Check out World Anvil here! worldanvil.com/?c=D4 - Use the promo code d4 at checkout to save 51%! ALSO! Errata! Once we got battering roots, if we were using a pole arm we’d be at a 20’ reach not 15 :)
@@eleishar18 I have a World Tree Barb cleave build I'll be playing in our first One DnD campaign. And I'm definitely going Halberd for this reason. Creatures less than 30 feet in the air won't even be safe. And once you get the teleport, a dragon 90ft in the air won't be impossible for you to hit with a Melee attack, and to force the enemy to make a save against topple lol
💯 it's crap to only think focused fire is best 😋 A build I've always wished to see from you is an AOE build that widdles down multiple enemies and then uses the 2014 Sleep spell to then knock them all unconscious on round 2 or 3 - I think 2014 Sleep is underrated at higher levels, when it is used in this way - round 1 AOE round 2 upcast Sleep to knock out multiple enemies with NO SAVE 😉
Can you use Branches of the Tree while flying? If so, fly over an enemy, attack them and then as reaction teleport another enemy and let them fall over them. With luck you now have two adjacent prone targets within your 20 ft. polearm reach.
@@TheMoisku You could, just have to have spell-less flight like Dragonborn or something. I've heard the Dungeon Dudes argue that you could teleport someone 5 feet in the air cuz it's still "next" to you, and that causes them to be prone, but admittedly cheesy when just standing on the ground lol
Colby, a little correction on the Great Weapon Fighting style - it doesn't only apply to weapon damage. It turns ANY 1 and 2 to a 3 as long as it's part of a melee attack made with a two-handed or versatile weapon. Quote: "When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat *any* 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit." This is in contrast to Savage Attacker, that says, quote: "You've trained to deal particularly damaging strikes. Once per turn when you hit a target with a weapon, you can roll the *weapon's damage dice* twice and use either roll against the target." So, Great Weapon Fighting actually isn't too bad, as long as you roll a few more dice. For example, if you use a greatsword and have something like Fount of Moonlight/Spirit Shroud active, this is a fairly decent 3 points of damage per attack, more if you have, idk, a Flametongue weapon or something like that. A berserker barbarian will also get a nice bump out of it. Or an Eldritch Knight that uses a Blade Cantrip with a Greatsword. I think I tried to point this out in your Double-Bladed Scimitar video, but I'm not sure you saw it.
Wow, never noticed that. I have a fighting style feat to choose very soon for my bladelock, I’m going to have to give this one a closer look. I can stack up a lot of dice if I want to.
47:59 I think Pushing Attack is worth taking here. Stacking with all our other pushes, we could probably knock enemies entirely out of range for a turn.
This is the kind of build I've been obsessing over for the kast week or so. Specifically with either an Eldritch Knight or a Valor Bard (with 2 level Fighter dip, naturally). Not including Spirit Shroud/CME, just because those are things you can have active or not. So, I came up with a Halberd wielding character who would attack one enemy, use the Halberd's Cleave mastery to attack the enemy next to them, then with their Extra Attack they would cast Green-Flame Blade, hitting the second enemy with the Halberd and flinging the fire onto the first enemy. At this point, if you've critted or killed an enemy, Great Weapon Master would allow you to make another full damage attack against an enemy. At this point, if anyone is left standing, Action Surge, Green-Flame Blade (since it's part of your Extra Attack feature, it's not a Magic Action) using the Halberd part of the attack against whichever enemy looks healthiest, hit the weaker one with the flame, and then finish off one of the enemies with your final attack.
The intent of Cleave is obviously that it's the Cleave-mastery weapon making both attacks. They closed the War Caster + Polearm Master loophole, and it's basically the same thing.
Yeah, I feel this is best exemplified by asking, “would you allow me to attack with greataxe, trigger cleave, then swap to a greatsword for the cleave attack?” That feels more distinctly wrong to me.
SO glad to see a build with dragonborn! I love them so much! Flight at higher levels is good for every class, plus resistance and a versatile breath weapon!
33:40 imagine someone saying pre-2024 that we had to go back to barbarian in a multiclass scenario for fun stuff, especially after already gaining extra attack, I'm glad barbarians got the love they desperately needed
My first thought when I saw cleave was to stick it on an eldritch knight with green flame blade and war magic, and then going ranger 3 for horde breaker. Grab crusher, carry around a maul and a greataxe or halberd and youre good to go. Focusing on the 2 target damage kinda gave green flame blade the edge over booming blade which kinda made me happy cause I like green flame blade better thematically. Super glad to see a cleave build, love your stuff Colby!
33:30 - If you're surrounded by Kobolds or some other low hp creature, you'd almost definitely get 5 attacks since GWM's bonus action would trigger as soon as you killed one of them, and there’s a good chance you could end up killing 5 per turn. One other cool thing about this build is that you could grab a longbow and apply Horde Breaker and your GWM bonus damage to that as well, along with Hunter's Mark if enough of the combat were going to be at range to make it worthwhile. Not only that, your World Tree Barbarian features make you unbelievable at kiting enemies.
If your DM allows 2014 subclasses, Echo Knight would be a super cool way to get more extra attacks. Plus, the flavor fits with the WT Barb's ability to vamp around all over the battlefield.
I'm playing this concept in a campaign right now and I've got a throw in my ¢2. I say instead of PAM as much as it love it take a 1 lvl dip in monk so you can open with a bonus action attack to grapple an enemy and drag them kicking and screaming into the blender to guarantee cleave time. The grappler feat would function similarly once you get multi attack sacrificing 1 of your multi attack to ensure you get 2 cleaving attacks
Noticed this was the build you used for the Bluey charity one shot! I think the attack + hordebreaker + cleave onto the main target combo has some potential for better single target damage as well, especially if you start to apply riders; it’s like 2 attacks for 1.
In my campaign, there is a Halberd weilding birdbarian. I have ruled in my game that all cleave style attacks are NOT 5ft but as long as they are in reach. So with the 10 ft reach, can do it to any two enemies within that 10 ft circle as long as they are next down the line.
I think the takeaway from Chris' PAM video is that rather than PAM just adding damage (therefore making it necessary for the best damage build), it simply gives you approximate damage parity with non-reach 2handers, meaning you are trading a feat for the extra reach. This is good! Balancing multiple builds against each other and instead trading viabilities is good! Same logic at work with Brutal Strike imo - the extra d10 isn't meant to add damage, it's meant to compensate for the damage loss from losing advantage while giving you the extra effect. Keeping damage balanced, adding versaility!
