Protection flat-out requires a shield, and it's not a sure thing - you can use your Protection reaction to impose disadvantage and the critter can still roll really well and hit regardless, at which point Protection did nothing. Interception guarantees that you accomplish at least some damage reduction, and it can be performed without a shield - so long as you're wielding an official Weapon (i.e. not an improvised or natural weapon), you can Intercept.
That said? When it works, Protection can prevent a great deal more damage than Interception can. Whiffing an attack entirely is more effective than 1d10+prof damage reduction, and if you stop the right attack, such as a rogue's SneakaBlaster or the bite attack on some big gnasty thing's multiattack, you prevent a great deal more damage. Protection also offers a cushion against enemy crits; forcing a critter to roll with disadvantage could be the difference between taking a normal attack and taking a devastating crit.
In general, Protection is going to be much stronger but less consistent, and Interception is consistent but somewhat weak. If you're planning on using a shield most of the time, Protection is very likely going to be the better choice. Interception is usually something characters take as a second fighting style, either via multiclassing or the Fighting Initiate feat, when they're using large two-handed weapons but don't otherwise have a good use for their reaction. A PAM or GWM build can often make use of Interception more than Great Weapon Fighting, provided they know there's gonna be someone else on the front lines next to them most of the time.
Personally I think that Interception is much better purely because you don't need a shield. Taking Protection at an early level means that you're stuck with sword and board, or otherwise can't use a major part of your build, for the rest of your adventuring career.
Unless you're certain to always have somebody next to you, neither, pick defense or dueling instead even if those choices are boring.
I tried both on my tank character to try and help out party members. Interception is just too weak and doesn't scale well and protection I got to use only once in ten games since I usually managed to position myself to be the one targeted or the character was just too far for it to make a difference.
Dueling/Defense is always on and will either consistently let you do more damage, effectively removing threats from play quicker and thus reducing damage done to your party or consistently reduce the number of attacks that hit you throughout your adventuring career. They also do not sacrifice your reactions which is a major plus if your reaction is already heavily contested by other abilities.
In the end, I ditched both the first chance I could (1st ASI) and took defense which has helped tremendously. Food for thought, your mileage may vary. If you absolutely want to commit to protection/interception though, protection is definitely the better option even if it is entirely situational.
...and protection I got to use only once in ten games since I usually managed to position myself to be the one targeted or the character was just too far for it to make a difference.
This has also been my experience. I haven't had the opportunity to play with Interception personally, but I did play a paladin with the Protection fighting style in a campaign that ran about a year (13th level). I might also suggest checking if your DM is using the optional Flanking rules, as these will seriously impact where you choose to stand.
Both fighting style options should only be chosen if you-the-player have actively spoken with some of the other melee characters on your team and engaged them with the idea of fighting as a closely coordinated team. If nobody's sticking next to you to let you use Protection, oftentimes it's because you haven't told them you're trying to. Talking to someone lets you know if they're down to double-team, or if they intend to move all around the battlefield and never be in a position to be Protection'd.
Unless you're certain to always have somebody next to you, neither, pick defense or dueling instead even if those choices are boring.
I tried both on my tank character to try and help out party members. Interception is just too weak and doesn't scale well and protection I got to use only once in ten games since I usually managed to position myself to be the one targeted or the character was just too far for it to make a difference.
Dueling/Defense is always on and will either consistently let you do more damage, effectively removing threats from play quicker and thus reducing damage done to your party or consistently reduce the number of attacks that hit you throughout your adventuring career. They also do not sacrifice your reactions which is a major plus if your reaction is already heavily contested by other abilities.
In the end, I ditched both the first chance I could (1st ASI) and took defense which has helped tremendously. Food for thought, your mileage may vary. If you absolutely want to commit to protection/interception though, protection is definitely the better option even if it is entirely situational.
Yeah that tends to be the case in my experience as well.
Since DnD action economy encourages the dead is better approach to combat these both tend to be underwhelming. In this case it truly is that the best defense is a better offense.
