Noob needs advice for a Half Orc Champion.

[CLAY MORE]

(First things first: sorry in advance for my bizarre choices in wording and phrasing. I'm no native speaker, and my English is rusty like an old sword)

Hello, I'm a noobish player who's rocking a Half-Orc champion in its first campaign (LV5, Great Weapon Fighter, Great Axe, 18/14/16/10/10/8). My character, while a bit tedious to play, has hold its own in battle, beying the reliable hard-hitter and tank for the party. Right now LV6 is approaching, and I've gained some knowledge about optimal buildings and so on: my idea is to build-up a "crit -fisher" with a couple-level dip in Barbarian (for advantage in shoving actions and attacks) and at least a feat mixed in. Great Weapon Master looks interesting, but the huge accuracy loss can be disheartening without the shoving/attacking advantage of the barbarian...

Sadly, I don't think this campaign is going anyway beyond level 10-12, so my timing is tight: what to get, and when? What do I do when I reach LV6?
-Amp up my STR to 20?
-Take a feat? Which one?
-Dip into barbarian?

Thank you for your advices!

[Theodoric]

Why go for an 'optimal' build when the one you have is more than sufficient? :smallconfused:

[CLAY MORE]

Why go for an 'optimal' build when the one you have is more than sufficient? :smallconfused:

For funsies, I suppose.
I wasn't the one making this character, my DM did it for me (I chose only race and class - had no idea how to build a character back then) so I thought a little bit of personalization was the right way to get more fun out of it.

[DrKerosene]

I think maybe you should switch to Greatsword use for Great Weapon Fighting Style, and also this link provides some reasons: http://reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7xs8mz/5e_when_to_use_greatsword_vs_greataxe/

If you are already not using a Shield, maybe switching to a Halberd/Glaive and getting the Pole Arm Master feat might be nice (that bonus action attack for 1d4 can combine with Great Weapon Master and Sentinel). Otherwise, I got nothing.

[CTurbo]

I'd go Fighter 6 so you can get GWM feat quickly, then take 2 Barbarian levels. After that review your path of choice. You'll be 2 levels away from an ASI whether you take the next two levels of Fighter or Barb. You just need to look at the Barb subclasses to see if any of them interest you. Either way I'd max Str with the next ASI.

Pros of taking 2 more Fighter levels-
1. Second Wind gets better
2. gets you closer to Fighter 11 which gets you 3 attacks per round
3. Level 7 feature boosts your Initiative a little

Cons of taking 2 more Fighter levels-
1. The level 7 feature is weak overall
2. Pretty much any of the Barbarian 3rd levels features are better than what 2 more levels of Fighter gets you.


Barbarian 3rd levels subclasses-
1. Totem gives you many options. Here are the 3 best IMO.
1a. Bear Totem gives you resistance to all damage while raging but psychic. Best tank in the game.
2a. Wolf Totem grants your friends advantage to their attack rolls just by standing next to you.
3a. Elk Totem increases your movement by 50% while raging.

2. Frenzy is very strong, but comes at a price. You can choose to rage harder and make a bonus action attack at the cost of 1 level of exhaustion. You would use this carefully as exhaustion is a killer in 5e.

3. Zealot gives you a little extra damage once per turn. 1d6 + half your Barb level. Straight forward, but decent.

4. Ancestral Guardian is a mix between Wolf and Bear Totem as in it benefits your allies by making you tankier.



If you don't mind putting off maxing Str 1 more level, you could always take Fighter 6, then Barb 3, and then go back to Fighter from there.

You don't really want 5 levels of both though as the extra attacks won't stack.

[CLAY MORE]

-snip-

Thank you, this was really insightful!
Pretty much, it all boils down to what's best at LV6, the ASI or GWM.

[CTurbo]

Thank you, this was really insightful!
Pretty much, it all boils down to what's best at LV6, the ASI or GWM.

Since you already have 18 Str, I say go for GWM. It expands on what your character can do as opposed to just making your character better at what it already does. Maxing Str can wait a couple more levels.

If your Str was 16, I'd take the +2 Str over GWM so I think you made the right choice at level 4 assuming that's what you did.

[djreynolds]

GWM is great because at this level with 2 attacks, you may drop foes and gain the bonus action attack more often.

