What character have you had the most fun with in combat?

[Rfkannen]

Just curious, what character of yours did you have the most fun with during combat? What did you find fun about them?

[JonBeowulf]

Without a doubt, VHuman vengeance paladin with Mobile and Sentinel. I could take and hold choke points on the map, I could get in the BBEG's face, and ignoring me during battle was a huge mistake.

[dafrca]

Just curious, what character of yours did you have the most fun with during combat? What did you find fun about them?

For me, the one I had the most fun with was a vanilla fighter. She became the party leader not by choice but because our leader the paladin, who was being played lawful stupid, got killed and the player didn't want to replace him, rather elected to play a dwarf cleric. She just was a blast trying to lead and fight both. The rest of the players played along with the situations. Became quite the experience. :smallbiggrin:

[Yakmala]

It depends on the makeup of the rest of the party, but it usually involves some variation on Barbarian.

If there's a lot of squishy types in the party I need to protect, nothing will make you feel like a true tank like an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. Your primary target not only has disadvantage to hit anyone other than you, if they do target someone else, they have resistance to all the damage. And if you used reckless attack, that's even more incentive for the enemy to focus on you. For maximum efficiency, try a Bugbear with PAM and Sentinel and pick up a magic item that grants flight.

If you happen to have two or more additional melee characters in your party, then the Wolf Totem becomes amazing. Your party will love you when you are granting all the melee types advantage every single round.

[Yakmala]

I should also probably mention one of my more recent characters, A Harengon Oath of the Watchers Dexterity Paladin.

He's been a blast to play and the party loves having him around as well.


At level 10, he has +11 to Initiative (+3 from Dexterity, +4 from Hare Trigger, +4 from Aura of the Sentinel)
He's providing +4 to everyone else's initiative rolls. We've had many occasions where this has led to the entire party getting to act before the enemy. It's almost like getting a free surprise round.
Being able to leap as a bonus action without provoking opportunity attacks makes him very versatile. I've had him surrounded by five bad guys and lept out of the fray in order to deliver a lay on hands to a downed ally.
All the other goodness that comes from playing a Paladin.

[Seekergeek]

My favourite character to date as far as rules-related fun has got to go to a strength based Loxodon bladesinger. I really enjoyed the versatility of being a full blown wizard along with a pretty great melee combatant. Granted, having a maxed out con and str by level 12 was pretty key to the whole thing working as well as it did, but there was not much more satisfying than being a true switch hitter in combat.

[Aett_Thorn]

My Loxodon Light Cleric. Built specifically for our ToA campaign. Needed next to nothing to function, so could load up on the more fun magical items that we got. I could heal, buff, blast…whatever the situation called for.

And also got a buff that allowed me to walk on walls and ceilings, adding a 3D tactical edge to my character.

[Angelalex242]

Oath of Ancients Paladin built for defense, with 20 charisma, heavy armor master, sentinel, mage slayer, and ultimately lucky at level 19.

[da newt]

My favorite PC was a Warlock (w/ rogue dip) that used mask of many faces ALL THE TIME. Entering combat as a little girl running away from the party crying for help, looking exactly like the bad guys and giving orders, looking like the most unremarkable commoner lady ever, looking incorporeal and claiming to be a banshee, imitating a god, etc combined w/ repelling blast to shove folks around, and some lucky magic item drops for a VERY good AC. They were a lot of fun because they never took anything seriously.


More recently I've been enjoying playing a 1/2 elf -> damphir DEX vengeance paladin w/ revenent blade. The best thing about him is his singular focus on vengeance, justice, and the utter destruction of all he deems deserving of being ended. He's so simple, focused and brutal.


For me, the thing that I enjoy most about combat with some PCs is the RP side of it. As long as they are capable (and I try to ensure all of my PCs are), the bit that makes some of them more fun / interesting is how (and why) they approach the fights.

[Spiritchaser]

So, usually sorcadins or wizards

But

A Very Very close contender was an echo knight ancestral guardian with sentinel.

Probably best if you do combat on a grid but… it’s not just fun “for a martial” it’s even fun on an absolute scale.

Edit: I didn’t have room for the slasher feat because The character needed res wis, but in a different campaign it might have been even better

[gloryblaze]

My favorite character in recent memory was a post-Tasha's barbarian. Path of the Beast, Wildhunt Shifter. By level 5, I could make 4 attacks per turn. I think most folks have heard of the procedure by now: If you have a handaxe in one hand at the start of turn: 1 claw attack, extra claw attack from Beast Barbarian, draw a handaxe, handaxe attack, TWF bonus action handaxe attack. Next turn: handaxe attack, TWF bonus action handaxe attack, sheathe one handaxe, claw attack, extra claw attack. Rinse and repeat.