I myself was so exsited when i first read interception.. until i realised the it dosent grow.... Had it been a little like how cantrips grow the i coud ser this as something useful later on
Interception has a likelihood of reducing enough damage that it might entirely negate an attacks damage. Scaling by using Proficiency limits its scaling considerably. I’d think it might be useful from levels 1-3, and then switched out at level 4 using tashas martial versatility.
interception reduces damage on an attack you already know has hit. The interception fighting style also has the benefit of being able to be used when other sources of disadvantage are already being imposed on enemies, this is not true for the protection fighting style as disadvantage doesn’t stack. I’m imagining an escort mission where the target you’re escorting may be much more useful if they take the dodge action continually.
protection imposed disadvantage on a roll that may not have hit in the first place, and perhaps even on a damage roll that would have been liw.
It also depends on which enemy you're fighting. In the early levels of play, Protection can make almost every enemy miss with the disadvantage, but at later levels enemies often have something like +8/+9/+10 and above to hit, so Protection may not make a lot of a difference in these cases, but it definitely can save someone from a critical hit and potentially making a devastating attack miss.
On the other hand, Interception will always reduce the damage taken (it's almost like a reaction Cure Wounds, sometimes it'll prevent a lot, sometimes just a little bit). In early levels it may prevent a lot, and potentially even all damage if you roll high on the d10, but it's effectiveness will be bound to luck as your proficiency bonus won't be that great, in the later levels of play it'll prevent a consistent amount of damage damage and eventually have a flat -5 reduction with your proficiency, and in the long run you'll probably save the party a lot of hitpoints, potions and spell slots that'd be used for healing with just a reaction per round.
Also, if your DM rolls behind a DM Screen, maybe he won't call out crits to prevent metagaming, potentially nerfing Protection.
My take is: Low/early-mid level campaign (level 1-8): Go with Protection, as you'll be making enemies miss a lot, as your proficiency is not that great. Late-mid/high level campaign (level 9-20): I would go with Interception, as you'll probably be reducing damage every round if positioned correctly.
There's not really a point to that; Interception is already a Reaction whose trigger is an ally within 5 ft of you being hit by an attack. Even assuming you could Ready it (you can't, since it's a Reaction), all you'd be doing is using up your Action.
In terms of Interception vs Protection, I'd say it's based on the AC of whoever you expect to be using it for the most. If you're planning to cover for a Heavy Armor user or someone who managed to pull high teens on their alternate AC calculation, then you've got better odds of the Disadvantage from Protection swinging the roll enough for a miss. Whereas if you're expecting to cover a Rogue, Gish class, or other more fragile melee character, you'll likely want the consistency of Interception soaking damage throughout.
Meh. If you really want to be the person that reduces damage or prevents hits, play an Ancestral Guardians Barbarian. Their 3rd and 6th level protect abilities are always on as long as you Rage, it doesn't use your Reaction, and some benefits extend out to 30 feet from you. Much more reliable than either of these fighting styles.
Meh. If you really want to be the person that reduces damage or prevents hits, play an Ancestral Guardians Barbarian. Their 3rd and 6th level protect abilities are always on as long as you Rage, it doesn't use your Reaction, and some benefits extend out to 30 feet from you. Much more reliable than either of these fighting styles.
Which is only helpful advice if the player is content with being limited to two Barbarian subclasses. The Reaction FS’s aren’t the most optimal picks, but with a little party coordination they should crop up plenty and are compatible with a much wider array of classes.
Meh. If you really want to be the person that reduces damage or prevents hits, play an Ancestral Guardians Barbarian. Their 3rd and 6th level protect abilities are always on as long as you Rage, it doesn't use your Reaction, and some benefits extend out to 30 feet from you. Much more reliable than either of these fighting styles.
Which is only helpful advice if the player is content with being limited to two Barbarian subclasses. The Reaction FS’s aren’t the most optimal picks, but with a little party coordination they should crop up plenty and are compatible with a much wider array of classes.
