Old Fighter Build

[Bannan_mantis]

I've been thinking of this build for a while and after some planning I think I've come down to a few choices which could work well for this. I want this build to be a melee frontliner who can use wisdom in combat as well as dexterity or strength to make him like a old and skilled fighter with some cunning. I think I've been able to think of a few builds and I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this (btw this is for a level 11 character.)

Fighter 6 / Rogue 5

I won't be playing this like a normal rogue so I am not gunna be giving this guy proficiency with stealth but instead I'm gunna put his proficiencies and expertise into mental stats like perception, insight, investigation, history etc. That's why I'm going with a inquisitive rogue which allows for insightful fighting and also the fighter can be battle master for the tactical skill of being able to perform pretty advanced manuevers. Also uncanny dodge could be him predicting their attacks and sneak attack could be him hitting a pressure point

Fighter 8 / Ranger 3

This could work well since right off the bat you have two fighting styles, with the other builds I was struggling between defence and dueling since both are good but this has both which is very nice. Hunter's mark would be pretty effective and monster slayer on this would work very well, nothing shouts a wise fighter to me unlike knowing your opponent's weaknesses does. Battle master would again be what I'd go for.

Fighter 8 / Cleric 3

War cleric mixed with battle master could lead to some effective play, the effectiveness of ranger spells made fighter / ranger good so since cleric is a full caster this is something very effective. Even if it's a small amount of spells the ways to buff yourself here are quite large and could lead to some fun times of having 22 AC (shield of faith.)

Anyway, thoughts on these builds and maybe if you have extra builds please say. Also I know some people might suggest it but I am not going monk with this since monk feels weird for the character idea I have.

[Man_Over_Game]

I see this build come up a few times, but I always gotta ask why Monk isn’t ever mentioned?

Saving throws will be based off of Wisdom, great for Long Death, 4 elements, Open Hand, and Stunning Strike.

AC is based off of Wisdom and Dex, so you don’t need much of your tertiary stat to have decent AC.

Additionally, Druid has a lot of non-concentration spells that work great in melee, including the coveted Mirror Image.

People always pick Rogue or Fighter and try to work around the poor AC issue, when Monk is a very simple solution but doesn’t get much mention on this kind of build. Just seems odd to me, I guess.

[Blood of Gaea]

If you're going a Fighter/Cleric, I would highly recommend you get at least 5 levels of Cleric for Spirit Guardians.

Eldritch Knight/Cleric can be fun, prioritizing Str or Dex > Wis > Con.

[Crgaston]

Personally, I like your Battlemaster/Inquisitive combo. I think Inquisitive is highly underrated.

A Samurai/Shepherd Druid could be fun, too, or even a Samurai/Gloomstalker.

I have a "wise old guy" build waiting in reserve who is a Battlemastermind. I imagine him standing off to the side dispensing advice (Help action at range), whipping sling bullets at foes surreptitiously and using Menacing Attack to give enemies disadvantage and limit their movement, Commander's Strike to grant off-turn attacks, and Riposte in case someone gets in his face.

[Bannan_mantis]

Hmmm, these are very interesting build suggestions and I like the ideas provided. One thing I will say is that if I am a spellcaster I wanna stick to buffing spells which can work for cleric and a eldritch knight/ cleric could be very effective when you stack a bunch of spells on top of each over combined with the fighter's fighting skill.

Also to refer to the suggestion of the monk, I specified that monk didn't feel right for the character since unarmed strikes and increased movement feel too superhuman, the unarmed defence works well with him but that's it mostly.

Also I was considering samurai but the battlemaster feels like more of a tactician in my eyes, that said a battlemaster/druid could still work pretty well, especially in hawk aura since that combined with elven accuracy (this guy is gunna be a elf) would basically mean he's never missing. One thing to ask though is that does the druid spell list have good options for buffing melee characters like the cleric one does?

Edit: to reply to a part of someone's text, inquisitive rogue is IMO the coolest rogue subclass and I agree that it's underrated. Getting a auto crit is cool but knowing wear to strike and being able to tell when people are lying 90% of the time is cooler.

[Daphne]

Why not straight Samurai 11? Grab Magic Initiate (Druid) to get Shillelagh, now you can attack with Wisdom, and also apply it to persuasion rolls.

Fighter 11 gives you 3 attacks and you can use Fighting Spirit (gives advantage on all attack rolls, which makes you look skilled) every fight, thanks to the Tireless Spirit feature.

[Bannan_mantis]

Why not straight Samurai 11? Grab Magic Initiate (Druid) to get Shillelagh, now you can attack with Wisdom, and also apply it to persuasion rolls.

Fighter 11 gives you 3 attacks and you can use Fighting Spirit (gives advantage on all attack rolls, which makes you look skilled) every fight, thanks to the Tireless Spirit feature.

Huh, that could work well. Plus I'm going wood elf so I could just get wood elf magic since I only want Shillelagh. I'd probably need 14 dex for AC but one question about that is carry weight, I imagine this guy to not be lagging in the mental stat department and CON is kind just required for frontliners so yeah.

[Blood of Gaea]

One thing to ask though is that does the druid spell list have good options for buffing melee characters like the cleric one does?.
Flame blade is okay? In general, it's more debuffs then buffs.

[Bannan_mantis]

Flame blade is okay? In general, it's more debuffs then buffs.

ok, note taken. Debuffs are still effective for frontliners

[djreynolds]

I ran a battlemaster swashbuckler, with the pre-errata shield master. But even versus opponents that were huge, he was effective.

I really think you could pull this off without shield master and go TWF... but strength

Grab expertise in athletics from rogue or human prodigy. The idea is to give up your first attack to prone, hit with the main attack and then hit with off attack as your BA.

So grab TWF from fighter, and run duel short swords

I like having expertise in athletics and being able to sacrifice an attack to prone... just in case you run out superiority dice

The whole idea is being able to always to sneak attack, swashbuckler covers 90%, but sometimes if cannot sneak attack because of positioning you can prone someone, either with the trip maneuver or an athletics check

And if you don't mind, medium armor, barbarian makes this build even better

The thing is your only grab enough fighter and barbarian to fulfill the requirements and the rest in rogue. Something along the lines of 5 battlemaster/ 3 barbarian/ 15 swashbuckler

For 11th level, 5 battlemaster/ 2 barbarian/ 4 swashbuckler, 2 ASI.

[Naanomi]

Hunter or Monster Slayer Ranger with Shillelagh from somewhere wouldn’t be bad

[Bannan_mantis]

Okay, these are all nice builds to choose and I think I'll decide which one to go for depending on our party's composition.

[CTurbo]

I vote Wood Elf Battle Master, Hunter Ranger combo with maybe a couple Rogue levels mixed in later.

Take both Archery and TWF styles so you're good in any situation. Horder Breaker. Grab Magic Initiate Cleric or Druid for some extra utility and maybe even Ritual Caster too for a familiar and even more utility.

As far as Rogue levels, Scout would be great, but so would Assassin or Swashbuckler.

I could see going Fighter 12, Ranger 3, Rogue 5

[Arkhios]

Samurai with Magic Initiate (Druid): Shillelagh, Magic Stone, and Healing Word.

You can focus on Wisdom as your primary score, and still be efective in both melee and range. And impressive in social situations.