Summary
- The 2024 D&D Player's Handbook improves Battle Master Fighter's Know Your Enemy feature, offering more useful info in combat.
- Battle Master Fighters can now use Know Your Enemy as a bonus action to learn about a creature's Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities.
- The revamped Know Your Enemy is more practical, emphasizing the idea of adaptability and knowledge on the battlefield.
Not every subclass feature in fifth edition Cleric of the Life Domain or embracing the precise violence of an Assassin Rogue, there's a subclass for just about any reasonable inclination.
One great option on the battlefield is the Battle Master Fighter subclass, which grants the Fighter combat maneuvers that offer more strategic versatility in combat. A Battle Master's knowledge is also reflected through the Student of War feature, which offers proficiency with one type of artisan's tools, and Know Your Enemy. The latter feature has traditionally allowed a Battle Master Fighter to study a creature for a minute outside of combat to learn whether it has a higher or lower score than the Fighter in a number of key stats, like Strength, hit points, and class levels.
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The New Player's Handbook Improves Know Your Enemy
An Often-Ignored Battle Master Feature Gains Utility
Although DnD's 2024 Player's Handbook version of Know Your Enemy retains the basic flavor of sizing up another creature, it does so in a way that's more powerful mechanically. A Battle Master Fighter can now use a bonus action to get a read on a creature within 30 feet, learning its Immunities, Resistances, and Vulnerabilities if it has any. The feature can be used once per Long Rest or regained by expending a Superiority Die, the same resource that Battle Master maneuvers draw from.
Additional Superiority Dice are gained at certain levels, so Know Your Enemy can be used more frequently as Battle Masters progress.
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The Know Your Enemy Change Makes A Lot Of Sense
Even though this version of Know Your Enemy restricts how often the feature can be used, the switch to an instantaneous bonus action and the shift in what information is revealed makes it a lot more commonly applicable. Battle Master Fighters can jump into a challenging DnD enemy encounter and quickly get a read on the best way to attack, giving the whole party a leg up and potentially skipping an awkward phase of trial and error. Although it doesn't cover some of the ground that the original version did, the trade-off certainly seems worth it.
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The new version of Know Your Enemy is more useful for parties that either lack or ignore meta knowledge about enemies, but it could be especially relevant in a campaign with a lot of surprises. It also emphasizes the idea that Battle Master Fighters have spent plenty of time fighting or studying creatures and know how to size them up quickly, something that fits nicely with the idea behind the subclass. The Know Your Enemy tweak might not be the biggest change in the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, but it's one that many Battle Master Fighters might love.
- Franchise
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
- 1974
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular tabletop game originally invented in 1974 by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson. The fantasy role-playing game brings together players for a campaign with various components, including abilities, races, character classes, monsters, and treasures. The game has drastically expanded since the '70s, with numerous updated box sets and expansions.
- Publisher
- TSR Inc., Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson
