A Player's Guide to Feats - Great Weapon Master
So we are on to one of the most discussed feats, Great Weapon Master. The general consensus is that this is one of the best feats a melee fighter can take, but a fair number of people disagree. I can understand why. Doing more damage is always fun, but I would argue that the feat is dependent on your role within the party’s dynamics. We’ll get into that below, so let’s dive in and look at the Great Weapon Master feat.
What is the Great Weapon Master Feat
You've learned to put the weight of a weapon to your advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes. You gain the following benefits:
On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.
Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.
Dissecting the Feat
While the focus of much of the discussion around the feat is based on the second paragraph and the annoying amount of math that comes with it, we shouldn't discount the feat's first benefit. Landing a critical hit isn't going to happen all that often (5% chance), but when it does, using your bonus action to hit again is pretty sweet. It means you get to more dice! Reducing a creature to zero? Well, that's random, but from my experience, melee heroes will do everything in their power to be the one to land the killing blow on the BBEG.
Now, on to the meat of the feat. There's a lot of math to prove and/or disprove how effective Great Weapon Master is, and I won't get into it. If you want a great analysis of the numbers, I recommend checking out the breakdown at Black Citadel. It's incredibly detailed and way better than I or many other sites who have tried could.
I have a few issues with the feat. While it is an excellent option for a few classes—looking at you, fighter and barbarian and a surprised class yet to be revealed —it's useless for almost everyone else. Yes, I know other feats are very class-limited, but this is one of the more restrictive ones, especially when you add the proficiency in martial weapons prerequisite. Requiring the use of Heavy weapons is a deal breaker for most classes.
Also, it's not a feat you usually want to take at the 4th level. Most heroes will have around a +5 attack modifier, and the -5 penalty makes it much harder to hit your target and add that sweet, sweet damage. You should wait until the 8th level when you'll (hopefully) have at least a +9 to your attack rolls.
Finally, something that is discounted is your role within the party, which is important to take into account. Most people see the big melee heroes and the damage dealers, which I'll call DPR heroes (damage per round), but that's not always their role. Every party should have a tank. Sure, the tank - also known as a meat shield - will also be standing up front, swinging away at the evil creature trying to kill everyone. However, is it worth more to have a shield strapped to your arm versus taking a chance to deal more damage? It's up to you and the rest of your party to determine that. A DPR hero's role is to consistently deal significant damage over multiple rounds, often at the expense of defense. Unless you're a barbarian. Then you do both...and are happy to do it.
The Great Weapon Master Feat Useability by Class
Artificer: No proficiency with Heavy weapons unless you take another feat that grants the benefit. Dont bother.
Barbarian: As you probably already know, GWM is a fantastic feat for this class. I talked about the role of a DPS hero versus a tank and how the barbarian fills both roles. For example, the Path of the Battlerager grants temporary hit points with Reckless Frenzy. In reality, a barbarian is going to take this feat to slap the shit out of kobolds with a great axe, regardless of how many are poking them with their tiny little swords.
Path of the Berzerker grants an extra bonus attack at the 3rd level, giving you one more chance to kill a kobold. Path of the Zealot tacks on even more damage, getting you closer to the killing blow. Path of Wild Magic lets you add a d3 to your attack rolls, further negating the -5 penalty. There are many options here, so if you didn’t take Great Weapon Master at the 4th level, it’s practically a must-tale at the 8th level.
Bard: Bards cannot use martial weapons unless they are a College of Valor bard. Even then, don't take this feat. Bards are the most flexible of all the classes, and Great Weapon Master would, for the most part, pigeonhole them into a front-line melee fighter. Another issue is how you'll hold your lute and halberd simultaneously since your musical instrument is the bard's spellcasting focus.
Cleric: Death, Tempest, and War Domains all have access to martial weapons. A cleric can wear their holy symbol, so they don't have to worry about using a two-handed weapon and casting spells. A Death domain cleric gains additional ways to add damage as they level up, and to a much lesser extent does the Tempest domain. If you want to argue that adding a little bit of damage is worth taking the feat, go right ahead, but I'm not buying it. Neither will have a high enough attack modifier to balance the -5 attack penalty.
