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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7161284" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Yep. FYI, in recent printings of the PHB, it's errata'ed to be flexible after 3rd level:Most of your tactical analysis is bad and your argument is still riddled with errors. E.g. the claim that "such a PC [Mobile Sharpshooter] is so focused on defense and survival that he is subpar in combat to most other builds" is laughable. Nope. He hardly gave up anything to get his versatile defensive capabilities: one feat (Mobile), one free spell pick (Expeditious Retreat), one regular spell pick (Shield, which is ubiquitous among EKs), and three skills (Athletics, Stealth, Perception) which have both offensive and defensive uses--and you claim that a Valor Bard is going to do comparable damage? (News flash: Valor Bards at 5th level don't even have Extra Attack, nor a fighting style, nor Sharpshooter. Against a high-AC foe like the AC 17 githyanki, you're doing only 42% of the fighter's damage even if you have Str 16 and a greatsword. Against a low-AC foe like an AC 13 Hill Giant, you're doing even less, 37%. Not remotely comparable.)Playing defense as an integrated party typically works a little bit differently than playing defense solo: it involves things like crowd control, Wall of Force on the biggest bad guy, Web spells to give enemies disadvantage and make kiting easier, and tanky PCs grappling/proning enemies. The implementation changes but the point does not: you still tend to wind up doing better with versatility (good offense and excellent defense) than you do going all-in on offense.Not that defense is a trump card. Again, sometimes, despite defense being generally cheaper and more efficient than offense, some other tactic like healing or sneaking is even more efficient.But offensive specialization, especially DPR specialization, past a certain point is really expensive in 5E and not usually worth it.</blockquote>

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