I've personally experienced it a number of times, especially when I was younger, where I've had an awesome PC concept, seemingly supported by class or setup in the game, only to find, actually, that just doesn't work very well, or worse, that class literally can't do the thing it's described as doing*. [snip]
* = Bard in 5E is an example of this - they can't support the party in the way the cool flavour-text describes - simply don't have the abilities for it (they easily could have, with a couple of songs-as-spells, but WotC didn't bother). Rogues were often victims of this in pre-4E editions, where they're often written up as fearsome killers, but actually, even when the stars align, they're only keeping pace with people making far less effort (4E fixed this, 5E looks to be close to 4E rather than previous editions on it).
To me, the poster child for this particular issue was the 3E monk.
Anyway, back to the topic of dwarf fighters: Let's try a quick experiment, stacking up a mountain dwarf fighter next to a human using point buy. Assume both fighters are interested in pumping Str and Con, with a preference for Str.
LEVEL 1-3
Human: Str 16, Con 16, bonus feat, bonus skill, +5 feet movement
Mountain Dwarf: Str 17, Con 17, dwarf goodies (poison resist, darkvision, stonecunning, tool proficiency*)
Advantage: Definitely human. The dwarf goody package by itself doesn't stack up to feat+skill+move.
LEVEL 4+
Human: Str 18, Con 16, bonus feat, bonus skill, +5 feet movement
Mountain Dwarf: Str 18, Con 18, dwarf goodies
Advantage: Slight edge to the mountain dwarf. +2 Con and dwarf goodies is a wee bit better IMO than feat+skill+move. On the other hand, the human is free to use the feat for offensive purposes; the dwarf is locked into +2 Con, which is purely defensive.
So, if you're trying to build an invincible tank fighter, mountain dwarf is the way to go. However, the human is more versatile. Ideally you'd have both; the mountain dwarf with a sword-and-board build and the Protection style, the human with an offensive great weapon build. Put them side by side and you've got a melee team that can roll over pretty much anything.
[SIZE=-2]*Yes, dwarves also get a bunch of weapon and armor proficiencies, but the fighter is proficient with all that stuff anyway, so it's irrelevant to the comparison.[/SIZE]
Last edited: