D&D 5E What martial options would make those characters feel equal to casters?

While I don't see an issue, I know others do. The only way you can remove the perceived imbalance would be to reimplement the 4E powers system. This would give the non-casters more abilities while limiting those of casters. The downside is the problem people had with 4E: everyone felt the same.

I know some people don't want to hear this, but 5E was not designed for everyone to be the same. Casters are better at certain things than non-casters, and if you actually run 6-8 combats per day (as 5E was designed for), the non-casters will be better at certain things than non-casters. IMO the perceived issue occurs because the preferred style of play for most groups doesn't match the way the game was designed. If the issue is that much of a problem, you'd have to radically houserule 5E to make non-casters equal to caster. If this is the case, you're honestly better off just going back to 4E (5th isn't going to work for everyone, and that's okay).
 

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I don't think damage, in terms of raw number, is a problem at all. Casters are better at spreading it out in general, and their single target damage is usually very static (and I know from experience that the Druid is TERRIBLE at it, they have almost NO single target spells it's crazy! ). I think 5e did a decent job at balancing it between Casters and Martial...

Well, except for the Monk but that class is a whole kettle of fish I'd rather not get into now...

... and they did great stride in not making Casters so ridiculously powerful that they don't need other characters around... but you're probably not gonna feel like there's a gap in your roster if every party member has Spells. On the other hand, if NONE of your party members has spells you'll feel it.
 

I dont want to feel equal, i want to feel awesome. If i were playing a Barbarian, i want to do Hercules stuff at high levels. Being able to jump more than my speed, shove more than 5ft, or grapple huge creatures would be a good start for example.

Dont just push numbers, you need to break some rules at high level play.
 

Since the beginning of time (roughly 1975), non-casters in D&D have felt like they couldn't equal casters in effectiveness or flexibility. In return, non-casters were intended to have a veneer of respectability and trustworthiness that casters couldn't match, raising legions of armies, building fortresses, etc. But with the WotC era essentially dropping or de-emphasizing non-mechanical aspects of character design as well as ditching followers and domain management, martials basically get to be the ones who wave pointy sticks while running, as casters teleport across the universe, raise people from the dead, charm gods, and lay waste to nations.
I disagree with the hypothesis. Non-casters were far more powerful than casters in 1E. They might not equal their flexibility, but they were far more effective in battle until very high levels. Also when you consider the Thief class (non-caster), it would be difficult to even say they were more useful

It wasn't until 5E that casters really came into their own as a truely balanced counterpart to the martial classes.

Examples:
The 1E 3rd level fighter double specialized in a 2-handed sword could attack 3 times every two rounds with an 15 THACO (minus strength bonus) and do 4-13 plus strength per attack against a small to medium and 6-21 against a large .... and he could do it every single turn, all day long.

The 1E 3rd-level cleric got to cast spiritual hammer. With that he could get 1 attack a round and do 3-6 vs small or medium and 2-5 vs large. His THACO would be 19 minus his strength bonus. He could do this pinnacle spell once a day and it would last 3 rounds.

The 1E 3rd level wizard could cast Melf's acid arrow once a day. With that he could roll a hit with an 18THACO and do 2-8 points of damage. He could "go nova" like this on one single round per day.
 

Blargh. No one cares about damage for spells in 5E, or they shouldn't. The real meat of casting in 5E is control, and control is what makes 5E caster great.
 

I dont want to feel equal, i want to feel awesome. If i were playing a Barbarian, i want to do Hercules stuff at high levels. Being able to jump more than my speed, shove more than 5ft, or grapple huge creatures would be a good start for example.

Dont just push numbers, you need to break some rules at high level play.
YES!

Since I typed all this the other day, I might as well quote myself to bring them up. Here is some exemples of Epic Destinies found in 4e's Martial Power:

Adamantine Soldier: You become a icon of the unbreakable armored warrior. Your armor is like a second skin and its design becomes more recognized than your face. Your very name become synonymous with toughness and resilience! You gain bonus to AC and resistence to ALL damage equal to your CON and once per day you can just turn a saving throw (in 4e parlance, ending a condition on you) into a 20. It also gives you a daily stance that just lets you move into a foe's space and punch them five feet with your move action. You can literally push away stuff like Tiamat and Orcus as easily as a goblin.

