I really appreciate this. Fighter is the main class I play. Even though I love my druid and rogue and wizard but fighter, there's something romantic about that one guy or gal or anything, with a sword against greater opponents
Dude! YES! The guy or gal who faces down a pit fiend knowing the only thing between success and failure is their weapon and armor. “I will defeat. Not because I can bend the fabric of the universe. But because I am so fucking good with my weapon and shield. You have no chance against me.”
I definitely agree with your take on how a fighter needs a bit of Awareness in combat. If you aren't the barbarian, the fighter is the one that decides where the fight takes place. They decide where the Frontline is and keep their adversaries AT that Frontline. Doing this let's your spellcasters have a chance to find their own space. Monks and Rogues can skirmish at the line of engagement. A fighter that fights the biggest thing in the room is both a Chad move and a tactical choice. After all, sending the guy that can Attack extra times, heal himself without a spell, and can force himself to have an extra turn to keep the Troll busy as the others chip away at his minions IS a solid tactical choice.
Couldn't have said it better myself! This is why I always respect the hell out of a fighter player that always runs toward the biggest threat whether it be a bugbear or an ancient red dragon. Thanks for commenting and I hope you stick around the channel!
Love rping my attacks. I've only ever played 1 fighter and it was a str kobold battlemaster. My brother was an artificer alchemist and he used 1 of his infusions on my kobold hand axe, giving it the return effect. So, I threw it like mad. Describing his throws as so hard and fast, that they spun like sonic when he does his spin attack. Feared a manticore with it.
Giving fighter automatically embedded battlemaster manuevers fixes the class SO MUCH. I really hope One DnD applies this. I would go even further to say that it should be on every martial class (rogue, monk barbarian etc) and have progression the same way spell casters have with multiclassing. Meaning a rogue 5/wizard 3 has 5 levels of battlemaster and 3 levels of spell caster. This idea needs to be spread and catch like wild fire. So glad to see someone make a video on it ❤️
Thank you! I would like to make more faster but I try to only make guides on things I have a lot of experience on. I've just finished up observing the purple dragon knight (banneret) and I finally felt I got a full grasp on the class. Eventually though, there will be more to come. I cannot wait to start diving into the fighter subclasses and all their features!
Look, my human fighter with blind fighting, proficiency in perception and investigation, and Observant as my 1st level feat was a pain for my DM. They liked to try sneaking up threats on the party and my guy just saw everything. Add in Fog Cloud spells or an Eversmoke bottle, and he could probably solo some encounters.
That's a great use for blind fighting. I've had a player pick up observant and blind fighting before why pumping wisdom. After a quick dip in rogue, they became a radar dish. Fighter is so versatile and you are only limited in character builds by your imagination.
I personally choose Eldritch Knight above all others. Access to the shield and absorb elements spells is just too good. And unlike multiclassing, you don't have to delay those precious extra attacks at levels 5, 11, and 17.
Exactly my viewpoint too! The first character I ever played was a beasthide ek fighter with a dip in war magic wizard. Arcane deflection along with shield and absorb elements, that dude was a BEAST! (Hide)
Thank you! In any video with this much subjectivity there are going to be disagreements but that's the nature of the beast. Thanks for commenting and I hope you stick around the channel
In my top 3 there is samurai, cavalier dont really need a mount (hope he will have something like the drakewarden one day), duelist its a solid damage boost that i like a lot more than one mavouver (its almost like a +4 in strenght). Blindsight can be situation but can change the game when it come into play expecialy if you are the only one without darkvision (immagine ignore the annoing mirror immage or take advantage of a darkness spell with your warlock friend)
Eldritch knight should be a half caster, and instead of abjuration and evocation, add transmutation to the list. If I were a fighter i would want the jump spell and expedition retreat. Those spells would make me a super soldier.
Whenever I think of making a character I’m always thinking about making the cool spellcasters or the shifty rogues types. But I’m always drawn into the fighters or tanks. There is just something satisfying about shoving someone to the ground and beating them down with extra attacks. In one of my favorite games, Guild Wars, there is a skill called Shove and it may not be the best, but it’s so fun to knock someone down who then has to spend their movement getting back up. There is something primal about shoving and headbutting.
For the role play side of things i play mine as either a mercenary, a traveling warrior, a noble knight,a gladiator, samurai/ronin or a adventurer for hire for a vanguard
Fighters have so many potential for story telling and for builds. That it takes great knowledge to know how to build one. As for blind fighting fighting style there's a really cool play that requires team attack or preparation. If you are fighting a creature that only relies on sight to see you than making sure one of your party members get fog cloud or the darkness spell and use it on the enemy. Or you use the equilivent of a smoke bomb and make sure the enemy don't see you. That way the enemy does not get to see you and you get advantage on all your attacks. Also it makes a great opportunity for playing a blind or deaf character. Surely one will need the alert feat to pair it up good. But great video man.
To make the Champion less vanilla I have a homebrew where the Champion Fighters gets a selection of Bonus feats in place of their regular features but I also retool the Champion's features as feats (sometimes with prerequisites) so they can still take some of those if they want.
I was glad to see the Shifter in this video. It's one of the unsung powerhouses of the game IMHO. Mage vs Fighter: The Mage-Slayer Feat is literally KILLER in this showdown. My fiancé is running a Psy Knight Fighter and she's rocking 20 Dex at lvl 8. Her next Feat will be Mage-Slayer and, coupled with her Psy leap ability, can put her next to an enemy caster up to 60 feet away. In our last few battles, we focused on the casters and surprised a few by directing all of our attacks on them.
Hold up... blindsight fighting style is great for an eldritch knight with fog cloud. opportunity attacks most turns since enemies would be wondering around the fog cloud, likely you being able to hit them. Also, if an enemy goes invisible to escape your melee, you can still make an attack of opportunity. combine that with the sentinel feat and polearm master you just win most of the time.
I really like that principle. Narrate your character's specialty, be it as a tank, as a sharpshooter, and especially with battle maneuvers and other feats you use. It is always fun giving flavor to martial combat.
This is great thanks for this I woud suggest the Fizben dragonbrons as race, because thay can replace one ther attack to ther beath weapon and that really use full speculy for fighter
Agreed! I was between them and the Leonin for the melee fighter. But the Leonin's extra speed is the thing that pushed it over the edge. But 100%, the update dragonborn, especially the gemstone dragonborn, are fantastic options.
One of the most memorable characters I had was a swashbuckler, he was a stereotypical inconsequent guided by instinct and passion, often led the party in some trouble that no one wanted to took part in. Sleeping with the princess and startig a war with a theocracy for screwing with their sacrifice just to save a pretty face? "Sorry peeps, not gonna let that happen, you are free to let me die here or have the wort time of your life saving my bacon!". Each session he became more daring and skillful. At some time, he became an anime character, being able to ensnare a red dragon mid fight with a grappling hook and take him down airborn running across his body because DM didn't thought I'd ever use those boots of spider climbing, neither get the craziest streak of rolls to be able to pull it off. And that was just another Wednesday, we had a table of casters and people were doing some crazy stuff regularly, but that was already expected, jaws used to drop when this character decided to do some dumb sh*t. it would either be a disaster or something epic, either way would be a highlight. But that was only natural, we had people doig some crazy magic, having a swashbuckler pull out some shadow of the colossus with combos straight out a platinum game is the equivalent of casting a destructive wave. But what surprised everyone a lot(including me) is how deep and wise the character was, he might be the first to get everyone in trouble and disguise himself as an ignorant fool, but was really sharp and insightful to lift the heart of someone on the party in a very mature and kind way, letting blossom the experience and wisdom of an ancient sage that could see every shadow in their hearts and transmute every doubt and fear into strength and conviction. It was the best quarterback experience I've ever had in a table, Making a really awesome character with a lot of complexity and trick on his sleeves, but doing my bast to make everyone shine and bloom their character in the best way possible just so I could occasionally put fuel into fire and bring up the heat for epic stuff. Remmy wasa great character, started as an impulsive character to make people on the table to take more of the spotlight and push my friends to be the ones in charge and trying to figure things out since it was usually on my hands to be the babysitter of the party. Then came the idea of making this character a performer exuding bravatto, but actually being someone who cares a lot about his friends and his people in general, disguising a huge heart qnd concern behind a degenerate mask to lower everyone's guard, there was no tension in the party or whatever scene he was around he was a master of the spotlight, and that was really great to take as many eyes as possible on him and setup a situation for a friend to shine and be awesome. It's a shame that our story ended, the whole table grew a lot, everyone became a master on roleplay and how to understand and live their characters. A fighter is a pretty good foil for doing that, you can be awesome and make people engage a lot and get way more invested in the history and characters in a way no other class can, he is the true bard of the party.
I'll have to say this. I do role play in combat, but the DM says, "You must roll a Nat 20 to succeed in what you want to do." So it's easier to say I just attack because I'm not allowed to do cool things. The problem often doesn't lie with the player, it lies with the DM that is following the rules and rules state if you want to do something you need to roll to succeed, opposed to a spellcaster that just chooses what they want to do with a spell, cast it and roll it. It's simple, it's fast. No double-checking the rules and no strict rules. Most fighters start the way you mention, but because of restrictions, players end up just saying: "I attack" because it's boring having those rules. At my table, I've created such actions a martial can use, they apply with the same roll most of the time, sometimes it requires a save instead, but I've simplified them for my martials.
