New Player Build Help

[MetznTrix]

Hi there,

I'm new and my DM is playing 3.5e, there's quite a few friends who are all new players so he has restricted us to using the player's handbook 1 for now. I feel like playing a monk, but need some help with the build as I am pretty clueless.

My rolls were, 18,13,13,13,13,7

How should I best assign these, and which race would be best, I'm thinking perhaps a human so I get to pick 3 feats? But which feats would be best to start with. I guess the build will be pretty limited because we can only the use players handbook 1 but the advice would be great.

Also, if anyone thinks there might be a better class to play, with my rolls to I'm open for ideas, my reasons to pick the class were I sort of like the hand to hand combat style, and the whole persona of a monk.

Thanks.

[Manyasone]

Hi there,

I'm new and my DM is playing 3.5e, there's quite a few friends who are all new players so he has restricted us to using the player's handbook 1 for now. I feel like playing a monk, but need some help with the build as I am pretty clueless.

My rolls were, 18,13,13,13,13,7

How should I best assign these, and which race would be best, I'm thinking perhaps a human so I get to pick 3 feats? But which feats would be best to start with. I guess the build will be pretty limited because we can only the use players handbook 1 but the advice would be great.

Also, if anyone thinks there might be a better class to play, with my rolls to I'm open for ideas, my reasons to pick the class were I sort of like the hand to hand combat style, and the whole persona of a monk.

Thanks.

Before they start throwing flaming sh*t at you for playing a monk with core rules only and those scores...
I'd say have fun, but I hope you can live with the fact that eventually the full casters will outshine you, even in unarmed combat.
Maybe consider a cleric with a deity who has favored weapon unarmed strike if unarmed combat is your thing. But with core only you only have improved unarmed strike, so...

EDIT: I know you said core rules only, but should your DM ever allow other books and you still want to play a monk style unarmed combatant, remember the unarmed swordsage from Tome of Battle

[King of Nowhere]

your stats are bad for a monk. a monk is multiple attribute dependent (MAD), meaning he needs many good rolls (STR for damage, WIS for monk ability, DEX because a melee without armor has low armor class, CON because with d8 hit dice he won't survive long).
With a single 18 and a bunch of mediocre stats other classes that are SAD (single attribute dependent) would be better.

But regardless of that, if you want to play a monk don't let yourself be afraid by optimization. chances are your table is not optimized anyway.

As for build, there are many options.
One thing to keep in mind is that, contrary to what the fluff text says, a monk is not good at dealing damage. A monk in melee against a fighter get totally curbstomped. A monk's strenght is his survivability: high saving throws, his touch AC, high mobility, the capacity to teleport at high level; all those means that you can be tanking decently.

Now, as I said you could do many things, but the build I would personally suggest is to take improved trip (you get it for free at level 6), put your 18 in STR and become a tripping machine. You jump in the fray and start tripping people, dealing some damage but, most especially, making them more vulnerable to your teammates. With combat reflexes (that you also get for free) you can make a lot of attacks of opportunity if they try to get up.

You're not going to be particularly strong by the standards of the tryharder who make up most of this forum, but it can be a simple and fun build for a beginner

[Minion #6]

Hi there,

I'm new and my DM is playing 3.5e, there's quite a few friends who are all new players so he has restricted us to using the player's handbook 1 for now. I feel like playing a monk, but need some help with the build as I am pretty clueless.

My rolls were, 18,13,13,13,13,7

How should I best assign these, and which race would be best, I'm thinking perhaps a human so I get to pick 3 feats? But which feats would be best to start with. I guess the build will be pretty limited because we can only the use players handbook 1 but the advice would be great.

Also, if anyone thinks there might be a better class to play, with my rolls to I'm open for ideas, my reasons to pick the class were I sort of like the hand to hand combat style, and the whole persona of a monk.

Thanks.

+1 to the chorus of voices saying "Don't play monk!"

