Shield Master - Feats in Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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- Опубликовано: 1 дек 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... Shields up! We discuss the rules, tactics, tricks, and roleplaying ideas for playing a character with the Shield Master feat in Dungeons and Dragons 5e.
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Do you think the Shield Master feat would benefit from some houserules to improve it? Or so you think it's fine as it is?
No need.
Shieldmaster with high dex should usually beat initiative of friends.
Charge in, attack, bash with shield, knock enemy prone and then friends can come in and attack with advantage even if they can't flank.
Shield master is fine as is. It isn't the best feat ever, but it is still a good choice for strength-based sword and board fighter types.
I am looking at Shield Mastery for a (Variant Human) College of Valor Bard around eighth level. Proficiency in DEX saves + good DEX bonus should help out in a magic duel by reducing damage from DEX-based attack spells. This should conserve spell slots for Counterspells of non-DEX based spells (at tenth). Jack of all trades can also help with the shove actions. Planned, but no field experience yet.
Changing the feat could affect unexpected builds.
If you have some area effect like web or a pit, it automatically becomes a lot better. As a barbarian who gets advantage on athletics, it's very good. So in general I think it's great
@@fhuber7507 I'm in agreement. Shield Master is actually a powerful feat. Particularly in the hands of a smart fighter. The Feat itself's biggest weaknesses are more the general weakness of the character using it rather than the Feat itself. Which helps keep it in balance. But it's also most often taken by character classes that can put extra stat increases into Dexterity so it's weaknesses can be lessened by the player quite a bit.
So being extremely hard to hit for many devastating single target spells. And then being able to semi-reliably cancel out damage from area spells even if it's not all of them can help the survivability of the party quite a bit is actually not as far from reality as it first seems when considering the kind of characters it is used on.
Shoving an enemy prone after your attack may not improve the shield's master's damage output, but I bet the barbarian, rogue, fighter, and/or melee ranger will sure be happy! Teamwork makes the dream work!
Exactly this. I think too many times we as players want our characters to be good at everything when it's not necessary. Want to put out damage? Roll a bloody wizard. If you want to hold the line, protect the weak and set your allies up for devastating combos? Pick up your shield lad, and join the ranks of the proud unselfish clan of the Shield. Only a true protection warrior understands this. I salute you brother!
@@beezeejo yup. Throw on Cavalier for even more protecc potential. Sentinel, Charger, AND a way improved protection fighting style baked right into the subclass? Yes please! Or even better, play paladin for emergency heals and defensive magic. BBEG got your squishy friend backed in a corner? Aggressively point at them and issue a command! I haven't tried it yet, but the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian seems interesting for a shield-barian build. And that d12 hit die plus rage damage resistance! Even when they do hit you, it's like a wet piece of spaghetti!
Also, it stands to mention the Fighter could once per day action surge to get your sttacks again after knocking them prone. So attack action, bonus action shield bash, action surge, attack action(all advantage). But then again if you were a battlemadter fighter you could do that with trip attack maneuver more effectively.
@@IronEntropy see you guys get it!
@@beezeejo Wizard for damage output? I think you mean sorcerer. Between heightened spell, twin, and quicken metamagics these guys have got damage output in the bag. Twinning Witch Bolt at low levels and Finger of Death at higher levels can be brutal, and tossing around cantrips as bonus actions to boot makes the sorcerer's damage output much higher than the wizard in my book. Not to mention their ability to burn low-level spell slots to fuel higher-level spells. A tenth-level sorcerer could pump out a good dozen or so 5th-level fireballs a day, if that's how he chooses to play it.
"There's no Shield Throw feat." But there's Tavern Brawler, if you regard the shield as an improvised weapon.
*avengers theme blasts*
Wimpy d4? No thank you. Ask your DM to help you get around this.
@@Year2047 Warlock, with the shield being his weapon of choice?
@@baltsosser Hexblade Shield. Two modes, Defense and Offense. When defense, standard shield. When offense, watch as the patron disregards it's entire purpose, as the metal along the inside shoots out, covering the sides in blades. 1d8, though if you use your action to attack with said shield.
If set for Offensive, subtract your Charisma Modifier by 7, and that's how much your AC goes down. Guarantees that you still get a high AC, but that there is still a downside to this form.
@@Year2047 I mean, improvised weapons everything varies. DM rules the damage of the improvised weapon every time. Tavern brawler makes you proficient with it, that's all.
Don't forget, shoving a creature 5 foot can break grapples. The ability to use a bonus action to free yourself or an ally from a grapple isn't the worse possible thing.
Endless possibilities in the hands of a brilliant tactician
@@FELIXWYNN23 shove the fucker to the wall and let the barbarian apply some great axe. rinse repeat.
@@aronnemcsik Barbarian don't really need this help as they can have advantage any time they want.
@@boumxyz Yeah I wrote that comment after watching One Piece DnD...
something like that happened
And if you’re using a spear and the PAM feat, you can use your opportunity attack a lot more often and increase your damage output by shoving away rather than prone, potentially higher than gaining advantage from knocking them prone, depending on the enemy AC.
Note: the reaction where you use your shield to take no damage instead of half on a successful dex saving throw does NOT say the effect can only target you. It can totally be applied to spells like Fireball or Thunderwave.
No, that‘s the other benefit, which let‘s you add your shield‘s AC bonus to your saving throw, if the spell targets only you. The discount evasion is working with AoE spells as well.
Monty: "As long as you and the player are on board"
Kelly: "Sword and board"
Monty: *visible disappointed*
Kelly: *pure pride*
My shield master has killed many... MANY evildoers with a 5ft shove... Thank you druid for creating deadly terrain for me to shield bash my foes into. Also it's nice when you line up enemies for a line of lightning from your fellow dragonborn.
I saw that the other day, the enemy struggles out, aaaaaand push.
Attack Action, Bonus Action (shove), Action Surge (attack with advantage).
Or shove with your first attack, attack with advantage, bonus action shove another creature, action surge attack that creature with advantage twice.
@@dunker-roo9552 Leo's can be done at level 2, yours would require level 5, both viable though
Nice!
The Twitchy Brown Guy if he’s a variant human. Otherwise, it takes level 4. Much less of a difference.
@@jonispatented true
I’d be interested to see a guide on two-weapon fighting and Dual Wielder, if you guys are looking for ideas
Same...I've started with Spellcasters but my Table has gone Fighting Styles and Feats.
My buddy had to buff an adventure because my dual-wielding half-orc ranger was just annihilating everything in his path. Fun times.
In that vain, I would love to see a two-weapon fighting ranger!
@@charliesleeper7318 Two-weapon fighting with dual wielder feat tabaxi ranger, now multiclassed into druid. Uses shortsword main hand and as a bonus action throws and draws a new dagger every turn. This is one of my characters who is currently benched. It's tough until you get scale mail and get above level 8, from which point you either have already reached lvl 4 druid or are continuing as ranger and have the ability score improvement.