The way I fixed Champion Fighter is by leaving the 19-20 critical in, but then giving them the ability to have "expertise" with a single weapon type for extra chance to hit. And I run criticals like the do in pathfinder where a 10 over ac counts as a critical hit. My champion fighter player really enjoys being able to hit much more frequently and crits around 25% of the time at level 3.
My vanquisher is similar. At a certain level going 10 over an AC is an automatic critical. However, at 7th level, once per attack action if a character has advantage, they can turn a regular hit into a critical hit. It promotes party team work and gives players more room to be tactical. Plus the fighter learns to love their rogue, monk, barbarian, etc.
I actually prefer Eldritch Knight to be honest, but that comes with the caveat that I actually plan out by builds ahead of time and they are geared towards making me a defensive power house. Weapon Bond is my way of keeping a Javelin of Lightning and a Magic Spear I like to throw from being lost to me and if I need a fighting weapon in a situation I'm going in without a weapon (I use a Ruby of the War Mage attached to it as well), and the spells I take aren't usually for offensive needs but defensive: Protection from Evil and Good + High AC makes fighting anything on a very wide list a lot easier, while Shield and Absorb Elements deal with a lot of damage types. Even Blade Ward can help you since you can still attack once after using it after the 7th Level, and you do have access to Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade. Plus, once you get to the point you can use Spirit Shroud or Haste your damage amps up since you'll have a high CON and proficiency in the Saving Throws. And if you take War Caster, your DM will practically never make you drop concentration. And if you take Fey-Touched Feat, you can get Hunter's Mark, which is very nice when you eventually get to attack four to eight times a turn with Action Surge.
Been playing D&D for almost a decade. I started off playing a bunch of classes, Druid, Sorcerer, ranger. Over the years I’ve built a great deal of love for the fighter chassis. I often times default to fighter when starting a campaign and multi class immediately from level 2.
My local gamestore hosts our dnd night so you never know who will show up that week. As a consequence most dm's limit the level we can reach to lv 6. No end game in sight but it's perfect for creating early level multiclasses. My favorite character so far is a dragonborn inquisitive rogue/champion fighter (3 levels in both). Mechanically it's very simple. A frontline strength based rogue that gives itself advantage for the sneak attack damage, with it's critical hit range doubled. It's actually very fun and with the city watch background i get tons of good role-play out of it. Second Wind helps cover those squishy rogue hit die. Action Surge let's me accomplish a lot with my breath weapon. On his maiden voyage he got the snot kicked out of him by a Marilith lol! Luckily our paladin had one healing spell. Afterwards i managed to grapple it's tail and we wound up putting it down. We got her +2 magic longswords as loot. All part of the fun for a retired chief inspector turned adventurer. Although to be fair, like he addressed in the video, those critical hits don't come up very often. Even at double the capacity. I take solace in the fact that I only built him to HAVE FUN not be the most impressive thing on the table.
I really really like arcane archer but I totally agree it needs more uses. I suggest just giving it 4 uses to be on par with the battle master, additionally when using second wind you can roll a d4 and on a 4 you regain 2 uses of your arrows and 1 on a 3. It would make that subclass feel a lot more awesome to play
Champion Fighter is my favorite fighter. I know it's dull, but I love that all their abilities have no limit, and I like jumping around at 7th level I think it needs a buff still but I still find it fun.
I agree that the Eldritch knight could be updated, mostly by remaking the level 7 feature and removing the school restrictions. That being said, if an Eldritch knight focuses their spell choice around reaction/bonus action spells they can be wonderfully powerful. An elven dexterity based Eldritch knight who makes use of the shadowblade spell is as powerful as any power attack feat based build with less investment. Leaves room for other feats to round out utility or perhaps role play. The hexblood is also a great race to choose for an Eldritch knight with hex and utility spells.
Fighters are my main class i play in dnd unless their is already one in that case i play paladin,warlock, barb or rouge i freaking love the fighter from the subclasses to action surge and being a total weapon case. They fact people say they are basic is a insult and they don't know the capabilities of the main martial class sure you can play a castor but at early levels when they run out of spell slots they in trouble unless the dm give alot long rests unlike the fighter that can stay in good shape for the how game with only short rest
Agree with giving base fighter access to Battlemaster subclass features. Simple tweak, looking to implement it to see what impact it actually has in-play. Could even be a special reward for the fighter's development arch.
The best experience I've had playing. An eldritch knight was in a one-shot. And yes, I've played it in a lvl 1-15 campaign before, but as mentioned in the video, it's not as "good" in that type of game. The one-shot was a 4-player, lvl 12 murder mystery with a horror theme, and the other three players were a zealot Barbarian, a Cronomancy wizard and a College of swords bard. The two full-casters both went with a very RP heavy detective style build and didn't have many damaging spells, and it was the barbarian players first time playing that class so he used the classic dumber than a box of rocks barbarian who was only there to keep his wizard friend from getting hurt, in other words a complete meat bag not that there's anything wrong with that all that to say I I decided that I should be the damage dealer of the party as a fighter. I didn't need to be a tank since we had the barbarian. Who was going to be doing all the tanking. Since we're starting at level 12 our DM, let us start with a few magic items, 5 uncommon 2 rare and 1 very rare. Or we could have a set amount of money and buy things that way. I asked if I could trade all my magic items for just one legendary, pointing out that the party was lacking in damage output. And the DM said yes, so I had the antimatter rifle and 10 magazines for it and a component pouch for my spellcasting, and he worked with me to figure out why I had them from my backstory. We had a ton of fun and some really good rp moments throughout the one-shot, but the part that is relevant is one of the traps that the party set off was a teleportation spell that transported the party in separate locked rooms without any of their equipment or gear. But because I was an eldritch knight, I had bonded to my component pouch (with my ammo) and my rifle. So, I was able to escape quickly enough to rescue the wizard and bard before they went down (I didn't have to worry about the barbarian dying because, zealot Barbarian enough said.) And it turned out to be a revenant boss fight in the end and I scored some very big hits though out the combat that led to the barbarian finishing the undead by dropping rage and casting flight on himself to then pile drive the boss into the dirt 😆. In the end, we all had fun, and it would have been much harder if I hadn't been an eldritch knight. Their versatility and set of features are not for everyone but can be the difference between a win or a TPK, they are definitely not the main line fighter that the class traditionally breeds, but if you don't have to worry about being the only tank in your party, they are a phenomenal support class that can fill the gaps better then a lot of other weapon using classes.
in my opinion variant human is good for all three fighter rolls, if you want to play a hybrid fighter, you can get mobile or crossbow expert for a easy option for both ranged and melee combat, and a ranged fighter would not want sharpshooter at level 1? with point by and archery you can have a longbow attack with +2 to hit and 1d8+13 damage. thats very good for level 1
OK, but consider this for Thrown Weapon Fighting; it stacks with the Dueling. That does mean you need to use a Feat or find another way to grab a second fighting style, which may not be optimal, but it's hilarious to be getting a flat +4 before Dexterity on a dagger throwing build. (+9 per dagger assuming you hit and don't have a magic weapon)
Personally - I do agree with 'every fighter should have manovers". I always pick BM, since they enable basic fantasy of being The Fighter - so doing cool stuff in battle.
Throwing weapons in D&D normally requires an object interaction to pull the weapon from your belt/bag/whatever. And you only get one free object interaction before you need to use your action to, well, interact with an object. So (assuming you've already thrown the weapon in your hand) reaching and throwing weapons limits the amount of weapons you can throw to one per turn. And since the fighter gets the most attacks out of all the classes, obviously that's not a good tradeoff. The Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style allows you to bypass that restriction by making the act of taking a weapon from your person part of the attack instead of using your free object interaction, making thrown weapon fighting more viable. Getting the Archery fighting style would just make your singular thrown weapon attack (or two if you were holding the first weapon) 10% more accurate... at the cost of losing more attacks and constantly having to use your free object interaction.
The worst thing about Blind Fighting is that, RAW, being able to see an invisible creature, doesn't do anything to negate the Advantage/ disadvantage situation because of how the "Invisibile" condition works.
Fighter is kind of my romantic class too as someone wrote. Though I have to admit I am having a lot of fun with my Hexblade just now (the actual sith mechanically, much better than the psi warrior in my view). I think the champion should be mixed with the battlemaster or become feat options or maneuvers should be given to all classes (to a certain extend) an the battlemaster should merge with the champion. Arcane archer is just not a plain tricky archer. I‘d love to see such as fighter-based class (no rogue nor ranger). Eldritch Knight - I love the idea, originally I‘d say it should be the „bladesinger“. However the actual wizard baldesinger seems a much better fit. I think the problem is the schools that have been nice historically (in 2E/3E) just din‘t fit well in 5E. You‘d want the „bladesinger“ to move around quickly, with spells for battlefield control and abjuration spells. Sure a nice lighting bolt would fit nice too but overall transmutation might fit better. In this way again, if you want to play a melee focused gish, the Hexblade is the better choice if you like the dark touch.
got an eldritch knight where I rolled well on my primary damage score and constitution, so I used spells that weren't worried about my intelligence and have been taking intelligence half feats to slowly build it up(and being that the fighter gets 7 of them it happens pretty often), phenomenal utility and support as well as weapon combat, we did modify the level 7 ability so if I use a cantrip as an action I can make a full attack action as a bonus action so my weapon and spellcasting isn't a choice
You have one mistake, the some one I did at first. Throwing a weapon does not change its weapon type and use one of the 5 basic attacks Ranged, Thrown, Melee, Unarmed and Natural. Thrown weapons are not a ranged weapon which use ammo. It is a melee weapon with the thrown property and runs off Strenght like Javelan unless it is finesse weapon then it is your chose. The Archery fighting style is meant not for inceased accuracy but to overcome half cover +2 AC which most DMs do not use.
