Party of Champion Fighters challenge

[CTurbo]

If you had to create a party of 4 or 5 characters, but they all had to be Champion Fighters, what would you put together?

Point Buy. NO multiclassing. All diversity will have to come from Backgrounds, races, feats, and equipment.


The Brute
Half-Orc Champion. Outlander Background. Maul + Plate. Defense and Blind Fighting

20 Str, 12 Dex, 18 Con, 8 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha

Level 4 - GWM
Level 6 - Crusher
Level 8 - Ritual Caster(Detect Magic & Alarm)
Level 12 - +2 Str
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(Perception)
Level 19 - +2 Con


The Leader
VHuman Champion. Noble background. Halberd + Plate. Defense and Blind Fighting

20 Str, 10 Dex, 18 Con, 13 Int, 8 Wis, 10 Cha

Level 1 - Polearm Master
Level 4 - Slasher
Level 6 - Sentinel
Level 8 - Magic Initiate(Light, Minor Illusion, Find Familiar)
Level 12 - +2 Str
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(Athletics)
Level 19 - +2 Con


The Face
Half-Elf Champion. Charlatan background. Longbow + Studded Leather. Archery and Defense

8 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha

Level 4 - Sharpshooter
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Piercer
Level 12 - Magic Initiative(Viscous Mockery, Mage Hand, Silvery Barbs)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Inspiring Leader
Level 19 - Skilled Expert(Persausion)


The Sneak
Stout Halfling Champion. Urban Bounty Hunter. Hand Crossbow + Studded Leather. Archery and Defense

9 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Cha

Level 4 - Crossbow Expert
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Healer
Level 12 - Magic Initiate(Guidance, Mending, Bless)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(stealth)
Level 19 - Sharpshooter


The Wildcard
Wood Elf Champion. Far Traveler. Various weapons + Studded Leather. TWF and Thrown Weapon

8 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Cha

Level 4 - Alert
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Observant
Level 12 - Magic Initiate(Goodberry, Create Bonfire, Shape Water)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Wood Elf Magic
Level 19 - Fey Touched

I think there is a good amount of variety here. Pretty much every skill is covered and somebody has Expertise in all the major ones. All can cast at least a little magic. There are 2 melee, 2 ranged, and 1 skirmisher.

Champions are usually considered "boring" and "weak" but 2 extra feats help add in some goodies. I think all having access to Disguise Self At-Will would be really fun.

[RogueJK]

Melee, Tank, and AoE Damage/Debuff
Bronze Metallic Dragonborn
STR 15+2
DEX 8
CON 15+1
INT 8
WIS 10
CHA 14
Defense and Great Weapon Fighting Styles
Greatsword and Heavy Armor
Skills: Intimidation, Athletics, Perception, Animal Handling
ASIs: Dragon Fear (18 STR) at 4, GWM at 6, Sentinel at 8, 18 CON at 12, 20 STR at 14, 20 CON at 16, 16 CHA at 19


Utility/Support/Hazard Caster, Healer, Intellectual, and Shieldbearer/Sidekick
Custom Lineage
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 15+2
WIS 12
CHA 8
Medium Armor and a Shield, with a hand free for casting
Interception and Superior Technique (Tactical Assessment) Fighting Styles
Skills: Investigation*, Arcana, History, Religion, Medicine
Tool Proficiency: Herbalism Kit
ASIs: Artificer Initiate (Thorn Whip, Grease) at 1, Healer at 4, Ritual Caster Wizard at 6, Magic Initiate Wizard (Create Bonfire, Minor Illusion, Feather Fall) at 8, Fey Touched (18 INT, Bless) at 12, Telekinetic (19 INT) at 14, Shadow Touched (20 INT, Silent Image) at 16, Spell Sniper (Chill Touch) at 19
Cantrips: Mage Hand (60'), Create Bonfire, Thorn Whip (60'), Minor Illusion, Chill Touch (240')
1x/Day Each: Grease, Bless, Misty Step, Invisibility, Silent Image, Feather Fall
Rituals: All Wizard rituals

Basically, in most combats this guy would use his Concentration for Create Bonfire, and then stick around just behind the Dragonborn Tank to provide Reaction damage mitigation via Interception and pop-up healing via Healer, while pushing and pulling enemies into the Bonfire hazard using Thorn Whip and Telekinetic. And if someone takes a swipe at the utility caster, the Dragonborn could retaliate via Sentinel's Reaction attack. (Not much of a "Champion" since they'd rarely ever be making a weapon attack, but it's leveraging the Fighter's extra feats and fighting style to make a more well-rounded support character.)


