Oh, I always assumed 10-11 was average since there’s no - or + given to checks :/
Well, I suppose it depends how you look at it. If you're looking only at player characters, then maybe, but if you accept that as being true, you also have to admit that most people in that world have below-average intelligence.
Which seems like a very odd thing.
Maybe I am in the wrong, and if so, Id be happy to be corrected, but I believe that 8 in all abilities is what a commoner gets.
Commoners make up the vast majority of the world's population.
Therefore it stands to reason that 8 can be considered to be normal, with anything above 8 being above the norm and anything above 10 being exceptionally gifted.
Anything above a 14 would be pretty much a prodigy and if you’ve got anything above an 18 then you’re a god amongst men.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I've been thinking for quite some time now that 8 in ability scores were the norm. Even as a DM, I have given commoners who were not important NPC's 8 in everything, thinking that was correct.
It looks like I've been running way underpowered games.
Even as a player I have role played characters as 8 being normal - so I have just played characters as being ordinary people when it comes to having 8 in ability scores.
Looks like I been playing characters as though they were overpowered as well.
Looks like i will need to reconsider how I play my character then. Perhaps lower is WIS down to 10 so I can increase his INT to 10, so at least he has normal INT and WIS, even if he doesn't have any bonuses in those abilities.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Interesting. If I understand what the grade equates to in the UK education system, my character with an 8 INT would be pretty ignorant of a lot of things, not know how to do a lot of things and need to rely on others a lot to help him.
If I understand correctly, a character with an 8 INT would have the equivalent intelligence of a 10 - 11-year-old? Essentially a kid in an adult's body.
He would find it difficult to interact with his peers and struggle to understand normal adult conversation, have a rather childish sense of humour and most probably enjoy hobbies that were simple games or tests of strength or physical ability.
He might also find it hard to process fast-changing situations and become frustrated and angry due to the stresses placed upon him, and lash out as a way of coping with that stress.
I also hinted that he might have a child with the Tiefling he spent time travelling with before meeting the party (a hook for the DM if they wanted it); however, thinking about how low his INT is, it feels like she might have ended up taking advantage of him and that I should probably remove that and say that they were only friends instead.
Also, being fluent in multiple languages might be hard for him, so perhaps I should remove his background language leaving him with Giant and common. The equivalent of a bilingual child.
I honestly don't know what to do with him at this point because I had made him thinking that 8 was an average score, which I was wrong about.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I didn't mean to imply the character would be mentally deficient or slow just uneducated to a modern standard.
With an 8 int he should be able to read and write in his native language but nothing close to poetry. Possibly he could speak a second language but not write much in it and at a stretch he might even know a few choice words in a third language, enough to get by if need be. But this character will most certainly not be going for a higher education anytime soon.
In real life my grand parents knew three languages but could only write in two and neither had a better than an 8th grade education.
Education used to be a paid for extravagance. Something only the rich could afford for their children. Public schools are only a modern thing. Children used to only be educated by their parents. If a child was not going to take over the family trade from the father that child was often sent to another tradesman to learn a career. US president Grant was a tanner trained by his father.
I didn't mean to imply the character would be mentally deficient or slow just uneducated to a modern standard.
With an 8 int he should be able to read and write in his native language but nothing close to poetry. Possibly he could speak a second language but not write much in it and at a stretch he might even know a few choice words in a third language, enough to get by if need be. But this character will most certainly not be going for a higher education anytime soon.
In real life my grand parents knew three languages but could only write in two and neither had a better than an 8th grade education.
Education used to be a paid for extravagance. Something only the rich could afford for their children. Public schools are only a modern thing. Children used to only be educated by their parents. If a child was not going to take over the family trade from the father that child was often sent to another tradesman to learn a career. US president Grant was a tanner trained by his father.
Education has very little to do with intelligence. Being clever is not the same as knowing a lot of stuff. People "back in the days" weren't less inteliigent than modern people, they just had less knowledge to work from.
Education has very little to do with intelligence. Being clever is not the same as knowing a lot of stuff. People "back in the days" weren't less inteliigent than modern people, they just had less knowledge to work from.
The "Intelligence" score in D&D isn't the same thing as "Intelligence" in common usage.
Fundamentally, any attribute in D&D should be read as "aptitude for solving the type of problem listed under the attribute". Which means "Int" is primarily aptitude for solving academic problems. If you're assuming 3d6 is standard, a score of 8 is roughly 25th percentile, which is unimpressive but not really notably terrible.