Colby, Battering Roots adds 10' to reach on your turn, so with a polearm your reach is +15 for 20, not 15. Also, it doesn't help them get away because they aren't leaving your reach on your turn. 😉
Great video as always! A good interaction for a build: By picking up "Shillelagh" with "Tom's Pact", you can buff him with "Agonizing Blast". From that point, you can choose two paths: 1- "Polearm Master" and "Blade Pact", three attacks dealing double charisma damage on level 5 ( 2d10+1d4+18 ) 2 - Buff "Booming Blade" in conjunction with "Shillelagh" and add charisma modifier four times ( 1d10+1d8+12 / +2d8+4 Explosion ). It is possible to pair the first with a class that gains duelist (+2 Bonus to damage) or take value bard in the second option and deal even more damage.
Shillelagh doesn’t get agonizing buff unfortunately but its up to your DM’s interpretation. Rules as written though shillelagh just modifies the damage of a weapon rather than do damage
Bro! I made a bugbear recently who leads a small goblin camp, I've went with a gish route though. Only level five right now, but it basically looks like this. Action - Green flame blade Hunters prey horse breaker - Attack enemy hit by Green flame blade extra damage Halberd Cleave - attack a third, or the first again. Each attack including an extra 2d6 if you attack first a bugbear. Only level five and got two levels in sorc, but planning on taking wild magic for goblin shenanigans and for advantage when sneaking isn't available. I hadn't even thought about moving enemies into position to make getting the attacks easier, but I have thunder wave and can quicken spell it, yay.
I don’t think you could use your Dragon’s breath for the second part of the cleave attack as it says to do that cleave attack you have to do the same damage as the weapon you used to do the cleave attack 24:30
Great timing! Not because I need this build but because I was finally going to move my DM notes from a sketch book and the GM layer of VTT maps onto a proper digital platform and a discount code for World Anvil is the push I need to actually do it! Hopefully. I'm at work now we'll see what happens tonight. Hopefully it will still be up the morning of game day when I frantically last minute prep...
I’m really glad you did this build too! I used it for our thanksgiving evening game, though I was a dwarf instead. Cleave+Hordebreaker. Tremorsense with my allies using darkness was devastating. I did 7 Giant Barbarian and 3 Hunter Ranger.
My wife is playing a similar build. A king Barbarian that has time, space and elemental manipulation magic, just that that build is worldtree and echo knight with a halberd
I think I would take an halberd just because it would let you cleave an enemy 5ft behind the first target since you can reach it. You lose some damage, but you also make your cleave more consistant. Or maybe switch to the best option on your first attack depending on the enemies position on the battlefield.
Nice build. Appreciate that i uses only PHB 2024. And that it offers some utility. Still waiting for the ultimate controller sorcerer (is there some who can get higher spell DC) or the best archer (no cheese grating).
I seems like a really fun character. I really ikke that the build has a lot of flexibility. It does one thing really well, but I imagine that it will be easy to switch it up if you play a character with these abilities. I think the intend with the Breath Weapon is that you can use it instead of one of you regular attacks. Of course I can't be 100% sure, but I wouldn't allow replacing a cleave attack with a Breath Weapon if were the DM.
Hey! Love your videos, especially when you branch out of the whole "cast AOE and keep enemies in the AOE" archetype. Just went and liked the Mantis build as well. More Elemental themed builds would be cool too!
Would be curious to see numbers without breath weapon, since it depend too much on your dm. I also really liked the idea of the grappler monk dip option mentioned in the comments!
Also, while I do think that maybe more chilled DMs would allow the fire breath to replace the cleave attack, I think most reasonable DMs wouldn't allow it, since that's clearly not the intention of the Cleave feature - to just give a slightly weaker extra attack. But, to be able to solve that conundrum, I would gladly have WotC release an errata about the Cleave Mastery where it's clearly stated that "this extra attack MUST use the same weapon AND [insert current other descriptions of the attack]", similar to the description of the Light property. But, there's another problem here - Cleave, as you mentioned, requires the attack to HIT in order to trigger cleave. And that's very inconvenient, since if the first attack misses, then you need the second attack to trigger a Cleave. With a barbarian, you're less likely to miss, but it's still possible. So if you miss your first attack, you need the second attack to trigger cleave and then to potentially replace it with a breath weapon. And if we're under the assumption that replacing a Cleave attack with anything else isn't exactly kosher, then, for simplicity's sake I think we have to just make an assumption - we always trigger Cleave on our first attack, but we replace the second normal attack with a breath weapon. Plus, that way, we'll be more true to our concept - maximizing damage to both targets. If we assume we replace just the Cleave attack with a breath weapon, then we minimize actual cleave damage and maximize single-target. So our cleave is basically superficial. Also also - about Hunter's Horde Breaker and Cleave - you can do both attacks against the second target AND trigger them both off of the same strike. If the first attack you deal hits, then you trigger both Cleave and Horde Breaker at the same time. And when simultaneous effects happen at the same time, then the players decides the order of the effects. So, in order to keep the 2nd target unattacked to qualify for Horde Breaker, we just resolve the attack from Horde Breaker first, then the attack from the Cleave Mastery, and voila xD
A funny barbarian option for this build would also be the giants might barbarian, the level 10 feature is a hilarious way to position and enemy for optimal cleaving. A bit of social engineering and it's a guarantee if you can convince them to let you throw them lol
I think using Halberd (along with PAM benefits) as a reach weapon might also somewhat help you to position better for blasting more enemies with your breath weapon, since you can't catch more than two people in a cone or line if everyone is directly adjacent to you. At least not without taking unnecessary opportunity attacks. Well, at least until you get Battering Roots...
I’ve been playing a build like this and it absolutely destroys the battlefield. Giant Barb 6: with oversized weapon that can switch elemental damage type, Hunter ranger 3: longstrider, jump, goodberry, horde breaker, athletics expertise Champion Fighter 3-11: Since we have about 4-5 attacks per turn all with reckless advantage, we have about a 45% chance to crit per turn. I’ve double critted a superboss on s single turn before. At fighter 11 (character level 20) we get yet another attack per turn. Also.. Action Surge! Fire Goliath + Fire Giant Foundling = can add 2d10 to any attack, but save it for crits so crits get +4d10 fire If we run out of rages, we can use goliath large form instead of barbarian large form, and hunters mark instead of elemental cleaver. My DM had nagas “calm emotions” this guy lol GWM obviously Push mastery to set up cleave and horde breaker I know oversized weapons isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in any case, the damage is still huge. With oversized weapons, averages something between 25-30 damage per attack, and up to 70 damage per crit. PER attack and PER crit, and you get up to 5 attacks per turn. I know some build crafters only stick to 2024 but in the real world I paid for Bigby’s and other stuff so nobody is going to tell me I can’t use it.