The cool part was that Wildhunt's Shifting bonus makes it so attacks against you can't have advantage (unless you're incapacitated), meaning you can spam Reckless Attack with no downside. In any given combat, I could pick between 4 "modes" based on what the situation was and how my resources were looking: I could choose not to Rage or Shift, hang back, and throw handaxes (if I expected it to be a quick fight or if I was low on resources), I could choose to Rage but not Shift (unlocking the 4 attacks per round trick), I could choose to Shift but not Rage (usually if I was running low on Rages but expected a short rest soon) letting me spam Reckless Attack on my 3 handaxe attacks per turn, or I could do both (which was usually only worthwhile in very long fights, since Rage and Shifting both burn your bonus action, so you lose 2 bonus action handaxe attacks to get them both online).

[Kane0]

When I want to think, Warlock.
When I dont want to think, Barbarian.

[Pex]

Played a barbarian bear/fighter battlemaster/rogue thief multiclass. He became like Hercules of the gameworld. Relevant: I have Shield Master feat. DM allows bonus action shove to happen before the Attack action.

Three particular combats stand out.

1) The paladin is surrounded by three gnolls. He is at single digit hit points. The gnolls would go before the paladin. The paladin will die. My turn. I move next to the paladin. Bonus Action: Shove the paladin 5 ft. That moves him away from two of the gnolls, no opportunity attack because it's forced movement. Action: Attack the gnoll still next to the paladin. I use Reckless Attack to help ensure I hit plus incentive for gnolls to attack me with advantage. I hit. I use Maneuvering Strike. That allows the paladin to move away from the gnoll I attacked without an opportunity attack. Paladin moves. I finish my turn. Gnolls attack me. Paladin uses Lay On Hands on himself. I saved the paladin's life. Everyone cheers.

2) Party is attacked by a mindflayer hiding in an alcove about 30 ft up a cavern corridor wall and his drow thralls. Mindflayer cannot be directly attacked because he is out of sight. My turn. Bonus Action: Rage. Action: I Dash through the drow, don't care about opportunity attacks. They miss anyway. Movement: I climb up the wall into the alcove. Action Surge. Action: First attack I grab the Mindflayer. I have Advantage on Athletics check because of Rage. I win. Second attack. I throw the mindflayer onto the cavern floor. He's prone and eligible to be attacked. The Shadow Monk can now teleport next to him and attack, using Stunning Strike. Mindflayer fails the saving throw. The party kills the mindflayer in two rounds.

3) Party is in retreat. We got the Mcguffin, but its monster guardian we can't kill is still attacking. We have to get over a wall. Everyone is over the wall on the other side a distance away except for the wildshaped druid who after finishing her turn had to end her turn on top of the wall. The monster will be able to attack her before she can move and will likely kill her. My turn. There are no enemies near me. I would not be able to reach the druid to do anything to help. I think outside the box to do a desperate and cheesy move. It works by RAW but absolutely cheesy. I told the DM it would be cheesy. He allowed it because of Rule of Cool. Action: I punch my fellow party member monk. I do damage. I have to do damage and treat him like an enemy to make it work. I use Maneuvering Strike again dealing the extra damage to the monk, enabling the druid to move to our side of the wall away from the monster. We all escape.

[Neoh]

Strength Barbarian 5/Rogue X is just the most enjoyable way to play a melee for me. I picked a Half-Elf with the High Elf Cantrip heritage for Booming Blade. I use only one sword but you may dual wield or use a shield if you want to, I find it a bit more annoying though. I go for unarmored defense (16 AC), you can get 17 AC with Medium Armor but I enjoy it more without.

Ask your DM to use the rules for climbing other creatures from the DMG.

Play like you're in Shadow of the Colossus against bigger creatures, also kind of like Kratos I guess? Fight in a very acrobatic Prince of Persiaesque way against creatures your size with your expertise in Athletics and Acrobatics. Fight dirty sometimes, especially when Raging, grapple when you feel like it.

I also re flavoured Rage as more of an Adrenaline Rush type of thing.

For subclasses I picked:
Zealot. The Radiant damage kind of reminds me of when you hit the Colossus in their weak spot, it helps make up for the Sneak Attack damage you miss out by multiclassing and you're easier to bring back to life (pretty useful when you fall from a flying Dragon).

