D&D 5E Class choices that didn't sync well with the campaign.

[humble minion]

I'm playing a melee-focused paladin in Storm King's Thunder right now, and it does seem ... suboptimal at times. We're still only roughly in the middle (no spoilers please) but the encounters that have seemed big, high-stakes, and plot-significant so far have been against giants. My character is certainly not useless against giants (I've gotten some great results out of Command), but I'm the sole melee-focused character in a predominately ranged party (archer ranger, crossbow rogue, light cleric), and my character's personality is of gleeful atavistic battle-hunger kept marginally in check by his oath and convictions. He WANTS to charge into melee, but a 6th level paladin doing that against half a dozen frost giants is asking to become roadkill. I can sit back and spam Command and javelins, but in-character the PC would find it frustrating, and out-of-character a cleric or bard could do it better.

 

[Ancalagon]

I'm playing a melee-focused paladin in Storm King's Thunder right now, and it does seem ... suboptimal at times. We're still only roughly in the middle (no spoilers please) but the encounters that have seemed big, high-stakes, and plot-significant so far have been against giants. My character is certainly not useless against giants (I've gotten some great results out of Command), but I'm the sole melee-focused character in a predominately ranged party (archer ranger, crossbow rogue, light cleric), and my character's personality is of gleeful atavistic battle-hunger kept marginally in check by his oath and convictions. He WANTS to charge into melee, but a 6th level paladin doing that against half a dozen frost giants is asking to become roadkill. I can sit back and spam Command and javelins, but in-character the PC would find it frustrating, and out-of-character a cleric or bard could do it better.

Range in 5e is much better than melee, unfortunately - it's because dex damage is added. Your role is keeping the archers safe :/

 

[Oofta]

Range in 5e is much better than melee, unfortunately - it's because dex damage is added. Your role is keeping the archers safe :/

Which is why enemies tend to use standard flanking tactics, at least now and then. Standing back 100 ft because you think it's safe? Well, that makes you a nice juicy target for the enemies sneaking up from the rear.

I probably knock down the squishy ranged attackers as often or even more often than the tanks in my campaigns. But to a certain degree it is up to the DM to make sure that everyone has a chance to shine.

 

[Burnside]

An example of this in reverse:

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist specifically warns you in the book that this might not be the best campaign for a barbarian, ranger, or druid as it's entirely urban and allegedly about investigation and intrigue.

My players went with a barbarian and a druid and were totally fine. The druid is fine because the class is just incredibly versatile anyway so it's hard to go wrong, and the barbarian was fine because 95% of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is just conventional D&D encounters and fights, and the hyped investigation and intrigue stuff is either just absent or so weakly designed that the DM has to force the story along regardless.

 

[humble minion]

Range in 5e is much better than melee, unfortunately - it's because dex damage is added.

Yeah, dex is definitely the 5e god stat, even more than it was in 3e.

 

[Ancalagon]

An example of this in reverse:

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist specifically warns you in the book that this might not be the best campaign for a barbarian, ranger, or druid as it's entirely urban and allegedly about investigation and intrigue.

My players went with a barbarian and a druid and were totally fine. The druid is fine because the class is just incredibly versatile anyway so it's hard to go wrong, and the barbarian was fine because 95% of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is just conventional D&D encounters and fights, and the hyped investigation and intrigue stuff is either just absent or so weakly designed that the DM has to force the story along regardless.

Anyone wanting to run that adventure should consult the Alexandrian's rework: Dragon Heist Remix – Part 1: The Villains

 

[practicalm]

Session 0 should be to work out if your character ideas work with the adventure being run. And why everyone is adventuring together and what other hooks into the adventure characters might have.

 

[humble minion]

Which is why enemies tend to use standard flanking tactics, at least now and then. Standing back 100 ft because you think it's safe? Well, that makes you a nice juicy target for the enemies sneaking up from the rear.

I probably knock down the squishy ranged attackers as often or even more often than the tanks in my campaigns. But to a certain degree it is up to the DM to make sure that everyone has a chance to shine.

It also depends on the sort of environment you find yourself fighting in. Most of the combats so far in my SKT game have been out in the open with clear lines of sight and plenty of room to move. Of course ranged characters are going to shine in a combat under those conditions. In a cramped dungeon with narrow twisting passages and lots of ambush points, things would even out a lot.

 

[Horwath]

So, basically as every ranger feels with it's class "features".

 

[Oofta]

It also depends on the sort of environment you find yourself fighting in. Most of the combats so far in my SKT game have been out in the open with clear lines of sight and plenty of room to move. Of course ranged characters are going to shine in a combat under those conditions. In a cramped dungeon with narrow twisting passages and lots of ambush points, things would even out a lot.

Which is one reason I don't run published mods. To me, fights happening out on an open field with no features is kind of boring if it happens al the time. That doesn't mean it has to be in a dungeon either, but you can have buildings, trees, cliffs and hills that all block line of sight.

Then again, even when combats take place on an open field, monsters will sometimes just run past the tanks and go after the guys in the back. Other times they'll focus on the tanks because everybody should have a chance to shine.