source: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/2254-ready-your-champion-all-9-world-of-warcraft

I finally get to NOT DM! I think I might be the most experienced player in our new group so I think spells might fall to me. The only full caster I've ever played is Cleric I think.

I was looking at EK, Hexblade, Swordsinger, and Swordsbard. What can you tell me about them. Whats good, whats bad, whats fun, any alternatives I'm not thinking of. I don't think I'm really limited to any source, since I'm gonna be like DMs assistant or something probably...

We're gonna do the Icepeak adventure, with a first time DM.

Title. My DM said we were halfway through the campaign and are currently level 7. My problem: Its always the same fight. I cast Summon beasts and then wildshape. Then we hit each other a bunch of times until the enemy dies. No fight is close and i dont think my character has ever been downed in this campaign. I have never had to do death saves. I also thought there was way more variety in beasts when i picked the subclass, but its basically just different number and other than that theyre all the same.

Dont get me wrong i love the character. Im just not having fun with the subclass anymore since every fight blends together. So what do you think i should do?

Hi, I'm new to DnD and want to play something fun, something that focus on helping my partners in combat but is not so easily killed, what should i pick?

I did play a Rogue once and it seemed very squishy, can someone help?

I don't have much experience playing 2024, but I'm thinking about creating a Dhampir Berserker Barbarian with the Bloodlust Feat for in-combat healing.

I'm not used to play Barbarians, but the idea of a savage, animalistic Dhampir really appeals to me. What I'm concerned about is the change in the 2024 Monster Manuals, that give many enemies the ability to automatically inflict conditions on a successful hit. This appears to be fairly debilitating to a Berserker, as he would be constantly using Reckless Attack and I'm afraid that I wouldn't enjoy getting Poisoned, Grappled or Restrained on a regular basis after getting hit so easily.

I was thinking about multiclassing Battle Master Fighter to improve my defenses via the Bait and Switch and Evasive Footwork Maneuvers.

I'm planning to go either two-weapon fighting or Great Weapon Master and also getting the Mage Slayer Feat to protect myself from mental Saving Throws that won't rely on the Charmed or Frightened Conditions.

Other Feats I'm considering are Defensive Duelist (if dual wielding) or Shifting Combatant, both to improve my AC.

Am I thinking too much in a white room, or what is your experience playing a (Berserker) Barbarian in 2024? Do you have any other recommendations to improve my AC while still being able to dish out damage? Thank you in advance!

So I'm playing a 5.5E game with my cousins, all of whom have some to little experience (minus the DM). We are a trio made up of a Hunter Ranger, Lore Bard, and me a Peace Cleric. I've been trying to play more support/damage and I'm not sure what I should do for my next couple of ASI's.

We are currently lvl 5. I'm playing a human so I have both the Mark of Healing and Purple Dragon Rook Origin feats. My current stats are: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 18, CHA 10. I tool a +2 to WIS for the lvl 4 ASI. My original plan was to take Potent Dragonmark, Greater Mark of Healing, and Purple Dragon Comandant to max out my WIS and to have the support/extra spells.

When we get in fights I normally use my Emboldening Bond and Bless to assist (my cousins got bad rolls), Blast around with Guiding Bolt, and heal when necessary.

Outside of fights I start the day with Aid for the extra HP, Enhance Ability to assist checks, and Detect Magic as a ritual for the large amount of Magic we run into.

Would this still be the best path to go down or are there better feats for me to take? What would be a good path/feats to takes? We are using 5.5E rules but are allowed things that havent been ported over yet.

A few months ago I came here looking for advice for my Unarmed STR Grappler Lupin build, which worked fine for levels 1-2. Now we (as a party) have realized that this adventure will take a bit more optimization in order to survive the dungeon crawl, so I'm heavily considering switching from unarmed combat to Greataxe-GWM and just bonking my way to victory.