You need four good scores to play Monk. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom. You do not have four good scores. As a matter of fact, you really only have one. Given that you're a new player, the classes that only need one good score are all spellcasters, which means they are more complicated. If you're comfortable with that, for a first time player I would recommend a sorcerer. Put your 18 in Charisma, and your 7 in Strength. Pick up Mage Armour as one of your early spells so you become a bit harder to hit, then just choose whichever spells you feel would be most useful. Classics like Magic Missile and Charm Person are easy to understand. Carry a crossbow to deal damage once you run out of spells. For feats, Improved Initiative and Point Blank Shot will serve you well without adding to the mental load of playing a slightly more complicated class. Once you're used to the rules a bit more, you can branch out.

[MeimuHakurei]

First of all, the 18 is best used in Strength and the 7 should probably go into Charisma, one of the few stats a Monk doesn't necessarily need. For races, humans are obviously useful with that bonus feat, but you can also go for a Dwarf in order to have more Constitution, darkvision and stability, with the Fast Movement mitigating your low land speed. Half-Orcs also have Darkvision and extra Strength, but nothing really beyond that.

But yeah, you'll have it rough as a Monk - with the penalty from Flurry on top of the lack of full base attack bonus, your unarmed strikes will have a disappointingly low hit rate and you're stuck with just 1d6 damage on them for a while. Light Armor at low levels would help make you less squishy at low levels without a whole of Wisdom, but you're again hindered in that by that godawful 12,5 starting gold Monks get. At least Improved Grapple or Stunning Fist are both nice feats to have to help you lock down weakly armored targets in the back.

[Stryyke]

The two builds I think have been my favorite through the years have both been very low damage builds.

1) A poisoner rogue. Had a dagger, a hand crossbow, and poisons. He would dodge in and out of melee with a poisoned dagger. If he ever got hit, he would retreat with a poisoned hand crossbow. He did very little damage (1d4's if I remember correctly) but the poisons would reduce enemy effectiveness. It was fun having him tumble around providing flanking bonuses and helping whoever needed help.

2) A fighter that specialized in Bull Rush. He would run around the battlefield pushing enemies around, knocking them down, and basically being a rhinoceros in a jewelry shop. Then he would use charges against specific enemies that needed fighting. He was hilarious to play!

The point is that there are a lot of ways to really enjoy combat, without having a high damage output. Someone above recommended putting your 18 in strength, and doing a tripping build. That sounds, to me, like it would be a lot of fun. Just have fun with it. But make sure you do your homework on the primary aspects of your build. If you do a trip build, make sure you are an expert on the ins and outs of combat tripping. It will improve your enjoyment exponentially.

[Warchon]

Chiming in mostly just to reinforce what's already been said. Expect to be outshone in every way, but don't let that impact your fun. Monks are a flavorful class and for a lot of players, the roleplay is a BIG part of the joy of the game.
Even with great rolls a monk will never really live up to the implied reputation, but a flawed character can be the most fun to play.

[JMS]

I will say that a core only monk would be pretty bad, but the enviroment is basicly what 3.5 was (supposedly and anecdotally designed for). I would bet that the fighters are going to be nearly as effective as a wizard, and this is the time for a Monk to shine.

[Troacctid]

Ugh, yeah, that is a pretty bad stat array for a monk. If you want to play a melee character with those rolls, I would go fighter over monk. Fighters have heavy armor, so they don't need Dex, and they certainly don't need Wis. Be a dwarf to bump up your Con and you're in business. You can go sword and shield with a dwarven waraxe, dual wielder with a dwarven urgrosh, or just pick up a greatsword for the most damage.

[MinimanMidget]

My first ever character was a Monk, way back when. The whole group was new, none of us had a clue what we were doing, none of us even knew the word optimization, let alone the concept.

And it STILL sucked. I was useless in combat and I knew it. Literally everyone overshadowed me without even trying. I was so happy when we got TPKed by a small group of goblins.

Long story short, I really can't recommend NOT playing a Monk as a new player highly enough.

[Troacctid]

The problem with monk is that it kind of just does everything worse than a fighter. It can do 1d6 damage with unarmed strikes...which is less than a fighter would do with a real weapon. It can get a bonus to AC while unarmored...which results in a worse AC overall than just wearing armor. It gets flurry of blows...which is just Two-Weapon Fighting with more restrictions on the weapons you can use. It's a really depressing comparison for the monk—and fighter isn't even that good!

