D&D 5E My dwarf fighter is always last into combat?

[Waterbizkit]

As others have said, there's nothing surprising about the situation you find yourself in, you've chosen to play one of the slower races in the game. You'd be in the same boat if you had decided to play a Halfling or a Gnome. Without special class features, feats, spells or magic items you're always going to move slower than your other party members. So there are ways around it, as many of the posters before me have explained, but your speed is your speed barring these options.

I'm curious why it really matters if you don't get an attack off turn one? I get that it can be frustrating to always have to spend that entire first turn moving closer or waiting for the enemy to advance, but as long as you're kicking in skulls once you get there I wouldn't worry about it too much myself. Still, if it's truly a problem for you, take the advise others have already offered, it covers just about all the bases.

 

[Salamandyr]

Definitely look at throwing weapons-makes sense from a mechanical and a storytelling perspective. If you are 5th level or over, talk over with your DM about relaxing the weapon drawing rules to allow you your full attack progression (expect for the monsters to get the same courtesy).

I think throwing weapons are a little underpowered compared to other options, especially compared to the melee options available to more ranged focussed characters, but that's the game; at least a few javelins will let you contribute on your rounds.

 

[happyhermit]

Yeah, if movement speed is intended to be a thing, then what you are describing makes sense. If you really want to attack first you could action surge, or of course just chuck something.

If it's really frustrating, make sure to mention it to the GM in a non-critical way, they might just be setting up combat in a "default" way without considering varying the closing distance. In games I run a lot of combat starts at about 0ft, and yeah some do start at even further ranges. Maybe they will set a dwarven thrower in your path.

 

[Oofta]

Just to echo what others have said, mobility feat adds 10 ft of movement, two levels of rogue gives you the option of dashing as a bonus action (and sneak attack depending on weapon choice), throw weapons (hand ax or javelin) until you close.

If you have a wish list or can purchase items, you can also ask for Boots of Springing and Striding which change your base speed to 30 ft.

 

[Charles Rampant]

In my CoS game, the party had a Paladin with the Charger feat. At the time I mentally marked it as a suboptimal/useless choice; but the player used the feat in almost every combat in the module. It really paid off for him, and it might also for you.

Plus a Dwarf barrelling into battle with an axe in hand never really gets old.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

As others have said, there's nothing surprising about the situation you find yourself in, you've chosen to play one of the slower races in the game. You'd be in the same boat if you had decided to play a Halfling or a Gnome. Without special class features, feats, spells or magic items you're always going to move slower than your other party members. So there are ways around it, as many of the posters before me have explained, but your speed is your speed barring these options.

I'm curious why it really matters if you don't get an attack off turn one? I get that it can be frustrating to always have to spend that entire first turn moving closer or waiting for the enemy to advance, but as long as you're kicking in skulls once you get there I wouldn't worry about it too much myself. Still, if it's truly a problem for you, take the advise others have already offered, it covers just about all the bases.

To me the surprising thing is if enemies consistently appear at exactly 30'. That's artificial.

A halfling or gnome wouldn't necessarily be in the same boat, because a halfling or gnome would be Small and could therefore ride a Medium-sized mount like a Pony anywhere a dwarf could go. He'd actually be MORE mobile than a human.

Dwarf should still consider a mount if possible. Horses are the great movement-speed equalizer.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Are you facing enemies with ranged attacks or is the ground between you important for some reason? Then, yeah, Dash or whatever and suck it up, or take Charger for those situations.

OTOH, if your party has missile/spell capability and the enemy doesn't, form a line and hold it. It's not like 3e where a long pointy stick and a ready action will let you really screw with them as they run up to you, but you should still be able to make the enemy waste time moving while your party makes unanswered attacks. You can still sorta-ready (if you lack a better use for your reaction), and you can always keep a hand axe or spear in hand to throw on that first round.

 

[aco175]

One of my characters has a returning dagger. It happens to be +1, but can just as easy be +0 in 5e. You can make it a dagger, or even a hand ax or something else. the hand ax is 1d6 weapon, so I would guess that it is not the primary melee weapon, but makes a good backup and the returning part is more for style than game advantage, other than carrying several axes.

 

[Shiroiken]

Dodge is an underutilized action. If you can't get to melee, you're better off moving (preferably to cover) then Dodging than you are double moving or throwing a weapon at Disadvantage. If you can throw a weapon at short range, it's usually worth it if there are more allies than enemies. Otherwise, Dodge is still the best choice to reduce incoming damage.

 

[Staccat0]

I've never experienced this, but my character in D&D has.