Strength is always great, but as said it could wait, especially if you multiclass it may be awhile til you can get another feat.

And you have a 14 dex, so multiclassing and wearing medium armor, say scale mail is as good as chainmail, if you took a level of barbarian.

But you don't want to wait on the perks of GWM.

[Ganymede]

For funsies, I suppose.
I wasn't the one making this character, my DM did it for me (I chose only race and class - had no idea how to build a character back then) so I thought a little bit of personalization was the right way to get more fun out of it.

Have you tried working out a unique personality of roleplay quirk for your character? That is a good way to personalize a character and have more fun.

[CLAY MORE]

Have you tried working out a unique personality of roleplay quirk for your character? That is a good way to personalize a character and have more fun.

I'd really like to. Sadly my measly skills don't allow me to do much in the RPG part of the game: it's dialogue-heavy and usually requires -as for my DM's take- high scores in Persuasion, Insight, Deception and so on. So pretty much everything drops down to a dialogue between him and the Bard, the only one in the party with the high-enough scores to take it.

My fighter is marginally better in the exploration department, but with a Ranger and a Druid in the Party, they usually do the heavy lifting. And guess what? It's a party of four. So my role is limited to hit things really, really hard (which I usually do) in a non-creative way. I know I could teoretically use my attacking action to do other stuff, like shoving and grappling... but that's a no factor when you fight mostly huge/immaterial beings :')

[djreynolds]

I'd really like to. Sadly my measly skills don't allow me to do much in the RPG part of the game: it's dialogue-heavy and usually requires -as for my DM's take- high scores in Persuasion, Insight, Deception and so on. So pretty much everything drops down to a dialogue between him and the Bard, the only one in the party with the high-enough scores to take it.

My fighter is marginally better in the exploration department, but with a Ranger and a Druid in the Party, they usually do the heavy lifting. And guess what? It's a party of four. So my role is limited to hit things really, really hard (which I usually do) in a non-creative way. I know I could teoretically use my attacking action to do other stuff, like shoving and grappling... but that's a no factor when you fight mostly huge/immaterial beings :')

It is possible for the DM to allow you to use your strength in place charisma for intimidation checks, its in the PHB

Also, anyone can roll. 5E is very swingy and players with +7 will roll a 1, and a player with -1 keeps rolling 20s

At 6th level for a fighter, you can always grab the skilled feat. You can always grab a level of rogue with that 14 in dexterity, get 1 skill and expertise in 2.

A wizard might be a wimp with his staff, but if he/she is going to die... they will fight

So if you have something to say, say it. It is a roll that determines success, not modifiers or proficiency

[Shuruke]

You could take the orcish fury feat

Especially since your using a great axe.

You can use it when u wanna deal 2d12 like its a crit
Or use it on a crit for 4d12.

Along with since your tanking if info to 0 and use half orc feature u get an attack

[CLAY MORE]

-snip-

Thank you for your advice. I'll talk with the DM about the Intimidation thing. Also, I'll try my best to work out something fun out of my character.

[djreynolds]

Thank you for your advice. I'll talk with the DM about the Intimidation thing. Also, I'll try my best to work out something fun out of my character.

Don't let proficiency scores matter, especially at lower level where the DC might be as high as a 13. Anyone can make that?

Now I do understand if you do not want to step on someone else's toes. But you are more than a tank.

For a fighter, IMO, history, insight, intimidation and perception are great skills you've had training in.

Gate guard... you perceive the guy trying to get past is full of it, insight confirms it, you intimidate him to tell the truth. And history.. you remember all the battles ever fought. What tactics were used, etc

[Ganymede]

I'd really like to. Sadly my measly skills don't allow me to do much in the RPG part of the game: it's dialogue-heavy and usually requires -as for my DM's take- high scores in Persuasion, Insight, Deception and so on. So pretty much everything drops down to a dialogue between him and the Bard, the only one in the party with the high-enough scores to take it.

Umm... what?

Roleplaying is WAY more than just attempts to succeed CHA checks. Those only appear when you attempt to change someone else's attitude and the outcome is uncertain. It definitely does not mean that you're going to make every single NPC angry every time you talk.

Even if your DM is doing something janky by calling for CHA checks for every single interaction, you can still have meaningful opportunities to interact with NPCs by trying using your roleplay to help others (such as by granting advantage to the bard's checks).