D&D 5E [GUIDE] Battle On: The Fighter Guide

Gladius Legis · Mar 14, 2017

Ryuu Hayato said:
I have one question.

My character is lvl 19 Human Champion.

My stats: STR 20; DEX 14; CON 18; INT 11; WIS 12; CHA 12.
HP: 194
AC: 20
Saves: STR +13; DEX +4; CON +12; INT +2; WIS +9; CHA +4.
Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting and Archery
Feats: Resilient (Wisdom); Great Weapon Master.
Magical Items: Luckstone; Vorpal Sword; Cloak of Protection; Plate+2; Elven Boots; Longbow +2.
Iniciative: +6
Skills: Acrobatic + 6; Animal Handling + 2; Arcana +1; Athletics +12; Deception +2; History +7; Insight +2; Intimidation +8; Investigation +1; Medicine +2; Nature +1; Perception +8; Performance +2; Persuasion +8; Religion +1; Sleight of Hand +6; Stealth +6; Survival +2.
Weapons: Greatsword +11 to hit, 2d6+8 damage; Longbow +12 to hit, 1d8+4 damage.

Shoud I put the last 2 points in Constitution to have +19 HP, +1 on CON saves and checks, and have +10 HP on Survivor instead +9? Or put +2 on Dex to have +1 on all dex saves, checks, iniciative and sometimes bow attacks? Or another thing?

Lv. 19 is practically a "whatever" level at this point.

Aside from the CON bump ... Sentinel is always good, though since you're not a Battle Master you can't do Riposte cheese. Or go Alert for the massive initiative boost. Or even Lucky is always nice.

Gladius Legis · Jun 11, 2017

So, the latest form of the UA Cavalier:

tl;dr version, black rating. For whatever its faults are, at the end of the day it's a much less versatile Battle Master, but one who still took two of that archetype's best maneuvers at Lv. 3.

Where it could use some help is with its Ferocious Charger feature at Lv. 7. It needs to do more. I think if it were to allow you to knock down two sizes bigger than you it would make it a lot better. Then at Lv. 15 probably, make it so you can spend three dice on it and let it knock down three sizes bigger than you.

Blue · Jun 12, 2017

Gladius Legis said:
So, the latest form of the UA Cavalier:

tl;dr version, black rating. For whatever its faults are, at the end of the day it's a much less versatile Battle Master, but one who still took two of that archetype's best maneuvers at Lv. 3.

Where it could use some help is with its Ferocious Charger feature at Lv. 7. It needs to do more. I think if it were to allow you to knock down two sizes bigger than you it would make it a lot better. Then at Lv. 15 probably, make it so you can spend three dice on it and let it knock down three sizes bigger than you.

For the size on the knockdown feature, what had immediately leapt to mind when I read it was to make it oen size larger then you or your mount, if mounted. Since your mount is (at least) one size bigger, that gives you the extra size category you were just talking about as well as ties thematically back into the class.

All of that said, for AL or store games that don't give non-PHB mount options, I don't feel the class is viable.

andargor · Jul 9, 2017

Gladius Legis said:
[*]Trip Attack: Only works on Large or smaller, the same as shoving does, but that'll still be a lot of enemies.

Hi, nice guide! Do you have a reference for Large being the maximum size, an errata or sage advice? Because the maneuver itself does not mention a maximum size, although it is curiously worded about requiring a save for Large and smaller. The Trip Attack maneuver doesn't reference shoving, but even if you did consider ruling it as such, it only limits it to one size larger than you.

Gladius Legis · Jul 9, 2017

Pretty clear to me Trip Attack only forces a save against Large or smaller. If it's Huge or bigger, it doesn't have to make a saving throw and thus it never risks getting knocked down by that maneuver in the first place.

I guess I should edit the shoving explanation, since it's not the same, though. Shoving benefits from Enlarge, Trip Attack doesn't. (On the other hand, a Small race can knock down Large enemies with Trip Attack but not a shove.)

andargor · Jul 10, 2017

Gladius Legis said:
Pretty clear to me Trip Attack only forces a save against Large or smaller. If it's Huge or bigger, it doesn't have to make a saving throw and thus it never risks getting knocked down by that maneuver in the first place.

So the interpretation is that only Large and smaller get a saving throw, and since you only get knocked down on a failed save, Huge and above are unaffected? What a roundabout and poor way to write this maneuver...

Gladius Legis · Jul 10, 2017

*shrugs* Works just fine for me.

Ovarwa · Jul 10, 2017

Hi,

andargor said:
So the interpretation is that only Large and smaller get a saving throw, and since you only get knocked down on a failed save, Huge and above are unaffected? What a roundabout and poor way to write this maneuver...

The description is extremely clear: not vague, not ambiguous, not contradictory, not complicated.

The only problem I can see with it is when you want a game in which the PCs are monsters with class levels. At that point, it seems strange the my Stupendously Colossal Titan Fighter cannot trip a mere Storm Giant. But that's very much a corner case, I think.

Anyway,

Ken

Gladius Legis · Nov 11, 2017

I'll update with Xanathar's pretty soon, but initial overall subclass ratings: Arcane Archer, Cavalier, Samurai.

Hayato · Nov 12, 2017

I changed my Champion to Samurai.

Fighter Samurai (lvl15)
STR 20 / DEX 10 / CON 16 / INT 10 / WIS 14 / CHA 12
Feats. HAM, GWM, Alert.
Skills. Athletics, Stealth, History, Insight, Perception, Persuasion.

For a Fighting Style I choose Defense. GWF is ok, but don't give you a better damage, just a consistent damage. On the other hand, Defense gives to you a better AC than you expect have.

When you don't need spend a feat for Resilient on Wis, you can have other great feat for your character. In this case is Heavy Armor Master.

The only drawback with Samurai archetype is Fighting Spirit reset only on long rest. Give it two uses and reset on short is better than this.

My actual dilemma is:
1. 20 CON on lvl 20 - 224 HP +11 CON save;
2. 18 and Sentinel - 204 HP + 10 CON save and reaction attack;
3. Tough and Sentinel - 224 HP + 09 CON save and reaction attack.