That's where I'd like some advice, since I don't see a lot of optimization to be had with going heavy weapons? Is it really just "take a Greataxe and GWM and you're set?" I don't feel like Great Weapon Fighting is worth it, so I don't see a point in taking a Fighter dip.

I'm somewhat 146% sure my GM will let me respec since that's what his stance was beforehand ("If you want to reroll, just do that and come play.")

As it stands right now, I have the following character:

Level 4 Wild Heart Barbarian, Lupin species.

Stats: 18-14-14-8-12-10

Feat: Grappler

Of course I'm keeping the species, even though I'll be missing out on the slashing unarmed damage (I wasn't using it anyway); I guess the Howl might come up sometimes (I personally think it has bad scaling). I'd like to keep the same subclass, since it resonates sort of well with the character, but I'm open to other suggestions, mainly Berserker, although it does seem sort of boring. Zealot can also make sense narratively (my character is a very fervent follower of Jaromy, the goddess of anger in Greyhawk), but the Zealot's abilities don't seem that intriguing to be worth it. I GUESS I could wait to see what the Shaman subclasses are going to be in the WoW book, but eh.

I guess I'd need to change Grappler to GWM... And that's it? Is there something I'm missing on what can be done with this direction of taking a character?

I'm asking because I was very pleasantly surprised when I found out you can take GWM on a ranged martial build, that seemed unique. Isn't there a similar moment with melee GWM characters?

hei im new using a caster class, most of the time im using class like rogue/ranger/fighter, and my latest chara is 7 rogue/1 paladin, i want to try to play some caster for my dm new campaign, its start with level.3 with one free feat, any sugestion? another note the race is alredy decided by the dm and its a bugbear

I'm trying to make a tank/support. The point is to have a terrifying amount of AC.

The idea is to have 3 levels in Barbarian so I can have the Totem Warrior subclass and have resistance to all damage except psychic, classic choice.

Then, the next 3 levels will be in Artificer, this is cool for an early +1 AC, but also for the Armorer subclass, letting me impose disadvantage on attack rolls made against my allies.

I then plan, for level 7, on taking 1 level of Cleric to get the Forge domain and gain another AC OR to gain a level 4 in any of the said class and take the Arcane Infiltrator feat (DM allows 2024 feats) allowing me to dodge as a bonus action.

For anyone interested : The concept for my character is to play a sentient construct built to protect its home village. However, it failed miserably because it was never fully completed. After witnessing its master's death at the hands of (insert villain's name here), it dedicated its life to protecting the innocent and discovering its true identity.

Whenever my character sees innocent people getting hurt, it will enter "protection mode" and shield the victims. Think of Baymax from Big Hero 6.

Since its master died and it no longer has anyone to look up to as a leader, it will follow the teachings of Gond, Moradin, and Purphoros, the gods of the forge. This will also allow it to further develop its forging skills, explaining its choices of the Artificer and Cleric classes.

Is there anything I am missing out to be a wall for my team?

Hello, I am currently playing lvl 7 Warlock pact of the blade with stats:

str 19 dex 15 con 18 int 11 wis 12 cha 19

with feats at levels: 0 Gift of Gem Dragon 4 Moderately armoured.

I am thinking about which feat to choose at lvl 8. Warcaster, Shadow Touched, Resilient Con, Skill Expert, or some other?. Or should I just take +1 +1 ASI?

Each has it's pros.

Warcaster - advantage on concentration, therefore more eldritch invocations.

Shadow Touched - +1cha + more spells to cast/know

Resilient Con - prof. to concentration

Skill Expert - +1 str/cha and skill + expertise

Also how does wielding Rod of Pact Keeper and longsword work with spells that cost material components? (Dual Wielder - stow and then draw again?)

Thanks for your replies.

I’m going to be playing a m.o.m Aarakocra fighter in an upcomming campaign. I had planned to make a shield/ crossbow expert build. Only recently did I realize that I’m going to need a free hand in order to load my Hand Crossbow. I plan to choose a subclass with minimal bonus actions so I can be free to shoot a bonus bolt with my feat. I also have woodcarving proficiency so the cost of bolts wont be an issue.