Edit: There is another part of this campaign in which we have access to gun powder, meaning that my character usually spends a bit of time lighting bombs strapped to daggers which then go off on hitting the enemy.
Vittal Gunja why use a short sword and not a rapier? Dual Wielder feat let’s you dual wield non light weapons.
The scene in avengers when Cap jumps and curls up behind his shield to save himself from an explosion is what I see when thinking of the quasi evasion skill
What i picture doesn’t even involve a shield. In an early episode of a certain scientific railgun, the episode’s about a terrorist plot to blow up a mall with a bomb. Naturally the mall is evacuated except for the little girl who was unknowingly carrying it because her teddy bear had been turned into said bomb. When the main characters find it it is going off and
Here I’ll just link a video that has it.
ruclips.net/video/iJHASLCXA-w/видео.html
Starts at 40 seconds
@@JaelinBezel and he never linked the video
I've seen Shield Master recommended for one-handed grappler builds. Attack action to grapple opponent, shove prone as a bonus action. Now the opponent is on the ground and can't stand up without breaking the grapple because they have a movement speed of 0.
Mechanically this sounds great, but narratively it doesn't make much sense. How are you gonna shield shove someone while you're holding onto them? If they're are knocked prone, do you also have to go prone to maintain the grapple?
Im glad someone mentioned this, as the shield master feat is amazing for grapplers who only intend to grapple one enemy at a time (e.g. specifically against mages). I have a fighter/bard grappler who is having a wonderful time grappling then bonus action shoving to the ground to make an easy target for the rest of the party.
@@dennisdavis6943The important thing to note narratively is that grappling is not restraining. If you describe it as having one hand holding their shirt, that counts as grappled (they cant go anywhere), and allows you the freedom to shove them prone and also hold someone prone without being prone yourself.
@@dennisdavis6943 I would just say you’re pinning them to the ground. You aren’t prone, just holding them down
If you are an artificier you can infuse your shield with a +2 bonus, also you can use haste on yourself and use the haste action to attack, shove with your bonus action and then use your normal action to attack again. Oh and there is an infusions that let's you add your intelligence modifier to any strength roll to ensure that the shove works. On an armorer artificier, this combo is really efficient.
Grapple builds should love the Shield Master. You grapple a character as an attack and then shove them prone with your bonus action, now that guy is prone and still grappled and he can’t get up because his movement is 0 from being grappled.
I would argue that you should be able to use the shove to knock someone into a wall, using the wall as an improvised weapon. Not much damage perhaps, but worth thinking about..
Ya, one would think that would work and has usefulness in other situations. Like fighting in a tavern. Shove someone into a table :) Small damage as you said but damage does add up.
It would make sense that, in the right circumstance, the shove action should also provoke a dex saving throw, say 1. Shoving someone backwards past an oak tree (Tree roots to trip them) or 2. Shoving someone into the stone stairs of a castle (tripping over the stairs) and therefore moving them up to 5 ft, but only just beyond the item that tripped them, and then knocking them prone. The whole idea of being able to shove someone 5 whole feet, nearly the length of someone laying down has a lot of versatility. I like the idea of shoving a villain off a cliff... only for the DM to cringe. He had a key item. And now the adventurers will have to rappel down the cliff to attain it. Could lead to some really interesting side-adventures
That said, pick up Tavern Brawler and you can beat the snot out of them with the shield itself, lol.
I actually thought about that too, but instead of damage itd be a CON save, if failed, creature is stunned for 1 round.
One would argue that if someone is cornered by a wall, a shield, and another combatant; attacks are made at advantage.
Roman-style Legionaries.
Stab, shove. "Step forward!" Stab, shove.
And if you have a couple of these guys available, you've got the legion shield wall.
Both as DM and player, I've never found a high AC to be a problem. Any Saving Throw will bypass that AC, and often will be for a stat that they are low in.
We see comments like "my fighter has AC 25, what do I do?!" from Dungeon Masters quite often. I think many DMs don't fully consider the impact of granting magic armor and magic shields to defensive-minded characters, and thus don't plan encounters that feature enough spells or saving-throw based threats to still challenge the shield-using character. It's an easy problem to fix, just one that a ton of DMs have to figure out how to solve.
I do find that AC 24 to 25 is the "break point" where it becomes impossible for rank-and-file foes used in large groups to hit a character in 5e however.
Additionally with intelligent creatures u can just ignore the tank
@@DungeonDudesI think a lot of Newer DM's forget that there is kind of a rock paper scizzors nature to parties Defenses. you may not find something to affect them all. But most that have high physical protection(AC) Tend to be weak to Dexterity based attacks (and often Wisdom ones), The Majority of high Dexterity character's tend to be weak on their mental protections, And the High Wisdom and Mental Protection Characters tend to be quite weak on their physical Protections. So to deal with the party encounters should be based with this circular pattern of defenses and weaknesses in mind.
While there are a few characters that break the patterns a little bit. Unless you've allowed your party to be ridiculously over powered. There is always at least one of these three that will affect members of the party and can vary encounters a lot so different characters get to show off and shine in different fights because of their own effectiveness in these kinds of encounters.
To your point about rank-and-file foes hitting the character, it seems like when a character has enough armor and levels to be in a place where they have 24-25AC, maybe expecting minions and lower-CR baddies to actually be able to do something to them is the problem. The whole point of Leveling and Gearing up is to get stronger. I would never punish someone who could build up 25 AC... except for with fireballs and psychic abilities.
@@sloestya key to a good tank is to put out enough damage and debuffs (shoves, grapples, slowing effects) so that you're not ignored. It takes half your movement to stand up from prone, maybe shield master lets you shove two or more enemies in a single turn.
4:10 Sage advice you say? The council has made a decision, however I think that’s stupid decision, so I choose to ignore it!
Love this feat. I think the AC bonus should be used on any Dex save. Not just when you’re the only target.
Your show's ability to come up with JUST under 28 minute shows on virtually any topic is astounding. It's a single feat, gets the same run time as shows on entire classes and the like.
Still, ribbing aside, love the show, keep it up guys. One *actual* request for the show style though? Let's get more camera work on scenery, or cuts to data/graphics that show the things you're talking about! More visuals would definitely be appreciated, even if it's not super professional stuff.
The timing of the "shield shove" looks like a big fiasco. I remember, either in one of the older Sage Compediums or whatever, that they said that the wording of "When" and "If" was intentional. In a nutshell: "When" features must be used after the triggering effect, and "If" features *can* be used before the trigger. The "shield shove" was a "If" feature, so could be used before the attack. And now the most recent Compediums reads: «This sort of if-then setup appears in many of the game’s rules. The “if” must be satisfied before the “then” comes into play»...
