Walking Armory Fighter

[Footman]

Hello there! I had this Idea for a totally Cool Character concept, in D&D 5E, but I am not sure how to realize it.
I want to make a Fighter, with no Spells that is a walking Armory. I want him to carry a Bunch of Weapons around, and be good with all of them, so that i can switch around how I fight pretty much at will.

I am not sure how to realize this concept, and i know to be good with long range Weapons, i need to invést quite a bit into Dexterity to, which will leave my Will save rather lacking. So here is what i thought up:
Variant Human Fighter.
Starting Ability Scores: 16 STR, 14 DEX, 16 CON, 10 INT, 8 WIS, 8 CHA
Starting Feat: Crossbow Expert
Starting Fighting Style: Ranged
Outlander Backround
I know that dropping Wis is very suboptimal, because it means I will fail pretty much every Will save, but it fits the Character concept very well, and explains his Insanity.

(If you want to you can skip over the Backstory, it is the Explanation, why his will is weak, and why it makes sense.)

Backstory: Darek Bladesmith was a young Soldier in a peaceful Kingdom, but all that changed, when an unknown Enemy did a snatch and Grab on a remote Village in the Kingdom. A Platoon of Soldiers was sent out to investigate. The Soldiers found the Village plundered, and a few corpses of the Men and Woman who tried to defend the Village, but most of the People were simply gone. The raiding Group didn't seem to big, and there were barely any Tracks. Thier Ranger had a hard time following the Tracks, but finally he led them into a Cave by a nearby Mountain. Still following the Tracks, they Soldiers were ambushed by Drow. With the Help of the Darkness and the suprise the Drow had the Advantage. Panicking the Soldiers tried to defend themselves. The Platoons Warmage threw a Fireball, but screwed up and Nuked the Ceiling leading to a Cave in. Darek, getting lucky fell into a small rift in the ground and survived. The Cave didn't crash completly, but the Stones blocked the Exit and had killed all others present, Friends and Enemies. Darek now looted everything of use, and went deeper into the only way left to him. Deeper Underground, into the Lands of Underdark.

There he struggled to survive killing Beasts, for Flesh, scavenging and hoarding Weapons, and avoiding Drow/Duergar/etc. Patrols. In this isolation he slowly but surely grew insane. He started talking to his Weapons believing the Souls of his lost Friends to be living in the Weapons he carries. Now after years in the Darkness, he stumbled upon a hidden Laboratory by chance. There he found a strange Ritual Dagger. In the Laboratory there were two Skeletons, on an Altar made of Black onyx. One of the Skeletons had the Dagger still sticking in her Chest. Of course, ever the Scavenger, he took the Dagger. Now this Dagger is indeed very Special. Hundreds of years ago there was an Evil Sorcress named Cianna, who wanted to achieve immortality via Lichdom. Unfortunatly for her she made a small miscalculation which screwed up her Ritual. Now she is powerless and her Soul is imprisiond in the very Ritual Dagger she used for her Ritual. The only thing left that she can do is talking telepathically to the Person who wields/has her close by. She noticed Dareks insanity quickly, and since he talked so much about his Dead Friends, she soon had all the information she needed to Fool him. She started to Roleplay all the Personalitys Darek had given his Weapons, and now his Weapons "really" talk to him. Knowing of a secret Passages, she led him outside. Beeing weak to suggestions with his fractured Mind, Darek usually does what the Weapons tell him to do. Cianna now has diabolicaly much fun, by Roleplaying all the different Weapon "Personalitys" while secretly steering him as her Pawn to seek out Powerful Artifacts in the Hope, that he could find one that would release her, and restore her to her former Power.

Yes i know a very long Backstory. So but i have a few Questions her:
How should i build from here? I know the basics, but i would like to be very Effective with ranged and Meele at the same Time.
I considered putting the First Ability Score improvement into Strength, and then taking Great Weapon Fighting, and Sharpshooter Feat.
How derimental is my low Will save? How common are will saves? I know he will be easly Mindcontrolled, and i don't mind, if he turns on the Party every now and then, but being unable to Act every Combat, or attacking the Party every Time Combat starts is no Fun.

