our Tabaxi Shadow monk 6/rogue 2 can already move 135 ft every turn or 270 ft every other turn ( w/ Feline Agility) if she wanted to. She's basically Cheetara from the Thundercats.
Jep, and try adding haste for even more fun.
Victor Velle
I may be wrong, but I believe that you can't take the dashing action twice in a turn. the Rogue feature allows you to use a bonus action to activate Dash, rather than having to take your full action, but I don't have the book open in front of me right now. I was under the impression that when you're dashing you can't take regular actions, and so that's why they make it require your action to activate it.
Carson Rush I see no reason why you can't dash multiple times, at least not based on the text in the PHB.
Just on what I know from multiplying in D&D- you would not double the total speed attained that round but double your base speed, so if you are a monk and can move 40ft and you would go 80 total ft plus any other actions that you could take
@Nerdarchy ua-cam.com/video/al1CpCfSEHo/v-deo.html This is some of the best spear weilding I have ever seen. Enjoy!
So what is y'all tip about spear net combo. Also I'm have trouble with pulling prone with nets.
Archer is +2 to hit with ANY ranged weapon. And dualist gets +2 to damage so a Champion fighter is a good idea!
Didn’t they errata polarm master to include spears
Yes it did.
So this comment us 3 years later and I understand polearm master now affects spears as well. I suppose taking g the feat is fantastic.
what about a spear dancer with deflect arrow, allows you to hit at range and as free action can adjust hands to close combat and bonus attack with other end of spear.
I usually go pole arm master, sentinel, ranger monster Slayer I should use spear master didnt even know that feat existed