Need advice on fighter build

[JM815]

Hi everyone!

I am joining a new group of players and I need a bit of character build advice.

The party consists of a dwarven life cleric, a half elf arcane trickster and a tabaxi warlock so I went human fighter.
Ability scores were generated with the dice and I rolled extremely good. 18, 16, 16, 15, 12, 9.

Before rolling I wanted to make a dex based fighter in light armor but after these stats I might go with the str based however I still want to be lightly armored for rp purposes.

We will begin at level 4, will go battlemaster but I'm thinking of taking a one level dip in barbarian for rage and unarmored defenses and then battlemaster all the way.

He will probably use two handed weapons, great swords or polearms.

Do you think this would be a viable build? Any advice is welcome!

Thanks in advance!

[DeTess]

Hi everyone!

I am joining a new group of players and I need a bit of character build advice.

The party consists of a dwarven life cleric, a half elf arcane trickster and a tabaxi warlock so I went human fighter.
Ability scores were generated with the dice and I rolled extremely good. 18, 16, 16, 15, 12, 9.

Before rolling I wanted to make a dex based fighter in light armor but after these stats I might go with the str based however I still want to be lightly armored for rp purposes.

We will begin at level 4, will go battlemaster but I thinking of taking a one level dip in barbarian for rage and unarmored defenses and then battlemaster all the way.

I was thinking two handed weapons, great sword or polearms.

Do you think this would be a viable build? Any advice is welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Looks like a decent idea, and you've got the stats to support high strength, Dex and Con for a unarmored Barbarian. It might be worth considering going full Barbarian instead if you aren't planning on using a lot of feats, but if you've got a feat-heavy plan fighter is probably better.

[JM815]

Looks like a decent idea, and you've got the stats to support high strength, Dex and Con for a unarmored Barbarian. It might be worth considering going full Barbarian instead if you aren't planning on using a lot of feats, but if you've got a feat-heavy plan fighter is probably better.


Thanks for the quick reply. I toyed with the full barbarian idea but fighter works better with the backstory I cooked up. Unarmored defense is really tempting though.

[Unoriginal]

Why do your PC want to be lightly armored? Pretty much all combatants will use the best armor they can. Even Hill Giants, when war comes.

[JM815]

Why do your PC want to be lightly armored? Pretty much all combatants will use the best armor they can. Even Hill Giants, when war comes.

Because I like it better. Faster to put on and no disadvantage on stealth. He will be an urban bounty hunter so mobility and stealth will be important. Also by level 6 I will have 18 DEX so might as well just take advantage of that.

[Unoriginal]

Because I like it better. Faster to put on and no disadvantage on stealth. Also by level 6 I will have 18 DEX.

Then you'll be fine. 15 AC (without Unarmored Defense) could mean you get hit more than a bit, but if you're not bothered by that it's not a problem.

[Willie the Duck]

If you are thinking two-handed weapons, I would go with a switch-hitter: polearm or greatsword using strength, but longbow and dex for ranged. Grab medium armor master (if half-plate the you don't have stealth disadvantage with is light enough for you) or +2 Dex as your level 4. I'd honestly forget the barbarian dip until after fighter 8 (at least for the unarmored defense part).

[JM815]

If you are thinking two-handed weapons, I would go with a switch-hitter: polearm or greatsword using strength, but longbow and dex for ranged. Grab medium armor master (if half-plate the you don't have stealth disadvantage with is light enough for you) or +2 Dex as your level 4. I'd honestly forget the barbarian dip until after fighter 8 (at least for the unarmored defense part).

Thank you for your reply! I would put the 18 to Str and the two 16s to dex and con, raise those to 17 at level 1 and 18 at level 4. This would give me AC 16 in studded leather. The barbarian dip sounded good to me beceause only a couple levels later I'd get 18 AC without armor. But you might be right, later on it might not be that good when better, magic armor is available.

[Mikal]

I'd probably take two levels of barbarian for reckless attack.
Also if you're planning to get 20 str and 18+ dex, pick archery for your fighting style, and pick up gwm and sharpshooter feats to be an omnipresent danger.

I'd also just go with greatswords since you'll make more use out of sharpshooter than PAM which you may not get until level 8 anyway.

I'd likely go v human for this one, and raise the 15 to 16 and 9 to 10 ca a regular human.

Stats would then be 18-16-16-12-16-10 to start

V human feat- great weapon mastery

Level 4 asi to str 20
Level 6 asi to dex 18
Level 8 sharpshooter
Level 12 to dex 20
Level 14 to con 18
Level 16 to con 20
Level 19 to whatever

If you want to just keep the two odd scores then you could go
18-17-17-12-15-9 and make the level 4 or 6 +1 to dex and con to make them 18 then, but I'd keep the rest the same.