Thanks for anwsers in Advance.

[Koren]

If all you want is a non magic versatile fighter with range and melee options, a Dex fighter with a rapier and either a few daggers or a shortbow should be all you need.

If what you want is a guy with weapons falling out of every pocket... well, My first character was a Pally with a hammer (paired with a shield), javalins, a halberd for reach, and I think a short sword for backup. I only really used the Javalins as a one time cheap shot at the beginning of combat and the halberd was used maybe once before he died. The short sword was never touched.

I'm not saying don't do this, maybe you can do better about switching to match needs than I was (I mean I was still a fresh faced newbie), just keep in mind it's hard to do mid Battle.

[Footman]

@ Koren
Thanks for the replay.
I already considered a Dex Fighter, but i want him use ALL whe Weapons, a with Dex alone the Number of Weapons you can use is limited.
Also i really want him to be a Fighter, cause i love the Fighter class. Preferebly not a Multiclass, just straight Fighter.

This might give you a good Idea, of what i want to play:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WalkingArmory

EDIT: I mostly won't change the Weapons mid Combat, aside from pulling out some throwing Knives and Axes, every now an then. But I plan for him to have 20 Different Weapons, and roll a D20 every time before combat starts, and have an Extra Table for the ranged Weapons, in case ranged is the only option.

[Scathain]

Barbarian can be as versatile as the fighter if you build it right. Focus Dex over Con, and viola you can use any weapon in the game effectively. Enemy running away from you hulking out? Pull out that longbow, it may not get rage damage, but you'll still be pissed off enough to take the fire back in time to close again.
And, call me biased, but Barbarian / rogue is just too much fun. If you wanna go crazy, add a level of fighter for your favorite fighting style for extra versatility.
One more point: if you sink enough levels into Totem Barb, pick Bear's Aspect of the Beast. Congratulations, you should now be able to literally carry one of every weapon, and you don't have to worry about armor.
Alternatively, pick up the Brawny feat from UA Skill Feats to do the same and make you a better grappler. Your fists are weapons too, after all!

EDIT: Whoops, you want fighter single class. Well, with all those ASI's from base fighter, feat choice can easily define your character. I'd still recommend Brawny to help your carrying capacity (if your DM even cares) and/or Tavern Brawler to add fists and grapples to your repertoire

[Footman]

@scathain
Thanks for the Anwser. Like i said, i want to be a Fighter^^. Also with Barbarians i made the expierence that you are really really screwed when your Rage runs out, and our DM really likes to get us with our Pants down, and there are many many ways, to suck up/deny a Barbarians rage. Barabrian as powerfull as he is, is not my Pie.

[Scathain]

@scathain
Thanks for the Anwser. Like i said, i want to be a Fighter^^. Also with Barbarians i made the expierence that you are really really screwed when your Rage runs out, and our DM really likes to get us with our Pants down, and there are many many ways, to suck up/deny a Barbarians rage. Barabrian as powerfull as he is, is not my Pie.

I noticed immediately and edited my post accordingly lol, my b.
Following up, since you want as much fighter as possible, I'd build a basic champion to pick up as many fighting styles as possible to represent the breadth of your weapon training.

[tieren]

Maybe go Champion?

You'd pick up a second fighting style so could grab something more melee oriented, and the increased crit range could represent mastery of the different weapons.

[Footman]

@tieren and scathain
Thanks for the suggestions, i forgot that Champions improved critical applys to all Weapons, so thats definitly a great choice, as well as the second fighting Style.
I just looked up Tavern Brawler, fits the character nicely thanks!

[AsDeR]

https://powerwordkillblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/wayne-reynolds-arms.jpg

[djreynolds]

You can always grab resilient wisdom or grab magic initiate and get protection from evil, 10 minute spell... So it's good for a big battle

[ZorroGames]

How often does having one bludgeoning melee weapon, one piercing melee weapon, and one slashing melee weapon actually have benefit in combat? Maybe a reach weapon I can see... Missile and/or throwing weapon... sure... Other than fluff what does it benefit the character?