[Particle_Man]

Tripping has been mentioned.

If you have been dissuaded from monk sufficiently, you might want to try the core-only Horizon Tripper build (it uses a prestige class in the DMG called Horizon Walker, but the DMG is still core):

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?80415-The-Horizon-Tripper-(Core-Melee-Build)

If you absolutely *must* have a monk, put your str as 18, chr at 7, go half-orc. Your str is now 20. And full str bonus damage to your flurry of blows unarmed strikes is one of the few benefits of being a monk - might as well milk it.

If striking unarmed is your biggest wish, you could try druid. They eventually get shapechange so you could change into, say, a bear, and claw/claw/bite someone's face off. If you go this route you can put your wis as 18 and str as 7 (your str changes when you shapechange anyhow). You would have to wait until level 5 though.

[Powerdork]

Did you know that a barbarian with Improved Unarmed Strike is just as competent at monk activities as the monk, falling aside? And you don't even need to play a meathead angryboy. Just describe them as you would a monk.

[Mildly Inept]

Honestly, I'd suggest just asking what the DM what the optimization level is at the table, look at what other people are playing, and going from there.

For example, if you take a Spiked Chain trip fighter, a third of the tables out there will go, "are you insane, we don't want that cheese at our table, go pick up a Longsword!" and third of the tables will go "are you insane, we don't want a Tier 5 at our table, go play a Warblade if you must run a filthy mundane!" and a third of the tables won't care either way, but will end up with comically mismatched parties with God Wizards and unoptimized Samurai running together.

Or you could just play 4th or 5th edition and have fun with your friends without worrying about having a character that's too overpowered or underpowered, but where's the fun in, uh... fun... anyway?

[razorback]

Tripping has been mentioned.

If you have been dissuaded from monk sufficiently, you might want to try the core-only Horizon Tripper build (it uses a prestige class in the DMG called Horizon Walker, but the DMG is still core):

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?80415-The-Horizon-Tripper-(Core-Melee-Build)

If you absolutely *must* have a monk, put your str as 18, chr at 7, go half-orc. Your str is now 20. And full str bonus damage to your flurry of blows unarmed strikes is one of the few benefits of being a monk - might as well milk it.



What others have said. I have played modified versions of the Horizon Tripper and its a fun and relevent build as far as I've gotten. Plenty to do in most situations.
By all means, play a monk but don't be disappointed by the results. It has more to do with the game designers and their understanding of the rules versus what the rules allow you to do. As long as everyone is contributing and you go in with full knowledge, then you're playing what you want. It sad because you want a monk to be so cool and it looks like it with all its abilities but, sadly, it doesn't play out that way.

[Hackulator]

If you are trying to just have some fun with a bunch of new players, I will warn you that this is a questionable place to come for advice.

This is an optimization obsessed, power gaming forum. People here who are saying you will be badly outshone are mostly speaking from a place where they have forgotten what a low/no optimization table is like. If you get a build from here and the rest of your group is just new players coming up with stuff on their own, they may resent you when you come to be overbearingly powerful compared to the rest of the party.

Now, if you WANT to outshine the rest of the party, definitely take build advice here. I don't really know the social dynamic of your group and so one-upsmanship may just be cool and it may be fine for you to be that much stronger. Likewise, if it's the kind of group where you expect other people to be searching for builds online, cheese away.

That being said, monks are weak without an excellent stat array. Early in the game, your primary cool class ability (flurry of blows) suffers from a significant to-hit penalty which makes it less than amazing. The ability to add two different stats to AC is relatively insignificant when both those stats are 13. An early trip build is possible but forces you into some less than economical decisions about your bonus feats.

So, before I delve into any real builds I'd be interested to hear your response to all this so far.

[MetznTrix]

If you are trying to just have some fun with a bunch of new players, I will warn you that this is a questionable place to come for advice.

This is an optimization obsessed, power gaming forum. People here who are saying you will be badly outshone are mostly speaking from a place where they have forgotten what a low/no optimization table is like. If you get a build from here and the rest of your group is just new players coming up with stuff on their own, they may resent you when you come to be overbearingly powerful compared to the rest of the party.

