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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashkelon" data-source="post: 6980981" data-attributes="member: 6774887">What is reasonably balanced though?Because even with terrain, varied encounters, and good use of player tactics, there have been plenty of rounds of combat where my greatsword wielding fighter had to dash just to engage an enemy. In our last game for example, out of ~16 rounds of combat, I spent 3 of them with no enemy within melee range. During these rounds, the ranged PCs were all still able to make attacks.There are a number of occasions where a melee fighter simply will not be able to contribute meaningfully in combat. This is undeniable fact. Some fights will start at more than 30 ft away. Sometimes enemies will spread out to surround the party or avoid AoE. Sometimes there will be squads of enemy ranged troops who prefer to fight at a distance. Sometimes there will be flying enemies that face the party. Sometimes enemies try to flee and need to be stopped. The ranged fighter suffers no loss in efficiency in these scenarios. Over the course of an adventuring day, you tend to have a number situations that arise where the melee warrior is unable to contribute to combat at full efficiency. The archery fighter on the other hand rarely faces such an issue. Any round the melee fighter can contribute to combat in a meaningful way, the archery fighter will also be able to do so.That by itself isn't all that much of a problem however. The benefit of ranged weapons is that they are able fight enemies at range. The problem that arises is that ranged weapons do around the same damage as the best melee builds (actually they often exceed them) while suffering no real drawbacks. Anytime you choose to play a melee fighter, you would be better off having chosen a ranged one. A melee weapon should clearly be the superior choice in melee combat, but the crossbow archer can shoot enemies at point blank range for higher damage than the melee warriors. IMHO the best solution to making weapons more equal in terms of power is this:a) change the -5/+10 part of GWM and sharpshooter to impose disadvantage on your attack for + 1W damage (this ability can't be used if you already have disadvantage on your attack).b) You provoke opportunity attacks when you cast a spell or make a ranged attack. Also, don't allow feats or fighting styles that prevent this OA.</blockquote>

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