Conversion Kit: Battlemaster

Kit Overview

• Investment Type: Multiclass Dip

• Minimum Investment: Take 3 Levels of Fighter, selecting the Battlemaster archetype at level 3.

• Overall Impact: Your character now has a distinct martial style, perhaps breaking them away from the combat archetype of their class. The small but expandable set of maneuvers you gain lets you specialize while remaining tactically flexible.

Investment

There's not a lot to say here. Once you declare the Battlemaster as your subclass, you'll reap the benefits immediately. However, it's worth noting that there's a little more to it than that. Multiclassing does have a few restrictions. Whether you start as a Fighter or take it as your second class, you'll need at least a score of 13 in Strength or Dexterity. Depending on what you're multiclassing with, you may need a score of 13 in another attribute as well.

This isn't a tax though, far from it. These restrictions are more often than not there to save you from yourself- many of the Battlemaster's maneuvers rely on a Strength or Dexterity based DC, so you'll want these stats to be high. If you don't have at least a 14, you may wish to look elsewhere, but 13 is indeed the minimum.

You'll also want to keep in mind that the Battlemaster requires you to think on your feet. You'll get four uses of your maneuvers per short rest, which is plenty. You don't want to burn them for no benefit, but you should be more afraid of missing opportunities than running out of maneuvers. If you have a go-to attack cycle, you'll need to get used to looking for chances to break it.

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Narrative Impact

From a narrative perspective, those three short levels of Battlemaster offer a unique martial style. Whatever subset of the Battlemaster's list of 16 maneuvers you choose, it's rather unlikely that anyone at the table will have precisely the same set.

According to my somewhat rusty statistics skills and an internet calculation tool, there are 560 possible combinations of three maneuvers from this short list alone. Of course that doesn't mean that every combination is viable or interesting, but what is absolutely unplayable for one character can easily become game-changing for another. Regardless, your martial style might not be as flashy as a Monk's, but you could easily play with ten or so other characters who dipped battlemaster and not see your precise set of abilities repeated.

This martial style makes your character appear and feel as though they have practiced extensively with their chosen weapons and role. Whether you proclaim your character to be a prodigy, a veteran, or a well-trained elite, three levels of Battlemaster can back up that claim with power.

Mechanical Impact

Mechanically, the Battlemaster offers tactical and strategic flexibility. Since 5e puts your character on a sort of "railroad" after you select your subclass after level 3, many martial builds in 5e rely on repeating the same cycle of attacks every round. Generally, there's little special about the individual attacks on a character's turn. Certain feats and class features offer characters special attacks, but they are likely to use them every chance they get.

The Battlemaster breaks this mold for characters by burning a limited resource to open up new possibilities. Rogues that normally attack only in combination with another character can use Tripping Attack to gain advantage on attacks and go solo, while Sorcerers might use Rally to leverage their high charisma and otherwise stagnant bonus action.

Even better, the Battlemaster maneuvers reduce the chances of a wasted action. Many of the attack maneuvers can't be wasted by a missed attack, since they don't have to be declared until the attack hits, and even if the foe successfully makes their save, you get bonus damage from your superiority die. Rather than burning an entire action to Shove your opponent, you can simply use Tripping or Pushing Attack, opening up the Battlefield Control role to Barbarians and of course, Fighters.

This flexibility does make it difficult to pin down what sort of precise mechanical impact the Battlemaster will have on your character. While this isn't meant to be a guide, I have taken the liberty of categorizing some maneuvers below by Action Type and Role after the body of the article.

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Kit Support

The best way to enhance this kit's effects might at first seem to be taking more levels of Battlemaster. While this will work, you'll have to take several levels- one or two won't give you more maneuvers or even a larger superiority die.

Your best alternative is to take the Martial Adept feat. One more level of Battlemaster after the third will give you a feat, and if you take Martial Adept, you'll get two new maneuvers and an additional use of those maneuvers per rest. Quite the shot in the arm for any Battlemaster multiclass.