Leader and Face
Half-Drow
STR 8
DEX 15+2
CON 13+1
INT 8
WIS 12
CHA 15+1
Blind Fighting and Dueling Fighting Styles
Rapier and Light Armor/Medium Armor with Shield
Skills: Persuasion, Deception, Insight, Acrobatics
ASIs: Elven Accuracy (18 DEX) at 4, Inspiring Leader at 6, 20 DEX at 8, Fey Touched (17 CHA, Hex) at 12, Shadow Touched (18 CHA, Disguise Self) at 14, Lucky at 16, 20 CHA at 19
Cantrip: Dancing Lights
1x/Day Each: Faerie Fire, Darkness, Misty Step, Hex, Invisibility, Disguise Self


Flying Ranged Scout/Thief and Wilderness Guide
Owlin
STR 8
DEX 15+2
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 15+1
CHA 8
Archery and Superior Technique (Precision) Fighting Style
Longbow and Light Armor
Skills: Stealth*, Perception, Survival, Nature, Sleight of Hand
Tool Proficiency: Thieves Tools
ASIs: Skill Expert (18 DEX, Stealth Expertise) at 4, Sharpshooter at 6, Piercer (19 DEX) at 8, Gunner (20 DEX) at 12, Lucky at 14, Alert at 16, Martial Adept (Pushing) at 19

[RogueJK]

I think all having access to Disguise Self At-Will would be really fun.

Eldritch Adepts requires the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class ability. The Champion doesn't get either of those. So unfortunately, no Mask of Many Faces.

[CTurbo]

Eldritch Adepts requires the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class ability. The Champion doesn't get either of those. So unfortunately, no Mask of Many Faces.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooo

I thought they just had to be able to cast a spell before taking it.

[RogueJK]

I thought they just had to be able to cast a spell before taking it.

Unfortunately, no. There are feats that word it that way, like Spell Sniper, Elemental Adept, or Warcaster. ("Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell.")

But Eldritch Adept is very specific about having either the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class ability. Same with Metamagic Adept. ("Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature.")

[J-H]

Magic item acquisition is going to be very important - as it usually is for martials - for extra damage, flight, etc.

Everyone's feats
Resilient X
Mobile for speed and bypassing difficult terrain
Skilled half-feat for expertise in key skills (scouting, social, knowledge, etc.)

Inspiring Leader is worthwhile on whoever has a decent charisma score. Up to 20 temporary HP per player per short rest is nice.

At least one would be a Halfling with Bountiful Luck.

The archer of the group takes the Poisoner feat and can toss a "Con save or poisoned status" once per round as long as the poison holds out.

[clash]

If you had to create a party of 4 or 5 characters, but they all had to be Champion Fighters, what would you put together?

Point Buy. NO multiclassing. All diversity will have to come from Backgrounds, races, feats, and equipment.


The Brute
Half-Orc Champion. Outlander Background. Maul + Plate. Defense and Blind Fighting

20 Str, 12 Dex, 18 Con, 8 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha

Level 4 - GWM
Level 6 - Crusher
Level 8 - Ritual Caster(Detect Magic & Alarm)
Level 12 - +2 Str
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(Perception)
Level 19 - +2 Con



Your works chosen are all over the place and don't typically fit the theme you pick.

Not sure what I would do for brute but




The Leader
VHuman Champion. Noble background. Halberd + Plate. Defense and Blind Fighting

20 Str, 10 Dex, 18 Con, 13 Int, 8 Wis, 10 Cha

Level 1 - Polearm Master
Level 4 - Slasher
Level 6 - Sentinel
Level 8 - Magic Initiate(Light, Minor Illusion, Find Familiar)
Level 12 - +2 Str
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(Athletics)
Level 19 - +2 Con



Letter should have the bless, guidance and mending




The Face
Half-Elf Champion. Charlatan background. Longbow + Studded Leather. Archery and Defense

8 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha

Level 4 - Sharpshooter
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Piercer
Level 12 - Magic Initiative(Viscous Mockery, Mage Hand, Silvery Barbs)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Inspiring Leader
Level 19 - Skilled Expert(Persausion)



Maybe thaumaturgy, charm person, viscous mockery is fun though.