...so, now all "If" features do the same damn thing as the "When" ones, so why use different wordings to describe the same effect? That's just gonna confuse *already* confused readers. Why no rewrite the "shield shove" description and substitue the "If" with a "When"? I swear, I feel like whenever WotC answer one question, they raise up two new ones. It's like a hydra. The Hydrrata. XD
Good points, and the Hydratta zinger was top notch.
Honestly sage advice is a load of shit. Like you said almost every question they answer just brings up more questions or it completely invalidates a previous answer. Then you also get changes that are completely antithetical to the game such as the bonus action shove timing, as if that of all things could even hope to bring shield master close to the gwm or pam. Best thing to do is houserule anything your table wants and to ignore what anyone else says. AL not withstanding.
@@MooseCastle it's wizards MTG roots showing through.
The Extra Attack feature helps here. You make your attack action for the first attack, then bonus the Shield Master Shove, then Take your Extra Attack after your opponent is prone thus taking it at Advantage.
It's funny how much DnD seems to under power heavy armor and shields, when in real life plate armor and shields would be a massive advantage and super OP.
It's entirely because of magic and area effects. It was worse in 3.5e, when most magic ignored armor entirely. Against another sword and armor combatant, plate armor and a shield is great, but not so much against the wizard with fireball, particularly if that wizard beats you in initiative, which he probably will because his dex is probably higher to offset his weaker armor.
@@mavericksolomon395 Makes sense, I guess that's the rock, paper, scissors of DnD, just feels a little rough some times.
its not dnd, its these two, and they are wrong.
Not for guys with nasty spells like "Heat metal"!
its fucking wierd to call real life armor and weapons "op"
This video inspired me to make a magic shield:
The Shield of Noit Cel'fed
When a spell that requires an attack roll is made against you and misses, you may use your reaction to deflect that spell onto a creature you can see, using the spell's normal range. You must make an attack roll against your target using your dexterity modifier to see if the deflected spell hits.
Maybe make it so that it requires a dex check to succeed and if you fail you get hit anyways but take half damage. This way it has a risk to it. Basically DC 12+ spell level dex save to deflect with your shield. Or you could do DC 10 + enemy spellcasting modifier. (Max dc15)
@@IronEntropy That's certainly an alternative way of ruling it. Extras saving throws and DC's tend to slow the action down a little in my opinion, though. But, to each their own!
@@IronEntropy I'd say just use the enemy's spell save DC
@@IronEntropy I mean, look at the conditions to gain any benefit from the feature
- spell
- that has an attack roll
- misses you
- use your reaction
- make an attack roll of your own
- using DEX, an uncommon power stat for shield users
I'd say it needs no additional restrictions. If anything, I'd allow the deflection to be used with the original caster's mods. Tacking on a risk other than the chance of your reaction being used for no gain is a bit harsh
So... a magically mirrored shield
Sword and board Eldritch Knight with War Caster is a BEAST.
did i hear booming blade?
I'm currently playing an Eldritch Knight 3/ Evoker 8 with the Shield Master feat... it's a lot of fun
@Hexproof Project warforged 3 lvls of fighter 17 lvls of forge cleric all the ac
I use a character creator app which recently added Turtle as a race. I made a barbarian and it has 20 AC at level 1 because of the Constitution modifier.
@@emc246 How did you manage that? Tortle makes your AC=13+Con and it gives your Con +1, if you've rolled an 18 or a 17 that's 17 AC, with a shield 19. Where did you get that last point?
Even if you can't use the shove action to prone your enemy before the attack, you still can make use of Action Surge one time for day to take advantage of that fact
That is exactly what came to mind when they explained shoving and the feat
Or just use one of your attacks to shove the creature, then the rest of your attacks AND your action surge attacks with advantage. The only real benefit of Shieldmaster shove feature is that you can shove 1 additional timer per turn.
Bugbear + shield master = 10ft reach to shove.
I have thought about giving players a magic shield that provides this feat when attuned to it. That way a player can have fun with it and not have to expend such a valuable ability score increase.
I don't understand why shields don't have this feat by default. A +X to AC is good but it adds nothing dynamic, thematic, or interesting. I would think having a shield would open you up to these tactics.
SkyNinja759 you can still replace one of your attacks with a shield shove. The shove attack doesn’t specify at all how you shove them, so just shove with the shield. You can bash them with the shield as an improvised weapon and, most likely, you’d be proficient with the attack if you are proficient with shields or clubs, depending on your DM. It’s already a pretty dynamic item, just be creative.
@@jonispatented I hate the just be creative. If it isn't in the rules you need to sit and talk with your DM to do these things.
@@swiftdragonrider they *are* in the rules. Read them
@@jonispatented you are telling me to reflavor the shove and asking me to ask the DM to adapt proficiency with shields to give me a benefit in shoving.
I'm really surprised that you guys didn't mention a shield-using Barbarian.
Advantage on strength checks while Raging, plus Danger Sense on most Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see. Having these qualities stack with the effects of the Shield Master feat is HUGE.
Sure you lose some DPS by not going two-handed, but the enhancements for tactical teamwork and survivability are incredible! And christ, hasn't the two-handed Barbarian trope been done to death?
Make classic shield-wielding Conan great again!
This is my current build and good lord he's a tough boi. Wanted a dwarf that's really hard to kill so gone with totem warrior. Resistance to all damage (except psychic) combined with all those bonuses to dex checks, advantage to strength checks for shoving make him a proper unit on the battlefield. Planning on multi classing into dueling rune knight fighter to get bonuses to attack to negate the loss in damage from not using 2 handed weapon and the ability to grow 10 x 10 ft is gonna make him the biggest threat on the battlefield but really hard to actually damage. Also combining reckless attack, shove prone then extra attack means I'll be consistently attacking with advantage.
I think if Shield Mastery had included a method of dealing damage output (like through Shield bash) In case your weapon is disarmed or entangled would have been more useful.
As a heavy armor using, sword & board Bard that is also proficient in blacksmithing, I've come up with the idea of crafting a hoplite-style shield that will be sharpened into a blade on one quarter of it's shield-rim (specifically, the lower-left if used in the left hand). This will allow for it to be used as a 1d6-ish slashing weapon, thus making it very hard for me to be disarmed in the future.
Also, I plan on using silver powder or a silver-alloy on that shield-blade, in case I ever need a silver weapon. It likely won't be doing dmg on par with my main weapon, but a backup silver blade is always nice to have.
I wish there was a way to form a shield wall in the game.
Get a few characters with shield in adjacent hexes and allow them to get a bonus for working together.
There was that mechanic in...3.5? With the tower shields that allowed you to take cover, something like that. Maybe applying disadvantage to attacks?
I always rule that being shoulder to shoulder with a shield equipped colleague grants partial cover. Great in a 'normal' weapon environment, not so much versus AOE spells, of course.
