I think you undercut dying abilities (abilities you get near death) most of the adventure league games I've played in, the healers wait until you fall before healing to maximize the limited healing available. So even at high levels, you'll be using that death before dishonor ability. Glad you're back. Unconventional Fighter builds would be next, but if you need some time, how about a spell selection video? Many classes get so few spells that it's hard sometimes to decide what to forgo and still be effective. Also any strategy to increase your spells known would be helpful.
Hexblade samurai. Level 8 samurai and level 12 in hexblade. You fight with your charisma so you can focus on that. You're wisdom as a warlock makes it a great boost to your persuasion, making it a great character for making deals. 3 warlock spells for level 5 eldritch Smiths. A total of 6 ability score improvements.
Arcane Archer is cool but it runs out of ammo way too fast, I would have had the class gain additional Arcane Shots as you level up. If you got and additional Arcane shot at say levels 5, 9, 13, and 17 you would have enough shots to use your Arcane Shot every combat and it would promote class loyalty by withholding Arcane Shots from characters who take additional classes.
Considering they're a short rest resource, and Fighter is a really strong class already, I'd only ever offer 4. So 2 @3, then 1 more at 7 and again at 11?
It's similar to the warlock with 2 "spells" per short rest. Would I like to see an additional shot at level 10 or 11? Sure, but it's not necessary. Being able to target another opponent with a miss is huge with the number of shots per round you'll be making. Compare that with precise strike from battlemaster. True, you get a bonus to hit, but you forego your damage bonus when you do. So you'll be hitting harder as an arcane archer, imo. And more often because the second chance shot doesn't use a limited resource like superiority dice.
@@ericpeterson8732 But warlocks get a 3rd slot at level 11, and a fourth at 17. Battlemaster dice get upgraded as you level up. With the Arcane Archer mechanic, once you get it, it doesn't really improve at all until the minor bumps at level 18. To compare again to Battlemaster, not only do you continue to get die size upgrades, you continue to learn more maneuvers, and you get more dice per short rest. Not to mention the upgrades are staggered nicely. At level 7, you learn two more maneuvers and get another die per short rest. At level 10, two more maneuvers, and the dice jump from d8s to d10s. At 15, two more maneuvers, a sixth die per short rest, and regaining one die at the start of combat if you don't have any. At 18 the dice jump from d10 to d12. So, you have a total of nine maneuvers, six per short rest and more possible if you run out and another combat starts, and there's a steady progression in damage. Arcane Archer by contrast only gets 6 Arcane Shot options by level 18, and it stays at two per short rest the entire time, with the same regain one use if you start combat without any at 15. The damage doesn't progress at all until level 18. Curving Shot is strong, sure, but a Battlemaster could be doing extra attacks as bonus actions anyway (two weapon fighting, polearm master, great weapon master, crossbow expert, shield master). Magic Arrow is something that would be essentially useless in any campaign I've ever played in as the player would likely have a magic weapon already by 7th level, or would get one very soon after. So, I'd still give the edge to Battlemaster for Student of War and Know Your Enemy and the RP potential they bring to the subclass, which is something the combat-heavy Fighter desperately needs.
The Cavalier makes for an absolutely fantastic Pole-Arm master build, if I'm honest I'm quite satisfied with the one I'm playing it doesn't give you anything to do more damage but Pole-Arm Master/Sentinel combined with mark makes you an absolutely fantastic defender since it makes it really easy to get that one powerful enemy locked down possibly at 10 feet from you making sure it isn't attacking anybody, I feel that player unfortunately don't see the value of how much I actually help in battle because I'm not using any magic weapons so I tend to do average damage, none to plenty of enemies, but I'm pretty sure that in most encounters we only survive because of the amount of damage I prevent the party from receiving, I mean perhaps I'm giving myself too much credit but I'm pretty sure that reducing the enemy Barbarian's speed to 0 when it was going after the mage probably saved his butt. In any case while I do like the Cavalier it can be argued that with feats the Battlemaster can be pretty similar and almost as good at the same theme.
Hey bard! Glad to see another video. I can't wait to see another unconventional build. There's one I want to try with samurai. It has some flexibility, but the idea id multiclass samurai with a wisom based class. More so i had monk in mind. Cleric, druid, and scout can have great synergy too.