The Sneak
Stout Halfling Champion. Urban Bounty Hunter. Hand Crossbow + Studded Leather. Archery and Defense

9 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Cha

Level 4 - Crossbow Expert
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Healer
Level 12 - Magic Initiate(Guidance, Mending, Bless)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Skilled Expert(stealth)
Level 19 - Sharpshooter



Minor illusion, find familiar, and maybe light or another one here




The Wildcard
Wood Elf Champion. Far Traveler. Various weapons + Studded Leather. TWF and Thrown Weapon

8 Str, 20 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Cha

Level 4 - Alert
Level 6 - +2 Dex
Level 8 - Observant
Level 12 - Magic Initiate(Goodberry, Create Bonfire, Shape Water)
Level 14 - Eldritch Adept(Mask of Many Faces)
Level 16 - Wood Elf Magic
Level 19 - Fey Touched


Wildcard is whatever so that works but I would lean more into the chaotic element of it.

Silvery barbs or chaos bolt, create bonfire, mage hand

[animorte]

Your works chosen are all over the place and don't typically fit the theme you pick.
I agree. To me, it looks like the priority there was to make everything primarily a reliable fighter and then lean into the role. That makes the entire party come online much later than reasonably appropriate for their "roles."

I actually very much like this sentiment. It creates a standard for the class and subclass across the board so you get a much better concept of how and why your race/background/feats are so important.

I did this exactly years ago in 3.5e using the base Fighter as the chassis, focusing on building wildly different concepts by way of race/feat selection.

[CTurbo]

I was trying to make it so the 2 melee guys had stuff to do outside of combat. I gave the human the Light cantrip because he needed it the most, but that was before I ended up going Halfling for the sneak. Originally it was going to be a Gnome. I also assumed that the Ritual Caster character would also learn Find Familiar so there would be 2 familiars in the group. I already noticed that the "Leader" was not the one with Inspiring Leader, but it made more sense for the "Face" to take it since that character had the higher Cha.

This exercise was mainly looking at a level 20 build, but I did pay at least some attention to how they'd play out from start. It's true that most of the extras don't start until level 8. From 1-8 they would be a force in combat, and facing uphill battles in everything else.

[Waazraath]

Party

Gem crystal dragonborn: this one provides a number of interesting features: an area attack option (however weak) with the breath weapon, telepathy, and fly 1/day. It provides the party with temporary hitpoints and can heal a bit. It’s role is melee sword & board, being rather hard to hit and preventing damage when hitting a party member nearby. So combat ability is average, but it frees the ASI’s for utility feats.
Changeling archer: the face of the party, with the changeling ability to alter appearance and skills like persuasion and bluff. In combat it’s aimed for maxed ranged damage (CBE, SS, Piercer, archery fighting style).
Tiefling controller: this character is the second melee fighter. With PAM and sentinel it’s a decent controller. From level 5 onwards, it can blind enemies (while having blindsight) and lock them down in the darkness. PAM, GWM, Sentinel, darkness spell, blindfight
Aasimar archer: The secondary archer. Uses a bow, so less feat investment, and frees up a bonus action to use with telekinesis, misty step or hunter’s mark. It can fly and provides light and healing to the party.

Assumption
- Build for a level 1-20 campaign

Combo’s
- 1 melee with interception, other with sentinel (when adjacent this is a lose/lose situation for enemies, either trigger a reaction attack or have a bunch of damage prevented)
- 3/day blindfight (2 chars) with darkness/fog + lockdown
- Telekinesis can push an enemy out of the polearm master’s reach, generating extra reaction attacks when the enemy enters the threatened area once more

What does the party have?
- 2 characters which can heal (excluding self heal)
- 2 characters that can fly
- Temp HP generation
- Guidance for skill bonus
- 1 character that can short range teleport
- 1 character with telepathy
- 1 character with telekinesis powers
- 2 characters with blindsight
- 1 character with Ritual caster (wizard) for utility purposes
- Radiant damage (the breath) for pesky undead
- 2 characters for melee, 2 for ranged combat (with the CBE can stand in melee without problems)
- Powerful nova damage (4 fighters that use action surge can go a long way in taking out a threat)
- A familiar for scouting purposes
- Pretty resilient (most have resilient (wis) or lucky)

