New Character For Hoard Of The Dragon Queen Run

[newsman77]

Hello fellow gamers. Oh how I love to pick your brain, because you guys and gals have some of the best advice around.

Here's the skinny... I signed on to run in another D&D 5e game. Our DM is running us through Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It'll be an off and on type thing. (I'm trying to dodge any upcoming spoilers btw.)

We've been given the 15,14,13,12,10,8 stat array. I was given a human fighter to play. For flavor reasons.. he's using either a Maul or Warhammer.

Here's my question: Is great weapon fighter + great weapon master feat a good way to go, or should I go shield+dueling fighting style and maybe another feat? Is it worth giving up a few points in damage... to get the higher AC?

[rhouck]

Hello fellow gamers. Oh how I love to pick your brain, because you guys and gals have some of the best advice around.

Here's the skinny... I signed on to run in another D&D 5e game. Our DM is running us through Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It'll be an off and on type thing. (I'm trying to dodge any upcoming spoilers btw.)

We've been given the 15,14,13,12,10,8 stat array. I was given a human fighter to play. For flavor reasons.. he's using either a Maul or Warhammer.

Here's my question: Is great weapon fighter + great weapon master feat a good way to go, or should I go shield+dueling fighting style and maybe another feat? Is it worth giving up a few points in damage... to get the higher AC?

Survivability is the key to HotDQ, at least the first few levels. To that end, shield+dueling+heavy armor master will give you a lot of that and you'll still deal plenty decent damage.

[Felvion]

For early levels i'd suggest getting a shield and a one-handed weapon. For fighting style i'd say defence and the heavy armor master feat. It's a feat that works best early and you should pick it asap.
In the fortunate occasion you reach level 4, pick great weapon master feat and drop the shield for a two-hander (champion archetype helps for crit fishing in order to proc the extra attack from the feat). In case you have survivability issues raise your constitution score at level 6.
If you find you like your shield and don't want to let it go, pick shield master feat at level 4 and probably you're better with an other archetype (both bm and ek could work depending on your taste).
If changing your fighting style doesn't suit you pick a two hander from the start but better stick with heavy armor master at level 1.

EDIT: I totally forgot the defensive dualist feat. Its benefits scale with your proficiency and it's an awesome ac boost if you pick onehanded weapon.