Education has very little to do with intelligence. Being clever is not the same as knowing a lot of stuff. People "back in the days" weren't less inteliigent than modern people, they just had less knowledge to work from.
The "Intelligence" score in D&D isn't the same thing as "Intelligence" in common usage.
I know and I haven't said it was. I was replying to a specific statement.
measures: mental acuity, information recall, and analytical skill.
They left it pretty sparse in detail.
I used the education analogy to help people equate it roughly. I could have also used the IQ analogy.
10 = 100 IQ truly normal.
11 = 110 IQ
12 = 120 IQ
and so on.
The IQ reference might upset a few people because they personally don't stack up to what they think of as normal. The writers are trying to not upset players personally;
I was wondering if you could all give me your thoughts and opinions on what the easiest build to play is?
Race
Class
Subclass
Thanks to Tashas, race has become a personal flavor choice. Although any race with Darkvision has an advantage over races without darkvision.
But for a Simple, no muss no fuss, easy to play easy to enjoy.
Using D&D Beyond...
Race: Half-Orc as your race. If you don't use TCoE they have a +2str, +1 con, darkvision, you can survive a KO once a day, and you get a bonus on Critical hits. All good if you play melee.
Class: Fighter, possibly the easiest class to play, your damage increases based on how many attacks you do per turn. Your stat priority is Str & Con, dex needs only be a max of +2, and the social stats are just for flavor. (Unless you go with magic options, than Int is the next important stat.)
Subclass pt1fighting style.:... well you have a few more options here as a fighter. You start at level 1 with a fighting style. This usually indicates your main weapon choice, or how you plan to engage in combat. Since we are making an Orc, any of the melee options is good. I personally like Two Weapon fighting. This gives your off hand your stat bonus to the off hand, helps keep the numbers uniform. but... at the same time, great weapon fighting gives you rerolls for damage. So really you should pick your weapon, are you tanking, two weapons, one big weapon, or just one weapon in one hand (don't recommend unless you go eldritch knight)
Subclass pt2 martial archetype: Lots of options here, lots of great options, but we want simple. IMO Battle Master is one of the better Subclasses in D&D, but it's also a highly tactical role, so though it pains me to do so, it's off the table. The simplest Martial Archetype is Champion, IMO it's ok and useful, the big thing it gains is improved crit ranges. It also adds bonuses to some skill checks. At the highest tier you have a health regen.
So far I'm suggesting:
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Fighter
Stats using point buy:
str: 15 (17 with race)
Dex: 10
Con: 15 (16 with race)
Wis: 14
Dump Int & Chr: 8
1st level Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting,
1st level proficiencies: Athletics & Perception
3rd level Martial Archetype: Champion
4th ASI: Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
6th, 8th, 12th: ASI - Any you like, Tough or Durable if you want to take more damage, armor feats based on what you wear, or a feat based on your weapons damage type. Also Aberrant Dragon Marks, but that requires DM approval and a higher level of RP and and tactical thinking. For my work sheet, I went with Str & Con and will increase Str & Con until they hit 20 each.
10th level Additional Fighting Style: This just gives more options: but as I'm building simple and two weapons, Blind Fighting is best here. Darkness is not your enemy in a fight anymore. "You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you."
14th ASI: Con twice (as I was putting 1pt in Str & Con on 6th, 8th, and 12th, on the 14th ASI you are now 20str, 20con, all other ASI's can be whatever)
16th ASi: Whatever, rp flavor, putting Alert,
Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:
You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.
You can't be surprised while you are conscious.
Other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you.
19th ASI: (Yes you get a lot of ASi's) Slasher (dex)
You’ve learned where to cut to have the greatest results, granting you the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage, you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
When you score a critical hit that deals slashing damage to a creature, you grievously wound it. Until the start of your next turn, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls.
At level 20, you get 4 attacks per Action, and 2 Action Surges, plus a bonus off hand attack.
example:
Turn 1 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
Turn 2 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
that's 18 attacks in 2 turns, +11 to hit, with a 6 to 13 damage range or an average 9 points of protentional damage per attack. or 162 points of damage per turn. or 324 points of damage in the first 2 turns.
Also with a +11 to hit, only the best armored creatures can avoid being hit every time. besides a 1, your minimum to hit is 12 (2 on dice) and your average to hit is 21 (10+11), now yes there are crazy build that can add multiple stat modifiers to your to hit, making it impossible to miss even the best armored creatures, but that is more tactical than this build.