Useful attack patterns (each letter is a target. Capitalized is main attack from action, lowercase is hordebreaker or cleave) Most common: A(push), b(horde breaker), A, b (cleave) Focus a target: AbaA Big slice: AbCd
I recently made almost exactly the same build. I just made it to level 9. I took berserker instead for the extra damage. And I dipped one level of monk, and got grappler, for being able to use a bonus action to bring to enemies together. I was considering world tree, though, as well. In retrospect, I think I prefer world tree, because it keeps your bonus action free. I think the only thing I would change on yours, is I would prefer to take Mage Slayer instead of PAM. Primarily for that legendary resistance once per short rest.
Colby, I would love to see your take on a barbarian/warlock multiclass, focusing on heavy weapons and spells that dont require concentration: armor of agathys, flame shield, eldritch smite, that kind of thing. Damage resistances+ armor of agathys + fiend temp hp buff meaning you're dealig tons of damage when you hit or get hit.
Sometimes, you gotta clear out the riffraff, the mooks before you get to the big bad boss. Or maybe you're the PC paving the road so the other PCs can get to the BBB.
While I do like the breath weapons I think the little lizards might be a better choice - That Draconic roar/cry is very very handy as is the cantrip of choice on stat of choice if you take from one source, and pack tactics from the other speaks for itself. Perhaps less ideal for the barbarian, as it will somewhat invalidate one of the two reasons to really be a barbarian, though not giving the opponents advantage against you is still nice. A similar initial concept but not choosing the traditional fighter instead perhaps - get that extra extra attack in the end. Or I think perhaps one of the races with movement speed bonus - when your whole stick is getting into melee hits every extra step counts a great deal more than it would when you are a ranged combatant.
Unarmoured defence isn't really a trap, it just doesn't work superbly for everyone - it is for instance one of my personal favourites for spell slinging build. Lets you have lots of that precious concentration check stat without losing AC or casting stats, while also having lots of health for a mostly spell slinger with the smaller hit die. And while the barbarian's early level skills don't synergise superbly it does provide some useful bonus still, with wild magic being thematic and though a little RNG very useful if you get into trouble or run out of spells.
I think Pushing with the Pike will help with positioning the enemies. Then swap to the Halberd to Cleave. It would be worth talking to your DM about getting to use the Great Weapon Master bonus damage on Bonus Attacks and Reaction Attacks. Especially with the Caster vs Melee divide. Martials need the help.
Just as a note, with the changes to GWM, Longbows can benefit from it as a Longbow is "Heavy" and GWM no longer states melee combat. And granted, with point buy, your stats will be thin. However, with a decent Dex score, Archery fighting style from Ranger, GWM, and Hunter's Mark, you can actually be a decent ranged combatant who can turn into a monster if the enemies want to get too close. Or you can use the bow until you get into melee. Combined with the World Tree subclass, if you start within 230 feet of someone, decent chance you can get a good attack off on your turn. And as a Barbarian, that is awesome
Made a version of this character that goes Ranger + Monk 5 levels into Elements Monk 4 levels into Hunter Ranger Bonus Action flurry of blows with Unarmed Fighting does 1d6 on hit but more importantly pulls an enemy up to 20 feet towards me. Or 2 enemies 10 feet closer. This way I can group up enemies easier. Then use my action to for Horde breaker and Cleave the same as this build. It’s a bit weird using Medium Armor, STR, and a Heavy weapon on monk but the rules still allow you to use Flurry of Blows so it works fine. After 4 levels in Ranger I’d go Monk the rest of the way for more Focus points. Fighter and Barbarian sound like good option w as well. Feats: Tough, GWM, and Sentinel
I think this would be a better cleaver. Race: Loxodon to grapple whilst two handing Ranger Hunter with Horde Breaker to level 5 Elemental Monk to level 8 DWYW after Feat: GWM This allows you to wield halberd and get cleave attack + horde breaker. 4 total attacks + GWM prof bonus at level 5. With BA you can make ranged unarmed strikes to push/pull/grapple enemies to ensure they are within 5 feet.
On the topic of replacing the Cleave second attack with the dragon breath, I would say no. The Cleave is, essentially, swinging the axe broadly and hitting one target, and continuing the same arc of the swing into another nearby target. I would also rule this the same way for Hoard Breaker. I know it's ruled as two attacks, but I would personally just treat it as a single swing of the weapon.
Alright Colby, at this point I have no choice but to assume you're reading my thoughts. The last couple weeks I've been putting together a World Tree Barbarian who is going to take Hunter Ranger levels. This certainly makes that job easier!! (Unfortunately we're adapting the subclass to 2014 rules, but still very excited to play it)
my favourite dnd channel posted a new video the moment i was looking for one! such a blessing :D thank you colby for your amazing content!! I am really curious, if you wanted to build a witcher character, a monster hunter, how would you make him work? I saw the grim hollow monster hunter one recently and i am curious if you would do a build of that class
I sort of tried to go that route with the Blood Hunter Mutant awhile back, though it's 3rd party content... th-cam.com/video/RjpTehPpK1o/w-d-xo.html - they were more of a ranged build but, if I remember, I had an alternative melee version option in the final thoughts? Been awhile.
@DnDDeepDive gonna check it out right after your new video, don't remember as well. The thing that kinda threw me off was the artificer beginning tbh 😅 any thoughts about doing builds for the new official unofficial illriger class, or maybe the upcoming monster hunter from grim hollow (both in dndb like the blood hunter if i am correct)
I think a little more time explaining the Horde Breaker (H.B.)- Cleave combination may be in order. So level 3 hunter ranger with a cleaving weapon. 1st attack against target one, then H.B. extra attack on target 2, if extra attack hits, then cleave back into target 1, should be the only way this works. If you cleave on the first attack, you can't use H.B. on the second target, and the extra attack from cleave should be resolved before the extra attack from H.B. I get that this may be a grey area in the rules, and some may allow the first attack to trigger HB first and then cleave both into target 2, but this is taking advantage of a grey area in the rules. Cleave is part of the attack with the weapon, HB is a another full attack. It would be like stopping an attack half way to make a separate attack, and then trying to pick up the first one where you left off again. This combo can allow three attacks for a d12 each as early as level 3, so interpreting the rules to put some breaks on it, and make it a little tougher to pull of in combat should be fine.
Re: can you use a breath weapon attack to replace the cleave attack? Thats actually really tricky, because from the reading of cleave- No, but from the reading of Dragonborn breathe weapon yes. On balance, as a GM I would allow it. After all, the general rule is specific beats general, and the Breath weapon uses a limited resource, making it "more specific". So you can't do this on every cleave anyway, which is where i would become wary as a GM. So here for this! 😅
Thank you for another cool video! I am currently playing almost this exact build but as a giant barbarian. The lvl 6 and 10 features fits VERY nice with this concept! However, I am not entirely sure that the assumption made here about the cleave attack being part of the attack action is correct? It is not stated directly in the Cleave description as it is for Nick. That can unfortunately cause some issues with both the breath weapon and the Great Weapon Master feat. It should work with opportunity attacks though, which is super awesome (even though it rarely happens)!
