D&D 5E STR and DEX fighter stupid?

[krakistophales]

Is playing a fighter with STR as a primary stat and DEX as a secondary stupid? I see little benefit to having DEX even as a tertiary stat. In heavy armor, you get no bonus to AC, but you do get bonus to initiative. You do get better dex based saves, which is a major category against usually blasty spells and such. You might be able to do mildly better at some dex skills, like sleight of hand and stuff like that, but still have disadvantage on stealth no matter what you do (unless you blow a feat on medium armor master, yuck).

The only way I could see this as even mildly feasible would be with a battlemaster, but even then not so much.

Is there any reason at all not to just exclusively jack up your STR, go heavy armor and boost your wisdom or something as a tertiary stat? Discuss.

 

[CapnZapp]

Choose either STR or DEX.

Not both; you'll get much more use out of CON, WIS or CHA as your secondary and tertiary stats.

 

[BoldItalic]

Depends what kind of fighter you want to play, what kind of adventure setting you are planning for, and what kind of ranged support you can expect from the other PCs.

If you are likely to use your bow as much as your sword, you really want both. If you don't take Dex and rely purely on thrown weapons for ranged attacks, you are limited to 20/60ft which may be okay in a dungeon crawl but not so good in the outdoors.

"You encounter a pack of goblins, 100 feet away behind a low wall. You are in range of their shortbows. What do you do?"

Forget moving forward and hurling javelins, they won't reach. Better to find some cover and pepper them with arrows while the wizard gets his act together.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Initiative matters. It's a check that you'll be making during every single encounter, so constantly going last might get annoying. Granted, the difference between a -1 and a +2 will only matter three times in twenty, but that could easily be an everyday occurrence.

It really comes down to which kinds of saving throws you're most afraid of, though. Dex saves aren't usually fatal, but there are a lot of creatures that offer them - including dragons. Wisdom might be more useful if you're dealing with fey. Even Int might be worthwhile, depending on how many Mind Flayers you end up dealing with.

Really, that's the spectrum. Either take Dex because Dex saves are common, even though they aren't so horrible, or take Int because the one Int save in the game is absolutely terrifying if you fail it. Everything other stat is somewhere between the two extremes.

 

[Herobizkit]

I almost always play high-DEX low-armor characters. If you're not married to greatweapon fighting, you could easily jack DEX to max and go with Finesse weapons, going into dual-wielding shenanigans if you like. Rapier is your highest-damage Finesse weapon (d8) so you could twin-rapier it, or whatever floats you with the proper feat investments.

Even if you choose to light or med-armor it and shield, you're still good to go defense-wise (and the Shield Mastery feat is nothing to sneeze at).

 

[ExploderWizard]

Being accomplished in both ranged and melee combat isn't stupid. Stupid is specializing yourself into such a narrow niche that you are useless otherwise. Do you want to be the wuss that cries to mommy when flying creatures attack? Versatility can be the key to survival unless the DM and the setting do nothing but cater to your specialty.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Prism]

Nothing wrong with a STR and DEX fighter. I'm playing a medium armour wearing elf fighter who is good with a bow and longsword. The party is quite stealthy so its important not to let the side down by wearing heavy armour

 

[S'mon]

I generally put a 12 in DEX, that seems a good compromise.

 

[CapnZapp]

If you are likely to use your bow as much as your sword, you really want both.

If you plan on using a bow, go DEX and dump STR.

Taking both really is a luxury you should not afford. Better focus on one and leave the other to your allies.