Another option is to have a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other. This is actually a very good option for new players as it increases your survivability (at the cost of a small reduction in damage output), dueling is the fighting style that goes with that. Also does not depend on a feat so you can build up you str right from level 4.
I was wondering if you could all give me your thoughts and opinions on what the easiest build to play is?
Race
Class
Subclass
Thanks to Tashas, race has become a personal flavor choice. Although any race with Darkvision has an advantage over races without darkvision.
But for a Simple, no muss no fuss, easy to play easy to enjoy.
Using D&D Beyond...
Race: Half-Orc as your race. If you don't use TCoE they have a +2str, +1 con, darkvision, you can survive a KO once a day, and you get a bonus on Critical hits. All good if you play melee.
Class: Fighter, possibly the easiest class to play, your damage increases based on how many attacks you do per turn. Your stat priority is Str & Con, dex needs only be a max of +2, and the social stats are just for flavor. (Unless you go with magic options, than Int is the next important stat.)
Subclass pt1fighting style.:... well you have a few more options here as a fighter. You start at level 1 with a fighting style. This usually indicates your main weapon choice, or how you plan to engage in combat. Since we are making an Orc, any of the melee options is good. I personally like Two Weapon fighting. This gives your off hand your stat bonus to the off hand, helps keep the numbers uniform. but... at the same time, great weapon fighting gives you rerolls for damage. So really you should pick your weapon, are you tanking, two weapons, one big weapon, or just one weapon in one hand (don't recommend unless you go eldritch knight)
Subclass pt2 martial archetype: Lots of options here, lots of great options, but we want simple. IMO Battle Master is one of the better Subclasses in D&D, but it's also a highly tactical role, so though it pains me to do so, it's off the table. The simplest Martial Archetype is Champion, IMO it's ok and useful, the big thing it gains is improved crit ranges. It also adds bonuses to some skill checks. At the highest tier you have a health regen.
So far I'm suggesting:
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Fighter
Stats using point buy:
str: 15 (17 with race)
Dex: 10
Con: 15 (16 with race)
Wis: 14
Dump Int & Chr: 8
1st level Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting,
1st level proficiencies: Athletics & Perception
3rd level Martial Archetype: Champion
4th ASI: Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
6th, 8th, 12th: ASI - Any you like, Tough or Durable if you want to take more damage, armor feats based on what you wear, or a feat based on your weapons damage type. Also Aberrant Dragon Marks, but that requires DM approval and a higher level of RP and and tactical thinking. For my work sheet, I went with Str & Con and will increase Str & Con until they hit 20 each.
10th level Additional Fighting Style: This just gives more options: but as I'm building simple and two weapons, Blind Fighting is best here. Darkness is not your enemy in a fight anymore. "You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you."
14th ASI: Con twice (as I was putting 1pt in Str & Con on 6th, 8th, and 12th, on the 14th ASI you are now 20str, 20con, all other ASI's can be whatever)
16th ASi: Whatever, rp flavor, putting Alert,
Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:
You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.
You can't be surprised while you are conscious.
Other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you.
19th ASI: (Yes you get a lot of ASi's) Slasher (dex)
You’ve learned where to cut to have the greatest results, granting you the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage, you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
When you score a critical hit that deals slashing damage to a creature, you grievously wound it. Until the start of your next turn, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls.
At level 20, you get 4 attacks per Action, and 2 Action Surges, plus a bonus off hand attack.
example:
Turn 1 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
Turn 2 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
that's 18 attacks in 2 turns, +11 to hit, with a 6 to 13 damage range or an average 9 points of protentional damage per attack. or 162 points of damage per turn. or 324 points of damage in the first 2 turns.
Also with a +11 to hit, only the best armored creatures can avoid being hit every time. besides a 1, your minimum to hit is 12 (2 on dice) and your average to hit is 21 (10+11), now yes there are crazy build that can add multiple stat modifiers to your to hit, making it impossible to miss even the best armored creatures, but that is more tactical than this build.
The request wasn’t for the simplest build possible, but a simple build that is still fun to play. Da Champ is well known as the most boring subclass in 5e.
I used to run a simple fighter who would only go into full battle naked with a shield and sword or axe.
I love the Fighter class, it was top 3 for me until the artificer came out and took the top spot, and Fighter is currently my 4th favorite class. But let’s face it, Da Champ has nothing stimulating going on mechanically. It’s a snoozer. Hells, even the PDK has more interaction and it’s so bad people forget it exists. Every other Fighter subclass in the game is objectively more interesting to play mechanically than Da Champ. Heck, every other subclass for any class is mechanically more interesting than Da Champ.
