Is there a possible build there a soul can excel at the three styles of swordplay (Dual Wield, Dueling, and 2-Handed)? Is it worth it?
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He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful.
There were some threads a few weeks ago about a Fighter with Extra Attack that is granting 2 or more attacks in an Attack Action progressing from Dueling to Two Weapon Fighting and back in the same turn. It turned out to be a little controversial, depending on whether you think that the Dual Wielder feat lets you draw/sheathe a weapon more than once per turn, or just lets you draw/sheathe more than one weapon but only once per turn. It's only a minor damage bump for so controversial and fiddly an interaction.
Is there a possible build there a soul can excel at the three styles of swordplay (Dual Wield, Dueling, and 2-Handed)? Is it worth it?
It depends on how much our DM does things sometimes. If your DM likes to give players stuff they want to use, then just pick one or two that you like.
If your DM likes to give out stuff that isn’t optimized to the players’ preferences then having options can be beneficial. That way you can upgrade to more powerful magic items with a greater versatility.
Better to just focus on one. Your damage might be 1-2 points lower on average if you don't do the crazy swap while fighting thing.
If you just want to be able to use all of the above and choose which one you do when the fight starts Champion Fighter will do fine. With a possible multi to Pallidin so by character level 12 you will have all the fighting styles: Two-Handed, Dual Wielding, and Dueling.
Fighter 1, Ranger 2, Paladin 2 will get you all three, or variant human taking one of them as their starting feat from the new UA fighting style feats.
"Is it worth it" is a tough question because we need to weigh the mechanical cost against the very subjective RP value of the concept. If you're just looking at mechanics, it's not a good choice because D&D rewards you for specializing.
Is it optimal to sink resources into fighting styles you will only use 1/3 of the time? Almost certainly not. The primary benefit of dueling is that you can use a shield, but donning a shield is very expensive action-wise so you shouldn't be switching up in the heat of combat. The effects ripple out as well. What do you do with your bonus action? Any investment into that won't be used when dual wielding. And you still need a ranged option, so you're really juggling 4 fighting styles.
Where one character only needs one magic weapon, you need 3 to achieve the same effect, although you do get a marginal bonus if you can switch to slashing/piercing/bludgeoning on demand.
If one of my players wanted to do this, I'd probably offer to mitigate a lot of this with a special magic weapon that could change form between two one-handers, a two-hander, and a one-hander and a shield. Maybe 3 times a day it can morph into a different form with no action cost. I think that would cover a lot of the the flavor, and then the player could decide on their own if being a master means getting all the related feats and features for each fighting style.
He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful.
Absolutely possible. Play a Str-based Champion, for example.
Get Two-Weapon Fighting Style and later on, Dueling Fighting Style. Grab the Dual Wielder Feat.
Grab a bunch of Spears and a Longsword.
First round, if you need a blitz attack and can’t get close enough, throw your Spear, draw another, and throw a second Spear.
Want to grapple? Sheathe the spear, and you have one free hand for grappling and you do extra damage with your Longsword because you’re only carrying one weapon.
Extra damage? Dual Wield for more attacks per round.
Out of Spears? Throw two hands on the Longsword and let fly some extra damage.
And you know what, it’s damn fun to play too. Focus on taking Feats like:
1) Grappler, for advantage on all those grappled creatures
2) Polearm Master for when you are only holding one Spear and still want the bonus attack.
Play the character you want, and it’ll be fun. These combinations actually give the Champion a lot of options in combat and I definitely recommend.🙂
A two-handed weapon requires two hands to wield, but not two hands to hold, and releasing hold of it with one hand takes no action (not even a free interaction).Weapons can be drawn mid-attack action. There's nothing stopping a Greatsword fighter with Great Weapon Fighting Style and Great Weapon Master from making as many attacks as they're able to in melee... and then using their one free draw/sheathe action to draw a Javelin and throw it (using Strength). Not a bad use for two fighting styles, though Defense is often a more optimal choice for a second fighting style.
