D&D 5E Helping melee combat to be more competitive to ranged.

[Satyrn]

This is why I said that a "melee" character should be utilizing thrown weapons, which are keyed off of Strength.

My melee character has an 8 Strength.

 

[Cyrinishad]

It should be the case, and was, traditionally (to varying degrees), but is it, in 5e?

It's not that hard to eliminate the disadvantage or to cancel it with advantage (and it's moot if you already have disadvantage from another source), and if you're casting spells switching to one that forces a save instead of attacking AC obviates the issue, entirely.

And, of course, there's no longer an AoO for using a ranged attack or casting a spell in melee.

I don't have books in front of me at the moment. But, are Disarm, Grapple, and Trip still tactical options? Also, can a Ranged characters Quiver be targeted and destroyed by a melee attack, thereby eliminating someones ability to make ranged attacks?

 

[Cyrinishad]

My melee character has an 8 Strength.

... But if you're a finesse character, your finesse weapons are still keyed off of Dexterity even when thrown. So, you're still good-to-go.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I don't have books in front of me at the moment. But, are Disarm, Grapple, and Trip still tactical options? Also, can a Ranged characters Quiver be targeted and destroyed by a melee attack, thereby eliminating someones ability to make ranged attacks?

Disarm is very DM dependent. As written, it doesn't say where the weapon goes, and you can pick it back up as a free action. You also can't disarm a caster. As far as I'm familiar with grapple, I don't think it really offers any particular advantage against ranged that it doesn't also give against melee. Crossbow Expert and spell casting off the top of my head would be at no further disadvantage. It's also something that is most effective if optimized, and monsters generally aren't. Trip would accomplish basically nothing.

As far as targeting quivers, our party's Crossbow Expert carries several. Destroying one wouldn't really inconvenience him much, though I wouldn't really know the actually mechanics of trying to do so.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I don't have books in front of me at the moment. But, are Disarm, Grapple, and Trip still tactical options? Also, can a Ranged characters Quiver be targeted and destroyed by a melee attack, thereby eliminating someones ability to make ranged attacks?

Anything's an option if the DM goes for it. Maybe not a terribly worthwhile option...

 

[Cyrinishad]

When playing a Paladin, I carried a bunch of javelins and I threw them. It was not as effective as smithing things with a greatsword. I was only at my best when engaged in melee playing that character. It was a case of taking half a turn, as opposed to losing my turn entirely.

Ok, I now see that part of my confusion lies in that I was presuming that the "melee" character was a straight fighter. Sorry about that... Anyway, I agree that a Paladin has sub-optimal ranged attack options. But, now your position seems like a way to rationalize making Paladins do more damage, while keeping all the other benefits of the class... I still don't see any of this adding up to the equation of "Ranged>Melee".

Anything's an option if the DM goes for it. Maybe not a terribly worthwhile option...

What's your take on this Tony? Do you think that the 5e system makes "Ranged>Melee"?

 

[Corwin]

[MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION], [MENTION=59096]thecasualoblivion[/MENTION], You both seem to be laying on heavy caveats that these "well designed" ranged PCs can mitigate their melee issues through various means and/or resources. Do I read you correctly? Yet you don't give the same benefit of the doubt to a "well designed" melee PC spending similar resources and efforts to shore up their perceived ranged limitations. Is there a particular reason for this lopsidedness?

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Ok, I now see that part of my confusion lies in that I was presuming that the "melee" character was a straight fighter. Sorry about that... Anyway, I agree that a Paladin has sub-optimal ranged attack options. But, now your position seems like a way to rationalize making Paladins do more damage, while keeping all the other benefits of the class... I still don't see any of this adding up to the equation of "Ranged>Melee".

Thrown weapons are a 2nd or 3rd tier option for any Strength based character. It's almost impossible in 5E to optimize both melee and ranged, one of them will usually be the lesser option.

 

[Corwin]

My melee character has an 8 Strength.

Then he is presumably pretty good with a bow then, no?

 

[Corwin]

Thrown weapons are a 2nd or 3rd tier option for any Strength based character. It's almost impossible in 5E to optimize both melee and ranged, one of them will usually be the lesser option.

How do you figure? In what way? And define, "lesser". Examples, perhaps, to better express your take on all this?