As a DM I love relying on swarms of goblins and large numbers of small enemies to make higher-end combats threatening. So this is a great hard-counter.
I didn't see it mentioned in the video but can you use your dragonborn flight to fly up 30ft and teleport the enemy up next to you? Seems like a decent way to deal some burst damage on a round if it's possible.
Fun fact about Polearm Master’s reaction attack: it doesn’t matter how the enemy enters your reach, only that they do. Druid right next to you thorn whips them within 10 feet of yourself? That qualifies. Sorcerer/warlock/wizard/bard uses Vortex Warp on an enemy to put them next to you? That qualifies. Sword and board fighter shield bashes them on a charge? That qualifies. Enemy was in the air but knocked prone causing them to fall right next to you? That qualifies. Debatably, the Vortex Warp trick could even work if *you’re* the one being teleported, though you’d need a lenient DM for that one.
Firstly 7:32 don't call me Shirley! Secondly 23:36 I don't see this at all. I know fluff or just common understanding of text is all but worthless in this kind of civil disputations, but the text clearly says "These heavy weapons can slash through opponents. If you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can make a second attack against a creature within 5 feet that is also within your reach. " Thirdly we play in our ongoing campaign (by 2014 rules) with the cleaving through enemies rule from the DMG. It never felt overpowered or unbalanced and is the epitome of wading through minions. For honesty's sake, the "undamaged" wording bugs me a bit, but hey, my Paladin once smote through 4 zombies, felt brilliant.
Its actually funny that you post this because ive been making this same build concept for the past 2 weeks. I think you're actually losing out on a few things. (These claims are made with the knowledge that 5.5e is backwards compatible.) • Bug Bear would be excellent for this for the extra reach. Aasimar for the different forms. Goliath for flavor. • Path of the Giant Barbarian gives you extra reach at level 3, but it also increases your SIZE which greatly affects your area of attack. • Greataxe is the superior damage option, higher damage die. Cleave as well. If you're playing Bug Bear and Giant Barbarian you have 15 foot reach. (You can still go Halberd if you're worried your reach isn’t already insane). • if you CAN use unarmored defense... use the Mariner fighting style. • You can get more ASI's if you start fighter (CHAMPION) and go to 6, then 3 Barbarian, then 3 Ranger. Total level 12 making 4 attacks per turn, all with advantage. Level 13, and 14 can be in Ranger/Barbarian if youre still hungry for ASI/feats, otherwise keep pushing fighter and at level 18 you get fighter's level 11 extra attack.
Awesome build. Me personally I'd replace Sentinel with Mage Slayer. The once a day legendary resistance can be a life saver. Especially since barbarians are bad at mental saves.
In my last combat there were monsters constantly trying to charm my barbarian every turn, but between Mage Slayer, a Bard in the party giving me Bardic Inspiration and using Countercharm, and another party member with the Musician origin feat who’d given me Heroic Inspiration, I wound up making it through without a single failed WIS save despite having dumped WIS, it was great.
I imagine replacing your Cleave Attack with your Breath Weapon as imbuing the weapon with elemental energy and letting it explode out as you hit the first creature
I'd say you can't replace your cleave attack with a breath attack. I feel the intention of this is that my attack is so strong that I hit 2 enemies with one swing. Which is why the second target needs to be within 5 feet of the next target. Also it only gains you that attack if you hit and presumably it has to be rolled right after that attack was made. I can't hit move 5 feet over and then hit with my cleave attack. I couldn't hit with that weapon drop that great axe and pull out a greatsword to deal damage with that cleave attack.
Check out World Anvil here! worldanvil.com/?c=D4 - Use the promo code d4 at checkout to save 51%! ALSO! Errata! Once we got battering roots, if we were using a pole arm we’d be at a 20’ reach not 15 :)
20ft reach with polearm when Battering Roots are active. Just saying ;)
@@eleishar18 I have a World Tree Barb cleave build I'll be playing in our first One DnD campaign. And I'm definitely going Halberd for this reason. Creatures less than 30 feet in the air won't even be safe. And once you get the teleport, a dragon 90ft in the air won't be impossible for you to hit with a Melee attack, and to force the enemy to make a save against topple lol
💯 it's crap to only think focused fire is best 😋 A build I've always wished to see from you is an AOE build that widdles down multiple enemies and then uses the 2014 Sleep spell to then knock them all unconscious on round 2 or 3 - I think 2014 Sleep is underrated at higher levels, when it is used in this way - round 1 AOE round 2 upcast Sleep to knock out multiple enemies with NO SAVE 😉
Can you use Branches of the Tree while flying?
If so, fly over an enemy, attack them and then as reaction teleport another enemy and let them fall over them. With luck you now have two adjacent prone targets within your 20 ft. polearm reach.
@@TheMoisku You could, just have to have spell-less flight like Dragonborn or something. I've heard the Dungeon Dudes argue that you could teleport someone 5 feet in the air cuz it's still "next" to you, and that causes them to be prone, but admittedly cheesy when just standing on the ground lol
The intro we’ve all been waiting for!!!
Waiting for, does suggest/infer that it was, in any way, expected
@ It was! Someone left a comment a while back daring Colby to do this and he followed through :)
Skipping straight to the end to see if he sings it
Now, go watch his mantis of mercy video next!
Literally the next character I'm gonna play, it's a great video!
@@navehkamai4888how do you intend to roleplay them?
Colby, a little correction on the Great Weapon Fighting style - it doesn't only apply to weapon damage. It turns ANY 1 and 2 to a 3 as long as it's part of a melee attack made with a two-handed or versatile weapon.
Quote: "When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat *any* 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit."
This is in contrast to Savage Attacker, that says, quote:
"You've trained to deal particularly damaging strikes. Once per turn when you hit a target with a weapon, you can roll the *weapon's damage dice* twice and use either roll against the target."
So, Great Weapon Fighting actually isn't too bad, as long as you roll a few more dice. For example, if you use a greatsword and have something like Fount of Moonlight/Spirit Shroud active, this is a fairly decent 3 points of damage per attack, more if you have, idk, a Flametongue weapon or something like that. A berserker barbarian will also get a nice bump out of it. Or an Eldritch Knight that uses a Blade Cantrip with a Greatsword. I think I tried to point this out in your Double-Bladed Scimitar video, but I'm not sure you saw it.
I think it will work best for a paladin. 2d6 weapon, divine favor for another d4, radiant strikes for another d8, possible smite damage for more dice.
Wow, never noticed that. I have a fighting style feat to choose very soon for my bladelock, I’m going to have to give this one a closer look. I can stack up a lot of dice if I want to.
