D&D 5E (2024) The Versatile STR Fighter: Melee with a Real Ranged Option

[TorgoTheWhite]

I've seen plenty of "invisible" condition in my games
The DM makes the opposition stealth/hide at like a 50% clip (in combat is trickier though).. he might do it to take our full casters down a notch though. White room caster stuff forgets how bad they are against ambush and stealth in the face.

If I have a 2nd fighting style, it is pretty great. But, yeah it is something that would have a better home with a party with Devils sight, and shadow monk and that kind of deal.

 

[ECMO3]

If I have a 2nd fighting style, it is pretty great. But, yeah it is something that would have a better home with a party with Devils sight, and shadow monk and that kind of deal.

There is no comparison with Devil's sight or a Shadow Monk.

Blindfighting is a different thing with far more utility and much more powerful effect than either of those features. Devil's Sight and the Shadow Monk ability let you see in Darkness, including magical darkness and let you see in Darkness from a spell you cast respectively. That is a niche effect that can be very useful with some setup but falls well short of permanent Blindsight.

 

[ECMO3]

Blind Fighting Style
Reduces failure states
Doesn't increase tactical flexibility
Lower frequency higher impact (than archery style)

I’m generally a fan of tools that reduce failure states - but only when the failure state is common enough to justify the investment.

Where we differ is simply on frequency. You seem to rate "fighting invisible enemies or dealing with obscurement" as a frequent occurrence. My experience (and many others) is that these situations are relatively rare, which pushes Blind Fighting down the value curve compared to something like Archery Style, which improves flexibility every single session.

Not just failure states, the invisible condition is caused by the Hide action, but it is also caused by abilities or spells that cause Invisibile, by simple being obscured regardless of suceeding or failing against a hide check and if your PC is blinded. Taken together that is fairly frequent. Numerous spells cause obscuration, including those that are its primary purpose (Fog Cloud, Darkness) but also damaging spells and control spells that do it as an additional or add on effect.

This is not a conclusion I came to in a white room, it is a conclusion I came to after playing multiple, diverse campaigns at multiple tables.

As I said earlier though, I would agree that Archery on a character that is a hard Archer who is almost never going to pick up a melee weapon is a better feat, particulary in tier 2. At high levels it gets watered down because you rarely miss, but over 1-20 it is probably better on that type of build. I don't think Archery is generally better if you don't build your PC around it though and I rarely see that type of Archer character in play in 2024.

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

Not just failure states, the invisible condition is caused by the Hide action, but it is also caused by abilities or spells that cause Invisibile, by simple being obscured regardless of suceeding or failing against a hide check and if your PC is blinded. Taken together that is fairly frequent. Numerous spells cause obscuration, including those that are its primary purpose (Fog Cloud, Darkness) but also damaging spells and control spells that do it as an additional or add on effect.

This is not a conclusion I came to in a white room, it is a conclusion I came to after playing multiple, diverse campaigns at multiple tables.

As I said earlier though, I would agree that Archery on a character that is a hard Archer who is almost never going to pick up a melee weapon is a better feat, particulary in tier 2. At high levels it gets watered down because you rarely miss, but over 1-20 it is probably better on that type of build. I don't think Archery is generally better if you don't build your PC around it though and I rarely see that type of Archer character in play in 2024.

I've used archery on almost this exact versatile fighter the OP posted about, very effective. Then I bounced back and forth between defense and blindfight for my bonus fighting style... I found blindfight to be more up my ally, mostly because, as we plugged along +1 AC had diminishing returns on a fighter based on versatility (power creatures were going to hit regardless, saving throws became the big show, I could play modal and tactical instead of relying on +1 AC)

 

[Minigiant]

I wonder if Thrown weapon Fighting would be more viable if it increased range

When you hit with a ranged attack roll using a weapon that has the Thrown property, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.
In addition, the normal and long range of ranged attacks you make with a weapon increase a number of feet equal to your Strength score.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I wonder if Thrown weapon Fighting would be more viable if it increased range

When you hit with a ranged attack roll using a weapon that has the Thrown property, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.
In addition, the normal and long range of ranged attacks you make with a weapon increase a number of feet equal to your Strength score.

yeah i was discussing the same thing earlier, thrown weapons major weakness isn't so much their lack of power but their awful range, my solution was this:

honestly a fighting style that just makes thrown weapons accurate to their full range would probably be far more useful to thrown weapons than the current +2 damage the current thrown weapon style provides, it'd put your best damage option at d8+STR (60ft) with the trident and the best ranged option at d6+STR (120ft) with the javelin.

 

[Minigiant]

yeah i was discussing the same thing earlier, thrown weapons major weakness isn't so much their lack of power but their awful range, my solution was this:

That overlaps and is redundant with Sharpshooter.

I'd do a range invrease so you could start with a 13 and 75ft throw range at level 4.