Last session my minitaur battlemaster found a spear that made it huge the goblin spellsinger became my wizard hat who then proceeded to become my wizard hat who then enlarged me. The artificer climped up to join him after and gave me flight...
"I don't understand this crazy fucking fish." Not gonna lie, I found hearing you briefly lose it over the Locatha to be way funnier than I should have.
Eldritch knight is really good, but you need a bit of a spellcaster mentality to make it work, you get find familiar, shield, absorb elements shadow blade, fog cloud, long strider and warding wind (situationally great)
I had a bad time as an ELDRITCH KNIGHT. I love the character to this day, my boi became a king, but I found the 5e class very restricting and (as you said) a bad gish. I have come up with some ideas to fix that tho. 1. Invert the war magic feature so that it is a bonus action to cast a spell or cantrip (level restrict as needed) and possibly they can only use the feature a certain number of times (int mod or prof) and get the uses back on short rests. Then change up the spell list choices so that the player chooses which two magic schools he can learn. He is still limited to two, but he gets to choose them.
After the second mordicanian book I think elves are fantastic fighters just for that misty step use. Playing Baldurs Gate 3 and I cannot stress enough how hilariously useful misty step is on a melee fighter. I’m using it with some boots on my paladin and it’s great cuz I can rush the boss before he sets himself up
Great call on giving out battle master maneuvers. Honestly I think Battlemaster should get access to the Champions keen crit feature at like level ten. I think arcane archers should get more arrows, the feat to get more arrows as well as more often and different types more often, also think those should be a short rest thing also. Now back to the Champion, wouldn't it be cool if a Champion could have the (UA ) fell handed feat with Wizard rituals. They could essentially manufacture their own advantage and just knock baddies down with help from their familiar. But than again most DMs tend to be meta aF and think it's their job to win. "Oops your spider 'common occurrence in a dungeon anyway' and shouldn't draw a second glance well he pulled aggro Sorry. Or "the ogres with no ranks in arcana knew it was a familiar somehow" I also think the hurled arms master homebrew feat would be good on a champion as well. At that everyone needs range, and to not burn their action rushing up to the enemy with no action left to get slaughtered. Use mounts their movent is their own action, they're faster too you can do The Kahn's cavalry ride in shoot some arrows off and use your mounts remaining movent to dash back making them close the gap burning their action. Some of those giant feats are pretty cool too. And people gotta stop thinking about weapons in there safe terms as the lazy devs that wrote Champion as less than one column on half on one page but put out over twenty pages of filler in backgrounds or more. THERE IS NOTHING SAYING THERE'S ONLY 16 WEAPONS IN 5E ONLY ONE MAGICAL BOW. Or that a Great sword needs to be 2d6 and the only way to make it special is to start tacking plus ones on the back heck make it 1d4+3 & 1d8+1 non magical Dwarven Materwork heck that's 6-16 & you could still reroll 1's&2's if you trim great weapon fighting. Honestly if I got a sword like that with a high floor I'd cash that fighting style out for something else like mariner+1 AC and an equal swim and climb speed while wearing medium or less w/0 a shield your a great weapon fighter at that. There's way better ways of going about it all. And yeah while I'm ranting hard Eldritch Knight is very weaksauce I put it under Arcane trickster. Also don't discount Nerd races for fighters and fighter races for nerds. Mountain Dwarf makes the best fighter??? No it doesn't it's all redundant over squeeze Mountain Dwarf makes the best enchanter, esp you throw that fell handed feet on them, that's called the stop and drop build. Veldalkin total nerd but they're pretty skill flush make him a BattleMater put the built in guidance into stuff like medicine or chef and he's pumping hit points too, not allot but most of them are added Bonus HP Semi aquatic too just the other way around though, can skin breathe for an hour. Also gets Advantage on all mental saves with a fighter you take Reslient Dex and you essentially have them all. Especially at lower levels where the advantage will keep pace with your physical stats+2 I'd almost rather roll two dice against a mediocre mental stat and play law of averages than just flubing a shewin. Verdan almost the same deal minus the intelligence Dave advantage but can telepathically communicate with anything intelligence +3 or higher capable of having a language. That includes the mastiff or mule he can ride into combat till he goes through the change and can afford a proper horse but than anyway. Anyway I've ranted enough.
I'm currently playing a reborn Eldritch knight racen queen warlock (sorcerer next level) multiclass and yes without taking the war magic from the bladesinger wouldn't be so fun but the concept is a dullahan devoted to the raven wueen and is probably one of my favourite characters that i've played
Most fun I had playing a character was Eldritch Knight, but yes. Changing to Bladesinger when I pick him up to continue his story. Not going to share stories only because the fun was mostly in the ROLEPLAY not the mechanics. I'll still get that 3rd attack and I still welcome some of the flavor, but he is mechanically lackluster
Eh, Kratos is more of a barbarian given Spartan RAGE is a thing he does. That said I do like Fighters as you can make them almost anything you want them to be. Knight? Samurai? Merc? Kid with some cheap equipment that's off to see the world? Gladiator? Noble who's fourth in line and seeking his fortune? Works for all of them.
It might be because it is my first fighter but i'm pretty pleased with the champion archetype so far, as for what kind of chatacter it is, it's a goliath who plays dumber than he is in order to not appear scary because of his looks. (I describe him as a half ogre in appearence) I have built him around grappling and his powerful build trait, stuff like providing cover for the casters by tumbling over carts or pushing over trees allies can hide behindt. I'm excited to reach level 7 to get the remarkable athlete trait since, (from what i understand) it works on general checks as well as skill checks, so being able to hold his breath, break free of bindings or heck maybe even use some tools to help out every now and then sounds interesting. One thing i hope to try is using a sling to.. sling other things than rocks, such as potions, sling our bard (small harengon) over a wall or maybe even something like slinging canonballs or utensils. Creativity is what i like about this combination as it forces me to look at what i have on hands rather than my characters abilities. Also i made a potion allergy table for him so every time he chugs a potion something strange can happen, it's just a fun little thing.
I made a fighter DMnpc because my players all chose mage, druid, and cleric. I'm not a railroader I don't tell them what to play. so i give help when needed. she sometimes joins them. I also had them controlling npcs in a fight
I gotta disagree with you on eldritch knight being a weak subclass If you look at it from the viewpoint of a gish, a true mix of sword and sorcery, then yeah, it's not great. But it's not a mix, it's primarily fighter. A great example is Rudi Whittaker from The Dungeon Dudes Shadows of Drakkenheim. She plays an eldritch knight. Often, she would throw a hand axe if she couldn't close in on an enemy, and use weapon bond to summon it back. She's never truly disarmed, even in a social situation where weapons are left outside because of that. Being able to cast shield in plate armor is a huge boon. Being a fighter that can cast absorb elements is a huge blessing when going against most dragons. Both of those spells are 1st level abjuration spells. Being able to cast enlarge on yourself cab be huge (pun intended). You can hold up the portcullus that's crashing down to trap you and your allies in the castle... and hold it up on your own! I prefer battlemaster over aby fighter subclass, but eldritch knight is still a great subclass
I'd say that an EK is still a Gish; the issue is the assumption that a Gish needs to be an even balance between the arcane and martial arts. The Eldritch Knight is a fighter that can kinda cast; the Bladesinger is a caster that can kinda fight. The base fighter is a really strong class, and the Eldritch Knight's magical ability should be seen as a supplement to their martial role. They're never going to be the reigning authority on all things arcane in the party - unless something has gone very, very wrong - but the subclass is both a very strong pick for a fighter, and a great way to introduce a newer player to spellcasting, with a more resilient character that can survive an error or two as they learn.
I think fighters don’t match up to mages because mages can also fight with weapons if they use the right subclass. Hexblade Warlock (or any warlock with Pact of the Blade), Blade Singer Wizard, Spores Druid (this one sucks, but it can still sling spells), Swords Bard, and any cleric with martial weapon proficiency. Then there are also half casters, being Ranger Paladin and Artificer, and they can cast spells decently too. Pretty much, you can do the same thing as the fighter does (swing weapons good), but with added utility and spells (like Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Suggestion, Bless, Cure Wounds, Mirror Image, Fire Ball and more). Your suggestion for feats with ASI is great imo, because it lets marital get better stats for fighting while giving the potential to take feats that give out of combat utility or better damage.
Rules as Written, Great Weapon Fighting isn't good for weapons with multiple damage dice (like the greatsword or maul), as it only affects a singular damage die. It's much more effective on weapons like the greataxe or lance which only have one damage dice (and the highest damage die type). It does still increase your damage, but not by as much as you think it would if you're using a weapon with more than one damage die.
Not sure where you're getting this but this is wrong. Rules as Written, GWF applies to all the rolled dice for a greatsword or maul. Due to the wording of "When you roll a 1 or 2", this effect applies to each subsequent instance. It the same as reading Whenever you roll a 1 or 2, you can reroll. Each die is effected individually.