Swashbuckler. I like the versatility it gives. Sneak Attack is easier to land so you don't have to Reckless Attack all the time and since you only get 3 rages/day, that's some nice way to avoid needlessly wasting resources and unnecessary damage in smaller fights. And the ability to move without getting opportunity attacked allows for even more combat styles. The other features aren't really useful (didn't pick Expertise in Persuasion).

In terms of damage, you do just as much as a single class Rogue (or even more with 2 attacks and advantage) despite taking 5 whole levels in another class (2d6 lost).

In terms of HP, for a while, you're just as good/a bit worse than any other Barbarians. It gets worse as you progress, but at level 10 (Barbarian 5/Rogue 5), your average is 10 HP under a Barbarian 10.

You have a 40 feet speed, 80 with a bonus action Dash. You can do a 20 feet running long jump, 8 feet running high jump and reach up 17 feet with your hands. Pretty mobile.

Booming Blade just gives even more ways to fight with your character, especially if you pick Slasher as a Feat.

Combat just took another dimension for me with this build. And it's playable from the start, not much different from a typical Barbarian or Rogue. The build is "done" at level 9 (Barb 5/Rogue 4), it just gets better as it progresses.

[SociopathFriend]

Just curious, what character of yours did you have the most fun with during combat? What did you find fun about them?

I don't think anything will best my chef, a Lizardfolk named Ser'Ro'Shi:
I beat the traps, I beat the dead-baby-god, I Silenced the Lich, I grappled the Lich, I broke his stick, and I threw him into the lava. I did these things as a Lord Bard / Fighter and the battle perfectly encompassed what I loved about Ser'Ro'Shi: he adapted to anything.

He was a Barbarian originally. Half the (12+ people) group quit including all of our casters. The DM offered a one-time class change and Ro'Shi swapped two scores to become a Bard. Adaption.

We found puzzles and traps in over half a dozen dungeons. Ro'Shi became an Expert in Perceiving the threats among other things. He learned a spell to Knock his way past the worst threats. Adaption.

The DM slapped Ro'Shi with cursed armor that he wasn't proficient with. Ro'Shi spent a good while stuck with it before growing comfortable with it and learning how to battle even burdened thus. Adaption.

The DM tossed an Invisible Beholder our way. Everyone else was flummoxed but Ro'Shi had himself a think and then Animated his rations to fly up and show the party where the Beholder was. Adaption.

For a good half a year or so I took something of a delight in personally breaking the DM's campaign over my knee (he's my older brother- I'm allowed to enjoy that) because I felt he was being relatively annoying about his DMing and I am, of course, objectively correct in that assessment. Every obstacle he threw in my way I- or Ser'Ro'Shi rather- adapted to and overcame.

[Foxydono]

Deep stalker ranger / shadow monk multiclass, very fun to play!

[SpanielBear]

It depends on the makeup of the rest of the party, but it usually involves some variation on Barbarian.

If there's a lot of squishy types in the party I need to protect, nothing will make you feel like a true tank like an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian. Your primary target not only has disadvantage to hit anyone other than you, if they do target someone else, they have resistance to all the damage. And if you used reckless attack, that's even more incentive for the enemy to focus on you. For maximum efficiency, try a Bugbear with PAM and Sentinel and pick up a magic item that grants flight.

If you happen to have two or more additional melee characters in your party, then the Wolf Totem becomes amazing. Your party will love you when you are granting all the melee types advantage every single round.

Ancestral Guardian barbarian for me as well! I got to start as an Aarakocra so had fly speed right off the bat, and while he wasn’t the hardest hitter all the debuffs and mobility (the DM ruled flight still got the barbarian speed bonus, that became 120’ in six seconds at a dash!) meant he was tanky as ****. Once he had a Lance to poke the enemy without triggering AoO, he was golden.

[Tanarii]

Beastmaster Greatsword & Defense StrRanger with a Wolf wearing barding. Battlefield control by occupying two squares at once, either helping create a front line or by splitting up with one near the front and the other blocking access to a squishy. Wolf knocking enemies down. Sentinel attack if they attacked my Wolf or a squishy. Hordebreaker greatsword attacks whenever there were two adjacent enemies. About the only thing that didn't feel like it synergized was Greatsword Whirlwind, but there were a few times I passed up on Wolf attacks to run into the middle of three or more enemies and go to town.

I also really enjoyed the Bladelock. Not as much as I enjoyed my 4e version. But combat taking 1/4 the time in 5e made up for that.