Me and my dm have also agreed to nerf my flight, and give me a 30ft climbing speed. I can still fly at the same speed, I just need to be at an elevation of 10+ feet in order to properly takeoff. My heart is also set on playing this race.

That said, my dex is going to be +3 (16) at level 1 and I fear my leather armor AC with no shield might be a problem. Should I consider a different weapon to specialize in or is crossbow expert just fine? I also might be overthinking it because I usually play STR characters with high AC. This will probably be my first martial to have an AC below 18.

Note: My dm leans heavy into customization and I have a feeling that I’d eventually have access to a blacksmith that would be willing to make a wrist mounted or even shield mounted hand crossbow. That said, I’m wondering if it would be worth it in the long run.

Building a GOO warlock that I am very excited to play. Point buy STR8 DEX14 CON14 INT12 WIS10 CHA17 after background increases. Pact of the tome, agonizing blast, and devils sight at lvl 3 to start the campaign with plans to take one with shadows and repelling blast later at lvl 5. Very standard EB machine playstyle with spell choices to compliment (mostly charm, save or suck, and AOE control spells like hunger of hadar, tashas hideous laughter, suggestion, krails maggot, etc. for flavor and mechanics).

Reason for Pact of the Tome, One with Shadows, and my extra origin feat choice of magic initiative is to focus on utility. Agonizing blast, repelling blast, and devils sight would be for the standard practice of dropping HoH whenever possible and synergizing EB spamming with it. Notably I did not select Eldritch Mind as an invocation, which seems to be a go to for this style of play as a warlock (first one I have built, never played as one).

Between heroic inspo every long rest, the lucky feat from background, and 14CON at this level, how likely am I really to lose concentration at that critical moment? I feel like Eldritch Mind is overkill considering this combo allows me to get advantage on potentially 3 saves per LR at will, only going up from there as I level. What are your thoughts?

I could and likely will take it at lvl 7, but might suffer until that point if my spells are constantly failing in a given adventuring day and could see the need to delay taking one of the other invocations instead.

EDIT: forgot to mention my desire to take telekinetic as lvl 4 feat over warcaster for both flavor and utility of mage hand (plus BA to shove into HoH).

Hi,

I ve got a Lv 7 Zealot Human Barbarian,

• 17+1 STR, 16 CON, 14 DEX, 8 INT, 10 WIS, 8 CHA
• Tough
• Familiar Friend
• Great Weapon Master

using Greataxe for Cleave and Pike for Push and Tridents as Ranged option. My bonus action is used for the GWM extra attack or Zealot healing. My familiar drops caltrops and such, but mostly is there for out of combat utility. My allies are Druid, GOOlock and Bard, mostly control, so I m the tank and damage dealer. campaign ends around 12

What d you take at level 8 (5.5 only content)? ASI for 20 STR for better to hit once I get brutal strikes? I dont know if PAM d add much (the reaction IS cool though). Mage Slayer?

THX

I'm making a divination wizard who's whole gimmick is not believing in luck. Other than the clockwork amulet are there any other magic items or abilities that allow prerolled or predetermined results on rolls.

Thank you :)))

This is something I've been thinking about for either 2014 or 2024 D&D, so I'm interested in ideas for either.

As is pretty well-known, Sentinel can be used to help a rogue get sneak attack twice per round, by doing a reaction attack on someone else's turn.

The trouble (or part of it anyway) is that to trigger this option, you need to first have an enemy next to you and then that enemy needs to choose to make an attack against someone other than you (2014) or outright hit a target other than you with an attack (2024).

Not all that reliable because the enemy, pretty much by definition, could just attack you instead. Or use an ability other than an attack, negating the whole thing. It gets worse yet in 2024 since the enemy needs to outright hit the other target, not just swing at them, so that's even less reliable!