Beastlord: You basically become one with your Beast Companion, one soul in two bodies. You prove that humanoids and beasts aren't so different. You get a bunch of powers to improve your action economy. The big one tho is that as long as either one of you is alive, the other cannot die! Even at 0 HP you don't drop!

Dark Wanderer: You stride the eerie paths of fate. Until destiny meets you on this road, you'll roam forever. All your life you have been an intrument of Fate, pulled along by its strands toward a certain event. Now that you've reached it, you've severed the hold that Fate had on you and you can now roam the multiverse free. You become a wandering legend, a symbol for others who would desire to escape their own Destiny. You can literally go ANYWHERE by walking 24 hours. You can just decide "I need to get to see the Raven Queen" then just start walking, finding shortcuts, portals and modes of transport that you NEVER KNEW ABOUT BEFORE and get there after 24 hours of uninterrupted walking, bringing along up to 5+WIS companion (and you don't even need to eat or rest during those 24 hrs unless you need to restore Powers or Healing Surge) AND you avoid hazards, traps, attacks and other dangers. You can't go to a specific room in a structure but you can get to the front gate of said structure. Also, if you're not revived withon 12 hours after dying, your body and posessions disapear and 12 hours after that you just SHOW UP, having walked from wherever you and your DM decide you woke up, with the same effect as if 'Raise Dead' had been used on you.

Eternal Defender: This one's story is not that exciting or that different from Adamantine Soldier, just more offensive based, but its abilities are neat. You get a +2 to STR and your ability to carry stuff DOUBLES. Once per day you can get a +10 on any STR ability or STR Skill check. You eventually become taller and heavier (but do not change size) and you now wield weapons designed for one size larger. If you're medium or bigger, your reach increase by one. Also, once per day, you can turn any hit into a crit OR turn a miss into a hit. You gain a daily stance that inflicts STR damage to the target of a melee attack when you miss them. Constant damage on misses!

Godhunter: If it bleeds, you can kill it. If it doesn't bleed, you can make it bleed. Then you can kill it. You are a killer with incredible skills who developped a reputation for taking on the thoughst marks. You are the greatest Slayer in the universe. Maybe a couple gods can match your skill... MAYBE. You consider sticking around the cosmos just to keep certain folks on the straight and narrow. Being a free agent means you can stir up some naughty word and make sure some people don't get ideas, ya know? You can be the wild card keeping things running smoothly. You gain abilities to hurt creatures higher level than you more efficiently. When you score a critical hit on such a creature, they gain a -5 penalty to all saving throws (i.e. they have trouble shaking off conditions) and they can't regain hit points or recharge powers, all until the END of your next turn. Once per day you can just treat a hit from a higher level creature as a miss, then recharge your Second Wind and one of your Encounter power you used in the same fight. Just because. You gain a power that lets you ignore all resistence or immunity on the selected targey, AND they gain vulnerability to your attacks... all until you get reduced to 0 HP or you use the power again, meaning it can just last forever if they run away.

I could go on but it's getting wordy and I don't want to just parrot the whole section. The simplest of the lot is probably the Martial Archetype, but is probably the most interesting crunch-wise at it lets you pilfer powers from any Martial classes and your Martial powers are just improved on both a miss and a crit. You got the Legendary General's final ability that makes it so allies that can see you don't drop unconscious at 0 HP (they still make Death Saving throws mind you). The Perfect Assassin is so good at killing, they've become one with Death itself. The Undying Warrior becomes one in body and soul and can spontaneously ressurect (multiple time in the same day with increasing conditions). The Warmaster basically ignores Surprise for themselves and their allies and has an ability that basically grants a second turn to everybody in range.

If you don't know, Epic Destinies were one of the three big decision point of character progression in 4e. At first level you pick your class, then at level 11 your Paragon Path and at level 21 your Epic Destiny. Each step of the way gave you new abilities and, in the case of Epic Destiny, were designed with the retirement of your character in mind. Each Epic Destiny had a section under the header "Immortality?" that talk about your lasting impact on the world, and if you had a metaphorical immortality or literal one. Epic Destinies were usually open to multiple classes at once (or all classes from the same Power Source) so they were a bit more flexible in concept. A bunch of them end up giving you a feature that starts with "Once per day, when you die..." and it can get gloriously crazy :p
 





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