@@enterthedungeon "When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage **die** for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll **the die** and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit." The wording specifies a singular die. I believe this is because most weapons only have one damage die and the maul, greatsword, and (if this weapon is allowed) the double-bladed scimitar are the exceptions. I feel like the intent was to let the weapon user reroll all dice but a DM could reasonably argue that it would only let the weapon user reroll one die since it's rare in D&D that you see language talking about one die without just naming the die type. That's personally how I've read it (though I'll probably just let the player roll both dice) ever since I started playing the game. I looked at the Elemental Adept feat to see if the wording was similar. "...Spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type. In addition, when you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of that type, you can treat **any** 1 on a damage die as a 2..." The wording is similar but the use of "any" allows for the possibility of multiple damage dice, which makes sense since spells generally use multiple damage dice. GWF noticeably lacks that wording. I can't think of any other examples since from what I've read, D&D rarely uses this type of writing when talking about dice. I did check the One D&D playtest PDFs to see if they changed the wording of the fighting style but I can't seem to find any of the fighting styles. I haven't been keeping a close eye on the playtests though so I might be wrong. However, I will note that Jeremy Crawford said in a Twitter post that it does work for all of the weapon's damage **dice**, which includes any additional weapon damage dice from something like a flametongue. Not every DM treats Crawford's rulings as Rules as Intended though, but here's the post: twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/988279492698296321
@@Sunny_Haven like I said before, the effect applies sequentially to each die RAW. Also, elemental adept doesn't require rolling which is why it specifies any. Both activate on multiple dice, but GWF specifies the effect of each die rolled where since EA doesn't create rerolls, it says any. But to each their own. Every DM has their own set of home rules and if rerolling 1 die is better for you and your table, honestly who cares?
I definitely have to disagree with GWF as being a top tier fighting style. Don't get me wrong, with the heavy two handed weapons it's intended to be used with, it definitely has its use...well, with the few that actually use multiple dice.
I had a slight chuckle when he said that. Assuming there is a 60% chance to hit, it increases the DPR of a great sword by .8dpr. That is a nice bonus, but it definitely is not top tier.
I don't typically RP turns or anything reason being is it takes up time when we are trying to finish at a certain time, I am playing a Battlemaster fighter although thanks to it being a high power campaign and the fact we got loaded with Feats at level 1 my experience is different, but at level 5 I am a kind of a controller that also does the most consistent damage. My DM is giving us extra health at the start and giving everyone an extra ASI but only one feat when they get an ASI. Other than that I have the optional rule Mark and Cleaving through a Creature
I felt the same with eldrich knight played it for 7 levels then got bored and multiclassed the rest in wizard because so i got more spells and haste and fireball faster than when i stayed elrich knight all the way also i got later steel wind strike
13:45 disappointed you didn't mention the Harengon. Perception. D4 on dex saves, BA rabbit hop that acts as a disengage. PB to initiative. I've played many martials as a Harengon and it's a game changer.
Arcane Archer is still really good for multiclassing (1 lvl Genie Warlock + crusher is really good) for taking out key really strong foes without needing action surge thanks to grasping arrow
Leonin rune knight fighter is pretty amazing, everything scales off of constitution. Shifter race is an amazing option. If you go wildhunt shifter barbarian you can reckless attack without concequences. this is a fighter video though so 🤷.
archery doesn't effect thrown weapons that are melee weapons. dart and net being the only thrown weapons that are affected by archery. However if you wanted to use thrown weapon fighting style it stacks with dueling fighting style. a +4 on a thrown handaxe isn't bad but clearly not meta. you would need to either be a champion fighter, take fighter initiate as a feat, or multiclass. I do want to make a character who throws weapons, and I was thinking battlemaster is the best way to go. It would be a versatile fighter. Ranged? I got you. Melee? I got you. tanking? I got you. So I was thinking a shifter beast hide+battlemaster fighter. fighter initiate at 4th level. Use a shield, and if enemies get in melee I can still attack with a handaxe at melee. (sorry for all the comments, long video.)
In fact any Fighter with STR greater than 13 (or 15 for some) is playing against the classic dnd fighter build. Classically the most important attribute is CON, and DEX to survive in the early levels. From tier 2 and beyond ogre gloves/giant belt exists and pointlessly spending points on STR is the way to be weak. This is a classic dnd thing (1st and 2nd edition), good fighters with high natural STR only existed in 3rd and 4th (which people usually hate). In other words: if your campaign plans to go beyond lvl 6 or 7, well NEVER make a Fighter with STR even if you want to be melee... start with high DEX and high CON and use rapier until the day you get your ogre's gauntlet or giant's belt.
I never played much 5e but in 3.5 my fighter was a blender in combat, fighters are very underrated it seemed to me the easiest way to min max then was a human fighter with a 2handed sword.
I'm surprised to hear you say that the cavalier is dependent on whether or not you can bring a mount because almost every ability it has is designed to work without one as well. In my experience you primarily want a mount for the flavour of it all.
Born to the Saddle, Warding Maneuver, and Ferocious Charger all work best with a mount. Now the cavalier is FAR from useless without a mount. It's just that the Psi Warrior thrives in any condition. At 3rd and 7th levels, the Psi Warrior is a bit more consistent which is why I put it at 3 but it was a HARD decision. However, without a doubt, the cavalier is still useable without a mount but I don't think its really a debate whether or not its better if it has its mount. Thank you for commenting!
@@enterthedungeon I personally disagree that warding maneuver works better with a mount because I find that using it on yourself or an ally is infinitely more valuable and having a mount just means there's one more thing for you to spend that resource on while you could be using it on more "deserving" targets. As for Ferocious Charger a mount can definitely be handy but really only if the opponent is a little further away from you, otherwise I don't think moving 10ft. In a line is that big of an ask. Born in the saddle is of course made for mount but it's specifically so a mount is easier to use in combat but you're not really losing an ability if you're not mounted. I don't really have a strong opinion on psi warrior vs cavalier. I don't have a (pardon the pun) horse in that race. I only wanted to point out the cavalier isn't really dependent on a mount mechanically and I think no one should feel discouraged from playing one if they're not sure whether or not their DM is going to accommodate a mount. Still really enjoyed the video though, it must be said. Nice work and an excellent take on a class that is indeed often underrated.
Archery fighting styke does not effect thrown wrapons. Thrown weapons are not ranged weapons. They are melee weapons thst are thrown with a ranged attack.
I am looking to maybe play a Hobgoblin battlemaster. Pair that with a rogue and its just not fair you can give the rogue advantage as a bonus action and give yourself and the rogue temp health. And still be a battle master.
Cavaliers don't need mounts. None of their core features require a horse. I'm playing a high level Cavalier and while my DM agrees with you, the wondrous figurine he gave me (who I call Cabio) is hardly used since most encounters are too cramped to utilize it. But unwavering mark, warding manuever, hold the line, and even ferocious charger don't require a mount. I didn't grab the mounted combat feat, so if you grabbed that, mounted combat could be better.
The cavalier is in no way mount dependent. The class name is very misleading, but the class basically makes you a tank with some mount bonuses sprinkled in
I really appreciate this. Fighter is the main class I play. Even though I love my druid and rogue and wizard but fighter, there's something romantic about that one guy or gal or anything, with a sword against greater opponents
Couldn't agree more
@@enterthedungeon kratos is a barbarian not a fighter
For almost every character i usually go with the version of human that gives +1 to every stat for the extra rolls and to balance out my weaknesses.
Dude! YES! The guy or gal who faces down a pit fiend knowing the only thing between success and failure is their weapon and armor.
“I will defeat. Not because I can bend the fabric of the universe. But because I am so fucking good with my weapon and shield. You have no chance against me.”
I definitely agree with your take on how a fighter needs a bit of Awareness in combat. If you aren't the barbarian, the fighter is the one that decides where the fight takes place. They decide where the Frontline is and keep their adversaries AT that Frontline. Doing this let's your spellcasters have a chance to find their own space. Monks and Rogues can skirmish at the line of engagement.
A fighter that fights the biggest thing in the room is both a Chad move and a tactical choice. After all, sending the guy that can Attack extra times, heal himself without a spell, and can force himself to have an extra turn to keep the Troll busy as the others chip away at his minions IS a solid tactical choice.
Couldn't have said it better myself! This is why I always respect the hell out of a fighter player that always runs toward the biggest threat whether it be a bugbear or an ancient red dragon.
Thanks for commenting and I hope you stick around the channel!
"Wisdom saving throws are the most dangerous"
Barbarians everywhere: "My one flaw, the bear totem doesn't help here in those dark times.
Love rping my attacks. I've only ever played 1 fighter and it was a str kobold battlemaster. My brother was an artificer alchemist and he used 1 of his infusions on my kobold hand axe, giving it the return effect. So, I threw it like mad. Describing his throws as so hard and fast, that they spun like sonic when he does his spin attack. Feared a manticore with it.
Giving fighter automatically embedded battlemaster manuevers fixes the class SO MUCH. I really hope One DnD applies this.
I would go even further to say that it should be on every martial class (rogue, monk barbarian etc) and have progression the same way spell casters have with multiclassing. Meaning a rogue 5/wizard 3 has 5 levels of battlemaster and 3 levels of spell caster.