You could hypothetically mimic a few levels of Battlemaster by taking this feat once or twice, but the main draw is the two maneuvers- the single die makes the choice to use your maneuvers quite difficult if you don't have the Battlemaster's four base superiority die in the first place.

Pitfalls

The Battlemaster dip usually goes wrong in two circumstances:

1. You've chosen maneuvers that conflict with your character.

2. You’re frequently taking your turn without thinking to use your maneuvers.

Really, that's it.

In the first case, remember two simple rules. If you're relying on your Bonus Action to attack with an off-hand weapon or a Reaction to make an Opportunity Attack with Sentinel, then you aren't going use maneuvers like Rally or Parry. Similarly, if you aren't making weapon attacks, then the various attack enhancements aren't going to see use.

In the second case, perhaps you prefer a more stable playstyle or employ improvised tactics that don't use the game's existing mechanics at all.

In either case, if you don't want to adapt, you can always talk to your DM about rethinking your choices. However, keep in mind that it will likely be easier to convince your DM to allow you to swap one maneuver for another than to allow you to switch out levels in the Fighter class for another.

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Maneuvers Categorized:

Attack Enhancements

• Disarming Attack [Debuff]

• Distracting Strike [Support]

• Goading Attack [Battlefield Control]

• Lunging Attack [Self-Buff]

• Maneuvering Attack [Support, Battlefield Control]

• Menacing Attack [Debuff]

• Precision Attack [Self-Buff]

• Pushing Attack [Battlefield Control]

• Sweeping Attack [Self-Buff]

• Trip Attack [Debuff, Battlefield Control]

Bonus Actions

• Commander's Strike [Support]

• Feinting Attack [Self-Buff]

• Rally [Support]

Movement Enhancements

• Evasive Footwork [Self-Buff, Battlefield Control]

Reactions

• Riposte

• Parry

Since there are so many maneuvers to choose from, dipping Battlemaster could be overwhelming for players used to 5e's usual railroad after 3rd level. With that in mind, I'll take the slight risk of overstepping and provide some maneuver sets that support certain playstyles or archetypes:

• The Archer: Evasive Footwork, Menacing Attack, and Precision Attack. (If feats are allowed in your game, take the Sharpshooter feat and combo the -5 attack/+10 damage benefit with Precision Attack for a low-cost damage boost.)

• The Bully: Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, and Tripping Attack. (This setup focuses on disrupting your opponents rather than killing them outright. Great for Rogues to help set up Sneak Attack opportunities, or anyone else whose style relies on having foes right where you want them.)

• The Defender: Goading Attack, Maneuvering Attack, and Menacing Attack. (You might also consider taking the Protection Fighting Style with your first Fighter level to add another tool to your kit.)

• The Duelist/Two Weapon Fighter: Disarming Attack, Riposte, and Parry. (If you frequently find yourself facing unarmed foes, replace Disarming Attack with Menacing Attack for a similar effect. If you're using two weapons, remember that your Bonus Action is accounted for if you try to modify this set!)

• Great Weapon Fighter: Riposte, Precision Attack, Tripping Attack (If feats are allowed in your game, take the Great Weapon Master feat and combo the -5 attack/+10 damage benefit with Precision Attack orTripping Attack for a low-cost damage boost.)

• The Leader: Commander's Strike, Maneuvering Attack, and Rally. (Make sure you don't dump your charisma if you use this kit- or any other kit with Rally for that matter. This is a great kit for those of you who aren't using your bonus action, or those of you who don't always need it! Your allies will love you!)

• Polearm Fighter: Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, and Tripping Attack. (This kit takes advantage of reach- so the classic Polearm Master/Sentinel feat combo works especially well.)

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12/12/2020 Update: Tasha's Maneuvers

10/13/2020 Update: UA Maneuvers

I'm normally disinclined to include UA content in conversion kits since it's not official, and these kits rely on optional rules like Multiclassing and Feats in the first place. That said, I'm opting for a speculative piece here: I'm betting these maneuvers, in some form or other, wind up in the upcoming Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If I'm wrong, well- no harm done. Check them out here.

