D&D 5E Dex Vs Strength

[MoocowTG]

Say you were playing a melee class focusing on melee combat, which stat would you choose to melee with? We all know Dex is useful in a ton of situations, but can Str even be considererd balanced?


Assuming +5 for either stat:

Strength means you can achieve a slightly higher AC with plate armour, and can choose between greatsword, longsword/shield, or longsword/longsword.

Dex means your ac will be 1 less than str unless you get mage armour, and your weapon will likely be a rapier/shield, or rapier/rapier.


Seems to me that for anyone planning on using a shield or TWF, Dex is probably a better stat, So the question becomes: Is going the Greatsword worth going Str for?

 

[DaveDash]

You said 'choose for damage', so strength.

Greatsword + Great Weapon Master = damage.

 

[MoocowTG]

You said 'choose for damage', so strength.

Greatsword + Great Weapon Master = damage.

Yeah you're right; My mistake. I do want to take into account everything else. I edited the post to reflect that.

 

[DaveDash]

It's kind of class dependant and what role you want to play.

TWF Rangers can do quite decent damage being Dex based.

Barbarians will want strength obviously and they make great 'tanks' because of their DR.

Fighters, well, you can create a great all round Fighter with Dex using Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter. You can fight in melee and ranged pretty well. I'm not a huge fan of the sword and board Fighter concept because PC AC peaks once you get to mid levels. I'm running a high AC Dwarven War Cleric and he was awesome at low levels due to AC, but gets hit a lot more now, so I've switched him to using a Greatsword instead of Sword + Board.

Paladins - Never seen a Dex based one in action - only strength based ones, and they rock. I could see either working really, since most of your damage actually comes from your smite damage. Getting an extra attack with TWF + smite could be interesting, I'd have to check to make sure that works.

It's still useful having someone with high strength in your group though for things like grappling, climbing, jumping, and breaking down doors. Nothing like an adventuring ending before it begins because no one can smash the locked door down into the dungeon.

 

[pukunui]

Paladins - Never seen a Dex based one in action - only strength based ones, and they rock. I could see either working really, since most of your damage actually comes from your smite damage.

I'm currently playing a Dex-based sword-and-board paladin. I must declare that I started her at a high level and was thus able to get mithril plate and a moonblade with the finesse property as part of her starting equipment. She's been a lot of fun to play, particularly because her high Acrobatics skill means she can maintain her balance on the backs of the many large beasties we face (via the optional Climbing onto Larger Creatures rule in the DMG).

 

[DaveDash]

I'm currently playing a Dex-based sword-and-board paladin. I must declare that I started her at a high level and was thus able to get mithril plate and a moonblade with the finesse property as part of her starting equipment. She's been a lot of fun to play, particularly because her high Acrobatics skill means she can maintain her balance on the backs of the many large beasties we face (via the optional Climbing onto Larger Creatures rule in the DMG).

That's pretty cool and cinematic.

 

[pukunui]

Leaping onto the back of a big beastie is one of my favorite tactics. And as long as the beastie isn't a legendary creature, it's in danger of having its head cut off because my moonblade is also a vorpal blade.

 

[Mistwell]

Strength is needed for grappling and knocking someone down - which can be the best combination in the game when done well.

 

[pukunui]

Strength is needed for grappling and knocking someone down - which can be the best combination in the game when done well.

No kidding! One of my paladin's fellow PCs is a rogue/wizard/fighter who has Expertise in Athletics. Since we're in the late stages of Age of Worms, and we're battling all manner of dragons and giants and other big beasties, he likes to exploit the grappling rules by casting enlarge on himself so he can grapple Huge creatures. Because he's got a massive Athletics bonus, and most monsters in the MM don't have anything more than their Strength mod, he is practically guaranteed to win. So he grapples them and knocks them prone and keeps them there* so we can get advantage on our melee attacks against them.


*Standing up requires you spend half your movement, but being grappled reduces your speed to 0, which means that if you're prone and grappled, you *can't* stand up.

 

[KarinsDad]

I'm currently playing a Dex-based sword-and-board paladin. I must declare that I started her at a high level and was thus able to get mithril plate and a moonblade with the finesse property as part of her starting equipment. She's been a lot of fun to play, particularly because her high Acrobatics skill means she can maintain her balance on the backs of the many large beasties we face (via the optional Climbing onto Larger Creatures rule in the DMG).

I'm doing the same thing, but Paladin 6 / Sorcerer 3 with the Defensive Duelist feat and the defensive Paladin feature. The PC is very hard to hit and the party has been helping by handing over AC items (+1 Plate, +1 Cloak of Protection), so current AC 23 pre-buffs. Throw on top of it things like Shield of Faith and/or the Bard casting Haste and the Paladin is very hard to take down and I expect something similar at higher levels. The PC also has the Shield spell which sometimes works out better then the feat.

The DM plays the NPCs fairly (i.e. they do not at first know whether the Cleric with Plate and Shield is harder to hit, or the Paladin).

The only creature so far that has hit on any consistent basis was an Adult Red Dragon (the DM has my copy of the MM, so I assume it was an adult, it had something like +14 to hit).