A Player's Guide to Feats - Crusher
If you love wielding weapons that can smash someone’s skull, then Crusher feat is for you. Most people love swords, and the damage they do, but a mace or hammer can do the job just as well. The Crusher feat would have been fantastic for a cleric in the older editions. Their weapon options were limited, and the mace was the most popular of the bunch. Practically everyone can use this feat now, although there are only that it’s recommended for.
What is the Crusher Feat?
You are practiced in the art of crushing your enemies, granting you the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided the target is no more than one size larger than you.
When you score a critical hit that deals bludgeoning damage to a creature, attack rolls against that creature are made with advantage until the start of your next turn.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Dissecting the Feat
As you can probably tell after reading the description, this feat is geared toward melee classes - barbarian, fighter, paladin, and monk. To a lesser extent, the cleric can benefit from the feat depending on which subclasses they choose. Realistically, all classes can use this feat, but it is unrealistic for some of them to take it. Once again, our poor wizard wonders when the next feat on the list will be geared toward him.
Melee classes will always benefit from Strength and Constitution, so the +1 in either is fantastic. Let's be honest: Constitution is great for everyone, but at best, it's a secondary ability score. It's worth strong consideration for the fighter and barbarian if either of those ability scores is sitting at an odd number. Hitting more often and staying on your feet longer are always good if you're a front-line hero.
Now, let's get into the meat of the feat. Battlefield control is crucial to winning a conflict, and the Crusher feat is another way to gain the upper hand. Knocking your foe back 5 feet may not seem like much. However, there are benefits shouldn't be overlooked. The second feature says you can move the creature 5 feet to an unoccupied space. There is a big difference between knocking them back and 5 feet in any direction. The Crusher feat can also move your foes into a flanking position with one of your allies (if you use the rule). Depending on the initiative order, you could attack and shift the creature into a flanking position, granting your friend an advantage on their next attack. It can, however, move the enemy out of a flanking position for you also, so be careful.
The Crusher feat can be helpful from a defensive standpoint, especially if you are about to go unconscious on the next hit. Pushing the creature 5 feet away from you allows you to move away from the attacker without fear of an attack of opportunity. Sure, using the Disengage action guarantees you move away without this risk. You have to be willing to risk missing your attack, but being the mighty hero you are, landing one more blow before backing up is a courageous act.
There are other ways the feat can be applied. Stop being selfish and use the Crusher feat to knock the creature away from the poor wizard so they can freely run away. Move them into a position to allow the rogue to use their sneak attack. Push them away so you're out of the blast zone of the now-safe wizard's fireball. Battlefield control people; it's often overlooked, yet vital to every fight.
Finally, we get to the real fun when you hit something. Critical hits now allow you to roll more dice but also grant you an advantage on your next bludgeoning blow against them. This one is straightforward. You hit someone or something hard and have a much better chance of hitting it again next time. That next time could be the following round or the same round since the classes we are touting to take this feat get extra attacks.
The Crusher Feat Useability by Class
Artificer: You are proficient in a limited number of weapons that maximize this feat, other than Battle Smith. Intelligence is your primary stat. Only a couple of infusions pair well with the feat. My recommendation is to ignore this feat.
Barbarian: A barbarian with a warhammer may not be common, but it does just as much damage as most non-two-handed weapons. Combine that with the extra attacks, bonus to Strength or Constitution, and Rage, the Barbarian can find this a useful feat to take
Bard: Sing more, hit less. That’s always my thought when it comes to the bard. Not worth taking.
Cleric: A cleric with a mace as their primary weapon may want to look at the feat. Many more out there are better for this class, but a war cleric stands to gain from taking the feat.
Druid: Not worth taking
Fighter: I think we covered this above, but just in case it wasn’t clear, this is an “A+” feat for the fighter
Monk: I wanted to make this the ultimate feat the monk could take, but the ability score boost held me back. Dexterity and Wisdom as your primary ability scores don’t mean you can’t seriously consider this feat. It’s a solid “A” feat and a hair away from being an A+.
Every punch and kick attack you make delivers bludgeoning damage. Take a quarterstaff as your monk weapon for another bludgeoning attack option. Combine this with your Ki, extra attack, and a variety of other monk skills, and you’d be a fool not to take this feat.
Paladin: If smites, extra attacks and a fighting style weren’t enough, then the Crusher feat is one more fun thing you can do in battle. Strength is also a primary attribute, making it a good to great feat for this class.
Ranger: Not worth taking
Rogue: Not worth taking
Sorcerer: Not worth taking
Warlock: Not worth taking
Wizard: It's not worth taking unless you'll run into battle with your trusty staff constantly. You'll not get much use out of the feat since you'll probably die soon.
Conclusion
I’ve never really considered this feat until now. Considering I love to play melee-based heroes, I now see clearly the error of my ways. If you’re going to run up and hit things and think battlefield control is important (it is), the Crusher feat is for you.
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Art Credit - Wizards of the Coast.
