D&D (2024) Which class is the most durable (level 1)?

[Ashrym]

All of it is highly situational, and it depends on a bunch of adventure specifics as well as how you define durability and how you define decent damage input. That said the numbers generally in my opinion are not what drives this as much as the mechanics and situational factors. Here are a few reasons I said what I did.


1. Fighter has less total hit points to start the day (i.e hps vs hps+temp hit points) and in terms of not going to 0 having those hit points on the front is better than having them available on a bonus action.

2. Second Wind can't give more than the maximum hit points and therefore can't be used as efficiently as Armor of Agathys. The average rolled on the dice for second Wind is 6.5 hit points vs 5 for Armor of Agathys. But the average hit points given for second Wind is lower than 6.5. This is because for the average (mean) to be 6.5, the maximum (11) needs to be possible. A Fighter with say a 16 constitution is going to have 13 hit points. So the average (mean) he rolls on second wind is 6.5, but ONLY if he waits until he has 1 or 2 hit points to use it. Using second wind with more than 2 hit point in this example puts the fighter in a situation where the average hit points gained is lower than 6.5.

3. The Warlock's AC is lower but it is competitive when you consider Blade Ward and Shield. One use of Shield is typically better than one use of 2nd Wind, or for that matter one use of Armor of Agathys and if you assume 2 short rests that gives him 3 uses of shield a day, plus one use of AOA at wake up, plus the ability to cast AOA as an alternative if the situation warrants.

4. Finally the largest reason is to make a high AC fighter you need to either go into melee or accept short range and lower damage. This in turn is a bigger factor in durability than anything else. IME characters die in level 1 and level 2 more than all other levels combined and melee characters die significantly more often than non-melee characters. Not having a shield enables the Warlock to do better damage from Range, which translates into more durability. A fighter could do better damage-wise with a Longbow or Crossbow but when considering spells, they will accept a lower effective AC to do that.

Like I said though there are a lot of variables, but this is how I see it. I could easily be wrong though and certainly would be wrong in certain campaigns, situations or tables.

I wouldn't wait until I was at 1 or 2 hp to use second wind. As soon as I'm below half hit points the averages work out and I'm not creating unnecessary risk. That's anywhere from 1 to 6 hit points.

We also cannot omit weapon masteries creating disadvantage on attacks. If I go with the sword and shield style mentioned then make 12 attacks in the day that's ~8 incoming attacks at disadvantage. Disadvantage against AC 19 in 1st level encounters is significant.

Goblins and kobold minions, for example, are +4 to hit.

The warlock example has a 20 AC for 1 round and that's it if we're arguing armor of agathys; or the warlock has 20 AC for 1 round per short rest if we're arguing shield instead. It can't be both ways because the warlock only has 1 pact slot per short rest. The fighter has 19 AC all the time and inflicts Sap once each of his turns, and possibly on a reaction.

That changes the chance to take a crit from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400 from those attacks on top of leveraging that high AC.

The problem with the warlock is the thp are pretty much gone in one hit and that AC gone after that one round.

EDIT: I'll also point out that the fighter would start with 3 more hp than the warlock as a good chunk of that thp too.

 

[FrogReaver]

I wouldn't wait until I was at 1 or 2 hp to use second wind. As soon as I'm below half hit points the averages work out and I'm not creating unnecessary risk. That's anywhere from 1 to 6 hit points.

We also cannot omit weapon masteries creating disadvantage on attacks. If I go with the sword and shield style mentioned then make 12 attacks in the day that's ~8 incoming attacks at disadvantage. Disadvantage against AC 19 in 1st level encounters is significant.

Weapon Mastery for disadvantage on hit a good point.

The warlock example has a 20 AC for 1 round and that's it if we're arguing armor of agathys; or the warlock has 20 AC for 1 round per short rest if we're arguing shield instead. It can't be both ways because the warlock only has 1 pact slot per short rest. The fighter has 19 AC all the time and inflicts Sap once each of his turns, and possibly on a reaction.

Of note if the warlock is using magic initiate shield then the fighter should get tough or something similar.

EDIT: I'll also point out that the fighter would start with 3 more hp than the warlock as a good chunk of that thp too.

Assuming the fighter takes tough then the fighter can easily have 19AC, 15 hp. The Warlock would have either 14 AC, 16 hp or 15 AC 15 hp.

The AC difference is huge and much more important than at most a single max hp+temp hp.

 

[FrogReaver]

All of it is highly situational, and it depends on a bunch of adventure specifics as well as how you define durability and how you define decent damage input. That said the numbers generally in my opinion are not what drives this as much as the mechanics and situational factors. Here are a few reasons I said what I did.


1. Fighter has less total hit points to start the day (i.e hps vs hps+temp hit points) and in terms of not going to 0 having those hit points on the front is better than having them available on a bonus action.

At the start of the day

The hp difference is at most 1 once tough is given to the fighter.

Then if the fighter needs more hp midcombat he has 2 bonus actions he can use for more hp. If the warlock does, he's got nothing as he already used his slot on armor of agathys.