What does the party lack?
- Stealth. There was no room for a racial Pass without Trace, nor did I choose 4 dex builds.
- Area of effect spells. Obviously a weak point, for a party with 4 champions, though I manged to squeeze in a little.
- Healing: there is enough healing from some emergencies (bringing somebody back in the fight from 0 hp, after which the char hopefully has a 2nd wind left for usage) but it’s less than the average party.
(and obvious fancy stuff like raising the dead and plane shifting and all that - will have to be arranged through items)

Gem crystal dragonborn melee / utility
Lvl 1 breath weapon 15 ft cone proficiency times/day 1d10 radiant damage, telepathy; interception fighting style
Lvl 4 Inspiring Leader
lvl 5 Gem flight (1/day 1 minute flight), 2d10 breath weapon
Lvl 6 Telekinetic
Lvl 8 Healer
Lvl 10 Blind fighting fighting style
lvl 11 3d10 breath weapon
lvl 12 Ritual caster (wizard), including Find Familiar
lvl 14 +2 str
lvl 16 resilience (wisdom)
lvl 17 4d10 breath weapon
lvl 19 +2 str

Changeling crossbow archer / social skills
Lvl 1 racial, archery fighting style
Lvl 4 Crossbow Expert
Lvl 6 Sharp Shooter
Lvl 8 Magic initiate (druid) fog cloud, guidance, mending
Lvl 10 (fighting style)
lvl 12 Piercer, +1 dex
lvl 14 + stats
lvl 16 skill expert (expertise in deception), +1 stat
lvl 19 actor

Tiefling melee controller
Lvl 1 (racial, defense fighting style
Lvl 4 PAM – swap defense for blind fighting
lvl 5 darkness spell
Lvl 6 Sentinel
Lvl 8 +2 str
Lvl 10 defense fighting style
lvl 12 +stats
lvl 14 GWM
lvl 16 resilience (wis)
lvl 19 Magic initiate (wizard), fog cloud & 2 cantrips

Aasimar (protector) archer
Lvl 1 archery fighting style; healing; light;
Lvl 3 flying 1/day (racial)
Lvl 4 (Telekinesis)
Lvl 6 (Sharp Shooter)
Lvl 8 + stats
Lvl 10 defense fighting style
lvl 12 Fey touched (misty step + hunter’s mark)
lvl 14 + stats
lvl 16 Lucky
lvl 19 + stats

Reflection
I tried to include a bunch of abilities normally not available for fighters (like flight, telepathy, telekinesis etc.). I think this party works fine. An alternative way to go would be to specialize. Fighters have a lot of feats, so without degrading combat abilities, one could go for instance for a stealth party: 4 dex based champions, all with skill expert feat, and at least 2 characters with a racial Pass without trace. That would allow a different solution to scenario’s. 4 fighters with disguise self, high charisma and maxed social skills (buffed with skill expert) could make a party that solves things through bluffing and talking.

[CTurbo]

The Archer

Aarakocra Champion with Longbow. Archery and Close Quarters Shooter styles

20 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Wis
Sharpshooter
Alert
Mobile
Magic Initiate(Cleric)
Skilled(Perception)



The other Archer

Aarakocra Champion with Longbow. Archery and Close Quarters Shooter styles

20 Dex, 16 Con, 14 Cha
Sharpshooter
Alert
Mobile
Magic Initiate(Bard)
Skilled(Persuasion)



The other other Archer

Aarakocra Champion with Longbow. Archery and Close Quarters Shooter styles

20 Dex, 16 Con, 14 Int
Sharpshooter
Alert
Mobile
Magic Initiate(Wizard)
Skilled(Stealth)



The other other other Archer

Aarakocra Champion with Longbow. Archery and Close Quarters Shooter styles

20 Dex, 16 Con, 12, Int, 12 Wis, 12 Cha
Sharpshooter
Alert
Mobile
Magic Initiate(Druid)
Skilled(Acrobatics)

[Corran]

Dex based, goblin, blind fighting, sharpshooter, stealth, BB (through feat), perception, athletics. I'll have 5 of these please. Rest choices can vary but I could easily see a couple of them grabbing skulker and the other two of them grabbing mobile. One of them going for healing word or sanctuary, one for fog cloud. Maybe some expertise if any skills tend to be crucial in a regular basis. Something like that.

ps: I'd probably throw a proficiency in disguise kit for all of them as well.


@CTurbo: Nice.