The Cleaver D&D Ep #196
Level 01 (see above) [barbarian 1, species, background & weapon mastery]
Level 02 (see above) [barbarian 2]
Level 03 (@16:38) [barbarian 3 & subclass]
Level 04 (@18:55) [barbarian 4 & feat]
Level 05 (@19:52) [barbarian 5]
Level 06 (@20:33) [barbarian 6]
Level 07 (see above) [ranger 1 & weapon mastery]
Level 08 (@28:43) [ranger 2 & fighting-style]
Level 09 (@30:07) [ranger 3 & subclass]
Level 10 (see above) [barbarian 7]
Level 11 (@34:04) [barbarian 8 & feat]
Level 12 (@35:37) [barbarian 9]
Level 13 (@36:51) [ranger 4 & feat]
Level 14 (see above) [barbarian 10]
Level 15 (@42:54) [fighter 1, fighting-style & weapon mastery]
Level 16 (@44:08) [fighter 2]
Level 17 (@44:53) [fighter 3 & subclass]
41:56 reach with Halberd and Battering Roots is 20ft., not 15ft.
You made me snort out my drink at work, good sir, with that intro 😅
47:59 I think Pushing Attack is worth taking here. Stacking with all our other pushes, we could probably knock enemies entirely out of range for a turn.
Put them in line for the Cleave was what I was thinking
@ that was my first thought, but then I realized we already have two other pushes to do that.
This is the kind of build I've been obsessing over for the kast week or so. Specifically with either an Eldritch Knight or a Valor Bard (with 2 level Fighter dip, naturally). Not including Spirit Shroud/CME, just because those are things you can have active or not. So, I came up with a Halberd wielding character who would attack one enemy, use the Halberd's Cleave mastery to attack the enemy next to them, then with their Extra Attack they would cast Green-Flame Blade, hitting the second enemy with the Halberd and flinging the fire onto the first enemy. At this point, if you've critted or killed an enemy, Great Weapon Master would allow you to make another full damage attack against an enemy. At this point, if anyone is left standing, Action Surge, Green-Flame Blade (since it's part of your Extra Attack feature, it's not a Magic Action) using the Halberd part of the attack against whichever enemy looks healthiest, hit the weaker one with the flame, and then finish off one of the enemies with your final attack.
The intent of Cleave is obviously that it's the Cleave-mastery weapon making both attacks. They closed the War Caster + Polearm Master loophole, and it's basically the same thing.
Yeah, I feel this is best exemplified by asking, “would you allow me to attack with greataxe, trigger cleave, then swap to a greatsword for the cleave attack?” That feels more distinctly wrong to me.
@@MyRegularNameWasTakendidn't they change up the action economy...
Totally agree. You are either making the cleave attack against both enemies or the breath attack. You don't get to do both.
SO glad to see a build with dragonborn! I love them so much! Flight at higher levels is good for every class, plus resistance and a versatile breath weapon!
33:40 imagine someone saying pre-2024 that we had to go back to barbarian in a multiclass scenario for fun stuff, especially after already gaining extra attack, I'm glad barbarians got the love they desperately needed
My first thought when I saw cleave was to stick it on an eldritch knight with green flame blade and war magic, and then going ranger 3 for horde breaker. Grab crusher, carry around a maul and a greataxe or halberd and youre good to go. Focusing on the 2 target damage kinda gave green flame blade the edge over booming blade which kinda made me happy cause I like green flame blade better thematically. Super glad to see a cleave build, love your stuff Colby!
My all-time favorite build archetype! I always do desire we may be better STRangers.
33:30 - If you're surrounded by Kobolds or some other low hp creature, you'd almost definitely get 5 attacks since GWM's bonus action would trigger as soon as you killed one of them, and there’s a good chance you could end up killing 5 per turn.
One other cool thing about this build is that you could grab a longbow and apply Horde Breaker and your GWM bonus damage to that as well, along with Hunter's Mark if enough of the combat were going to be at range to make it worthwhile. Not only that, your World Tree Barbarian features make you unbelievable at kiting enemies.
If your DM allows 2014 subclasses, Echo Knight would be a super cool way to get more extra attacks. Plus, the flavor fits with the WT Barb's ability to vamp around all over the battlefield.
I'm playing this concept in a campaign right now and I've got a throw in my ¢2. I say instead of PAM as much as it love it take a 1 lvl dip in monk so you can open with a bonus action attack to grapple an enemy and drag them kicking and screaming into the blender to guarantee cleave time.
The grappler feat would function similarly once you get multi attack sacrificing 1 of your multi attack to ensure you get 2 cleaving attacks
24:00
As a DM, I play rule of cool as long as it's not busted
So hell yeah my player can live out their fire breathing dragon barbarian fantasy.
Fellow Def Leppard fan! They've got so many good songs but my favorite has to be Animal. Great build as always!
I love your work. You have taught me so much about the D&D rules and how to build fun characters.
Noticed this was the build you used for the Bluey charity one shot!
I think the attack + hordebreaker + cleave onto the main target combo has some potential for better single target damage as well, especially if you start to apply riders; it’s like 2 attacks for 1.
Great opener! 🎉🎉🎉
I look forward to these videos each week your vids are so good great job as always Best wishes
OF COURSE cleave hits with the same weapon.
You are CLEAVING through enemies
You are NOT SWINGING TWICE
Totally agree. You are either making the cleave attack against both enemies or the breath attack. You don't get to do both.
In my campaign, there is a Halberd weilding birdbarian. I have ruled in my game that all cleave style attacks are NOT 5ft but as long as they are in reach. So with the 10 ft reach, can do it to any two enemies within that 10 ft circle as long as they are next down the line.
The first few seconds of this video made me want to escape.
A+ intro. I DO love getting caught in the rain
I forgot that I had preordered Wind & Truth, and I have a 30-40 hour road trip coming up, so I was EXTRA stoked when the audiobook arrived last week.
I think the takeaway from Chris' PAM video is that rather than PAM just adding damage (therefore making it necessary for the best damage build), it simply gives you approximate damage parity with non-reach 2handers, meaning you are trading a feat for the extra reach. This is good! Balancing multiple builds against each other and instead trading viabilities is good!
Same logic at work with Brutal Strike imo - the extra d10 isn't meant to add damage, it's meant to compensate for the damage loss from losing advantage while giving you the extra effect. Keeping damage balanced, adding versaility!
Such a coin Barbranger (Rangarian?) build! I'm so happy with all of the fun options that have opened up.
Colby, Battering Roots adds 10' to reach on your turn, so with a polearm your reach is +15 for 20, not 15. Also, it doesn't help them get away because they aren't leaving your reach on your turn. 😉
Jimmy, when he runs out of pinacoladas: "I would like to rage."
Great video as always!