[Khrysaes]

Deep stalker ranger / shadow monk multiclass, very fun to play!

This combo makes me think of batman... and I have used it as such several times.


I have had fun with artillerist artificer + 2 wizard.

My DM let me choose a tessrym as my familiar.
Familiar and Turret both moved on my initiative, but after me.

I had my tessrym carry my turret.
So I had a flying cannon.

[ScoutTrooper]

Vanara Monk; Open Hand tradition with a Silver Dragon Wyrmling.

The DM did solo jam session with each individual. Last minute the DM decided against 3.5 and said 5e, when I had settled on Vanara. Thankfully we homebrewed it. So during my solo jam session to bring my from origin to "You meet in a Tavern" I ended up rescuing a dragon egg. DM thought I was going a lawful route (Previously had seen my play a sort of Cleric Cop) So it hatched a Silver Dragon. Little did he know I was going all Monkey King archtype.

So post Solo Jam session, with teh rest of the party. A Paladin, a druid, a ranger. My monk was the most mobile character, not to mention he could give assistance in different forms. Paladin needed help tanking? Ran in to the mob with my Sentinel feat, keep them from getting to the range DPS. Ranger fell in a hole? Jump in avoid fall damage, help them out, easy out myself. Party need funds? Guess who's roleplaying full on monk, limited possessions no care for gold, me. Oh did we get ambushed on the bridge from another ledge? Guess who's jumping/climbing and scaring off the squishy ranged goblinbs/kobolds.
Oh we found the evil druid? Time to burst down some damage, spend some ki points. Oh they're making saves? Wymling up! another attempt to stop Mobs or targets from escaping.

I must of stuck with the Monk class for the next 4 PCs I made at other tables/campaigns

[GreyBlack]

Rune Knight Fighter. Go big, lay smack down. It's amazing.

[Lokishade]

Hexblade Warlock.

You'd think that casting Darkness on myself would hinder the party on most occasions, but that minor inconvenience was offset by the fact that it offered a safe bubble to gulp down potions and reposition.

And there's a little combo I love to pull and it is Armor of Agathys/Blade Ward. Not only does it end up significantlty boosting my HP, but I can stretch it to retaliate twice, sometimes thrice, with the proc damage for every casting. Plus, there's something fun about dancing around and triggering attacks of opportunity to take down some fools.

[nickl_2000]

My current one is likely my favorite.

AT Rogue 6/War Wizard 5. He has so many options, can contribute with skills, can buff allies, and lay down some decent damage.

He started out as Gavroche from Les Mis, and now he happens to inherent the title of BlackJack in the campaign (basically Zorro!)

[Catullus64]

Probably my Eladrin Bard (Swords)/Rogue (Swashbuckler). I've played him in a couple loosely related games at various levels, and all of them have been thrilling.

Lots of mobility, lots of illusions & environment manipulation effects, decent melee damage output, a little dash of healing/buffing, and fantastic ability to escape from danger. I felt that I had unique or creative options to leverage even in the most basic of fights. Even though I was never the best melee combatant or the best spellcaster in the group, there was always some way to shine.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Probably my Tiefling Divine Soul Sorceror. Some of the other PCs were pretty OP (I think we had an Illithid monk who was also a weretiger...or maybe I'm conflating two of them). Nevertheless, the fights were very difficult but the DM knew the rules backward and forward so it was player skill and creativity that decided the outcome. I really felt like my choice of buff or debuff each round, plus skill at keeping myself safe, made a difference.

[Lokishade]

Beastmaster Greatsword & Defense StrRanger with a Wolf wearing barding. Battlefield control by occupying two squares at once, either helping create a front line or by splitting up with one near the front and the other blocking access to a squishy. Wolf knocking enemies down. Sentinel attack if they attacked my Wolf or a squishy. Hordebreaker greatsword attacks whenever there were two adjacent enemies. About the only thing that didn't feel like it synergized was Greatsword Whirlwind, but there were a few times I passed up on Wolf attacks to run into the middle of three or more enemies and go to town.



With all the theorycrafting floating around, we tend to forget that the Ranger has many things going on and definitely brings interesting mechanics to the table.

That build seems awesome.

[Tanarii]

With all the theorycrafting floating around, we tend to forget that the Ranger has many things going on and definitely brings interesting mechanics to the table.

That build seems awesome.Agreed, theorycrafting often underrates Rangers in general and the beastmaster in particular. It was a lot of fun. I've played two beastmaster rangers. This one didn't get to use Natural Explorer much (another common complaint), but that was mostly fine by me, it was fun in so many other ways.

