D&D 5E Are ranged attacks too good in 5e?

[James Gasik]

Yeah I guess I never noticed how boring archery was since I was a Battlemaster. Making an enemy of my choice frightened or prone at the right moment really saved my party members from damage at times.

I stopped playing before Tasha's, or I probably would have loved Aiming. Then I wouldn't need to worry about wind giving me disadvantage.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Get up on high ground. Instead of hiding melee enemies will run from across the battlefield taking 3 turns to get to you and then climb a ladder and get you in melee ….. and when (if) they get to the top you can push them off.

Yeah, exactly: ranged wins.

 

[Flamestrike]

let distance be your shield for a few rounds. No need to meatshield right now if the orc warband is 300 feet away.

I donr run too many encounters at 300' away, and if I did, those Orcs would be returning fire evenly, so there is no meatsheild benefit (the damage is either spread among the party, or they simply target the dude in robes tossing fire).

It's the Achilles heel of the SS/ CBE Fighter builds that are quite common. They tend to result in a party that becomes very glass-cannon ish. I've seen it unfold several times at my own table.

Ranged Rogues avoid this problem, although they can be very tanky from 5th with Uncanny dodge. Rangers as well (but it's kind of expected with the Rangers).

The best kind of parties for the Ranged Fighter is in a party that already has a Barbarian, Moon Druid or similar tank already to fill the 'waste our attacks on the guy that will not die, but is too dangerous to leave alone' while the rest of the party take them out from the rear.

The other advantage of Melee builds is that there are a lot more synergy for a party buffed to work together in melee. Wolf Barbarians, Sentinel, etc all combine really nicely, and you're a lot more likely to group enemies together wby engaging them in melee, than if you try and take them down at range (so AoE's can be particularly effective).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It's not ranged attacks. It's just DEX being a god stat. Since cool feat pairs (GWM+PAM or SS+XE) are basically identical, and DEX is better than STR, of course ranged fighters win.

You have it backwards. Strength is in many ways superior to Dexterity. The only real advantage I see is raining down arrows at up to 600ft away without penalty if you have the right feat.

Yes, many unarmored classes use dexterity instead of strength, but that is ok.

Strength is my experience is nearly as underrated as Intelligence in my experience.

 

[Horwath]

problem with ranged, is that due to simplifying 5E from 3.5E, melee has lost some utility and ranged lost some dangers of using ranged weapons.

what we need back or modified:

1. Move without Disengage within someones reach? AoO.
2. Use ranged weapons while in someones reach? AoO.
3. Cast a non Bonus action spell withing reach? AoO.
4. Drink a potion as Bonus action? AoO, or you can drink it as an Action without AoO.
5. AoOs decoupled from Reaction, and you can make proficiency bonus per round of them. Still only one per opportunity. Like a built in 3.5e combat reflexes feat for all.
6. Boosted damage for 2Handed melee weapons or return of 1+1/2 STR mod to damage or 2×STR mod damage even, to keep it simple.
7. When you use your ranged weapon to Attack on your turn, all MELEE attacks have advantage on you until the start of your next turn.


Ranged damage if fine.
Ranged range is fine...heh
But, ranged combat needs some risk and drawbacks for using it.

If you can keep distance it's great, but if they close range on you...you should be in a world of pain. At least for one round.

 

[ECMO3]

Making an enemy of my choice frightened or prone at the right moment really saved my party members from damage at times.

Or play an undead warlock and you can do it to an enemy every single turn .... in melee from range or when using an attack spell.

 

[ECMO3]

Ranged Rogues avoid this problem, although they can be very tanky from 5th with Uncanny dodge. Rangers as well (but it's kind of expected with the Rangers).

The can be ok, but you need to buff constitution to do it which makes them worse Rogues overall in a point buy or standard array game.

With a weak AC and poor hps uncanny dodge is not really enough to make them passable tanks, especially since it competes for reaction with other things you could use like shield spell or absorb elements (although that is still great on save spells).

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Things run very differently within the endless white walls of the Theorycraftia campaign setting then in any game I've ever been in. On paper ranged in overpowered, and if that offends you from a game design standpoint I sympathize. But I really don't see it playing out that way in actual play though, where ranged is, at best, a powerful one trick pony that doesn't add the battlefield control and tactical options of melee, and can only take advantage of a more limited subset of abilities, magic items, spells, etc. The ranged character often does do the most damage, but there's more to the game than damage.

But, if you want an easy "solution" to this "problem", I'm going to throw out just giving all ranged attacks a -2 to hit. It makes a difference, but doesn't make ranged pointless. It's a dumb, simple, easy to remember rule, so it doesn't feel too out of place with 5e design philosophy. It makes the Archery fighting style give parity rather than superiority. And it ends the absurd situation of every single level one character, even those who can't work their way around even all of the simple weapons, being equally proficient throwing daggers to slashing with them.

 

[Flamestrike]

The can be ok, but you need to buff constitution to do it which makes them worse Rogues overall in a point buy or standard array game.

Con is a Rogues second stat (after Dex)

You can dump Str.
Int is not needed for anything other than Investigation (which is often underused by DMs anyway, and you can always take expertise, and you're proficient in Int saves so who cares)
Wisdom is OK to have for perception, but you have expertise in it anyway, and you're eventually getting Wisdom saves anyway.
Charisma is only useful for face Rogues (and Swashbucklers), and again, you can take expertise in those skills anyway, and Cha saves are rarer than Int saves.

I dont know too many rogues that dont start with a Dex/Con of either 18/14 or 16/16.

 

[Flamestrike]

1. Move without Disengage within someones reach? AoO.

Without flanking it doesnt matter if you move inside someones reach. And there is a feat for this, so it's already in the game.

2. Use ranged weapons while in someones reach? AoO.

It's already disadvantage, and there is a feat to remove this.

3. Cast a non Bonus action spell withing reach? AoO.

There is a feat that does this (and more).

4. Drink a potion as Bonus action? AoO, or you can drink it as an Action without AoO.

You cant drink potions as a bonus action.

5. AoOs decoupled from Reaction, and you can make proficiency bonus per round of them. Still only one per opportunity. Like a built in 3.5e combat reflexes feat for all.

Play a Cavalier if you want this, and as a DM tracking that naughty word would be a nightmare.

6. Boosted damage for 2Handed melee weapons or return of 1+1/2 STR mod to damage or 2×STR mod damage even, to keep it simple.

GWM and PAM isnt enough? 2H weapons already do more damage than 1H ones, and many classes cant use them.

7. When you use your ranged weapon to Attack on your turn, all MELEE attacks have advantage on you until the start of your next turn.

That's... actually a good idea.