Fighter is looking great for more combat still. Warlock is in a scary place, 7 hp means he can get 1 shot from tons of monsters in a single hit.

2. Second Wind can't give more than the maximum hit points and therefore can't be used as efficiently as Armor of Agathys. The average rolled on the dice for second Wind is 6.5 hit points vs 5 for Armor of Agathys. But the average hit points given for second Wind is lower than 6.5. This is because for the average (mean) to be 6.5, the maximum (11) needs to be possible. A Fighter with say a 16 constitution is going to have 13 hit points. So the average (mean) he gets on second wind is 6.5 ONLY if he waits until he has 1 or 2 hit points to use it. Using second wind with more than 2 hit point in this example puts the fighter in a situation where the average hit points gained is lower than 6.5.

I agree that 2nd wind will likely lose some efficiency for that exact reason. But if using it that way the fighter is also more likely to be at max hp. Whereas the warlock, every time he is damaged, his effective max hp lowers since temp hp doesn't restore the damage.

Example.
The 15 hp Fighter (16 con + tough) takes 7 damage on a round. 2nd wind will restore an average of 5.5 hp. 50% of the time the fighter will be back to max. 100% of the time he will have hp greater than the warlock described below.

The 10 hp Warlock (14 con + armor of agathys) takes the same 7 damage on a round. He now is at 8hp. (Remember he doesn't have a 2nd cast of armor of agathys).

After Short Rest
The Fighter gets his expended use of 2nd wind back

The Warlock uses armor of agathys again to get 12 hp.

But now we are most likely in a similar situation to the start, but the warlock is down -3 hp, the fighter going by averages would be down -1.5 hp.

3. The Warlock's AC is lower but it is competitive when you consider Blade Ward and Shield. One use of Shield is typically better than one use of 2nd Wind, or for that matter one use of Armor of Agathys, and if you assume 2 short rests that gives him 3 uses of shield a day, plus one use of AOA at wake up, plus the ability to cast AOA as an alternative if the situation warrants.

Blade Ward is interesting and makes up for some of the AC difference.

Being able to use shield spell only puts the warlock AC basically up to the fighters AC (possibly 1 over depending on warlock variant) short rest + 1 times per adventuring day. It's not great.

4. Finally the largest reason is to make a high AC fighter you need to either go into melee or accept short range and lower damage. This in turn is a bigger factor in durability than anything else. IME characters die in level 1 and level 2 more than all other levels combined and melee characters die significantly more often than non-melee characters. Not having a shield enables the Warlock to do better damage from Range, which translates into more durability. A fighter could do better damage-wise with a Longbow or Crossbow but when considering spells, they will accept a lower effective AC to do that.

Durability isn't a measure of how often you avoid being attacked. It's a measure of how much you can take when being attacked. Ranged characters might live longer by virtue of not being attacked in the first place, but not being attacked in the first place doesn't make one more durable.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Cure minor wounds on the paladin helps a lot to put him on the top spots.

 

[mellored]

A raging barbarian can double their hp, which are 14+(1d12+2) =22.5 (so doubles to 45 even), so almost the same, but their AC is very likely to be lower (whether using unarmored defense or armor) and any hit before they rage eats into it.

You missed that half damage is more than double, because you round down.

If you got hit 5 times for 5 damage, you only took 20 total damage.

Also a healing word on a Barbarian is likely to be 2 hits instead of 1.

 

[ECMO3]

At the start of the day

The hp difference is at most 1 once tough is given to the fighter.

Then if the fighter needs more hp midcombat he has 2 bonus actions he can use for more hp. If the warlock does, he's got nothing as he already used his slot on armor of agathys.

If he has already used a slot, then that has likely "saved" more hit points then the Fighter will get back from second Wind.

It is a zero sum game. A Warlock with 16 total hit points uses shield and still has 16 hit points. A fighter with 15 hit points that gets hit and loses 7 hit points has 8 left, so he uses a bonus action and if he rolls a 6 or more he is back to 15, and they are both right where they started, with the fighter 1 behind, if the fighter rolls less than a 6 he is behind more.

Also the Shield spell might prevent the Warlock from getting hit a second time as well. Now if the shield spell does not prevent a hit it is a different story, but in that case the Warlock can STILL use that slot on AOA if it is after the first short rest.

The only slot the Warlock would preemptively use on AOA is the very first one and at that point he has a free casting of shield as well. He could use AOA again after each short rest, or even before a 2nd short rest after if he still has the slot he got back from the first and has less than 5 temp hps, but in most cases he won't I think, he would be using it for shield if playing for max durability.

Fighter is looking great for more combat still. Warlock is in a scary place, 7 hp means he can get 1 shot from tons of monsters in a single hit.

Warlock gets 8hp+constitution+ 5 from Armor of Agathys, which is going to more than a Fighter with tough and the same constitution. Assuming 16 Constitution it would be 16 for a Warlock at wake up vs 15 for a Fighter. Add Dwarf and it is 17 and 16. That is where he would start, burning his first slot on AOA.