Based on my play experience, if I was going to change one thing about the Ranger, it would be to make the everything that's part of Natural Explorer except the psudo-expertise work in all natural environments.

And for Beastmaster, the one change would be to do something to make it so TWF works at all with the subclass. I mean, I don't like much that Rangers and TWF has become synonymous since AD&D 2e, but they are. So why have subclasses that make TWF practically pointless?



And there's a little combo I love to pull and it is Armor of Agathys/Blade Ward. Not only does it end up significantlty boosting my HP, but I can stretch it to retaliate twice, sometimes thrice, with the proc damage for every casting. Plus, there's something fun about dancing around and triggering attacks of opportunity to take down some fools.
I've tried that myself with mixed results. It was in AL, so I could (and did) rebuild my character before level 5 to ditch the bladeward. AL has different DMs at different tables, and DM variability was far too high on if they'd take OAs. Or even just attack a character visibly protected by Armor of Agathys. Not being attacked was fine if I was taking another action, but not if I'd cast Blade ward to try and extend it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So far probably my Bladesinger. When I get to play I like having lots of little fiddly bits to my character, and/or a very roundabout way of fitting a simple role. Bladesinger gives me both.

[Demonslayer666]

My Mutagen Blood Hunter.

I had lots of options to choose from with my mutagens, and could tailor them to the situation.

He had sentinel and was very effective in combat.

[heavyfuel]

My Iron Wizard, for sure.

Twilight Cleric 1/ Abjurer X with Eldrictch Adept: Armor of Shadows. Mark of Warding Dwarf for Armor of Agathys

He's got a vast array of spells prepared because of the multiclassing and Mark of Warding, so it's options galore. Plus he's super tanky behind his Ward and AoA, so you tank while deal damage, plus, enemies often can't ignore you because you'll usually have an encounter-breaking Concentration spell going.

He is a bit of doofus in social situations, though. Rolled stats got me a 6 in Cha, but it kinda fits the character :smalltongue:

[DeadMech]

was probably my favorite 5e character to play for a variety of reasons including gameplay.

I made her because the party consisted of a gunslinger fighter and a wild magic sorcerer. So I felt we needed a front line and access to divine magic. I'd already played three different paladins before this campaign with mixed results. Made for a very chaotic party where we weren't sure what was gonna happen turn by turn. Sorcerer was playing with a house rule that increased the likely hood of wild magic surges so self detonation was just a mater of time. Gunslinger breaks it's weapon with alarming frequency, arguably more the higher level they get. Conjure animal brings out stuff on the dm's whim many of my spells are concentration when I'm a frontliner even if I picked feats to shore up against that.

I think two things really solidified for me playing her. Firstly I like having levers and options to play with. I can not think of a character I've played more potentially complex in the moment to moment decision making. Even if I was generally sticking to the same choices, wild shapes to turn into and list of daily prepared spells. I came with hand written cards of animal shapes I could turn into and all the spells available for me to prepare and it's frankly allot. My hand hurt allot after writing it all out and I've been vowing to buy a printer since.

Second I like my character to actually be good at the things I set out for them to be good at. No one's gonna claim moon druid is a weak class to play, allot of people will say it's too strong. Frankly I'd be happier if more character options were closer to it in terms of accomplishing what they are meant to.

I went into the campaign promising to not abuse conjure animals too badly. I made a rule for myself that I would never summon more than one or two creatures with it unless it was a life or death emergency. Since it tends to be overpowered and slows down gameplay.

In the first session the sorcerer stepped into a bear trap while we were attempting to sneak between two enemy camps and rolled a 1 on a stealth check to not alert them in pain. She ate a surprise fireball and went down shortly after to another or maybe a third and the gunslinger was low so I handed the dm my cards and told them to pick what I was gonna summon 8 of. He picked velociraptors. The 2 bad guys did not last more than a round beyond that. Turns out being surrounded by 8 creatures with two attacks each and with pack tactics is bad for your health.

More often as the campaign went forward I would use it to summon a giant constrictor snake. At the time this was also the go to wildshape for her. Being huge and threatening looking meant it attracted allot of enemy attention or could at least body block the routes to my friends. It doesn't deal anywhere near the damage my party members were dealing but the on hit restrain was really useful for zoning out enemies I didn't want near my friends if they did try to ignore me. It's only one attack a round and not the most accurate though. Aside from the first battle fiasco my allies were never in that level of danger again. It was pretty rare anything was threatening enough to knock me out of wildshape but being a short rest resource and having a second available even I wasn't in any real danger either. Being the tank and being able to just say bring it on when the dm tells you they rolled a 27 is nice.