Now, if you WANT to outshine the rest of the party, definitely take build advice here. I don't really know the social dynamic of your group and so one-upsmanship may just be cool and it may be fine for you to be that much stronger. Likewise, if it's the kind of group where you expect other people to be searching for builds online, cheese away.

That being said, monks are weak without an excellent stat array. Early in the game, your primary cool class ability (flurry of blows) suffers from a significant to-hit penalty which makes it less than amazing. The ability to add two different stats to AC is relatively insignificant when both those stats are 13. An early trip build is possible but forces you into some less than economical decisions about your bonus feats.

So, before I delve into any real builds I'd be interested to hear your response to all this so far.




Wow, didn't expect so much responses from everyone. I thought my rolls were okay initially the way we did it was by rollding 4 d6 and removing the lowest number, everyone starts at level 1. From what I gather it seems the monk may become outshone in the later game. I am definitely open to other class ideas such as the posion rogue earlier suggested. But yes any more info would be great, as I'm getting the feeling monk will be a bit "gimmicky" with the trip builds etc...

Also thanks for everyone who posted here, it is really appreciated.

[Manyasone]

So... Where do you want to draw the line? Because between a rogue, fighter, wizard, cleric party; You know, the bog standard; is an ocean of difference. And poison in core sucks b***s

[Hackulator]

Yeah you didn't really answer the pertinent question regarding the nature of your group and what you want in terms of optimization.

[Stryyke]

Yeah you didn't really answer the pertinent question regarding the nature of your group and what you want in terms of optimization.

"I'm new and my DM is playing 3.5e, there's quite a few friends who are all new players . . . "

Probably low optimization is a safe bet.

[Particle_Man]

Core only so warblade is out.

[Hackulator]

"I'm new and my DM is playing 3.5e, there's quite a few friends who are all new players . . . "

Probably low optimization is a safe bet.

Yeah that's been established but the question is whether he wants to blow his table out of the water or not.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I thought my rolls were okay initially [...]
They're pretty good rolls, especially with that 18 in there (the point-buy equivalent is 35 or so, which is quite high, but you wouldn't normally buy odd stats in a point-buy, which reduces the value a bit). You could do a pretty good wizard, druid, cleric, sorcerer, bard, barbarian, fighter, ranger, paladin, or rogue with them, just not a very good monk. That's a problem with the monk, not with the rolls.

Also, outside core, it's possible to do really nice unarmed combatants, but in core, it's pretty solidly the monk's niche, and the monk's just not that good at unarmed combat.

For a player new to 3.5, I'd keep in mind three general power guidelines when it comes to building characters: spellcasting beats non-spellcasting, equipment beats no equipment, and scaling/multiplying abilities beat flat bonuses (for example, compare Power Attack to Weapon Specialization--the former is a much better feat). Monks are non-casting no-equipment not-particularly-scaling melee characters, so that already tells you they're probably near the bottom of the pile (and they are).


Here's a few things you can try instead of monk.

(1) Human barbarian with Improved Unarmed Strike and Two-Weapon Fighting. Put an 18 in Strength, wield a greatsword as main-hand weapon (in both hands), and kick people as off-hand weapon (unarmed strikes can be with any part of the body, and they count as light weapons). This is basically an easy and decently powerful way to add unarmed attacks to your standard reportoire. Your raging 22 Strength offsets the penalty of fighting with two weapons, so you'd be attacking at +5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.

(2) Human fighter with Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes. You have just the right stats for this (18 Strength, and 13 in Dexterity and Intelligence to meet the feat requirements), and it'll let you control the battlefield by tripping everyone who moves in your threatened area (10' radius with a guisarme + gauntlet equipped). Your high Strength helps you win the opposed check to trip your enemies, and makes your follow-up attack hurt more, as well. It's a lot of fun to yell "attack of opportunity!" whenever the DM is trying to make a move.

(3) Human fighter with Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, and Spirited Charge. Buy a horse, wield a lance, remember to get on the horse, charge people to death with your triple damage lance attacks. Hard to use well, and horses aren't cheap at level 1, but good when it works (3d8+18 damage for a successful charge). If you like mounted combat, but you don't want to invest in it too much (for example, because you often fight where you can't bring your horse), you could instead be a Small (gnome/halfling) druid and ride your animal companion. Even without feats, you could be riding a wolf and looking awesome.