War Domain has potential if you're playing a front-liner melee cleric, basking in the glory of your god as you rain down divine pain upon your enemies. War Priest provides a bonus attack at 1st level, which gives you another opportunity to deliver that +10 damage. Your Channel Divinity is the biggie, giving you a +10 to hit bonus. It's too bad because, at best, you'll be able to use it 3 times per long rest if your cleric survives to ride off into the sunset. Finally, access to heavy armor lowers the need for a shield. All in all, only a War Domain cleric should give the feat a long, hard look.
Druid: No proficiency with Heavy weapons unless you take another feat that grants the benefit. Just a bear, and maul people to death.
Fighter: Like the barbarian, the Great Weapon Master feat is an excellent choice for the fighter class. You're Strength-based, so your modifier will increase quickly as you take the ASI bonuses and gather as many magic items with Strength bonuses as possible. The primary reason, though, is the insane number of attacks the fighter has at higher levels, and you can use the GWM benefit for all of them if you so wish.
The feat has excellent synergy with Great Weapon Fighting. The Champion subclass's Improved and Superior Critical ability dramatically increases your chances of making a bonus action attack and the chance to use the feat one more time. Battle Master fighters should grab the precision attack maneuver and burn a superiority die after the to hit roll if needed. Interestingly, the other subclasses get little from the feat. That's not a strong enough reason not to take the feat, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's not as great for the fighter as most people think.
Monk: A monk taking this feat doesn’t want to be a monk since they won’t be able to use any of their abilities.
Paladin: A front-line, melee-focused paladin gets the most out of this feat, more than the fighter and more than the barbarian. What, you say?!? Are you an idiot? Hear me out. Like a fighter, the paladin can take Great Weapon Fighting. Strength and Charisma are the paladin's primary stats, so your to hit modifier will scale up fast. Oath of Conquest can use Channel divinity to gain a +10 to attack (ala the War Domain cleric). An Oath of Vengeance paladin's Vow of Enmity ability grants an advantage to attacks, wildly increasing your chances of hitting your target (don't ask for the math…please don't). Several other Oaths allow you to increase attack damage in various ways.
But it's the paladin's smite ability that makes this all worthwhile. A paladin taking this feat has the opportunity to deliver, or lack of a better term, an absolute shitload of damage. Let's say you're a 4th-level Oath of Conquest paladin with a +3 Strength modifier wielding a maul (my favorite two-handed weapon). On the previous turn, the paladin used a bonus action to cast thunderous smite. Next turn, they make an attack and use their Channel Divinity Guided Strike. The paladin hits at +5, so the -5 penalty is gone before you factor in the +10 to hit bonus. Assuming the paladin hits the maul, the weapon does an average of 10 (2d6 + 3 Strength modifier). Then they Bonus Action smite using one of their three 1st level spell slots for an average of 9 (2d8) damage. Then the thunderous smite spell pops off for an additional 7 (2d6) damage. Finally, add the +10 damage from the Great Weapon Master feat. Total damage - 36 damage. (10+9+7+10), and that's only at 4th level. Do the math for the maximum damage an 11th-level paladin can do, and you can't help but be impressed.
Ranger: I’m a hard no on the ranger taking the feat. The simple reason is that Strength based rangers are rare for a reason. Yes, you can play a STR ranger effectively. I’m not a fan of doing this, so I say pass.
Rogue: No proficiency with martial weapons unless you take another feat that grants the benefit. Pass
Sorcerer: Just no.
Warlock: Nope. And don’t even start with A Hexblade warlock wielding a two-handed weapon build.
Wizard: Absolutely not.
Conclusion
If you are playing a barbarian, fighter, or, yes, paladin, the Great Weapon Master is an A tier feat. Grab yourself a maul, as many Strength-based magic items as you can, and start swinging away.
For everyone else, just say no.
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Art Credit - Elden Ring, Bandai Namco Entertainment
