Dedicated Master (5e Subclass)
Elves have incredibly long lives, often spending a great deal of it dedicating themselves to the arts. Some elven warriors choose to focus that dedication to the art of war, with some even deciding to focus entirely on mastering a single melee weapon. Many of these masters go on to become legendary heroes, demonstrating their unparalleled skill and artistry to the world at large.
You are one of these warriors.
Requirements: This fighter subclass is only available to elves.
Level 3: Masterful Understanding[edit]
You gain proficiency with smith's tools. If you are already proficient with smith's tools, you gain proficiency with one other tool of choice. You have advantage on any ability checks you make involving the creation, identification, knowledge, or repair of your dedicated weapon type.
You can spend 1 minute and make an Intelligence (History) check against a DC of 15 to identify the magical properties of a dedicated weapon and how to use or activate them, just as if you had cast an identify spell on it. If you have access to your smith's tools, this roll has advantage.
Level 3: Dedicated Weapon[edit]
Choose any single melee weapon type that you are proficient with and for which you know its mastery. This is the type of weapon you have chosen to dedicate your life to studying, and for which many of your class features now revolve around. If your dedicated weapon is a ranged weapon, it can be used as an improvised weapon in melee, and you are proficient with it when used this way.
Once you have chosen a dedicated weapon, you gain a number of benefits when wielding it battle.
- Dedicated Style: Choose one of the following properties that your dedicated weapon does not already possess: Finesse, Heavy, Light, Reach, Thrown (Range 20/60), Two-Handed, or Versatile. Your dedicated weapon is treated as if it possessed that property for as long as you are wielding it, in addition to any properties it normally possesses. At 10th level your dedicated weapon gains a second property from this list, and at 17th level it gains a third property from this list.
- Improved Critical: Your attack rolls with your dedicated weapon can now score a critical hit on a roll of 19-20.
- Versatile Grip: You can change the type of damage type of your dedicated does, choosing between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. You choose what type of damage you deal with each attack.
Drawbacks: Your dedication to your weapon of choice is so complete that you suffer disadvantage when attack with weapons not applicable to the weapon mastery class feature granted by your fighter levels. This includes weapons you have mastered by other means, such as with the Weapon Master feat or through another class such as rogue or barbarian.
Important Note: You temporarily lose all features requiring the use of your dedicated weapon if you wield any other type of weapon, including dual wielding a non-dedicated weapon.
Level 7: Defensive Stance[edit]
You are so confident in your dedication that you no longer require armor or shields to defend yourself.
When not wearing armor or carrying a shield, your AC is equal to 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier.
Your AC improves by an additional +2 while you have your dedicated weapon drawn, simultaneously using it as both a weapon and as a shield with which to fend off attacks. If your dedicated weapon has a magic bonus to attack and damage rolls, your bonus to AC improves by the same amount. Your dedicated weapon features from other traits that improve or benefit from wielding a shield.
Level 10: Attack Au Fer[edit]
If you use your reaction to make an opportunity attack and you hit with your dedicated weapon, you gain a second attack against the same target immediately. This second attack must be made with your dedicated weapon.
You also gain a new way to make opportunity attacks. When a creature makes a melee attack against you and misses, you can make an opportunity attack against them with your dedicated weapon.
Level 15: Iaijutsu Master[edit]
You add your proficiency bonus to your initiative rolls, and you never have disadvantage on your initiative rolls.
Level 18: Grandmaster[edit]
Your dedication is complete, granting you the following benefits with your dedicated weapon.
- Additional Fighting Style: You gain another fighting style feat of your choice.
- Deadly Precision: The bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage you deal with your dedicated weapon ignores resistance.
- Greater Critical: Your attack rolls with your dedicated weapon can now score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20.
Adaptations[edit]
In some campaigns, this subclass might be available to members of other long-lived species. No significant modifications would need to be applied for this adaptation other than refluffing the description.
In others, this subclass might broaden its definition of "dedicated weapon" to weapons of a similar type. For example, a Dedicated Master might be devoted to mastering axes in general instead of the battleaxe specifically, allowing them to wield hand axes, great axes, and possibly even halberds with equal expertise. The DM would need to define what weapons fall within a group, looking to older editions of the game for inspiration. Even with this adaptation, you would still need to know the weapon mastery of the specific weapon types in order to gain these features. The Dedicated Style feature gained at 3rd level would need to be altered, applying the chosen property to your dedicated weapon only if it did not already possess it (instead of having a separate list for each type of weapon in the dedicated group).
These adaptation are only available with DM permission, and they may wish to modify one or more of the features of this subclass to reflect either of these changes.
Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Character Options → Subclasses