Turns out I called my shot on this one- all of these maneuvers wound up in Tasha's Cauldron, and from what I can tell, weren't changed in any meaningful way.

That said, I've altered some of the wording below, because some names have changed and I do have some new thoughts.

Categorizations

Bonus Actions

• Grappling Strike [Battlefield Control, Debuff]

• Quick Toss

Movement Enhancers

• Bait and Switch [Battlefield Control, Support]

Reactions

• Brace

Skill Enhancers

• Ambush

• Commanding Presence

• Tactical Assessment

Analysis

I'm not going to go too deep on this- that's not really the point of a conversion kit, although, maybe I should consider expanding the scope of these. But it's very interesting to me that the most common Maneuver category- the attack enhancer- gains nothing new, and instead we see several skill enhancers, a new category.

This makes sense- there's only so many conditions you can attach as riders to attacks. But what this means for you is that this kit now has more to offer if you're less focused on combat.

Here are some new recommended maneuver sets, as well as updates to the previous suggestions, acknowledging the new maneuvers.

• The Bully (Tasha’s Tweak): Knock off Menacing Attack, toss in Grappling Strike to better control your opponents.

• The Defender (Tasha’s Tweak): Consider finding a place for Bait and Switch to keep friends out of harms way.

• The Diplomat: Commanding Presence, Tactical Analysis, and Rally. (If your primary contribution to the team is to be a 'face', this lets you use your superiority dice in that context. Rally gives you something to do on the battlefield.)

• The Scout: Ambush, Commander's Strike, and Evasive Footwork. (You're relying on your allies to do the heavy lifting, so stay hidden, maintain your distance, and give them some free shots).

• The Symbol: Menacing Attack, Commanding Presence, and Rally. (This kit differentiates itself from the leader by being less of a shot-caller and more of a inspiring or intimidating presence on the battlefield.)

Something I Neglected: Poor Maneuvers

In the original article, I didn't pass value judgements on the various maneuvers. I was caught up in the excitement of the versatility this conversion kit offered, and wanted to believe that they all had the ability to be used well, but truthfully, this isn't so, and we see some of the old problems repeated with new maneuvers.

Sweeping Attack deals only token damage to a secondary target- there's a reason I couldn't bring myself to recommend it in any kits. Snipe seems to serve a similar purpose for picking off ranged targets, however, both suffer from an assumption that very likely isn't true: that a single target can be meaningfully impacted by a single blow.

Of course, the designers likely thought this might be useful against hordes of low level foes, but even then, a single enhanced attack likely can't even fell a town guard. Unless you plan to burn through superiority dice to keep dealing out damage, this doesn't serve the purpose of projecting your damage in any meaningful way.

Brace seems to suffer from a similar assumption. It's no help discouraging targets from passing you- that's what opportunity attacks are for- and in a drawn out fight Riposte gives you more attacks and any attack enhancer gives you better odds of dealing damage.

Going back to the original maneuvers, Lunging Attack's benefit is too short lived to be of use even in the rare edge scenarios where your reach matters.

Rally still has a use, but numerically is unlikely to equate to even one enemy attack beyond 5th level.

Some Good News

These are problems I'm going to address in Robilar's Treatise on Combat, the preview of which I put up on tumblr during my October Brew Festival. But on that note, here's a taste- alternatives to Lunging Attack, Sweeping Attack, and Rally. This is not necessarily the final wording, but I feel these are steps in the right direction.

Lunging Stance: When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can expend one superiority die to increase your reach for this attack and all other attacks made until the beginning of your next turn by 5 feet. You add your superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Rally (Alternate Rule): On your turn, you can use a bonus action and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of one of your companions. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier + your character level.

Sweeping Attack (Alternate Rule): When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die and your bonus action to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. You may add your superiority die to the damage of the first attack.

Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. You may roll an attack against the second creature, with the same weapon, using the same attack bonus, damage, and the same additional effects as the first attack.

You may not use any additional maneuvers to enhance the second attack.