STR/DEX hybrid

[ZenBear]

My brother will be joining the party and wants to play a pretty standard ex-soldier turned adventurerer Fighter. When I asked how he envisions his character he said he wants to wield a longsword primarily (he didn’t mention if he wants a shield) with the capacity to change it up to polearms and such, with medium armor and an even spread of STR/DEX/CON. What I would like to know is if anybody has thought of a balanced way to reward a character for having good STR and DEX, uses a versatile weapon by itself (assuming no shield) and wearing medium armor. As it stands it feels wasteful to boost STR and DEX when you can only use one or the other for combat. I’ll probably give him MedArmMaster so he can stealth with the rest of the party, who so far are all DEX characters.

[DerficusRex]

My brother will be joining the party and wants to play a pretty standard ex-soldier turned adventurerer Fighter. When I asked how he envisions his character he said he wants to wield a longsword primarily (he didn’t mention if he wants a shield) with the capacity to change it up to polearms and such, with medium armor and an even spread of STR/DEX/CON. What I would like to know is if anybody has thought of a balanced way to reward a character for having good STR and DEX, uses a versatile weapon by itself (assuming no shield) and wearing medium armor. As it stands it feels wasteful to boost STR and DEX when you can only use one or the other for combat. I’ll probably give him MedArmMaster so he can stealth with the rest of the party, who so far are all DEX characters.

Having enough dex to take some Rogue levels could be handy (and there's plausible story reasons - he can be learning things from his dex-focused buddies). See PeteNutButter's multiclassing guide for a couple examples: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502248-Ultimate-Optimizer-s-Multiclassing-Guide

[Nifft]

Str+Dex+Con without heavy armor is a perfectly normal Barbarian.

Ask him about dipping into Barbarian for that unarmored-yet-untouchable Errol Flynn swag.

[Xihirli]

Yeah give him Medium Armor Master later as a quest reward and it should be a good moment.

[CTurbo]

Yeah it sounds like a great unarmored Barbarian to me. I've played a 20 Str, 18 Dex Barbarian that loved to utilize a Longbow if he wasn't raging.

I've also played a "switch hitter" fighter that had a 18 Str, 20 Dex that wore Light Armor with the Defensive fighting style. He used all sorts of weapons and was effect with anything.

[Spiritchaser]

I love the idea of STR/DEX hybrids, but they tend to be mechanically handicapped, with the exception (as mentioned above) of barbarians.

[Eric Diaz]

STR/DEX hybrid are a bit lackluster (except barbarians etc), I personally wouldn't mind giving it a few boost through house rules if you want to. Dragon Heresy gives Dex a +1/4 boost to AC in heavy armor, IIRC, so you could give him +1 AC in heavy amor if/when his Dex is 18. Or use my idea of weapon slots (https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2018/04/encumbrance-armor-for-5e-et-al-d.html) (also in Dragon Heresy) or scaling weapons (https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2018/04/more-dark-souls-weapon-madness-for-5e-d.html).

Just giving him Medium armor master is a fine idea too, probably the easiest route without house rules.

[ImproperJustice]

My experience has been that hybrid characters are not nearly as handicapped as people think they are, especially when playing fighters with the extra asi. In a point buy game with standard human, you can begin play with Str/Dex 16, and Con 14, with all others at 10.
Strength and Dex can be maxed by level 12, and carry all the advantages that brings.
Still plenty of room to grab some power feats along the way.
Good times.

[jas61292]

My experience has been that hybrid characters are not nearly as handicapped as people think they are, especially when playing fighters with the extra asi.

Agreed. I especially love hybrid on a Champion Fighter, to take greater advantage of your half proficiences on all those checks, and to utilize both GWF and Archery fighting styles on the same character.

[Citan]

My brother will be joining the party and wants to play a pretty standard ex-soldier turned adventurerer Fighter. When I asked how he envisions his character he said he wants to wield a longsword primarily (he didn’t mention if he wants a shield) with the capacity to change it up to polearms and such, with medium armor and an even spread of STR/DEX/CON. What I would like to know is if anybody has thought of a balanced way to reward a character for having good STR and DEX, uses a versatile weapon by itself (assuming no shield) and wearing medium armor. As it stands it feels wasteful to boost STR and DEX when you can only use one or the other for combat. I’ll probably give him MedArmMaster so he can stealth with the rest of the party, who so far are all DEX characters.
Suggest him to get 1-2 levels in Rogue somewhere (or simply be a half-elf/human to grab Prodigy feat).
Suggest him also a 1-2 levels in Barbarian as others suggested (or grab Tough).
Another good thing could be just grabbing Alert.

Or being an Half-Elf and grabbing Elven Accuracy to give a "dual-style" Fighter (go longsword duelist-style when hitting is the most important -DEX-, then swap to polearm when the priority is to block someone -PAM + STR-).

Having both good STR and DEX means you're fairly resilient against several kind of dangers, especially with 2 levels of Barb (Danger Sense).
With just Expertise in Athletics, he can reliably block at least one creature.

So a Barb 1 / Rogue 1 / Fighter 5 >> Barb 2 / Rogue 2 / Fighter 8 >> Bear Barb 3 / Rogue 3 (Thief) / Fighter 14 could be a very valuable asset to the party whatever feats he takes. Very simple to play (only tactical decisions are when to use Manoeuvers or Shove/Grapple) yet efficient.

But even without all that, Fighter being a strong class as is, just giving him MAM as a free feat and going pure Fighter is fine too if your player doesn't like multiclassing. If you think this is not enough, maybe give him Athlete or Grappler at a later level.

[GlenSmash!]

I've played a few 14 Strength/Dex/Con characters. It works fine on a Barbarian as Reckless Attack will help you hit a lot more, and Resistance from Rage helps with defense. AC In medium armor is good too.

Alternatively if you allow Unearthed Arcana the Fighter: Scout works really well for this too. It can use a superiority Die to boost Hit chance, AC, and certain Ability Checks. All in all it does a great job of boosting middling scores.

[ImproperJustice]

I've played a few 14 Strength/Dex/Con characters. It works fine on a Barbarian as Reckless Attack will help you hit a lot more, and Resistance from Rage helps with defense. AC In medium armor is good too.

Alternatively if you allow Unearthed Arcana the Fighter: Scout works really well for this too. It can use a superiority Die to boost Hit chance, AC, and certain Ability Checks. All in all it does a great job of boosting middling scores.

This!
I have seen a Hybrid Battlemaster / Scout in action, and it was pretty impressive.
A great take on a spell less ranger.

[GlenSmash!]

This!
I have seen a Hybrid Battlemaster / Scout in action, and it was pretty impressive.
A great take on a spell less ranger.

Scout Fighters have only a few tricks, but they are all solidly useful.

For example, since you can add half a superiority die roll to Athletics checks they make surprisingly fun grapplers. If you can't grapple it just grip your Longsword in 2 hands, or drop back and plink with a Longbow since adding a superiority die to your attack roll will help make sure you hit the monster, and if the monster hits you use a superiority die to boost your AC. If it still hits damage is reduced to half damage!