Champion Shieldfighter

[Mirakk]

I'm making a Mountain Dwarf Fighter for a friend's campaign, and am looking at some ways to set him up. Currently, the party is level 6.

For ease of use, because I'm using the free materials available online, I'm playing a Champion Archetype. I do have access to a player's handbook, so I can choose feats.

Fighting Style chosen is Protection. I'm using a Breastplate, Shield, and Battleaxe for equipment.

19 Str
12 Dex
18 Con
14 Int
12 Wis
10 Cha

Took the Shield Mastery Feat. I'm willing to give up two ability score improvements for another feat, which would drop me to 13 int, and 18 Str.

Can you guys provide some feat suggestions, and possible future level advancement. I'm new to the edition and would like a little insight from folks who've done this before. Character's backstory is that he's a tunnelfighter, essentially. So I'm looking for extensive shield usage, and the ability to dig in and fight in narrow confines like doorways, hallways etc. The character's personality is such that he wishes to protect others around him as well, so choices should be thematically appropriate.

[SirAshley]

For your concept, Sentinel could be a worthy feat choice, due to the ability to keep some enemies from engaging your more squishy comrades in melee combat. I do suggest that you max either your Strength or Constitution, depending on your party makeup. If you need that little bit of extra damage and ability to hit AC, Strength is the way to go. If taking down mobsters isn't something the group may struggle with, having the Constitution bump will help you keep doing what you want to do.

[Grayson01]

I am going to have to second Sentinel and maxing STR. The Int wont really be as important for your Character (Except for RP reasons, not sure what you are going for but a 13 int is still a pretty smart person). Iw ould Take Sentinel at 6 and wait the two levels and Max outr STR. The +4 to STR will hold you over (IMO) until 8th while Sentinel will add in some good control options and sounds like it would fit your Character pretty well. "Sheild Weilding Drawf who none-shall pass" which is what I think of when someone says Sheild Master especially a Drawf.

[MadBear]

If you do go sentinel, I'd pick up dueling, or something other then protection. Being able to use your reaction to hit an enemy is almost always better then giving him disadvantage (not always, but usually). The reason simply being a dead enemy is going to do less damage then one who has disadvantage.

[Slipperychicken]

If you fight casters in your games, the Mage Slayer feat will help you really mess them up. Otherwise, I'd pick Sentinel or Toughness. If your game features a lot of wisdom saves, Resilient(Wisdom) can be a good pick too.

[Person_Man]

My 2cp:

I've found that Lucky is an insanely useful and powerful Feat for any build.

If you can convince an ally to play a Moon Druid, take Mounted Combat and use a lance. It's a crazy useful combo, especially for a shield focused Paladin or Fighter.

If you're wedded to starting with Champion Fighter, then I would just stick with strait Fighter until at least level 11 to pick up your 3rd attack. You might also want to consider Bear Totem Barbarian and/or Assassin Rogue as multi-class options. Just be mindful that many multi-class combinations need very specific ordering to be viable. Eldritch Knight Fighter/Warlock is also an ok combination, since you can combine Eldritch Blast (with pushback!) with 1 attack, and then usually squeeze a Reaction Attack out of Polearm Master, though that doesn't work well with a shield.

If you're not wedded to Fighter, I'd say Paladin or Paladin/Cleric is probably a superior shield/defense oriented build.

[Vogonjeltz]

I'm making a Mountain Dwarf Fighter for a friend's campaign, and am looking at some ways to set him up. Currently, the party is level 6.

For ease of use, because I'm using the free materials available online, I'm playing a Champion Archetype. I do have access to a player's handbook, so I can choose feats.

Fighting Style chosen is Protection. I'm using a Breastplate, Shield, and Battleaxe for equipment.

19 Str
12 Dex
18 Con
14 Int
12 Wis
10 Cha

Took the Shield Mastery Feat. I'm willing to give up two ability score improvements for another feat, which would drop me to 13 int, and 18 Str.

Can you guys provide some feat suggestions, and possible future level advancement. I'm new to the edition and would like a little insight from folks who've done this before. Character's backstory is that he's a tunnelfighter, essentially. So I'm looking for extensive shield usage, and the ability to dig in and fight in narrow confines like doorways, hallways etc. The character's personality is such that he wishes to protect others around him as well, so choices should be thematically appropriate.

Advice: ditch the breastplate for splint, it's cheaper and you'll have a higher AC.

Agree sentinel is a good idea in general, as is wizard slaying.

[Mirakk]

Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciate it.

I was thinking Sentinel would be a good feat to pick up from what I'd remembered of it, but I don't remember the specifics of it. I don't own a copy of the player's handbook just yet, and my friend who has the book is being a punkface about just telling me what feats are when I ask. It's a budget thing, I can't buy it until next month!

So if anyone could shoot me a PM with the details on that feat, that'd be just swell.

[Felvion]

From my experience, Lucky is a very usefull feat for a mellee character. Perhaps even better than resilient wisdom. I have both and Lucky comes in use much more often but i guess it has to do with the dm too...
As for your character concept i'd recommend a different weapon choice: the warpick! Since you are tunnel related i think it fits perfectly.