Most beasts don't have very good AC. Actually if I have a complaint it's that beasts are perhaps a bit too samey and their variety trails off too much the higher cr you go. Tend to notice most of them end up with very similar skill bonuses. Never got that high level but eventually having access to shape change is something I looked forward to. Pull out some really wild stuff to turn into.

Beasts do have one major advantage though. Not being humanoid is surprisingly good defensively. Before quarantine put the campaign on indefinite hiatus we ended up taking a mission to a city full of zombies. Those zombies turned out to be spawn of kyuss. We went in without that knowledge so I hadn't prepped lesser restoration. Turns out the borrowing worm thing they do that can kill unprepared PC's with frightening efficiency. Also turns out that it explicitly mentions targeting humanoids. So between wildshape and conjure animals I was able to zone for my party and no one was hit with it. Though you can be sure I changed my prepared spells as soon as I could after finding out this detail.

In a different campaign the dm was very fond of using hold person against me. I came to despise the hold person spell. It exists to be used against the PC's more than as a potential tool for PC's. Every PC is a humanoid but humanoid enemies not so much. Never an issue for Cleo. Coincidence... probably. Different DM's, different campaigns.

DM was pretty lenient about my character knowing about beasts. She lived in the feywild for a time and had nature as a skill so other than the Stench kow or whatever native to the lower plains (which I took off the table myself) he never gave me issue about wanting to turn into any particular beast. Some DM's get a bit controlling about what forms they allow Druids to know about. Frankly I think they need to take a chill.

what an absolute nightmare of a character to have to play. Personality wise playing a dumb meathead was a nice change of pace after previously playing a very intelligent and strategic character. Mechanically though, it was awful. I made him to be a shield master, my main combat strategy was going to be knocking stuff prone to generate advantage...

And then we fought nothing but huge dinosaurs who can't be knocked over because they are much larger than me. Worse, the vast majority of them that we were sent out to hunt weren't aggressive. So the moment the party jumped out at them or began firing long range spells at them, they would run away. There were entire combat encounters where I did nothing but dash move after enemies without ever coming close enough to even pull out a javelin to throw at them.

The only time a monster did stand and fight us it was a well beyond deadly surprise ambush by a t-rex in the night. So Claud didn't even function as a proper tank beyond just being a distraction for it. So to reiterate the only time I was ever close enough to an enemy to even be able to hit it I was unconscious in it's mouth.

He lived because the rest of the party was able to put it down and pop me up repeatedly through the fight with healing word. Luckily the campaign never progressed past that.

[Warder]

A Mystic Soul Knife (with Mobile and Mage Slayer) - and not just in combat, it was the most fun character I've played overall. It was the best class design WotC has produced for 5e, and though I completely get that it wasn't for everyone, I'll always be sad they decided it shouldn't be for anyone.

[thorr-kan]

Most fun in combat was a tiefling devotion paladin, with spear and magic helm...I mean net, straight out of the PH and into Waterdeep Heist. That was my first 5E character.

Most fun to play in general is a celestial warlock/divine soul sorcerer. He's the only caster in a party of rogues and fighters, so I set him for utility casting. It's been fun trying to find a cantrip that fits when those precious spell slots get used.

[CheddarChampion]

Beastmaster Greatsword & Defense StrRanger with a Wolf wearing barding. -SNIP- Hordebreaker greatsword attacks whenever there were two adjacent enemies. About the only thing that didn't feel like it synergized was Greatsword Whirlwind, but there were a few times I passed up on Wolf attacks to run into the middle of three or more enemies and go to town.

So you had two subclasses? Hunter and Beatmaster?

[Tanarii]

So you had two subclasses? Hunter and Beatmaster?
I must be conflating Rangers, I played them years ago. I'll have to go dig out the character sheets.

[Bobthewizard]

Several different wizards, mostly tier 2.

Abjurer - cast a debuff, then used counterspell, dispel magic, and remove curse to let the melee characters stay up. All while keeping up armor of agathys and wading into melee. It's good otherwise, but when you run into a spellcaster, it's amazing. I've played this at levels 3-5, level 8, and level 12, and it was fun in each of those short games.

Enchanter - hypnotic gaze was fun to role-play combat on a gnome wizard with a broom of flying. Again, cast a debuff, then maybe throw a cantrip or two, and once the party outnumbered the enemy, fly in and disable one of them, while the party tied them up. I only played this at levels 5-6.