This idea needs to be spread and catch like wild fire. So glad to see someone make a video on it ❤️
Yes! I’m so excited you’re making more of these, you make by far the best class guides on RUclips
Thank you! I would like to make more faster but I try to only make guides on things I have a lot of experience on. I've just finished up observing the purple dragon knight (banneret) and I finally felt I got a full grasp on the class.
Eventually though, there will be more to come. I cannot wait to start diving into the fighter subclasses and all their features!
Look, my human fighter with blind fighting, proficiency in perception and investigation, and Observant as my 1st level feat was a pain for my DM. They liked to try sneaking up threats on the party and my guy just saw everything.
Add in Fog Cloud spells or an Eversmoke bottle, and he could probably solo some encounters.
That's a great use for blind fighting. I've had a player pick up observant and blind fighting before why pumping wisdom. After a quick dip in rogue, they became a radar dish.
Fighter is so versatile and you are only limited in character builds by your imagination.
I personally choose Eldritch Knight above all others. Access to the shield and absorb elements spells is just too good. And unlike multiclassing, you don't have to delay those precious extra attacks at levels 5, 11, and 17.
Level 17? Fighters don't get extra atfacks at level 17.
Fighters get their last extra attack at level 20, they get a second Action Surge use at level 17.
Eldritch Knight, Echo Knight or Psi-Knight are my go-to’s
@YoKhai1221 I like the simple champion or pdk they may be on the weaker end but they get er done as good as I need them to
Exactly my viewpoint too! The first character I ever played was a beasthide ek fighter with a dip in war magic wizard. Arcane deflection along with shield and absorb elements, that dude was a BEAST! (Hide)
i dont agree with everything but very good video, usually long video can be boring but you really did a great job
Thank you! In any video with this much subjectivity there are going to be disagreements but that's the nature of the beast. Thanks for commenting and I hope you stick around the channel
In my top 3 there is samurai, cavalier dont really need a mount (hope he will have something like the drakewarden one day), duelist its a solid damage boost that i like a lot more than one mavouver (its almost like a +4 in strenght). Blindsight can be situation but can change the game when it come into play expecialy if you are the only one without darkvision (immagine ignore the annoing mirror immage or take advantage of a darkness spell with your warlock friend)
Eldritch knight should be a half caster, and instead of abjuration and evocation, add transmutation to the list. If I were a fighter i would want the jump spell and expedition retreat. Those spells would make me a super soldier.
Whenever I think of making a character I’m always thinking about making the cool spellcasters or the shifty rogues types. But I’m always drawn into the fighters or tanks. There is just something satisfying about shoving someone to the ground and beating them down with extra attacks. In one of my favorite games, Guild Wars, there is a skill called Shove and it may not be the best, but it’s so fun to knock someone down who then has to spend their movement getting back up. There is something primal about shoving and headbutting.
For the role play side of things i play mine as either a mercenary, a traveling warrior, a noble knight,a gladiator, samurai/ronin or a adventurer for hire for a vanguard
Fighters have so many potential for story telling and for builds. That it takes great knowledge to know how to build one.
As for blind fighting fighting style there's a really cool play that requires team attack or preparation. If you are fighting a creature that only relies on sight to see you than making sure one of your party members get fog cloud or the darkness spell and use it on the enemy. Or you use the equilivent of a smoke bomb and make sure the enemy don't see you. That way the enemy does not get to see you and you get advantage on all your attacks. Also it makes a great opportunity for playing a blind or deaf character. Surely one will need the alert feat to pair it up good.
But great video man.
To make the Champion less vanilla I have a homebrew where the Champion Fighters gets a selection of Bonus feats in place of their regular features but I also retool the Champion's features as feats (sometimes with prerequisites) so they can still take some of those if they want.
I was glad to see the Shifter in this video. It's one of the unsung powerhouses of the game IMHO.
Mage vs Fighter: The Mage-Slayer Feat is literally KILLER in this showdown. My fiancé is running a Psy Knight Fighter and she's rocking 20 Dex at lvl 8. Her next Feat will be Mage-Slayer and, coupled with her Psy leap ability, can put her next to an enemy caster up to 60 feet away. In our last few battles, we focused on the casters and surprised a few by directing all of our attacks on them.
Hold up... blindsight fighting style is great for an eldritch knight with fog cloud. opportunity attacks most turns since enemies would be wondering around the fog cloud, likely you being able to hit them. Also, if an enemy goes invisible to escape your melee, you can still make an attack of opportunity. combine that with the sentinel feat and polearm master you just win most of the time.
I really like that principle. Narrate your character's specialty, be it as a tank, as a sharpshooter, and especially with battle maneuvers and other feats you use. It is always fun giving flavor to martial combat.
Been doing Tiefling Fighter - I know, not min-max, but she might has been one of my fave toons to play. RPing a Hellish Rebuke is a blast.
This is great thanks for this
I woud suggest the Fizben dragonbrons as race, because thay can replace one ther attack to ther beath weapon and that really use full speculy for fighter
Agreed! I was between them and the Leonin for the melee fighter. But the Leonin's extra speed is the thing that pushed it over the edge. But 100%, the update dragonborn, especially the gemstone dragonborn, are fantastic options.
I do really love the whole principle of going prone when engaged in ranged combat. Quite a lot of advantages and very flavorful in combat.
One of the most memorable characters I had was a swashbuckler, he was a stereotypical inconsequent guided by instinct and passion, often led the party in some trouble that no one wanted to took part in. Sleeping with the princess and startig a war with a theocracy for screwing with their sacrifice just to save a pretty face? "Sorry peeps, not gonna let that happen, you are free to let me die here or have the wort time of your life saving my bacon!".
Each session he became more daring and skillful. At some time, he became an anime character, being able to ensnare a red dragon mid fight with a grappling hook and take him down airborn running across his body because DM didn't thought I'd ever use those boots of spider climbing, neither get the craziest streak of rolls to be able to pull it off. And that was just another Wednesday, we had a table of casters and people were doing some crazy stuff regularly, but that was already expected, jaws used to drop when this character decided to do some dumb sh*t. it would either be a disaster or something epic, either way would be a highlight. But that was only natural, we had people doig some crazy magic, having a swashbuckler pull out some shadow of the colossus with combos straight out a platinum game is the equivalent of casting a destructive wave.
But what surprised everyone a lot(including me) is how deep and wise the character was, he might be the first to get everyone in trouble and disguise himself as an ignorant fool, but was really sharp and insightful to lift the heart of someone on the party in a very mature and kind way, letting blossom the experience and wisdom of an ancient sage that could see every shadow in their hearts and transmute every doubt and fear into strength and conviction. It was the best quarterback experience I've ever had in a table, Making a really awesome character with a lot of complexity and trick on his sleeves, but doing my bast to make everyone shine and bloom their character in the best way possible just so I could occasionally put fuel into fire and bring up the heat for epic stuff.
Remmy wasa great character, started as an impulsive character to make people on the table to take more of the spotlight and push my friends to be the ones in charge and trying to figure things out since it was usually on my hands to be the babysitter of the party.
Then came the idea of making this character a performer exuding bravatto, but actually being someone who cares a lot about his friends and his people in general, disguising a huge heart qnd concern behind a degenerate mask to lower everyone's guard, there was no tension in the party or whatever scene he was around he was a master of the spotlight, and that was really great to take as many eyes as possible on him and setup a situation for a friend to shine and be awesome. It's a shame that our story ended, the whole table grew a lot, everyone became a master on roleplay and how to understand and live their characters. A fighter is a pretty good foil for doing that, you can be awesome and make people engage a lot and get way more invested in the history and characters in a way no other class can, he is the true bard of the party.
I'll have to say this. I do role play in combat, but the DM says, "You must roll a Nat 20 to succeed in what you want to do." So it's easier to say I just attack because I'm not allowed to do cool things. The problem often doesn't lie with the player, it lies with the DM that is following the rules and rules state if you want to do something you need to roll to succeed, opposed to a spellcaster that just chooses what they want to do with a spell, cast it and roll it. It's simple, it's fast. No double-checking the rules and no strict rules.
Most fighters start the way you mention, but because of restrictions, players end up just saying: "I attack" because it's boring having those rules. At my table, I've created such actions a martial can use, they apply with the same roll most of the time, sometimes it requires a save instead, but I've simplified them for my martials.
The way I fixed Champion Fighter is by leaving the 19-20 critical in, but then giving them the ability to have "expertise" with a single weapon type for extra chance to hit. And I run criticals like the do in pathfinder where a 10 over ac counts as a critical hit. My champion fighter player really enjoys being able to hit much more frequently and crits around 25% of the time at level 3.
My vanquisher is similar. At a certain level going 10 over an AC is an automatic critical. However, at 7th level, once per attack action if a character has advantage, they can turn a regular hit into a critical hit. It promotes party team work and gives players more room to be tactical. Plus the fighter learns to love their rogue, monk, barbarian, etc.
Pathfinder's critical system really doesn't work well in the bounded accuracy system of 5e. However, if you all are having fun, have at it.
