Zardnaar
Legend
For those of you who don't know the 5.5 fighter has been buffed. Since 2E the fighter has lost the amazing saves it had back hen. Various other indirect nerfs hurt it as well. Eg lots of magic items. It wasn't to unusual to see +2 weapons in lvl 1-3 modules, +3 and 4 ones turning up level 4-8 and +5 turning up around level 9.
Anyway I have seen the new fighters level 4-11 in organic play and stress tested at 12. Mostly great weapon and dual wielding. I haven't seen an EK or Rune Knight yet. One of the last 5.0 fighters was a rune knight however so I'm familiar with basic concept at least.
I have been equipping them with magic items similar to the suggestions in the 5.5 DMG. Bit higher perhaps as campaign started in 5.0 basic pitch was BG3.5 themed game. I did sell basic items (+1, common, uncommon etc) . RAW a rare item can drop in tier 1 while tier 2 you start getting very rares and enough rares for everyone.
Early rares I handed out were along the lines of +1 weapon with extra d4 of damage attached. Maybe a cantrip or lvl 1 spell attached. Sone were ported directly from BG3 such as the gold wrymling staff, Cacophony, charge bound Warhammer things like that.
First vicious weapon dropped level 8. There's 2 in the party so they're not exactly growing on trees. Monk has one, fighter dual wielding has 1 (dagger off hand weapon). Level 11 theres 1 legendary weapon (gith silver sword) and a couple of legendary items acquired off avatars of Bane and Myrkul. Myrkuls Staff of Cherished Necromancy and Banes circle of tyranny. They're basically spell sticks. Template I use is usually cantrip or level 1 spell at will, 3rd level 2/day, lvl 6 1/day. On rares is usually lvl 1 1/short rest.
Due to extra items than most 5.0 games generic +1 or 2 items also popular as they often don't require attunement. Spellcasters usually have a +1 or 2 item as well. The legendaries are +3. Bard got Banes and Myrkuls items (no one else wanted them). Campaign is ending level 12 so few extra legendary that are story related Idont care about to much. Removing them RAW you could replace them with rares and very rares that are better for specific builds anyway. Just to give you an idea of equipment levels.
Being new revision I'm running RAW encounters with maximum number of enemies up to 2-1 (10). Mooks are CR 2 or 3 generally by level 10/11.
So what makes the new fighters so good? They buffed the hell out of the base classes and champion in particular. Best fighter is still probably battlemaster but champion is very good at 10 and I think I prefer it.
New indomitable doesn't quite mean auto success at a save but it may as well be when combined with inspiration or lucky feat. I haven't seen it whiff yet. Lots of inspiration granting via feats. Celestial Warlock upcasts aid, clerics been using heroes feast. So theyre buffing as well.
Fighter also doubled as skill monkey. Still outclassed by rogue but when its a clutch situation they're fine. Current ones a champion with 20 dexterity and trained in thieves tools. With bard in party Rogue is basically obsolete.
If this was 5.0 there would be lots more failed saves but there's a lot more inspiration going around. Champion gets one every round. Nice combo with vex and elven accuracy feat. Battlemaster fighters are good as per usual I've seen two with cleave. Also seen a sword and board champion level 8 with 20 strength, shield master and piercer feat, topple with a trident. Get advantage via prone fish for crits. Action surge is often used when advantage matter eg prone or vex.
Yesterday the champion laid into my DM special avatar of Bane. I couldn't land a save or suck on them. They shrugged of Bane, hold person and command:halt. With 335 hp and 18 AC the avatar was down over 150 hp round one. 5 attacks a round critting on 19/20 resulted in two crits. Action surge before off hand dagger was used so another 3 attacks. 7 of the had advantage to hit via Vex. Banes avatar died start of round 3 before it got a turn. It shrugged off the save or sucks thrown at it at least. BG3 400-600hp critters may be required for boss fights.
In our level 12 stress test similar things happened. If it was me my lvl 12 and 14 feats would probably be mage slayer and resilience wisdom maybe not in that order. Shore up those saves even more.
Elven accuracy may be to good in 5.5. Its compatible technically but yeah. Vicious weapons are excellent but there's also other similar rare items. I probably wouldn't put in a pair for a dual wielder or GWM. Off hand maybe, archery and sword and board probably need a boost so theyre excellent candidates imho.
So equip fighters close to the RAW guidelines. You don't have to give them the perfect equipment they want for their build but give them something. By tier two they should probably have +2 minimum weapons as RAW suggests via rarity. Technically you can start dropping very rares level 5 and still be in the RAW guidelines. That's a frostbrand or weapon of speed, or +2 armor or +3 shield.