Having Allies Provoke AoOs

What I was thinking about is: what if you have an ally deliberately provoke an attack of opportunity from that enemy? In that case, the enemy is being given a free swing which it can only use against that target, so most creatures will take that swing. In 2014 that will give you your Sentinel reaction automatically. In 2024, the enemy still has to actually hit, but at least there's a good chance of it working.

A problem of course is that one doesn't usually want to give an enemy free hits! If it's a noodle-armed enemy mage bonking someone with a stick for a 4 damage AoO, maybe that's ok, but obviously that's not the most common situation.

In 2014, an ally who is nigh-unhittable is a good option. It should certainly be possible to create situations where the average damage which the ally is allowing the enemy to get with the 'free' AoO is tiny compared to the average damage you are going to deal to that enemy in retaliation, etc.. That's counterproductive in 2024 though, you want someone who's super easy to hit. (And as far as I'm aware, there's no option in the rules to just let an enemy auto-hit you even if you want them to)

An ally which is completely disposable could work. As could one which is trivial to heal. A Steel Defender comes to mind, especially in 2014. They can be infinitely healed with Mending and can be restored easily if killed anyway, so having a Steel Defender provoke an AoO from an enemy so that you can use Sentinel on that enemy might be a good idea. It's mostly free damage.

Perhaps an echo knight's echo might work.

Some kinds of familiars might also be good options? A rogue can actually get one of those pretty easily instead of needing to rely on a teammate. They're replaceable with 10 minutes and some pocket change and many have terrible AC which helps in 2024, but of course they'll tend to die in 1 hit and then one can't use them for advantage in the rest of the fight, etc.

There are a few kinds of summons which have the durability to take a hit (or in 2014 are quite hard to hit), and those might be worth using for this purpose sometimes. If anyone has ideas about ideal summons for the job, I'd be interested in hearing those.

I've been trying to think of ways to get mounts to work, but I haven't found one so far. A controlled mount goes on your turn, which is no good for getting multiple sneak attacks per round. And it seems like it would be hard to have the mount leave the enemy's reach while you remain within 5 feet of the enemy anyway. Perhaps you could ride a mule up to the enemy, then dismount and count on an uncontrolled mule trying to flee from the enemy, but that's less reliable than a mind-controlled summon or something. A decent deal financially even if one has to buy a lot of extra mules though. Paying 8 gold for 1-2 additional sneak attacks is a pretty good price from that perspective

What ideas do other people have for reliably getting enemies to give a rogue party member Sentinel attacks?

I want to make a character (more accurately, rework an already existing character that I'm currently playing) centered around athletic maneuvers and frontlining. Walk up to the enemy, grapple-trip-disarm them, and be durable to continue doing this.

West marches environment, no overarching campaign, every session will be non-continuous and randomised, along with different party members each session. (So "take whatever will come up" isn't applicable here.)
Level will change every session between 2-15 (adjusting the character sheet before every session), most often around level 12.

Stuff available: Dual class, ancestry paragon, free archetype where the second dedication can be taken parallel with the first, but both has to be finished before taking the third, and only one of the two can be a multiclass archetype. Also can put one of the class boosts anywhere instead of the fix place.

The base concept:

STR+CON focused Oread Minotaur mono-Earth Kineticist + Gymnast Swashbuckler with a Whip Tail and (Sapling?) Shield. Secondary attributes are DEX+WIS for saves and perception, and INT+CHA isn't important.

