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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 6659880" data-attributes="member: 67">I'm not so sure I agree with this assessment. The advantages that Dex provides are different than those provided by Str, but they are neither more plentiful, nor more powerful (with the possible exception of Sharpshooter + Crossbow Master--and that's because both of those feats really need a tweak, anyway. I would start by ensuring that Sharpshooter can never be used if the ranged attacker is within the melee reach of anyone. Crossbow Expert would still be a useful feat, even if didn't provide the extra attack. Removing the loading property already provides extra attacks with crossbows.Or, the feat would be fine allowing the extra attack, but not the melee-range benefit.). Consider: 1. Dexterity provides an AC bonus, but a heavily armored character's AC is at least equivalent. 2. Dexterity provides bonuses to Dex saves, which are plentiful and damaging, but Str saves, while rarer, are generally much worse to fail. 3. Dexterity checks (including initiative) have definite battlefield applicability, but Strength checks provide a far superior level of battlefield control. When directly matched, the Dex check can only be used defensively, while the Str check gets to be defensive and offensive. 4. Ranged weapons tend to have better range and deal more damage than thrown damage. This, alone, strikes me as fine, given that a ranged attack from melee is done at disadvantage. The increase in ranged damage is offset by the generally more damaging melee options available to the Str warrior. The Str warrior is simply more likely to want to stay in melee. That is, of course, until Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert enter the equation. They are game-changers that quash the delicate balance between Str and Dex. But that's a (fixable) problem with the feats, themselves, not the stats. You may note that my proposed fighting style (the general one, not the spear-specific one) does not allow for a damage die greater than a d8 one-handed (comparable to a rapier) and does not provide a damage bonus to two-handed weapons beyond the bump to a potential d10 damage die. The AC bonus isn't an add-on; it's there to shore up the two-handed option so that it is comparable. As I see it, this fighting style's damage and defense output are comparable to other styles' (best use is with a versatile weapon to get both in one round; if that's a problem, you can limit the fighting style to one type of benefit per round) without overshadowing them. In non-crit cases, the average damage of one-hand attacks becomes 8 + mods, but that's also the maximum. Dueling Style's average is only 6.5 + mods, but it's maximum is 10 + mods and even its minimum is 3 + mods. Of course, combining the two would mean all non-crits do 10 + mods, but that means acquiring two fighting styles (which is not without its trade-offs) and still won't put out as much damage as Great Weapon Master + Great Weapon Style. Dual-wielding sees a comparable boost. At low levels, Graceful Fighting is able to put out (per turn, not per attack) 12 + mods (Str or Dex mod once, others up to twice, depending on what they are) vs. Two-Weapon Fighting's average of 7 + mods (all of them twice, except specific one-time uses, like sneak attack, superiority dice, or smites). In most low-level cases (i.e., the relevant attack attribute at +3 or +4), that looks more like 12 + mods vs. an average 10 or 11 + those same mods, a minimum of 5 or 6 + those same mods (if both attacks hit), and a maximum of 15 to 16 + those same mods. Even with both fighting styles + the Dual Wielder feat, damage output would be capped at a consistent (if both attacks hit) 16 + all mods twice (except for specific single-sources). That's a lot, but the difficulty in acquiring all of these things at low levels is high and comes with trade-offs that are especially noticeable at low levels. And I'm mostly talking about low levels, here, because that's when dual weapon fighting is at its strongest (relative to other options). Each time extra attacks or other sources of bonus action attacks enter the equation, it's relative power drops off (although, I do think Graceful Fighting could alleviate that somewhat).</blockquote>

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