D&D General Session Zero and Nobody Chose a Spellcaster

[Corinnguard]

Henchmen are cheap. For the price of a potion of healing, you hire a acolyte for almost two weeks.

Like Nodwick here?

 

[SkidAce]

Just had a Session Zero.

No fighter (tank) and no rogue.

PCs are: Shadow Sorcerer, Druid, Warlock, Monk, and Cleric.

It will be fine.

 

[Corinnguard]

In my first session zero, nearly three years ago, my character was the only fighter. Everyone else was a spellcaster (College of Eloquence Bard, Bladesinger Wizard, Circle of the Wildfire Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer) or a psionicist (teleporter, homebrew).

 

[Stalker0]

feats can also help you here. for example inspiring leader can give you some temp hp to cover some of the damage, so a laymen's "heal". Using the healer feat can help cover some other healing and stabilization needs.

 

[Clint_L]

Wow, the monk player is getting properly doinked by not playing 2024. I’m surprised they’re not raging like a barbarian.

Yeah, I'd be annoyed. But they're using Tasha's, so at least they can be a mercy monk. It would suck to be playing a 2014 elemental monk, though, and see how much better the new version is.

Casters… you’ll be fine. The game doesn’t need them and hasn’t for a while. They are a convenience nothing more.

True, and I will add that this goes both ways. You can also run a perfectly viable party with no martial classes, as long as one or two casters don't mind going for a tankier build. D&D has evolved away from the old cleric+fighter+magic user+thief paradigm.

 

[Oofta]

Level Up also gave all of its' martial classes (Adept, Berzerker, Fighter, Herald, Marshall, Ranger and Rogue) proficiencies in 2 to 3 Combat Traditions. Each of the 15 maneuvers in a Combat Tradition is spread across by a degree (the martial equivalent of a spellcasting level). And there are five degrees in all. So, they're like half-casters.

What does a typical tradition look like?

 

[Corinnguard]

What does a typical tradition look like?

In a nutshell, they are a lot more thematic than what you could get if you were a Battlemaster Fighter. And unlike the Battlemaster, you get progressively more powerful maneuvers as you level up (no pun intended). Think of them as the 5e version of the combat traditions in the Book of Nine Swords.