You could just retool some stuff from Pathfinder/Previous editions. A feat that if both shield holders spec into they get the bonus AC from the other person's shield on top of their own.
If you read between the lines a bit, it's all in there.
Two shield bearers, with the defensive style, side by side, grant each other half cover, and each can impose disadvantage on attacks to the other. Since opponents have to shove you out of the way, the AC bonus and imposing disadvantage would go a long way to holding the line.
It's not perfect. But if you had a double row of shield bearers, all shoulder to shoulder, would become a really effective wall.
@@ChristnThms seeing something like that is usually just my queue to cast wall of fire on them.
I can honestly understand the hesitation of making the bonus action shove into something you can do first before you attack but I'd personally just allow it (especially if the fighter were the only melee character). I'd also let them use their reaction to block or take half damage AOE attacks as well since who doesn't want to have their character hunker down behind their shield as the dragon breathes fire on them.
At the same time though, if you really wanted to knock someone prone first, you could take one of your attacks and turn it into a shove. Ideally, if you wanted to make that your signature, you could take the two-weapon fighting style and the dual-wielder feat as a strength-based fighter. Your turn as a level 5 fighter would be something like: shove, attack, bonus action attack, action surge, attack, attack. Basically the same thing but without the +2 AC bonus from a shield (or more if it's magical) and if you only had a normal shield, it'd only be a 1 AC difference. Granted, this is all based around personal damage and doesn't take into account all the other benefits that proper teamwork would do.
I made a character that specialized in shield fighting. I had protection, sentinal, and tavern brawler. Sentinel and protection helped quite a bit defensively. Tavern brawler allowed me to bash with the shield and start a grapple. I would have added shield master eventually but the build worked for me.
I'd like to have this explained a bit more, sounds interesting. Are you wielding a main-hand weapon whilst using the shield? If so, how do you attempt the grapple with no free hands. Tavern Brawler as written (and stretching it a bit RAI) makes sense to find that opening and make the grapple if you hit with an improvised weapon (which shields certainly could be classified as RAW but must be held then and not "Donned" meaning you don't get your AC) but you still require a free hand. It would look pretty awkward to try and grapple someone after flimsily glancing with a shield (donned, not swung, without shield master feat) then trying to grab them with a sword in your other hand as the shield prevents it's affixed hand from being free.
UnsuTV shields do their traditional work a lot better when held so I would totally let this happen as a dm
Please never stop making these videos
they always restoke my fire for D&D!
It's interesting how you guys think strength based characters in heavy armor are the main users of shields. I suppose in fantasy that is true, but in actual historical battlefields it was more often the light armor bearers who carried the biggest shields. In game mechanics there is no ability score adjustment to shields (although frankly I think there should be), and the wearers of heavy armor actually have less need for the shield. In addition, every finesse weapon on the books is a one-handed weapon, and although there are also many strength-based weapons that are also one-handed, I think that's a good indication that dex characters should use a shield if they can.
As a side note, I still think rogues should be allowed a shield. The term "swashbuckler" comes from a renaissance term for a fighter with a small hand-held shield (a buckler) and a rapier or cutlass (which makes a "swash" sound when swung). And if I were a cowardly character forced into melee, I know I'd look for the biggest shield I could find and hide behind that.
The shove action is relying on your Athletics skill(strength) though, which is why it is most efficient on high strength characters with proficiency in Athletics. Sure, if you only want the defensive benefits, dex base characters can use it, but they already avoid many of the dex saving throw abilities and some of them already end up with Evasion or similar.
@Matthew Bennett Your DM can make such items, no problem.
Greek hoplites, Roman legionaries, and knights from the primarily chainmail era just called. They want you to know that your assertion is patently wrong. EVERYONE used a shield if they weren't an archer or crossbowman. Even in the period where full plate was in use, shields very quickly made a comeback in response to the poleaxe.
@@TheAchilles26 First off, I never said that real-live heavy armor users had *no* need for a shield, but *less* need. The primary role of a shield in every era was to shelter from arrow, slings, and the like. The era of full plate is the first time in history that armor could beat the bows of the day (and even then, it depended on the quality of the plate). Roman armor came close, but the design wasn't sophisticated enough to protect the joints, so by necessity there were large gaps that arrows could still hit.
As for mail users, search bow vs chainmail for some idea why that isn't reliable, and as for hoplites, during most of Greek history these were conscripts wearing a "linothorax" which was probably similar to a gambeson.
As for the poleax, someone had to be confident enough in only his armor to choose one over a shield, thus proving my point. And yes, the best answer to a poleax is a shield ... unless you have a poleax of your own. But a normal shield won't do you any good; it has to be much tougher and heavier, which necessitates it being much too small for effective formation fighting or good shelter against missiles.
@@Nurk0m0rath, you made the utterly erroneous claim that, and I quote, "it was mostly the light armor bearers who carried the biggest shields." This is categorically incorrect, as full plate was a very small window of history, and the period in which chainmail, or scale/lamellar over chainmail, was the heaviest armor around was an entire order of magnitude longer. The largest shields were the domain of the heavy infantry, not "the most lightly armored" troops, who were often skirmishers with smaller and lighter shields to better facilitate running around, or were the archers, you know, the only guys there who didn't bring a shield.
I’m enjoying shield master as a rune knight. I can go big and get advantage on my shoves, smack them round a bit and action surge with advantage on my next double attack. Pretty fun way to really stick it to one enemy.
Playing a Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with the Shield Master feat. Raging advantage to shove checks and Danger Sense advantage to DEX saves has been quite useful.
I'm liking it so far.
I just made a Shield Master Paladin, getting to play for the first time tonight. I was already excited but this video leveled me up!
Jeremy Crawford did specify that this ruling wasn't made for balance reasons. I believe it was tied to a ruling on the Eldritch Knight, and he wanted to be consistent. If you want to let the Shield Master shove first, it won't break anything.
I also agree that it's worth removing some of the restrictions from the Dex save benefits.
If a dragon breathes fire on only the shield master, the shield master does get a shield bonus to that dex save. Even in an area of effect, if you are the only person in that effect, you are the only target. So it is actually likely that the shield master gets the epic, emerging from flames imagery.
That is a homebrew ruling, though. Fine if you want to run a game like that, but if we're talking RaW, no AoE effect targets anyone, people just happen to be in it.
Fireballs don't target anyone
Cones of Cold don't target anyone
Moonbeams don't target anyone
Dragon Breath Weapons don't target anyone
They are all just unleased on an area and anyone inside is subjected to an effect. You can even read through any Dragon's action list to confirm it. Bite, claw and tail attacks specify that they have targets - Frightful Presence, Breath Weapons and Legendary Wing Attacks do not.