Bladesinger - the extra attack with cantrip is the most gishy gish in the game. Bladesong let's you wade into melee, and when you need to conserve that, a longbow and firebolt is respectable. I've played this at levels 6-8 so far.

I love having all the utility, mobility, control, AOE and defensive spells of a wizard, but the above subclasses have been the most fun in combat.

[Atalas]

my favorite character, who I am currently playing, is a grapple-based Battle Master Fighter in a Theros campaign. V Human, 20 STR at level 4, Brawler for Athletics Expertise. Custom feat with the DM to give advantage against grappled opponents and grapple attempt as a bonus action (basically best parts of Tavern Brawler and Grappler feats). He hits something, he IS gonna grapple it if it isn't immune. Trip Attack to knock them down, and just... that's it for them. Generally, they do NOT get back up without outside shenanigans.

[Ralanr]

Honestly, despite the limited about of options barbarians have, I've had the most fun in combat playing a barbarian.

Edit: Though I think one character that broke the mold for me was S7N, a Warforged Devotion Paladin that pulled double duty in being a big shield and keeping his teammates alive with some healing slaps.

He also killed Strahd with the sunblade, which was neat.

[Sorinth]

Most fun is tough to say but I've got a soft spot for Wolf-Totem Barbarian using an shield and sentinel. He wasn't amazing by himself, rarely used reckless so damage wasn't spectacular but in a party with a GWM fighter and a melee Rogue handing out advantage was fun to watch.

[jaappleton]

The ones where I have motivation beyond high damage numbers. And trust me, I'm no stranger to the optimized build!

The most memorable characters I've ever played are the ones where I'd do things in combat that were role played, and not the most optimal decision mechanically.

My very first 5e game, with my new DM (who is STILL my DM years later) was with a Half Orc Barbarian. I'd never really played D&D with these guys. And I wanted to make a statement. Set the tone for the table.

First round of combat, I'm up.

DM: OK, it's Grom the Barbarians turn!

And I remember it distinctly. I glanced at my post-it note I had taped to my monitor. All it said was, "BARBARIAN", underlined twice.

Me: This torch I'm holding?
DM: Yeah?
Me: I want to jam it flame side first into this goblins eye socket.

And my DM responded with FAR more enthusiasm that I could have had anticipated, one player gasped as if "WAIT WE CAN DO THIS SORT OF STUFF?!", and another started laughing.

Set the tone, right? I think I accomplished that.

[Oramac]

So far my favorite character has been Cade Stormchaser, my Tempest Sorcerer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?493427-Tempest-Sorcerer-Tank). He was built pre-Tasha's, so I just kept playing him that way, but after Tasha's there's an even better option (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24325811&postcount=300).

He's got damn near everything. Massive burst with Destructive Wrath, great control spells, awesome AC and saves, mobility with Tempestuous Magic, a bit of healing from Cleric, and all the fantastic metamagic options.

I once one-shot the big-bad in a mini campaign. At 5th level, against a Mind-Flayer. Upcast chromatic orb, rolled a nat 20, used Destructive Wrath with lightning damage, and boom, end of combat. The mind flayer hadn't taken a single point of damage before that, and hadn't taken a turn yet.

[KorvinStarmast]

Tie between Monk 1 / Mood Druid X
Being able to fight a few times as an elemental was a hoot.
Other times, I'd be the control caster.
At level 2, having a quarterstaff monk fighter with Shillelagh was kinda nice but the novelty wore off eventually.

and

Boing Boing Monk (at various levels in one shots)
(Boing Boing Monk includes Ogre Gaunts and Ring of Jumping to bounce around the battlefield and beat things up / stun them).

[jaappleton]

Boing Boing Monk (at various levels in one shots)
(Boing Boing Monk includes Ogre Gaunts and Ring of Jumping to bounce around the battlefield and beat things up / stun them).


This combo is also known as the Boots of Springheel Jak!

[arnin77]

I have a few that I enjoy for different reasons:

Half-orc Champion Fighter 13/Berserker Barbarian 4 with GWM, Sentinel, Tough, Orcish Fury. Crit fishing build but very fun to just wade in and try to trade heavy blows. I once crit on 3 out of 4 attacks in one round lol.

Wood Elf Hunter Ranger 5/Scout Rogue 10 with Elven Accuracy, SS, Sneak attack, Hunters Mark etc. Had a lot of fun with damage etc but played more as a rogue than the ranger I wanted him to be although I could run as an archer or a tank with a shield and sun blade with uncanny dodge if needed (which was rarely).

High Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue 13 with Elven Accuracy, Helm of Intellect, Sneak Attack. Very fun to play as a skirmisher either archer or upfront, lots of fun making enemies roll saves for hideous laughter at disadvantage from being hidden.

VHuman Conquest Paladin 13 with Res Con, Tough and Orzhov Background for Spirit Guardians. very high AC and smites etc. Had a lot of fun with Conquering Presence at lower levels but now mostly R1: BA Cast Spiritual Weapon attack + 2 attacks with smites, R2: BA Spiritual Weapon attack + Spirit Guardians if needed

VHuman Evoker 6 … really staring to like this one with Sculpt Spells. I don’t usually play full casters

[SpanielBear]

So, just an observation, and drawing no conclusions, but it’s interesting that despite all the “Martials can’t keep up”, “casters can do so much more”, “monks suck” threads out there, this (super small and statistically irrelevant) thread is trending in a very counterintuitive way…

[Oramac]

So, just an observation, and drawing no conclusions, but it’s interesting that despite all the “Martials can’t keep up”, “casters can do so much more”, “monks suck” threads out there, this (super small and statistically irrelevant) thread is trending in a very counterintuitive way…

Quite so. Because what is "optimal" and what is "fun" are not always the same. Certainly not for all people.

(says the guy who posted an optimized caster build :D )

[Warder]

So, just an observation, and drawing no conclusions, but it’s interesting that despite all the “Martials can’t keep up”, “casters can do so much more”, “monks suck” threads out there, this (super small and statistically irrelevant) thread is trending in a very counterintuitive way…

This right here is the reason I tend to not set foot in those arguments, because my (counterintuitive) opinion is that part of the reason martials are so much fun to play is that they don't "keep up", but rather do their own thing at their own pace. Part of my D&D fantasy is that magic operates on its own level, and that not everything needs to be balanced between classes as long as everyone can excel in their own niche. Needless to say, I know that on forums largely dedicated to optimization and balancing, this is not a popular opinion. :smallwink:

[KorvinStarmast]

This right here is the reason I tend to not set foot in those arguments, because my (counterintuitive) opinion is that part of the reason martials are so much fun to play is that they don't "keep up", but rather do their own thing at their own pace. Part of my D&D fantasy is that magic operates on its own level, and that not everything needs to be balanced between classes as long as everyone can excel in their own niche. Needless to say, I know that on forums largely dedicated to optimization and balancing, this is not a popular opinion. :smallwink:
You're singing my song ... :smallsmile:

[MrCharlie]

Split between my Abjuration Wizard and my Swashbuckler/Battlemaster.

Abjuration wizard was impossible to kill, had great control and battlefield mastery with spells. Also I got to flex my comprehension skills-I can't remember how many plots I torpedoed or changed drastically by paying attention and using spells at the right moment. It helps when your DM rolls with you.

My Swashbuckler/Battlemaster was (and is) both incredibly mobile and reactive in combat and does enough DPS to stay relevant. Plus it's survivable. There just isn't any feeling quite like using a maneuver and getting reaction sneak attack damage, or seeing a low roll and using precise attack, or pushing an enemy off a cliff, or netting some insanely fast enemy and rendering them effectively helpless-all while dancing around combat without a care in the world. You feel like a swordmaster, someone who controls the flow of battle.

I've played a couple now, and my most recent is my favorite version of the archtype-a super privileged waterdavean pretty boy whom has astronomically high stats and knows it-except, of course, for his wisdom, which is rock bottom.

For honorable mention, my divine soul sorcerer. Mostly because he was my first attempt to make an optimized sorcerer in 5e, and he managed to keep the party alive through things that should have killed them about 20 times over. The one thing keeping him back was spells known-clockwork soul would be the new version of him now, minus the extended death ward. I already have that character planned, just never had a chance to break him out.

[Zaltman]

Wood elf swashbuckler. I love zipping around the battle field and never being in one place. There is something amazing about the one awesome attack with all those d6. Plus Panache is outstanding to turn potential foes into friends. It feels like you always have something to contribute.

[Dalinar]

Probably my Tavern Brawler/Unarmed Fighting VHuman Rune Knight. Helps that my DM was pretty lenient about what I can use as an improvised weapon--lots of times I'd smack someone down, then throw their lifeless body at the next target. Or chuck braziers at animated trees, etc.

I haven't played many casters yet, but I have high hopes once I get some actual levels under the belt of the ones I have so far.