You misstated something on the samurai archetype, fighting spirit gives you advantage until the end of your turn, not just on a single attack, which becomes amazing with a high level fighter. With Rapid strike you gain an extra attack, totaling 5 attacks. With action surge you would have 9 attacks, 8 of which have advantage. It's capable of huge DPS at high level.
An eldritch knight cannot crit on a fireball. Arcane Archer can with bursting strike. What spells are Eldritch Knights getting to be better archers? Haste? Not until much later. Swift Quiver? Nope, not a wizard spell. Hunters Mark, Hex? nope. Not on the list. Arcane Archer is not as cool as it could be, but it is still a great archer. Not very Arcane, though.
I think you're severely underestimating Shadow Arrow. Its effect shuts down almost all ranged spell casting -- even the dreaded counterspell. One of the best wombo combo features in the game.
My fix to the AA is that you get a number of Arcane shots per Int mod. You already want it high for a better save dc. At most you would only get 5 but you still get them back on a short rest.
I had a blast with my Warforged Arcane Archer in my first long (over a year) campaign. I did feel the limitation of only having a couple uses of Arcane Shot, But it just meant I had to be judicious about it and expand on flavor with tactics.
Theres a reason why people love half orcs. Its your. "Well if im gonna die, im taking you bastards along with me" card. Some may not like it. Others like the concept of getting one more turn before you die. One enemy turn being used on you can turn the tables.
Shadow is better than you think. Because you are attacking at range, if you connect with a shadow arrow, all the rest of your shots have advantage and with sharpshooter... well, you get the picture. Not one I would use on my last shot of the round, but when combined with action surge and sharpshooter, it's awesome with your first shot. Also, it prevents one round of their ranged attacks. Good against spellcasters, I think.
I was rewatching this video and came to the same conclusion as I did 2 years ago. Also the extra damage is psychic, so they will rarely resist that. But ultimately, the lack of arcane shots makes this a pretty weak subclass. Hunter rangers with hunter's mark and colossal slayer will probably do more damage and be a more magical archer, since they get spells that enhance their archery. Like Eldritch knight, the reliance on Int for saves means you are MAD and thus will not be rocking a 20 Int without sacrificing feats or Con. Eldritch knights can at least take spells that don't have saving throws. You have bursting attack. That's it. So if I was to play an Arcane Archer, I would focus on taking shots that do the most extra damage and hope I get lucky on the rider.
I agree that the Samurai feels underwhelming. It can be emulated with all existing Fighter classes and not only Fighter. They were a social caste above all. Within DnD a Bard can be just as much of a samurai, or even a Wizard. I would even houserule that a samurai Wizard gets at least light armor, short bow and short sword proficiencies if I ever try to emulate Legend of the Five Rings and/or the player gives a decent backstory that justifies it.
I think they were heavy-handed on the nerf to samurai from the original UA version. In that version, you had way more uses of Fighting Spirit and instead of temp HP it granted damage resistance. Thematically kind of silly, though, since it basically makes the subclass into a version of a barbarian, which doesn't seem appropriate for a samurai.
"Social caste above all?" Please. The samurai caste was the most successful slave caste ever created. The Japanese culture birthed a whole class of people who thought being a pasty was a divine calling.
I don't mind the Cavalier. But for Fighters, Xanathar's was completely unnecessary. Battlemaster and EK are already so good, and while boring, Champion actually performs just fine.
Cavalier with Polearm Master and Sentinel.
They just can't get close, past or away from you.
I think you undercut dying abilities (abilities you get near death) most of the adventure league games I've played in, the healers wait until you fall before healing to maximize the limited healing available. So even at high levels, you'll be using that death before dishonor ability. Glad you're back. Unconventional Fighter builds would be next, but if you need some time, how about a spell selection video? Many classes get so few spells that it's hard sometimes to decide what to forgo and still be effective. Also any strategy to increase your spells known would be helpful.
Hexblade samurai. Level 8 samurai and level 12 in hexblade. You fight with your charisma so you can focus on that. You're wisdom as a warlock makes it a great boost to your persuasion, making it a great character for making deals. 3 warlock spells for level 5 eldritch Smiths. A total of 6 ability score improvements.