@@CrashSable It’s not homebrew. It’s understanding the rules in a fair way that makes players awesome.
According to Sage Advice: as with the Arcane Trickster feature, Magical Ambush, forcing a “target” to make a saving throw makes the creature a target of that effect. A creature doesn’t “just happen” to be in the AoE of a wizard’s fireball. The wizard chose a point of origin and targeted an area of effect.
Adjunctly, for anyone reading this, think about what is happening when you’re asking for saves and checks. They are different.
Villain was a pirate captain with shield master.... half the battle was us swimming back to and climbing back onto our DAMN ship (mainly because we were squishy casters who thought we could just artillery shell other ships with magic (they boarded us, so it was out of the question)
Question about using Shield Master and Polarm Master for a «spartan»-build:
Can you first attack with a spear (attack action), shove 5 feet with shield (bonus action). Next turn the enemy needs to close to damage in combat (unless reach weapon of course) and move to within reach, so you can opportunity attack before his attack?
Yup, RAW and RAI that works.
Shield master feat mixed with tavern brawler feat turns your shield into an improvised weapon. Then you could captain America throw
In our group tavern brawler applys with shield, helmet, or over pieces of equipment. Our barbarian love to throw his helmet or shoes at people when angry
@@cyrilmartin5613 lol thay sounds awesome, one of my favorite fighter builds, was a bare knuckle champion fighter, he held two shields and beat the shit out of anyone who told him it wasnt mechanically doing anything for him to have an extra shield
@@jesseknight6888 How? A shield is an improvised weapon when it can satisfy that description: "An
improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two hands [...]" if a shield is donned it's not being wielded as a weapon, it's affixed to your arm and that hand isn't classified as free. So he'd have two shields (armour, not wielded, or held) that don't qualify as an improvised weapon at that point, dealing 0 damage since it's not unarmed and a shield isn't a facsimile of any other weapon on the weapon table nor is it wielded in such a way as to be improvised.
Sounds cool, also sounds like you have a DM that wanted to play ball with you which is always great, but none of the feats were required for this thing that doesn't work. Glad you had fun though.
@@salihnu tunnel fighter as a fighting style spruces that up pretty well to. Be warned, it makes bruiser and conventional swarm fights unfun for the rest of the party unless the DM constantly considers the environs and how the monsters engage the fight. Either way, it can get boring for a party while you roll on everyone's turn pc and npc alike.
@Coolostomy Fair point and welcomed pedantry. I still don't see what weapon a shield is a facsimile of nor do see it being wielded in the same way as a weapon; note, the word was used and goes yet undefined outside of common English so it's subjective at best to speculate. It appears on the armour table and is, therefore, an armour by definition. If I were to speculate, however, the fact that it takes 1 action to don and doff unlike the weapon interaction to draw a weapon means there must be some functional difference in how it is wielded. Considering a weapon can be drawn and used within a 6 second span whilst a shield can only be donned in that same time-frame must speak to something about it's use and function.
To be used as an improvised weapon it'd have to resemble another weapon on the table (to choose damage equivalent) or be wielded in a similar way to invoke DM fiat. I say all of this devoid of speaking about IRL shields as that's irrelevant to the D&D logic. Given the functional difference which is implied but not stated by the differences in "drawing" a shield as a weapon, I'd say that if you were using it as a weapon you were wielding it in the same manner as would provide +2 AC. Now to wield two in such a way starts to become more and more preposterous unless you were using one for it's intended 'wield' granting AC and the other like a cumbersome kite/circle/board/tabletop shaped bludgeon. At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not you're going to let your players use their greaves or coif or shields as weapons at your table. At my table, I'd likely allow the shield to deal damage (d4 no mod because it's awkward as all get out) or grant AC but never both at the same time. There'd also be mobility concerns navigating crowded bars, tight tunnels, and the like due to the awkwardness of having two shields at the ready at all times. There might even be disadvantage applied for how unwieldy it is to tussle with two shields at the ready.
All this said I'd let someone affix spikes to a single shield and allow the Shield Master BA to deal d4 on top of what it does because the feat could use some help and spiked shields and usage in this manner is more evocative to me than running about with two kite shields. While I try my best to allow for things in my games, absolutely ridiculous stuff that doesn't cost a resource and can't be justified by *jazz hands* magic is sometimes cut so that the game's tone doesn't become a Benny Hill show.
I think "charging in" would make it a proper restriction:
"If you use more than 20 feet of movement, you may use your bonus actions upon coming within 5 feet of an enemy to use the shove action."
sjeggy6 this is a perfect house rule
@@milkenobi thank you ^^
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Perfect.
Why would ya want to restrict tho? At that point it's useless as 20 feet of movement is overkill. Might as well just replace shield master with charger for a +5 attack or shove for 10 feet of movement instead. :/
The Shield Master Feat (I love the concept of it) really is less powerful then it should be thanks to rulings and the combat system. Honestly after you do “the math” this is a half feat that should have been +1 Strength at the end. But if you are a DM and your player understands the limitations of this feat and chooses this over the MANY others that will consistently do damage or stat bump or a feat that clearly increase power of the character - you may have a player that wants to do RP and tactics. A sign you may have a nice fun campaign in the offing. (Or they just got back from Marvel Emdgame and got inspired)
If you are a DM gives feats as part of magic items or as adventure boons (aka Tomb of Annihilation) this is one to try out and by so doing give your players ideas.
The term "sword and board" might be limiting you here. I've always loved using a heavy shield, heavy armor and a battle mace. Take Shield Master and Crusher and move the opponents around the field like a drill sergeant. Add a good amount of Intimidate and you don't have to fight as much as you thought. 😂
You could even go all out. Do Dragonborn (or Half Orc) Champion with full plate, shield, and a warhammer. Get the feats Shield Master, Crusher, Charger, Alert, Mobile, Skill Expert (Intimidation) and Heavy Armor Master. Now that sounds fun!
I've been waiting for a video from you guys on this very feat. Dudes Forever!
Also, while the Fighter and Paladin are great classes for this feat, don't overlook the Barbarian. While raging you generate advantage for those super-important strength checks that the shove action requires, and you get a solid use of a bonus action that the class sometimes lacks. Even the defensive capabilities of Shield Master work well with the Barbarian's eventual advantage on dex saves verses effects they can see. What's not to love?
Yeah I was thinking that too, especially since you can get a really high AC with a barbarian with the unarmored defense if you have a high dexterity and constitution. With the high hit points and potentially only taking half damage when raging the barbarian can be a defensive juggernaut. The utility of the feat is a big, since at the end of the day you might not do as much as a sharpshooter ranger or a high level rouge using sneak attacks anyways so being able to facilitate them by knocking enemies prone is a sweet deal.
