Building a ranged fighter - Arcane Archer vs. Battlemaster

[Yunru]

I know you know about variant humans

Anyways, my calculations lead me to believe that the battle master is slightly better at level 5/6. Though likely not at high levels.

You need to be an elf for Elven Accuracy unfortunately, otherwise I'd be claiming you could do hella damage with it at 4th level

And now the Nova DPR is fully mapped out. The only thing that changes is how often it can be used. A lesser version can be used without Action Surge at least once every combat starting from level 10.

 

[FrogReaver]

You need to be an elf for Elven Accuracy unfortunately, otherwise I'd be claiming you could do hella damage with it at 4th level

And now the Nova DPR is fully mapped out. The only thing that changes is how often it can be used. A lesser version can be used without Action Surge at least once every combat starting from level 10.

LOL. you are correct about being an elf. I'm going to blame it on a senior moment.

 

[MarkB]

True, if they have to rely on giving themselves advantage the Arcane Archer with Shadow Arrow will win out. If another team mate can get them advantage on their attacks, the Battlemaster will be better able to exploit that opportunity.

 

[DEFCON 1]

In a case like this, where the mechanics of both are close enough to not be that noticeable... I'd default to the subclass's flavor and story to determine my choice.

"Do I want to be a wizardly and magic-using type of character, or a military-like combat fighter"?

In both cases, it's what my character finds important personality-wise outside of combat that will dictate a lot of my roleplaying, attitude, and connection with other PCs and NPCs. And much of that is emblematic of the subclass I select.

After all... what's the point of having additional subclasses if you ignore all their flavor and just use them for game mechanics? Why bother?