Arcane Archer is cool but it runs out of ammo way too fast, I would have had the class gain additional Arcane Shots as you level up. If you got and additional Arcane shot at say levels 5, 9, 13, and 17 you would have enough shots to use your Arcane Shot every combat and it would promote class loyalty by withholding Arcane Shots from characters who take additional classes.
That would be exactly the thing this subclass needs.
Considering they're a short rest resource, and Fighter is a really strong class already, I'd only ever offer 4. So 2 @3, then 1 more at 7 and again at 11?
It's similar to the warlock with 2 "spells" per short rest. Would I like to see an additional shot at level 10 or 11? Sure, but it's not necessary. Being able to target another opponent with a miss is huge with the number of shots per round you'll be making. Compare that with precise strike from battlemaster. True, you get a bonus to hit, but you forego your damage bonus when you do. So you'll be hitting harder as an arcane archer, imo. And more often because the second chance shot doesn't use a limited resource like superiority dice.
@@ericpeterson8732 But warlocks get a 3rd slot at level 11, and a fourth at 17. Battlemaster dice get upgraded as you level up. With the Arcane Archer mechanic, once you get it, it doesn't really improve at all until the minor bumps at level 18. To compare again to Battlemaster, not only do you continue to get die size upgrades, you continue to learn more maneuvers, and you get more dice per short rest. Not to mention the upgrades are staggered nicely. At level 7, you learn two more maneuvers and get another die per short rest. At level 10, two more maneuvers, and the dice jump from d8s to d10s. At 15, two more maneuvers, a sixth die per short rest, and regaining one die at the start of combat if you don't have any. At 18 the dice jump from d10 to d12. So, you have a total of nine maneuvers, six per short rest and more possible if you run out and another combat starts, and there's a steady progression in damage. Arcane Archer by contrast only gets 6 Arcane Shot options by level 18, and it stays at two per short rest the entire time, with the same regain one use if you start combat without any at 15. The damage doesn't progress at all until level 18. Curving Shot is strong, sure, but a Battlemaster could be doing extra attacks as bonus actions anyway (two weapon fighting, polearm master, great weapon master, crossbow expert, shield master). Magic Arrow is something that would be essentially useless in any campaign I've ever played in as the player would likely have a magic weapon already by 7th level, or would get one very soon after. So, I'd still give the edge to Battlemaster for Student of War and Know Your Enemy and the RP potential they bring to the subclass, which is something the combat-heavy Fighter desperately needs.
The Cavalier makes for an absolutely fantastic Pole-Arm master build, if I'm honest I'm quite satisfied with the one I'm playing it doesn't give you anything to do more damage but Pole-Arm Master/Sentinel combined with mark makes you an absolutely fantastic defender since it makes it really easy to get that one powerful enemy locked down possibly at 10 feet from you making sure it isn't attacking anybody, I feel that player unfortunately don't see the value of how much I actually help in battle because I'm not using any magic weapons so I tend to do average damage, none to plenty of enemies, but I'm pretty sure that in most encounters we only survive because of the amount of damage I prevent the party from receiving, I mean perhaps I'm giving myself too much credit but I'm pretty sure that reducing the enemy Barbarian's speed to 0 when it was going after the mage probably saved his butt.
In any case while I do like the Cavalier it can be argued that with feats the Battlemaster can be pretty similar and almost as good at the same theme.
Hey bard! Glad to see another video. I can't wait to see another unconventional build. There's one I want to try with samurai. It has some flexibility, but the idea id multiclass samurai with a wisom based class. More so i had monk in mind. Cleric, druid, and scout can have great synergy too.
You misstated something on the samurai archetype, fighting spirit gives you advantage until the end of your turn, not just on a single attack, which becomes amazing with a high level fighter. With Rapid strike you gain an extra attack, totaling 5 attacks. With action surge you would have 9 attacks, 8 of which have advantage. It's capable of huge DPS at high level.
> When you realize the Eldritch Knight can be a better archer than an Arcane Archer
Bard is a better archer too lol
Warlock is a better archer too
@@alexwenham8321 lol so true, sadly.
An eldritch knight cannot crit on a fireball. Arcane Archer can with bursting strike. What spells are Eldritch Knights getting to be better archers? Haste? Not until much later. Swift Quiver? Nope, not a wizard spell. Hunters Mark, Hex? nope. Not on the list. Arcane Archer is not as cool as it could be, but it is still a great archer. Not very Arcane, though.
@@ericpeterson8732 And even with all that, not as good an archer as a well-built EK can be.
glad to see you back!
I think you're severely underestimating Shadow Arrow. Its effect shuts down almost all ranged spell casting -- even the dreaded counterspell. One of the best wombo combo features in the game.
My fix to the AA is that you get a number of Arcane shots per Int mod. You already want it high for a better save dc. At most you would only get 5 but you still get them back on a short rest.
This is the best 'fix' by far
You missed purple dragon knight it in sword coast adventuring guild
It would likely rank between the champion and samurai. I found it to be totally underwhelming.
So did wotc lmaoooo.
I had a blast with my Warforged Arcane Archer in my first long (over a year) campaign. I did feel the limitation of only having a couple uses of Arcane Shot, But it just meant I had to be judicious about it and expand on flavor with tactics.
Oh I wasn’t a fan of character abilities that only affect you when you are dying or close to it, then I lost 3 or so characters.
Theres a reason why people love half orcs. Its your. "Well if im gonna die, im taking you bastards along with me" card. Some may not like it. Others like the concept of getting one more turn before you die. One enemy turn being used on you can turn the tables.
Shadow is better than you think. Because you are attacking at range, if you connect with a shadow arrow, all the rest of your shots have advantage and with sharpshooter... well, you get the picture. Not one I would use on my last shot of the round, but when combined with action surge and sharpshooter, it's awesome with your first shot. Also, it prevents one round of their ranged attacks. Good against spellcasters, I think.
I was rewatching this video and came to the same conclusion as I did 2 years ago. Also the extra damage is psychic, so they will rarely resist that. But ultimately, the lack of arcane shots makes this a pretty weak subclass. Hunter rangers with hunter's mark and colossal slayer will probably do more damage and be a more magical archer, since they get spells that enhance their archery. Like Eldritch knight, the reliance on Int for saves means you are MAD and thus will not be rocking a 20 Int without sacrificing feats or Con. Eldritch knights can at least take spells that don't have saving throws. You have bursting attack. That's it. So if I was to play an Arcane Archer, I would focus on taking shots that do the most extra damage and hope I get lucky on the rider.
Got to say, ever since I watched Bleach, I’ve wanted to play the samurai fighter. It’s honestly the subclass I want play for a fighter build.
You have great taste in music!
I agree that the Samurai feels underwhelming. It can be emulated with all existing Fighter classes and not only Fighter. They were a social caste above all. Within DnD a Bard can be just as much of a samurai, or even a Wizard. I would even houserule that a samurai Wizard gets at least light armor, short bow and short sword proficiencies if I ever try to emulate Legend of the Five Rings and/or the player gives a decent backstory that justifies it.
I think they were heavy-handed on the nerf to samurai from the original UA version. In that version, you had way more uses of Fighting Spirit and instead of temp HP it granted damage resistance. Thematically kind of silly, though, since it basically makes the subclass into a version of a barbarian, which doesn't seem appropriate for a samurai.
@@_bats_ yeah, I'd fancy a Barbarian Ainu warrior, but not a barbarian-like samurai
"Social caste above all?" Please. The samurai caste was the most successful slave caste ever created. The Japanese culture birthed a whole class of people who thought being a pasty was a divine calling.
Hello! I was thinking, could you do Unconventional Monks, please?
Sure, hopefully every class will get an unconventional video.
I appreciate the Shinedown filler music!
I kind of want to make a Stout halfling cavalier with a Mastiff mount
I did a similar build with a paladin Halfing with the loyal steed.
How come you don't have Lost Notes?
> If you'll excuse the pun
No.
www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=puns
I don't mind the Cavalier. But for Fighters, Xanathar's was completely unnecessary. Battlemaster and EK are already so good, and while boring, Champion actually performs just fine.
Arcane Archer feels weak to me. Also, why not access to crossBOWS?
Monk next plz