You could also consider using it with a Valor Bard. As a bard it is always cool to have another way to help out your allies and the shove/knocking prone aspect work well for that. Then, when your allies get their advantage on the prone target they can use your bardic inspiration for more damage. Furthermore, you likely have a good dexterity for the evasion effect, which is something rouges get, which bards often miss out on (where they often serve similar roles in parties).
The feat can be kind of cool as a cleric or a druid too, since they often have a shield anyways. Really it might not be character defining, but most feats aren't nor should they be. It is useful enough to be worthwhile for many characters, you definitely don't need to be a fighter to find use for it.
You guys really helped me figure out how I can play support as a full fighter.
I love the shield master feat, it does so much more than you'd think (as long as the DM is willing of course).
Nice one DDs. It has given me new inspiration for my Halfling Paladin.
Action: Attack
Bonus Action: Shield bash prone
Action surge Attack with advantage...
Valid???
Or have the barbarian wreck the poor bastard without being attacked with advantage because they went Reckless
No because you already used your bonus action
Action surge just says you can take an additional action on top of your regular action and bonus action. There's no reason under RAW that a fighter couldn't attack, shove with SM feat, and then action surge to attack again.
Watching Pluto Jackson and how he uses his shield is what made me pick it lol
“As long as you and the player are on board”..................“Sword and board” hahahaha
I feel flanking is far easier than the shove action to gain advantage. I think winning a contested roll is worth advantage.
Don’t forget that barbarians always have advantage on shove attempts in rage. There’s actually good synergy there if you’re willing to be a sword and board barbarian.
Don't forget. Danger sense gives advantages with DEX Saves.
knocking them down then hitting them makes perfect scene
One thing you can knock an enemy into that was mentioned is the camp fire. That's always fun. One of the reasons I love playing minotaurs.
Shield ranger Stout* Halfling with rapier, defense style and Hunter.
I think it would make sense to make explicit exclusion in cases like those where picking up polearm master allows shield masters shove to go before attack action. or maybe even unlock specific attacks that take both your action + bonus and a bit of movement to do a slam and stab that increases in total damage if you had a multiattack
Someone get Jocat on the line. I think he'll like this idea
We compromised on the shield master and reversed it. If you take the shove action you can make an off hand melee attack as a bonus action, you dont get the extra damage from the ability score modifier but you get the advantage to the attack and can use you reaction to do another apposed test to keep them down if they try to stand up.
JCinLapel So the off-hand weapon attack is with the shield that was used to shove? 🛡
If you do a dex based fighter build its good at level 5 2 attacks bonus shove action surge 2 attacks at advantage it allows for some good cinematic smash..
This. Or hand crossbow/buckler, 2 shots, shove, action surge 2 shots
Gabriel Shervo thats some John wick awesomeness. My build to level 6 was shield master, medium armor master, and defensive duelist Battle master with defense as My fighting style AC 20 23 if I use a reaction to parry with the other abilities from sheild master was a tough character to hit
@@jeffbaril4047 I'd just charm you and make your allies try to hit that AC. Though to be fair. That's what I did to the last 25 ac character I ran into as well.
Surely you could shove as a bonus action first for advantage on all 4 attacks? The literature of Shield Master says nothing about the order in which the bonus action must be used, merely that you may use it if you take the Attack action on your turn.
As a quick reference, open5e SRD rules state "You choose when to take a bonus action during your turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified."
@@TheGermanBurger It actually does state it. it states it by the fact that taking the Attack action then opens up the option to take the specified bonus action. Taking the bonus action first means the attack action has not been taken and thus that specific bonus action is not available.
So you can choose to take a bonus action first but you cannot take that specific bonus action allowed by the feat unless the conditions for taking it are met. It's very simple if-then logic.
This feat is fantastic for characters that specialize in grappling. Use the attack action to grapple, the bonus to shove prone, and now the enemy has a movement speed of zero and can't get up. Combine with tavern brawler for unarmed strikes and now you can be the ultimate wrestler.
Mike Bieser I like that, thanks!
Made a Human Variant Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with Shieldmaster, had 16 AC at 1st level which was decent tbh and with Advantage on Dex saves from Danger Sense he's basically permanently the party's frontliner in any dungeon because WHO IS GONNA BLOCK ALL THE DART TRAPS/EVADE ALL THE SWINGING AXES/PERFECTLY DODGE THE TRAP DOOR AS IT'S OPENING?! This tanky piece of crap.
If I may be honest, Ancestral Guardian Barbarian takes massive advantage of the Shield Master feat and it synergizes with multiple facets of the barbarian.
1. You pointed out in the video that by going Fighter that the Protection fighting style forced the two options to compete for "What will I burn my Reaction on?" AG Barbarian avoids that simply with its subclass rage mechanic, where the barbarian hits one dude, and imposes Disadvantage on all attack rolls it makes except against the barbarian, and even if that particular dude DOES manage to hit someone asides from the Barbarian, it's still going to be mostly ineffective due to the fact that AG Barb also grants resistance to that damage to the ally that DID get hit by the attack.
2. Shield Master synergizes with Barbarian Rage. Barbarian Rage grants a +2 bonus to damage alongside Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing AS WELL AS Advantage on all of your Strength based Checks and Saves. This of course means when you activate your Rage, on that next turn you can absolutely attempt to Shove that target prone or Push it that 5ft, and with Advantage and a +5 bonus (that most barbarians have with their Athletics at level 1). This of course allows you to become a hardcore single target controller who forces the enemy to lock on to you and deal with you first, and if it's a melee attacker, it ALWAYS has to Stand up and burn half it's movement or suffer disadvantage on Attack rolls, or you can just constantly push it back into one of your ally's (if they're a magic user) effects like Create Bonfire, Cloud of Daggers, or Grease.
3. Shield Master Synergizes with Danger Sense. This is the most defensively relevant point. Especially considering the vast majority of Dungeon traps deal with Dexterity saves. With a moderate bonus to dex, (at least a +1 or a +2 in that attribute) either the AC bonus from the shield being applied to Dex saves can apply, or you can (at least most of the time) burn your Reaction for a pseudo Evasion effect if you succeed on the Dex save.
We made up a “shields give you +1 to AC above what the shield already grants” rule for this feat to give it an ongoing passive benefit that is nice but not game breaking, so taking it feels good,
Not a bad idea
I would say even if after this you still feel that Shield Master is weak, you could change the AC add to Dex saves to be to all Dex saves. Not RAW but not overpowered.
As a full tank healer Paladin (the only healer in the party too), I rarely use anything other than the shove. That said, I abuse the shove. I use it to encroach, shove then move. The shove is the sole reason this can be worth it.
I wish it were more, but to me, the quasi-evasion is counter-intuitive. That half needs changing somehow.
if you have a couple of the feats that let you attack people that move into your attack range as well as move out of it. Shoving them out of your threat range in situations where they have to move back into it can be highly valuable as well. Because you can beat on them. Knock them back to protect allies. And then hit them again when they try to re-engage.
my Dwarven Tank used tactics like this in things like hallways.
One thing that I think was overlooked was that Paladins get to add a bonus equal to their charisma bonus to all of their saves, making their dexterity save much more likely to succeed. This ability comes pretty early on.
Yea got a paladin with only +1 dex.
But +5 cha and +2 that I you get from a normal shield thanks to the feat, that would be +8 to dex save. And if i ever get a magic shield that will get better
Especially a Dex Paladin. I'm going to take Shield Master at 8, then at 9 I'll have a dex save of +10 (we rolled for stats). And since the most damage you can do with one handed weapons is 1d8, you can use a rapier without any loss in damage. Sure, I won't be shoving anyone with a Str of 8, but as a conquest Paladin I will be using that bonus action for spiritual weapon anyway, so no loss.
If you can get expertise in your athletic you might success in doing that.
Are you a human, hafe-elf or hard orc?
Then you can take the feat prodigy, or
My only issue with taking this feat on a paladin is that pallys are a bit more MAD than other melee classes. It's tough to give up an ASI when you want high STR and CHA on top of the CON/DEX.
@@DougAdams but variant human can take it at level 1. Which is especially good for a Dex Paladin, since you'll have a great Dex save. And you will essentially get Evasion at level 1, as opposed to level 7 like a Rogue or Monk.
Can I just take the time to say that I always appreciate your having captions for your videos? Much love.
What do you all think of my homebrewed feat for the dragonborn
*SCORCHED LUNGS*-whenever you use your dragon breath you can expend one hit dice and add that to the damage roll.
This feat does a few things
It gives you another use for hit dice which I've seen completely ignored in some games
It also gives the dragonborn race a bit of a buff. They where really strong in 4E but 5E was not kind to them.
One other thing to note is that your classic beefy dragonborn classes like barbarians, fighters and paladins get more out of this feat than say a wizard would just because of the diferences in hit die.
You know because 1D12+2D6>3D6
But this isnt flawless because its a risky move because you're expending potential healing to kill things.
This whole feat could also be made for the tieflings hellish rebuke
So on the slim chance someone reada this tell me what you think
Personally, I really love the feat idea. One question though: would you add your consitution modifier to the hit die?
@@zapin22 I've thought about that and I decided against it just because once again it makes the feat stronger for the more brutish classes. I was also worried about it being too strong overall but maybe the downside of expending hit die is worth the power. But it would be a lot of fun to make a CON 20 barbarian based around the dragon breath.
Well, you can almost guarantee that your action surge will be at advantage
Imagine making a joke character that's a "shield and fist" fighter with tavern brawler lol
Or unarmed fighting style if you are allowed to use UA stuff
With Tasha's, Unarmed Fighting is now official. Take that Fighting Style, take Tavern Brawler for improvised weapon proficiency, then Eldritch Knight to Weapon Bond with your shield and a hammer... you basically got Captain America.
Even better - two shields
I love the image of a human rogue that took moderately armored at 1st level, using a rapier and a shield in tandem. It's not quite the heavy armor, strength based sword and board fighter, but more like a skirmisher or duelist.
Shove should be replaced with Shield Bash and it should a 1d4 and it shouldn't knock enemies prone but it should push them further back
1d4+ str I think
This can be achieved with Tavern Brawler. Well, the damage, anyways.
Also, sidenote on Shieldmaster shove and roleplaying, a very angry shieldmaster could menacingly move towards the enemy, attack shove repeat yelling louder and louder every time they knock the target to the ground. And that's really cool in a "you killed my father prepare to die" kind of way
The problem as I see it is sword n board is typically used in high-dex/low-strength builds yet the shove requires high strength.
High strength tends to gravitate towards two handed weapons.
Eh, two-handed is only slightly higher damage potential anyway. My paladin could use her warhammer and longsword two-handed but that’s trading slightly higher damage potential for better defense not only for herself but her teammates as well via the Protection fighting style. Staying alive and keeping the party alive is more important than raw damage potential because party members rolling death saving throws can’t do anything useful. A healthy party is a more dangerous party.
If shoving before attacks is considered overpowered then you could amend the rules for all shoves to make it so the contest loser falls prone, even if it's the initiator.
Also, we shouldn't worry about balance from a player vs DM standpoint because the DM can always make it easier or harder so long as it's fun. Balance discussions exist so that players feel free to choose from many combinations of class, race, background, etc without fear of being totally outpaced by the other players.
Sentinel + Shield Master
Atack + Push + Reaction atack.
Fernando Saar Paz This may work but iirc, you don’t get reaction or opportunity attacks on movement that is forced for any reason
@@elboricua228 Old comment I know, but for people just viewing - this combo doesn't work as you are right - Forced movements don't invoke opportunity attacks.
Another rule with weird restrictions... sharpshooter. Unlike the edge cases for shield master, I can't think of anything that breaks from allowing sharpshooter with thrown weapons. So I allow it.
I would houserules on it, I love to encourage tank PC
I like the idea that you have different magical shields.
Like a smaller kite shield with healing capabilities
Or a large slab of Obsidian that has a +3 ac and fire resistance
The feat is really good for a sword and board if the sword is in fact a rapier. Dex based fighters can really benefit from this one
What about a DEX based weapon benefits from this more than a STR based attacks?
@@ChristnThms Unfortunately, the offensive Shove is reliant on your Athletics check, so you need a good STR to ensure you win the shove contest.
@@DungeonDudes agreed. I was questioning the post that said it was best for DEX. I don't see how that could be.
There is a class that does have both good athletics and dex saving throws: paladins (after level 6 at least)
@@dynamicworlds1 ...so do monks...
I used the protection fighting style with the shield master feat. The reason I chose it was the character I made was all about protecting those who he cares about. If he sees someone advancing towards a friend, he'll use shield master to shove them. And if someone else say, shoots an arrow at my companion, I use protection to stop the arrow. However, love you're idea also
That shove ruling makes no sense. It makes the Feat nearly worthless. Too easy to knock them down? It's a whole feat and it still requires a contest of rolls. Neutering the feat like that throws it on to the big pile of other useless feats. It flies in the face of the spirit of combat. Just my opinion, but I think it's silly to force a fighter to shove someone prone after the strikes so that the opponent can just get up at the start of it's turn. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but it seems lame
We're running the feat as intended in our current campaign, and it is far from "useless" -- it just doesn't increase the personal damage output of the person who takes it. I do agree that a version of this feat that said "While wielding a shield, you can use a bonus action on your turn to take the Shove action" would probably be fine, I understand why the designers were conservative about it.
It’s for team play. Your party will get the benefit of advantage.
The fighter could still use their action surge feature after knocking the target prone. And it might not be able to get back up on the start of its turn if other characters get to beat on it before its turn comes up.