[MetznTrix]

Yeah that's been established but the question is whether he wants to blow his table out of the water or not.

That would be fine, i'm open to any suggestions really. Thanks again.

[MetznTrix]

They're pretty good rolls, especially with that 18 in there (the point-buy equivalent is 35 or so, which is quite high, but you wouldn't normally buy odd stats in a point-buy, which reduces the value a bit). You could do a pretty good wizard, druid, cleric, sorcerer, bard, barbarian, fighter, ranger, paladin, or rogue with them, just not a very good monk. That's a problem with the monk, not with the rolls.

Also, outside core, it's possible to do really nice unarmed combatants, but in core, it's pretty solidly the monk's niche, and the monk's just not that good at unarmed combat.

For a player new to 3.5, I'd keep in mind three general power guidelines when it comes to building characters: spellcasting beats non-spellcasting, equipment beats no equipment, and scaling/multiplying abilities beat flat bonuses (for example, compare Power Attack to Weapon Specialization--the former is a much better feat). Monks are non-casting no-equipment not-particularly-scaling melee characters, so that already tells you they're probably near the bottom of the pile (and they are).


Here's a few things you can try instead of monk.

(1) Human barbarian with Improved Unarmed Strike and Two-Weapon Fighting. Put an 18 in Strength, wield a greatsword as main-hand weapon (in both hands), and kick people as off-hand weapon (unarmed strikes can be with any part of the body, and they count as light weapons). This is basically an easy and decently powerful way to add unarmed attacks to your standard reportoire. Your raging 22 Strength offsets the penalty of fighting with two weapons, so you'd be attacking at +5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.

(2) Human fighter with Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes. You have just the right stats for this (18 Strength, and 13 in Dexterity and Intelligence to meet the feat requirements), and it'll let you control the battlefield by tripping everyone who moves in your threatened area (10' radius with a guisarme + gauntlet equipped). Your high Strength helps you win the opposed check to trip your enemies, and makes your follow-up attack hurt more, as well. It's a lot of fun to yell "attack of opportunity!" whenever the DM is trying to make a move.

(3) Human fighter with Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, and Spirited Charge. Buy a horse, wield a lance, remember to get on the horse, charge people to death with your triple damage lance attacks. Hard to use well, and horses aren't cheap at level 1, but good when it works (3d8+18 damage for a successful charge). If you like mounted combat, but you don't want to invest in it too much (for example, because you often fight where you can't bring your horse), you could instead be a Small (gnome/halfling) druid and ride your animal companion. Even without feats, you could be riding a wolf and looking awesome.


Thank you for this, this is very informative. I am definitely going to consider barbarian and fighter now, I think they do seem quite suitable for my rolls. Would you have any builds for a rogue in the same format or a paladin? Thansk again :)

[MetznTrix]

They're pretty good rolls, especially with that 18 in there (the point-buy equivalent is 35 or so, which is quite high, but you wouldn't normally buy odd stats in a point-buy, which reduces the value a bit). You could do a pretty good wizard, druid, cleric, sorcerer, bard, barbarian, fighter, ranger, paladin, or rogue with them, just not a very good monk. That's a problem with the monk, not with the rolls.

Also, outside core, it's possible to do really nice unarmed combatants, but in core, it's pretty solidly the monk's niche, and the monk's just not that good at unarmed combat.

For a player new to 3.5, I'd keep in mind three general power guidelines when it comes to building characters: spellcasting beats non-spellcasting, equipment beats no equipment, and scaling/multiplying abilities beat flat bonuses (for example, compare Power Attack to Weapon Specialization--the former is a much better feat). Monks are non-casting no-equipment not-particularly-scaling melee characters, so that already tells you they're probably near the bottom of the pile (and they are).


Here's a few things you can try instead of monk.