I actually prefer Eldritch Knight to be honest, but that comes with the caveat that I actually plan out by builds ahead of time and they are geared towards making me a defensive power house. Weapon Bond is my way of keeping a Javelin of Lightning and a Magic Spear I like to throw from being lost to me and if I need a fighting weapon in a situation I'm going in without a weapon (I use a Ruby of the War Mage attached to it as well), and the spells I take aren't usually for offensive needs but defensive: Protection from Evil and Good + High AC makes fighting anything on a very wide list a lot easier, while Shield and Absorb Elements deal with a lot of damage types. Even Blade Ward can help you since you can still attack once after using it after the 7th Level, and you do have access to Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade. Plus, once you get to the point you can use Spirit Shroud or Haste your damage amps up since you'll have a high CON and proficiency in the Saving Throws. And if you take War Caster, your DM will practically never make you drop concentration. And if you take Fey-Touched Feat, you can get Hunter's Mark, which is very nice when you eventually get to attack four to eight times a turn with Action Surge.
Been playing D&D for almost a decade. I started off playing a bunch of classes, Druid, Sorcerer, ranger. Over the years I’ve built a great deal of love for the fighter chassis. I often times default to fighter when starting a campaign and multi class immediately from level 2.
keep the great work up love all your vids so much helpful info
My local gamestore hosts our dnd night so you never know who will show up that week. As a consequence most dm's limit the level we can reach to lv 6. No end game in sight but it's perfect for creating early level multiclasses. My favorite character so far is a dragonborn inquisitive rogue/champion fighter (3 levels in both). Mechanically it's very simple. A frontline strength based rogue that gives itself advantage for the sneak attack damage, with it's critical hit range doubled. It's actually very fun and with the city watch background i get tons of good role-play out of it. Second Wind helps cover those squishy rogue hit die. Action Surge let's me accomplish a lot with my breath weapon. On his maiden voyage he got the snot kicked out of him by a Marilith lol! Luckily our paladin had one healing spell. Afterwards i managed to grapple it's tail and we wound up putting it down. We got her +2 magic longswords as loot. All part of the fun for a retired chief inspector turned adventurer. Although to be fair, like he addressed in the video, those critical hits don't come up very often. Even at double the capacity. I take solace in the fact that I only built him to HAVE FUN not be the most impressive thing on the table.
"Kratos is a fighter."
Spartan Rage would like to have a word.
I really really like arcane archer but I totally agree it needs more uses. I suggest just giving it 4 uses to be on par with the battle master, additionally when using second wind you can roll a d4 and on a 4 you regain 2 uses of your arrows and 1 on a 3. It would make that subclass feel a lot more awesome to play
This is very helpful since I am running a tiefling duel wielding fighter noble and it is going great and I am using the battle master archetype
Champion Fighter is my favorite fighter. I know it's dull, but I love that all their abilities have no limit, and I like jumping around at 7th level I think it needs a buff still but I still find it fun.
I agree that the Eldritch knight could be updated, mostly by remaking the level 7 feature and removing the school restrictions.
That being said, if an Eldritch knight focuses their spell choice around reaction/bonus action spells they can be wonderfully powerful.
An elven dexterity based Eldritch knight who makes use of the shadowblade spell is as powerful as any power attack feat based build with less investment. Leaves room for other feats to round out utility or perhaps role play.
The hexblood is also a great race to choose for an Eldritch knight with hex and utility spells.
I think if they had the ability to replace there attacks with a cantrip instead of attacking as a bonus action
Blind fighting is fun in an underdark campaign against drow that cast darkness and you don’t have the darkvision spell.
Fighters are my main class i play in dnd unless their is already one in that case i play paladin,warlock, barb or rouge i freaking love the fighter from the subclasses to action surge and being a total weapon case. They fact people say they are basic is a insult and they don't know the capabilities of the main martial class sure you can play a castor but at early levels when they run out of spell slots they in trouble unless the dm give alot long rests unlike the fighter that can stay in good shape for the how game with only short rest
I'm totally gonna use blade and sorcery to help develop my fighter
Agree with giving base fighter access to Battlemaster subclass features.
Simple tweak, looking to implement it to see what impact it actually has in-play.
Could even be a special reward for the fighter's development arch.
The best experience I've had playing. An eldritch knight was in a one-shot. And yes, I've played it in a lvl 1-15 campaign before, but as mentioned in the video, it's not as "good" in that type of game. The one-shot was a 4-player, lvl 12 murder mystery with a horror theme, and the other three players were a zealot Barbarian, a Cronomancy wizard and a College of swords bard. The two full-casters both went with a very RP heavy detective style build and didn't have many damaging spells, and it was the barbarian players first time playing that class so he used the classic dumber than a box of rocks barbarian who was only there to keep his wizard friend from getting hurt, in other words a complete meat bag not that there's anything wrong with that all that to say I I decided that I should be the damage dealer of the party as a fighter. I didn't need to be a tank since we had the barbarian. Who was going to be doing all the tanking. Since we're starting at level 12 our DM, let us start with a few magic items, 5 uncommon 2 rare and 1 very rare. Or we could have a set amount of money and buy things that way. I asked if I could trade all my magic items for just one legendary, pointing out that the party was lacking in damage output. And the DM said yes, so I had the antimatter rifle and 10 magazines for it and a component pouch for my spellcasting, and he worked with me to figure out why I had them from my backstory. We had a ton of fun and some really good rp moments throughout the one-shot, but the part that is relevant is one of the traps that the party set off was a teleportation spell that transported the party in separate locked rooms without any of their equipment or gear. But because I was an eldritch knight, I had bonded to my component pouch (with my ammo) and my rifle. So, I was able to escape quickly enough to rescue the wizard and bard before they went down (I didn't have to worry about the barbarian dying because, zealot Barbarian enough said.) And it turned out to be a revenant boss fight in the end and I scored some very big hits though out the combat that led to the barbarian finishing the undead by dropping rage and casting flight on himself to then pile drive the boss into the dirt 😆. In the end, we all had fun, and it would have been much harder if I hadn't been an eldritch knight. Their versatility and set of features are not for everyone but can be the difference between a win or a TPK, they are definitely not the main line fighter that the class traditionally breeds, but if you don't have to worry about being the only tank in your party, they are a phenomenal support class that can fill the gaps better then a lot of other weapon using classes.
in my opinion variant human is good for all three fighter rolls, if you want to play a hybrid fighter, you can get mobile or crossbow expert for a easy option for both ranged and melee combat, and a ranged fighter would not want sharpshooter at level 1? with point by and archery you can have a longbow attack with +2 to hit and 1d8+13 damage. thats very good for level 1
You are 100 percent correct. Try fey touched; That gives misty step and bless (or hunters mark) at level 1.🤣
@@Andy-lo2cb actually i think getting a samurai fighter with fey touched(bless\hunters mark)+sharpshooter is so busted
Luke Skywalker is a paladin.
And Kratos is a barbarian. Come on man, he literally rages against the gods.
I almost always play a battlemaster. By far my favorite class. It is a combat Swiss army knife that can do so many functions with the maneuvers.
OK, but consider this for Thrown Weapon Fighting; it stacks with the Dueling. That does mean you need to use a Feat or find another way to grab a second fighting style, which may not be optimal, but it's hilarious to be getting a flat +4 before Dexterity on a dagger throwing build. (+9 per dagger assuming you hit and don't have a magic weapon)
Personally - I do agree with 'every fighter should have manovers". I always pick BM, since they enable basic fantasy of being The Fighter - so doing cool stuff in battle.
Throwing weapons in D&D normally requires an object interaction to pull the weapon from your belt/bag/whatever. And you only get one free object interaction before you need to use your action to, well, interact with an object. So (assuming you've already thrown the weapon in your hand) reaching and throwing weapons limits the amount of weapons you can throw to one per turn. And since the fighter gets the most attacks out of all the classes, obviously that's not a good tradeoff.
The Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style allows you to bypass that restriction by making the act of taking a weapon from your person part of the attack instead of using your free object interaction, making thrown weapon fighting more viable. Getting the Archery fighting style would just make your singular thrown weapon attack (or two if you were holding the first weapon) 10% more accurate... at the cost of losing more attacks and constantly having to use your free object interaction.
The worst thing about Blind Fighting is that, RAW, being able to see an invisible creature, doesn't do anything to negate the Advantage/ disadvantage situation because of how the "Invisibile" condition works.
I loved this video, it is helping me a lot in a campaing that i am playing. Very complete guide and good explanation
really nice technical in-depth build break-down
Fighter is kind of my romantic class too as someone wrote. Though I have to admit I am having a lot of fun with my Hexblade just now (the actual sith mechanically, much better than the psi warrior in my view).
I think the champion should be mixed with the battlemaster or become feat options or maneuvers should be given to all classes (to a certain extend) an the battlemaster should merge with the champion.
Arcane archer is just not a plain tricky archer. I‘d love to see such as fighter-based class (no rogue nor ranger).
Eldritch Knight - I love the idea, originally I‘d say it should be the „bladesinger“. However the actual wizard baldesinger seems a much better fit. I think the problem is the schools that have been nice historically (in 2E/3E) just din‘t fit well in 5E. You‘d want the „bladesinger“ to move around quickly, with spells for battlefield control and abjuration spells. Sure a nice lighting bolt would fit nice too but overall transmutation might fit better. In this way again, if you want to play a melee focused gish, the Hexblade is the better choice if you like the dark touch.
got an eldritch knight where I rolled well on my primary damage score and constitution, so I used spells that weren't worried about my intelligence and have been taking intelligence half feats to slowly build it up(and being that the fighter gets 7 of them it happens pretty often), phenomenal utility and support as well as weapon combat, we did modify the level 7 ability so if I use a cantrip as an action I can make a full attack action as a bonus action so my weapon and spellcasting isn't a choice
Shoutout to all the golaith fighters out there you guys are monsters
Yuan-Ti and shield master is a match made in heaven. I did it for a cleric but shrugging off magic for half damage or none at all is cracked.
