[RPG] Are Battle Master Maneuvers considered magical? If not how do they work

class-featurecombat-maneuverdnd-5efighter

A situation came up in game where a battle master wished to use a Goading Attack maneuver inside the area of a silence spell. As DM, I ruled that the enemy would get advantage on the wisdom save since the goading could not include any vocal component in this situation. The player thought that was incorrect, and I agreed to take a closer look after the game.

Upon careful re-reading of the maneuver afterwards, I conceded that the maneuver does not state that the target has to be able to see or hear the battle master for the maneuver to work.

I see nothing in the description of the battle master archetype to suggest that the maneuvers are considered magical. The victim gets a saving throw for some of them, but saves are not limited to resisting magical effects.

If the maneuvers are not magical, how do they work? The fact that the save DC is based on the battle master's strength or dexterity suggests that bonus effect comes from something about the way the weapon strikes the target, which I'm having a hard time making sense of for many of the maneuvers. Similarly, I'm unclear on how a battle master's skill, if that really is all that these maneuvers are supposed to represent, could grant another player an additional action in a round, via Commander's Strike.

I think RAW is pretty clear (they are not stated to be magical, and require only what their descriptions say they require) but feel free to correct me if I've missed something. But has there been any insight on RAI or does anyone have a better way of thinking about these maneuvers that makes sense to them?

To clarify what I'm asking:

  • Have I missed any rules that would clarify this?
  • Have the developers
    provided any RAI insight into the maneuvers?
  • How does your group
    interpret them in a way that makes sense to you?

    • Do you (or your
      DM) allow them to work flawlessly in every circumstance, or can
      advantage/disadvantage be applied as logical according to the
      "flavor" of the maneuver?

Best Answer

They are special nonmagical techniques based on being a scholar of combat. This is explained in the Battle Master entry:

Those who emulate the archetypal Battle Master employ martial techniques passed down through the generation. To a Battle Master, combat is an academic field...

Individual maneuvers explain what you're actually doing:

Commander's Strike: You can forgo one of your attacks... to direct one of your companions to strike.

Goading Attack: You can... attempt to goad the target into attacking you.

In each case, you're mundanely directing your ally or goading (through voice or gesture or just annoying attack placement) your enemy. You're just really good at it because of your battle mastery.

Although I can't find a reference in the PHB, it's generally accepted in D&D that you're doing more with your turn than your single attack. Your PC might constantly be feinting, dodging, making threatening jabs, and so on. Your attack rolls represent those actions that are actual opportunities to do damage. From this perspective, then, a Commander's Strike doesn't mysteriously make your ally move faster; it just gives them an extra opportunity that they otherwise might not have had, just like a retreating enemy lets them make an opportunity attack.

In the games I've played, these maneuvers have been explained however seemed appropriate in the situation and were never assigned advantage or disadvantage, but I don't see a problem with the saves being modified in unusual circumstances. I'd just make sure that you're treating other players' unusual abilities with the same level of scrutiny.

P.S.: The Battle Master is, in part, 5e's version of the Warlord class from fourth edition. That class has the Martial power source, indicating that it's wholly nonmagical, with the following explanation:

You have become an expert in tactics through endless hours of training and practice, personal determination, and your own sheer physical toughness.