Fighting Style is a class feature that Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers get (as well as some subclasses, such as College of Swords Bards). The idea behind the feature is to have people who pick these classes pick a kind of weapon loadout that will be their standard in combat, though we have seen some less conventional styles pop up in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Naturally, some of these will empower you do do very different things, and the role you play in a group could be largely determined by your choice of fighting style.
Fighters, being the most martial of the martial classes, get the most fighting style options. But Paladins and Rangers also have some that are unique to themselves.
Let's get a rough sense of the benefit you're likely to get from these fighting styles!
Fighters:
Archery:
This fighting style gives you a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with ranged weapons. This is actually one of the really big commitments for a Fighter, given that if you want to commit to it, you're going to have to go with a Dexterity build. But the reward here is pretty significant, as you'll be hitting targets more consistently. How that translates to actual damage is a little fuzzier, math-wise, but you're basically pushing down the maximum roll you can make and still fail to hit. Consider that with the standard array and giving yourself a boost to Dexterity with your "racial" bonus (which isn't really a racial bonus as of the Tasha's rules) you'll have a +7 to hit at level 1, which puts a foe in plate armor at only having a 50% chance for you to miss them. This is a default choice for any ranged fighter, also in part because the other ones are unlikely to be very significant. But it's still good.
Blind Fighting (Tasha's):
This gives you blindsight out to 10 feet. While the range here is very low (and thus not as useful for a ranged character,) this totally bypasses magical and nonmagical darkness, and lets your Devil's Sight/Darkness combo-ing Warlock drop darkness on top of you and give you all the benefits they're enjoying. It's niche and situational, but potentially really powerful.
Defense:
This simply gives you a +1 to AC while you're in armor. My Eldritch Knight has this, as his strategy is generally to make his AC high as possible and then cast Shield in the rare cases where something actually hits him. The 1 AC is a marginal upgrade, but it does make you slightly harder to hit, and these things add up. Still, it's a 1 in 20 chance that this AC bump will be the thing that makes the difference, so that's something to consider.
Dueling:
This adds +2 to damage rolls when you hit with a one-handed melee weapon and don't have a weapon in the off-hand. You can still benefit from this with a shield. This is a solid choice for getting a little more damage out of a sword-and-board build. It also, interestingly, makes two-handing a versatile weapon actually worse than just using a single hand (1d8+2 has a higher average damage than 1d10, even if they both max out at the same amount. It's kind of like a d10 where you can never roll below a 3).
Great Weapon Fighting:
This one can feel very satisfying, as you get to reroll those pesky 1s and 2s (on the initial roll - afterward you have to just take the result on any rerolled die), though WotC has been careful to clarify that this only applies to the weapon damage, and not bonus damage like Divine Smites (which I did not originally realize). The average roll for a d6 is 3.5, but when you re-roll 1s and 2s, calculating the average damage essentially replaces rolls of 1 and 2 with that 3.5, so you get an average of the set of 3.5, 3.5, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which comes out to 4 1/6. So, if you're using a Maul or a Greatsword, your attacks are going to hit for 8 1/3 instead of 7, which is a modest but reasonable boost. This is one that might be more about feeling better than actually being better, but it will definitely increase the damage you deal.
Interception (Tasha's)
When a creature you can see hits a target other than you within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus, as long as you are wielding a shield or simple or martial weapon at the time. So, the average damage reduction here goes from 7.5 to 11.5 as your PB goes up. In early levels this will likely often fully negate a strike, though as you fight monsters that hit harder, it might degrade in potency. Still, damage reduction is a bit like healing, though this does cost you a reaction.
Protection:
When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll, but only if you're wielding a shield. The math around advantage and disadvantage can get quite complicated. Unlike Interception, this might do absolutely nothing (Interception has a minimum damage reduction) though potentially, this could fully negate a very heavy strike that Interception could never fully negate. If you're worried about crits, this will make it very unlikely your friends get them. But again, it's your reaction.
Superior Technique (Tasha's):
You learn a Battle Master maneuver and gain one d6 superiority die that recharges on short or long rests. While the Battle Master is clearly a very successful design, I'm skeptical that a single maneuver per rest is worth a fighting style. The rest of these are kind of persistent effects that at most take up a reaction, and many are just always on.
Thrown Weapon Fighting (Tasha's):
You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon (this gets around limited item interactions per turn) and, when you hit with a ranged attack using at thrown weapon, you add +2 to the damage roll. This will actually let you keep up in damage with someone wielding a longbow, similar to how Dueling bests a versatile weapon wielded with two hands. Indeed, a handaxe, which deals 1d6 damage, will be doing 1d6+2 (plus whatever) for an average of 5.5 damage, compared to a longbow's 1d8, which is 4.5. My only issue here is that thrown weapons have the pesky problem of needing to be retrieved (yes, someone with a bow needs a supply of arrows, but carrying forty arrows around is easier than carrying forty handaxes). If you have an artificer friend who can give you Returning Weapon or some similar way to never run out, this could make you fairly effective with thrown weapons - though you'll also never have the range of a dedicated archer. I feel like this one is almost there, but not quite.
Two-Weapon Fighting:
The style for dual-wielding. This lets you add your appropriate ability modifier to the damage of a bonus action off-hand strike. Ultimately this means adding a maximum of 5 damage per turn (unless you get some ability that lets you boost your Strength or Dexterity beyond 20,) though to be fair, that's actually not far off from some of the other fighting styles. This will peak when you can max out your primary stat, though it'll fall behind when you, as a Fighter, start to get more than two attacks per action.