The best way to prevent party members from being KO'ed is to kill/knock out/disable the enemy, right? And action economy being limited it's therefore always best to Not have to use an action, reaction or bonus action in the middle of combat to do stuff like heal or mitigate damage when the primary objective is kill/KO/disable. Ofc, that's not always possible, but if the primary goal anyway is to kill/KO/disable the enemy, the most efficient course of action is to combine kill/KO/disable with protecting your allies while using the same action/bonus action/reaction. So my point is if the OP really wants to focus on protecting allies as their primary goal, then it should be to either protect multiple allies at the same time using something like the Paladin Aura or Ancestral Barb Aura, or just directly focus on "kill/KO/disable" the enemy ASAP. Trying to do both using the same set of action/bonus action/reaction just isn't efficient or very effective.
IOW, "None of the above" is actually the most sensible answer to "Should I pick Interception or Protection Fighting Style?" as Kilithor, Optimis, and Kryzz have eluded to.
Which one is better and why? Is one better than the other sometimes or is one supremely better?
Protection flat-out requires a shield, and it's not a sure thing - you can use your Protection reaction to impose disadvantage and the critter can still roll really well and hit regardless, at which point Protection did nothing. Interception guarantees that you accomplish at least some damage reduction, and it can be performed without a shield - so long as you're wielding an official Weapon (i.e. not an improvised or natural weapon), you can Intercept.
That said? When it works, Protection can prevent a great deal more damage than Interception can. Whiffing an attack entirely is more effective than 1d10+prof damage reduction, and if you stop the right attack, such as a rogue's SneakaBlaster or the bite attack on some big gnasty thing's multiattack, you prevent a great deal more damage. Protection also offers a cushion against enemy crits; forcing a critter to roll with disadvantage could be the difference between taking a normal attack and taking a devastating crit.
In general, Protection is going to be much stronger but less consistent, and Interception is consistent but somewhat weak. If you're planning on using a shield most of the time, Protection is very likely going to be the better choice. Interception is usually something characters take as a second fighting style, either via multiclassing or the Fighting Initiate feat, when they're using large two-handed weapons but don't otherwise have a good use for their reaction. A PAM or GWM build can often make use of Interception more than Great Weapon Fighting, provided they know there's gonna be someone else on the front lines next to them most of the time.
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Thank you, that helped me understand that a lot
Personally I think that Interception is much better purely because you don't need a shield. Taking Protection at an early level means that you're stuck with sword and board, or otherwise can't use a major part of your build, for the rest of your adventuring career.
Unless you're certain to always have somebody next to you, neither, pick defense or dueling instead even if those choices are boring.
I tried both on my tank character to try and help out party members. Interception is just too weak and doesn't scale well and protection I got to use only once in ten games since I usually managed to position myself to be the one targeted or the character was just too far for it to make a difference.
Dueling/Defense is always on and will either consistently let you do more damage, effectively removing threats from play quicker and thus reducing damage done to your party or consistently reduce the number of attacks that hit you throughout your adventuring career. They also do not sacrifice your reactions which is a major plus if your reaction is already heavily contested by other abilities.
In the end, I ditched both the first chance I could (1st ASI) and took defense which has helped tremendously. Food for thought, your mileage may vary. If you absolutely want to commit to protection/interception though, protection is definitely the better option even if it is entirely situational.
This has also been my experience. I haven't had the opportunity to play with Interception personally, but I did play a paladin with the Protection fighting style in a campaign that ran about a year (13th level). I might also suggest checking if your DM is using the optional Flanking rules, as these will seriously impact where you choose to stand.
Both fighting style options should only be chosen if you-the-player have actively spoken with some of the other melee characters on your team and engaged them with the idea of fighting as a closely coordinated team. If nobody's sticking next to you to let you use Protection, oftentimes it's because you haven't told them you're trying to. Talking to someone lets you know if they're down to double-team, or if they intend to move all around the battlefield and never be in a position to be Protection'd.
Please do not contact or message me.
Yeah that tends to be the case in my experience as well.
Since DnD action economy encourages the dead is better approach to combat these both tend to be underwhelming. In this case it truly is that the best defense is a better offense.