I used to run a simple fighter who would only go into full battle naked with a shield and sword or axe.
I love the Fighter class, it was top 3 for me until the artificer came out and took the top spot, and Fighter is currently my 4th favorite class. But let’s face it, Da Champ has nothing stimulating going on mechanically. It’s a snoozer. Hells, even the PDK has more interaction and it’s so bad people forget it exists. Every other Fighter subclass in the game is objectively more interesting to play mechanically than Da Champ. Heck, every other subclass for any class is mechanically more interesting than Da Champ.
This is what you feel, and that is fine.
But, by picking a Champion, like my build, you can focus on the RP of the character, you don't have to worry about complications, extra dice, or anything, You hit, you deal damage, done. It's the simplest choice in 5th edition. To get the most out of it, I went with Half-Orc, sure I could have suggested Hill Dwarf, get that extra health, but what I did by suggesting an Orc is adding a flavor, here is a character who is typically a villain. Orcs in most settings are seen as dumb brutes who are destructive and evil. By picking this race with an easy class allows the player to really develop an RP, a story, their orc does combat well, but maybe they wanted to be an artist, or a musician, their tribe forced them to fight, but they moved into a human village and have become an adventurer to redeem their life, and maybe have a chance at something other than just a body in a horde.
Simple in combat doesn't mean boring, if anything the less you have to think about the mechanics, the more you can joke and quip in a fight.
Hey, I feel ya. My suggestion was also either an Orc or Half-Orc.* Only I went Paladin since they’re almost as simple as fighters, but with a little something to actually interact with mechanically (Divine Smite), and the simplest Spellcasting in the game since they don’t actually need to worry about how most of it works other than to check off the spell slot. (Their spells are mostly just on/off buffs with few saves or anything.) Very simple to play, but not mind-numbingly simple. *(https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/143484-what-is-the-easiest-character-to-make-and-play?comment=4)
I am well aware that Da Champ is the single least complicated subclass in 5e, you’re not educating me. However it’s not just me who thinks it’s boring after a few levels. That’s the #1 biggest criticism about that subclass across every D&D forum on the interwebs. So don’t act like I’m alone in my opinion, because I am most definitely not.
Oh, I always assumed 10-11 was average since there’s no - or + given to checks :/
Well, I suppose it depends how you look at it. If you're looking only at player characters, then maybe, but if you accept that as being true, you also have to admit that most people in that world have below-average intelligence.
Which seems like a very odd thing.
Maybe I am in the wrong, and if so, Id be happy to be corrected, but I believe that 8 in all abilities is what a commoner gets.
Commoners make up the vast majority of the world's population.
Therefore it stands to reason that 8 can be considered to be normal, with anything above 8 being above the norm and anything above 10 being exceptionally gifted.
Anything above a 14 would be pretty much a prodigy and if you’ve got anything above an 18 then you’re a god amongst men.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A Commoner has 10 in all abilities.
Well, I stand corrected.
I've been thinking for quite some time now that 8 in ability scores were the norm. Even as a DM, I have given commoners who were not important NPC's 8 in everything, thinking that was correct.
It looks like I've been running way underpowered games.
Even as a player I have role played characters as 8 being normal - so I have just played characters as being ordinary people when it comes to having 8 in ability scores.
Looks like I been playing characters as though they were overpowered as well.
Looks like i will need to reconsider how I play my character then. Perhaps lower is WIS down to 10 so I can increase his INT to 10, so at least he has normal INT and WIS, even if he doesn't have any bonuses in those abilities.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
You could think of it this way.
Int.
10 =8th grade education
12 =highschool education
14 =associates degree
16 =bachelors degree
18 =masters degree
20 =doctorate degree
Throughout most modern humans life they often use nothing learned after 8th grade. The trades use little learned after high school.
Most people back in the middle ages could do little more than spell and write their name.
And 8th grade education would have made them a tutor or teacher for the children of the wealthy. Though not the nobility.
Interesting. If I understand what the grade equates to in the UK education system, my character with an 8 INT would be pretty ignorant of a lot of things, not know how to do a lot of things and need to rely on others a lot to help him.
If I understand correctly, a character with an 8 INT would have the equivalent intelligence of a 10 - 11-year-old? Essentially a kid in an adult's body.
He would find it difficult to interact with his peers and struggle to understand normal adult conversation, have a rather childish sense of humour and most probably enjoy hobbies that were simple games or tests of strength or physical ability.