Unarmed Fighting (Tasha's):
Your unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit, and if you aren't wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8. At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you. This one's pretty weird - your fist can become as powerful as a quarterstaff, effectively. But... you'll probably just want to have a weapon instead. The grappling thing is interesting - you get some free damage when you do that, but not a ton. I'd say this is a good option for multiclassing monks, though its biggest benefit becomes moot if you hit 11 Monk levels - and it does specify Strength as the damage modifier, so I'm not sure you'd even be able to boost to d8s and still use Dexterity.
And that's all the Fighter Fighting Styles. Let's look at Paladins:
Paladins:
Blessed Warrior (Tasha's):
You learn two cantrips from the Cleric spell list, and they count as paladin spells for you, using Charisma as the spellcasting ability. When you gain a level in this class, you can replace these cantrips with another cantrip from the cleric spell list. Clerics have a shockingly small number of cantrips to choose from. While you might consider just picking up ranged damage options like Sacred Flame or Toll the Dead, this might be an opportunity to pick up some useful out-of-combat ones like Guidance or Mending. Admittedly that makes it someone less of a "fighting" style, but if you want a little more reliable spellcasting, this is a possibility.
Blind Fighting (Tasha's):
Like with the Fighter, this is a niche option, but also potentially very powerful int he right situation.
Defense:
Paladins can work pretty well as tanks, just like Fighters, with heavy armor and shields, and this can reinforce this.
Dueling:
Things like Improved Divine Smite actually slightly dilute the value of fighting with a two-handed weapon as a Paladin, so if you want to go sword-and-board but still push your damage output, this is a great option.
Great Weapon Fighting:
While RAI excludes this effect from Divine Smite and other bonus damage, RAW this will make each d8 you roll give an average of 5.25 instead of 4.5, and so this could potentially be a noticeable boost to Paladins' big burst damage (until WotC publishes more strongly-worded errata).
Interception (Tasha's):
See my analysis in the Fighter section.
Protection:
See my analysis in the Fighter section.
That's it for Paladins - while it makes sense that there's no support for ranged paladins given the way that Divine Smite requires a melee weapon, it's interesting that there's none for dual-wielding. Even without two-weapon fighting, there are some builds that go for dual-wielding anyway thanks to the extra damage granted through Improved Divine Smite, as well as just having another chance for a critical hit in which to pump a Divine Smite. But now, onto Rangers:
Rangers:
Archery:
Again, this is a pretty nice boost to their ranged capabilities, which for Rangers is actually the assumed role, even if both Rangers and Fighters can, in theory, both be built for melee and ranged play. I like this one - it's simply and makes it less likely for you to miss, which is always frustrating.
Blind Fighting (Tasha's):
The 10-ft range for a Ranger here is a bit less likely to be useful, given that most Rangers are, oddly enough, fighting at range. Still, if you're a melee Ranger, this could be useful (if we ever pick up my Tomb of Annihilation game again, I've been thinking of multiclassing into Fighter to take this along with two-weapon fighting on my Gloomstalker).
Defense:
While Rangers can use shields and have a d10 hit die, they aren't usually considered as viable as tanks as Fighters and Paladins are, due in part to the fact that they don't have access to heavy armor. This will turn your half-plate into plate, effectively, but I find this a little less attractive, especially if you're going ranged.
Druidic Warrior (Tasha's):
This works similarly to the Paladin's Blessed Warrior, but in this case, Rangers can get two Druid cantrips. Now, Druids have one special cantrip that can really transform your Ranger's entire build priority: Shillelagh. With this one cantrip, you can only worry about getting your Dexterity to 14 and then toss everything into Wisdom. If you pick a subclass that then focuses on your spell attack modifier, such as the redesigned Beastmaster, this will let you max out your Wisdom to use with your attacks, your pet's attacks, and your spells. So, if you don't mind being a melee ranger, this is a real option. (The one fiddly complexity is that in theory you need your club or staff in one hand and some other components or a druidic spell focus in the other to cast this bonus action spell, which might give really strict DMs a reason to keep you from using a shield. But this could really be a game-changer, either way.
Dueling:
I guess this is fine, though if you're going to be using something like Hunter's Mark, you want to maximize your attacks per turn, and will probably prefer to dual-wield.
Thrown Weapon Fighting:
I think this is basically the same as what I said in the Fighter section.
Two-Weapon Fighting:
Now, this I think actually winds up being a little more significant for Rangers than it does for Fighters. Because Fighters eventually get more than two attacks, things like Dueling can start to outpace this in damage contribution (while yes, hitting with a whole other weapon as a bonus action can then tilt things in favor of this technique in terms of damage, someone with Dueling also benefits from having a shield).
And that's all of them.
What I find interesting is how different Druidic and Blessed Warriors wind up being primarily due to the existence of one spell. Shillelagh can effectively make a Ranger play more like a Battle Smith or Armorer Artificer, turning their spellcasting ability into their primary score, while there's nothing there for Paladins (they're more likely to put at least one level into Hexblade Warlock to get that sort of effect).
I do think the design here is primarily meant to be conservative. I also might be more down on Protection and Interception than they deserve - it could be a pretty big deal that these each basically give you a whole new class feature, as opposed to a marginal damage boost.
I do generally think that for any ranged option, Archery is probably unassailable. And honestly, just being able to hit more often means you're going to have more fun playing your character
No comments:
Post a Comment