Seeking some feedback/input here. I have a Fighter6/Cleric 4 that I am debating on whether I should keep as a champion or switch to samurai. I don't plan on taking any other levels in fighter and going the rest of the way cleric (war domain). I've taken great weapon fighting as my fighting style. GWM as my first feat, and sentinel as my second. Plan to take resilient (dex) and max out Wisdom with my remaining ASIs. Using a greatsword, focused mainly on front line fighting/tanking style.
I really like the advantage granted by fighting spirit to maximize my damage using GWM but I also like greater crit chance from going champion. I won't get any other features from either so it's really just the difference between those two features. Not interested in adding any other levels of fighter or multiclassing into any other classes either.
I don't see a terribly big difference as far as character features go here since both the Samurai and the Champion focus themselves around similar ideas of endurance, so I guess the question I would ask is which Subclass do you think would be the most thematic for your character? Are there any character hooks for your character actually being the champion of something, or would the samurai's ideas of discipline and unshakable spirit be more of a fit?
Personally, if you're only going for six levels in fighter, you might see some pretty good damage going for the Samurai's advantage on all attacks, though its not quite as good with only two attacks. You get some extra skills with the Samurai though, which I think would have more roleplaying options then what the champion alone can give, so that's probably what I'd go with.
Champion is, in my opinion, the worst subclass in the game. Improved Critical Hit does far too little to increase your damage and you have no control over when the crits happen. Literally any other Fighter subclass will serve you better.
The game is balanced around getting 2 short rests a day, which means you can expect to use Action Surge 3 times a day. If you always use Action Surge and Fighting Spirit together in situations where you wouldn't have advantage already, Fighting Spirit is giving you advantage on 4 x 3 = 12 attacks. That's 12 more chances to score a crit, but much more importantly it's 12 more chances to turn a miss into a hit. It also helps you precisely when you want it to.
Improved Critical Hit will grant you a random crit you wouldn't otherwise have roughly once every 20 dice rolls, but it does nothing for your accuracy since you should never be fighting something that can't be hit with a natural 19.
If you're interested in tanking though, you should consider the Cavalier as well. Unwavering Mark forces enemies you've hit with melee attacks to have disadvantage if they attack anyone else but you while you're within 5 feet of them. Also, up to STR mod times a day, if they do damage anyone other than you get to make a bonus attack with advantage against them next turn. If they damaged another person with an attack while you're within 5 feet, you get to double punish them - once with the reaction from Sentinel and once with the bonus attack from Unwavering Mark.
I would go with samurai, which flavor wise sounds more in line with what you're interested in. Maybe your greatsword is a Nagata or large Katana (flavored that is). I prefer advantage and the extra stuff over the improved crit chance. Not that crits aren't great, but I'd rather hit more often overall rather than crit a little more often.
Thanks all for the input, I did end up going Samurai. I will admit though I was awfully tempted to go cavalier too though after reading the comments, especially since I have a belt of fire giant strength.
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Seeking some feedback/input here. I have a Fighter6/Cleric 4 that I am debating on whether I should keep as a champion or switch to samurai. I don't plan on taking any other levels in fighter and going the rest of the way cleric (war domain). I've taken great weapon fighting as my fighting style. GWM as my first feat, and sentinel as my second. Plan to take resilient (dex) and max out Wisdom with my remaining ASIs. Using a greatsword, focused mainly on front line fighting/tanking style.
I really like the advantage granted by fighting spirit to maximize my damage using GWM but I also like greater crit chance from going champion. I won't get any other features from either so it's really just the difference between those two features. Not interested in adding any other levels of fighter or multiclassing into any other classes either.
Thoughts?
I don't see a terribly big difference as far as character features go here since both the Samurai and the Champion focus themselves around similar ideas of endurance, so I guess the question I would ask is which Subclass do you think would be the most thematic for your character? Are there any character hooks for your character actually being the champion of something, or would the samurai's ideas of discipline and unshakable spirit be more of a fit?
Personally, if you're only going for six levels in fighter, you might see some pretty good damage going for the Samurai's advantage on all attacks, though its not quite as good with only two attacks. You get some extra skills with the Samurai though, which I think would have more roleplaying options then what the champion alone can give, so that's probably what I'd go with.
Champion is, in my opinion, the worst subclass in the game. Improved Critical Hit does far too little to increase your damage and you have no control over when the crits happen. Literally any other Fighter subclass will serve you better.
The game is balanced around getting 2 short rests a day, which means you can expect to use Action Surge 3 times a day. If you always use Action Surge and Fighting Spirit together in situations where you wouldn't have advantage already, Fighting Spirit is giving you advantage on 4 x 3 = 12 attacks. That's 12 more chances to score a crit, but much more importantly it's 12 more chances to turn a miss into a hit. It also helps you precisely when you want it to.
Improved Critical Hit will grant you a random crit you wouldn't otherwise have roughly once every 20 dice rolls, but it does nothing for your accuracy since you should never be fighting something that can't be hit with a natural 19.
If you're interested in tanking though, you should consider the Cavalier as well. Unwavering Mark forces enemies you've hit with melee attacks to have disadvantage if they attack anyone else but you while you're within 5 feet of them. Also, up to STR mod times a day, if they do damage anyone other than you get to make a bonus attack with advantage against them next turn. If they damaged another person with an attack while you're within 5 feet, you get to double punish them - once with the reaction from Sentinel and once with the bonus attack from Unwavering Mark.
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I would go with samurai, which flavor wise sounds more in line with what you're interested in. Maybe your greatsword is a Nagata or large Katana (flavored that is). I prefer advantage and the extra stuff over the improved crit chance. Not that crits aren't great, but I'd rather hit more often overall rather than crit a little more often.
Thanks all for the input, I did end up going Samurai. I will admit though I was awfully tempted to go cavalier too though after reading the comments, especially since I have a belt of fire giant strength.