He might also find it hard to process fast-changing situations and become frustrated and angry due to the stresses placed upon him, and lash out as a way of coping with that stress.
I also hinted that he might have a child with the Tiefling he spent time travelling with before meeting the party (a hook for the DM if they wanted it); however, thinking about how low his INT is, it feels like she might have ended up taking advantage of him and that I should probably remove that and say that they were only friends instead.
Also, being fluent in multiple languages might be hard for him, so perhaps I should remove his background language leaving him with Giant and common. The equivalent of a bilingual child.
I honestly don't know what to do with him at this point because I had made him thinking that 8 was an average score, which I was wrong about.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I didn't mean to imply the character would be mentally deficient or slow just uneducated to a modern standard.
With an 8 int he should be able to read and write in his native language but nothing close to poetry. Possibly he could speak a second language but not write much in it and at a stretch he might even know a few choice words in a third language, enough to get by if need be. But this character will most certainly not be going for a higher education anytime soon.
In real life my grand parents knew three languages but could only write in two and neither had a better than an 8th grade education.
Education used to be a paid for extravagance. Something only the rich could afford for their children. Public schools are only a modern thing. Children used to only be educated by their parents. If a child was not going to take over the family trade from the father that child was often sent to another tradesman to learn a career. US president Grant was a tanner trained by his father.
Education has very little to do with intelligence. Being clever is not the same as knowing a lot of stuff. People "back in the days" weren't less inteliigent than modern people, they just had less knowledge to work from.
The "Intelligence" score in D&D isn't the same thing as "Intelligence" in common usage.
Fundamentally, any attribute in D&D should be read as "aptitude for solving the type of problem listed under the attribute". Which means "Int" is primarily aptitude for solving academic problems. If you're assuming 3d6 is standard, a score of 8 is roughly 25th percentile, which is unimpressive but not really notably terrible.
I know and I haven't said it was. I was replying to a specific statement.
As per the players handbook
measures: mental acuity, information recall, and analytical skill.
They left it pretty sparse in detail.
I used the education analogy to help people equate it roughly. I could have also used the IQ analogy.
10 = 100 IQ truly normal.
11 = 110 IQ
12 = 120 IQ
and so on.
The IQ reference might upset a few people because they personally don't stack up to what they think of as normal. The writers are trying to not upset players personally;
Thanks to Tashas, race has become a personal flavor choice. Although any race with Darkvision has an advantage over races without darkvision.
But for a Simple, no muss no fuss, easy to play easy to enjoy.
Using D&D Beyond...
Race: Half-Orc as your race. If you don't use TCoE they have a +2str, +1 con, darkvision, you can survive a KO once a day, and you get a bonus on Critical hits. All good if you play melee.
Class: Fighter, possibly the easiest class to play, your damage increases based on how many attacks you do per turn. Your stat priority is Str & Con, dex needs only be a max of +2, and the social stats are just for flavor. (Unless you go with magic options, than Int is the next important stat.)
Subclass pt1fighting style.:... well you have a few more options here as a fighter. You start at level 1 with a fighting style. This usually indicates your main weapon choice, or how you plan to engage in combat. Since we are making an Orc, any of the melee options is good. I personally like Two Weapon fighting. This gives your off hand your stat bonus to the off hand, helps keep the numbers uniform. but... at the same time, great weapon fighting gives you rerolls for damage. So really you should pick your weapon, are you tanking, two weapons, one big weapon, or just one weapon in one hand (don't recommend unless you go eldritch knight)
Subclass pt2 martial archetype: Lots of options here, lots of great options, but we want simple. IMO Battle Master is one of the better Subclasses in D&D, but it's also a highly tactical role, so though it pains me to do so, it's off the table. The simplest Martial Archetype is Champion, IMO it's ok and useful, the big thing it gains is improved crit ranges. It also adds bonuses to some skill checks. At the highest tier you have a health regen.
So far I'm suggesting:
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Fighter
Stats using point buy:
str: 15 (17 with race)
Dex: 10
Con: 15 (16 with race)
Wis: 14
Dump Int & Chr: 8
1st level Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting,
1st level proficiencies: Athletics & Perception
3rd level Martial Archetype: Champion
4th ASI: Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
6th, 8th, 12th: ASI - Any you like, Tough or Durable if you want to take more damage, armor feats based on what you wear, or a feat based on your weapons damage type. Also Aberrant Dragon Marks, but that requires DM approval and a higher level of RP and and tactical thinking. For my work sheet, I went with Str & Con and will increase Str & Con until they hit 20 each.