Hidden buff for shield users as well. +1 armor is rare, +1 shield is uncommon. A +3-5 point AC difference is fine imho since the sword and board player is giving up a fair but of damage. Hence vicious weapon comment ir you could even add in that weapon of speed to close the gap vs dual wielding or GWM.
Anyway I have seen the new fighters level 4-11 in organic play and stress tested at 12. Mostly great weapon and dual wielding. I haven't seen an EK or Rune Knight yet. One of the last 5.0 fighters was a rune knight however so I'm familiar with basic concept at least.
I have been equipping them with magic items similar to the suggestions in the 5.5 DMG. Bit higher perhaps as campaign started in 5.0 basic pitch was BG3.5 themed game. I did sell basic items (+1, common, uncommon etc) . RAW a rare item can drop in tier 1 while tier 2 you start getting very rares and enough rares for everyone.
Early rares I handed out were along the lines of +1 weapon with extra d4 of damage attached. Maybe a cantrip or lvl 1 spell attached. Sone were ported directly from BG3 such as the gold wrymling staff, Cacophony, charge bound Warhammer things like that.
First vicious weapon dropped level 8. There's 2 in the party so they're not exactly growing on trees. Monk has one, fighter dual wielding has 1 (dagger off hand weapon). Level 11 theres 1 legendary weapon (gith silver sword) and a couple of legendary items acquired off avatars of Bane and Myrkul. Myrkuls Staff of Cherished Necromancy and Banes circle of tyranny. They're basically spell sticks. Template I use is usually cantrip or level 1 spell at will, 3rd level 2/day, lvl 6 1/day. On rares is usually lvl 1 1/short rest.
Due to extra items than most 5.0 games generic +1 or 2 items also popular as they often don't require attunement. Spellcasters usually have a +1 or 2 item as well. The legendaries are +3. Bard got Banes and Myrkuls items (no one else wanted them). Campaign is ending level 12 so few extra legendary that are story related Idont care about to much. Removing them RAW you could replace them with rares and very rares that are better for specific builds anyway. Just to give you an idea of equipment levels.
Being new revision I'm running RAW encounters with maximum number of enemies up to 2-1 (10). Mooks are CR 2 or 3 generally by level 10/11.
So what makes the new fighters so good? They buffed the hell out of the base classes and champion in particular. Best fighter is still probably battlemaster but champion is very good at 10 and I think I prefer it.
New indomitable doesn't quite mean auto success at a save but it may as well be when combined with inspiration or lucky feat. I haven't seen it whiff yet. Lots of inspiration granting via feats. Celestial Warlock upcasts aid, clerics been using heroes feast. So theyre buffing as well.
Fighter also doubled as skill monkey. Still outclassed by rogue but when its a clutch situation they're fine. Current ones a champion with 20 dexterity and trained in thieves tools. With bard in party Rogue is basically obsolete.
If this was 5.0 there would be lots more failed saves but there's a lot more inspiration going around. Champion gets one every round. Nice combo with vex and elven accuracy feat. Battlemaster fighters are good as per usual I've seen two with cleave. Also seen a sword and board champion level 8 with 20 strength, shield master and piercer feat, topple with a trident. Get advantage via prone fish for crits. Action surge is often used when advantage matter eg prone or vex.
Yesterday the champion laid into my DM special avatar of Bane. I couldn't land a save or suck on them. They shrugged of Bane, hold person and command:halt. With 335 hp and 18 AC the avatar was down over 150 hp round one. 5 attacks a round critting on 19/20 resulted in two crits. Action surge before off hand dagger was used so another 3 attacks. 7 of the had advantage to hit via Vex. Banes avatar died start of round 3 before it got a turn. It shrugged off the save or sucks thrown at it at least. BG3 400-600hp critters may be required for boss fights.
In our level 12 stress test similar things happened. If it was me my lvl 12 and 14 feats would probably be mage slayer and resilience wisdom maybe not in that order. Shore up those saves even more.
Elven accuracy may be to good in 5.5. Its compatible technically but yeah. Vicious weapons are excellent but there's also other similar rare items. I probably wouldn't put in a pair for a dual wielder or GWM. Off hand maybe, archery and sword and board probably need a boost so theyre excellent candidates imho.
So equip fighters close to the RAW guidelines. You don't have to give them the perfect equipment they want for their build but give them something. By tier two they should probably have +2 minimum weapons as RAW suggests via rarity. Technically you can start dropping very rares level 5 and still be in the RAW guidelines. That's a frostbrand or weapon of speed, or +2 armor or +3 shield.
Hidden buff for shield users as well. +1 armor is rare, +1 shield is uncommon. A +3-5 point AC difference is fine imho since the sword and board player is giving up a fair but of damage. Hence vicious weapon comment ir you could even add in that weapon of speed to close the gap vs dual wielding or GWM.
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