You have one mistake, the some one I did at first. Throwing a weapon does not change its weapon type and use one of the 5 basic attacks Ranged, Thrown, Melee, Unarmed and Natural. Thrown weapons are not a ranged weapon which use ammo. It is a melee weapon with the thrown property and runs off Strenght like Javelan unless it is finesse weapon then it is your chose. The Archery fighting style is meant not for inceased accuracy but to overcome half cover +2 AC which most DMs do not use.
Last session my minitaur battlemaster found a spear that made it huge the goblin spellsinger became my wizard hat who then proceeded to become my wizard hat who then enlarged me. The artificer climped up to join him after and gave me flight...
"I don't understand this crazy fucking fish."
Not gonna lie, I found hearing you briefly lose it over the Locatha to be way funnier than I should have.
Eldritch knight is really good, but you need a bit of a spellcaster mentality to make it work, you get find familiar, shield, absorb elements shadow blade, fog cloud, long strider and warding wind (situationally great)
I had a bad time as an ELDRITCH KNIGHT. I love the character to this day, my boi became a king, but I found the 5e class very restricting and (as you said) a bad gish.
I have come up with some ideas to fix that tho.
1. Invert the war magic feature so that it is a bonus action to cast a spell or cantrip (level restrict as needed) and possibly they can only use the feature a certain number of times (int mod or prof) and get the uses back on short rests.
Then change up the spell list choices so that the player chooses which two magic schools he can learn. He is still limited to two, but he gets to choose them.
Yuan-Ti are one my favorite races (although technically I generally a half-dragon, and use the non-D parent as the template)
After the second mordicanian book I think elves are fantastic fighters just for that misty step use. Playing Baldurs Gate 3 and I cannot stress enough how hilariously useful misty step is on a melee fighter. I’m using it with some boots on my paladin and it’s great cuz I can rush the boss before he sets himself up
Great call on giving out battle master maneuvers.
Honestly I think Battlemaster should get access to the Champions keen crit feature at like level ten.
I think arcane archers should get more arrows, the feat to get more arrows as well as more often and different types more often, also think those should be a short rest thing also.
Now back to the Champion, wouldn't it be cool if a Champion could have the (UA ) fell handed feat with Wizard rituals. They could essentially manufacture their own advantage and just knock baddies down with help from their familiar.
But than again most DMs tend to be meta aF and think it's their job to win.
"Oops your spider 'common occurrence in a dungeon anyway' and shouldn't draw a second glance well he pulled aggro
Sorry.
Or "the ogres with no ranks in arcana knew it was a familiar somehow"
I also think the hurled arms master homebrew feat would be good on a champion as well. At that everyone needs range, and to not burn their action rushing up to the enemy with no action left to get slaughtered. Use mounts their movent is their own action, they're faster too you can do The Kahn's cavalry ride in shoot some arrows off and use your mounts remaining movent to dash back making them close the gap burning their action.
Some of those giant feats are pretty cool too.
And people gotta stop thinking about weapons in there safe terms as the lazy devs that wrote Champion as less than one column on half on one page but put out over twenty pages of filler in backgrounds or more.
THERE IS NOTHING SAYING THERE'S ONLY 16 WEAPONS IN 5E ONLY ONE MAGICAL BOW. Or that a Great sword needs to be 2d6 and the only way to make it special is to start tacking plus ones on the back heck make it 1d4+3 & 1d8+1 non magical Dwarven Materwork heck that's 6-16 & you could still reroll 1's&2's if you trim great weapon fighting. Honestly if I got a sword like that with a high floor I'd cash that fighting style out for something else like mariner+1 AC and an equal swim and climb speed while wearing medium or less w/0 a shield your a great weapon fighter at that. There's way better ways of going about it all.
And yeah while I'm ranting hard Eldritch Knight is very weaksauce I put it under Arcane trickster.
Also don't discount Nerd races for fighters and fighter races for nerds.
Mountain Dwarf makes the best fighter???
No it doesn't it's all redundant over squeeze Mountain Dwarf makes the best enchanter, esp you throw that fell handed feet on them, that's called the stop and drop build.
Veldalkin total nerd but they're pretty skill flush make him a BattleMater put the built in guidance into stuff like medicine or chef and he's pumping hit points too, not allot but most of them are added Bonus HP Semi aquatic too just the other way around though, can skin breathe for an hour.
Also gets Advantage on all mental saves with a fighter you take Reslient Dex and you essentially have them all. Especially at lower levels where the advantage will keep pace with your physical stats+2 I'd almost rather roll two dice against a mediocre mental stat and play law of averages than just flubing a shewin.
Verdan almost the same deal minus the intelligence Dave advantage but can telepathically communicate with anything intelligence +3 or higher capable of having a language. That includes the mastiff or mule he can ride into combat till he goes through the change and can afford a proper horse but than anyway.
Anyway I've ranted enough.
This was a good rant. I enjoyed it a lot
Hmm, bugbear giant sounds really fun to play, 20-25ft melee attack range sounds awesome.
I love playing the eldritck Knight in fact, it is my first choice, but like everything in D&D 5e you always have to tweak something a little bit
I'm currently playing a reborn Eldritch knight racen queen warlock (sorcerer next level) multiclass and yes without taking the war magic from the bladesinger wouldn't be so fun but the concept is a dullahan devoted to the raven wueen and is probably one of my favourite characters that i've played
Most fun I had playing a character was Eldritch Knight, but yes. Changing to Bladesinger when I pick him up to continue his story.
Not going to share stories only because the fun was mostly in the ROLEPLAY not the mechanics. I'll still get that 3rd attack and I still welcome some of the flavor, but he is mechanically lackluster
Kratos's whole schtick is he's angry and fights good. Man is a barbarian with charisma as his dump stat instead of int.
Eh, Kratos is more of a barbarian given Spartan RAGE is a thing he does.
That said I do like Fighters as you can make them almost anything you want them to be. Knight? Samurai? Merc? Kid with some cheap equipment that's off to see the world? Gladiator? Noble who's fourth in line and seeking his fortune? Works for all of them.
I love EK, but yeah no arguments, especially with Bladesinger being an option and having a much better Cantrip-Attack option.
It might be because it is my first fighter but i'm pretty pleased with the champion archetype so far, as for what kind of chatacter it is, it's a goliath who plays dumber than he is in order to not appear scary because of his looks. (I describe him as a half ogre in appearence)
I have built him around grappling and his powerful build trait, stuff like providing cover for the casters by tumbling over carts or pushing over trees allies can hide behindt. I'm excited to reach level 7 to get the remarkable athlete trait since, (from what i understand) it works on general checks as well as skill checks, so being able to hold his breath, break free of bindings or heck maybe even use some tools to help out every now and then sounds interesting.
One thing i hope to try is using a sling to.. sling other things than rocks, such as potions, sling our bard (small harengon) over a wall or maybe even something like slinging canonballs or utensils. Creativity is what i like about this combination as it forces me to look at what i have on hands rather than my characters abilities.
Also i made a potion allergy table for him so every time he chugs a potion something strange can happen, it's just a fun little thing.
Fighter archer battle master with 3 lvls of rogue assassin is my favorite.
So fun to play!
Can confirm. Githzerai Psi Warriors are a hell of a pairing
6 level in Blade singer and 7 in elderetch night is. Fun
Great guide, thanks!
I made a fighter DMnpc because my players all chose mage, druid, and cleric. I'm not a railroader I don't tell them what to play. so i give help when needed.
she sometimes joins them. I also had them controlling npcs in a fight
I rewatch these videos a lot, to try and convince myself fighters are good. I play one in spelljammer and feel so useless.
Archery style does not effect thrown weapons, bc they are melee weapons with thrown property, not a ranged weapons
If I’m playing with a newer DM (Or not one of my main DM’s) I’m typically going to play fighter or Monk (Or blood hunter)
I gotta disagree with you on eldritch knight being a weak subclass
If you look at it from the viewpoint of a gish, a true mix of sword and sorcery, then yeah, it's not great. But it's not a mix, it's primarily fighter. A great example is Rudi Whittaker from The Dungeon Dudes Shadows of Drakkenheim. She plays an eldritch knight. Often, she would throw a hand axe if she couldn't close in on an enemy, and use weapon bond to summon it back. She's never truly disarmed, even in a social situation where weapons are left outside because of that. Being able to cast shield in plate armor is a huge boon. Being a fighter that can cast absorb elements is a huge blessing when going against most dragons. Both of those spells are 1st level abjuration spells. Being able to cast enlarge on yourself cab be huge (pun intended). You can hold up the portcullus that's crashing down to trap you and your allies in the castle... and hold it up on your own!
I prefer battlemaster over aby fighter subclass, but eldritch knight is still a great subclass
I'd say that an EK is still a Gish; the issue is the assumption that a Gish needs to be an even balance between the arcane and martial arts. The Eldritch Knight is a fighter that can kinda cast; the Bladesinger is a caster that can kinda fight.
The base fighter is a really strong class, and the Eldritch Knight's magical ability should be seen as a supplement to their martial role. They're never going to be the reigning authority on all things arcane in the party - unless something has gone very, very wrong - but the subclass is both a very strong pick for a fighter, and a great way to introduce a newer player to spellcasting, with a more resilient character that can survive an error or two as they learn.
