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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6640049" data-attributes="member: 5834">Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert effectively remove every penalty for ranged combat except the ability to use a shield and amount of ammunition you carry. You know this. Cover, distance, disadvantage in ranged combat all removed by the two feats. This makes them far more versatile combatants able to bring their damage to bear in almost any circumstance far faster than melee. It's even easier to use Stealth and surprise targets. So as you gain levels and pick up the two feats that are common to ranged builds, you eventually have no real disadvantages.Ranged versus ranged. Melee usually approach using the dodge action or cover when they can. Ranged enemies don't get Sharpshooter usually, preventing the ranged enemy from having the same advantages as the ranged PC. Though I do custom make some NPCs with the advantages of Sharpshooter. Just because the melee is advancing using cover and the Dodge action doesn't equalize power. The ranged guy is hammering the enemy while ducking behind cover and capable of taking ready actions to hammer the enemy as soon as they show their face doing damage while the melee is taking his actions to use Dodge or weave in and out of cover.More damage when they actually hit. The few rounds the ranged attackers get while the melee closes more than makes up for the damage. Agreed.One of the few advantages is definitely the girdle of giant strength. Though Hussar has me thinking of building a str-based ranged attacker. We deem ranged weapons to be any weapon with a range entry, not just listed on the ranged table.Remove sharpshooter and GWM and everything is balanced again. Maybe casters are too strong, but maybe not.Melee is definitely weaker. Having run a few parties, the nastiest thing you can run in 5E is a ranged heavy dex-based group with Stealth. You gain surprise against practically everything and destroy it before they even get a chance to attack. You can even have your mage take Stealth, so your entire party can slink along quietly through dungeons at slow movement. Hard to do with big, heavy armor martials that need to enter melee range. Have your mage luring monsters out with minor illusion or dancing lights. It's like a walk through the forest on a warm spring morning through most dungeons.Even the mighty dragons I complain about with melee are child's play to a ranged heavy group. If the dragon sees a ranged party, it might as well run. If it is a caster variant, it should cast invisibility on itself and leave saying, "Humanoid bowmen and ranged attackers. I'm out of here. They can have my treasure. I can find more." That's the difference between a group of focused melee martials and a group of ranged attackers. I feel bad for dragons against ranged groups. They have no way to protect themselves other than the DM making them a caster variant. Archer has them hammered before they even close to breath weapon range. You remember my player that made a melee martial in our first campaign? Last two characters were a warlock/fighter eldritch blast user and a ranger/rogue archer. He is the min-maxer of the group. He knows where the power is after playing a melee martial in the first campaign.</blockquote>

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