- Earth Skill Junction gives a permanent status bonus to athletics
- Stylish Combatant gives circumstance bonus to athletic maneuvers
- (Constricting) Whip Tail allows me to grapple even without a free hand
- From Swashbuckler Agile Maneuvers and Derring-do are essential for athletic maneuvers, from Kineticist Armor in Earth for better defenses and Assume Earth's Mantle is a STR apex stance for more stacking athletics
- If instead of a default Sturdy Shield or +3 AC Fortress shield I take a buckler (more specifically, Sapling Shield, which is the only specific magic buckler that has greater versions of it with better stats to use Shield Block with at higher levels) I can take Elegant Buckler to still get +2 AC when shield raising, and it counts as a free hand for most stuff, like throwing Shurikens with Flying Blade and Thrower's Bandolier for offense (I'm not sure in the last part, I was recommended about it previously)
- Sapling hand for impulses, shielding, and potentially attacking, tail for grappling, one hand is left largely unused. Could take a Whip to trip and disarm from reach, but I'm not sure about it.
- Stuff like Quick Jump, Flamboyant Athlete, Powerful Leap, Wall Jump, and Cloud Jump can be used for mobility instead of normally striding, because large jumping minotaur is funny. :D They can also enable stuff like Flamboyant Leap and Running Tackle, and even the incredibly funny Cannonball Fall. :D

Because of the above elaborated optional rules, I will have to take an (or multiple) archetypes. I thought about:

- Wrestler: Wrestler Dedication, Crushing Grab, Clinch Strike, Submission Hold, Spinebreaker, Form Lock, and as much Forced Movement rules hurts Whirling Throw are all grappling related, very relevant for this build and playstyle.
- Thlipit Contestant: While most feats are for offense (which isn't this character's speciality), the Dedication itself gives reach to grapple which is extremely good. (Whip Tail makes me eligible to take the dedication.) Snap Falling Fruit is good for defending, Lunge can be good if I will take a whip, and the other feats are mostly about attacking.
- Exemplar: The Dedication and Second Ikon gives an Ikon, the most notable ones are Mirrored Aegis and Scar Of The Survivor which are very straightforwardly beneficial. The rest of the archetype aren't relevant here.
- Guardian: Taunt, Intercept Attack, and guardian feats like Larger than Life (Guardian), Bodyguard, Shielding Taunt, Disarming Intercept, Reflexive Shield, and many-many more great defensive and action-compression feats.
- Monk: The Dedication is a d6 fist compatible with swash stuff (unlike the minotaur horn attack) and Dancing Leaf for bigger jumps. More about monk later.
- Sentinel: This is a hard nut to crack, because the Dedication, Steel Skin, and Armor Specialist are utterly useless because of Armor in Earth, although Mighty Bulwark is good depending how much I invest into dexterity (I will get panache mostly from athletic maneuvers instead of tumbling through, and most of the time I wouldn't want to spend it because of Derring-do). The golden feats here are Sacrifice Armor and Greater Interpose, to use them with Armor in Earth. I asked, its level is the highest rune's level that is replicated onto it.
- Bastion: While the Dedication is good but not particularly exciting, Disarming Block can be used for out of turn panache generation.

The reason why I'm switching from monk to kineticist because with the monk-gymnast swashbuckler combination while I can do the things I want to do, I can do them either as a monk or a swashbuckler, not as one, where the two classes are strengthening each other.
For example, Flurry of Maneuvers sounds great and the reason why I originally went with monk, but it can't be used with alternative grapple actions like Submission Hold, Spinebreaker, or Sleeper Hold. If I want to use these, I either use FoM before it and suffer full MAP because of the previous two Attack-trait actions inside FoM, or don't use FoM before it and do only a normal-action grapple, at which point FoM's "essentiality" is largely reduced. Mixed Maneuver sounds good, but still isn't compatible with the previous alternative grapples, and when used it makes Agile Maneuvers redundant. Also Sleeper Hold could be a big draw towards monk as unconscious for a minute on crit sounds great even if they don't drop prone and what they are holding, but when I tried to use it in a combat thinking the enemies will have to spend an action to wake up the target, oh wait, Unconscious people will just automatically wake up because of the noisy fight. Utterly useless...
Both Flurry of Blows and Dastardly Dash are Flourish actions, so can't be used together.
Incredible Movement's and Stylish Combatant's status bonuses don't stack.
Most monk stances lock the user into one specific attack, while also taking up the stance "slot", not mentioning most of them aren't compatible with finishers.
Crane Stance would give good jumping benefits, but using a shield and Flamboyant Athlete makes it largely redundant while locking into a d4 attack.
Reflective Ripple Stance's circumstance bonus is redundant with Stylish Combatant.
Gorilla Stance has the grapple trait, but one would mostly take it for the backswing and forceful traits and d8 damage, because it allowing to grapple without an empty hand (as I assume gorilla slam attacks are made with your fists) is dubious compared to stuff like Crunch, I think it only has the trait because of the stance's name.
Clinging Shadows Stance is the only monk stance that would be any good for this kind of build, but it's a level 8 feat and costs a focus point while being a stance. In my experience when I used it, reach grapple without reach trip and ranged method of attack is not that good, because if the enemy is locked down 10 feet away but I can't reach more than 5 feet, then I can't reach it either (that's why I thought about using a whip and shurikens in the new build). The +2 circumstance bonus to grapple is redundant with stylish combatant, but the same bonus to escape DCs is nice, although not automated on foundry.