(1) Human barbarian with Improved Unarmed Strike and Two-Weapon Fighting. Put an 18 in Strength, wield a greatsword as main-hand weapon (in both hands), and kick people as off-hand weapon (unarmed strikes can be with any part of the body, and they count as light weapons). This is basically an easy and decently powerful way to add unarmed attacks to your standard reportoire. Your raging 22 Strength offsets the penalty of fighting with two weapons, so you'd be attacking at +5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.

(2) Human fighter with Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes. You have just the right stats for this (18 Strength, and 13 in Dexterity and Intelligence to meet the feat requirements), and it'll let you control the battlefield by tripping everyone who moves in your threatened area (10' radius with a guisarme + gauntlet equipped). Your high Strength helps you win the opposed check to trip your enemies, and makes your follow-up attack hurt more, as well. It's a lot of fun to yell "attack of opportunity!" whenever the DM is trying to make a move.

(3) Human fighter with Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, and Spirited Charge. Buy a horse, wield a lance, remember to get on the horse, charge people to death with your triple damage lance attacks. Hard to use well, and horses aren't cheap at level 1, but good when it works (3d8+18 damage for a successful charge). If you like mounted combat, but you don't want to invest in it too much (for example, because you often fight where you can't bring your horse), you could instead be a Small (gnome/halfling) druid and ride your animal companion. Even without feats, you could be riding a wolf and looking awesome.

Also,

Would you be able to explain this to me "+5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.", I understand the bonuses for strength etc, but not how it is 2d6+9 and 1d3+6.

[MetznTrix]

They're pretty good rolls, especially with that 18 in there (the point-buy equivalent is 35 or so, which is quite high, but you wouldn't normally buy odd stats in a point-buy, which reduces the value a bit). You could do a pretty good wizard, druid, cleric, sorcerer, bard, barbarian, fighter, ranger, paladin, or rogue with them, just not a very good monk. That's a problem with the monk, not with the rolls.

Also, outside core, it's possible to do really nice unarmed combatants, but in core, it's pretty solidly the monk's niche, and the monk's just not that good at unarmed combat.

For a player new to 3.5, I'd keep in mind three general power guidelines when it comes to building characters: spellcasting beats non-spellcasting, equipment beats no equipment, and scaling/multiplying abilities beat flat bonuses (for example, compare Power Attack to Weapon Specialization--the former is a much better feat). Monks are non-casting no-equipment not-particularly-scaling melee characters, so that already tells you they're probably near the bottom of the pile (and they are).


Here's a few things you can try instead of monk.

(1) Human barbarian with Improved Unarmed Strike and Two-Weapon Fighting. Put an 18 in Strength, wield a greatsword as main-hand weapon (in both hands), and kick people as off-hand weapon (unarmed strikes can be with any part of the body, and they count as light weapons). This is basically an easy and decently powerful way to add unarmed attacks to your standard reportoire. Your raging 22 Strength offsets the penalty of fighting with two weapons, so you'd be attacking at +5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.

(2) Human fighter with Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes. You have just the right stats for this (18 Strength, and 13 in Dexterity and Intelligence to meet the feat requirements), and it'll let you control the battlefield by tripping everyone who moves in your threatened area (10' radius with a guisarme + gauntlet equipped). Your high Strength helps you win the opposed check to trip your enemies, and makes your follow-up attack hurt more, as well. It's a lot of fun to yell "attack of opportunity!" whenever the DM is trying to make a move.

(3) Human fighter with Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, and Spirited Charge. Buy a horse, wield a lance, remember to get on the horse, charge people to death with your triple damage lance attacks. Hard to use well, and horses aren't cheap at level 1, but good when it works (3d8+18 damage for a successful charge). If you like mounted combat, but you don't want to invest in it too much (for example, because you often fight where you can't bring your horse), you could instead be a Small (gnome/halfling) druid and ride your animal companion. Even without feats, you could be riding a wolf and looking awesome.


And just again, how would one replicate the mounted charge, spirited charge etc feats if I was a halfing druid for example as I only get to pick 1 feat I think.

[Iamyourking]

Also,

Would you be able to explain this to me "+5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.", I understand the bonuses for strength etc, but not how it is 2d6+9 and 1d3+6.