[Willie the Duck]

Ah, so going vuman? For some reason I had thought the 16s were post-racial mod. What feat are you picking?

[CTurbo]

I'd also like to know why you want to Str Fighter with Light Armor. I'd 100% Start Barb to make the most of that.

Or you might be a rare example of the Medium Armor Mastery feat being worth taking as you could have an AC of 18 in Half-Plate and not suffer disadvantage on stealth checks.

[Willie the Duck]

I'd also like to know why you want to Str Fighter with Light Armor. I'd 100% Start Barb to make the most of that.

Or you might be a rare example of the Medium Armor Mastery feat being worth taking as you could have an AC of 18 in Half-Plate and not suffer disadvantage on stealth checks.

That is certainly the end goal I would go for. A melee-mostly martial build but with 16 Dex for bow-fighting is a pretty decent concept (that I wish more people would do and the rules every-so-slightly-more encourage).

I think the guy in light-to-no armor concept is iconic to OP's character concept I agree with you that barbarian is clearly the build out of that concept that the game makes most playable. Lightly armored fighters are apparently meant to be archers, or rapier-and-shield duelists who offset the lower damage they inflict by, uh, something else (mind you, rapier and shield dex build is best in featless 5e, but once feats come online they don't have anything equivalent to GWM, SS, Sentinel, PAM, etc).

[JM815]

Thanks for all the replys!

The reason I want to go light armored is because I imagine he was a slave fighting in the arena (barbarian level) eventually earning his freedom and becoming a mercenary for a while. (fighter levels) Now he is a middle aged bounty hunter always on the move, pursuing the next guy with the bounty on his head to make amends. A wanderer who tries to help ordinary people, maybe so he can make up somehow for all the bad **** he had done as a merc. In my mind its easier to do that in light or no armor. I just cant imagine him going around in heavy armor or being a fullon barbarian. I know it would be more optimal mechanically if he did or was. But I will definitely consider the medium armor master way!

[Slybluedemon]

Thanks for all the replys!

The reason I want to go light armored is because I imagine he was a slave fighting in the arena (barbarian level) eventually earning his freedom and becoming a mercenary for a while. (fighter levels) Now he is a middle aged bounty hunter always on the move, pursuing the next guy with the bounty on his head to make amends. A wanderer who tries to help ordinary people, maybe so he can make up somehow for all the bad **** he had done as a merc. In my mind its easier to do that in light or no armor. I just cant imagine him going around in heavy armor or being a fullon barbarian. I know it would be more optimal mechanically if he did or was. But I will definitely consider the medium armor master way!

Do what you think will make sense because of his background. I agree if he was a bounty hunter, he would not have worn heavy armor. Even if its "Sub-Optimal" it will be fine. Have fun!

[Willie the Duck]

True, but half plate can mean so many different things, depending on interpretation (anything more than breastplate, that includes a breastplate). In my mind, it's absolutely something a bounty hunter (with Medium Armor Master, such that they can sneak) would wear.

[Specter]

If you're going to be a bounty hunter fighter, I'd suggest picking up Skilled, because skills are what you want.

[Vogie]

Other options, in lieu of barbarian, is:

Put your 15 into wisdom, and get a single level of monk. That'd give you a naked AC of 15 (10+Dex+Wis), plus 1d4 unarmed strikes without having to pick up tavern brawler feat. You'd fluff martial arts as a sort of brawler/street fighter, and also allow you to hit with a shortsword or simple weapon, then follow it up with a bonus action fist to the face, which is a very bounty hunter thing to do.

Put your 15 into wisdom, and get a single level of Cleric. It'd give you a nod towards the character making better choices, and give some interesting bonuses.

War cleric will give you an early extra attack, as well as some damage/AC augmenting spells
Knowledge cleric will give you languages & skills
Forge gives a +1 to either your AC or weapons
Arcane gives you small pile of cantrips (3 cleric, 2 wizard).