I myself was so exsited when i first read interception.. until i realised the it dosent grow.... Had it been a little like how cantrips grow the i coud ser this as something useful later on
Interception has a likelihood of reducing enough damage that it might entirely negate an attacks damage. Scaling by using Proficiency limits its scaling considerably. I’d think it might be useful from levels 1-3, and then switched out at level 4 using tashas martial versatility.
interception reduces damage on an attack you already know has hit. The interception fighting style also has the benefit of being able to be used when other sources of disadvantage are already being imposed on enemies, this is not true for the protection fighting style as disadvantage doesn’t stack. I’m imagining an escort mission where the target you’re escorting may be much more useful if they take the dodge action continually.
protection imposed disadvantage on a roll that may not have hit in the first place, and perhaps even on a damage roll that would have been liw.
It also depends on which enemy you're fighting. In the early levels of play, Protection can make almost every enemy miss with the disadvantage, but at later levels enemies often have something like +8/+9/+10 and above to hit, so Protection may not make a lot of a difference in these cases, but it definitely can save someone from a critical hit and potentially making a devastating attack miss.
On the other hand, Interception will always reduce the damage taken (it's almost like a reaction Cure Wounds, sometimes it'll prevent a lot, sometimes just a little bit). In early levels it may prevent a lot, and potentially even all damage if you roll high on the d10, but it's effectiveness will be bound to luck as your proficiency bonus won't be that great, in the later levels of play it'll prevent a consistent amount of damage damage and eventually have a flat -5 reduction with your proficiency, and in the long run you'll probably save the party a lot of hitpoints, potions and spell slots that'd be used for healing with just a reaction per round.
Also, if your DM rolls behind a DM Screen, maybe he won't call out crits to prevent metagaming, potentially nerfing Protection.
My take is:
Low/early-mid level campaign (level 1-8): Go with Protection, as you'll be making enemies miss a lot, as your proficiency is not that great.
Late-mid/high level campaign (level 9-20): I would go with Interception, as you'll probably be reducing damage every round if positioned correctly.
Can I use the ready action with Interception? Can I say the first ally to get hit I use interception on them?
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There's not really a point to that; Interception is already a Reaction whose trigger is an ally within 5 ft of you being hit by an attack. Even assuming you could Ready it (you can't, since it's a Reaction), all you'd be doing is using up your Action.
In terms of Interception vs Protection, I'd say it's based on the AC of whoever you expect to be using it for the most. If you're planning to cover for a Heavy Armor user or someone who managed to pull high teens on their alternate AC calculation, then you've got better odds of the Disadvantage from Protection swinging the roll enough for a miss. Whereas if you're expecting to cover a Rogue, Gish class, or other more fragile melee character, you'll likely want the consistency of Interception soaking damage throughout.
Meh. If you really want to be the person that reduces damage or prevents hits, play an Ancestral Guardians Barbarian. Their 3rd and 6th level protect abilities are always on as long as you Rage, it doesn't use your Reaction, and some benefits extend out to 30 feet from you. Much more reliable than either of these fighting styles.
Which is only helpful advice if the player is content with being limited to two Barbarian subclasses. The Reaction FS’s aren’t the most optimal picks, but with a little party coordination they should crop up plenty and are compatible with a much wider array of classes.
The best way to prevent party members from being KO'ed is to kill/knock out/disable the enemy, right? And action economy being limited it's therefore always best to Not have to use an action, reaction or bonus action in the middle of combat to do stuff like heal or mitigate damage when the primary objective is kill/KO/disable. Ofc, that's not always possible, but if the primary goal anyway is to kill/KO/disable the enemy, the most efficient course of action is to combine kill/KO/disable with protecting your allies while using the same action/bonus action/reaction. So my point is if the OP really wants to focus on protecting allies as their primary goal, then it should be to either protect multiple allies at the same time using something like the Paladin Aura or Ancestral Barb Aura, or just directly focus on "kill/KO/disable" the enemy ASAP. Trying to do both using the same set of action/bonus action/reaction just isn't efficient or very effective.
IOW, "None of the above" is actually the most sensible answer to "Should I pick Interception or Protection Fighting Style?" as Kilithor, Optimis, and Kryzz have eluded to.