10th level Additional Fighting Style: This just gives more options: but as I'm building simple and two weapons, Blind Fighting is best here. Darkness is not your enemy in a fight anymore. "You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you."
14th ASI: Con twice (as I was putting 1pt in Str & Con on 6th, 8th, and 12th, on the 14th ASI you are now 20str, 20con, all other ASI's can be whatever)
16th ASi: Whatever, rp flavor, putting Alert,
Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:
19th ASI: (Yes you get a lot of ASi's) Slasher (dex)
You’ve learned where to cut to have the greatest results, granting you the following benefits:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/76302863
At level 20, you get 4 attacks per Action, and 2 Action Surges, plus a bonus off hand attack.
example:
Turn 1 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
Turn 2 in melee: 4 attacks, action surge 4 attacks, bonus off hand = 9
that's 18 attacks in 2 turns, +11 to hit, with a 6 to 13 damage range or an average 9 points of protentional damage per attack. or 162 points of damage per turn. or 324 points of damage in the first 2 turns.
Also with a +11 to hit, only the best armored creatures can avoid being hit every time. besides a 1, your minimum to hit is 12 (2 on dice) and your average to hit is 21 (10+11), now yes there are crazy build that can add multiple stat modifiers to your to hit, making it impossible to miss even the best armored creatures, but that is more tactical than this build.
Just add a bit on fighting styles.
Another option is to have a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other. This is actually a very good option for new players as it increases your survivability (at the cost of a small reduction in damage output), dueling is the fighting style that goes with that. Also does not depend on a feat so you can build up you str right from level 4.
The request wasn’t for the simplest build possible, but a simple build that is still fun to play. Da Champ is well known as the most boring subclass in 5e.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Any character is only as fun as you role play it.
A simple fighter can be very fun.
I used to run a simple fighter who would only go into full battle naked with a shield and sword or axe.
I love the Fighter class, it was top 3 for me until the artificer came out and took the top spot, and Fighter is currently my 4th favorite class. But let’s face it, Da Champ has nothing stimulating going on mechanically. It’s a snoozer. Hells, even the PDK has more interaction and it’s so bad people forget it exists. Every other Fighter subclass in the game is objectively more interesting to play mechanically than Da Champ. Heck, every other subclass for any class is mechanically more interesting than Da Champ.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
This is what you feel, and that is fine.
But, by picking a Champion, like my build, you can focus on the RP of the character, you don't have to worry about complications, extra dice, or anything, You hit, you deal damage, done. It's the simplest choice in 5th edition. To get the most out of it, I went with Half-Orc, sure I could have suggested Hill Dwarf, get that extra health, but what I did by suggesting an Orc is adding a flavor, here is a character who is typically a villain. Orcs in most settings are seen as dumb brutes who are destructive and evil. By picking this race with an easy class allows the player to really develop an RP, a story, their orc does combat well, but maybe they wanted to be an artist, or a musician, their tribe forced them to fight, but they moved into a human village and have become an adventurer to redeem their life, and maybe have a chance at something other than just a body in a horde.
Simple in combat doesn't mean boring, if anything the less you have to think about the mechanics, the more you can joke and quip in a fight.
Hey, I feel ya. My suggestion was also either an Orc or Half-Orc.* Only I went Paladin since they’re almost as simple as fighters, but with a little something to actually interact with mechanically (Divine Smite), and the simplest Spellcasting in the game since they don’t actually need to worry about how most of it works other than to check off the spell slot. (Their spells are mostly just on/off buffs with few saves or anything.) Very simple to play, but not mind-numbingly simple.
*(https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/143484-what-is-the-easiest-character-to-make-and-play?comment=4)
I am well aware that Da Champ is the single least complicated subclass in 5e, you’re not educating me. However it’s not just me who thinks it’s boring after a few levels. That’s the #1 biggest criticism about that subclass across every D&D forum on the interwebs. So don’t act like I’m alone in my opinion, because I am most definitely not.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Let’s please not fight everyone.
I made the character and went with a Barbarian.
I’ve been discussing him over on the story and lore board if you want to head over there to see what I made and give your opinions you can go to https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/143606-lugnir-lugi-ironfist-do-you-think-this-character
But let’s please not fight about this stuff, cos at the end of the day it’s just a game and we are all here to have fun
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
IQ as an analogy is even worse since IQ is based on education levels...