about to end a combat-light campaign where nobody optimized at all. new to 5e fighter.
if the same group starts another campaign, i'd like to try a HEAVILY maxxed build, even if we're still not fighting much. not to contradict the other players; we're all very laid back and like to react to wacky stuff. it would be more about playing opposite from my last character and roleplaying a weird space samurai.
can you please give me any general tips or thoughts or caveats for my idea? here's what i'm thinking:
Astral Elf Samurai
DEX/WIS
Good STR for grapples/armor
dump CHA
Astral Drifter Background = free Magic Initiate = Guidance to help non-combat
on top of Astral Trance + Elegant Courtier + Keen Senses for skills
Longbow + Dual Wielding is my first thought
considering multiclass Gloomstalker or taking Fighting Initiate to take both Archery and Two-Weapon Fighting Styles; but i'm happy to just have one
here are the big concerns that come to mind:
Does Fighting Spirit's bonus action make it a straight-up bad idea to invest in two-weapon melee? Or does the static 3 turns per day of Fighting Spirit make it fine?
Better 1st level Cleric spell for Samurai (Magic Initiate): Shield of Faith, Sanctuary, Healing Word, Cure Wounds, or Command (for out-of-combat)?
If Two-Weapon + Fighting Spirit is a no-go:
...would going STR/WIS, Great Weapon Style, then Great Weapon Master + Fighting Spirit be your go-to option?
...does STR + Polearm Master + Sentinel + Sanctuary work well with Samurai?
i know that's a lot, i'm just into the concept but wanna make sure it's not janky. any thoughts are appreciated! cheers
After that, you can do whatever you like. Then your big burst would just consist of using fighting spirit to gain super advantage, action surging, and using all your attacks with SS active. I personally like a purebred samurai, so I wouldn't multiclass it, but I've got some min-maxing good friends who've done the gloomstalker lvl 3 dip. So long as you follow those main aforementioned points, your samurai's gonna be very powerful no matter what.
I would say either go dex or str, don’t try to do both. The beauty of fighters is how SAD they are, you’ll undercut yourself otherwise.
Two-weapon fighting is pretty lackluster under the best of circumstances. Besides second wind and fighting spirit, you won’t likely have a lot to do with your bonus action, but still, I wouldn’t multiclass just to get the fighting style.
You probably know this, but fighting style lasts until the end of your turn, so when you use it, make sure to action surge. It’s even better when you multiattack and get 4 or 6 attacks with advantage. And this is where the elven accuracy cgarcio mentioned comes in. (Also, another reason not to multiclass, as it delays those extra attacks.)
Beyond that, a lot of the other choices would depend on party composition. Are there going to be other people with melee builds, or will you be forced to do that? Is there a cleric in the party? Because you really only need one person with guidance, for example. Though in that case, an extra healing word if the cleric drops can really come in handy. And with something like sanctuary, again, what’s the rest of the party like? If you cast it on yourself, it seems like you’re just forcing enemies to attack your squishier allies. Unless you’ve got a barb or pally up there with you. Even then, it’s kind of a jerky thing to do.
After that, you can do whatever you like. Then your big burst would just consist of using fighting spirit to gain super advantage, action surging, and using all your attacks with SS active. I personally like a purebred samurai, so I wouldn't multiclass it, but I've got some min-maxing good friends who've done the gloomstalker lvl 3 dip. So long as you follow those main aforementioned points, your samurai's gonna be very powerful no matter what.
check!
please no spoilers, but our dm is thinking about doing Waterdeep: DH, and, myself knowing nothing except it's heisty in a city, I'm leaning more toward taking a melee or defense style at first, then either letting high dex take care of longbow, or just Elven Accuracy. i imagine an urban environment would mean tighter fights, but also i really wanna frontline after playing my current ranged support character.
check! i'm really hoping we start the next campaign at a higher level so i can feat it up.
again, i might forego that for one of the other many valuable fighter feats, coz i again, frontline + feels weird to be the bow person in the city.
to be clear i'm not trying to min max necessarily to go and fight a lot and be OP; i'm more into the idea of roleplaying a cosmic chaotic evil samurai drifter from space against the friends that i know will have really creative but probably non-fighty characters.
ok so do you know have many levels your pals played until multiclassing to gloomy? cheers, thanks so much for your advice.
I'm getting mixed signals here. Are you not wanting some "heavily maxxed" build? If not, you really don't need specific advice and you're free to do whatever.
If you're not taking sharp shooter, then you really shouldn't bother with elven accuracy.
After that, you can do whatever you like. Then your big burst would just consist of using fighting spirit to gain super advantage, action surging, and using all your attacks with SS active. I personally like a purebred samurai, so I wouldn't multiclass it, but I've got some min-maxing good friends who've done the gloomstalker lvl 3 dip. So long as you follow those main aforementioned points, your samurai's gonna be very powerful no matter what.
This is what I don't understand when people talk about "advantage" and "disadvantage" so perhaps this post can enlighten me. RAW there is no such thing as "Super advantage" No matter if you have multiple things giving you advantage at the same time you still only get to roll one additional dice.
"If multiple situations affect a roll and each one grants advantage or imposes disadvantage on it, you don't roll more than one additional d20. If two favorable situations grant advantage, for example, you still roll only one additional d20."