A good interaction for a build:
By picking up "Shillelagh" with "Tom's Pact", you can buff him with "Agonizing Blast". From that point, you can choose two paths:
1- "Polearm Master" and "Blade Pact", three attacks dealing double charisma damage on level 5 ( 2d10+1d4+18 )
2 - Buff "Booming Blade" in conjunction with "Shillelagh" and add charisma modifier four times ( 1d10+1d8+12 / +2d8+4 Explosion ).
It is possible to pair the first with a class that gains duelist (+2 Bonus to damage) or take value bard in the second option and deal even more damage.
Shillelagh doesn’t get agonizing buff unfortunately but its up to your DM’s interpretation. Rules as written though shillelagh just modifies the damage of a weapon rather than do damage
@@xicor172 yeah this is a rather liberal translation of the rules :p doesnt really fly on tables
The outtakes that your son makes continue to make me laugh. Hilarious!
Bro! I made a bugbear recently who leads a small goblin camp,
I've went with a gish route though.
Only level five right now, but it basically looks like this.
Action - Green flame blade
Hunters prey horse breaker - Attack enemy hit by Green flame blade extra damage
Halberd Cleave - attack a third, or the first again.
Each attack including an extra 2d6 if you attack first a bugbear.
Only level five and got two levels in sorc, but planning on taking wild magic for goblin shenanigans and for advantage when sneaking isn't available.
I hadn't even thought about moving enemies into position to make getting the attacks easier, but I have thunder wave and can quicken spell it, yay.
🐴
Cool build bro! Bet this absolutely destroys horses 💯
@@reganclark5626 You know it lol.
I don’t think you could use your Dragon’s breath for the second part of the cleave attack as it says to do that cleave attack you have to do the same damage as the weapon you used to do the cleave attack 24:30
Totally agree. You are either making the cleave attack against both enemies or the breath attack. You don't get to do both.
Thanks Colby! ❤
Great timing! Not because I need this build but because I was finally going to move my DM notes from a sketch book and the GM layer of VTT maps onto a proper digital platform and a discount code for World Anvil is the push I need to actually do it!
Hopefully.
I'm at work now we'll see what happens tonight. Hopefully it will still be up the morning of game day when I frantically last minute prep...
56:30 The Wizard of Umms casts Confusion! 😂
Hate that guy.
Whenever I hear you say lumberjack my brains goes:
🎵🎶I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day🎶🎵
I’m really glad you did this build too! I used it for our thanksgiving evening game, though I was a dwarf instead. Cleave+Hordebreaker. Tremorsense with my allies using darkness was devastating. I did 7 Giant Barbarian and 3 Hunter Ranger.
My wife is playing a similar build. A king Barbarian that has time, space and elemental manipulation magic, just that that build is worldtree and echo knight with a halberd
I think I would take an halberd just because it would let you cleave an enemy 5ft behind the first target since you can reach it. You lose some damage, but you also make your cleave more consistant. Or maybe switch to the best option on your first attack depending on the enemies position on the battlefield.
Nice build. Appreciate that i uses only PHB 2024. And that it offers some utility. Still waiting for the ultimate controller sorcerer (is there some who can get higher spell DC) or the best archer (no cheese grating).
I seems like a really fun character. I really ikke that the build has a lot of flexibility. It does one thing really well, but I imagine that it will be easy to switch it up if you play a character with these abilities.
I think the intend with the Breath Weapon is that you can use it instead of one of you regular attacks. Of course I can't be 100% sure, but I wouldn't allow replacing a cleave attack with a Breath Weapon if were the DM.
Hey! Love your videos, especially when you branch out of the whole "cast AOE and keep enemies in the AOE" archetype. Just went and liked the Mantis build as well. More Elemental themed builds would be cool too!
Would be curious to see numbers without breath weapon, since it depend too much on your dm.
I also really liked the idea of the grappler monk dip option mentioned in the comments!
I want the Pina Colada build!
Also, while I do think that maybe more chilled DMs would allow the fire breath to replace the cleave attack, I think most reasonable DMs wouldn't allow it, since that's clearly not the intention of the Cleave feature - to just give a slightly weaker extra attack. But, to be able to solve that conundrum, I would gladly have WotC release an errata about the Cleave Mastery where it's clearly stated that "this extra attack MUST use the same weapon AND [insert current other descriptions of the attack]", similar to the description of the Light property.
But, there's another problem here - Cleave, as you mentioned, requires the attack to HIT in order to trigger cleave. And that's very inconvenient, since if the first attack misses, then you need the second attack to trigger a Cleave. With a barbarian, you're less likely to miss, but it's still possible. So if you miss your first attack, you need the second attack to trigger cleave and then to potentially replace it with a breath weapon. And if we're under the assumption that replacing a Cleave attack with anything else isn't exactly kosher, then, for simplicity's sake I think we have to just make an assumption - we always trigger Cleave on our first attack, but we replace the second normal attack with a breath weapon. Plus, that way, we'll be more true to our concept - maximizing damage to both targets. If we assume we replace just the Cleave attack with a breath weapon, then we minimize actual cleave damage and maximize single-target. So our cleave is basically superficial.
Also also - about Hunter's Horde Breaker and Cleave - you can do both attacks against the second target AND trigger them both off of the same strike. If the first attack you deal hits, then you trigger both Cleave and Horde Breaker at the same time. And when simultaneous effects happen at the same time, then the players decides the order of the effects. So, in order to keep the 2nd target unattacked to qualify for Horde Breaker, we just resolve the attack from Horde Breaker first, then the attack from the Cleave Mastery, and voila xD
A funny barbarian option for this build would also be the giants might barbarian, the level 10 feature is a hilarious way to position and enemy for optimal cleaving. A bit of social engineering and it's a guarantee if you can convince them to let you throw them lol
Also 1d6 extra weapon damage is good when you have 4-5 attacks per turn
Maybe you mention it later, but I think using push (prolly from pike) to setup cleave on the 2nd attack has a lot of legs for this build!
I think using Halberd (along with PAM benefits) as a reach weapon might also somewhat help you to position better for blasting more enemies with your breath weapon, since you can't catch more than two people in a cone or line if everyone is directly adjacent to you. At least not without taking unnecessary opportunity attacks. Well, at least until you get Battering Roots...
Please do an max for Illriggers!
I’ve been playing a build like this and it absolutely destroys the battlefield.
Giant Barb 6: with oversized weapon that can switch elemental damage type,
Hunter ranger 3: longstrider, jump, goodberry, horde breaker, athletics expertise
Champion Fighter 3-11: Since we have about 4-5 attacks per turn all with reckless advantage, we have about a 45% chance to crit per turn. I’ve double critted a superboss on s single turn before. At fighter 11 (character level 20) we get yet another attack per turn. Also.. Action Surge!
