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Min/Max Boards Dungeons & Dragons Discussion D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder Handbooks The Marvelous Marshal Handbook

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SleepyShadow

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The Marvelous Marshal

Handbook

Topic Start: February 19, 2012,

04:28:21 PM

The Marvelous Marshal

Handbook

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Page 1 of 13The Marvelous Marshal Handbook

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Hello, and welcome to The Marvelous Marshal Handbook! I'm your host,

SleepyShadow, and I'll be talking all about the ins and outs of the Marshal,

found in the Miniatures Handbook. Like many non-core base classes, the

marshal has received little love from either the players or the game designers.

At best, it seems people tend to think of the marshal as a class two to four

levels long. However, I have a soft-spot for unloved classes, and if you've read

this far you are likely at least curious about marshals, so let's begin shall we?

What Exactly Is a Marshal?

A marshal can be many things, but like such versatile classes it is often best to

choose depth over breadth and invest your slim resources into one area of

expertise rather than trying to spread yourself thin to cover many roles. A

marshal lends itself naturally to being a party face, a supportive combatant, a

diplomancer, and even lockdown intimidation (affectionately referred to herein

as the Intima-Tank).

Let's take a look at the marshal's abilities:

Average BAB - A melee character with 3/4 BAB? Ouch. At least you can

do other things than melee.

d8 HD - Not bad, though could be better.

Good Fortitude and Will - Excellent! These two saves will shrug off quite

a few Save-or-Die/Suck spells.

Bad Reflex - So fireball will hurt. You've got decent hp and hopefully a

good constitution. You'll survive.

Skill Focus (Diplomacy) - A bonus feat. Not much, but it's handy.

Minor Aura - Bread and butter for you. These actually tend to be better

than your major aura due to the bonus being based off your charisma.

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Last Edit: March 06, 2012, 08:59:14 PM by SleepyShadow

Major Aura - A second aura. Though helpful, your minor aura will

typically outshine this.

Grant Move Action - This has too few situation that it would be useful in.

Most often the team is better off with you taking your own action rather

than giving someone an extra move action.

Minor Auras

Accurate Strike - A bonus to confirm critical hits. Terrible.

Art of War - This is made obsolete by Motivate Strength, as pointed out

by StreamOfTheSky.

Demand Fortitude - Situational but useful.

Determined Caster - Your spellcasters will love you for this when you

run into something with spell resistance.

Force of Will - See Demand Fortitude.

Master of Opportunity - Like many of the minor auras, this one is

situational but useful. However, you should remind your group that they

should avoid provoking AoO in the first place.

Master of Tactics - Every melee character likes to flank. Given your high

charisma, this can lead to quite a bit of extra damage, especially for a

rogue.

Motivate (Stat) - All of these essentially do the same thing. However,

Motivate Dexterity is worth mentioning due to the initiative bonus it

grants. Have this aura on before battle, then switch it to something else

after initiative has been rolled.

Over the Top - Give a bit of a boost to the team Uber-Charger. For

everyone else, it's mediocre.

Watchful Eye - See Demand Fortitude.

Major Auras

Hardy Soldiers - The amount of DR is so minuscule it's not worth your

time using it.

Motivate Ardor - A slight bonus to damage. Mediocre.

Motivate Attack - This one is quite handy. It's almost like you have full

BAB! It also lets the fighter use power attack more accurately, and helps

to offset the rogue's TWF penalties.

Motivate Care - Though the bonus is small, it can sometimes be enough

to mean the difference between a fatal blow and a near miss. My thanks

go out to StreamOfTheSky once again, this time for pointing out that

as an untyped AC bonus it should apply to Touch AC as well.

Motivate Urgency - A speed boost. Turn this on trekking through the

dungeons, or just to say 'Yes we run like monks!'

Resilient Troops - You are effectively the team's cloak of resistance.

Congratulations.

Steady Hand - Just like Motivate Attack, except it boosts ranged attacks

instead of melee. I rank this black because melee seems to be more

common than ranged attacks, but if the opposite is true for your group

this naturally jumps up in ranking.

For your stats, I recommend Cha>Con>Str>Int>Wis/Dex.[/list]

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Page 3 of 13The Marvelous Marshal Handbook

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The Quintessential Ninja Handbook

The Marvelous Marshal Handbook

We Play League of Legends

SleepyShadow

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Re: The Marvelous Marshal

Handbook

Reply #1: February 19, 2012, 05:22:50

PM

Prodigious Pedigree of the Marvelous Marshal

Everyone has a race. You just can't exist without one. Funny that. Anyway,

before we begin, remember: Marshals are charisma characters. Whatever race

you choose, don't penalize your charisma. Seriously, don't do it. It's a terrible

idea.

"But ..."

NO!

Human - What's this? Humans at the top of the list? Madness! Yeah,

okay, bonus feat, bonus skill points, yadda yadda.

Aasimar - A wonderful race for marshals. A charisma boost, some

elemental resistances, and darkvision. Ask nicely if your DM will let you

buy off the LA.

Venerable Dragonwrought Jungle Kobold - Implausible? Yes. Cheesy?

Definitely. Ridiculously effective for what you're trying to do? Absolutely.

Spellscale - The penalty to constitution hurts, but the charisma bonus is

still nice. This will likely be the answer for your race if you want a

charisma boost without the LA or the cheese.

Lesser Aasimar - Though they have the same stat modifiers, they lose

out on the rest of the good stuff real aasimars bring to the table. Still,

no LA is nice.

Catfolk - Aww, how cute! Whether your campaign's catfolk are furries or

fetishes, these critters make decent marshals. However, that +4

dexterity bonus they have is likely going to waste since you have heavy

armor proficiency.

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Last Edit: June 18, 2015, 09:07:11 AM by SleepyShadow

Half-Elf - WHAT??? A half-elf isn't at the bottom of a racial listing? What

kind of mad-cap marshal would a half-elf be? The diplomancer kind,

that's what.

Dwarf - Despite the fact that a dwarf barking orders at his comrades has

a certain level of appeal, the -2 charisma penalty makes it far less so.

Half-Orc - No ... Seriously, no.

Something to consider that Thurbane pointed out is that the Dragonscale of

Bahamut template is a good fit for the Marshal, as you will be wearing heavy

armor. It works quite well with Spellscale or the Feytouched.

And remember kids: If it's not listed, use common sense. Charisma boost

good, charisma penalty bad.

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SleepyShadow

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Re: The Marvelous Marshal

Handbook

Reply #2: February 19, 2012, 06:17:44

PM

Fantastic Feats for the Marvelous Marshal

Like with any character, feats comprise and dictate what a marshal's

capabilities are. Due to your limited feats and unusual role in the party, you

must be very selective in what feats you take. Be sure to specialize in one field

or another, but don't become so focused in one narrow field that you lose your

ability to contribute to the party when your one trick does not work.

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Dreadful Wrath - Excellent choice for the Intima-Tank. With your high

charisma score, this will work wonders for you.

Imperious Command - The sister feat to Dreadful Wrath. If intimidation

is the choice you've made, you would be remiss to not choose this feat.

Skill Focus (Intimidate) - May as well. Every bonus helps.