Alright then, how about this approach? Looking for general data on melee fighting...

[samcifer]

By that, I mean the following?:

How much HP is generally required to survive in melee?

What is a good AC to have when fighting in melee and how much is realistically needed?

How much accuracy (+ to hit) is required on average to ensure you hit at least fairly often?

How often can I expect to be attacked while in melee (per round)?


For comparison, my level 9 character has the following:

HP: 75
AC: 20
+ to hit: 8 for STR and 9 for CHA on my sorcadin character.

As I plan to attack with GWM and smite with Sacred Weapon active (adds +5 CHA mod to all attack rolls with my weapon for 1 min while active), how often am I likely to be targeted if the DM plays fair by using a d4 roll to help him determine who the npc creatures attack each round - 1 roll for each hostile creature?

This is my first time playing a non-ranged character, so I don't know how much HP and AC I need and how often I'll be attacked (I was attacked rarely whenever I played a ranged character).

[Alexwellace]

Sorry, it's not super relevant to your character, but do many DM's actually use the D4 rule? Every DM i've met just makes a judgement call on what makes the most sense. Predatory creatures go for the weakest option, martial opponents go for the strongest, mindless beasts go for who did the most damage last turn, smart opponents go for the spellcasters/cleirics.

Not sure I like the idea of it being random unless there's a situation where 2 very similar characters (say, a similarly equipt fighter next to a Paladin) are right next to each other and you need to decide a preferred target.

[clash]

Monsters of the appropriate cr are expected to go down in 3 turns, so you want to last 4. AC and HP for front liners is a ratio of expected damage where:

HP > (Monster damage * 4 turns * Monster hit chance) / number of mellee fighters

should give you a rough estimate. So just fill it in with different number ie
if you have 20 ac and are level 9 and your party is fighting a cr 9 fire giant and there is 2 of you on the frontlines then

HP > (28 * 4 * .6) / 2

HP > 34 assuming you are full hp entering the combat

That being said that lets you survive a medium encounter. If you want to survive hard or deadly you will need to use higher monster stats

[samcifer]

Sorry, it's not super relevant to your character, but do many DM's actually use the D4 rule? Every DM i've met just makes a judgement call on what makes the most sense. Predatory creatures go for the weakest option, martial opponents go for the strongest, mindless beasts go for who did the most damage last turn, smart opponents go for the spellcasters/cleirics.

Not sure I like the idea of it being random unless there's a situation where 2 very similar characters (say, a similarly equipt fighter next to a Paladin) are right next to each other and you need to decide a preferred target.

Well, it's this dm's first campaign. As an example, say my character, the barbarian player and the monk player are allsurrounding a stone giant and attacking it together. The DM takes his turn and randomly picks which player is #1, then goes clockwise for players #2 and #3, then rolls a d4. If he rolls a 4, he re-rolls until he gets a different number. The number that comes up is the pc that gets attacked by the stone giant that round. He considers this fair to avoid excessively targeting a single player, such as the barbarian, to kill him first before deciding on the monk or on me. If I was the only pc next to the giant, I would definitely be attacked. If the barbarian or monk are also attacking the giant, it becomes a 50/50 chance I get hit. If there's the other paladin in the group with me, the barb and the monk, there's no need to re-roll and the odds of being attacked become 25%. It's just his way of playing npcs in combat.

[samcifer]

Monsters of the appropriate cr are expected to go down in 3 turns, so you want to last 4. AC and HP for front liners is a ratio of expected damage where:

HP > (Monster damage * 4 turns * Monster hit chance) / number of mellee fighters

should give you a rough estimate. So just fill it in with different number ie
if you have 20 ac and are level 9 and your party is fighting a cr 9 fire giant and there is 2 of you on the frontlines then

HP > (28 * 4 * .6) / 2

HP > 34 assuming you are full hp entering the combat

That being said that lets you survive a medium encounter. If you want to survive hard or deadly you will need to use higher monster stats

This is probably a bad time to mention that math was my worst subject in school. I can't tell what this means. :(

[Man_Over_Game]

Here's some pretty standard stats for yah:

Average health: 9 per level
Average AC: 15 + 1/3 level
To Hit: Proficiency + 3.5

Ignore anything that tells you how DM's should or shouldn't do things. Your DM isn't the bad guy and his goal isn't to kill you. I've rarely seen DM's who tried to focus targets down, most monsters play it dumb and go after the closest thing. I like to play them a little bit smarter, targeting those who critted on them or dealt significant damage, those who are targeting them with spells, or I'll have a leader of sorts that's obviously giving them targeted directions (attack the small one!).

[clash]

It means in a medium encounter with 2 another melee fighter on the team and with 20ac you can expect to need about 34 hp to survive or to lose about 25 hp.

To make it simpler if there is 2 frontliners on your team and you have 20 ac, you should have at least 7 hp per level looking at some quick monster stats