After that, you can do whatever you like. Then your big burst would just consist of using fighting spirit to gain super advantage, action surging, and using all your attacks with SS active. I personally like a purebred samurai, so I wouldn't multiclass it, but I've got some min-maxing good friends who've done the gloomstalker lvl 3 dip. So long as you follow those main aforementioned points, your samurai's gonna be very powerful no matter what.
This is what I don't understand when people talk about "advantage" and "disadvantage" so perhaps this post can enlighten me. RAW there is no such thing as "Super advantage" No matter if you have multiple things giving you advantage at the same time you still only get to roll one additional dice.
"If multiple situations affect a roll and each one grants advantage or imposes disadvantage on it, you don't roll more than one additional d20. If two favorable situations grant advantage, for example, you still roll only one additional d20."
So what exactly are people talking about?
It’s a short hand for things like elven accuracy which has the feature:
Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once.
So you get to roll 3 times instead of just 2. At least that’s my understanding.
The youtuber dnd shortsmade a pretty good samurai subclass that was historically accurate. You might not be looking for that but check it out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me
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about to end a combat-light campaign where nobody optimized at all. new to 5e fighter.
if the same group starts another campaign, i'd like to try a HEAVILY maxxed build, even if we're still not fighting much. not to contradict the other players; we're all very laid back and like to react to wacky stuff. it would be more about playing opposite from my last character and roleplaying a weird space samurai.
can you please give me any general tips or thoughts or caveats for my idea? here's what i'm thinking:
Astral Elf Samurai
DEX/WIS
Good STR for grapples/armor
dump CHA
Astral Drifter Background = free Magic Initiate = Guidance to help non-combat
on top of Astral Trance + Elegant Courtier + Keen Senses for skills
Longbow + Dual Wielding is my first thought
considering multiclass Gloomstalker or taking Fighting Initiate to take both Archery and Two-Weapon Fighting Styles; but i'm happy to just have one
here are the big concerns that come to mind:
Does Fighting Spirit's bonus action make it a straight-up bad idea to invest in two-weapon melee? Or does the static 3 turns per day of Fighting Spirit make it fine?
Better 1st level Cleric spell for Samurai (Magic Initiate): Shield of Faith, Sanctuary, Healing Word, Cure Wounds, or Command (for out-of-combat)?
If Two-Weapon + Fighting Spirit is a no-go:
...would going STR/WIS, Great Weapon Style, then Great Weapon Master + Fighting Spirit be your go-to option?
...does STR + Polearm Master + Sentinel + Sanctuary work well with Samurai?
i know that's a lot, i'm just into the concept but wanna make sure it's not janky. any thoughts are appreciated! cheers
some tips for building an OP Samurai fighter:
After that, you can do whatever you like. Then your big burst would just consist of using fighting spirit to gain super advantage, action surging, and using all your attacks with SS active. I personally like a purebred samurai, so I wouldn't multiclass it, but I've got some min-maxing good friends who've done the gloomstalker lvl 3 dip. So long as you follow those main aforementioned points, your samurai's gonna be very powerful no matter what.
I would say either go dex or str, don’t try to do both. The beauty of fighters is how SAD they are, you’ll undercut yourself otherwise.
Two-weapon fighting is pretty lackluster under the best of circumstances. Besides second wind and fighting spirit, you won’t likely have a lot to do with your bonus action, but still, I wouldn’t multiclass just to get the fighting style.
You probably know this, but fighting style lasts until the end of your turn, so when you use it, make sure to action surge. It’s even better when you multiattack and get 4 or 6 attacks with advantage. And this is where the elven accuracy cgarcio mentioned comes in. (Also, another reason not to multiclass, as it delays those extra attacks.)
Beyond that, a lot of the other choices would depend on party composition. Are there going to be other people with melee builds, or will you be forced to do that? Is there a cleric in the party? Because you really only need one person with guidance, for example. Though in that case, an extra healing word if the cleric drops can really come in handy.
And with something like sanctuary, again, what’s the rest of the party like? If you cast it on yourself, it seems like you’re just forcing enemies to attack your squishier allies. Unless you’ve got a barb or pally up there with you. Even then, it’s kind of a jerky thing to do.
to be clear i'm not trying to min max necessarily to go and fight a lot and be OP; i'm more into the idea of roleplaying a cosmic chaotic evil samurai drifter from space against the friends that i know will have really creative but probably non-fighty characters.
ok so do you know have many levels your pals played until multiclassing to gloomy? cheers, thanks so much for your advice.
I'm getting mixed signals here. Are you not wanting some "heavily maxxed" build? If not, you really don't need specific advice and you're free to do whatever.
If you're not taking sharp shooter, then you really shouldn't bother with elven accuracy.
This is what I don't understand when people talk about "advantage" and "disadvantage" so perhaps this post can enlighten me. RAW there is no such thing as "Super advantage" No matter if you have multiple things giving you advantage at the same time you still only get to roll one additional dice.
"If multiple situations affect a roll and each one grants advantage or imposes disadvantage on it, you don't roll more than one additional d20
So what exactly are people talking about?
It’s a short hand for things like elven accuracy which has the feature:
So you get to roll 3 times instead of just 2. At least that’s my understanding.
The youtuber dnd shortsmade a pretty good samurai subclass that was historically accurate. You might not be looking for that but check it out.
Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me