Pimp my fighter...D5e

[L.J.Steele]

That just sounds so wrong. Anyway. I need a bit of advice on the 8th (and likely final) level for this character. Campaign has been building to the 3rd Act Set Piece fight with an adult red dragon. (This is the only dragon in the world, so the PCs know nothing of what it can do -- don't spoil me with specific numbers.)

Anyway, my fighter is the only fighter -- I've got support from a monk, a cleric, and a wizards, all about to hit 8th. We've also got a +2 Great Sword with some anti-dragon properties (haven't had a chance to test it out on a dragon) and a handful of jury-rigged arrows of dragon slaying (no specs on those either).

So 1/2 orc fighter, 20/13/16/9/11/7, AC 18 (20 w. shield), 68 hp. Already have the 1/2 or specials, Battlemaster focus (menacing, riposte, sweeping, goading, trip), and the Hvy Armor Master and Great Wpn Master feats.

Magic/Unusual Items: +2* Anti-Dragon great sword, +1 long bow, Adamantine plate armor

Looking at:
Could do a stat raise:
2 pts of CNST for 8 hp and a +1 to saves. Meh.
1 pt to IQ, 1 pt to Char to reduce those save penalties. Meh.

Feats:
Lucky -- 3 luck points -- better of 2 dice, used after rolling
Savage Attacker: 1xturn re-roll damage and take better result
Sentinel -- bonuses to attack foes around me, esp mooks targeting the soft n squishy team-mates who eschew armor
Sharpshooter -- nice, but I expect the dragon's AC to be high enough that the-5 to hit for +10 damage isn't coming into play.

Anyone have suggestions or other ideas?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

So 1/2 orc fighter, 20/13/16/9/11/7, AC 18 (20 w. shield), 68 hp. Already have the 1/2 or specials, Battlemaster focus (menacing, riposte, sweeping, goading, trip), and the Hvy Armor Master and Great Wpn Master feats.

Magic/Unusual Items: +2* Anti-Dragon great sword, +1 long bow, Adamantine plate armor

Looking at:
Could do a stat raise:
2 pts of CNST for 8 hp and a +1 to saves. Meh.
1 pt to IQ, 1 pt to Char to reduce those save penalties. Meh.

Feats:
Lucky -- 3 luck points -- better of 2 dice, used after rolling
Savage Attacker: 1xturn re-roll damage and take better result
Sentinel -- bonuses to attack foes around me, esp mooks targeting the soft n squishy team-mates who eschew armor
Sharpshooter -- nice, but I expect the dragon's AC to be high enough that the-5 to hit for +10 damage isn't coming into play.

Anyone have suggestions or other ideas?

My first instinct is HP but that may be because my Half-Orc is a Barbarian and your HP don't look like much compared to his. :)

"Choose Champion instead of Battlemaster " is also unlikely to be helpful at this point so I'd have to say to go with Savage Attacker.

[Anthony]

Int and Cha saves are nearly nonexistent in 5e, so if I was bumping odd stats I'd take Dex and Wis. On the other hand, you could take Resilient on either of those saves to gain +1 to that stat and also proficient.

Offensively speaking, I'd probably go with Sentinel, less because it protects squishies than because it's pretty good at shutting down kiting. Of course, a dragon might have lair/legendary actions that ignore opportunity attacks.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

Sharpshooter -- nice, but I expect the dragon's AC to be high enough that the-5 to hit for +10 damage isn't coming into play.

Maybe. If you can shoot with Advantage, it more or less cancels out the -5. Bounded accuracy and the usual hit point reserve of high-power foes means that, in theory, a large number of first level characters could theoretically take out a dragon.

The DX 13 is a bit of an issue, though. With only +1 to DEX, +3 proficiency, and +1 for the bow, you're rolling 1d20 flat, and the "power" of advantage if you can put a distraction next to the dragon is less at high target numbers.

Longbow will be 1d8+2, yah? (3-10) Turns to 1d8+12 (13-20), and I think that's a better trade even with the -5 to hit. You'll obviously hit less often, but when you do, it's going to count.