5E Eldritch Knight hotfix

[ZenBear]

I want to make the EK a worthwhile option for players without completely revamping the subclass, so how about this:

Weapon Bond allows the EK to use their weapon as their spellcasting focus for material and somatic components and apply its enhancement bonus to spell attacks and save DCs.

With Eldritch Strike imposing disadvantage to saves as well, does this make them too strong? Given the low number of slots and lack of 5+ spells I think it might balance out.

[JNAProductions]

I wasn't aware Eldritch Knight was considered bad. I was under the impression it was quite good, especially at higher levels-possibly the best fighter choice overall.

[ZenBear]

I wasn't aware Eldritch Knight was considered bad. I was under the impression it was quite good, especially at higher levels-possibly the best fighter choice overall.

Sarcasm? I've heard nothing but the opposite.

[Ziegander]

Sarcasm? I've heard nothing but the opposite.

No, I'm not sure where you're getting your information. All I've ever heard is that while Battle Masters have the best burst damage, and likely best sustainable damage, EKs aren't far behind in that department and their versatility makes them FAR more attractive and effective over the course of a drawn out campaign. Most people seem to favor EK as the best of the three Fighter subclasses.

[ZenBear]

No, I'm not sure where you're getting your information. All I've ever heard is that while Battle Masters have the best burst damage, and likely best sustainable damage, EKs aren't far behind in that department and their versatility makes them FAR more attractive and effective over the course of a drawn out campaign. Most people seem to favor EK as the best of the three Fighter subclasses.

At best I hear people say it's good for multiclassing with a spellcasting class when you want a Fighter dip with minimal sacrifice of spell slots. Ever since the release of 5E people have been calling EK a trap option. So I guess that's changed recently?

[Sindeloke]

It's the fighter with the most utility, and unlike BM it's a full 20-level class. In a discussion about fighters, you'll hear praise for it.

In a discussion about the game entire, it gets much more flak. 1/3 casting is utterly terrible by magic standards - at 20th level you're getting spells designed to be useful and potent against eighth-level challenges, and unlike rangers and paladins, the EK has no unique spells that are actually properly scaled to alleviate the issue even a little.

They're also not particularly synergistic; apart from the disadvantage to saves (a very appropriate mechanic), there's nothing that makes their magic and martial halves interact. They're not a warrior who uses magic to strengthen their combat skills or a mage who uses martial skill to enhance their spells, they're a sort of confused smashing together of two totally different playstyles. Each action is a choice between acting like a mage or acting like a martial, there's no unique "acting like a gish," which is very disappointing to a lot of fans of earlier editions' more well-integrated hybrids (particularly compared to the elegant 5e Paladin).

They're not weak though, by any means. They don't really need a buff per se, the problems with them are more conceptual than functional, much like BM ranger.

[ZenBear]

So then a features revamp is what is needed. I think it's safe to say that the EK doesn't hold a candle to the Paladin, and in my opinion every class that isn't a full-caster should be brought up to the level of Paladins. Maybe the entire Fighter chassis needs a buff to reach that goal, I don't know for sure, but I don't want my players feeling outshone all the time because the character they want to play doesn't belong to the powerhouse classes.

[Ziegander]

So then a features revamp is what is needed. I think it's safe to say that the EK doesn't hold a candle to the Paladin, and in my opinion every class that isn't a full-caster should be brought up to the level of Paladins. Maybe the entire Fighter chassis needs a buff to reach that goal, I don't know for sure, but I don't want my players feeling outshone all the time because the character they want to play doesn't belong to the powerhouse classes.

The "problem" with EK, and potentially with the Fighter, is Extra Attack (2). That's literally the biggest thing holding both the core Fighter and it's EK subclass back. Extra Attack (3) doesn't even happen until 20th level, so it doesn't actually matter when comparing classes, but At 11th level, the Fighter gets to make three attacks per action, while every other martial class gets only two. So the EK can't have 5th level spells because it gets three attacks, that's the balance theory by the devs. I think it's a crock.

So if you want to "fix" the Fighter and the EK, I'd start there. As a class, the Fighter is easily the laziest class design by far. It's certainly effective, but it is in no way evocative, and it's high level "features" are boring or repeats (or both).