Fire Goliath + Fire Giant Foundling = can add 2d10 to any attack, but save it for crits so crits get +4d10 fire
If we run out of rages, we can use goliath large form instead of barbarian large form, and hunters mark instead of elemental cleaver. My DM had nagas “calm emotions” this guy lol
GWM obviously
Push mastery to set up cleave and horde breaker
I know oversized weapons isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in any case, the damage is still huge. With oversized weapons, averages something between 25-30 damage per attack, and up to 70 damage per crit. PER attack and PER crit, and you get up to 5 attacks per turn.
I know some build crafters only stick to 2024 but in the real world I paid for Bigby’s and other stuff so nobody is going to tell me I can’t use it.
Useful attack patterns (each letter is a target. Capitalized is main attack from action, lowercase is hordebreaker or cleave)
Most common: A(push), b(horde breaker), A, b (cleave)
Focus a target: AbaA
Big slice: AbCd
Hey Colby! Why not the Halberd? 1 less damage than the greataxe but has cleave and REACH which makes it way easier to cleave.
@@urbanassassin26 patience, grasshopper 😉
@@DnDDeepDiveMy bad! I didn't make it there yet 😅
“Ooohhh MEEEAAAT Clever, I believe you’ll protect us through the niiiiight”
~_~
Fun, fun build. Imagine with the reach of a Goliath or Bugbear. Personally, I like the satire of a Gnome or Halfling build.
Why yes, I do like Pina coladas!
I recently made almost exactly the same build. I just made it to level 9. I took berserker instead for the extra damage. And I dipped one level of monk, and got grappler, for being able to use a bonus action to bring to enemies together. I was considering world tree, though, as well. In retrospect, I think I prefer world tree, because it keeps your bonus action free. I think the only thing I would change on yours, is I would prefer to take Mage Slayer instead of PAM. Primarily for that legendary resistance once per short rest.
Colby, I would love to see your take on a barbarian/warlock multiclass, focusing on heavy weapons and spells that dont require concentration: armor of agathys, flame shield, eldritch smite, that kind of thing.
Damage resistances+ armor of agathys + fiend temp hp buff meaning you're dealig tons of damage when you hit or get hit.
Sometimes, you gotta clear out the riffraff, the mooks before you get to the big bad boss. Or maybe you're the PC paving the road so the other PCs can get to the BBB.
Loved the intro! 🤣
While I do like the breath weapons I think the little lizards might be a better choice - That Draconic roar/cry is very very handy as is the cantrip of choice on stat of choice if you take from one source, and pack tactics from the other speaks for itself. Perhaps less ideal for the barbarian, as it will somewhat invalidate one of the two reasons to really be a barbarian, though not giving the opponents advantage against you is still nice. A similar initial concept but not choosing the traditional fighter instead perhaps - get that extra extra attack in the end.
Or I think perhaps one of the races with movement speed bonus - when your whole stick is getting into melee hits every extra step counts a great deal more than it would when you are a ranged combatant.
Great thanks to aways ❤
Unarmoured defence isn't really a trap, it just doesn't work superbly for everyone - it is for instance one of my personal favourites for spell slinging build. Lets you have lots of that precious concentration check stat without losing AC or casting stats, while also having lots of health for a mostly spell slinger with the smaller hit die. And while the barbarian's early level skills don't synergise superbly it does provide some useful bonus still, with wild magic being thematic and though a little RNG very useful if you get into trouble or run out of spells.
I feel telekinesis would be amazing here as a bonus action use even though the half feat attribute isn’t ideal
I think Pushing with the Pike will help with positioning the enemies. Then swap to the Halberd to Cleave. It would be worth talking to your DM about getting to use the Great Weapon Master bonus damage on Bonus Attacks and Reaction Attacks. Especially with the Caster vs Melee divide. Martials need the help.
Just as a note, with the changes to GWM, Longbows can benefit from it as a Longbow is "Heavy" and GWM no longer states melee combat. And granted, with point buy, your stats will be thin. However, with a decent Dex score, Archery fighting style from Ranger, GWM, and Hunter's Mark, you can actually be a decent ranged combatant who can turn into a monster if the enemies want to get too close. Or you can use the bow until you get into melee. Combined with the World Tree subclass, if you start within 230 feet of someone, decent chance you can get a good attack off on your turn. And as a Barbarian, that is awesome
And longbow has the Slow mastery, so really nice to soften the enemy up if they are coming to you
Made a version of this character that goes Ranger + Monk
5 levels into Elements Monk
4 levels into Hunter Ranger
Bonus Action flurry of blows with Unarmed Fighting does 1d6 on hit but more importantly pulls an enemy up to 20 feet towards me. Or 2 enemies 10 feet closer. This way I can group up enemies easier.
Then use my action to for Horde breaker and Cleave the same as this build.
It’s a bit weird using Medium Armor, STR, and a Heavy weapon on monk but the rules still allow you to use Flurry of Blows so it works fine.
After 4 levels in Ranger I’d go Monk the rest of the way for more Focus points. Fighter and Barbarian sound like good option w as well.
Feats: Tough, GWM, and Sentinel
I think this would be a better cleaver.
Race: Loxodon to grapple whilst two handing
Ranger Hunter with Horde Breaker to level 5
Elemental Monk to level 8
DWYW after
Feat: GWM
This allows you to wield halberd and get cleave attack + horde breaker. 4 total attacks + GWM prof bonus at level 5. With BA you can make ranged unarmed strikes to push/pull/grapple enemies to ensure they are within 5 feet.
On the topic of replacing the Cleave second attack with the dragon breath, I would say no. The Cleave is, essentially, swinging the axe broadly and hitting one target, and continuing the same arc of the swing into another nearby target. I would also rule this the same way for Hoard Breaker. I know it's ruled as two attacks, but I would personally just treat it as a single swing of the weapon.
Alright Colby, at this point I have no choice but to assume you're reading my thoughts. The last couple weeks I've been putting together a World Tree Barbarian who is going to take Hunter Ranger levels.
This certainly makes that job easier!!
(Unfortunately we're adapting the subclass to 2014 rules, but still very excited to play it)
PS - another fantastic outtakes. Keep it up, you're doing a great job making your dad look like a fool :)
my favourite dnd channel posted a new video the moment i was looking for one! such a blessing :D thank you colby for your amazing content!! I am really curious, if you wanted to build a witcher character, a monster hunter, how would you make him work? I saw the grim hollow monster hunter one recently and i am curious if you would do a build of that class
I sort of tried to go that route with the Blood Hunter Mutant awhile back, though it's 3rd party content... th-cam.com/video/RjpTehPpK1o/w-d-xo.html - they were more of a ranged build but, if I remember, I had an alternative melee version option in the final thoughts? Been awhile.
