So I created a one-shot character...

[dukeofwolfsgate]

A friend of mine recently contacted me about getting the old band (read rpg group) back together. He wanted to try out 5e D&D, and after getting the rules for character building, I set about building a dwarf fighter. For his weapon, I chose greataxe, and his fighting style, I chose great-weapon fighter. I figured it would be fun to mess around and see if I like the build, thinking that this was going to be a one-off game.

Here is the kicker. On the night we meet, my friend tells us it is going to be a every other week game. The rest of the group knew this, and built their characters accordingly. I on the other hand, have almost no idea how to take this character past level 1.

So here is my question: What is the best way to develop this great-weapon build? The rest of the group is telling me its an under powered build.

I'm new to 5e, and just need some advice for how to make the most out of some un-thought out character building.

Any advice will be much apreciated!:smallsmile:

[rlc]

first, keep in mind that everybody is new to 5e.
second, grab the great weapon feat at level 4 and show them how underpowered you can be.

[EugeneVoid]

I assure you it will be 100% okay. Fighters can crush things now and will scale just a tad worse than the best classes. The tier system is mostly invalidated scrunching it down from tier 1s to tier 6s to tier 2s to tier 4s.

Your fighter will hit hard, take a beating, and be as rough and gruff as the dwarf you want.

[AgentPaper]

The simplest upgrade you can take is to pick up a Greatsword or a Maul to replace your axe. Alternatively, ask your DM if he'll houserule the greataxe to be 2d6, if you want to keep the axe theme.

Other than that, you've already built a very viable character. Just keep leveling up, boost strength and/or pick up great weapon master, and pick whichever path calls out to you. You're going to have a hard time messing up a straight fighter.

If you want to go more in-depth, you can check out this guide (http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4141981).

[Madfellow]

The tier system is mostly invalidated scrunching it down from tier 1s to tier 6s to tier 2s to tier 4s.

If you want to use 3.5's class tier system, I'm pretty sure all of 5e's classes are sitting squarely in Tier 3. Even the fighter has a number of great options at its disposal. And even the Champion Archetype remains competitive, though it might be less fun to play if you prefer to have more to do than just hit stuff all the time.

[Galen]

So here is my question: What is the best way to develop this great-weapon build? The rest of the group is telling me its an under powered build.
They are completely wrong. Great weapon is perfectly fine. Combine it with either Great Weapon Master or Polearm Master + Sentinel feats (in the latter case, switch to Halberd).
Consider dipping a couple of Barbarian levels to get Frenzy, but a single-class fighter is perfectly fine too.
For sub-classes, Champion is pretty bland, but still does the job. Battlemaster, I find to be a lot more interesting.
Eldritch Knight is okay if you have the Int to spare.

Alternatively, you may escape the Fighter class completely after 2 levels (getting the coveted Action Surge) and go Barbarian for the rest of the way.

But regardless of which path you choose, just leveling up, adding to Str (and later Con, when Str is 20), and repeating "I attack" again and again is perfectly fine. Anyone who says otherwise is mentally stuck at 3.5

[Abithrios]

Are your ability scores allocated in a way that is consistent with what you want to be good at? Are your proficiencies consistent with what you are trying too do?

If your answers to the above questions are "yes" or at least "kinda", you should be fine.

It is possible to create an incompetent character in 5e, but if your class, race, ability scores, and ability score increases/feats line up with the kind of character you want, you will not make an incompetent character by accident.

Regarding tiers, too much multiclassing can put a character in the not quite competent at everything definition of tier four. I suspect that preventing this is the main reason for the ability score requirements for multiclassing.

The optimization floor is much higher in 5e than 3.5. It is much harder to make an incompetent character.

[Tenmujiin]

I see far more people complaining about GW fighters being stronger than sword and board or two weapon than them being underpowered so you should be fine (your friends are probably still stuck in 3.x land)