Is there a possible build there a soul can excel at the three styles of swordplay (Dual Wield, Dueling, and 2-Handed)? Is it worth it?
He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful.
There were some threads a few weeks ago about a Fighter with Extra Attack that is granting 2 or more attacks in an Attack Action progressing from Dueling to Two Weapon Fighting and back in the same turn. It turned out to be a little controversial, depending on whether you think that the Dual Wielder feat lets you draw/sheathe a weapon more than once per turn, or just lets you draw/sheathe more than one weapon but only once per turn. It's only a minor damage bump for so controversial and fiddly an interaction.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
It depends on how much our DM does things sometimes. If your DM likes to give players stuff they want to use, then just pick one or two that you like.
If your DM likes to give out stuff that isn’t optimized to the players’ preferences then having options can be beneficial. That way you can upgrade to more powerful magic items with a greater versatility.
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Better to just focus on one. Your damage might be 1-2 points lower on average if you don't do the crazy swap while fighting thing.
If you just want to be able to use all of the above and choose which one you do when the fight starts Champion Fighter will do fine. With a possible multi to Pallidin so by character level 12 you will have all the fighting styles: Two-Handed, Dual Wielding, and Dueling.
Keep in mind, the viability of that “crazy swap thing” is hotly debated. If your DM rules like I do, it’s not even possible.
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Fighter 1, Ranger 2, Paladin 2 will get you all three, or variant human taking one of them as their starting feat from the new UA fighting style feats.
"Is it worth it" is a tough question because we need to weigh the mechanical cost against the very subjective RP value of the concept. If you're just looking at mechanics, it's not a good choice because D&D rewards you for specializing.
Is it optimal to sink resources into fighting styles you will only use 1/3 of the time? Almost certainly not. The primary benefit of dueling is that you can use a shield, but donning a shield is very expensive action-wise so you shouldn't be switching up in the heat of combat. The effects ripple out as well. What do you do with your bonus action? Any investment into that won't be used when dual wielding. And you still need a ranged option, so you're really juggling 4 fighting styles.
Where one character only needs one magic weapon, you need 3 to achieve the same effect, although you do get a marginal bonus if you can switch to slashing/piercing/bludgeoning on demand.
If one of my players wanted to do this, I'd probably offer to mitigate a lot of this with a special magic weapon that could change form between two one-handers, a two-hander, and a one-hander and a shield. Maybe 3 times a day it can morph into a different form with no action cost. I think that would cover a lot of the the flavor, and then the player could decide on their own if being a master means getting all the related feats and features for each fighting style.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Thanks. You’ve given me something to think about.
He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful.
Absolutely possible. Play a Str-based Champion, for example.
Get Two-Weapon Fighting Style and later on, Dueling Fighting Style. Grab the Dual Wielder Feat.
Grab a bunch of Spears and a Longsword.
First round, if you need a blitz attack and can’t get close enough, throw your Spear, draw another, and throw a second Spear.
Want to grapple? Sheathe the spear, and you have one free hand for grappling and you do extra damage with your Longsword because you’re only carrying one weapon.
Extra damage? Dual Wield for more attacks per round.
Out of Spears? Throw two hands on the Longsword and let fly some extra damage.
And you know what, it’s damn fun to play too. Focus on taking Feats like:
1) Grappler, for advantage on all those grappled creatures
2) Polearm Master for when you are only holding one Spear and still want the bonus attack.
Play the character you want, and it’ll be fun. These combinations actually give the Champion a lot of options in combat and I definitely recommend.🙂
A two-handed weapon requires two hands to wield, but not two hands to hold, and releasing hold of it with one hand takes no action (not even a free interaction). Weapons can be drawn mid-attack action. There's nothing stopping a Greatsword fighter with Great Weapon Fighting Style and Great Weapon Master from making as many attacks as they're able to in melee... and then using their one free draw/sheathe action to draw a Javelin and throw it (using Strength). Not a bad use for two fighting styles, though Defense is often a more optimal choice for a second fighting style.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.