Plus, getting up from prone will cost a creature half of its movement for that turn, unless it has something that says otherwise.
It's a good combo for the party IF the initiative order is beneficial, which is kinda rare in my experience. The action surge route is good, but a feat that relies heavily on another ability like that isn't worth taking. And halving an opponent's movement is nice, but again you have to pass a contest of dice and sacrifice a bonus action to only get half movement off. My point is that without the opportuniry to push the opponent down first, the feat is completely neutered and not worth taking
@@Ugliduckie You don't need to have shield master to shove. You could give up one of your attacks and then get advantage on the rest of the attacks in your action. Getting a free shove as a bonus action is still a benefit, even if you don't get advantage on your attacks in that round. The saving throw benefits are pretty nice as well.
That last bit about forced positioning of an enemy to help out your ranged characters was brilliant!
"easiest way to gain advantage "
Me: *laughs in flanking*
There are no flanking rules in 5th edition save for the optional addition found in the DMG. If you do use this then yes you can gain advantage but since it is optional we don’t include it as a main source for advantage.
@@DungeonDudes fair enough, yeah if a table doesn't use it, then yeah, it would be a weirdly easy way to gain advantage of actions and bonus actions didn't work the way they do RAW. though, considering how common usage of the option flanking rules are, I made the mistake of taking them as a given, my bad.
The video, of course, is already old, but: Do not forget about the combo of the shield master and the polearm master, when you push the enemy away in your turn, and then if he comes up, then you can hit with a spear with a reaction. This is a great combination for a 1 on 1 battle
I don't like the rule.
What stops any fighter in real life from not plowing into someone and then stabing.
I had a DM who studied "Viking Style" combat (there are no surviving Manuals or teachings for real viking fighting so most modern Viking Style combat styles are, at best, educated guesses based on modern martial arts and body mechanics), he couldn't think of any reason why you couldn't shove first then attack except that it would be a little too powerful (gamewise). He made a homebrew rule stating we could use the shield shove between atack actions as a happy medium. He also added an Axe Master feat that included the ability to pull an enemy toward you or to the side by grabbing itwith the crook of your axe.
It's
a) great supportive feat for locking down enemies for your party
b) can push people into level hazards
c) if you are a big, tanky boi, with a lot of strength, but not a lot of Dex, the saving throw help can be really good, if you don't want to multiclass into rogue for roleplaying reasons, or "not having 13 dex" reasons
Imagine a artificer human with this feat , dual wield shield with all of his armour and shield enchanted with physical and magical resistance.... Nah no one wants to be a shielder
Sadly shield benefits only apply to one shield
Even using the attack action, once you have shield master, you can do Shove(replacing attack 1), attack, shove(bonus action) at only level 5
The rogue in the party loves when opponents fall prone. 🗡=⚰
I've been recently thinking up a one-armed character character that uses exclusively a shield, and this sounds like something he could probably use pretty well
Matt Mercer recommends to always say "YES" when a player has an idea for character creation. If the player wanted to have magic armour, magic shield, and shield mastery, and if the DM thinks its too OP then the DM should come up "with a way" to allow the player to have it at a cost. For example Matt has allowed Taliesin to play Percy with a cost. He and Marisha (who is now a DM too) recommend to say "YES" to players and help work WITH the player to bring the character they want to play with to life. I felt sad when you totally shut that poor player's idea down. By doing that, the DM may not care, but you just put a small negative impression into that player's mind about playing. And in the long term, that player will be playing with that negativity inside which is sad.
We have a Dwarven Life Cleric who has this. They can shove enemies on the Wizard or Rogue. Or with typically low initiative they can trip and set up our Fighter and Rogue for the following round. It works really well and is very thematic.
Thank you for learning how to pronounce “melee.”
Made a Barbarian Goblin that has +0 to strength but +5 to DEX. Shield, short sword, shield master, fury of the small, nimble escape and rage make the lil guy a hard hitter almost impossible to hit. It negates that he dosent really benefit from the STR bonus from rage.
A bard of the Collage of Swords (Dueling fighting style) would also work really well for the Shield Master feat. Using a finesse weapon your character could have really high dex that would add to both your AC and your attack bonus.
The 5 foot shove is also really good for an attack/retreat style of combat keeping yourself mobile on the battlefield without provoking attacks of opportunity.
We have a house rule that standing up from prone provokes opportunity attacks, and this plays really well into the Shield Master mechanic. Another thing they failed to mention in the video is that just because you don't get any attacks with advantage against that creature you shoved, doesn't mean that your allies don't. If you have allies going in the initiative after you but before the enemy those fighters, barbarians and rogues can deal a lot of melee damage without having to use reckless attack etc. Generally its tactically smart to gang up on a single enemy at a time anyways and this encourages that. That being said, if you are the only melee damage in a party of ranged fighters, this works the opposite way and you'll be imposing disadvantage on all of your allies attacks.
One build that is very good but infrequently talked about is the Barbarian Shield Master. Its very different than the typical Barb schtick, but they do get access to Shield proficiency, and Rage gives advantage on your Shoves. This can bring your Barbarian from a simple meat-shield to a 4e-style Defender, especially an Ancestors Barb
My first 5e character was a DEX-based human sword and board Eldritch Knight, with medium armor master the first level feat. At 4th took war caster, 6th shield master, and 8th took resilient dex. After that, I was rarely ever touched by an effect based on dex, and since I took the defense fighting style, my AC at level one was 21, which kept that character rather safe through most conflicts.
Only one point to gripe about.
24 AC (with a combination of feats and obviously rare magical items) isn't impossible to hit, just improbable, which is the point of specializing in heavy armor and a shield in the first place and giving up massive offensive damage potential. Even the stock CR 3 archer has a +6 to hit, which is still a 1-in-10 chance of scoring a hit on what I presume to be a tier 3 tank, and flips a coin for just about anyone else, which is a praiseworthy feat for bounded accuracy. If for some reason you end up with a tier 2 character with that kind of armor class, give some of your orcs the Champion ability that lets them auto-hit/crit on a 19 and 20. Boom, quadrupled efficacy.
Once you start talking +10 to hit or higher, you're talking about literally wrecking the faces off any character that isn't designed to take that kind of abuse (stone golems, young red dragons), and the one who is happens to be the unflashy, non-reality-warping dimwit with a pointy knife who dumped everything into his AC who could probably use a bit of relevancy. It seems unfair for the guy that has to stand there and eat fireballs to also flip coins on dragon multiattacks and legendary tail swipes.
I built a Minotaur Battlemaster that uses Shield Master, Mage Slayer, Grappler, Tavern Brawler and Martial Adeptt. They used their horns and a magical twin-shield. It's super effective. So many bonus action abilities to shove, knock prone, grapple, or extra attacks