Assume both get attacked and both of them get hit - if the hit is less than 5 over AC then the Warlock takes no damage, and might take no damage even from follow up hit points.

agree that 2nd wind will likely lose some efficiency for that exact reason. But if using it that way the fighter is also more likely to be at max hp. Whereas the warlock, every time he is damaged, his effective max hp lowers since temp hp doesn't restore the damage.

This is true, but it is more likely your slot will just stop you from being damaged.

Example.
The 15 hp Fighter (16 con + tough) takes 7 damage on a round. 2nd wind will restore an average of 5.5 hp. 50% of the time the fighter will be back to max. 100% of the time he will have hp greater than the warlock described below.

No not 100% of the time.

The fighter will have more hit points than the Warlock only if:

1. Shield does not/would not prevent the hit.

2. They only get hit that once

And either:

1. The Warlock does not have a spell slot
OR
2. The fighter rolls more than 5

Also that assumes it is 7 damage, change the damage number and that all changes.

I think that is more like 30-40% of the time the fighter will have more hit points after using AOA.

The 10 hp Warlock (14 con + armor of agathys) takes the same 7 damage on a round. He now is at 8hp. (Remember he doesn't have a 2nd cast of armor of agathys).

Well first of all, if building for durability you would presumably have a 16 constitution.

That point aside.

Again - if the hit is lower than 5+AC he takes no damage at all assuming he has either a slot or free cast of shield. And that can prevent a second hit and losing more hps as well.

As a baseline for comparison the Warlock gets:
1 casting of AOA
1 casting of shield
1 slot with each short rest that can be used for either AOA or Shield (most likely Shield).

The fighter gets
2 uses of second wind
1 additional use for each short rest

I think most of the time the things above for the warlock will aid survivability more than the things below.

The Warlocks resources are also both more fungible and less situational. I can always cast AOA at wake up and get 5 temp hit points, meaning he will always regain resources after the first short rest, while still having the full benifit from the resource. This is not true on the Fighter. If he does not use second wind because he does not get injured then he does not "get back" a use when he takes a short rest.

All of this is highly sitational and I agree that in many cases it might not work out that way, but I think it most cases a Warlock will be more durable.

Finally consider that 1 short rest is often going to mean enough XP to level and 2 short rests are almost always going to mean enough XP to level. At this point we are not talking about 1st level characters any more and none of this is pertinent.

 

[Zardnaar]

Warlock shield only works once per short rest. Warlock AC will be terrible 14- 15 or so vs 18-19.

It's only gonna matter if they get hit by 1 or 2 points. In effect fighter has it on all the time.

No medium armor or shields.

 

[Charlaquin]

It’s definitely either fighter or barbarian. Barbarian gets a bigger hit die, and rage functionally doubles its already high HP against BPS damage, whereas fighter likely has higher AC and second wind. They’re probably about even, with one or the other potentially pulling ahead in different situations.

 

[Sorinth]

Depending on the nature of fights and how many you get into I think there's a case for Dwarf with any caster with Fog Cloud. Tremorsense to still "see" while imposing disadvantage on enemy attacks is going to be tough to beat.

 

[Ashrym]

If he has already used a slot, then that has likely "saved" more hit points then the Fighter will get back from second Wind.

I don't agree with this.

The 1st level warlock cannot have both a 16 DEX and a 16 CON on point buy, standard spread, or average rolls spreads and still have a 16 CHA. If we're presenting 16 DEX for AC then we're looking at 14 CON. That 1st level warlock has 10 hp.

Compared to the fighter who can easily have 16 STR and 16 CON with the tough feat to match the magic initiate feat then the figher has 15 hp and the first 5 thp from the only slot the warlock had is already matched in the comparison even before the 2 second winds the fighter has. If we give up another point of AC on the warlock then that 1 more hp still doesn't cover even the 2 hp minimum from a badly rolled second wind, and the fighter will always have 1 more second wind than that warlock has uses for armor of agathys.

Shield is still only for 1 round for the free use once compared to a higher AC almost the entire time plus using weapon mastery to apply disadvantage.

There's not way to twist that in favor of the warlock. At 2nd level when the warlock has access to more invocations and invocations level-gated to 2nd level things are different. Fiendish vigor is worth 12 thp at will so no slots need to be split for armor of agathys and shield, and the spell slots for shield doubled.

It’s definitely either fighter or barbarian. Barbarian gets a bigger hit die, and rage functionally doubles its already high HP against BPS damage, whereas fighter likely has higher AC and second wind. They’re probably about even, with one or the other potentially pulling ahead in different situations.

I gave the barbarian a lot of consideration here along with the paladin. I didn't vote barbarian because the damage resistance doesn't apply to all damage types and can still only stretch his 15 hp so far. The damage reduction covers 22-23 hp in the day, which is behind what the paladin or fighter can self-heal. The fighter can carry a slight AC advantage as well.

I think barbarian durability exceeds fighter durability at 2nd level. Fighter is pretty good at 1st level and quickly falls behind.