I think fighters don’t match up to mages because mages can also fight with weapons if they use the right subclass. Hexblade Warlock (or any warlock with Pact of the Blade), Blade Singer Wizard, Spores Druid (this one sucks, but it can still sling spells), Swords Bard, and any cleric with martial weapon proficiency.
Then there are also half casters, being Ranger Paladin and Artificer, and they can cast spells decently too.
Pretty much, you can do the same thing as the fighter does (swing weapons good), but with added utility and spells (like Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Suggestion, Bless, Cure Wounds, Mirror Image, Fire Ball and more).
Your suggestion for feats with ASI is great imo, because it lets marital get better stats for fighting while giving the potential to take feats that give out of combat utility or better damage.
Rules as Written, Great Weapon Fighting isn't good for weapons with multiple damage dice (like the greatsword or maul), as it only affects a singular damage die. It's much more effective on weapons like the greataxe or lance which only have one damage dice (and the highest damage die type). It does still increase your damage, but not by as much as you think it would if you're using a weapon with more than one damage die.
Not sure where you're getting this but this is wrong. Rules as Written, GWF applies to all the rolled dice for a greatsword or maul. Due to the wording of "When you roll a 1 or 2", this effect applies to each subsequent instance. It the same as reading Whenever you roll a 1 or 2, you can reroll. Each die is effected individually.
@@enterthedungeon "When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage **die** for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll **the die** and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit."
The wording specifies a singular die. I believe this is because most weapons only have one damage die and the maul, greatsword, and (if this weapon is allowed) the double-bladed scimitar are the exceptions. I feel like the intent was to let the weapon user reroll all dice but a DM could reasonably argue that it would only let the weapon user reroll one die since it's rare in D&D that you see language talking about one die without just naming the die type. That's personally how I've read it (though I'll probably just let the player roll both dice) ever since I started playing the game.
I looked at the Elemental Adept feat to see if the wording was similar.
"...Spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type. In addition, when you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of that type, you can treat **any** 1 on a damage die as a 2..."
The wording is similar but the use of "any" allows for the possibility of multiple damage dice, which makes sense since spells generally use multiple damage dice. GWF noticeably lacks that wording.
I can't think of any other examples since from what I've read, D&D rarely uses this type of writing when talking about dice. I did check the One D&D playtest PDFs to see if they changed the wording of the fighting style but I can't seem to find any of the fighting styles. I haven't been keeping a close eye on the playtests though so I might be wrong.
However, I will note that Jeremy Crawford said in a Twitter post that it does work for all of the weapon's damage **dice**, which includes any additional weapon damage dice from something like a flametongue. Not every DM treats Crawford's rulings as Rules as Intended though, but here's the post: twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/988279492698296321
@@Sunny_Haven like I said before, the effect applies sequentially to each die RAW. Also, elemental adept doesn't require rolling which is why it specifies any. Both activate on multiple dice, but GWF specifies the effect of each die rolled where since EA doesn't create rerolls, it says any.
But to each their own. Every DM has their own set of home rules and if rerolling 1 die is better for you and your table, honestly who cares?
@@enterthedungeon Fair enough. It doesn't make that much of a difference at the end of the day so idk why I was nitpicking.
I love the background scenes you show on your vids. Sometimes I see something and think that looks Soo damn cool where TF is that from? 😳
I definitely have to disagree with GWF as being a top tier fighting style. Don't get me wrong, with the heavy two handed weapons it's intended to be used with, it definitely has its use...well, with the few that actually use multiple dice.
I had a slight chuckle when he said that. Assuming there is a 60% chance to hit, it increases the DPR of a great sword by .8dpr. That is a nice bonus, but it definitely is not top tier.
good video, kratos is definitely a barbarian though
This good stuff for DMs. Well done.
I don't typically RP turns or anything reason being is it takes up time when we are trying to finish at a certain time, I am playing a Battlemaster fighter although thanks to it being a high power campaign and the fact we got loaded with Feats at level 1 my experience is different, but at level 5 I am a kind of a controller that also does the most consistent damage. My DM is giving us extra health at the start and giving everyone an extra ASI but only one feat when they get an ASI. Other than that I have the optional rule Mark and Cleaving through a Creature
I have Sentinel and Polearm Master and use a Glaive
I felt the same with eldrich knight played it for 7 levels then got bored and multiclassed the rest in wizard because so i got more spells and haste and fireball faster than when i stayed elrich knight all the way also i got later steel wind strike
How is Kratos not a barbarian
13:45 disappointed you didn't mention the Harengon. Perception. D4 on dex saves, BA rabbit hop that acts as a disengage. PB to initiative. I've played many martials as a Harengon and it's a game changer.
Arcane Archer is still really good for multiclassing (1 lvl Genie Warlock + crusher is really good) for taking out key really strong foes without needing action surge thanks to grasping arrow
Leonin rune knight fighter is pretty amazing, everything scales off of constitution.
Shifter race is an amazing option. If you go wildhunt shifter barbarian you can reckless attack without concequences. this is a fighter video though so 🤷.
archery doesn't effect thrown weapons that are melee weapons. dart and net being the only thrown weapons that are affected by archery. However if you wanted to use thrown weapon fighting style it stacks with dueling fighting style. a +4 on a thrown handaxe isn't bad but clearly not meta. you would need to either be a champion fighter, take fighter initiate as a feat, or multiclass. I do want to make a character who throws weapons, and I was thinking battlemaster is the best way to go. It would be a versatile fighter. Ranged? I got you. Melee? I got you. tanking? I got you.
So I was thinking a shifter beast hide+battlemaster fighter. fighter initiate at 4th level. Use a shield, and if enemies get in melee I can still attack with a handaxe at melee.
(sorry for all the comments, long video.)
In fact any Fighter with STR greater than 13 (or 15 for some) is playing against the classic dnd fighter build. Classically the most important attribute is CON, and DEX to survive in the early levels. From tier 2 and beyond ogre gloves/giant belt exists and pointlessly spending points on STR is the way to be weak. This is a classic dnd thing (1st and 2nd edition), good fighters with high natural STR only existed in 3rd and 4th (which people usually hate).
In other words: if your campaign plans to go beyond lvl 6 or 7, well NEVER make a Fighter with STR even if you want to be melee... start with high DEX and high CON and use rapier until the day you get your ogre's gauntlet or giant's belt.
I never played much 5e but in 3.5 my fighter was a blender in combat, fighters are very underrated it seemed to me the easiest way to min max then was a human fighter with a 2handed sword.
I would argue that Luke is a Paladin. He can use the force and wields a glowing sword (holy weapon). Fighters can’t cast magic.
Luke Skywalker is a psi warrior fighter. I actually think the designers have said that jedi were the archetypical characters the subclass models.
I'm surprised to hear you say that the cavalier is dependent on whether or not you can bring a mount because almost every ability it has is designed to work without one as well. In my experience you primarily want a mount for the flavour of it all.
Born to the Saddle, Warding Maneuver, and Ferocious Charger all work best with a mount. Now the cavalier is FAR from useless without a mount. It's just that the Psi Warrior thrives in any condition. At 3rd and 7th levels, the Psi Warrior is a bit more consistent which is why I put it at 3 but it was a HARD decision. However, without a doubt, the cavalier is still useable without a mount but I don't think its really a debate whether or not its better if it has its mount.
Thank you for commenting!
@@enterthedungeon I personally disagree that warding maneuver works better with a mount because I find that using it on yourself or an ally is infinitely more valuable and having a mount just means there's one more thing for you to spend that resource on while you could be using it on more "deserving" targets. As for Ferocious Charger a mount can definitely be handy but really only if the opponent is a little further away from you, otherwise I don't think moving 10ft. In a line is that big of an ask. Born in the saddle is of course made for mount but it's specifically so a mount is easier to use in combat but you're not really losing an ability if you're not mounted.
I don't really have a strong opinion on psi warrior vs cavalier. I don't have a (pardon the pun) horse in that race. I only wanted to point out the cavalier isn't really dependent on a mount mechanically and I think no one should feel discouraged from playing one if they're not sure whether or not their DM is going to accommodate a mount.
Still really enjoyed the video though, it must be said. Nice work and an excellent take on a class that is indeed often underrated.
I've modified Arcane Archer to have as many Arrows as Battle Master does SD
Archery fighting styke does not effect thrown wrapons. Thrown weapons are not ranged weapons. They are melee weapons thst are thrown with a ranged attack.
My favorite race for fighter is mountain dwarf
I am looking to maybe play a Hobgoblin battlemaster. Pair that with a rogue and its just not fair you can give the rogue advantage as a bonus action and give yourself and the rogue temp health. And still be a battle master.
Cavaliers don't need mounts. None of their core features require a horse. I'm playing a high level Cavalier and while my DM agrees with you, the wondrous figurine he gave me (who I call Cabio) is hardly used since most encounters are too cramped to utilize it. But unwavering mark, warding manuever, hold the line, and even ferocious charger don't require a mount. I didn't grab the mounted combat feat, so if you grabbed that, mounted combat could be better.
I can confirm leonin make great fighters.
The cavalier is in no way mount dependent. The class name is very misleading, but the class basically makes you a tank with some mount bonuses sprinkled in
Do you have a transcript of the Vanquisher?