Both attacks are at +5 because you have a Base Attack Bonus of 1, a Strength Modifier of 6 (You can calculate it by subtracting 10 from your Strength while raging of 22 then dividing by 2), and take a -2 penalty to both attacks for two weapon fighting (It would be higher, but you have the Two Weapon Fighting feat and your unarmed attacks are light weapons). Damage wise, a greatsword does 2d6 damage and because it is a two-handed weapon you apply 1.5*your Strength modifier-which, as I said, is 6. The unarmed strike has a base damage of 1d3, and applies just your Strength modifier.

[King of Nowhere]

Also, making three consecutive posts like that is bad form. it clutters the forum with a lot of redundant walls of text.

If you want to add something to your post after submitting it, there is the "edit" button.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Thank you for this, this is very informative. I am definitely going to consider barbarian and fighter now, I think they do seem quite suitable for my rolls. Would you have any builds for a rogue in the same format or a paladin? Thansk again :)
Hmm. Paladin is tricky, because their main abilities don't happen until level level 2, 4, and 5, and the first one is a passive buff, which doesn't get any feat support in core. At low levels, it's just a fighter with fewer feats. You could easily go Mounted Combat + Ride-By Attack and take Spirited Charge at level 3, because the 5th-level ability is a magic horse.

Rogues are tricky but interesting, because Sneak Attack damage requires some planning and tactical play. At low levels, flanking is probably the most reliable source of SA damage. Flanking, however, requires melee, and rogues are squishy. The alternative is hiding and ranged sniping, for which you'd use Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot.


Would you be able to explain this to me "+5/+5 for 2d6+9 and 1d3+6 respectively.", I understand the bonuses for strength etc, but not how it is 2d6+9 and 1d3+6.
I made a mistake too, as it should be 1d3+3 for the off-hand attack.

With that build, whenever you make a full attack, you make two attacks:
(1) A main-hand greatsword attack at a +5 bonus for 2d6+9 damage, and
(2) An off-hand unarmed strike attack at a +5 bonus for 1d3+3 damage.

The attack bonus is your base attack bonus (+1 for a 1st-level barbarian) plus your Strength modifier (+6 for a raging barbarian with 18 Strength), minus the -2 penalty for fighting with two weapons.

The dice are just the base damage for that type of attack; they're in the table on page 116-117 of the Player's Handbook (PHB).

For the greatsword, the bonus to damage is 1.5 times your Strength modifier, because it's a two-handed attack.
For the unarmed strike, it's 0.5 times your Strength bonus, because it's an off-hand attack.

The basic rules for damage are on page 134 of the PHB.


And just again, how would one replicate the mounted charge, spirited charge etc feats if I was a halfing druid for example as I only get to pick 1 feat I think.
On a druid, you wouldn't, not at level 1, and probably not later, either. The classic druid tagline is "be a bear riding a bear summoning bears" (this happens at level 9), and generally speaking, charging with a lance is not very well-supported on the druid side. You can still do it, because druids are really powerful pretty much regardless of what you do, but not without some work.

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So straight druid is pretty amazing and probably one of the easiest most forgiving classes out there. Go dwarf, put 18 on wis and 7 on cha or str (putting it on cha will make your handle animal checks suck, putting it on str is probably a better idea though you won't be good melee until level 5). choose riding dog, or wolf as your animal companion (wolf has trip but riding dog can wear barding) you can really take whatever feats you want at level 1, 3, 9, 12, 15, and 18 they don't matter much in core with low optimization, but be sure to take nature spell at level 6 it is pretty much a class feature otherwise you can't cast spells while wild shaping. It is worth trading your animal companion for a leopard at level 4 to get pounce though not required.

Your first 4 levels will consist of buffing your animal companion, other pcs, and casting spells like entangle, obscuring mist, soften earth and stone, fog cloud, and gust of wind to do crowd control and produce flame to blast people. At level 5 you get wild shape and can either keep on with the same routine while using forms like birds for tactical advantage or turn into bears, leopards, lions and so forth to wade into the fray and lay a smack down after buffing yourself and animal companion.

Druids have a powerful spell list, great class features, and aren't particularly equipment dependent. Which means there is a lot of room to customize. You can pretty much set them up however you want and they will do well.