I think the most complementary thing that I can get out of monk (outside of proficiencies) is the powerful fist feature (d6 unarmed attack that are compatible with finishers) and Dancing Leaf, both which can be taken from the Monk archetype with two feats. Other good and relevant feats like Crushing Grab, Whirling Throw, or Form Lock can be taken from the Wrestler archetype too.

Compared to this, kineticist either grants stuff that stack (like status bonus to athletics, heavy armor AC+bulwark, and STR apex stance), or gives benefits in areas where swashbuckler can't (like ranged aoe damage and terrain manipulation).

What are your thoughts? What did I missed? Which archetypes do you recommend? What items and other accessories should I get? How could I improve on the details? Thank you for your explanatory comments!

Hey there, so I'm playing a Drow Draconic Sorcerer (Gold dragon descent) and just wanted to know the best way to continue them and the best feats to pick.

Current stats

Level 6:

(Rolled stats)

STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 14
INT: 12
WIS:8
CHA: 20

AC 18

At level 4 I took the fey touched feat to round up to 20 and got misty step and hex. I went with golden dragon lineage for resistance to fire and a bonus to fire based spells.

Also possess a +1 Bloodwell vial.

What would be the best feats to take at level 8 and 12? (My primary goal is to deal as much damage as I can, or shut down enemies, basically just being effective in combat).

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello, I return. Again, check tag for the system the book is using, and for context these are Adventurers from the Adventurer's Guild. They were supposed to just do a simple mission of escorting some goods to a town, but then the town in question turns out to be getting raided by a dragon and a massive underground cult and then one thing leads to another and eventually it escalates into kicking Tiamat's ass. I've updated the builds and am posting this part 2 in the hopes of additional feedback.

Jo of house Coxswain, a Aasimar Barbarian/Fighter Multiclass. Party Tank, Walks the Path of the Wild Heart and takes the Champion Subclass as a Fighter. Has the Tough Origin Feat.

Gary, a Red Dragonborn GOOlock. Has the Lucky Origin Feat. Built around Pact of the Blade.

Andrew Nathan, a Human Monk, and Warrior of Mercy. Has the Healer Origin Feat from his training as well as the Alert Origin Feat to tie into his brother.

James Nathan, a brilliant but lazy Human Wizard. He takes the Evoker subclass, and has the Crafter Origin Feat from exploring hobbies as well as the Alert Origin Feat to tie into his brother.

Mixx (name not final), a Harengon Rogue, ascribes to the Thief archetype and downplays the importance of Sneak Attack in favor of abusing items as much as they can. Has the Skilled Origin Feat for extra Tool Proficiencies.

Edit: James was an Artificer when I first posted this, but I changed him to a wizard because it overlapped with Mixx's item caddy gimmick too much and I wanna keep these characters distinct from one another.

So I have a question for the community around a set of interactions for a level 2 character I’m planning for a one shot with my group.