@DnDDeepDive gonna check it out right after your new video, don't remember as well. The thing that kinda threw me off was the artificer beginning tbh 😅 any thoughts about doing builds for the new official unofficial illriger class, or maybe the upcoming monster hunter from grim hollow (both in dndb like the blood hunter if i am correct)
@ I’m considering it :)
Wind and trrruuuuttthhhhhhhhhh. It was so good.
I think a little more time explaining the Horde Breaker (H.B.)- Cleave combination may be in order.
So level 3 hunter ranger with a cleaving weapon.
1st attack against target one, then H.B. extra attack on target 2, if extra attack hits, then cleave back into target 1, should be the only way this works.
If you cleave on the first attack, you can't use H.B. on the second target, and the extra attack from cleave should be resolved before the extra attack from H.B. I get that this may be a grey area in the rules, and some may allow the first attack to trigger HB first and then cleave both into target 2, but this is taking advantage of a grey area in the rules. Cleave is part of the attack with the weapon, HB is a another full attack. It would be like stopping an attack half way to make a separate attack, and then trying to pick up the first one where you left off again. This combo can allow three attacks for a d12 each as early as level 3, so interpreting the rules to put some breaks on it, and make it a little tougher to pull of in combat should be fine.
Rapidly becoming one of my favorite channels. Good stuff budddayyyyy!
Today's shirt confirms that Colby has good taste in music
I died in laughter from the first 5 seconds
Re: can you use a breath weapon attack to replace the cleave attack?
Thats actually really tricky, because from the reading of cleave- No, but from the reading of Dragonborn breathe weapon yes.
On balance, as a GM I would allow it. After all, the general rule is specific beats general, and the Breath weapon uses a limited resource, making it "more specific". So you can't do this on every cleave anyway, which is where i would become wary as a GM.
So here for this! 😅
Just finished the audio book of Wind and Truth, it is VERY good
did you see the Nerdforge video on the stormlight series? They made custom books for Brandon Sanderson. They're fantastic!
I'm curious to see your thoughts on the new Artificer redesign in unearthed arcana!
@@under20over40 I just might have to do an Unearthed Arcana build…
@@DnDDeepDive we'd love to see it! bring back artificer!!!!!!! most unused and underrated class of all time
thanks Colby !
I would say the cleave is from the weapon used by the weapon mastery Not your breath weapon.
Thank you for another cool video! I am currently playing almost this exact build but as a giant barbarian. The lvl 6 and 10 features fits VERY nice with this concept!
However, I am not entirely sure that the assumption made here about the cleave attack being part of the attack action is correct? It is not stated directly in the Cleave description as it is for Nick. That can unfortunately cause some issues with both the breath weapon and the Great Weapon Master feat. It should work with opportunity attacks though, which is super awesome (even though it rarely happens)!
I think it's because battlemaster's superior dice scale and are applied more often than horde breaker.
No one knows the words tonthat song. It just sounds awesome
As a DM I love relying on swarms of goblins and large numbers of small enemies to make higher-end combats threatening. So this is a great hard-counter.
I didn't see it mentioned in the video but can you use your dragonborn flight to fly up 30ft and teleport the enemy up next to you? Seems like a decent way to deal some burst damage on a round if it's possible.
Fun fact about Polearm Master’s reaction attack: it doesn’t matter how the enemy enters your reach, only that they do.
Druid right next to you thorn whips them within 10 feet of yourself? That qualifies.
Sorcerer/warlock/wizard/bard uses Vortex Warp on an enemy to put them next to you? That qualifies.
Sword and board fighter shield bashes them on a charge? That qualifies.
Enemy was in the air but knocked prone causing them to fall right next to you? That qualifies.
Debatably, the Vortex Warp trick could even work if *you’re* the one being teleported, though you’d need a lenient DM for that one.
This character build seems really fitting for Diablo 3's Sonya, featured in Heroes of the Storm. Whirlwind barbarian go brrr
Firstly 7:32 don't call me Shirley!
Secondly 23:36 I don't see this at all. I know fluff or just common understanding of text is all but worthless in this kind of civil disputations, but the text clearly says "These heavy weapons can slash through opponents. If you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can make a second attack against a creature within 5 feet that is also within your reach. "
Thirdly we play in our ongoing campaign (by 2014 rules) with the cleaving through enemies rule from the DMG. It never felt overpowered or unbalanced and is the epitome of wading through minions.
For honesty's sake, the "undamaged" wording bugs me a bit, but hey, my Paladin once smote through 4 zombies, felt brilliant.
Its actually funny that you post this because ive been making this same build concept for the past 2 weeks.
I think you're actually losing out on a few things.
(These claims are made with the knowledge that 5.5e is backwards compatible.)
• Bug Bear would be excellent for this for the extra reach. Aasimar for the different forms. Goliath for flavor.
• Path of the Giant Barbarian gives you extra reach at level 3, but it also increases your SIZE which greatly affects your area of attack.
• Greataxe is the superior damage option, higher damage die. Cleave as well. If you're playing Bug Bear and Giant Barbarian you have 15 foot reach. (You can still go Halberd if you're worried your reach isn’t already insane).
• if you CAN use unarmored defense... use the Mariner fighting style.
• You can get more ASI's if you start fighter (CHAMPION) and go to 6, then 3 Barbarian, then 3 Ranger. Total level 12 making 4 attacks per turn, all with advantage. Level 13, and 14 can be in Ranger/Barbarian if youre still hungry for ASI/feats, otherwise keep pushing fighter and at level 18 you get fighter's level 11 extra attack.
Awesome build. Me personally I'd replace Sentinel with Mage Slayer. The once a day legendary resistance can be a life saver. Especially since barbarians are bad at mental saves.
In my last combat there were monsters constantly trying to charm my barbarian every turn, but between Mage Slayer, a Bard in the party giving me Bardic Inspiration and using Countercharm, and another party member with the Musician origin feat who’d given me Heroic Inspiration, I wound up making it through without a single failed WIS save despite having dumped WIS, it was great.
Yes, I like Pina Coladas!
Perfect opener
Thanks for the umm edit! So funny. I think that was just for me.
I imagine replacing your Cleave Attack with your Breath Weapon as imbuing the weapon with elemental energy and letting it explode out as you hit the first creature
I would take lunging strike just to cheese that extra little bit of reach.
We really like you too, Colby
I'd say you can't replace your cleave attack with a breath attack. I feel the intention of this is that my attack is so strong that I hit 2 enemies with one swing. Which is why the second target needs to be within 5 feet of the next target. Also it only gains you that attack if you hit and presumably it has to be rolled right after that attack was made. I can't hit move 5 feet over and then hit with my cleave attack. I couldn't hit with that weapon drop that great axe and pull out a greatsword to deal damage with that cleave attack.