Straightforward ask to get some thoughts on which of these two options is better (optimal vs fun). Ranged looks to be very promising with archery having good chance to hit and damage, however, I do like the idea of a great sword swinging knight on the front lines.
What has your experience been playing either and what would you suggest?
Not sure yet as we are all indecisive, but it looks like we'll have a majority of casters and half casters. I know one person is playing a cleric, another wants to multi class fighter/wizard. Main thing is most of the party isn't as experienced, so it's not going to be an optimized team. I also know it's a more role-play heavy campaign, which they enjoy, so I'll probably save my "time to shine" for the few combats we encounter.
Well depends if you’re looking for aLegolas type experience bow/arrow, is the way to go. If you’re looking for Conan the Barb experience sword. But either way you should always have some ranged weapon for the occasion that will come up. It’s just a personal choice and what experience you want and like was mentioned, what the group will need to be balanced. Playing is about balancing and not individualism for success and enjoyment. That’s what my experience with DnD has been and we’ve been playing together on and off since ‘86.
Start 17, 16, 14, 8, 10, 8 stats. Take archery fighting style, and +1 str gwm at 4. GWM works for both.
Compared to a straight melee fighter you lose 1 ac (defensive fighting style) and have slightly less hp due to lower con (but the ability to fight at range mitigates that)
Compared to an archer you will have a slightly lower hit chance (though still good with archery +2) and damage (compensated by gwm) if you decide to never push dex (But you can still go to town in melee if necessary, e.g. cleaving minions).
You will have good iniative, incredibly flexible, and most bm manoeuvres work on ranged and melee.
If in practice you find you are only meleeing in your party, due to dm encounter design or party structure, change the fighting style to defensive on level up. If you are only fighting at range in practice, take +2 dex at 6.
Edit. Goading strikes would work great with this combo. Hit them with a longbow and trigger it. Now they have disadvantage on attacks against everyone but you, have to slog past your party (triggering aoo) to get to you, at which point you can go to town against them with a greatsword, or get a reaction attack with PAM if you take that at 6.
I just ran up a bog-standard Fighter using a polearm of some kind and the result is...disgusting, IMHO:
1) You have enough ASIs to build anything you want. I went with a heavy armor fighter with polearms and a heavy crossbow. If you pick the Goliath Species (they get extra movement) you won't be out of melee for very long.
2) With the right combination of subclass (I took Battle Master), weapon (glaive, halberd, or trident), and Feats, I wound up at level 20 with Str 21, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 13, and Cha of 10. Heavy Armor Master means that you'll get hurt less. Alert makes up for the terrible Initiative modifier. Heavy Weapon fighting style means you won't roll less than a 3 for damage in melee. Great Weapon Master starts out at +2 damage in melee and scales with your PB. I took the Irresistible boon at 19 (attacks blow through Resistance and do yet MORE damage).
TBH, while I know that WotC is buffing Martials to try and balance them against Casters, a straight Fighter in 2024 is beyond sick IMHO. 4 attacks (without Action Surge) with +11 to hit minimum and (with the build above) a minimum of 3+5+5 damage each for 64 damage before taking into account higher damage rolls, magic weapons, or a BA attack.
Straightforward ask to get some thoughts on which of these two options is better (optimal vs fun). Ranged looks to be very promising with archery having good chance to hit and damage, however, I do like the idea of a great sword swinging knight on the front lines.
What has your experience been playing either and what would you suggest?
What’s the party composition? Usually I base most of my choices around trying to fill any gaps there.
Not sure yet as we are all indecisive, but it looks like we'll have a majority of casters and half casters. I know one person is playing a cleric, another wants to multi class fighter/wizard. Main thing is most of the party isn't as experienced, so it's not going to be an optimized team. I also know it's a more role-play heavy campaign, which they enjoy, so I'll probably save my "time to shine" for the few combats we encounter.
Well depends if you’re looking for aLegolas type experience bow/arrow, is the way to go. If you’re looking for Conan the Barb experience sword. But either way you should always have some ranged weapon for the occasion that will come up.
It’s just a personal choice and what experience you want and like was mentioned, what the group will need to be balanced. Playing is about balancing and not individualism for success and enjoyment. That’s what my experience with DnD has been and we’ve been playing together on and off since ‘86.
Both (seriously).
Start 17, 16, 14, 8, 10, 8 stats. Take archery fighting style, and +1 str gwm at 4. GWM works for both.
Compared to a straight melee fighter you lose 1 ac (defensive fighting style) and have slightly less hp due to lower con (but the ability to fight at range mitigates that)
Compared to an archer you will have a slightly lower hit chance (though still good with archery +2) and damage (compensated by gwm) if you decide to never push dex (But you can still go to town in melee if necessary, e.g. cleaving minions).
You will have good iniative, incredibly flexible, and most bm manoeuvres work on ranged and melee.
If in practice you find you are only meleeing in your party, due to dm encounter design or party structure, change the fighting style to defensive on level up. If you are only fighting at range in practice, take +2 dex at 6.
Edit. Goading strikes would work great with this combo. Hit them with a longbow and trigger it. Now they have disadvantage on attacks against everyone but you, have to slog past your party (triggering aoo) to get to you, at which point you can go to town against them with a greatsword, or get a reaction attack with PAM if you take that at 6.
I just ran up a bog-standard Fighter using a polearm of some kind and the result is...disgusting, IMHO:
1) You have enough ASIs to build anything you want. I went with a heavy armor fighter with polearms and a heavy crossbow. If you pick the Goliath Species (they get extra movement) you won't be out of melee for very long.
2) With the right combination of subclass (I took Battle Master), weapon (glaive, halberd, or trident), and Feats, I wound up at level 20 with Str 21, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 13, and Cha of 10. Heavy Armor Master means that you'll get hurt less. Alert makes up for the terrible Initiative modifier. Heavy Weapon fighting style means you won't roll less than a 3 for damage in melee. Great Weapon Master starts out at +2 damage in melee and scales with your PB. I took the Irresistible boon at 19 (attacks blow through Resistance and do yet MORE damage).
TBH, while I know that WotC is buffing Martials to try and balance them against Casters, a straight Fighter in 2024 is beyond sick IMHO. 4 attacks (without Action Surge) with +11 to hit minimum and (with the build above) a minimum of 3+5+5 damage each for 64 damage before taking into account higher damage rolls, magic weapons, or a BA attack.