Put your 15 into charisma, and get a single level of Sorcerer. It'd give your character a knack of getting out of predicaments. You can actually eschew all of the magic and fluff it to just be you being supernaturally lucky, which is useful in both a pit fighter and bounty hunter

Stone sorcerer for a naked AC of 16 (13+Con), Smites & Compelled Duel
Divine Sorcerer for a blend of cleric & sorc spells, but more importantly the ability to adjust your failed saving throws or attacks by 2d4 once per rest.
Shadow Sorcerer for free darkvision and a get out of death free card (once per long rest)


Put your 15 into wisdom, and get a single level in Rogue. That'd give you Expertise, and a sneak attack bonus whenever you have advantage, both of which would work well with your Bounty hunter background and occasional bow use, without stepping on the toes of your Arcane Trickster. You don't have to go any further in, but if you do decide to go up to 3 in Inquisitive archetype, you could get some serious bonuses, including being able to augment your damage with sneak attacks even without advantage.

[Slybluedemon]

If you're going to be a bounty hunter fighter, I'd suggest picking up Skilled, because skills are what you want.

Agreed, Skilled is a good Feat

[Slybluedemon]

True, but half plate can mean so many different things, depending on interpretation (anything more than breastplate, that includes a breastplate). In my mind, it's absolutely something a bounty hunter (with Medium Armor Master, such that they can sneak) would wear.

It is open-ended half plate could be many different things

[Crgaston]

It’ll be hard to go wrong with those stats, but here’s a take on it..

Start 18/17/17/9/16/12 with Resilient Wis as your first feat.
Starting with a single level of Barbarian makes most sense given your backstory, then go Fighter to 5. I’ll second the Archery fighting style. You have the rare opportunity to be an all-around martial powerhouse with this build.

Starting at L4, Barb 1/ Fighter 3 (BM, Champion and Samurai are all cool but probably BM works best with your Bounty Hunter concept for the Trip, Menacing and Riposte maneuvers)
L5 Fighter 4, +1 Dex/Con. 18AC unarmored or 20 with a shield.
L6 Fighter 5 for Extra Attack
L7 Barb 2 for Reckless Attack and Danger Sense. You now are proficient in 3 saves and have Advantage on Dex saves.
L8 Fighter 6 for GWM
L9 Fighter 7 for the 5th superiority die, Precision and Manuevering attacks.
L10 Fighter 8 for Str 20


After that keep going Fighter. Barb 3 and 4 might be tempting but that 3rd Attack at F11 followed by all sorts of good Fightery stuff is better. Sharpshooter at F12 and Con 20 or Observant to round out your Int at F14, the other at F16.

However you build it, this should be a potent character. Have fun!

[KorvinStarmast]

Human Fighter
Level 4
18, 16, 16, 15, 12, 9.
Go:
Str 18 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 9 Wis 15 Cha 12
Choose feat Medium Armor Master.
this allows you to add all 3 dex bonuses for your dex to medium armor.
With a breastplate or scale mail that makes AC 17
With Half Plate that makes AC 18
AND, you will not have any penalty from armor on your Stealth checks. Now and again you don't want to mess up party stealth.

If you add a shield, AC 19 / 20.
If you go two handed weapon for more damage you are still fine.
I'd suggest GWF as fighting style and two handed sword. If you sword and board it, take duelling for the boost in damage.

There are so many other choices, but that one supports fighter well enough.
I'd do Champion, but Battle Master might have more buttons that you can push, so go for that. The superiority dice and maneuvers give a lot of flexibility to what you can do.

[Banana3lf]

This really depends on what your party's composition is(stat wise and or what the warlock does), and therefore what you are going for. All out take down baddie would be just straight fighter pole arm/sentinel battle master or 3 levels barbarian frenzy for extra bonus attack and reckless with champion fighter for crit fisher. However, over all damage-dex based fighters are always going to be topline. You would want to bring your strength down and still grab one level of barb for unarmored defense and then put everything into con and dex. Dont worry about the rest-assumably your party wil round that out. l and having some lows will round out your character for rp.
Arcane archer can be a good mix with valor bard or rogue or ranger as well. If you wanted to push it further but it doesnt sound like you do. 18 str and 18 dex and 18 con after varient human with one asi can prove to be the most devastating individual classes Ive ever seen. I personally play a barbarian 5 fighter 3 right now with frenzy and champion fighter and savage attacker as a half-orc for the brutal critical. 19 strength 18 dex 18 con. A +2 bow and GWM with a frost brand warhammer. Reckless everytime hoping for that 19 or 20 to complete destroy the enemy with an action surge. Still raging you can use the bow if they get out of reach-nothing is reckless at that point but you are still criting 10% of the time which is just huge

[JM815]

Im going to go with str:18, dex: 17, con: 17, int:9, wis:15, cha:12
First level is barbarian then fighter all they way through. Gonna grab a glaive with polearm master. Will eventually raise str, dex and con to 20 and add sentinel and great weapon master. Hope it's gonna be kick ass :D

Thanks for all the replys guys!