Advanced Weapon Masteries

Martial Levels

Ryoko's Guide separates classes into three tiers: full-martial, half-martial, and non-martial.

• Barbarians, Fighters, Monks and Rogues
• Benders, Paladins and Rangers
• Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Tamers, Warlocks and Wizards

If you have a subclass feature or eldritch invocation that gives you the ability to attack more than once when you take the Attack action (such as the Extra Attack feature), you are considered a half-martial character for the purposes of advanced weapon mastery, even if you belong to a non-martial class. You become a half-martial class in this way when you select the subclass or invocation that grants this feature. For example, a wizard who chooses the School of Shinobi subclass becomes a half-martial when it chooses this subclass at level 2, not when it gains the Extra Attack feature at level 6

• Your martial level dictates the levels at which you unlock advanced weapon mastery advanced techniques. You determine your martial level by adding together all your levels in the full-martial classes and half your levels in half-martial classes (rounded down). For example, a character that has multiclassed as a fighter 3/ranger 7 has a martial level of 6.
• Advanced techniques are special manoeuvres associated with a weapon property. A character can perform a technique with any weapon that possesses that property, provided the character is proficient with that weapon, has learned the technique, and meets its prerequisites. For example, a character that chooses the Dizzying Strike advanced technique from the Impact technique tree can perform the Dizzying Strike with any weapon that has the Impact property with which they are proficient.
• Whenever you use an advanced technique that forces a target to make a saving throw, it is against your martial save DC, which is calculated using any modifiers to your attack rolls with the weapon you are using to perform the technique. This includes your proficiency bonus, your ability modifier (typically Strength or Dexterity, but effects like the shillelagh cantrip could change this), attack roll bonuses if the weapon is magical, or other effects currently affecting you or the weapon. It does not include any bonuses that rely on die rolls, such as the effect of the bless spell or Bardic Inspiration. Martial save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your ability modifier + other attack roll bonuses
• Some of the advanced techniques in this chapter reduce the critical hit threshold of an attack. Usually, a critical hit is scored on a roll of a 20 on the d20. When a technique (such as the Heavy tree's Executioner) says "your critical hit threshold... is reduced by 1", this means you score a critical hit on a 19 or 20. These effects stack with other advanced techniques, class features, and combo attacks. For example, a character that takes the Steady Loader and Dead-Eye advanced techniques from the Loading tree scores a critical hit on a roll of 17-20 when they make an attack roll with a Loading weapon. A Champion fighter gets the Improved Critical class feature at 3rd level, letting them score a critical hit on a 19 or 20. If they also take the Executioner advanced technique from the Heavy tree, they score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20 when they make an attack with a Heavy weapon against a prone creature.