Buff Your 5E D&D Battle Master Courtesy of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Dungeons & Dragons Principal Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford recently shared a bit of inside information about Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything sure to get fans of the fighter class excited. In particular Crawford wrote about Battle Master builds included in the upcoming book of expanded rules for fifth edition D&D. So let’s get into it.
The Battle Master builds in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything rely on a tasty mix of maneuvers, fighting styles, and feats, including maneuvers and fighting styles introduced in this new book. #DnD
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 6, 2020
Battle Master builds and new fighter toys for 5E D&D
Players love the 5E D&D Battle Master fighter and let’s be honest — it’s all about those Maneuvers. I’ve certainly never heard or read about any players raving over the artisan’s tools proficiency or Know Your Enemy feature. Maneuvers are the Battle Master’s bread and butter, giving these fighters all sorts of cool combat options.
Combining Battle Master Maneuvers with a variety of other character choices and options like feats, race features and other class features through multiclassing makes this Martial Archetype one of the most versatile ones in the game and without a doubt a favorite among players. What Crawford shares in the Twitter thread might sound like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything merely puts in print what players (including Nerdarchy!) have been doing for years already but I’ll draw your attention to the last part of the tweet.
“…including maneuvers and fighting styles introduced in this new book.”
Now we’re talking! Personally I’ve been doing what I can to avoid spoilers for Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Granted I attended the press briefing for the book and touched on a few things since here on the website but by and large I try not to delve into posts and videos with sneak peeks because if I’m honest I’d like the fun and surprise of flipping through new material when it’s released and in my grasp. But this juicy bit was too tempting to ignore.
Here are the Battle Master builds we’ll see in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything according to Crawford’s tweets and some other research I did:
- Pugilist — focused on fisticuffs
- Brawler — focused on improvised weapons
- Archer
- Strategist
- Bodyguard
- Duelist
- Gladiator
I came across some allegedly leaked information about a new Maneuver called Quick Toss and some new fighting styles too:
- Blindfighting
- Thrown Weapon Fighting
- Unarmed Fighting
- Druidic Warrior
Speculation, leaks and previews run rampant out there and confirming any more than what I’ve included here strays into murky territory. To be fair I’m already on the fence about the last three of those Battle Master builds but the source seemed legit so I included them. According to the book’s table of contents Battle Master builds start on page 46 and end on page 48 so I imagine these will not be lengthy chunks of material. The most exciting part to any of this are the new Maneuvers and fighting styles since 5E D&D players I know already create specialized warriors through combinations of feats, maneuvers and fighting styles. But for newer players this material certainly holds value. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is scheduled for release on Nov. 17 and you can preorder your own copy plus help support Nerdarchy right here.
If you’re into 5E D&D character builds like we are you’ll definitely want to head over to Dungeon Masters Guild. We’ve got dozens of Character Build Guides there and you can pay what you want for these deep dives into all manner of character concepts designed to be fun and effective from 1st-20th level — no waiting for your character to come together at higher levels! Along with the level by level player guide we create new creatures and NPCs inspired by the character builds so there’s something for everyone. Check them out here.
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