So Just How Broken Is PAM/GWM/Sentinel/Tunnel Fighter combined?

[Elrandir]

Explanation:
The title is pretty self-explanatory. I'm looking for someone to statistically break down just how over-powered this combination would be, or give an example of it's absurdity. I know TF is UA and a lot of people don't like UA or don't allow TF because it can be broken just on its own, but still.

Inspiration for this question:
I rolled a Yuan-ti Pureblood paladin(vengeance)/hexblade with the initial intention of going scimitar and shield (for the flavour) a few months back. It occurred to me that Paladin/Hexblade could theoretically become even more absurd because of the stats I rolled. They were all good (the lowest was a 13 INT, the next lowest was a 16 after racials), but I rolled an 18 for CHA, which gets boosted to 20 with the Yuan-Ti's bonuses. Despite being fantastic for both classes, it also means that my critical stat is already maxed and I can spend ASI's on feats alone. I figured I'd go PAM or Sentinel at Pal:4, whichever one I didn't grab at Pal:8, GWM at Pal:12, and Resilient:Dex at Pal:16. I don't even know what else I could want. I know this character is just absurdly OP, which is why the question is about the combination of feats and fighting style, in terms of any character.

[Speely]

It's a silly-good set of feats for sure. Even without TF, it's freaking absurd. That said, without TF, I don't think it's broken. It's just really effective in common situations.

Even with TF, that's a lot of ASIs to burn on one tactic, and the issue there is more about generating ability scores than about feats. Taking that many feats should be a compromise that yields less base Ability potency. When it doesn't, this kind of thing happens.

This is a non-issue if A) the DM is prepared to deal with it both fairly and fiercely, and B) the rest of the party is of a similar level of mechanical competence. Oftentimes this is not the case...

Somewhat on-topic, this is why I now allow rolling for Abilities but let everyone use whichever spread rolled they all agree upon. In that sense, the party starts as strong or weak as the best/worst roll, and as a DM I can balance the campaign in regard to that. If my players started with your stats, that would indeed inform how I structured encounters. I like it when players feel effective and treated fairly, but if they faceroll everything, that's not fun for anyone.

[AttilatheYeon]

Well it doesn't come online until level 12. And that's if you go 4 levels in Lock, which will push back your mid level pally abilities. Some of these are cornerstones of the class. It's very good when you want to lock monsters in place 10 ft from you. I'd take GWM last or not at all.

[Elrandir]

It's a silly-good set of feats for sure. Even without TF, it's freaking absurd. That said, without TF, I don't think it's broken. It's just really effective in common situations.

Even with TF, that's a lot of ASIs to burn on one tactic, and the issue there is more about generating ability scores than about feats. Taking that many feats should be a compromise that yields less base Ability potency. When it doesn't, this kind of thing happens.

This is a non-issue if A) the DM is prepared to deal with it both fairly and fiercely, and B) the rest of the party is of a similar level of mechanical competence. Oftentimes this is not the case...

Somewhat on-topic, this is why I now allow rolling for Abilities but let everyone use whichever spread rolled they all agree upon. In that sense, the party starts as strong or weak as the best/worst roll, and as a DM I can balance the campaign in regard to that. If my players started with your stats, that would indeed inform how I structured encounters. I like it when players feel effective and treated fairly, but if they faceroll everything, that's not fun for anyone.

Yeah. I think the only way you could make good use of it would be with a fighter who has plenty of ASI's, or a paladin or ranger with very high starting attributes. It's too ASI costly for a paladin or ranger using standard array.

I find that a fascinating idea. I don't think I would ever implement it, simply because I like the randomness of rolls, but it's interesting.

Well it doesn't come online until level 12. And that's if you go 4 levels in Lock, which will push back your mid level pally abilities. Some of these are cornerstones of the class. It's very good when you want to lock monsters in place 10 ft from you. I'd take GWM last or not at all.

Well I was referring to the combination on any character, not specifically my pally/lock. But yes. I'm planning on taking GWM last, and I only intend to take 3 levels of warlock, as that way, assuming the game ever makes it to 20, I'll still get 5th level spells.

[strangebloke]

Strong, and capable of dominating certain types of encounters, but otherwise not remotely broken.

If your DM is very fond of rushing you with mobs in melee, it's a great build, and you don't really even need GWM to make it good. If your DM is fond of flying skirmishers, or teleporting boss monsters this combo is less good.

In any case, 3 feats and a fighting style is a pretty stiff build cost. Especially with all of the bonus action overlap. You don't get the 1d4 bonus attack or the bonus attack on a crit from GWM when you're using tunnel fighter, for example.

Still, if you're a fighter, particularly a champion, it's probably worth considering.

[ciarannihill]

I think how broken or not it is depends more on the rest of the build than anything. You are starting from a rather strong position given the stat spread you describe, but in theory this comes online somewhat late -- level 15 at the earliest (3 feats means 3 ASIs, and 3 level in Warlock to be able to Hexblade use a Polearm with Hex Warrior), at which point a lot of builds are doing pretty nuts things.

This type of build is strong at locking down a front line and protecting one's back line but it can be dealt with. Seems fine.

[Rebonack]

It's great if you're consistently fighting swarms of melee mooks and want to keep them away from your party.

It's not so great against baddies who are aware that ranged weapons exist.

[Mcgutterby]

Would sentinel + tunnel fighter + whip work well together not worried about damage as much as crowd control... playing in a low magic game

[Willie the Duck]

Would sentinel + tunnel fighter + whip work well together not worried about damage as much as crowd control... playing in a low magic game

This build can get all sorts of OAs against enemies, and those OA's stop them from moving past. However, they are back at the normal triggers for OA, which is people leaving their (15') reach. So, to protect your back line, you have to be waaaaayy out in front of it. So see how that works for you.