The Defensive Duelist feat is to me among the best feats, and likely one of the very best defensive one. Though it seems to me obvious that it gives an undue advantage to dexterity based characters vs strength based ones. Am I missing something? A character with a rapier can have 20 dex with mage armor for ac 18, same as full plate. And Serpent Scale, just uncommon, makes that higher than full plate at 19. The longsword wielder has nothing like this, and it seems unfair. Even dual wielding is no better for longsword than it is for rapier. I cannot see why this option should not be available with any of the single handed weapons.
Defensive duelist isn't as strong as you'd think. It's once per turn and only deflects one attack, meaning it's not the most reliable vs a mob. Compared to the shield spell, or just wielding a shield, casting shield of faith at low levels, or inflicting disadvantage to your opponent's attacks, it's not that much of a power spike.
Now maybe if you're comparing tit for tat in a narrow scope of this person vs that person, sure it might seem unfair... but looking at the big picture, it's really not going to matter anyways. The feat is there for flavorful coloring of your creation.
Thank you for that clarification. So since I’m relatively new to 5e, I haven’t yet explored all the Paladin spells. I know the shield faith is +2 to ac, if I’m not mistaken. Whereas at level 5 I’d only have +3 with defensive duelist. I get what you’re saying, especially about it using a reaction just to deflect a single attack. I will have to explore the other potential defenses for Paladin, Especially since I envision a heavy tank! Cheers and thanks again.
The only situations I know of where a longsword is better than a rapier are 1) if damage type matters and 2) for getting monks early access to 1d10 damage. The PHB weapons table is full of balance problems large and small, although thankfully things have gotten slightly better with the TCOE damage type feats, giving players agency over damage type mattering.
Lunali is extremely correct. There's no great reason as a sword and board paladin to make your sword a longsword rather than a rapier.
The Defensive Duelist feat is to me among the best feats, and likely one of the very best defensive one. Though it seems to me obvious that it gives an undue advantage to dexterity based characters vs strength based ones. Am I missing something? A character with a rapier can have 20 dex with mage armor for ac 18, same as full plate. And Serpent Scale, just uncommon, makes that higher than full plate at 19. The longsword wielder has nothing like this, and it seems unfair. Even dual wielding is no better for longsword than it is for rapier. I cannot see why this option should not be available with any of the single handed weapons.
Defensive duelist isn't as strong as you'd think. It's once per turn and only deflects one attack, meaning it's not the most reliable vs a mob. Compared to the shield spell, or just wielding a shield, casting shield of faith at low levels, or inflicting disadvantage to your opponent's attacks, it's not that much of a power spike.
Now maybe if you're comparing tit for tat in a narrow scope of this person vs that person, sure it might seem unfair... but looking at the big picture, it's really not going to matter anyways. The feat is there for flavorful coloring of your creation.
Thank you for that clarification. So since I’m relatively new to 5e, I haven’t yet explored all the Paladin spells. I know the shield faith is +2 to ac, if I’m not mistaken. Whereas at level 5 I’d only have +3 with defensive duelist. I get what you’re saying, especially about it using a reaction just to deflect a single attack. I will have to explore the other potential defenses for Paladin, Especially since I envision a heavy tank! Cheers and thanks again.
I feel obliged to point out that just because you're using a finesse weapon for defensive duelist, that doesn't mean you have to use dex.
The only situations I know of where a longsword is better than a rapier are 1) if damage type matters and 2) for getting monks early access to 1d10 damage. The PHB weapons table is full of balance problems large and small, although thankfully things have gotten slightly better with the TCOE damage type feats, giving players agency over damage type mattering.
Lunali is extremely correct. There's no great reason as a sword and board paladin to make your sword a longsword rather than a rapier.