What am I missing?

[Scathain]

How often does having one bludgeoning melee weapon, one piercing melee weapon, and one slashing melee weapon actually have benefit in combat? Maybe a reach weapon I can see... Missile and/or throwing weapon... sure... Other than fluff what does it benefit the character?

What am I missing?

I was under the impression that the OP's reasoning was "because I can". You aren't missing anything, weapon damage types rarely matter.

BUT imagine being able to claim literally ANY magical weapon the DM throws your way, no matter what he rolls. I can't tell you how many times I pidgeonholed myself into a weapon style, just to get a sick magic weapon that would be suboptimal based on my build.

[smcmike]

It's for the fluff, clearly.

One problem, though, is it's really hard to make the fluff work well. The most thematic choice is to pick up all the weapon specialist feats, like crossbow expert and great weapon master and shield master and on and on. You can't get them all, though, and they are practically useless if you only use them occasionally. The strongest way to do this mechanically is to stick with ASIs and general purpose feats.

[ZorroGames]

I was under the impression that the OP's reasoning was "because I can". You aren't missing anything, weapon damage types rarely matter.

BUT imagine being able to claim literally ANY magical weapon the DM throws your way, no matter what he rolls. I can't tell you how many times I pidgeonholed myself into a weapon style, just to get a sick magic weapon that would be suboptimal based on my build.

Honestly, if I have martial weapons skills and it was available -and no one else had a "higher" claim - I would take it and use it. As a Fighter (Champion most likely) I would adapt my game to the magic weapon! Sword and Board? I can still use a Great [fill in the blank] or a longbow +1 when a magic weapon is required or even just useful, just not as well as an archer or GW style fighter.

[Footman]

Thanks to all of you Guys, i think i got my build.
I will kick out out Crossbow expert, and Take Sharpshooter and GWM Feat instead and stick to ASIs after that.
Like this i can really dish out the hurt whenever needed, or take up a Shield and play Roadblock.
Also yes, this Build is entirely for Fluff, while staying resonably Effective, and being very versatile in Combat.


I just got 1 Question left:
How common are will saves? How often do you encounter them? Nearly every encounter? Or once every 3 Sessions or so?

[DeTess]

How often you encounter wis saves depends on the dm and the current situation. I've had sessions where I must have rolled 5 or 6, half outside of combat, but also long dungeons in which I didn't have to roll any saves whatsoever (though that was in part because of paladin disease immunity).

[ruy343]

I know that others have suggested a number of class features that would improve your application of this idea (Champion Fighter is a good suggestion), but have you considered taking a different background? The Knight (Noble-Variant) with its retainers feature would suit this concept perfectly, and help you carry and use all that stuff you have lying around.

You: "Patsy, get me my halberd; Clive, make sure that my bow is oiled and ready, just in case"
Them: "Yes sir! Would you like for me to fetch your shield as well?"

Constantly having character-lackey dialogue would be plenty of opportunities for roleplaying and comedy gold :)

[Scathain]

I know that others have suggested a number of class features that would improve your application of this idea (Champion Fighter is a good suggestion), but have you considered taking a different background? The Knight (Noble-Variant) with its retainers feature would suit this concept perfectly, and help you carry and use all that stuff you have lying around.

You: "Patsy, get me my halberd; Clive, make sure that my bow is oiled and ready, just in case"
Them: "Yes sir! Would you like for me to fetch your shield as well?"

Constantly having character-lackey dialogue would be plenty of opportunities for roleplaying and comedy gold :)

I wasn't sold on this Walking Armory build until you realized you can make other people carry your ****. 10/10, I want to play this now.

[BlackbirdXX]

I'm actually thinking the feats hurt your build. The more you invest in a specialty, the less you will use the cool new toy that comes along. SS/GWM let's you add the +10, but neither will help if you find a cool mace?

My thoughts would be making Str/Dex asap and having a always on feat... Something like alert or lucky.

Also odd ball question and you did mention no MC. But is it possible to aquire various fighting styles by dipping pally, ranger, fighter/champ to yield four? Not that it would be worth it, just curious if it's been done.