To be clear, I mean underpowered as in "all the guides says this choice is not good."
Absolutely. I think I only have a single 5e character, maybe two? (#s 5 & 7 below) that the vaunted guides would approve of.
And that's because the guides are written in a vacuum. Yes, if you follow them you'll get a mechanically decent enough character. But the authors cannot possibly take into account key elements of
your game. Such as: the actual campaign, the group, how the group plays, or the style of game you'll actually be running said character in. Or how to best express the
character that you're envisioning vs just a pile of stats with maximized to-hit/damage/save bonuses.
My 5e characters (in order of play):
1) A low intelligence war-forged fighter (eldritch knight) with the variant noble background. His retinue was 3 rock gnomes who were always tinkering with him.
2) A 1/2ling acolyte druid (circle of the land) - who's cursed & thus spends most of his time in the form of a dog & has to use his wildshapes to transform back into being a 1/2ling.
3) A 1/2elf beastmaster(PHB*) ranger with the standard noble background.
The fact that he was a noble was very important aspect of the character & proved exceedingly crucial throughout the 2nd campaign he was in (lv.5+).
And yet there's a ranger guide out there that proclaims Noble to be a RED garbage choice for a ranger....
Likewise being a PHB beastmaster was important. In the lv.1-4 game he was introduced in (that fizzled out
) it demonstrated what exactly we wanted to house rule concerning the subclass. The latter lv.5+ campaign helped refine the ideas.
4) A 1/2ling utility warlock (chain pact, fey patron, p.dragon familiar) - low str., no EB, only damage option comes from Magic Stone, & has the feats Magic Initiative & Healer.
My favorite 5e character.
5) A variant Human fighter with an average Int., the criminal background, & Magic Initiate feat (focused on fiery effects) - I haven't played him enough yet to be picking a sub-class.
6) A charismatic LG 1/2ling folk hero, ancestral guardian, Barbarian with a 14str, 8 wis, & the healer + linguist feats. Decently intelligent (if not very wise), personable, & civilized, her primary means of problem solving is
NOT hitting it with an axe.
7) A LE 1/2elf Wizard (transmutation) who'll fight in melee with a flaming glaive.
Or "everyone at my store/home game says this sucks".
I don't play in groups that would say such things. Or that would let such an assessment stop them from using some option. Not even the PHB beastmaster.
But you make it work, and even surprise people and show them that it's not always about picking the most optimal choices, but about teamwork and fun.
Oh no. Making it work is
ALL about picking the most optimal choices. The question is:
What are you making work?
Answer that question & you'll know what the optimal choice is.
In my case that would be making the best mechanical representation of the
character I'm envisioning from the novel in my head, influenced by actual play. And I assure you that every choice I've made on these characters has been to optimize that.
That doing so rarely involves my maxing out of stats/to-hit #s/damage/saves/etc rulewise? (shrugs)