I’m going to be a 1 warlock / 1 fighter. I’m going to take PotB. With point buy, will dump str, int, and wis, and have 16s in dex, con, and cha.

I want to take advantage of PotB allowing me to re-conjure weapons as a bonus action by making this a thrown weapon build. Was originally planning on using a spear or trident and then resummoning after my throw each turn. All while wearing a shield.

But then I thought, what if I use daggers? With the nick weapon mastery, I can throw 2 with my action without using my bonus action. My exact sequencing would be this: atk action -> bonus action summon wep -> nick atk action. Obviously I’d need a few real daggers on my person for the turns I have to summon first.

My questions are this;

- is it acceptable to use a shield and use the nick mastery?

- Is it acceptable to use a bonus action to summon a wep between the atk action and nick atk?

I don’t see anything in the rules about nick or light saying that I have to use different hands, just different weapons. So I kinda figured the shield would be fair game, right?

TLDR: can I use a shield in one hand and still throw two weapons with the nick mastery? And before I use the nick attack, can I use the bonus action to resummon a new dagger via PotB?

I rolled good stats (17, 16, 17, 15, 13, 14) for a pugilist so now im wondering what subclass i should go for

i noticed how theres a lot of beer related items in the pugilist book so i went bet

Half-Orc rogue with savage attacker and piercer.

Sounds good on paper but, how could i make it a crit fishing build to add the extra damage from piercer and the half-orc's own abilities? Should i also take sentinel? Or maybe mage slayer? Idk.

Hello everyone!

I am going to be playing a campaign with some friends soon, and I decided that I wanted to play a Polearm Master / Sentinel type character.

The campaign is going to be High Lethality, but the DM still wants the players to have a Heroic Fantasy feel, so he's giving a bonus feat to everyone at level 4 and then every 2 levels afterwards, up to the maximum of level 12.

I usually tend to play Wizards, but I decided I'd like to shake things up a bit and play a martial class. Maybe a Paladin, maybe a Fighter.

So I'm just wondering what the best subclass would be for a character who uses a glaive?

Thanks!

EDIT 1: I'd like to play a martial, not a caster, and I want to go full progression, no multi classing, please, and I'd like to be either a Paladin or a Fighter.

EDIT 2: Also, here is my character's backstory to explain why I'd like to be either a fighter or a paladin: She was inducted into the ranks of the Royal Guard of her kingdom in what was the proudest moment of her life.

Within a year, however, the king had been overthrown in a popular revolt lead by the king's younger brother againts the tyranny of the king, and the remaining royal guards were marked as traitors and outlawed, with a bounty on all of their heads.

So my character wants to be able to defend her comrades, basically.

Hey everyone!

I’m planning a pure Battle Master Fighter using the 2024 rules, focusing on Strength, heavy armor, and levels 1–10. No multiclassing.
I’ve narrowed it down to two builds:

Option 1: Dual Wielder
Scimitar (Nick) + Shortsword (Vex)
Two-Weapon Fighting Style
Dual Wielder feat
Focus on multiple attacks, consistent damage, and Battle Master maneuvers.

Option 2: Greatsword
Greatsword (Graze)
Defense or Great Weapon Fighting Style
Great Weapon Master feat
Focus on heavy hits, reliable damage, and Battle Master maneuvers.

I’m trying to figure out how best to optimize each build throughout levels 1–10, especially considering the extra feats Fighters receive.

A few questions:

Which feats would you recommend for each build, and in what order (levels 4, 6, and 8)?

Are there interesting feat combinations beyond the obvious choices? For example, Fey Touched for Hunter’s Mark/Hex, Charger, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, etc.

Which Battle Master maneuvers synergize best with each weapon setup?

I’m interested in both optimization and interesting tactical options, rather than simply maximizing damage. Magic items to recommend are welcome too

Would love to hear your suggested builds and feat progressions for levels 1–10!
Thanks!